Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Distribution And Transportation Of Coal Tar Contaminants In The Chattanooga Creek Floodplain, Dalphania Syreeta Dickerson

Masters Theses

In Chattanooga, Tennessee, tens of thousands of tons of coal tar were disposed of in Chattanooga Creek during operations of the Chattanooga Coke Plant (1918-1987). Coal tar is composed of thousands of organic compounds, which span a wide range of molecular weight. Many of these compounds are polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and are known carcinogens. Chattanooga Creek is an urban creek, which runs through the southern part of the city of Chattanooga and is surrounded by industrial development, residential neighborhoods, parks, and schools. Due to the hazardous nature of coal tar and coal tar constituents, portions of the creek and …

Novel Algorithms And Datamining For Clustering Massive Datasets, Aruna K. Buddana

Masters Theses

Clustering proteomics data is a challenging problem for any traditional clustering algorithm. Usually, the number of samples is much smaller than the number of protein peaks. The use of a clustering algorithm which does not take into consideration the number of feature of variables (here the number of peaks) is needed. An innovative hierarchical clustering algorithm may be a good approach. This work proposes a new dissimilarity measure for the hierarchical clustering combined with a functional data analysis. This work presents a specific application of functional data analysis (FDA) to a highthrouput proteomics study. The high performance of the proposed …

An Infrastructure For The Analysis Of Communication Patterns In Virtual Topologies, Nikhil Bhatia

Masters Theses

The virtual topology of a parallel application is the neighborhood relationship between communicating processes developed due to specific communication patterns resulting from domain decomposition. We present an infrastructure that allows the usage of topological information for the performance analysis of a parallel application. For this purpose we have implemented an easy to use extension of the KOJAK performance analysis toolkit.

The KOJAK toolkit defines communication patterns for parallel applications which describe inefficient behavior. The performance analysis is carried out by calculating the effect of these inefficiency patterns on the application's performance. The distribution of these inefficiency patterns is studied across …

A Family Of Matrix Representations Of The Figure Eight Knot Group, Marvalisa M. Payne

Masters Theses

An exact computation is given of a new 1-parameter family of SL(4,R) representations of the figure eight knot group.

Ametropic Eye Modeling, Bo Tan

Masters Theses

Using a commercial optical design software, a general ametropic eye model was constructed based on the measured data of 69 young adults. The experiment data was obtained from 2 published literatures. The correlation between refractive errors of the eyes and their axial lengths, cornea curvatures and intraocular powers was investigated and adopted into the modeling for the first time. The optical performance of the new model eye was evaluated and compared with published aberration data from human eyes. The comparison was performed on both on-axis and periphery vision. High-order wavefront aberrations that include the asymmetric properties of eyes and the …

Experimental Investigation Of The Breakdown Of Dolomite And Isotope Transport In Rock Cores At 100 Mpa, 650–750 °C, Michael Thomas Deangelis

Masters Theses

The kinetics of the breakdown reaction dolomite = periclase + calcite + CO2 were investigated using cores of dolomitic marble. Two samples of Reed Dolomite from southwestern Nevada were cut into cylinders approximately 4×6 mm in size.

The cores were sealed in gold capsules with isotopically enriched water (H218O or HD 18O0.5 16 O0.5). The samples were heated in a cold-seal hydrothermal apparatus to 650–750 °C at 100 MPa for durations ranging from 2–59 days. The cores were then sectioned and examined by EMP, XRD, and SIMS techniques. All experiments show some amount of reaction regardless of duration or temperature. …

Monte Carlo Simulation Of Scatter In A Cone-Beam X-Ray Micro-Ct Scanner, Noel F. Black

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

A Stark-Effect Modulator For Co2 Laser Free-Space Communications, Ryan Lane Holloman

Masters Theses

A Stark-effect modulator prototype has been designed and constructed to transmit an RF signal upon an infrared carrier wave produced by a CO₂ laser. The anticipated future use of this prototype will be to integrate it into an all-weather long-wavelength infrared (LWIR) free-space communication link. This communication system is expected to be capable of operation at 2.5 Gbits/sec over a range of >6 kilometers. The Stark-effect modulator prototype is ideal to replace existing microwave and radio communication links used currently. Also, the Stark-effect modulator is a better choice than electro-optic crystal modulators and acousto-optic Bragg cell modulators because it …

Seasonal Variability In Trace Metal Speciation And Vertical Redox Stratification Of Freshwater Lake And Marsh Sediments In The Kalamzoo River Watershed (Mi, Usa), Noah Tumusiime Ndenga

Masters Theses

This research was aimed at: 1) quantifying redox-sensitive parameters in order to study redox stratification of the upper freshwater sediments at Asylum Lake and Kleinstuck Marsh, 2) quantifying the speciation of metals (e.g., Pb, Mn, Fe, Cr, Cu, Zn, Co and Cd), particularly with respect to their association with Fe and Mn (hydr)oxide phases, and 3) assessing changes in redox stratification and metal speciation as a function of season in the sediments. Both the solid phase and sediment pore waters were collected to a depth of ~50cm. Pore waters were analyzed for redox-sensitive species and the sediment solid phase was …

An Investigation Of The Interlobate Area West Of Three Rivers, Michigan And Its Relationship To The Late Wisconsinan Glaciation Of Southwest Michigan, Scott J. Kendzierski

Masters Theses

A detailed investigation of selected mineralogical and textural characteristics of glacial deposits was conducted in order to explore the complex relationships between the Lake Michigan and Saginaw Lobe ice-margins and associated depositional regimes during the deglaciation of southwest Michigan. Various analytical methodologies were applied to the characterization of glacial materials, glacial and post-glacial environments in order to infer a chronology of lobate activity.

The Sturgis Moraine, located in St. Joseph County, Michigan, is a major recessional moraine owing to the processes of both the Lake Michigan and Saginaw Lobes. Analysis of geologic materials and examination of subsurface data along with …

Glacial Stratigraphy And Surficial Geology Of The Decatur, Lawrence, And Paw Paw U.S.G.S.7.5 Minute Quadrangles In Van Buren County, Michigan, Brian Bird

Masters Theses

The modern day landscape of Van Buren County Michigan was created by the advance and retreat of glaciers from about 13,000 to 20,000 years ago. The Lake Michigan Lobe of the Laurentide Ice Sheet sculpted southwest Michigan most recently. The sediments deposited by the glacier include diamicton, outwash sediments, and lacustrine deposits. The build up of sediment by the glaciers led to the construction of particular features such as moraines, till plains, and outwash fans. The huge amount of meltwater from the glaciers led to the erosion of channels throughout the area. In the area of this investigation the Ganges …

Synthetic And Structural Studies Of Novel 1, 10-Phenanthroline Derivatives, Eunjoo Kim

Masters Theses

Asymmetric catalysis can provide a general approach to the preparation of enantiomerically enriched compounds in organic synthesis. Very often these asymmetric catalysts consist of a chiral ligand-metal complex. Because of the growing demand to develop enantioselective reactions in organic chemistry one focus of this area of research is the design and characterization of new chiral ligands for asymmetric synthesis.

The focus of my research is in the design, synthesis, and characterization of novel 1, 10-phenanthroline derivatives that could be used as chiral ligands in enantioselective reactions. Central to these studies have been the effect of substituents on the B-ring of …

Copper Exchange Studies Between The First And Fourth N-Terminal Metal-Binding Domains Of Wilson Disease Atpase, Jennifer Bunce

Masters Theses

The human copper-transporting ATPase Wilson's disease protein was one of the first proteins shown to be actively involved in cellular copper homeostasis. The protein includes six N-terminal metal binding domains. The individual capabilities of the domains to bind and transfer copper are not yet fully understood. Each metal-binding domain is about 72 amino acid residues long and contains the conserved binding motif GMTCXXC, of which the cysteines are involved in the copper coordination. Studies have shown that the protein binds six copper atoms suggesting the potential involvement of each metal-binding domain. Separate functional roles for the latter domains have been …

Rhizopine Synthesis – Potential Mediators For Nitrogen Fixation In Legume Plants, Venkat Reddy Guduru

Masters Theses

This research project focused on novel and efficient synthetic approaches of inosamine derivatives (rhizopines). The preparation of specific rhizopines would help elucidate the microbial pathway of rhizopine catabolism and degradation, and determine the role of corresponding genes during nitrogen fixation. We have investigated regio - and stereoselective transformations of myo-inositol derivative 28 utilizing an organostannane as key intermediate towards rhizopine 1a. The synthesis involved several protection and deprotection strategies to control competing reactivities of six hydroxyl groups of myo-inositol. Rhizopine 1a was prepared efficiently as a single isomer in 8 steps and 13% yield by controlling reactions …

Effect Of Antioxidants On Cadmium Induced Oxidative Stress And Signal Transduction, Deepti Goel

Masters Theses

A study was done to establish if reactive oxygen species (ROS) participate in the signal transduction pathway through which cadmium induces gene transcription. Cadmium has become a concern in the health care community in the past few years as evidence suggests that cadmium can induce the development of tumors, influence cell signaling and cause damage to organs, tissue, cells and DNA. The mechanism by which cadmium exerts its action on cellular processes or induces toxicity is however unclear although there is evidence to suggest that ROS play a role. Our laboratory is interested in understanding the mechanisms of differentially regulated …

Nonaqueous Platination For Synthesis Of Platinated 7 Alpha-Substituted Estradiol, Sarah A. Mazzella

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

The Application Of 31p And 1h Nmr Spectroscopy To The Study Of Freeze Tolerance And Freeze Avoidance In Biological Systems, Nicholas C. Wright

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

Bio-Inspired Approaches For Critical Infrastructure Protection: Application Of Clonal Selection Principle For Intrusion Detection And Facts Placement, Kasthurirangan Parthasarathy

Masters Theses

"In this research, Clonal Selection, an immune system inspired approach, is utilized along with Evolutionary Algorithms to solve complex engineering problems such as Intrusion Detection and optimization of Flexible AC Transmission System (FACTS) device placement in a power grid. The clonal selection principle increases the strength of good solutions and alters their properties to find better solutions in a problem space. A special class of evolutionary algorithms that utilizes the clonal selection principle to guide its heuristic search process is termed Clonal EA. Clonal EAs can be used to solve complex pattern recognition and function optimization problems, which involve searching …

A Multiple Linear Regression Analysis On Mathematics Placement At The University Of Tennessee, Knoxville, Steven K. Moore

Masters Theses

This paper looks at solving the least squares problem and then using that theory to solve a simple multiple regression analysis for placing students into mathematics courses at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

The first chapter is an introduction and a basic outline of the problem. Chapter 2 outlines the theory behind solving an actual least squares problem for both the general case and for the particular case of nonsingular matrices. Chapter 3 discusses assumptions that must be made when running the analysis.

In chapters 4 and 5 computers are discussed and software output is explained. Finally, Chapter 6 gives …

Crown Reductions And Decompositions: Theoretical Results And Practical Methods, William Henry Suters, Iii

Masters Theses

Two kernelization schemes for the vertex cover problem, an NP-hard problem in graph theory, are compared. The first, crown reduction, is based on the identification of a graph structure called a crown and is relatively new while the second, LP-kernelization has been used for some time. A proof of the crown reduction algorithm is presented, the algorithm is implemented and theorems are proven concerning its performance. Experiments are conducted comparing the performance of crown reduction and LP- kernelization on real world biological graphs. Next, theorems are presented that provide a logical connection between the crown structure and LP-kernelization. Finally, an …

Understanding The Dynamics Of Molecular Solids, Roman Wesolowski

Masters Theses

Superconductors, single-molecule magnets, and spin-ladders materials are at the center of interest in condensed matter science. All of these materials have incredibly important potential applications and their exploration is the key to the future technologies. We carried out various measurements on representative compounds of each group of interest. The main tool for all these projects was optical spectroscopy, varied in each case to apply magnetic field or change temperature. In our magneto-optical measurements of κ-(ET)₂Cu[N(CN)₂]Br and κ-(ET)₂Cu[N(CN)₂]Cl, we sought to understand correlations between intramolecular vibrations and superconductivity. We found several …

Probabilistic Suffix Models For Windows Application Behavior Profiling: Framework And Initial Results, Geoffrey Alan Mazeroff

Masters Theses

Developing statistical/structural models of code execution behavior is of considerable practical importance. This thesis describes a framework for employing probabilistic suffix models as a means of constructing behavior profiles from code-traces of Windows XP applications. Emphasis is placed on the inference and use of probabilistic suffix trees and automata with new contributions in the area of auxiliary symbol distributions. An initial real-time classification system is discussed and preliminary results of detecting known benign and viral applications are presented.

Analysis Of Reflected Spectral Signatures And Detection Of Geophysical Disturbance Using Hyperspectral Imagery, Forrest Mccoy Hoffman

Masters Theses

Geophysical disturbances resulting from human activities often have significant
consequences for plants and animals, and even for entire ecosystems.Disturbances resulting from petroleum exploration and production activities can have long term impacts on soils, watersheds, rivers and lakes, vegetation, wildlife, and humans. These anthropogenic disturbances are frequently the result of hydrocarbon (oil) or produced water (brine) spills. Brine is usually produced simultaneously with oil or gas. The ability to detect brine spills with remote sensing techniques would be valuable to petroleum companies and industry regulators. The objectives of this research were to 1) determine if brine spills could be detected spectroscopically, …

Joint Size Estimation Using Joint Traces On Borehole Walls, Christopher James Heiny

Masters Theses

One approach to characterizing subsurface joint populations is to assume
surface joint patterns are representative of joints at depth. Yet, many times, either the analogous surface joints are unexposed, or absent because surface rocks did not experience the same deformation history. The alternative of direct subsurface characterization has been limited by joints not being resolvable in seismic data and borehole data not yielding fracture size. The present approach uses the subsurface geometry of joint/borehole intersections to estimate mean joint size (mean joint length and width) and aspect ratio (joint length to width ratio), and presents a new method for determining …

Synthesis And Characterization Of A Recombinant Thrombin Inhibitor, Joel Lwande

Masters Theses

The final step of the blood coagulation cascade is catalyzed by thrombin, a serine protease. Like most enzyme activities, thrombin activity encounters inhibition from both direct and indirect inhibitors. A new thrombin inhibitor peptide named theromin was recently isolated from the leech Theromyzon tessulatum, and it is the most potent thrombin inhibitor isolated to date. Theromin is made up of 67 amino acid residues, out of which 16 are cysteines engaged in 8-disulfide bridges.

We synthesized the theromin gene and expressed the protein in Eschericia coli. We purified the recombinant protein and carried out thrombin inhibition assays that …

Slope Stability Analysis Of A Lake Michigan Coastal Bluff, Gregory Carlton Young

Masters Theses

Bluff failure along the Lake Michigan coast can be produced primarily by increased pore pressure from perched water tables above lacustrine clay deposits. To test this theory, a site in Allegan County, Michigan with alternating layers of sand, clay and glacial till was chosen for bluff failure monitoring. Historically, the site experiences sporadic massive failures as opposed to neighboring sites that show more regular and uniform displacements. Four pole and cable monitoring lines were measured bi-weekly from December 2001 to October 2003. Lake levels were low and no erosion of material at the base of the slope occurred. Slumps above …

Low Energy Excitations In Spin Clusters And Molecular Solids, Jason Thomas Haraldsen

Masters Theses

This thesis investigates low energy magnetic and vibrational excitations in molecular solids. Analytical and numerical studies of these two types of excitations, both in idealized systems and in more complicated models that are thought to capture the relevant physics of several materials. The materials considered include molecular magnets and layered organic superconductors and semiconductors. Our results include exact expressions for certain magnetic observables, neutron scattering structure factors for small spin 1/2 clusters, studies of the molecular dynamics of Fe₈Br₈ molecular magnet, the e®ects of symmetry breaking in (DT-TTF)₂Au(mnt)₂ spin ladder candidate, and the importance …

Maximal Clique Enumeration And Related Tools For Microarray Data Analysis, Nicole E. Baldwin

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to investigate the utility of exact maximal clique enumeration in DNA microarray analysis, to analyze and improve upon existing exact maximal clique enumeration algorithms, and to develop new clique-based algorithms to assist in the analysis as indicated during the course of the study. As a first test, microarray data sets comprised of pre-classified human lung tissue samples were obtained through the Critical Assessment of Microarray Data Analysis (CAMDA) conference. A combination of exact maximal clique enumeration and approximate dominating set was used to attempt to classify the samples.

In another test, maximal clique enumeration …

Ellipsometric Measurement Of Swelling Properties Associated With Ph Responsive Hydrogels In Solution, James F. Patton

Masters Theses

Previous investigations have demonstrated that aqueous solutions containing hydrogels using 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (2-HEMA) as one of the monomer components swell reversibly under variable conditions of pH, temperature, and ionic strength, based upon weight gain ratios. A more unique approach will be employed to measure swelling properties associated with pH responsive hydrogels in buffered solutions, namely ellipsometry. Traditionally ellipsometry has been used to measure thickness of materials on a nanoscale dimension under ambient conditions. Finally, more novel approaches of employing hydrogel swelling response properties will be investigated; including response to glucose and enzyme loading schemes. The goal of our project will …

A Framework For Downloading Wide-Area Files, Rebecca Lynn Collins

Masters Theses

The challenge of efficiently retrieving files that are broken into segments and replicated across the widearea is of prime importance to wide-area, peer-to-peer, and Grid file systems. Two different algorithms addressing this challenge have been proposed and evaluated. While both have been successful in different performance scenarios, there has been no unifying work that can view both algorithms under a single framework. In this thesis, we define such a framework, where download algorithms are defined in terms of the four dimensions that the client always controls: the number of simultaneous downloads, the degree of work replication, the failover strategy, and …