Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Materials And Electrochemical Interfaces For High Energy Density Sodium Metal Batteries, Olusola John Dahunsi

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Batteries with low-cost, high energy and safe features density are now widely demanded.This dissertation systematically and comprehensively studies the materials and electrochemical interfaces of sodium (Na) metallic anodes and metal-free anodes for high energy density sodium metal batteries (SMB) to meet energy storage demands. This dissertation is divided into two sections, with the first section focusing on the modifications made to pristine metallic sodium anodes using 1.6 at % tin (Sn) to create Na-Sn alloy anodes. The results confirm that the Na-Sn anode features interconnected Na15Sn4 backbones that support sodium structurally, enhance Na+/Na redox kinetics, and facilitate dendrite-free Na plating …

Arginine-178 Is An Essential Residue For Itpa Function, Nicholas E. Burgis, Caitlin April, Kandise Vanwormer

Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Publications

The inosine triphosphate pyrophosphatase (ITPA) enzyme plays a critical cellular role by removing noncanonical nucleoside triphosphates from nucleotide pools. One of the first pathological ITPA mutants identified is R178C (rs746930990), which causes a fatal infantile encephalopathy, termed developmental and epileptic encephalopathy 35 (DEE 35). The accumulation of noncanonical nucleotides such as inosine triphosphate (ITP), is suspected to affect RNA and/or interfere with normal nucleotide function, leading to development of DEE 35. Molecular dynamics simulations have shown that the very rare R178C mutation does not significantly perturb the overall structure of the protein, but results in a high level of structural …

Lets Make Rock Candy!, Admin Stem For Success

STEM for Success Showcase

• Students should…

• be familiar with terms such as solubility, solute, solvent, and supersaturated solution.

• have a basic understanding of crystallization.

• understand the concept of delayed gratification and how they can practice this skill in their everyday lives to make smart financial decisions.

Tie Dye Activity Plans, Admin Stem For Success

STEM for Success Showcase

OVERVIEW:

The STEM for success ambassador program will provide high school students the opportunity to participate in STEM activities that challenge them to learn topics covered in most high school chemistry and physics courses in an environment that cultivates leadership, STEM advocacy, and the 21st century skills of creativity and collaboration. High school students will learn tie-dye science and the chemistry and physics of slime and use their learning experiences to create hands-on activities for Pre-K through 8th grade students. High school students will form teams and venture out into their communities to explore the activities they have created in …

Slime Lesson Plans, Admin Stem For Success

STEM for Success Showcase

The STEM for success ambassador program will provide high school students the opportunity to participate in STEM activities that challenge them to learn topics covered in most high school chemistry and physics courses in an environment that cultivates leadership, STEM advocacy, and the 21st century skills of creativity and collaboration. High school students will learn tie-dye science and the chemistry and physics of slime and use their learning experiences to create hands-on activities for Pre-K through 8th grade students. High school students will form teams and venture out into their communities to explore the activities they have created in local …

Hovering Potato ~ Activity Plan, Admin Stem For Success

STEM for Success Showcase

This experiment is a great example of chemistry. This experiment relies heavily on density and diffusion.

• Water is less dense than half of a potato. Therefore, the potato sinks.

• Sugar water is more dense than half of a potato. Therefore, the potato floats.

By slowly adding water to sugar water, two layers are formed which allows the potato to hover in between. Slowly adding the water allows for diffusion to occur at a minimum.

Modeling The Particle-On-A-Ring Theory In An Undergraduate Laboratory, Courtney Deslauriers

Honors Theses

In early chemistry education, students are often taught to think about electrons as small, negatively charged particles existing in planetary orbits around the nucleus of an atom, rather than creating an electron cloud. In reality, electrons exhibit wave-particle duality, and are best described as wave functions. This idea that the electrons travel as waves and are moving around the nucleus so quickly that it is not possible to know the speed or location of an electron at any given moment is extremely abstract and difficult to visualize. This concept is essential to the theory of quantum mechanics, and therefore is …

Structural, Thermal, Optical, And Mechanical Properties Of Composite Films Developed From The Button Mushroom (Agaricus Bisporus)-Sourced High Molecular Weight Chitosan And Potato Starch, Bullyamini Alimi, Monjural Hoque, Shivani Pathania, Jude Wilson, Brendan Duffy, Jesus Maria Frias

Articles

Films were fabricated using the button mushroom (Agaricus bisporus) sourced high molecular weight chitosan with or without potato starch using the casting method. Glycerol was used as the plasticizer. Chitosan content in the film-forming solution (FFS) was varied (0.5, 0.75 and 1.0% w/v of FFS) while potato starch (1.0% of FFS) and glycerol (25% of the total solid content in the solution) contents were not varied. The control sample contained only chitosan (1.0% of the FFS) and glycerol. The effect of increasing the content of chitosan on the rheological properties of FFS and the properties of the films were investigated. …

Avidin Cooperative Allosterism Upon Binding Biotin Observed By Differential Changes In Intrinsic Fluorescence, Mark J. Waner, Gianna Ellis, Meghan Graeca, Nicholas Ieraci, Cole Morell, Alycia Murphy, David P. Mascotti

2023 Faculty Bibliography

Similar to streptavidin, the binding of biotin by avidin does not appear to be cooperative in the traditional sense of altered binding strength, though it appears to be cooperative in terms of ligand induced structural communication across subunits in the protein as previously shown for streptavidin. In this work we provide data from intrinsic tryptophan fluorescence as evidence of a cooperative structural change. The technique involves examination of the changes in fluorescence emission corresponding to the various tryptophan populations accompanying avidin-biotin binding. We note that the 335 nm emission population (i.e. more hydrophobic local environment) saturates prior to full ligation …

Enzymatic Electrochemical Biosensors For Neurotransmitters Detection: Recent Achievements And Trends, Zina Fredj, Baljit Singh Dr., Mohamed Bahri, Peiwu Qin, Mohamad Sawan

Articles

Neurotransmitters (NTs) play a crucial role in regulating the behavioral and physiological functions of the nervous system. Imbalances in the concentrations of NT have been directly linked to various neurological diseases (e.g., Parkinson’s, Huntington’s, and Alzheimer’s disease), in addition to multiple psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia, depression, dementia, and other neurodegenerative disorders. Hence, the rapid and real-time monitoring of the NTs is of utmost importance in comprehending neurological functions and identifying disorders. Among different sensing techniques, electrochemical biosensors have garnered significant interest due to their ability to deliver fast results, compatibility for miniaturization and portability, high sensitivity, and good controllability. …

Synthesis, Densification, And Cation Inversion In High Entropy (Co,Cu,Mg,Ni,Zn)Al2o4 Spinel, Cole A. Corlett, Nina Obradovic, Jeremy Lee Watts, Eric W. Bohannan, William Fahrenholtz

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The synthesis, densification behavior, and crystallographic site occupancy were investigated for four different spinel-based ceramics, including a high-entropy spinel (Co_0.2Cu_0.2Mg_0.2Ni_0.2 Zn_0.2)Al₂O₄. Each composition was reacted to form a single phase, but analysis of X-ray diffraction patterns revealed differences in cation site occupancy with the high-entropy spinel being nearly fully normal. Densification behavior was investigated and showed that fully dense ceramics could be produced by hot pressing at temperatures as low as 1375°C for all compositions. Vickers' hardness values were at least 10 GPa for all compositions. The …

Effects Of Flexibility In Coarse-Grained Models For Bovine Serum Albumin And Immunoglobulin G, Frank Hirschmann, Hender Lopez, Felix Roosen-Runge, Tilo Seydel, Frank Schreiber, Martin Oettel

Articles

We construct a coarse-grained, structure-based, low-resolution, 6-bead flexible model of bovine serum albumin (BSA, PDB: 4F5S), which is a popular example of a globular protein in biophysical research. The model is obtained via direct Boltzmann inversion using all-atom simulations of a single molecule, and its particular form is selected from a large pool of 6-bead coarse-grained models using two suitable metrics that quantify the agreement in the distribution of collective coordinates between all-atom and coarse-grained Brownian dynamics simulations of solutions in the dilute limit. For immunoglobulin G (IgG), a similar structure-based 12-bead model has been introduced in the literature [Chaudhri …

Determined Mechanism For The Formation Of 2-Bromo-3-Methylbutane, Gabriele Cross

Senior Honors Projects

Carbocation rearrangements are particularly interesting mechanistic steps in organic reactions. Carbocations form when a carbon atom within a molecule is electron deficient, giving it a positive charge. A rearrangement occurs when either a hydrogen atom or methyl group from an adjacent carbon atom in the molecule moves to the carbocation, thus moving the carbocation to the adjacent carbon. This rearrangement only occurs if the newly formed carbocation is more stable than the previous carbocation. These concepts are typically taught in organic chemistry courses. Researchers from Villanova University, the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, and Bethel University designed an experiment to help …

The Roles Of Tidal Marshes In The Estuarine Biochemical Processes: A Numerical Modeling Study, Xun Cai

VIMS Articles

Observations suggest that the existence of tidal marsh can alter the oxygen and nutrient dynamics in adjacent water bodies, but assessing the impacts of large tidal marshes on an estuary is challenging. In this study, we use a modeling approach to investigate the roles of tidal marshes on the estuarine biochemical processes. The marsh model, which simulates the ecological functions of marshes at seasonal and annual time-scales, is embedded inside an unstructured-grid three-dimensional hydrodynamic and eutrophication model (SCHISM-ICM). This modeling system simulates the growth and metabolism of the tidal marshes and links biological processes to nutrient dynamics in the water …

Developing Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticle-Based Stimuli-Responsive Nanocarriers For Delivery Of Small Molecule Therapeutics Against Colon Cancer Cells, Nisitha Lakmal Wellala Wijewantha

Dissertations and Theses

This dissertation delves into the innovative application of mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) for targeted drug delivery in colorectal cancer (CRC), one of the most prevalent and deadly forms of cancer worldwide. The initial focus of the research is on developing enzyme-responsive MSNs loaded with veratridine (VTD), an alkaloid derived from natural sources that demonstrates potent anticancer activity. The nanoparticles have been engineered to deliver VTD selectively to CRC cells, releasing the payload upon being exposed to specific enzymes primarily secreted by these cells. This strategy has dual advantages of amplifying the anticancer effects while minimizing potential side effects on healthy …

Evaluating The Effect Of Resveratrol On Sirt1 With Different Peptide Substrates, Yujin Hur

Master's Theses

SIRT1 is an NAD+-dependent lysine deacetylase that is involved in many important cellular pathways. The protein has an extended N-terminal domain that seems to play a role in regulating its activity. Sirtuin Activating Compounds (STACs) are allosteric activators, such as resveratrol, that regulate the activity of SIRT1. STACs bind to the N-terminal STAC Binding Domain (SBD) in SIRT1. Past literature has found that SIRT1 activity can be increased, decreased, or remain unchanged by resveratrol depending on the identity of the peptide substrate. The goal of this study is to clarify the mechanism for substrate-specific allosteric regulation by resveratrol. The interactions …

Drug Delivering Properties Of Novel Materials For Dentinal Desensitization, Abu Ahammadullah

Dissertations and Theses

This study focuses on the development of non-toxic dental materials that can adhere to dentin, occlude dentinal tubules, and release a drug with or without biological triggers. The properties of those materials are examined by SEM, UV-vis absorption spectroscopy, and a fluoride-selective electrode. The study also investigates the surface modification of calcium carbonate surface with casein, which stabilizes its micro-and nanoparticles in aqueous suspensions, making them suitable for use in dentifrices. The results indicate that the morphology and composition of the particles affect their ability to hold and release eugenol, with the casein-coated calcium carbonate microspheres being the most acid-sensitive …

Removal Of Amoxicillin Via Chromatographic Monolithic Columns: Comparison Between Batch And Continuous Fixed Bed, Mustafa Deni̇z Ağlamaz, Koray Şarkaya, Deni̇z Türkmen, Mustafa Uçar, Adi̇l Deni̇zli̇

Turkish Journal of Chemistry

This study presented a hydrophobic interaction-based poly(HEMA-MATrp) monolithic chromatographic column (MCC) to remove amoxicillin from aqueous solutions. In addition to their porous structure, monolithic-filled columns offer superior properties without loss of performance, which is one of the points that make them unique. The specific surface area of the monolithic column synthesized by the bulk polymerization of 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate and N-Methacryloyl-L-tryptophan. Also, poly(HEMAMATrp) MCC has been characterized via FTIR, SEM, and elemental analysis. According to BET analysis, the specific surface area of the poly(HEMA-MATrp) monolithic chromatographic column (MCC) is 14.2 mg/g. The adsorption and desorption of amoxicillin in an aqueous solution …

Enzymatic Removal Of Sulfa Drugs From Synthetic Wastewater By Soybean Peroxidase, Maryam Sharifzadeh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Sulfa drugs are a broad family of antibiotics that are widely used in the treatment of a wide range of infections, and they have been found in surface and groundwater, as well as present in sewage and effluent (treated sewage and sludge)municipal or industrial wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). in concentrations of ng/L to >g/L. The continued presence of these so-called emerging pollutants (ECs) and their metabolites can cause adverse ecological effects, including bacterial resistance, even at very low concentrations. In this study, the first aim was to explore the feasibility of oxidation processes catalyzed by soybean peroxidase as an eco-friendly …

Inkjet Printing Of Sers-Based Inks For Covert Anti-Counterfeiting Labels, Erin E. Schnetzer

Dissertations and Theses

Millions of counterfeit products are produced every year, which negatively impacts the global economy, public health, and human safety. Current anti-counterfeiting methods include holograms, watermarks, microprinting, and QR codes. QR codes are a two-dimensional version of a barcode, thus they can store more information. Different types of inks such as thermochromic ink and invisible UV ink are widely used in making anti-counterfeiting labels. Most of these inks have specific changes in optical properties with external stimulations, and these changes are usually associated with broad bands in the visible region. Such broad bands result in a low information capacity that can …

Using Qm/Mm Methods To Explore Sortase Enzyme Intermediates, Kinetics, And Stability, Kyle Whitham

WWU Graduate School Collection

Biochemistry has seen advancements in methods and understanding of the inner workings of proteins, yet biochemists struggle to see real time reaction pathways of protein intermediates. This is where computational chemistry comes in and fills in the holes in knowledge through the use of Quantum Mechanical (QM) models. QM chemistry alone does not give results in a reasonable timescale to predict protein chemistry in a reasonable amount of time. Computational chemistry methods such as Quantum mechanical (QM)/ Molecular Mechanical (MM) (QM/MM), allow us to split the in-silico system into two regions that utilize a fast MM force field region and …

Eps 202-102: Society Techn & Environmnt, Sweeta Chauhan

Chemistry, Environmental and Forensic Science Syllabi

No abstract provided.

Reducing Disposable Plastic Waste From Protein Quantitative Assays, Justin Buiter

All Capstone Projects

Protein concentration quantification is important for many areas of biology and biochemistry. This quantification happens in large quantities in laboratories and needs to be done accurately and quickly. The Bradford assay is one of the most common ways of accomplishing this task (1). This assay relies on the binding of the protein and the Coomassie Blue G250 dye. The anionic blue form binds to the protein and has a maximum at 595 nm. This allows for accurate quantification by reading how much of the sample absorbs at 595 nm (2).

In 2014, it was estimated that 5.5 million tons of …

Histidine Enhances The Anticancer Effect Of Gemcitabine Against Pancreatic Cancer Via Disruption Of Amino Acid Homeostasis And Oxidant—Antioxidant Balance, Narendra Kumar, Satyanarayana Rachagani, Gopalakrishnan Natarajan, Alexandra Crook, Thiyagarajan Gopal, Vinothkumar Rajamanickam, Jyoti B. Kaushal, Sirpu N. Nagabhishek, Robert Powers, Surinder K. Batra, Viswanathan Saraswathi

Robert Powers Publications

Simple Summary: Amino acid metabolism is aberrantly altered in pancreatic cancer (PC). Evidence suggests that circulating histidine (His) levels are low in PC. However, the role of His in modulating the progression of PC remains unknown. We determined the role of His in altering the therapeutic effectiveness of gemcitabine (Gem) against PC. We provide evidence that the expression of histidine ammonia lyase (HAL), an enzyme involved in His catabolism, is greatly increased in mouse and human pancreatic tumors. We show that combining His with Gem led to enhanced cytotoxic effects against aggressive PC cell lines. Our metabolomics analysis revealed that …

Investigations Of Low-Frequency Vibrations In Crystalline Organic Semiconductors And Their Impact On Material Properties, Peter Alexander Banks

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

An increasing amount of attention has been dedicated to small-molecule based crystalline organic semiconducting materials, with regular reports of newly-designed molecules that are specifically engineered to produce high-performance organic devices. Commonly, these molecules contain distinct chemical characteristics that are specifically incorporated to inhibit the large-amplitude, low-frequency vibrational motions that occur about intermolecular van der Waals contacts. These molecular motions have been historically considered a primary factor that uniquely limits the semiconducting performance of these materials, as the large displacements induced by these vibrations strongly diminish the electronic coupling between molecules in the lattice. This phenomenon is denoted as electron-phonon coupling, …

The Affect Of Dha Concentration On Lipid Membrane Fluidity, Elise Rezabeck

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

My proposed project will be creating large unilaminar vesicles with varying concentrations of DHA in the vesicles. The diffusion in and out of these vesicles will be tracked by using singular lipid molecules. These singular lipid molecules will be tagged with fluorescence and viewed using an internal reflection fluorescence microscope. The data collected over the course of this project will then be analyzed using Matlab. The result of the project will be to find the specific lipid diffusion constant of these unilaminar vesicles. The relationship between the concentration of DHA and lipid diffusion and membrane fluidity will be found as …

How Akron Affects The Water Quality Of The Cuyahoga River, Allyson Darst

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The purpose of this study was to analyze whether the city of Akron had negative effects on the Cuyahoga river, and determine if the Cuyahoga River was naturally able to remediate these effects downstream. The pollutants measured in this study include hardness, bromine, residual chlorine, iron, copper, lead, nitrate, nitrite, ammonium chloride, total chlorine, fluoride, carbonate, pH, total alkalinity and cyanuric acid. This study was done using water testing strips (JNW Direct) to test the water at four different locations along the Cuyahoga River downstream (North) of Akron. This study found that the city of Akron does have a negative …

Intergranular And Pitting Corrosion Mechanisms Of Sensitized Aluminum Alloy Aa5083, Clayton Egleston

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The motivation and objectives of this project is to examine the mechanisms of intergranular corrosion (IGC) and pitting corrosion of sensitized AA5083. In this regard, different characterization techniques were used, including optical analysis of microstructure, cyclic potentiodynamic polarization with Tafel fitting, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy with electrical equivalent circuit (EEC) fitting, and potentiostatic current transient monitoring. The transition from IGC to pitting corrosion occurs when the grain boundaries become saturated with the β-phase (Mg₂Al₃). It was found that AA5083 becomes more vulnerable to pitting corrosion as the degree of sensitization increases.

Inter-Rater Agreement For The Annotation Of Neurologic Signs And Symptoms In Electronic Health Records, Chelsea Oommen, Quentin Howlett-Prieto, Michael D. Carrithers, Daniel B. Hier

Chemistry Faculty Research & Creative Works

The extraction of patient signs and symptoms recorded as free text in electronic health records is critical for precision medicine. Once extracted, signs and symptoms can be made computable by mapping to signs and symptoms in an ontology. Extracting signs and symptoms from free text is tedious and time-consuming. Prior studies have suggested that inter-rater agreement for clinical concept extraction is low. We have examined inter-rater agreement for annotating neurologic concepts in clinical notes from electronic health records. After training on the annotation process, the annotation tool, and the supporting neuro-ontology, three raters annotated 15 clinical notes in three rounds. …

Natural Product Co-Metabolism And The Microbiota–Gut–Brain Axis In Age-Related Diseases, Mark Obrenovich, Sandeep Kumar Singh, Yi Li, George Perry, Bushra Siddiqui, Waqas Haq, V. Prakash Reddy

Chemistry Faculty Research & Creative Works

Complementary alternative medicine approaches are growing treatments of diseases to standard medicine practice. Many of these concepts are being adopted into standard practice and orthomolecular medicine. Age-related diseases, in particular neurodegenerative disorders, are particularly difficult to treat and a cure is likely a distant expectation for many of them. Shifting attention from pharmaceuticals to phytoceuticals and "bugs as drugs" represents a paradigm shift and novel approaches to intervention and management of age-related diseases and downstream effects of aging. Although they have their own unique pathologies, a growing body of evidence suggests Alzheimer's disease (AD) and vascular dementia (VaD) share common …