Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

An Analysis Of The Acid Profile Of Coffee Brews: Caffeine And Chlorogenic Acid Concentrations In Different Forms Of Coffee Brew, Jeffory Taylor Wallace

Honors Theses

In this project, different coffee brews were analyzed in order to determine the effects the brewing method had on the final product, particularly the acid profile of the final product. Our hypothesis is that the use of a cold brewing method will produce different amounts of caffeine and chlorogenic acids in the final brewed product compared to traditional hot brewing methods. There are many brewing methods available. For the purposes of this research, three were chosen and one was created. The three chosen methods were: a traditional drip brew, a cold brew, and a Pezzetti espresso brew. The final method …

Hinge Sequence Elements In Epithelial Cadherin Form And Function, Jessica Elizabeth Barnett

Honors Theses

Cadherins play the vital role of mediating cell-cell adhesion in properly functioning tissues of the human body. Malfunction of these adherent cells can lead to drastic consequences like cancer metastasis. Thus, it is imperative to ensure the functionality of the molecular mechanism that drives these adhesive interactions. Of the various types, our studies specifically focused on the structure and function of the 'hinge region' in epithelial cadherin. This 'hinge region', composed of amino acid residues C9, P10, and E11, was of particular interest because it is the site of strand-swapped dimerization. The residues P10 and E11 are conserved within the …

A Raman Spectroscopic And Computational Study On The Effects Of Electron Withdrawing Groups On Halogen Bonding, Katelyn Allen

Honors Theses

Here, the effects of individual electron withdrawing groups on halogen bond strength are investigated using Raman spectroscopy and electronic structure calculations. Halogen bonding is a unique and relatively unexplored noncovalent interaction that has recently garnered considerable attention due to its applications in materials development. When a halogen, such as chlorine, bromine, or iodine, accepts electron density from a Lewis base such as the nitrogen of pyridine a halogen bond arises. The anisotropic distribution of electron density about a covalently bound halogen, also known as the σ-hole, plays a significant role in halogen bond formation. The magnitude of the electropositive region …

Raman Spectroscopic Studies Of Novel Gold-Containing Nanomaterials, Lemuel Shui-Lun Tsang

Honors Theses

The thiolate-protected gold nanocluster (AuNP) Au38(SCH2CH2Ph)24 was studied using Raman spectroscopy with particular attention to the vibrational modes of the gold-sulfur interface. Such studies of AuNPs are non-trivial, as these materials are weak scatterers that burn and fluoresce readily. Previous works have successfully studied this class of materials using a rolling circle filter to subtract fluorescence backgrounds, but we set out to develop a method which would suppress fluorescence using more fundamental means. For Au38(SCH2CH2Ph)24, it was found that data acquisition was most effective using lower-energy excitation wavelengths, which could be predicted based on the UV-Vis absorption spectrum of the …

Assessment Of Vadose-Zone Wells For Enhancing Groundwater Recharge In The Mississippi Delta, Luke Jenkins

Honors Theses

Current pumping rates in the Mississippi River Valley Alluvial Aquifer in the Mississippi Delta are unsustainable as they are depleting the water level in the aquifer. The following thesis is a feasibility analysis on groundwater recharge to the Mississippi River Valley Alluvial Aquifer using vadose zone wells. Two days were spent in the field at Sky Lake near Belzoni, Mississippi, collecting core soil samples, bag soil samples, and constant head hydraulic conductivity values. Numerous days were spent in the lab conducting sieve analyses, Atterberg limits, and falling head hydraulic conductivity tests. The Atterberg limit test and sieve analyses were used …

The Largest Bond In 3-Connected Graphs, Melissa Flynn

Honors Theses

A graph G is connected if given any two vertices, there is a path between them. A bond B is a minimal edge set in G such that G − B has more components than G. We say that a connected graph is dual Hamiltonian if its largest bond has size |E(G)|−|V (G)|+2. In this thesis we verify the conjecture that any simple 3-connected graph G has a largest bond with size at least Ω(nlog32) (Ding, Dziobiak, Wu, 2015 [3]) for a variety of graph classes including planar graphs, complete graphs, ladders, Mo ̈bius ladders and circular ladders, complete bipartite …

Cytotoxicity Assay Of Self-Assembling Protein-Based Biomaterials, Peyton Vaughan

Honors Theses

Acute inflammation is a natural biological defensive response against infection,irritation, and injury. While inflammation is a natural process, chronic tissue inflammation has been implicated in the development of several different diseases. With the intent of minimizing collateral damage associated with long-term exposure of healthy tissues to anti-inflammatory drugs, the Pedigo laboratory has designed a system for the self-assembly of protein polymers as scaffolds for controlled-release of drugs to affected tissues. This protein polymer comprises two essential components, with the first component being the calcium-dependent protein, calmodulin, and the second being a corresponding binding peptide, M13. Because Calmodulin has a specific, …

Photophysical Characterization Of Newly-Synthesized Emissive Materials, Rachael Abigayle Nelson

Honors Theses

One key element in chemistry is understanding the chemical properties of a molecule so that its interactions with itself, other atoms or molecules, or its environment is well known. This knowledge alone allows the chemist to innovate and invent and thereby change the world. Light surrounds and sustains our lives; thus it is vital to understand how light interacts with common and newly synthesized materials. In this thesis the photophysical properties of newly synthesized materials will be discussed to give an overview of the many ways in which light interacts with the chemical materials composing our everyday lives. General photophysical …

Utilizing Natural Language Processing And Other Technical Tools To Automate The Financial Modeling Process While Maintaining Robustness In The Model, Robert Forrest Short

Honors Theses

The objective of this thesis is to improve upon the most commonly utilized, entirely manual financial modeling process. This thesis gives guidance for implementing a set of technical tools that can be utilized in an individual's financial modeling process to automate repetitive and predictable tasks. The goal is not to provide a robust set of tools that can be implemented across all financial models; in fact, this may not be possible. The goal is to provide a basis for anyone who utilizes financial modeling to study their own modeling processes and adapt the given tools to fit into and improve …

Platelet-Derived Microparticles And Their Role In Sepsis, Robert Tramel

Honors Theses

Causing at least 215,000 deaths in the U.S. annually- more than prostate cancer, breast cancer, and AIDS combined- and rising, sepsis is one of the most deadly medical conditions in America. Sepsis pathophysiology, however, is still incompletely understood, making it difficult for physicians to diagnosis and treat effectively. Given the time-sensitivity of treatment, researchers are now searching for new methods to identify sepsis early, developing more accurate prognostic markers, and developing new target therapeutic candidates. One biological component of interest in this research is the platelet-derived microparticle (PMP), a heterogeneous vesicle derived from the cell membrane of platelets found circulating …

Symbolic And Deep Learning Based Data Representation Methods For Activity Recognition And Image Understanding At Pixel Level, Manohar Karki

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Efficient representation of large amount of data particularly images and video helps in the analysis, processing and overall understanding of the data. In this work, we present two frameworks that encapsulate the information present in such data. At first, we present an automated symbolic framework to recognize particular activities in real time from videos. The framework uses regular expressions for symbolically representing (possibly infinite) sets of motion characteristics obtained from a video. It is a uniform framework that handles trajectory-based and periodic articulated activities and provides polynomial time graph algorithms for fast recognition. The regular expressions representing motion characteristics can …

The Role Of Defects In The Metal-Nonmetal Transition In Metallic Oxide Films, Gaomin Wang

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Metal-nonmetal transition, or more specifically, metal-insulator transition (MIT) has been one of the most intriguing topics in condensed matter physics. Two theories describing fundamental driving mechanisms of MIT has been well-established over time: Mott-Hubbard theory and Anderson localization theory. The former mainly deals with contribution of electron interactions/correlations to the MIT, and the latter focuses on the role of disorder. However, it is an open topic how a system behaves when both effects exist in a system. This study mostly takes interest in a type of MIT induced by dimensionality-crossover in the transition metal oxides (TMOs) systems. TMO system is …

Local Holomorphic Extension Of Cauchy Riemann Functions, Brijitta Antony

Doctoral Dissertations

"The purpose of this dissertation is to give an analytic disc approach to the CR extension problem. Analytic discs give a very convenient tool for holomorphic extension of CR functions. The type function is introduced and showed how these type functions have direct application to important questions about CR extension. In this dissertation the CR extension theorem is proved for a rigid hypersurface M in C² given by y = (Re ω)^m(Im ω)ⁿ where m and n are non-negative integers. If the type function is identically zero at the origin, then there is no CR extension. …

Drinking Water Disinfection By-Products Detection, Formation And The Precursors Removal Study, Runmiao Xue

Doctoral Dissertations

"Haloacetic acids (HAAs) and trihalomethanes (THMs) are two groups of commonly found disinfection by-products (DBPs). Iodinated THMs and HAAs were observed after disinfection of water containing high level of iodide and are proved to be more toxic than their corresponding chlorinated and brominated species. In the presented dissertation, a novel rapid and sensitive high performance ion chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPIC-MS/MS) method has been developed for simultaneous analysis of all these HAAs, bromate, bromide, iodide, and iodate, seventeen compounds in total, without any tedious sample preparation. Besides an efficient analytical method for the detection of DBPs, seeking for a green disinfectant …

T-Closed Sets, Multivalued Inverse Limits, And Hereditarily Irreducible Maps, Hussam Abobaker

Doctoral Dissertations

"This dissertation consists of three subjects: T-closed sets, inverse limits with multivalued functions, and hereditarily irreducible maps.

For a subset A of a continuum X define T(A) = X \ {x ∈ X : there exists a subcontinuum K of X such that x ∈ int_xX(K) ⊂ K ⊂ X \ A}. This function was defined by F. Burton Jones and extensively investigated in the book [20] by Sergio Macias. A subset A of a continuum X is called T-closed set if T(A) = A. A characterization of T-closed set is given using generalized …

An Analysis Of Stimuli Responsive Biomaterials Using Raman Spectroscopy And Computational Studies, Gretchen Harknett

Honors Theses

This thesis involves the computational and spectroscopic exploration of the linear dendritic block copolymer, poly(L-lactide)-poly(amido-amine), (PLA-PAMAM), under different environmental conditions using Raman spectroscopy, in hopes to utilize it in future effective and cost-efficient drug delivery systems. Janus dendrimers, a material made up of two different dendrimer portions, are currently being studied in great detail, as they possess many attractive features for materials scientists looking to develop ways for drugs to be delivered in more efficient manners than currently available to physicians. The instrumentation used to conduct this thesis is a high resolution Raman spectrometer. Computationally, Gaussian 09 was employed to …

Moduli Spaces Of Flat Gsp-Bundles, Neal David Livesay

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

A classical problem in the theory of differential equations is the classification of first-order singular differential operators up to gauge equivalence. A related algebro-geometric problem involves the construction of moduli spaces of meromorphic connections. In 2001, P. Boalch constructed well-behaved moduli spaces in the case that each of the singularities are diagonalizable. In a recent series of papers, C. Bremer and D. Sage developed a new approach to the study of the local behavior of meromorphic connections using a geometric variant of fundamental strata, a tool originally introduced by C. Bushnell for the study of p-adic representation theory. Not only …

Design, Synthesis, Characterization And Evaluation Of Near Infrared Bodipy Dyes For Various Applications, Qianli Meng

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

4,4-Difluoro-4-bora-3a,4a-diaza-5-indacene (BODIPY) have drawn a large number of research attention, for its numerous useful application in the fields of material and biology. Small modification of this well-known fluophore has been shown to optimize its photophysical and chemical properties. This work mainly focuses on functionalization of BODIPY cores with halogenated atoms, particularly iodine, and their subsequent post-functionalization reactions, mainly cross-coupling reaction and substitutions, for various further applications. Chapter 1 of this dissertation gives a general overview of BODIPYs including their synthetic strategies, post-functionalization, and how BODIPYs are utilized in many biological applications. Chapter 2 mainly focuses on the synthesis and characterization …

Fish Assemblage Structure Indicates Limited Restoration Progress Over A Lustrum Of A Severely Degraded Estuary In Southern Tamaulipas, Mexico, Alejandro Fierro-Cabo, Carlos E. Cintra-Buenrostro

School of Earth, Environmental, and Marine Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Today the biggest incentive to attempt the restoration and protection of estuarine systems is their widely recognized ecological and economic importance. In the reconstruction of an estuary where the original aquatic communities disappeared before the restoration interventions, the fish assemblage is an adequate source of indicators of initial recovery. Following substantial restoration efforts, this study reports on the biannual for a lustrum monitoring and assessment of a severely degraded estuary (Garrapatas) in terms of its fish assemblage using a reference estuary (Barberena) in Tamaulipas, Mexico. Twenty fishes were associated with the restoring and reference estuaries. Species composition (richness, abundance, dominance) …

Impact Of The Capillary Pressure-Saturation Pore-Size Distribution Parameter On Geological Carbon Sequestration Estimates, Chu-Lin Cheng, Edmund Perfect, T. Edward Yu, Michael J. Gragg

School of Earth, Environmental, and Marine Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Cost estimates for geologic carbon sequestration (GCS) are vital for policy and decision makers evaluating carbon capture and storage strategies. Numerical models are often used in feasibility studies for the different stages of carbon injection and redistribution. Knowledge of the capillary pressure-saturation function for a selected storage rock unit is essential in applications used for simulating multiphase fluid flow and transport. However, the parameters describing these functions (e.g. the van Genuchten m pore size distribution parameter) are often not measured or neglected compared to other physical properties such as porosity and intrinsic permeability. In addition, the use of average …

Linear And Nonlinear Effects Of Temperature And Precipitation On Ecosystem Properties In Tidal Saline Wetlands, Laura C. Feher, Michael J. Osland, Kereen T. Griffith, James B. Grace, Rebecca J. Howard, Camille L. Stagg, Nicholas M. Enwright, Ken W. Krauss, Christopher A. Gabler, Richard H. Day, Kerrylee Rogers

School of Earth, Environmental, and Marine Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Climate greatly influences the structure and functioning of tidal saline wetland ecosystems. However, there is a need to better quantify the effects of climatic drivers on ecosystem properties, particularly near climate‐sensitive ecological transition zones. Here, we used climate‐ and literature‐derived ecological data from tidal saline wetlands to test hypotheses regarding the influence of climatic drivers (i.e., temperature and precipitation regimes) on the following six ecosystem properties: canopy height, biomass, productivity, decomposition, soil carbon density, and soil carbon accumulation. Our analyses quantify and elucidate linear and nonlinear effects of climatic drivers. We quantified positive linear relationships between temperature and above‐ground productivity …

Gene Expression Prospective Simulation And Analysis Using Data Mining And Immersive Virtual Reality Visualization, Joshua Cotes

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

Biological exploration on genetic expression and protein synthesis in living organisms is used to discover causal and interactive relationships in biological processes. Current GeneChip microarray technology provides a platform to an- alyze up to 500,000 molecular reactions on a single chip, providing thousands of genetic and protein expression results per test. Using visualization tools and priori knowledge of genetic and protein interactions, visual networks are used to model and analyze the results. The virtual reality environment designed and implemented for this project provides visualization and data modeling tools commonly used in genetic ex- pression data analysis. The software processes normalized …

An Intrinsic Characterization Of Bonnet Surfaces Based On A Closed Differential Ideal, Paul Bracken

School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

The structure equations for a two-dimensional manifold are introduced and two results based on the Codazzi equations pertinent to the study of isometric surfaces are obtained from them. Important theorems pertaining to isometric surfaces are stated and a theorem due to Bonnet is obtained. A transformation for the connection forms is developed. It is proved that the angle of deformation must be harmonic, and that the differentials of many of the important variables generate a closed differential ideal. This implies that a coordinate system exists in which many of the variables satisfy particular ordinary differential equations, and these results can …

Iowa Waste Reduction Center Newsletter, January 2017, University Of Northern Iowa. Iowa Waste Reduction Center.

Iowa Waste Reduction Center Newsletter

Inside this Issue:

--- Registration Now Open for Midwest Food Recovery Summit
--- What We’re Looking Forward to at the Midwest Food Recovery Summit
--- 6X Certification and Compliance Report for 2016
--- 2016 Grain Elevator PTE Report
--- SLEIS Training
--- Industry News

Sedimentation Dynamics Of The Cagayan De Oro River Catchment And The Implications For Its Coastal Marine Environments, Mars P. Tan

Theses

Declines in coastal environment condition can often be attributed to land-based activities in the uplands. This may be the case in some parts of Macajalar Bay, where river plume is observed almost daily. This present study aims to demonstrate the erosion-sedimentation process along the Cagayan de Oro River Catchment to its river mouth, and its implication for the marine coastal habitats. Highlighted in the study are the various natural factors that have influenced the erosion-sedimentation process: its volume; direction; and effects on the coastal habitats.

In the uplands, to account for the influence of catchment spatial heterogeneity and local rainfall …

Pteropus Voeltzkowi And The Understory: A Study Of The Behavioral Impacts Of The Pemba Flying Fox On The Vegetation And Soil Quality Of Pemba Island, Lea Davidson

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study examines the impact of Pteropus voeltzkowi , colloquially known as the Pemba Flying Fox, on biodiversity and health of the forest ground layer. Known to serve as reforesters, high concentrations of both fruit seeds and nutrient dense guano are introduced into specific environmental locations due to the bat's behavioral patterns. Working around two roost locations, one in Ngezi Forest and the other at the Kidike conservation site near Mjini Ole, diversity of juvenile vegetation was measured and quantified. In a laboratory setting, soil samples from both sites were analyzed for impacts of guano concentration on soil chemical properties. …

Coincidence Charged-Current Neutrino-Induced Deuteron Disintegration For 2H216O, J. W. Van Orden, T. W. Donnelly, O. Moreno

Physics Faculty Publications

Semi-inclusive charge-changing neutrino reactions on targets of heavy water are investigated with the goal of determining the relative contributions to the total cross section of deuterium and oxygen in kinematics chosen to emphasize the former. The study is undertaken for conditions where the typical neutrino beam energies are in the few GeV region, and hence relativistic modeling is essential. For this, the previous relativistic approach for the deuteron is employed, together with a spectral function approach for the case of oxygen. Upon optimizing the kinematics of the final-state particles assumed to be detected (typically a muon and a proton) it …

Cryogenic Rf Test Of The First Srf Cavity Etched In An Rf Ar/Cl2 Plasma, J. Upadhyay, A. Palczewski, S. Popovic, A.-M. Valente-Feliciano, Do Im, H. L. Phillips, L. Vuskovic

Physics Faculty Publications

An apparatus and a method for etching of the inner surfaces of superconducting radio frequency (SRF) accelerator cavities are described. The apparatus is based on the reactive ion etching performed in an Ar/Cl₂ cylindrical capacitive discharge with reversed asymmetry. To test the effect of the plasma etching on the cavity rf performance, a 1497 MHz single cell SRF cavity was used. The single cell cavity was mechanically polished and buffer chemically etched and then rf tested at cryogenic temperatures to provide a baseline characterization. The cavity's inner wall was then exposed to the capacitive discharge in a mixture of …

Measurement Of The Differential And Total Cross Sections Of The ᵧd→Kºʌ(P) Reaction Within The Resonance Region, N. Compton, C. E. Taylor, K. Hicks, P. Cole, N. Zachariou, Y. Ilieva, P. Nadel-Turonski, E. Klempt, V. A. Nikonov, A. V. Sarantsev, C. E. Hyde, M. Khachatryan, A. Klein, Y. Prok, B. Torayev, J. Zhang

Physics Faculty Publications

We report the first measurement of differential and total cross sections for the γd →K⁰ Λ(p)reaction, using data from the CLAS detector at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility. Data collected during two separate experimental runs were studied with photon-energy coverage 0.8-3.6 GeV and 0.5-2.6 GeV, respectively. The two measurements are consistent giving confidence in the method and determination of systematic uncertainties. The cross sections are compared with predictions from the KAON-MAID theoretical model (without kaon exchange), which deviate from the data at higher W and at forward kaon angles. These data, along with previously published cross sections for …

Transverse Parton Momenta In Single Inclusive Hadron Production In E+E- Annihilation Process., M. Boglione, J. O. Gonzalez-Hernandez, R. Taghavi

Physics Faculty Publications

We study the transverse momentum distributions of single inclusive hadron production in e⁺e⁻ annihilation processes. Although the only available experimental data are scarce and quite old, we find that the fundamental features of transverse momentum dependent (TMD) evolution, historically addressed in Drell–Yan processes and, more recently, in Semi-inclusive deep inelastic scattering processes, are visible in e⁺e⁻ annihilations as well. Interesting effects related to its non-perturbative regime can be observed.

We test two different parameterizations for the p⊥ dependence of the cross section: the usual Gaussian distribution and a power-law model. We find the latter …