Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Physicochemical Modifications And Applications Of Carbon Nano-Onions For Electrochemical Energy Storage, Rituraj Borgohain

Theses and Dissertations--Chemistry

Carbon nano-onions (CNOs), concentrically multilayered fullerenes, are prepared by several different methods. We are studying the properties of two specific CNOs: A-CNOs and N-CNOs. A-CNOs are synthesized by underwater arc discharge, and N-CNOs are synthesized by high-temperature graphitization of commercial nanodiamond. In this study the synthesis of A-CNOs are optimized by designing an arc discharge aparatus to control the arc plasma. Moreover other synthesis parameters such as arc power, duty cycles, temperature, graphitic and metal impurities are controlled for optimum production of A-CNOs. Also, a very efficient purification method is developed to screen out A-CNOs from carboneseous and metal impurities. …

Proceedings Of The 125th Annual Meeting Of The Iowa Academy Of Science [Program, 2013], Iowa Academy Of Science

Iowa Academy of Science Documents

Contents:

Program Summary --- 2-3
Acknowledgements --- 4
Table of Contents --- 5
Iowa Junior Academy of Science Competition --- 6
General Session I --- 7
Iowa Junior Academy of Science Award Luncheon --- 8
Iowa Academy of Science Business Meeting --- 8
Necrology --- 8
Friday Special Events (EPIC-AIMS Reception & Science at Simpson) --- 9
Iowa Academy of Science 2012-2013 Volunteers --- 10-11
Symposium A --- 12
Symposium B --- 13-14
Symposium C --- 14-15
Senior Poster Session Program --- 16-19
Social Hour --- 20
President's Banquet --- 20
General Session II --- 21
General Session III --- …

Iowa Academy Of Science: The New Bulletin, V10n1, Winter 2013, Iowa Academy Of Science

New Bulletin

Inside This Issue:

--Message from the Executive Director

--Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science

--2013 ICTM-ISTS Fall Conference Photo Album

--New Facilitators Dive into Project WET

--Attention Teachers: New Environmental Education Opportunities

--Experiencing REAP

--Students as Part of School Leadership for Promoting Reforms in Science

--Starr Student Research Grants

Beijing’S Water Crisis: A Historical Analysis Of Beijing’S Waterways Using Geographic Information Systems, Rebecca Tisherman

Environmental Studies Honors Papers

Beijing has a complex system of waterways inside the city of 20 million people, while the rivers just outside of the city run dry most of the year. Geographic Information Systems was used to analyze the historical changes of the waterways, geo-cover, precipitation, and other factors that have affected the water supply to the city. The manmade canals in the city expanded with urbanization until 1983 when there were canals in every corner of the city. The water became too polluted for human use, so canals were slowly converted to culverts. Groundwater was depleted over time as well, so the …

Effective Methods Of Formative Assessment, Chelse Rae Bugg

Online Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research is to explore the implementation of formative assessment in the mathematics classroom. Formative assessment is considered to be any data-driven activity that an educator uses to help guide and improve instruction. While there is an abundance of research that concludes that formative assessment does indeed improve student achievement, practical methods of implementation are not thoroughly discussed. To partially determine which methods of formative assessment most positively impact student achievement, a study was conducted at Lafayette High School. The researcher compared two popular methods of formative assessment: daily exit slips and unit probing (pre-, middle-, and …

Effect Of Sample Miscut On Dissolution Kinetics Of Calcite (104) Cleavage Surfaces, Tahiru Sulley Addo

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Calcite is one of the most abundant naturally occurring carbonate minerals in the earth crust, and it is believe to play a crucial role in the long-term effectiveness of geochemical process works such as geological carbon sequestration. Due to the ease in which clean, flat calcite surfaces may be prepared, a lot of dissolution studies have been carried out on its (104) cleavage plane. However in geologic media, natural calcite grains consist of alternate surface terminations that do not display similar crystallographic properties as the (104) cleavage plane. This study focuses on the effect of miscut and step orientation on …

Nominal Coalgebraic Data Types With Applications To Lambda Calculus, Alexander Kurz, Daniela Petrişan, Paula Severi, Fer-Jan De Vries

Engineering Faculty Articles and Research

We investigate final coalgebras in nominal sets. This allows us to define types of infinite data with binding for which all constructions automatically respect alpha equivalence. We give applications to the infinitary lambda calculus.

Structurally Diverse Hamigerans From The New Zealand Marine Sponge Hamigera Tarangaensis: Nmr-Directed Isolation, Structure Elucidation And Antifungal Activity, A. Jonathan Singh, Jonathan D. Dattelbaum, Jessica J. Field, Zlatka Smart, Ethan F. Woolly, Jacqueline M. Barber, Rosemary Heathcott, John H. Miller, Peter T. Northcote

Chemistry Faculty Publications

The NMR-directed investigation of the New Zealand marine sponge Hamigera tarangaensis has afforded ten new compounds of the hamigeran family, and a new 13-epi-verrucosane congener. Notably, hamigeran F (6) possesses an unusual carbon–carbon bond between C-12 and C-13, creating an unprecedented skeleton within this class. In particular, the structural features of 6, hamigeran H (10) and hamigeran J (12) imply a diterpenoid origin, which has allowed the putative biogenesis of three hamigeran carbon skeletons to be proposed based on geranyl geranyl pyrophosphate. All new hamigerans exhibited micromolar activity towards the HL-60 …

Balancing Human And Machine Contributions In Human Computation Systems, R. Jordan Crouser, Alvitta Ottley, Remco Chang

Computer Science: Faculty Publications

Many interesting and successful human computation systems leverage the complementary computational strengths of both humans and machines to solve these problems. In this chapter, we examine Human Computation as a type of Human-Computer Collaboration—collaboration involving at least one human and at least one computational agent. We discuss recent advances in the open area of function allocation, and explore how to balance the contributions of humans and machines in computational systems. We then explore how human-computer collaborative strategies can be used to solve problems that are difficult or computationally infeasible for computers or humans alone.

Rigidity Analysis Of Protein Biological Assemblies And Periodic Crystal Structures, Filip Jagodzinski, Pamela Clark, Jessica Grant, Tiffany Liu, Samantha Monastra, Ileana Streinu

Computer Science: Faculty Publications

Background: We initiate in silico rigidity-theoretical studies of biological assemblies and small crystals for protein structures. The goal is to determine if, and how, the interactions among neighboring cells and subchains affect the flexibility of a molecule in its crystallized state. We use experimental X-ray crystallography data from the Protein Data Bank (PDB). The analysis relies on an effcient graph-based algorithm. Computational experiments were performed using new protein rigidity analysis tools available in the new release of our KINARI-Web server http:// kinari.cs.umass.edu. Results: We provide two types of results: on biological assemblies and on crystals. We found that when only …

Towards Accurate Modeling Of Noncovalent Interactions For Protein Rigidity Analysis, Naomi Fox, Ileana Streinu

Computer Science: Faculty Publications

Background: Protein rigidity analysis is an efficient computational method for extracting flexibility information from static, X-ray crystallography protein data. Atoms and bonds are modeled as a mechanical structure and analyzed with a fast graph-based algorithm, producing a decomposition of the flexible molecule into interconnected rigid clusters. The result depends critically on noncovalent atomic interactions, primarily on how hydrogen bonds and hydrophobic interactions are computed and modeled. Ongoing research points to the stringent need for benchmarking rigidity analysis software systems, towards the goal of increasing their accuracy and validating their results, either against each other and against biologically relevant (functional) parameters. …

Predicting Application Performance Using Supervised Learning On Communication Features, Nikhil Jain, Abhinav Bhatele, Michael P. Robson, Todd Gamblin, Laxmikant V. Kale

Computer Science: Faculty Publications

Task mapping on torus networks has traditionally focused on either reducing the maximum dilation or average number of hops per byte for messages in an application. These metrics make simplified assumptions about the cause of network congestion, and do not provide accurate correlation with execution time. Hence, these metrics cannot be used to reasonably predict or compare application performance for different mappings. In this paper, we attempt to model the performance of an application using communication data, such as the communication graph and network hardware counters. We use supervised learning algorithms, such as randomized decision trees, to correlate performance with …

Massive Gravity Theories, Greg Seyfarth

Honors Theses

We examine Fierz and Pauli's work in 1939 of adding a mass term to the Lagrangian for linearized gravity with the form ?? where h is a small perturbation away from flat spacetime and showing that the only value for ? which gives a ghost-free theory with the correct five degrees of freedom expected for a massive spin- 2 particle such as the graviton is ? [1]. We start by rederiving the Lagrangian formulation for classical electrodynamics and giving examples of a ghost. Then we solve the linearized massless gravity equations to show their two degrees of freedom. We perform …

Assessing Hurricane Preparedness Among Residential Staff At Louisiana State University: A Case Study On Hurricane Isaac, Ashley Marie Weatherall

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Studying hurricane preparedness among the Resident Assistants (RAs) and Residence Life Coordinators (RLCs) at Louisiana State University (LSU) is imperative to assure that the university housing staff is fully equipped when faced with an oncoming threat. This study seeks to fill a gap in research by investigating the influences of preparedness on student housing employees. A survey was developed and the measures were found to be coherent and internally reliable through the use of factor analysis. Based on theory and previous literature, a linear regression model was developed that quantified the relationship between the independent variable of preparedness and general …

Uncontrolled Hypertension And Associated Factors In Hypertensive Patients At The Primary Healthcare Center Luis H. Moreno, Panama: A Feasibility Study, Roderick Ramon Chen Camano

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Background: According to the World Health Organization (WHO), hypertension is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD), renal impairment, peripheral vascular disease, and blindness. In Panama, a recent study estimated the prevalence of hypertension at 38.5% in the two main provinces of the country, with a rate of uncontrolled hypertension of 47.2%.

Objectives: The aims of this study were to assess the feasibility of the study design and to describe the characteristics of the hypertensive population and the physician's adherence to Panamanian antihypertensive protocols and their relationship with uncontrolled hypertension.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional study of adult hypertensive …

Tracking Atlantic Hurricanes Using Statistical Methods, Elizabeth Caitlin Miller

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Creating an accurate hurricane location forecasting model is of the utmost importance because of the safety measures that need to occur in the days and hours leading up to a storm's landfall. Hurricanes can be incredibly deadly and costly, but if people are given adequate warning, many lives can be spared. This thesis seeks to develop an accurate model for predicting storm location based on previous location, previous wind speed, and previous pressure. The models are developed using hurricane data from 1980-2009.

Harmful Algal Blooms Of The West Florida Shelf And Campeche Bank: Visualization And Quantification Using Remote Sensing Methods, Inia Mariel Soto Ramos

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) are natural phenomena that can have negative impacts on marine ecosystems on which human health and the economy of some Gulf States depends. Many of the HABs in the GOM are dominated by the toxic dinoflagellate Karenia brevis. Non-toxic phytoplankton taxa such as Scrippsiella sp. also form intense blooms off the Mexican coast that result in massive fish mortality and economic losses, particularly as they may lead to anoxia.

The main objectives of this dissertation were to (1) evaluate and improve the techniques developed for detection of Karenia spp. blooms …

A Polarizable And Transferable Carbon Dioxide Potential For Materials Simulation, Ashley Lynn Mullen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Intermolecular potential energy functions for CO₂ have been developed from first principles for use in heterogeneous systems, including one with explicit polarization. The intermolecular potentials have been expressed in a transferable form and parameterized from nearly exact electronic structure calculations. Models with and without explicit many-body polarization effects, known to be important in simulation of interfacial processes, are constructed. The models have been validated on pressure-density isotherms of bulk CO₂ and adsorption in three metal-organic framework (MOF) materials. The present models appear to offer advantages over high quality fluid/liquid state potentials in describing CO₂ interactions in interfacial …

Synoptic To Interannual Variability In Volumetric Flushing In Tampa Bay, Fl Using Observational Data And A Numerical Model, Monica Wilson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research provides insight into changes in volumetric flushing of the Tampa Bay estuary caused by synoptic scale wind events. The two main studies of this dissertation involve 1) using wavelet analysis to investigate the link between the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the frequency and strength of volumetric flushing driven by synoptic variability and 2) using a multi-decadal model simulation to examine how extratropical/winter storms and hurricanes affect the overall flushing rates for Tampa Bay, FL.

In the first study, two analyses are performed on 55 years of observational data to investigate the effect of multiple small wind events …

Spin Dependent Transport In Novel Magnetic Heterostructures, Priyanga Buddhika Jayathilaka

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Magnetic oxides have become of interest source for spin transport devices due to their high spin polarization. But the real applications of these oxides remains unsatisfactory up to date, mostly due to the change of properties as a result of nano structuring. Magnetite (Fe₃O₄) is one such a material. High Curie temperature and the half metallicity of Fe₃O₄ make it a good potential candidate for spin transport devices. Studies have shown that the nano structuring Fe₃O₄ changes most of it's important properties. This includes high saturation magnetization and drop of …

Automatic Macro- And Micro-Facial Expression Spotting And Applications, Matthew Adam Shreve

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Automatically determining the temporal characteristics of facial expressions has extensive application domains such as human-machine interfaces for emotion recognition, face identification, as well as medical analysis. However, many papers in the literature have not addressed the step of determining when such expressions occur. This dissertation is focused on the problem of automatically segmenting macro- and micro-expressions frames (or retrieving the expression intervals) in video sequences, without the need for training a model on a specific subset of such expressions. The proposed method exploits the non-rigid facial motion that occurs during facial expressions by modeling the strain observed during the elastic …

Relative Perturbation Theory For Diagonally Dominant Matrices, Megan Dailey

Theses and Dissertations--Mathematics

Diagonally dominant matrices arise in many applications. In this work, we exploit the structure of diagonally dominant matrices to provide sharp entrywise relative perturbation bounds. We first generalize the results of Dopico and Koev to provide relative perturbation bounds for the LDU factorization with a well conditioned L factor. We then establish relative perturbation bounds for the inverse that are entrywise and independent of the condition number. This allows us to also present relative perturbation bounds for the linear system Ax=b that are independent of the condition number. Lastly, we continue the work of Ye to provide relative perturbation bounds …

Multiple Calibrations In Integrative Data Analysis: A Simulation Study And Application To Multidimensional Family Therapy, Kristin Wynn Hall

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A recent advancement in statistical methodology, Integrative Data Analyses (IDA Curran & Hussong, 2009) has led researchers to employ a calibration technique as to not violate an independence assumption. This technique uses a randomly selected, simplified correlational structured subset, or calibration, of a whole data set in a preliminary stage of analysis. However, a single calibration estimator suffers from instability, low precision and loss of power. To overcome this limitation, a multiple calibration (MC; Greenbaum et al., 2013; Wang et al., 2013) approach has been developed to produce better estimators, while still removing a level of dependency in the data …

Cultivating Local: Building A Local Food System In Western North Carolina, Allison S. Perrett

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines a movement in Western North Carolina to build a local food system, one grounded in the conditions and relationships of place. In 2000, Mountain Family Farms launched the Local Food Campaign to raise public awareness about the region's farms and farming heritage, to educate consumers about the benefits of buying food grown by local farms, and, ultimately, to build markets for locally grown food to sustain the region's farms. The campaign sparked a social movement and over a decade later local farms and locally grown food are a palpable feature of life in the mountains of Western …

Evaluating Habitat Vulnerability And Sustainability Of Urban Seagrass Resources To Sea Level Rise, Cynthia A. Meyer

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The seagrass resource provides essential ecosystem functions for many marine species. This research evaluated the vulnerability and sustainability of the seagrass resource in an urbanized area to the effects of sea level rise. The assessment required analysis of information regarding the biogeography of the seagrass resource, and developing a method to model the spatial extent of the suitable habitat for seagrass, and applying the model to predict the implications of simulated sea level rise scenarios on the seagrass resource.

Examining the biogeography of the seagrass resource required the development of a seagrass monitoring and assessment field survey and a comprehensive …

Improving Implementation Of A Regional In-Line Chlorinator In Rural Panama Through Development Of A Regionally Appropriate Field Guide, Benjamin A. Yoakum

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Access to safe drinking water has a direct effect on improving human health and their quality of life. One country still struggling with providing access to safe drinking water to all of its population is Panama. Panama's largest indigenous group, the Ngöbe people, is disproportionately affected by lack of access to safe drinking water. One way Panama's Ministry of Health (MINSA) is attempting to increase access to safe drinking water to the Ngöbe people is by disinfecting the water already captured by rural gravity fed water systems constructed within in the Ngöbe-Bugle reservation. This is accomplished using an in-line chlorinator …

Magnetism In Complex Oxides Probed By Magnetocaloric Effect And Transverse Susceptibility, Nicholas Steven Bingham

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Magnetic oxides exhibit rich complexity in their fundamental physical properties determined by the intricate interplay between structural, electronic and magnetic degrees of freedom. The common themes that are often present in these systems are the phase coexistence, strong magnetostructural coupling, and possible spin frustration induced by lattice geometry. While a complete understanding of the ground state magnetic properties and cooperative phenomena in this class of compounds is key to manipulating their functionality for applications, it remains among the most challenging problems facing condensed-matter physics today. To address these outstanding issues, it is essential to employ experimental methods that allow for …

Volatilization Of Benzene In A River, Eric Dunlop

Undergraduate Journal of Mathematical Modeling: One + Two

Benzene is a volatile organic compound: when it contaminates a river, some of the substance will evaporate as it flows through. We examine the volumetric flow rate to find how volatilization affects the concentration levels of benzene as the substance flows through several consecutive sections of a river, using a specific example to illustrate the general method.

Arsenic And Phosphorus Biogeochemistry In The Ocean: Arsenic Species As Proxies For P-Limitation, Oliver Wurl, Louise Zimmer, Gregory A. Cutter

OES Faculty Publications

Arsenic and phosphorus are biochemically very similar, and hence arsenate (As⁵⁺) is toxic by interfering with the energy metabolism, in particular during P limitation. However, many phytoplankton detoxify As by reducing arsenate to arsenite (As³⁺), and/or methylating it to mono and dimethyl As. Such As detoxification becomes operative in oligotrophic waters when phosphate concentrations are below those for As; therefore, we evaluated the potential use of these detoxification products as indicators of P-limitation by measuring As speciation during the US GEOTRACES North Atlantic transect. The distribution of As³⁺ concentrations in surface waters is similar to …

Old Dominion University Climate Change And Sea Level Rise Initiative, Winter 2013, Larry P. Atkinson (Editor)

CCSLRI Newsletters

Winter 2013 Newsletter of the Old Dominion University Climate Change and Sea Level Rise Initiative