Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Microwave Regeneration And Thermal And Oxidative Stability Of Imidazolium Cyanopyrrolide Ionic Liquid For Direct Air Capture Of Carbon Dioxide, Yun-Yang Lee, Eda Cagli, Aidan Klemm, Ruth Dikki

Faculty Scholarship

Understanding the oxidative and thermal degradation of CO2 sorbents is essential for assessing long-term sorbent stability in direct air capture (DAC). The potential degradation pathway of imidazolium cyanopyrrolide, an ionic liquid (IL) functionalized for superior CO2 capacity and selectivity, is evaluated under accelerated degradation conditions to elucidate the secondary reactions that can occur during repetitive absorption-desorption thermal-swing cycles. The combined analysis from various spectroscopic, chromatographic, and thermal gravimetric measurements indicated that radical and SN2 mechanisms in degradation are encouraged by the nucleophilicity of the anion. Thickening of the liquid and gas evolution are accompanied by 50 % reduction in CO2 …

Uncover The Underground : Distribution And Population Status Of Blind Snakes And Bogadek’S Burrowing Lizards, Man Ho Chan

Lingnan Theses (MPhil & PhD)

Globally, 28% of the reptiles are fossorial. Fossorial reptiles, which perform important ecological functions, such as being ecosystem engineers, top predators and bioindicators, are indispensable members of the soil ecosystem. However, the ecology of fossorial reptiles is relatively little known because of their cryptic behavior and rarity. In Hong Kong, there are four species of fossorial reptile, three of which are rare and of potential conservation concern. Among the four fossorial reptile species that occur in Hong Kong, Indotyphlops lazelli and Dibamus bogadeki, are endemic to Hong Kong and are globally threatened species. On the other hand, the distribution …

Improving The Cotton Simulation Model, Gossym, For Soil, Photosynthesis, And Transpiration Processes, Sahila Beegum, Dennis Timlin, Kambham Raja Reddy, Vangimalla Reddy, Wenguang Sun, Zhuangji Wang, David Fleisher, Chittaranjan Ray

Nebraska Water Center: Faculty Publications

GOSSYM, a mechanistic, process-level cotton crop simulation model, has a two-dimensional (2D) gridded soil model called Rhizos that simulates the below-ground processes daily. Water movement is based on gradients of water content and not hydraulic heads. In GOSSYM, photosynthesis is calculated using a daily empirical light response function that requires calibration for response to elevated carbon dioxide ( CO₂). This report discusses improvements made to the GOSSYM model for soil, photosynthesis, and transpiration processes. GOSSYM’s predictions of below-ground processes using Rhizos are improved by replacing it with 2DSOIL, a mechanistic 2D finite element soil process model. The photosynthesis …

The Dynamics Of Sedimentary Chlorophyll Α At A High-Energy Beach, Sarah (Gray) Abel

Honors Theses

Productive sandy beaches are one of the most crucial areas serving our ecosystem today. While often overlooked in scientific research, productive beaches have many essential functions that lead to the preservation and protection of many different species as well as ecological wellness and stability. A key factor that is linked to this productivity is the presence of chlorophyll in the sediments. Piston cores of the sediments at the low-tide mark at Waties Island, South Carolina, were collected across multiple years and subsequently analyzed for chlorophyll concentrations through fluorometry after acetone extraction and acidification. Each core profile was processed to calculate …

Investigation Of A Possible Switch Of Benthic Photosynthetic Organisms And Phytoplanktonic Organisms In White Point Swash, South Carolina, Nathan Easterling

Honors Theses

This research study examined the possible switch from benthic photosynthetic organisms to phytoplankton in the water column at White Point Swash, Long Bay, South Carolina, and what is causing this switch to occur. During Dr. Hannides’ and his group’s studies at this and other swashes in the past, they noticed this phenomenon of the benthic photosynthetic organisms taking over during a certain time and then the phytoplankton in the water column taking over during a different time. In this study, I measured the relative benthic macroalgal area coverage and sedimentary chlorophyll a concentration as measures of the abundance of benthic …

Suboxic And Anaerobic Respiration Across A Sandy-Shore-To-Estuarine Gradient, Jacey Ballard

Honors Theses

Sulfate is an inorganic ion that is one of the major ions of seawater. Sulfate is also an essential reactant in microbially mediated anaerobic respiration that produces sulfide, an energy source during chemosynthesis. Sulfide is widely found in sediment, and water rich in decaying organic material, as well as hydrothermal vents. While sulfate reduction occurs extensively in muds, such as those of marshes, it is not expected to occur in sand which is much better aerated. Recent research in our group documented extensive sub aerobic respiration in coastal sands which suggests that sulfate reduction may have also been happening. This …

Digital Dna: The Ethical Implications Of Big Data As The World’S New-Age Commodity, Clark H. Dotson

Honors Theses

In the emerging digital world that we find ourselves in, it becomes apparent that data collection has become a staple of daily life, whether we like it or not. This research discussion aims to bring light to just how much one’s own digital identity is valued in the technologically-infused world of today, with distinct research and local examples to bring awareness to the ethical implications of your online presence. The paper in question examines anecdotal and research evidence of the collection of data, both through true and unjust means, as well as ethical implications of what this information truly represents. …

Factors Affecting Apothecia Production And Primary Infection By Monilinia Vaccinii-Corymbosi On Vaccinium Angustifolium, Ian Leonard

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Mummy berry, caused by Monilinia vaccinii-corymbosi (MVC), is a prolific disease of Vaccinium angustifolium (wild blueberry) leading to decreased yield in wild blueberry fields throughout the Downeast (DE) and Midcoast (MC) regions of Maine (ME). This study aimed to identify factors affecting primary inoculum production and infection by MVC on wild blueberry, and what bud stages of wild blueberry are most susceptible to infection. Through common garden (CGE), field and incubation experiments conducted in 2021 and 2022, factors affecting carpogenic germination of MVC pseudosclerotia and relationships between susceptible wild blueberry buds and environmental factors were analyzed. The CGE conducted in …

Synthesis Of A Pharmaceutical Precursor From Bioderived Glucose, Justin O. P. Waters

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Medication costs in the U.S. are high, and manufacturing and production comprise the largest share of those costs. As the world continues to shift to more sustainable methods of production, there are opportunities to reduce these costs through green synthesis. A large number of pharmaceuticals are derived from a precursor (S-3-hydroxy-gamma-butyrolactone ‘HBL’). Drugs that treat cancer, antivirals, antibacterial drugs, and some cholesterol medications all can be derived from HBL. Currently, HBL is almost exclusively derived from petroleum through an expensive and resource intensive process. Until recently, ‘green’ efforts to derive HBL from biomass have been plagued with many of the …

Areas Of Same Cardinal Direction, Periyandy Thunendran

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Cardinal directions, such as North, East, South, and West, are the foundation for qualitative spatial reasoning, a common field of GIS, Artificial Intelligence, and cognitive science. Such cardinal directions capture the relative spatial direction relation between a reference object and a target object, therefore, they are important search criteria in spatial databases. The projection-based model for such direction relations has been well investigated for point-like objects, yielding a relation algebra with strong inference power. The Direction Relation Matrix defines the simple region-to-region direction relations by approximating the reference object to a minimum bounding rectangle. Models that capture the direction between …

Development And Applications Of Similarity Measures For Spatial-Temporal Event And Setting Sequences, Fuyu Xu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Similarity or distance measures between data objects are applied frequently in many fields or domains such as geography, environmental science, biology, economics, computer science, linguistics, logic, business analytics, and statistics, among others. One area where similarity measures are particularly important is in the analysis of spatiotemporal event sequences and associated environs or settings. This dissertation focuses on developing a framework of modeling, representation, and new similarity measure construction for sequences of spatiotemporal events and corresponding settings, which can be applied to different event data types and used in different areas of data science. The first core part of this dissertation …

Art-At-Work: Creativity And Social Practice As Collaborative, Interdisciplinary Research, Anna Martin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Art-At-Work describes the tools, vocabularies, strategies and experiences that render the emergent spaces of collaborative interdisciplinary research. This body of work generates a story board for the unfolding narrative of a studio-laboratory practice where artists research with scientists and scientists create with artists. The long-term goals and short-term deliverables of this research focus attention toward the process of building connection, tools and space for future work that creates channels for collaboration among disciplines. With each conversation, concept map, prototype, reflection and iteration, creatives and researchers are exploring the spaces among fields of practice by generating ways of sharing experiences that …

Self-Supervised Hierarchical Metrical Structure Modeling, Junyan Jiang, Gus Xia

Machine Learning Faculty Publications

We propose a novel method to model hierarchical metrical structures for both symbolic music and audio signals in a self-supervised manner with minimal domain knowledge. The model trains and inferences on beat-aligned music signals and predicts an 8-layer hierarchical metrical tree from beat, measure to the section level. The training procedure does not require any hierarchical metrical labeling except for beats, purely relying on the nature of metrical regularity and inter-voice consistency as inductive biases. We show in experiments that the method achieves comparable performance with supervised baselines on multiple metrical structure analysis tasks on both symbolic music and audio …

Identification Of Sulfate Reducing Bacteria For Abandoned Mine Drainage Bioremediation, Lance Daley, Nancy Trun Phd

D.U.Quark

No abstract provided.

On The Superabundance Of Singular Varieties In Positive Characteristic, Jake Kettinger

Department of Mathematics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The geproci property is a recent development in the world of geometry. We call a set of points Z\subseq\P_k^3 an (a,b)-geproci set (for GEneral PROjection is a Complete Intersection) if its projection from a general point P to a plane is a complete intersection of curves of degrees a and b. Examples known as grids have been known since 2011. Previously, the study of the geproci property has taken place within the characteristic 0 setting; prior to the work in this thesis, a procedure has been known for creating an (a,b)-geproci half-grid for 4\leq a\leq b, but it was not …

Partitions Of R^N With Maximal Seclusion And Their Applications To Reproducible Computation, Jason Vander Woude

Department of Mathematics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

We introduce and investigate a natural problem regarding unit cube tilings/partitions of Euclidean space and also consider broad generalizations of this problem. The problem fits well within a historical context of similar problems and also has applications to the study of reproducibility in randomized computation.

Given $k\in\mathbb{N}$ and $\epsilon\in(0,\infty)$, we define a $(k,\epsilon)$-secluded unit cube partition of $\mathbb{R}^{d}$ to be a unit cube partition of $\mathbb{R}^{d}$ such that for every point $\vec{p}\in\R^d$, the closed $\ell_{\infty}$ $\epsilon$-ball around $\vec{p}$ intersects at most $k$ cubes. The problem is to construct such partitions for each dimension $d$ with the primary goal of minimizing …

Isolating The Electronic Effects Of Systematic Twist In Highly Substituted Aromatic Hydrocarbons Using Density Functional Theory, Grace Tully, Emily A. Jarvis

Honors Thesis

Density functional theory (DFT) was employed to investigate dodecaphenyltetracene as well as similar molecules containing differing backbone lengths and electron withdrawing groups with interest in manipulating the twist to lower the LUMO level for increased electron mobility. Optimization and frequency time-independent calculations followed by time-dependent (TD-DFT) energy calculations were performed at the B3LYP/G-311G level of theory to analyze electronic trends as a result of increased backbone length and consequently distorted end-to-end molecular twist. These calculations demonstrate a linear relationship with negative slope between the estimated HOMO-LUMO, fundamental, and optical gaps as a function of the number of fused rings along …

Horizon Content Knowledge And Its Integration Into Physics Education Research: Case Study Analysis On Physical Science And Physics Teachers, Trevor A. Robertson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Teachers focused on just one year of instruction may neglect what students need most– a coherent structure of learning across disciplines that advances students’ understanding. The topic of coherence has been a major motivator for education research, including investigations in student- teacher interactions, epistemological beliefs, and large-scale curricular reform. One framework of knowledge, horizon content knowledge (HCK), can aid in describing the knowledge a teacher needs to see beyond their own instruction and provide a coherent structure for students.

While horizon content knowledge exists in one of the most widely adopted teacher frameworks of knowledge in mathematics, mathematical knowledge for …

Striped Blenny (Chasmodes Bosquianus) Presence And Behavior Between Sunrise And Sunset At Oyster Landing, South Carolina, Madeline Schuetze

Honors Theses

Lunar and diel cycles of fishes can help to interpret their behaviors during their reproductive season. Temperate estuaries are used by many benthic fishes for shelter and reproduction. This study examined the behavior and presence of striped blennies (Chasmodes bosquianus) during diel and lunar cycles. PVC pipe shelters were placed to mimic oyster shell nests, a natural habitat for blennies, and cameras were placed to monitor these shelters in April, May, and June 2022, during the striped blenny reproductive period. Video footage was reviewed and analyzed for the presence and behavior of both male and female blennies. Male presence …

2023 Draft Final Unreclaimed Sites Quality Assurance Project Plan (Qapp), Pioneer Technical Services, Inc.

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Effects Of Fibril Morphology And Interfacial Interactions On The Behavior Of Polymer-Grafted Cellulose Nanofibril Reinforced Thermoplastic Composites, Peter V. Kelly

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Mechanically refined cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs) promise to be a high-volume, sustainable, nanoscale reinforcement for thermoplastic composites. They are currently held back by poor interfacial interactions with composite matrices, energy intensive drying, and drying induced fibril aggregation. In this dissertation, we explored how a grafting-through polymerization scheme modified the surface of CNFs with a wide variety of commodity polymers and overcame many of these technical challenges.

The first phase of the research was concerned with characterizing the unique morphology of these CNFs as a function of refinement energy. This characterization was employed to understand how the materials’ morphologies affected their interfacial …

Comparing Hierarchical Data Structures And Hierarchical Data Analysis, Halley Jeanne Dante, Robert Rovetti

Honors Thesis

Real world data is inherently noisy and data analysis can be especially complex when noise is compounded in hierarchical and multilevel data structures. Since such data structures can be described using multiple approaches, the way data is collapsed and grouped within these structures can influence its resulting interpretation and analyses. To avoid discrepancies in data collapsing and grouping, multiple statistical approaches have been developed specifically to analyze multilevel data structures. Examples of multilevel statistical models are the two-factor ANOVA and the general linear model with repeated-measures (GLM-RR) which is typically used in the context of looking at change over time. …

Quantum Mechanical Studies Of Water Splitting Reaction With (Zno)3 Nanoclusters As Catalysts, Duwage C. Perera

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

With the current energy crisis, H₂ production through the water-splitting reaction has drawn attention recently. In this thesis, I studied the structural (geometry) and electronic properties (vertical detachment energy and electron affinity) of ZnO monomers and dimers using density functional theory. ZnO is a metal oxide with a 3.37 eV band gap and can be a commercially cheaper photocatalyst in hydrogen (H₂) production. The B3LYP/DGDZVP2 pair was selected after investigating different pairs of exchange functionals and basis sets to study the hydration, hydrolysis, and water-splitting reaction. The singlet-triplet energy gaps of small (ZnO)_n clusters (n=1-6) of …

Hybrid Power Spectral And Wavelet Image Roughness Analysis, Basel White

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Two-Dimensional Wavelet Transform Modulus Maxima (2D WTMM) sliding window methodology has proven to be a robust approach, in particular for the extraction of the Hurst (H) roughness exponent from grayscale mammograms. The power spectrum is a computational analysis based on the Fourier transform that can be used to estimate the roughness of a scale-invariant image or region via the calculation of H. We aim to examine how the calculation of H in fractional Brownian motion (fBm) images and mammograms can be improved. fBm images are generated for H ∈ [0.00,1.00] for testing through the previous 2D …

Developing An Enhanced Forest Inventory In Maine Using Airborne Laser Scanning: The Role Of Calibration Plot Design And Data Quality, Stephanie Willsey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Forests provide essential ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration, clean water, lumber, and more. It is important that foresters be able to collect accurate forest inventories, especially in a changing climate. Foresters need to know what is in the forest not only to manage for the economic benefits, but also to manage for social acceptability and ecological soundness to prevent further degradation of these ecosystem services. One way to collect accurate and precise forest inventories is through the utilization of remote sensing products. These enhanced forest inventories (EFIs) can be done at varying resolutions that are contingent on the plot …

Optimizing Strategies To Hydraulically Plant Atlantic Salmon Eggs Based On Fry Dispersal Patterns, Ernest J. Atkinson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Gulf of Maine Distinct Population Segment of Atlantic Salmon has suffered from habitat loss and exploitation over the last century. Hatchery supplementation has prevented the extirpation of the species, but stocking methods represent tradeoffs between survival, domestication, and logistics. Egg planting, the use of eyed embryos, maximizes natural rearing opportunities which can be important for adaptation. This method, however, is logistically demanding and requires significant labor over large spatial, but short temporal, scales dictated by the ontogeny of the fish. However, the survival and dispersal behavior of Atlantic Salmon fry immediately after emergence from eggs planted in artificial nests …

Influence Of Platinum Nanoparticles On Ionic Transport And Hydrogen Reactivity Of Yttria-Stabilized Zirconia Thin Films, Firas Mahyob

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) is a widely used ceramic material in solid oxide fuel cells, oxygen sensors, and sensing applications due to its high ionic conductivity, chemical inertness, and thermal stability. YSZ is promising active coating for use in miniaturized harsh environment wireless surface acoustic sensors to monitor gases such as H₂. Adding catalytic Pt nanoparticles can enhance gas reactivity and lead to associated film conductivity changes.

In this work, thin films with an (8% Y₂O₃ - 92% ZrO₂) composition were deposited onto piezoelectric langasite substrates using RF magnetron sputtering in Ar:O₂ - …

The Future Is Now In Twisted Coil Polymer Actuators (Tcpa), Ryan Ronquillo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis aimed to fabricate and test twisted coiled polymer actuators (TCPA) to understand the mechanical and thermal aspects of this artificial muscle fiber. The purpose of this thesis was to find a linear relationship using the LVDT sensor, fabricating TCPA fibers, and interpreting the data. The project tested whether nylon/polymer could be used as a better artificial muscle fiber.

This research accomplished three goals: (1) designing and fabricating a system capable of creating supercoiled muscle fibers consistently, (2) calibrating the Linear Variable Differential Transformer (LVDT) and Core, and (3) analyzing/interpreting the data of the Twisted Coiled Polymer Actuators (TCPA) …

Dolphin Behavioral Responses To Uncrewed Aerial Systems As A Function Of Exposure, Height, And Type, Savannah Damiano

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Uncrewed aerial systems (UAS) are becoming a standard tool in the study of cetaceans, however, a comparative assessment of animal responses to UAS has not been established to gauge the most effective systems for cetacean study. We utilized Dolphin Quest Bermuda’s eleven bottlenose dolphins as subjects for such an investigation taking place over five weeks in 2022 and five weeks in 2023. The dolphins were evaluated for investigative behavioral responses to six off-the-shelf UAS types and a custom fixed wing system. Each UAS was flown in decreasing height vertically above the main dolphin lagoon to evaluate dolphin behavioral responses in …

Phytoplankton Community As An Indicator Of Cyanobacteria Harmful Algal Blooms In High Mountain Lakes, Victoria Elizabeth Avalos

Dissertations and Theses

Cyanobacteria blooms are a growing issue worldwide and can be harmful to both aquatic life and human health. Warm temperatures, nutrient loading, stable water columns, and selective grazing of zooplankton and phytoplankton can contribute to cyanobacteria bloom formation. In this study, I characterized the algal communities and water quality differences in two physiographically similar lakes with relatively little human influences, Odell and Crescent Lakes, Oregon, to better understand potential contributing factors to cyanobacteria harmful algal bloom formation (cyanobacteria bloom) in Odell Lake.

There are three hypotheses in this study:

1. If there was a cyanobacteria bloom in Odell Lake, but not …