Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Cloud Security Requirements Analysis And Security Policy Development Using A High-Order Object-Oriented Modeling Technique, Kenneth Kofi Fletcher

Masters Theses

"Security continues to be a major challenge for cloud computing, and it is one that must be addressed if cloud computing is to be fully accepted. Most technological means of securing non-cloud computing systems can be either applied directly or modified to secure a cloud; however, no integrated model-based methodology is yet available to analyze cloud security requirements and develop policy to deal with both internal and external security challenges. This work proposes just such a methodology and demonstrates its application with specific cases. Cloud assets are represented by high order object models, and misuse cases together with malactivity swimlane …

Cretaceous/Paleogene Boundary Biostratigraphy And Palynofacies Of The Alo-1 Well, Southeastern Nigeria, Janet Diane Raymer

Masters Theses

"The Cretaceous/Paleogene boundary (K/Pg) has been studied in great detail because of the fascination most people have with the extinction of the dinosaurs. The response of the vegetation to this extinction event has been studied in detail in mid to high latitudes, but little is known about what happened in the tropics. Sixty-seven samples from the Nsukka and Imo formations in the Alo-1 well in the Anambra Basin, southeastern Nigeria have been studied for their palynological contents. The aims of the study was to use spores, pollen and dispersed organic matter components to interpret biostratigraphy, and evaluate depositional conditions across …

Representation And Validation Of Domain And Range Restrictions In A Relational Database Driven Ontology Maintenance System, Patrick Garrett. Edgett

Masters Theses

"An ontology can be used to represent and organize the objects, properties, events, processes, and relations that embody an area of reality [1]. These knowledge bases may be created manually (by individuals or groups), and/or automatically using software tools, such as those developed for information retrieval and data mining. Recently, the National Science Foundation funded a large collaborative development project for the semi-automated construction of an ontology of amphibian anatomy (AmphibAnat [2]). To satisfy the extensive community curation requirements of that project, a generic, Web-based, multi-user, relational database ontology management system (RDBOM [3]) was constructed, based upon a novel theoretical …

The Role Of Skeletal Development In Body Size Evolution Of Two North American Frogs, Sarah Beth Havens

Masters Theses

"In order to better understand the evolution of miniaturization in Acris blanchardi, a North American Hylid with a unique life history and of ecological interest in the United States. The development and ossification sequences of 48 larvae, 5 juveniles and 5 adult A. blanchardi were examined. The adult was described by Maglia et al. (2007) to be a miniature and to display morphological novelties. In addition, 44 larvae, 2 juvenile and 5 adults of Pseudacris crucifer a closely related frog that has been suggested to be a miniature, were examined. The cranial and postcranial adult elements of this species, as …

Zinc Oxide Nanoparticle Disruption Of Store-Operated Calcium Entry In A Muscarinic Receptor Signaling Pathway, Hsiu-Jen Wang

Masters Theses

"The influences of ZnO nanoparticles on cellular responses to activation of muscarinic receptors were studied in Chinese hamster ovary cells expressing the human M3 muscarinic acetylcholine receptor. ZnO particles (20 nm) induced cytotoxicity in a time and concentration-dependent manner: following a 24 h exposure, toxicity was minimal at concentrations below 20 µg/ml but virtually complete at concentrations above 28 µg/ml. ZnO particles did not affect antagonist binding to M3 receptors or allosteric ligand effects, but increased agonist binding affinity while eliminating guanine nucleotide sensitivity. At a noncytotoxic concentration (10 µg/ml), ZnO increased resting [Ca²⁺]i from 40 to 130 nM without …

Population Control In Evolutionary Algorithms, Jason Edward Cook

Masters Theses

"Traditional evolutionary algorithms (EAs) are powerful robust problem solvers that have several fixed parameters which require prior specification. Having to determine good values for any of these parameters can be problematic, as the performance of EAs is generally very sensitive to these parameters, requiring expert knowledge to set optimally without extensive use of trial and error. Parameter control is a promising approach to achieving this automation and has the added potential of increasing EA performance based on both theoretical and empirical evidence that the optimal values of EA strategy parameters change during the course of executing an evolutionary run. While …

Developing A Model For Evaluating Software Tools In Education, Vedant Jain

Masters Theses

"This thesis proposes a research model to evaluate computer-mediated learning technology, user acceptance of the technology, and the effect of the technology on learning outcomes. This thesis also introduces two innovative research techniques for such evaluations, that is, eye-tracking and the think aloud protocol. Think aloud protocol allows us to understand a user's state of mind while he/she is interacting with the system. Eye-tracking provides additional insights into a user's cognitive state while using the system and can help triangulate the results. We demonstrated the application of the research model and research techniques in evaluating visualization software designed in a …

Palynology Of The Middle To Upper Eocene Esmeraldas Formation In The Nuevo Mundo Syncline Area, Middle Magdalena Valley Basin, Colombia, Guillermo Rodriguez-Forero

Masters Theses

"The palynology of the Eocene Esmeraldas Formation in the Middle Magdalena Valley Basin, Colombia was analyzed in order to constrain the age of the unit. This formation is a very important oil reservoir in the Middle Magdalena Valley Basin, which is a product of a fragmentation of a Cenozoic foreland basin by the Northern Andes. It created structural complexities and syntectonic deposition. The lateral continuity of the formation, as well as its correlations with lithostratigraphic units is adjacent basins, are not clearly understood. The Los Corros Fossil Horizon, a mollusk horizon in the upper part of the Esmeraldas Formation, is …

An Investigation Into The Activities Of 1,2,3 & 1,2,4 Triazoles In Biological And Catalytic Systems, David John Schneider

Masters Theses

Selective epigenetic control of the cellular machinery is a grail of drug development. The balance between HAT’s and HDAC’s activities is one way the cell controls what, and at when during the cellular lifecycle a gene is expressed. Having the ability to lock chromatin down to the histone is a powerful tool for the treatment of disease states like cancer. Presented here is a preliminary exploration of the synthesis, and basic testing of novel compounds that use a triazole motif as a zinc binding group in an attempt to gain further selectivity in inhibition over HDAC’s.

Interest in the development …

Design And Synthesis Of Fret-Based Boronic Acid Receptors To Detect Carbohydrate Clustering And Development Of Diacylglycerol-Based Lipid Probesto Investigate Lipid-Protein Binding Interactions, Manpreet Kaur Cheema

Masters Theses

Carbohydrate–protein interactions play vital roles in various biochemical processes such as signal transduction and cell surface recognition events. The clustering of carbohydrates into dense domains such as lipid rafts regulates recognition by multivalent receptors (i.e. lectins). These regions are known to play important roles in biological processes such as cellular transduction and trafficking. In order to characterize the clustering of glycans on cell surfaces, detection of domains with high carbohydrate density is of great interest. In this thesis, we present the work based on a modular strategy to design and synthesize boronic acid-based carbohydrate receptors, which are termed as boronolectins …

Development Of A Novel Lysophosphatidic Acid Activity Probe To Identify And Characterize New Protein Targets, Leah M. Cuthriell

Masters Theses

Lipids are categorized according to their biological function. Phospholipids, glycolipids, and cholesterol are bulk membrane lipids that offer structure and support to the cells and organelle membranes. Signaling lipids include diacylglycerol, phosphatidic acid, and lysophosphatidic acid (LPA). These are low abundance lipids that are active in various pathways. LPA acts through GPCR receptors to activate G or beta mediated stimulation of phospholipase C leading to phosphatidylinositol-(4,5)-bisphosphate hydrolysis, G_i mediated inhibition of adenyl cyclase, and G_i mediated stimulation of the mitogenic Ras- MAP kinase. To further elucidate the biological activity of LPA and potentially identify new LPA binding receptors, …

Polarimetry Studies For The Npdgamma Experiment At The Sns, Mostafa Jon Dadras

Masters Theses

The NPDGamma collaboration aims to measure a parity{violating directional gamma-ray asymmetry from the capture of polarized cold neutrons on protons. The asymmetry, predicted to be on the order of 50 ppb, is a result of the weak interaction between mesons and nucleons during the neutron capture reaction. The experiment is designed to make a statistics limited measurement of the asymmetry at the level of about 20%. The experiment will be carried out at the Fundamental neutron Physics Beamline (FnPB) at the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS). The neutron beam is polarized by a super{mirror polarizer. A 9.5 G magnetic field guides …

Phosphorus Transport From A Field Receiving Long-Term Liquid Dairy Manure Application In A Karst Landscape, Dustin Cody Graham

Masters Theses

Agricultural runoff is a leading non-point source contributor to water quality impairment in the United States and is associated with eutrophication of surface waters. Phosphorus (P) is often the most limiting nutrient for eutrophication in freshwaters. The objectives of this study were to characterize the P forms in surface runoff from an agricultural field that has received long-term applications of liquid dairy manure and to determine the forms of soil P that occur within a sinkhole feature located within the application field. Three 21-m x 6 m bermed plots were established to collect storm water runoff from a portion of …

A Statistical Analysis Of Key Factors Influencing The Location Of Biomass-Using Facilities, Xu Liu

Masters Theses

Bioenergy and biofuels are emerging industries in the U.S. economy that will require statistical and economical analyses of woody biomass resources, supply chains, and other key factors that influence the siting of industrial facilities. This thesis develops models using logistic regression to improve the understanding of the key factors that influence the locations of existing wood-using bioenergy and biofuels plants, and other wood-using plants. The scope of the study is 13 Southeastern states.¹ Logistic regression models are developed at the state and regional levels. The resolution of the study is the ZIP Code tabulation area (ZCTA). There are 9,416 …

The Impact Of Iron Deprivation On The Metabolism Of Escherichia Coli As Measured By Targeted Hplc-Ms/Ms Based Metabolomics, Jamie Rhea Light

Masters Theses

Iron is a necessity for all living organisms, and bacteria typically need an internal concentration of iron in the micromolar range.¹ This becomes quite problematic, especially in pathogenic bacteria, because the concentration of free ions within the human body is only 10^-24 Molar due to iron binding proteins, like transferrin.¹ In order to circumvent this problem, bacteria produce small iron chelating molecules called siderophores.¹ The bacteria utilized for this study, a K-12 derivative of Escherichia coli, produce only one siderophore, enterobactin. Not only is the transcription of genes associated with iron acquisition initiated in response …

An Exploration Of Monophonic Instrument Classification Using Multi-Threaded Artificial Neural Networks, Marc Joseph Rubin

Masters Theses

The use of computers for automated music analysis could benefit several aspects of academia and industry, from psychological and music research, to intelligent music selection and music copyright investigation. In the following thesis, one of the first steps of automated musical analysis, i.e., monophonic instrument recognition, was explored. A multi-threaded artificial neural network was implemented and used as the classifier in order to utilize multi-core technology and allow for faster training. The parallelized batch-mode backpropagation algorithm used provided linear speedup, an improvement to the current literature. For the classification experiments, eleven different sets of instruments were used, starting with perceptively …

Accelerated Ctis Using The Cell Processor, Thaddeus James Thompson

Masters Theses

The Computed Tomography Imaging Spectrometer (CTIS) is a device capable of simultaneously acquiring imagery from multiple bands of the electromagnetic spectrum. Due to the method of data collection from this system, a processing intensive reconstruction phase is required to resolve the image output. This paper evaluates a parallelized implementation of the Vose-Horton CTIS reconstruction algorithm using the Cell processor. In addition to demonstrating the feasibility of a mixed precision implementation, it is shown that use of the parallel processing capabilities of the Cell may provide a significant reduction in reconstruction time.

An Automated Approach To The Study And Classification Of Colliding And Interacting Galaxies, Steven Alvaro Boada

Masters Theses

Colliding galaxies are perhaps the greatest events changing and evolving our Universe. Consequently, the need for an understanding of how that interaction originated is very important. This thesis presents a framework in which the study of these events can be conducted in a timely and efficient manner. A genetic algorithm coupled with an initial conditions generator, a physics engine and an analysis package performs an automated search to visually match an unknown galactic interaction with a known event, thus providing the starting conditions that created such an interaction.

Application Of The Explicit Asymptotic Method To Nuclear Burning In Type Ia Supernova, Christopher Ryan Smith

Masters Theses

Modern problems in astrophysics tend to require large, complex computational frameworks to solve many aspects of the system simultaneusly. Calculation of the energy production through nuclear reactions is typically one of those aspects. The use of standard nuclear burning algorithms will take up the majority of the computational time with all but the smallest of networks. The explicit asymptotic method has shown promise in computing large networks faster than existing methods in various environments while retaining accuracy. The purpose of this thesis is to show that this method can be successfully used to solve complex systems using a network of …

Fluorescence Characterization Of Karst Aquifers In East Tennessee, Teresa L. Brown

Masters Theses

Karst and fractured rock aquifers are primary sources of drinking water in the Appalachian region, even though most are inherently susceptible to surface-derived contamination. Many of the obstacles to water supply protection in such systems could be alleviated through the use of tracer testing to delineate recharge areas and surface-to-groundwater connections. Tracer testing is currently under-utilized, however, due to public safety concerns and ambivalence on the part of regulatory agencies. This study aimed to address this issue through a characterization of the fluorescent properties of typical carbonate aquifers for the purpose of refining the timing and design of low-concentration dye …

Microfluidic Device For The Electrokinetic Manipulation Of Single Molecules, Jason Keith King

Masters Theses

Manipulation and trapping of single molecules in solution is a useful tool for studies of biological molecules and molecular dynamics, but has to date been implemented in only one or two dimensions. The goal of the research in this thesis is to develop a microfluidic device to address the need for three-dimensional manipulation of single fluorescent molecules in solution. The device consists of two pairs of platinum electrodes deposited onto two standard borosilicate glass coverslips via ultraviolet microlithography and ionic sputtering. The two coverslips are sandwiched together such that the electrode tips form a tetrahedral configuration, and by applying appropriate, …

Single Molecule Detection Of Near-Infrared Phthalocyanine Dyes, You Li

Masters Theses

The major advantage associated with near-infrared monitoring is the fact that few compounds show intrinsic fluorescence in this region of the spectrum and hence background from other molecules is reduced. Phthalocyanine dyes provide emission at deep red and near infrared wavelengths but have excellent photostability and hence are an attractive candidate for near-infrared fluorescence bioassay applications. However, because of their small Stokes shifts, non-standard methods are needed for optimum separation of fluorescence from scattered laser light. This thesis reports the development of a custom confocal microscope that uses a lowcost laser diode operating at 667 nm for sample excitation and …

Some Congruence Modulo 2 Statements Of Primitive Conway Vassiliev Invariants., James M. Dawson

Masters Theses

Polynomial knot invariants can often be used to define Vassiliev invariants on singu- lar knots. Here Vassiliev invariants form the Conway, Jones, HOMFLY, and Kauffman polynomials are explored. Also, some explanation is given about how symbols of the Jones and Conway polynomial can evaluated on suitable chord diagrams. These in- variants are further used to find expressions that are congruent modulo 2 to some low degree invariants derived from the Primitive Conway polynomial.

Geometrical Effects On Electromagnetic Enhancement To Sers From Metal Nanoparticle Dimer Arrays, Abigail Laurel Gaddis

Masters Theses

Much recent effort has been devoted to the study of the optical properties of metal nanoparticle substrates. In such finely ordered structures, surface plasmons can be induced by incident light. These collective excitations of the electrons in the nanoparticle create localized areas of high electromagnetic field intensity. The intense local fields generated are of interest for various applications, including Surface-enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) for molecular detection and sensing. In this thesis, the optical properties of various nanoparticle dimer and array geometries are considered, including gold triangular prism dimers and silver spherical dimers. The effect of SERS due to electromagnetic interaction …

Elemental Analysis Of Soils Using Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (Libs), Ningfang Yang

Masters Theses

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) has been applied for the quantitative analysis of various samples, but it is controversial for chemically-complex soils. In order to study the effect of delay time, gate width, and repetition rate on the LIBS signal in soil, the emission line at 396.84 nanometer was selected. The results indicated that repetition rate, delay time, and gate width significantly affected the LIBS signal, delay time was more important than gate width in controlling the LIBS signal. The optimum instrumental parameters for soil analysis were obtained when repetition rate, delay time, and gate width equaled 10 hertz, 1 microsecond, …

High-Sensitivity Spectral Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging For Resolving Spectroscopically Overlapping Species, Justin Lee Crawford

Masters Theses

The capability to resolve the contributions from spectroscopically overlapping fluorophores has enabled significant breakthroughs in cellular imaging. However, commercial microscopes for this purpose use analog light detection with least squares curve-fitting analysis and improvements in sensitivity are needed. To this end, a microscope has been constructed with high throughput and single-photon detection capability. The fluorescence is separated through use of a prism spectrometer or a series of dichroic mirrors into four spectral bands and detected using four single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) detectors, which provide high-quantum efficiency in the red spectral region. The detectors are connected to a time-correlated single photon …

Satellite Photography: Instrumental, Rhetorical, Affective?, Irangi Kaushalya Egodapitiya

Masters Theses

"This study examines how tsunami satellite images operate and could provoke various interpretations. The goal of this research project is to study whether the interpretation of tsunami satellite images could extend beyond scientific features to affective messages. Primarily based on the satellite images of Sri Lanka taken before and during the 2004 tsunami, this study analyses: How could mechanical satellite images, taken automatically by a machine in orbit, become an object of profound emotional meaning?; How do viewer's experiences, knowledge, and discourse affect their interpretations of mechanical artifacts?; How are tsunami satellite images connected to affective responses by viewers?; How …

Exploring The Use Of A Commercial Game Engine For The Development Of Educational Software, Hussain Alafaireet

Masters Theses

"Three-dimensional visualization and simulation environments are becoming increasingly important in both industrial and educational environments. However, developing these simulations can be a difficult and expensive task. Herein we explore the use of a commercial game engine to develop a 3-D, interactive computer game designed to teach players about the anatomy of a frog. The goal of this project is threefold: 1) to develop high-fidelity virtual reality educational software with a limited budget and limited personnel, 2) to define a software development process by which similar simulations can be developed, and 3) to explore the benefits that these simulations provide to …

Nona-Arginine Peptides Facilitate Cellular Entry Of Semiconductor Nanocrystals: Mechanisms Of Uptake, Yi Xu

Masters Theses

"Luminescent semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) have recently been used for delivering and monitoring biomolecules, such as drugs and proteins. However, QDs alone have a very low efficiency of transport across the plasma membrane. In order to increase the efficiency of QD delivery, synthetic nona-arginine (sR9) was used, a cell penetrating peptide, to facilitate uptake. Data demonstrated that sR9 could significantly increase the cellular uptake of QDs by noncovalent binding between QDs and sR9. Furthermore, the mechanisms of QD/sR9 cellular internalization were investigated. Low temperature and metabolic inhibitors markedly inhibited the uptake of QD/sR9, indicating that internalization is an energy-dependent process. …

The Effects Of Technology On Literacy(S), Thomas Glen Petersen

Masters Theses

"One of the challenges when measuring the effects of technology on literacy(s) is finding a control group where technology; does not play a major role in the culture. The Amish successfully live in a Technocracy where mechanical/electronic tools are used only when absolutely necessary; the Amish are not dependent on them for survival. The crux of the Amish philosophy is humility, serving the community and serving God. Ironically, they have suffered tremendous repercussions for adopting a wholesome, selfless lifestyle which is contrary to most popular world views, regardless of religious or spiritual views"--Purpose, page 40.