Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Adhering Homogeneous Molecular Electrocatalysts Entrapped In Micelles To Electrode Surfaces, Emily Kuhlmann

Honors Theses

Heterogeneous catalysts are important to industrial use; however, mechanistic studies are difficult because they lack the easy tunability of homogeneous catalysts. One solution could be to immobilize homogeneous catalysts using micelles while maintaining catalytic properties and activities.

Temperature Scale Influence On Perceptions Of Climate Risk, Chelsea Spaman

Honors Theses

This study explored how the use of the temperature scales Fahrenheit and Celsius in climate science communication affects climate change concern. The study specifically targeted Americans due to their familiarity with the Fahrenheit scale, which is not the primary temperature scale used in scientific communication. The study employed a survey, in which the anonymous participants read a short introduction about climate change and temperature rise and then answered a series of questions regarding levels of climate change concern. These questions covered concerns about climate change in general and its potential to harm individual survey participants, flora and fauna, future generations, …

Synthesis Of Halogenated Glyoximes, Nickie Tiwari

Honors Theses

Dr. Huang is a chemical engineering professor at the University of Alabama. He is interested in using alpha-Halogenated glyoximes to better understand impurity incorporation of organic additives. Various alpha-Halogenated glyoximes are being synthesized for his study. In this project, bromodimethylglyoxime is being synthesized. This is a two-step reaction. The first reaction converts diacetlymonoxime to bromodimethylglyoxalmonoxime through bromination. The product is then reacted with hydroxylammonium chloride to form bromodimethylglyoxime. Ultimately, there has been success in forming bromodimethylglyoxalmonoxime. For this reaction, solvent ratios of methanol must be proportional to literature values. However, there have been difficulties in converting bromomonoxime to bromodimethylglyoxime. There …

Oit Web App, Stanley Ritsema

Honors Theses

The goal of this project was to create a web app to assist WMU’s help desk in handling various user issues relating to Office365 and WebEx. The three issues of unblocking email, enabling live-streaming, and changing the URL of a personal meeting room all require administrative access but the OIT department wanted to empower front desk staff to handle such requests. The project was designed using a web server that takes user input from a help desk employee and executes java functions that make API calls. In the end, we were able to successfully create this proof-of-concept prototype for two …

Edmms Temperature Controller, Anthony Kirkland

Honors Theses

Temperature control systems in consumer appliances like that of a thermostat interfacing with HVAC systems, refrigerators and ovens are oscillatory in nature. There is a temperature at which the machine that causes the change in the system comes on and a different temperature at which it comes off. While sufficient for humans, welding, metal casting, and other metallurgical processes require precise temperature control, more precise than the hysteresis of a consumer system.

Proportional integral derivative (PID) provides a better way of monitoring the way temperature changes when the entity that changes the environment comes on and renders changes in system …

Exploring Manifoldlike Causal Sets And Their Dimensions, Santosh Bhandari

Honors Theses

Causal Set Theory is an approach to quantum gravity that tries to replace the continuum spacetime structure of general relativity with the spacetime that has the property of discreteness and causality. From the standpoint of causal set theory, our spacetime is made up of discrete points that are causally related to one another. A causal set is said to be manifoldlike if it can be faithfully embedded in a Lorentzian manifold. In this thesis, some of the fundamental properties of causal sets are discussed. The first chapter is devoted to the historical background of quantum gravity with a discussion of …

Artificial De Novo Tetramer Hydrogenase Mimic, Co-Metallopeptide Titration, And Photocatalysis, Thuy Hien Le

Honors Theses

Alternative energy is more imperative than ever as we continue to exhaust nonrenewable resources. There is promise in artificial hydrogenases that produce hydrogen gas which can be an alternate source of clean, sustainable renewable energy. Moreover, artificial metalloenzymes were designed for solar H2 production using de novo designed metallopeptides. A computer-guided design approach was used to conceive the peptides. These peptides are 30 amino acids long and are designed to self-assemble into tetrameric structures. There are suitably positioned cysteine residues that bind the metal Co and form metallic clusters within these artificial proteins. The Co-metallopeptides were then characterized by employing …

Generative Art, Caleb Harmon

Honors Theses

Generative Art is systems that produce complex structures and visuals through computation.

Effects Of Temperature & Ph On Bpa Leaching In Oral Hygiene Products Using Fluorescence Spectroscopy, Mady Rottinghaus

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Defying The Darkness: Countering Cancer With Light, Travis Hankins

Honors Theses

Triple-Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC) accounts for upwards of 15% of reported breast cancer cases. This subtype of breast cancer poses a greater threat to those diagnosed as compared to other types of breast cancer due to the lack of treatment options available. Additionally, TNBC grows and spreads faster, tends to be more aggressive, and has a greater chance of recurrence than its counterparts. Altogether, TNBC cases generally have a worse prognosis over other types of breast cancer. Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is currently being researched as a way to treat TNBC. Photodynamic therapy agents are light-activated materials used for localized disease …

Machine Learning Approach To Pattern Recognition In Nuclear Dynamics From The Ab Initio Symmetry-Adapted No-Core Shell Model, Oleksandr Molchanov

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Preparation Of Perylene Bisimide Acceptors With Ethylcarboxyl And Pyrenylcyclohexyl Imide Groups, Michael Cashen Stark

Honors Theses

Multiple attempts were made to deprotect TBDMS-protected (tert-butyldimethylsilyl protected) serinol and swallowtailed PBI (Compound 2), synthesized by past researcher Tarrah Frederick, to generate Compound 1. The theoretical Compound 1 product is intended for use in molecular rectification of electricity because the perylene core acts as a good acceptor with high electron affinity, and it does not require an electron donor group. Many rectification molecules are amphiphilic Donor-σ-Acceptor compounds, which allow for electron transfer through localized molecular orbitals when placed between electrodes (Langmuir-Blodgett Method). However, PBIs can transfer electrons from one electrode, through the LUMO of perylene, and to the other …

A Spectroscopic And Computational Study Of Diacetyl And Water Clusters, Margaret Baldwin

Honors Theses

Diacetyl, otherwise known as 1,2-butadione or biacetyl, is a flavor additive used in microwave popcorn, and more importantly as of late, e-cigarettes. The compound is known to cause lung disease for those who have been exposed to a large quantity of the buttery smelling molecule. As such, the characterization of diacetyl’s vibrational modes when it interacts with water are pivotal to understanding the effects it has on human lung tissue. In this research, the intermolecular interactions between water and diacetyl and the effects they have on one another’s vibrational modes are explored. While some experimental data is presented, the spectra …

Golf: Strategies For Success, Lauren Dunaway

Honors Theses

A study into the win probability of certain strategies in the card game Golf.

A Unique, Project-Based, Microcourse To Teach The Fundamental Concepts Of Quantum Mechanics, Elijah Begin

Honors Theses

Spyder, a Scientific Python Development Environment, provides an easy-to-use software that can be used to generate data from quantum mechanical systems. This project proposes and explores a microcourse which takes advantage of this utility to teach undergraduates the fundamentals of quantum mechanics.

Comparisons Of Silver Nanoparticle Synthesis Methods By Microwave And Non-Microwave Using Hydrogen Gas As A Reducing Agent, Sofia Erech Hanapin

Honors Theses

Synthesis and characterization of silver nanoparticles are of current interest. This research project describes a simple and rapid synthesis of silver nanoparticles upon reduction of Silver (I) oxide (Ag2O) by molecular hydrogen (H2) at elevated temperature (70 – 100 °C) and a pressure of > 1 atmosphere by heating the aqueous mixture using a common kitchen microwave. This reaction generates naked silver colloids that contain no foreign stabilizers other than metal particles in aqueous media. Its application of an antibacterial effect was monitored by using biological cultures using the Kirby-Bauer Test.

Thermodynamic Analysis Of Pamam Dendrimer Synthesis, Ryutaro Einar Jacobson

Honors Theses

The objective of this research was to determine kinetic and thermodynamic data about the reaction between ethylene diamine and methyl acrylate which is used in the production of PAMAM dendrimers. Establishing a rate law and finding values such as rate constant, activation energy, and Arrhenius coefficient will help in determining the best possible conditions for the reaction. A rate law was established through the method of initial rates, comparing the rates of reactions with different initial concentrations to one another. Additional reactions were run with active cooling to observe the effects on rate and reaction progress, and finally reactions were …

Finding Optimal Opa-Iblc Derivatized Amino Acid Analysis Parameters With Three-Dimensional Fluorometric Scans For Hplc Method Validation, Aaron Jacobs

Honors Theses

Three-dimensional fluorometric scans of OPA-IBLC derivatized glutamic acid and histidine solutions revealed that decreasing concentration maintained maximum λem but produced different maximum λex. In pH 0.4 M sodium borate buffer (pH 10.4), 50 μM derivatized amino acid solutions had maxima around 350- to 450-nm λex-λem where 12.5 μM solutions had maxima around 230- to 450-nm λex- λem. In the lower concentration, the λex peak at 230 nm was about 80% higher than 350 nm. Thus, collecting spectra with 230 nm λex would provide better LOD and LOQ. Results inform HPLC standard concentrations since differential quenching effects may produce non-linear calibration …

Computational Difficulty And Invariants Of The Snake Cube Puzzle, Adrian Negrea

Honors Theses

The snake cube is a popular puzzle that has been analyzed for its computational difficulty and shown to be NP-complete. Conceiving of the puzzle as a Hamiltonian path in an n x n x n graph, we offer a novel mathematical analysis by considering invariants of the puzzle. This allows us to determine necessary conditions for a particular snake cube to be solvable and eliminate a large class of possible puzzles as unsolvable. In particular, we establish upper and lower bounds on the possible number of straight components in solvable snake cube puzzles.

Parasite Prevalence In Marsh Rice Rats (Oryzomys Palustris) On Sites Affected By The 2010 Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, Layni Leblanc

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Bat Species Composition And Relative Activity Across A Rural-To-Urban Gradient In Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Emily Munch

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Rutile As A Provenance Indicator For The Camerino Sandstone Of The Camerino Basin, Apennine Mountain Region, Italy, Wendy Bogil

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Static Analysis Of Haskell For Suitable Metrics For Grading, Christian Fontenot

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Plant-Wide Control System Proposal Of Ethylene Cracking Plant Simulation, Estelle Seghers

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Dna Curve Classification With Unsupervised Learning, Ben Thomas

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Integration And Analysis Of Gaze Behavior In Augmented Reality, George Villaume

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Restoration Agriculture In Louisiana: On The Prospects And Ethics Of Creating A Permanent, Dynamic Agricultural System Suited For Louisiana's Environment, Noah Willsea

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Dijkstra’S Pathfinder, Taylor F. Malamut

Honors Theses

Dijkstra’s algorithm has been widely studied and applied since it was first published in 1959. This research shows that Dijkstra’s algorithm can be used to find the shortest path between two stations on the Washington D.C. Metro. After exploring different types of research and applying Dijkstra’s algorithm, it was found that the algorithm will always yield the shortest path, even if visually a shorter path was initially expected.

Reversing The Regioselectivity Of Indole Addition To Cyclic Unsymmetrical Oxyallyl Cations: Construction Of Diaryl Quaternary Centers, Thomas Davis Curry Ii

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Waves, Mixing, And Resuspension In An Urban Subtropical Lake: Restoration Implications, Noel Dudeck

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.