Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

The Development And Application Of An Antibody-Based Biosensor For The Detection Of The Petroleum-Derived Compounds, Candace Rae Spier

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Petroleum is one of the most important natural resources, but can also be problematic to environmental and human health. Petroleum is comprised of thousands of compounds, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and heterocycles, some of which are toxic and/or carcinogenic. Traditional analytical methods for environmental monitoring of low-level PAHs are time-consuming labor-intensive, and often laboratory-bound. Efforts to achieve timely, sensitive, and accurate analysis of PAHs in the field have become a priority for environmental research and monitoring. Antibody-based biosensors are presently being developed for environmental analysis. Anti-PAH antibody molecules can be coupled with electronic transducers to provide new biosensor technology …

Microscopic Dynamics And Transport Of Hydrogen In Proton Conducting Oxides, Erik J. Spahr

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

The microscopic motion of hydrogen in solid oxides plays an important role in defect migration and reaction processes. Understanding the vibrational dynamics associated with both hydrogen-oxygen (O-H) bonds and the surrounding ionic environment allows one to better characterize these fundamental interactions. This thesis presents a comprehensive investigation into the vibrational decay dynamics of O-H and O-D stretch modes in crystalline oxides using time-resolved infrared pump-probe spectroscopy.;Measurements of the vibrational lifetimes of hydrogen related local modes in potassium tantalate (KTaO3) and titanium dioxide (TiO2 ) show that the localized O-H vibration is very closely tied to proton transport. In KTaO3 we …

Quantum Turbulence In Two Dimensional Bose-Einstein Condensates, Bo Zhang

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

We examine the energy cascades and quantum vortex structures in two-dimensional quantum turbulence through a special unitary time evolution algorithm. An early attempt at using the Lattice Boltzmann Method proved successful in correctly representing some features of the Nonlinear Schrodinger System (NLS), such as the phase shift following the one-dimensional soliton-soliton collision, as well as the two-dimentional modulation instability. However, to accurately evaluate NLS, the implicit Euler method is required to resolve the time evolution, which is computationally expensive. A more accurate and efficient method, the Quantum Lattice Gas model is employed to simulate the quantum turbulence governed by the …

First-Principles Calculations Of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Chemical Shielding Tensors In Complex Ferroelectric Perovskites, Daniel Lawrence Pechkis

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is one of the most important experimental probes of local atomistic structure, chemical ordering, and dynamics. Recently, NMR has increasingly been used to study complex ferroelectric perovskite alloys, where spectra can be difficult to interpret. First-principles calculations of NMR spectra can greatly assist in this task. In this work, oxygen, titanium, and niobium NMR chemical shielding tensors, s&d4; , were calculated with first-principles methods for ferroelectric transition metal prototypical ABO3 perovskites [SrTiO3, BaTiO 3, PbTiO3 and PbZrO3] and A(B,B')O3 perovskite alloys Pb(Zr1/2Ti1/2)O3 (PZT) and Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3 (PMN). The principal findings are 1) a large anisotropy between …

Potential Fossil Endoliths In Vesicular Pillow Basalt, Coral Patch Seamount, Eastern North Atlantic Ocean, Barbara Cavalazzi, Frances Westall, Sherry L. Cady, Roberto Barbieri, Frédéric Foucher

Geology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The chilled rinds of pillow basalt from the Ampere-Coral Patch Seamounts in the eastern North Atlantic were studied as a potential habitat of microbial life. A variety of putative biogenic structures, which include filamentous and spherical microfossil-like structures, were detected in K-phillipsite-filled amygdules within the chilled rinds. The filamentous structures (similar to 2.5 mu m in diameter) occur as K-phillipsite tubules surrounded by an Fe-oxyhydroxide (lepidocrocite) rich membranous structure, whereas the spherical structures (from 4 to 2 mu m in diameter) are associated with Ti oxide (anatase) and carbonaceous matter. Several lines of evidence indicate that the microfossil-like structures in …

Fabrication And Preliminary Characterization Of Hydrophobic Silica Aerogel Films For Oil Remediation Studies, Ellen Yang

Pomona Senior Theses

Due to the potential of oil sorbents for oil spill clean-up, hydrophobic silica-based aerogel thin films have been synthesized and characterized by various methods. Aerogels were prepared using a two-step acid/base sol-gel process and functionalized with trimethylchlorosilane in hexane, followed by drying in ambient conditions. After film deposition by spin-coating, samples were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, nitrogen adsorption analysis (BET surface area = 377.66 m2 /g), and variable-angle spectroscopic ellipsometry (thickness of 287.00 ± 0.85 nm, refractive index of 1.08, porosity of 80.9%). Unlike previous studies with aerogel films, quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D) was applied to …

The Influence Of Golf Course Landscapes On The Occupancy And Reproductive Success Of Eastern Bluebirds, Marie Louise Pitts

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.

Treatment Of Synchronizations In Compiling Fine-Grained Spmd-Threaded Programs For Cpu, Ziyu Guo

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.

The Total Synthesis Of The Lolium Alkaloids, Michael Todd Hovey

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.

Search For Effects Beyond The Born Approximation In Polarization Transfer Observables In Ep Elastic Scattering, Mehdi Meziane

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Intensive theoretical and experimental efforts over the past decade have aimed at explaining the discrepancy between data for the proton electric to magnetic form factor ratio, GE/GM, obtained separately from cross section and polarization transfer measurements. One possible explanation for this difference is a two-photon-exchange (TPEX) contribution. In an effort to search for effects beyond the one-photon-exchange or Born approximation, this thesis reports measurements, of the GEp2gamma experiment, of polarization transfer observables in the elastic H ( e&ar;,e' p&ar; ) reaction for three different beam energies at a fixed squared momentum transfer Q² = 2.5 GeV², spanning a wide range …

Enhancing The Teaching And Learning Of Computational Estimation In Year 6, Paula Mildenhall

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

There have been repeated calls for computational estimation to have a more prominent position in mathematics teaching and learning but there is still little evidence that quality time is being spent on this topic. Estimating numerical quantities is a useful skill for people to be able to use in their everyday lives in order to meet their personal needs. It is also accepted that number sense is an important component of mathematics learning (McIntosh, Reys, Reys, Bana, & Farrell, 1997; Paterson, 2004) and that computational estimation is an important part of number sense (Edwards, 1984; Markovits & Sowder, 1988; Schoen, …

Determinants Of Knowledge Mapping Adoption In Software Maintenance, Joseph K. Lee

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Knowledge Maps (KMaps) could be ideally suited for resolving many of the traceability problems in computer software maintenance. This thesis provides an understanding of the various factors that will encourage or impede the software maintenance community to adopt KMaps as part of their process. ABC Company in Perth, Western Australia, was chosen as the research site because it is a multinational software development company with customers in many major cities around the world. Since Knowledge Mapping (KMapping) is relatively new to most software staffers, it was necessary to develop a Software Maintenance KMap prototype. A literature review of KMapping, innovation …

Model Based Test Suite Minimization Using Metaheuristics, Usman Farooq

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Software testing is one of the most widely used methods for quality assurance and fault detection purposes. However, it is one of the most expensive, tedious and time consuming activities in software development life cycle. Code-based and specification-based testing has been going on for almost four decades. Model-based testing (MBT) is a relatively new approach to software testing where the software models as opposed to other artifacts (i.e. source code) are used as primary source of test cases. Models are simplified representation of a software system and are cheaper to execute than the original or deployed system. The main objective …

Reconstructing Sea Level Using Cyclostationary Empirical Orthogonal Functions, B. D. Hamlington, R. R. Leben, R. S. Nerem, W. Han, K.-Y. Kim

CCPO Publications

Cyclostationary empirical orthogonal functions, derived from satellite altimetry, are combined with historical sea level measurements from tide gauges to reconstruct sea level fields from 1950 through 2009. Previous sea level reconstructions have utilized empirical orthogonal functions as basis functions, but by using cyclostationary empirical orthogonal functions and by addressing other aspects of the reconstruction procedure, an alternative sea level reconstruction can be computed. The procedure introduced here is capable of capturing the annual cycle and El Nio-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) signals back to 1950, with correlations between the reconstructed ENSO signal and common ENSO indices found to be over 0.9. The …

The Role Of Nature In John Muir's Conception Of The Good Life, Randy R. Larsen

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Aristotle says our best moral guidance comes from considering the lives of exemplary individuals. I explore John Muir, as an exemplar of environmental virtue, and consider the role of Nature in his conception of the good life. I argue his conception consists of a web of virtue including various goods, values, and virtues. I suggest three virtues are cardinal: attentiveness, gratitude and reverence. I explore how Muir cultivated these virtues in Nature.

I argue Muir sought freedom from a popular conception of the good life, grounded in the gilded age values of money and materialism, and was sensitive to the …

Restoring Relationships: Indigenous Ways Of Knowing Meet Undergraduate Environmental Studies And Science, Nancy Leigh Rich

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

As places to engage with changing and complex ideas, institutions of higher education offer a logical site for bringing Indigenous ways of knowing together with environmental studies and science. However, profound differences between Indigenous and Western knowledges, as well as ongoing colonialism, cultural biases of science, and the nature of mainstream academia, have discouraged this endeavor. Recent developments in undergraduate pedagogy now point the way.

Using critical inquiry and qualitative methodology, this comparative study developed recommendations for practice based on current undergraduate teaching practices that bring Indigenous ways of knowing together with environmental studies and science across a diversity of …

Techno-Economic Analysis And Engineering Design Consideration Of Algal Biofuel In Southern Nevada, Jian Ma

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Research

As the biological and chemical technologies in algae biofuels production, engineering design, siting and resources are playing some dominant role in successfully developing and scaling locally. The southwest region in U.S. has been identified by DoE and the USDA as the most suitable area for developing algal biofuel production due to several merits like the high level of solar radiation, large arid land not good for food production. Among this region, Southern Nevada has unique advantage to grow microalgae biomass, which is the large amount of CO2 emission from about 16 power plants in Clark County to support the world …

Kinematic And Dynamic Pair Collision Statistics Of Sedimenting Inertial Particles Relevant To Warm Rain Initiation, Bogdan Rosa, Hossein Parishani, Orlando Ayala, Lian-Ping Wang, Wojciech W. Grabowski

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

In recent years, direct numerical simulation (DNS) approach has become a reliable tool for studying turbulent collision-coalescence of cloud droplets relevant to warm rain development. It has been shown that small-scale turbulent motion can enhance the collision rate of droplets by either enhancing the relative velocity and collision efficiency or by inertia-induced droplet clustering. A hybrid DNS approach incorporating DNS of air turbulence, disturbance flows due to droplets, and droplet equation of motion has been developed to quantify these effects of air turbulence. Due to the computational complexity of the approach, a major challenge is to increase the range of …

Towards An Integrated Multiscale Simulation Of Turbulent Clouds On Petascale Computers, Lian-Ping Wang, Orlando Ayala, Hossein Parishani, Wojciech W. Grabowski, Andrzej A. Wyszogrodzki, Zbigniew Piotrowski, Guang R. Gao, Chandra Kambhamettu, Xiaoming Li, Louis Rossi

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

The development of precipitating warm clouds is affected by several effects of small-scale air turbulence including enhancement of droplet-droplet collision rate by turbulence, entrainment and mixing at the cloud edges, and coupling of mechanical and thermal energies at various scales. Large-scale computation is a viable research tool for quantifying these multiscale processes. Specifically, top-down large-eddy simulations (LES) of shallow convective clouds typically resolve scales of turbulent energy-containing eddies while the effects of turbulent cascade toward viscous dissipation are parameterized. Bottom-up hybrid direct numerical simulations (HDNS) of cloud microphysical processes resolve fully the dissipation-range flow scales but only partially the inertial …

Cellulosic Biofuels: Expert Views On Prospects For Advancement, Erin D. Baker, Jeffrey M. Keisler

Management Science and Information Systems Faculty Publication Series

In this paper we structure, obtain and analyze results of an expert elicitation on the relationship between U. S. government Research & Development funding and the likelihood of achieving advances in cellulosic biofuel technologies. While there was disagreement among the experts on each of the technologies, the patterns of disagreement suggest several distinct strategies. Selective Thermal Processing appears to be the most promising path, with the main question being how much funding is required to achieve success. Thus, a staged investment in this path looks promising. With respect to gasification, there remains fundamental disagreement over whether success is possible even …

Results Of Archaeogeophysical Surveying At The Great Friends Meeting House In Newport, Rhode Island, John M. Steinberg, Brian N. Damiata, John W. Schoenfelder, Kathryn A. Catlin, Christine Campbell

Andrew Fiske Memorial Center for Archaeological Research Publications

Archaeogeophysical surveys were carried out in October 2010 over a 30 x 50 m grid that was established immediately to the north and west of the north end of the Great Friends Meeting House (GFMH) in Newport, RI. The surveys were conducted using a Geonics EM-38 RT ground conductivity meter and a Malå X3M Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) system that was equipped with 500 and 800 MHz antennas. In addition, a resistance survey was performed over a much smaller central area using a Geoscan RM15 resistance meter. From this work three types of geophysical anomalies have been identified: those associated …

Preliminary Report: Evaluating The Potential Of Archaeogeophysical Surveying On Viking Age And Medieval Sites In Greenland, 2 – 16 August, 2010, Douglas J. Bolender, John M. Steinberg, Brian N. Damiata, John W. Schoenfelder, Kathryn Caitlin

Andrew Fiske Memorial Center for Archaeological Research Publications

The primary goal of this research is to begin to overcome biases in the Greenlandic Norse archaeological record. Assessing the establishment dates and organization of Norse sites in Greenland is difficult because substantial cultural deposits can be hidden under deep windblown sand deposits as well as later occupations. Shallow geophysical methods were used to help recover information on the nature, extent and depth of subsurface cultural deposits. Assessing these site characteristics is a first step in overcoming the bias towards the later, the larger, and the more visible sites in the archaeological record.

Norse Greenland presents a relatively visible medieval …

Annual Outflow Of Water From Nebraska, 1950 - 2010, S. Olafsen-Lackey

Conservation and Survey Division

No abstract provided.

Reference List For Describing Cuttings And Cores Of Sediments And Sedimentary Rocks In Nebraska, J. T. Korus, Robert Matthew Joeckel, P. R. Hanson, J. W. Goeke, S. O. Lackey, M. B. Burbach

Conservation and Survey Division

No abstract provided.

Distribution And Properties Of Vesicular Horizons In The Western United States, Judith K. Turk, Robert C. Graham

Conservation and Survey Division

Vesicular horizons are thin (usuallycm) surface or near-surface horizons characterized by the predominance of vesicular porosity. Th ey are widespread in arid and semiarid lands, occurring on every continent and covering 156,000 km2 of the western United States. Vesicular horizons have critical implications for management due to their role in controlling surface hydrology and dust mobilization. Th is study evaluates the distribution and varia-tion in expression of vesicular horizons across the western United States using the soil databases available from the USDA. A vesicular horizon index (VHI) that incorporates vesicular horizon thickness and the size and quantity of vesicular pores …

Annual Outflow And Annual Inflow Of Water From/To Nebraska, 1950- 2010, Susan Olafsen-Lackey

Conservation and Survey Division

No abstract provided.

Statistician Recommends A Dose Of Skepticism, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Physics Professor Leads Research Into Laser Uses, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Ecological Benefits Of Mitigation On A Large River Mainstem In An Intensively Mined Appalachian Watershed, Eric Mitchell Miller

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Large scale surface mining in the central Appalachians causes significant alteration of headwater catchments, and these impacts may be offset through implementation of stream restoration projects. As an example, several habitat enhancement structures (cross-vanes and j-hooks) were constructed along a 13.7 km section of the Little Coal River as mitigation for mining impacts in the region. The objectives of our study were to: 1-quantify changes in channel morphology, habitat quality, sediment composition, bank stability, biological communities and organic matter processing in response to habitat enhancing structures; 2-relate changes in structural and functional attributes of the Little Coal River mainstem to …

Alternative Foraging Strategies Among Brown Bears (Ursus Arctos) Fishing For Chum Salmon (Oncorhynchus Keta) At Mcneil River, Alaska, Ian D. (Ian David) Gill

WWU Graduate School Collection

Previous research on the fishing behavior of bears (Ursus spp.) along salmon streams suggests that dominant individuals forage more efficiently than their competitors; specifically, large adult males are the most efficient foragers at a given stream due to their ability to dominate the most productive locations. I tested this hypothesis by observing 26 individual brown bears (U. arctos) fishing for chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta) at McNeil River, Alaska, over 33 days during the summer of 2010. In contrast with previous findings I did not observe strong relationships between the foraging efficiency of individual bears and the frequency with which they …