Nitrogen (N) fertilizer application can promote nitrate leaching below the rooting zone and into groundwater drinking water sources in many agricultural settings. The proper management of N application can minimize non-point source nitrate pollution to groundwater. This study examines the potential for enhanced efficiency fertilizers, specifically urea treated with a...
The selection process for map projections is a mystery to many mapmakers and GIS users. Map projections ought to be selected based on the map’s geographic extent and the required distortion properties, with the goal of minimizing the distortion of the mapped area. Despite some available selection guidelines, the selection...
Gusset plates are an important component of bridges. They are thick sheets of steel that join steel members together using fasteners and also strengthen their joint. Transportation agencies regularly evaluate and rate their inventories of gusset plate connections using visual inspection, which is very costly. To address this issue, we...
In this thesis I present the choice calculus, a formal language for representing variation in software and other structured artifacts. The choice calculus is intended to support variation research in a way similar to the lambda calculus in programming language research. Specifically, it provides a simple formal basis for presenting,...
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a devastating disease characterized by the progressive degeneration of motor neurons. Dominantly-inherited mutations to the antioxidant enzyme Cu,Zn superoxide dismutase (SOD1) cause 3-6% of all ALS cases. The complete mechanism behind the toxicity of mutant SOD1 remains unclear, although significant evidence points to aberrant or...
It is possible to purchase, for as little as $10,000, a cluster of computers with the capability to rival the supercomputers of only a few years ago. Now, users that have little to no experience developing distributed applications or managing a cluster are in a position to do so. To...
Free/Open Source Software (FOSS) communities often use open bug reporting to allow users to participate by reporting bugs. This practice can lead to more duplicate reports, as inexperienced users can be less rigorous about researching existing bug reports. The purpose of this research is to determine the extent of this...
A novel type of model substrates, i.e. immobilized p-aminophenyl-β-D-cellooligosaccharides,
was developed and used in the study of exocellulases. The
two major cellobiohydrolases from Trichoderma reesei, CBH I and CBH II were
used as representative enzymes. p-Aminophenyl derivatives of cellobiose (PAPG₂),
cellotriose (PAPG₃), and cellotetraose (PAPG₄) were synthesized from the reaction...