Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Synthesis Of A Novel Ras Farnesyl Protein Transferase Inhibitor, Mark F. Mechelke, Anna Mikolchak

Chemistry Faculty Publications

Mutant RAS proteins are associated with 30% of all human cancers. Unregulated cell growth caused by mutant RAS proteins can be prevented by RAS farnesyl protein transferase (FPTase) inhibitors. A novel FPTase inhibitor has been synthesized incorporating a modified farnesyl “tail” and a customized diphosphate “head”. It is anticipated that the modified “tail”, incorporating a phenyl substituent, will bind more tightly to FPTase due to nonbonding interactions between the aromatic ring and ten aromatic amino acid residues that line the enzyme active site. The altered polar “head”, designed from L-aspartic acid, has already been shown to mimic the natural substrate’s …

Comparative Study Of Snort 3 And Suricata Intrusion Detection Systems, Cole Hoover

Computer Science and Computer Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Network Intrusion Detection Systems (NIDS) are one layer of defense that can be used to protect a network from cyber-attacks. They monitor a network for any malicious activity and send alerts if suspicious traffic is detected. Two of the most common open-source NIDS are Snort and Suricata. Snort was first released in 1999 and became the industry standard. The one major drawback of Snort has been its single-threaded architecture. Because of this, Suricata was released in 2009 and uses a multithreaded architecture. Snort released Snort 3 last year with major improvements from earlier versions, including implementing a new multithreaded architecture …

Field Scale Soil Health Scenarios. Vermont Payment For Ecosystem Services Technical Report #2, Alissa C. White, Heather M. Darby, Lindsey C. Ruhl, Bryony Sands, Sara Ziegler,, Juan P. Alvez, Sarah Brickman

UVM Extension Faculty Publications

This report illustrates how changes in management on Vermont farms can influence soil health metrics at the field scale. We’ve used regionally relevant science-based scenarios to demonstrate how selected soil health metrics that are associated with ecosystem services could change on farms in response to management practices at the field scale. These field scale management scenarios demonstrate that many practices in use by farmers in Vermont can have positive impacts on the soil health indicators of interest to the Vermont Soil Health & Payment for Ecosystem Services Working Group. The scenarios document potential for tradeoffs among soil health properties. Specifically, …

Iowa Waste Reduction Center Newsletter, May 2022, University Of Northern Iowa. Iowa Waste Reduction Center.

Iowa Waste Reduction Center Newsletter

Inside this Issue:

--- EPA adds 1-bromopropane (1-BP) to the Clean Air Act List of Hazardous Air Pollutants
--- FLPC Calls on Congress to Prioritize Food Waste Reduction in the 2023 Farm Bill
--- Sustainability & Environmental Awareness Award
--- Two Iowa Green Brewery Certified Breweries Won Prestigious 2022 World Beer Cup Award
--- Iowa Composting Council Seeks Board Nominations
--- Air Quality permits under review
--- Industry New

Rivers As International Borders: A Comparison Of How Social-Political Factors Have Impacted Natural Resources In The Usumacinta River Basin And Rio Grande River Basin Within The Context Of Climate Change, Anna A. Flores

Water Resources Science and Technology Theses and Graduate Research Reports

Along transboundary river borders in North and Central America social-political factors such as conservation, militarization, and migration impact natural resources leaving the United States, Mexico, and Guatemala at risk of ecological decline due to the changing climate. I present a qualitative case study comparing the social-political factors and their impact on natural resources in the Usumacinta River Basin (URB) and Rio Grande River Basin (RGRB). A comprehensive evaluation of social-political factors is performed starting from the 19th century to the current era. I contribute to the field of environmental sociology by extending Laako and Kauffer’s (2022) work on eco-frontiers of …

“Lasso The Moon? Is It Possible? What About Hack The Moon? Today’S International Framework For Activities On The Moon”, Diane M. Janosek, Armando Seay, Josa P. Natera

Military Cyber Affairs

The global interest in the moon and outer space continues to skyrocket. The current U.S. commercial investment in space is $350 billion annually, and it is expected to grow to $1 Trillion or more by 2040. The U.S. military investment in space defense and research likewise continues to grow, with the total investment amount remaining classified. With the frequent activity in space, as well as concerns about attacks to US space assets to and from space, the U.S, created the United States Space Command and its Space Force. With private space travel, nanosatellites, lunar exploration, and the proliferation of space …

Hybrid Machine And Deep Learning-Based Cyberattack Detection And Classification In Smart Grid Networks, Adedayo Aribisala

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Power grids have rapidly evolved into Smart grids and are heavily dependent on Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems for monitoring and control. However, this evolution increases the susceptibility of the remote (VMs, VPNs) and physical interfaces (sensors, PMUs LAN, WAN, sub-stations power lines, and smart meters) to sophisticated cyberattacks. The continuous supply of power is critical to power generation plants, power grids, industrial grids, and nuclear grids; the halt to global power could have a devastating effect on the economy's critical infrastructures and human life.

Machine Learning and Deep Learning-based cyberattack detection modeling have yielded promising results when …

Data And Algorithmic Modeling Approaches To Count Data, Andraya Hack

Honors College Theses

Various techniques are used to create predictions based on count data. This type of data takes the form of a non-negative integers such as the number of claims an insurance policy holder may make. These predictions can allow people to prepare for likely outcomes. Thus, it is important to know how accurate the predictions are. Traditional statistical approaches for predicting count data include Poisson regression as well as negative binomial regression. Both methods also have a zero-inflated version that can be used when the data has an overabundance of zeros. Another procedure is to use computer algorithms, also known as …

Defining The Collapse Point In Colloidal Unimolecular Polymer (Cup) Formation, Ashish Zore, Peng Geng, Yuwei Zhang, Michael R. Van De Mark

Chemistry Faculty Research & Creative Works

Colloidal unimolecular polymer (CUP) particles were made using polymers with different ratios of hydrophobic and hydrophilic monomers via a self-organization process known as water reduction. The water-reduction process and the collapse of the polymer chain to form a CUP were tracked using viscosity measurements as a function of composition. A vibration viscometer, which allowed for viscosity measurement as the water was being added during the water-reduction process, was utilized. The protocol was optimized and tested for factors such as temperature control, loss of material, measurement stability while stirring, and changes in the solution volume with the addition of water. The …

Defining The Collapse Point In Colloidal Unimolecular Polymer (Cup) Formation, Ashish Zore, Peng Geng, Yuwei Zhang, Michael R. Van De Mark

Chemistry Faculty Research & Creative Works

Colloidal unimolecular polymer (CUP) particles were made using polymers with different ratios of hydrophobic and hydrophilic monomers via a self-organization process known as water reduction. The water-reduction process and the collapse of the polymer chain to form a CUP were tracked using viscosity measurements as a function of composition. A vibration viscometer, which allowed for viscosity measurement as the water was being added during the water-reduction process, was utilized. The protocol was optimized and tested for factors such as temperature control, loss of material, measurement stability while stirring, and changes in the solution volume with the addition of water. The …

Construction And Demonstration Of A 6–18 Ghz Microwave Three-Wave Mixing Experiment Using Multiple Synchronized Arbitrary Waveform Generators, Nicole T. Moon, Klaus Woelk, Garry S. Grubbs

Chemistry Faculty Research & Creative Works

This manuscript details the construction and demonstration of the first known microwave three-wave mixing (M3WM) experiment utilizing multiple arbitrary waveform generators (AWGs) completely operable in the 6–18 GHz frequency range for use in chirality determination and quantification. Many M3WM techniques, which involve two orthogonal, subsequent Rabi π/2 and π microwave pulses, suffer from flexibility in pulse types and timings as well as frequency due to most instruments only using one, one-channel AWG and the M3WM probability decreasing with an increasing quantum number, J. In this work, we presented an M3WM instrument that allows that flexibility by introducing multiple, synchronized AWGs …

Establishing Pteridine Metabolism In A Progressive Isogenic Breast Cancer Cell Model – Part Ii, Lindsey Rasmussen, Zachary Foulks, Jiandong Wu, Casey Burton, Honglan Shi

Chemistry Faculty Research & Creative Works

Introduction: Determining the biological significance of pteridines in cancer development and progression remains an important step in understanding the altered levels of urinary pteridines seen in certain cancers. Our companion study revealed that several folate-derived pteridines and lumazines correlated with tumorigenicity in an isogenic, progressive breast cancer cell model, providing direct evidence for the tumorigenic origin of pteridines. Objectives: This study sought to elucidate the pteridine biosynthetic pathway in a progressive breast cancer model via direct pteridine dosing to determine how pteridine metabolism changes with tumorigenicity. Methods: First, MCF10AT breast cancer cells were dosed individually with 15 pteridines to determine …

Techno-Economic Feasibility Analysis Of A Fully Mobile Radiation Oncology System Using Monte Carlo Simulation, Alex T. Price, Casey I. Canfield, Geoffrey D. Hugo, James A. Kavanaugh, Lauren E. Henke, Eric Laugeman, Pamela Samson, Clair Reynolds-Kueny, Elizabeth A. Cudney

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

PURPOSEDisparities in radiation oncology (RO) can be attributed to geographic location, socioeconomic status, race, sex, and other societal factors. One potential solution is to implement a fully mobile (FM) RO system to bring radiotherapy to rural areas and reduce barriers to access. We use Monte Carlo simulation to quantify techno-economic feasibility with uncertainty, using two rural Missouri scenarios.METHODSRecently, a semimobile RO system has been developed by building an o-ring linear accelerator (linac) into a mobile coach that is used for temporary care, months at a time. Transitioning to a more FM-RO system, which changes location within a given day, presents …

Numerical Methods For Stochastic Stokes And Navier-Stokes Equations, Liet Vo

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation consists of three main parts with each part focusing on numerical approximations of the stochastic Stokes and Navier-Stokes equations.

Part One concerns the mixed finite element methods and Chorin projection methods for solving the stochastic Stokes equations with general multiplicative noise. We propose a modified mixed finite element method for solving the Stokes equations and show that the numerical solutions converge optimally to the PDE solutions. The convergence is under energy norms (strong convergence) for the velocity and in a time-averaged norm (weak convergence) for the pressure. In addition, after establishing the error estimates in second moment, high …

Teaching Assembly Programming Through Video Games, Kaden Ven Gryphon

Honors Capstone Projects and Theses

No abstract provided.

Root Phenotyping Of Peptide-Treated Glycine Max, Salem Jackson

Biological Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

Plant elicitor peptides (Peps) – endogenous chains of amino acids involved in natural plant defense – have been shown to decrease damage from herbivores and pathogens by inducing an immune response, increasing the emission of volatile organic compounds (VOCS), transcripts, and metabolites. Exogenous treatment of soybean seeds with plant elicitor peptide GmPep3 has been shown to induce these broad-spectrum defenses and offers a new method for increasing crop yield. However, the effects of GmPep3 on indicators of soybean health – root characteristics, growth stages, etc. – have not been fully realized.

Using the root-phenotyping platform RhizoVision Explorer, several root traits …

Gauging The State-Of-The-Art For Foresight Weight Pruning On Neural Networks, Noah James

Computer Science and Computer Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

The state-of-the-art for pruning neural networks is ambiguous due to poor experimental practices in the field. Newly developed approaches rarely compare to each other, and when they do, their comparisons are lackluster or contain errors. In the interest of stabilizing the field of pruning, this paper initiates a dive into reproducing prominent pruning algorithms across several architectures and datasets. As a first step towards this goal, this paper shows results for foresight weight pruning across 6 baseline pruning strategies, 5 modern pruning strategies, random pruning, and one legacy method (Optimal Brain Damage). All strategies are evaluated on 3 different architectures …

Investigation Of The Binding Domain Interfaces Of The C-Terminus Of The Albino3 Insertase And The 43kda Chloroplast Signal Recognition Particle Subunit Via Single Molecule Förster Resonance Energy Transfer, Amanda Tomanek

Chemistry & Biochemistry Undergraduate Honors Theses

Fluorescent labeling is a technique used for visualizing functional groups contained in biomolecules by fluorescence imaging. This technique was used in this project to analyze post-translational targeting of light-harvesting chlorophyll-binding proteins (LHCP), which are the core complexes that harvest sunlight to drive photosynthetic electron transfer. This protein is synthesized in the cytosol and post-translationally targeted to the stroma of chloroplasts. CpSRP43 is a signal recognition particle (SRP) subunit unique to chloroplasts, which has been shown to interact with the stroma-soluble C-terminus of the thylakoid-bound Albino3 insertase (Alb3-Cterm). In the chloroplast stroma, targeting to thylakoids is performed via the cpSRP pathway …

Patient Centric Solutions To Mitigate Information Need Of Obstetric Ultrasound Exam Among Pregnant Women: Design-Thinking Approach, Eman Alanazi

Theses and Dissertations

Design thinking approach is an approach used widely to solve problems by providing innovative solutions. In this dissertation I focused on the user experience research filed where I designed new obstetric ultrasound reports by adopting the design thinking approach to reach the main goal of the dissertation which is mitigating pregnant women information needs about obstetric ultrasound exam and improve their understanding and knowledge about the obstetric ultrasound report and the exam. I developed two versions of new designed report called SPOUR (Smart Patient-Oriented Obstetric Ultrasound Report). We have conducted five studies to reach the dissertation goal and designed two …

The Analysis Of User Characteristics On Twitter During Early Stage Of The Covid-19 Pandemic: A Comparison Study Before And After Declaration Of The Covid-19 Pandemic, Mutasim Alfadhel

Theses and Dissertations

In December 2019, the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) was officially reported as an acute respiratory infection, which was first identified in Wuhan, China. On March 11th, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that Covid-19 could be characterized as a pandemic. Governments across the world imposed or recommended various non-medical interventions to reduce transmission of Covid-19, such as washing hands, wearing face masks, social distancing, and quarantining as well as lockdown measures including banning large gatherings, issuing stay-at-home orders, closing certain businesses, and imposing travel restrictions. The increase in social, behavioral, and economic issues that the disease has generated has …

Resident Doctor Duty Shift Scheduling In Tarragona, Spain, Anna Daniel Fuentes

Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this thesis is to create a computer algorithm to schedule family care resident doctors’ duty shifts in Tarragona, Spain. The algorithm considers European Working Time Directive regulations which limit the number of hours any worker can work in a year. Furthermore, each health center has different work time and staffing requirements, and the medical training program requirements change based on a resident’s level of experience also known as rank of residency. Fair scheduling is essential to healthcare workers’ rights to have time to recover between shifts while satisfying all the training requirements and regulations. Integer programming is …

Study Of The Chemical Fabrication Process Of Nsom Probes And The Modification Of The Probe Surface, Muhammad Nazmul Hussain

Theses and Dissertations

Near-field scanning optical microscopy (NSOM) merges scanning probe technology with the power of high-resolution optical microscopy and provides a natural view into the nanoworld. NSOM requires tapered probes with subwavelength optical apertures and wide cone angles to efficiently channel the illumination light to the tip apex so that it can acquire optical images beyond the diffraction limit. Tapered probes with a range of cone angles can be fabricated through chemical etching of optical fibers using hydrofluoric acid (HF) by varying the etching time. Apart from their use for NSOM imaging, such optical probes can also be transformed into nanosensors by …

Physicochemical Properties, Pharmacokinetics And Biodistribution Of Arm14988, An Acid Ceramidase Inhibitor, And Its Potential As Chemotherapeutic Agent For Glioblastoma, Vilashini Rajaratnam

Theses and Dissertations

Glioblastoma (GBM) is one of the most common and detrimental forms of brain tumor. While there are few FDA-approved chemotherapeutic treatments, the overall survival is still poor leading to many studies dedicated to developing more effective treatment options. Previous studies have identified acid ceramidase (ASAH1) as a potential therapeutic target for this disease. ARN14988, an ASAH1 inhibitor, has shown to be highly cytotoxic compared to the FDA-approved chemotherapy agent, temozolomide, in GBM cell lines. This initial finding makes ARN14988 a desired candidate for further drug discovery studies. Herein, the objective of this thesis is to study the pharmacological properties of …

Causalmodels: An R Library For Estimating Causal Effects, Joshua Wolff Anderson

Computational and Data Sciences (MS) Theses

Free and open source software for statistical modeling and machine learning have advanced productivity in data science significantly. Packages such as SciPy in Python and caret in R provide fundamental tools for statistical modeling and machine learning in the two most popular programming languages used by data scientists. Unfortunately, robust tools similar to these are limited in terms of causal inference. The tools in R that exist lack consistent and standardized methodologies and inputs. R lacks a comprehensive package that offers traditional causal inference methods such as standardization, IP weighting, G-estimation, outcome regression, and propensity matching in one common package. …

Coarse Cohomology Of The Complement And Applications, Arka Banerjee

Theses and Dissertations

John Roe [15] introduced the notion of coarse cohomology of a metric space to studylarge scale geometry of the space. Coarse cohomology of a metric space roughly measures the way in which uniformly large bounded set in that space fit together. In the first part of this dissertation, we describe a joint work with Boris Okun that generalizes Roe’s theory to define coarse (co)homology of complement of any given subspace in a metric space. Inspired by the work of Kapovich and Kleiner [12], we introduce a notion of a manifold like object in the coarse category (called coarse PD(n) space) …

Terrestrial Perspective On The Formation, Evolution, And Detection Of Zeolites In Lacustrine Environments On Early Mars, Gayantha Roshana Loku Kodikara

Theses and Dissertations

This study evaluates the possible formation and evolution mechanisms of zeolites on early Mars with possible explanations for their limited detections using Earth analogs. This study focuses on the formation of zeolites in the closed basin lakes where the largest relatively pure concentrations of natural zeolites are found on Earth. Five working hypotheses were formulated to explore the limited detection of zeolites in closed basin lakes on Mars and different styles of scientific reasoning with suitable examples were used to test the independent, converging lines of inquiry. Zeolites may not be identifiable in certain locations on Mars using orbital data …

The Effects Of Hybridization On Skeletal Morphology In Two Closely Related Populations Of Rhesus Macaques (Macaca Mulatta): A Geometric Morphometric Approach, Cody Zachery Schumacher

Theses and Dissertations

Precise identification and classification techniques are vital for the field of paleoanthropology to ensure that hominin fossilized remains are labeled accurately. The morphology of extinct hominin specimens will typically be compared to extant nonhuman primate species because of how closely related they are phylogenetically. Observable similarities in their morphological variation can be examined to infer which traits may be a result of evolution and this can update our understanding of their evolutionary relationships. The genus Macaca displays a level of morphological variation that is similar to that seen in the genus Homo, therefore macaques can be used as an analogous …

Alkalinity Enhanced Mass Reduction Of Uranium Contaminated Sediment, Cullen Edward Meurer

Theses and Dissertations

Uranium is a toxic and radioactive metal that is naturally occurring in the Earth’s crust. The uranium mining boom of the 1950’s produced many contaminated aquifers throughout the United States. Monitoring of groundwater data suggests that uranium concentrations may take 100’s of years to naturally attenuate to below the maximum contamination limit. This project examines a potential and novel remediation technique of groundwater contaminated with uranium through alkalinity enhanced desorption from the solid phase. Alkalinity enhances the desorption of uranium by complexing uranyl (UO22+) with Ca and CO3 which allows for further desorption. Since remediation is time consuming and expensive, …

Development Of Stabilized Zero Valent Iron Nanoparticles For Environmental Remediation Using Fractioned Humic Acid, Ruth Margaret Ntabala

Theses and Dissertations

Nanosized zero valent iron (NZVI) is a new technology used for the treatment of contaminated water, soil, and sediment. Remediation by NZVI of subsurface contaminants is conducted by the injection of NZVI into the contaminated area, however, there are challenges when applying NZVI in the subsurface. These challenges include aggregation, low mobility, and environmental and ecological risks. Research has been conducted to modify the surface properties of NZVI using different coatings to combat these problems. However, these coatings usually involve synthesized chemicals and have only dealt with one or two of these challenges. There is a need for the development …

Mass Transport Of Uranium During Recharge Of Surface Water To Contaminated Groundwater, Kendyl Nicole Hoss

Theses and Dissertations

This study characterized the predominant mass transport mechanisms of uranium during river water recharge to contaminated groundwater to better characterize its mobility. It was hypothesized that the mass transfer of uranium from the solid phase to the aqueous phase was occurring during periods of river water to groundwater recharge via concentration-driven desorption. Sediment data confirmed the presence of uranium on the solid phase via nitric acid extraction. The recharge of river water to the saturated zone of a uranium-contaminated aquifer was simulated in a multi-well tracer test. The injection fluid was Little Wind River water and was traced with added …