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Tea Waste as a Green Method in Removing Aluminum from Drinking Water
No full text78 leaves; illustrations.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 67-70).The goal of this study was to determine how different types of tea waste (green, black, and white) interact with aluminum ions, Al3+ (aq), to remove this toxic heavy metal from solution as efficiently as possible. The Molecular Operating Environment computer program was used to predict the electrostatic interaction energies and bond lengths between aluminum ions and tea waste components. The amount of aluminum removed from a pH 5 buffer solution after interacting with various types of tea waste was determined using a UV-Visible absorption spectrophotometer. Acquired absorption spectra were used to assess aluminum concentration in four situations for each tea (regular, fine, regular ultrasonicated, fine ultrasonicated). Each condition had five vials with increasing concentrations of Al3+ (aq). After 90 minutes of reaction between tea waste and aluminum ions, the absorption spectra of the five runs (four conditions and one control) were collected for each tea sample. Ultrasonication of samples generated increased interactions between Al3+ (aq) ions and tea waste that resulted in increased adsorption capacity (from 1.59 mg/g for fine green tea to 2.40 mg/g for the same tea ultrasonicated) and removal efficiency (from 36.8% for fine green tea to 55.7% for the same tea ultrasonicated). Thus, higher agitation of tea waste solutions containing aluminum may aid in more efficiently filtering aluminum out of drinking water. However, there was no discernible differences in removal efficiency between regular and fine tea waste samples. FTIR spectra of black, green, and white tea waste leaves were recorded using an ATR-FTIR spectrometer before and after aluminum adsorption. The intensities of the FTIR spectra diminished in the presence of aluminum ions due to their interactions with tea waste, but there was no significant spectral shift in the FTIR peak positions of the tea waste after aluminum addition, suggesting that the adsorption process was a physical change.Abstract -- Chapter 1: Introduction -- 1.1: Metal Contaminants Commonly Found in Water -- 1.2: AlCl3 and Aluminum -- 1.3: Tea Waste -- 1.4: Caffeic Acid as an External Chemosensor -- 1.5: Molecular Operating Environment Complex Formation -- 1.6: Previous Methods for Water Purification -- 1.7: Goals -- Chapter 2: Experimental Procedures -- 2.1: Materials and Methods -- 2.2: Instrumentation -- 2.3: UV-Visible Absorption Spectroscopy -- 2.4: ATR-FTIR Spectroscopy -- 2.5: Molecular Operating Environment (MOE) -- Chapter 3: Results and Discussion -- 3.1: Calibrations -- 3.2: Adsorption Capacity -- 3.3: Adsorption Efficiency -- 3.4: FTIR Spectral Analysis -- 3.5: Interaction of Al3+ions with Tea Waste -- Chapter 4: Conclusions -- Chapter 5: Limitations and Future Work -- References -- Appendix Appendix I: Determination of Dye and Metal Type for the UV-Vis -- Appendix II: Determining Optimal Conditions for UV-Vis Experiment
Course Catalog 2022-2023
No full text371 pages.Courses offered at Wheaton College (Norton, Massachusetts) from 2022-2023
Counterion Effect on the Luminescence of Lanthanide Complexes with Fluorinated Alkoxide Ligands.
No full text35 leaves; Illustrations.Includes bibliographic references (leaves 33-34).Lanthanides have many commercial and industrial uses due to their luminescence characteristics. To be able to understand the effect that counterion size has on these characteristics can lead to optimization and better products. The ligand used in the synthesis of the complexes studied were alkoxide ligands. Alkoxide ligands have uses in industry when bonded to metals as a precursor to ceramics production, in this study the alkoxide ligand is used as an oxygen donor to the Ln(III) (Ln = Y, Ce, Pr, Eu) metal. The ligand used is also fluorinated and bidentate leading to a reduction in luminescence quenching. All complexes used were synthesized using THF as the solvent. The absorption and emission spectra were gathered in solution. It was found by changing the group 1 counterion there was a noticeable change in several of the luminescence characteristics.Abstract -- 2. Introduction -- 3. Experimental -- 3.1. General -- 3.2. Syntheses -- 3.3. Absorption Spectroscopy -- 3.4. Emission Spectroscopy -- 3.5. IR Spectroscopy -- 3.6. Kinetics -- 4. Results -- 4.1. Cerium Complexes -- 4.2. Europium Complexes -- 4.3. Yttrium Complexes -- 4.4. Praseodymium Complexes -- 4.5. IR-Spectroscopy -- 4.6. Kinetics -- 5. Discussion -- 6. Conclusio
Public Spaces, Private Spheres: Spaces of Alienation and the Politics of Otherness in Modernist Women’s Writing
No full text132 leaves.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 127-132).Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- Chapter One: Street Hauntings: Empire and Domesticity in Virginia Woolf -- Chapter Two: In Between Worlds: Jean Rhys’s Sexual and Colonial Exile -- Chapter Three: Those Who Turn Day into Night: Fragmentation and Surreality in Djuna Barnes -- Conclusion -- Works Cite
Preliminary Study of the Combined Effects of Nicotine and Cannabidiol on Synaptic Vesicle Endocytic Activity of Gallus gallus neurons
No full textPreliminary Research into the Effects of Melatonin on Growth Cone Displacement in Embryonic Gallus gallus and Homo sapiens neurons.
No full text17 pages; 7 illustrations
Evidence of Effects of Caffeine on Mitochondrial Function and Transport in Embryonic Gallus gallus Cells
No full text15 pages; 6 illustrations
Politics in Battle: The Army and the State in the German-Soviet War
No full text134 leaves.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 128-134).The thesis argues that both Germany and the Soviet Union entered the Second World War with fundamentally counterproductive relationships between political and military authorities. The German Army sought to operate without regard to the political goals of Nazi leadership and thereby maintaining the army’s traditional independence. By contrast, the Red Army, decimated by Stalin’s purges, was a shell of its former self, subjected to political officers and a regime of terror that stifled tactical and operational initiative and military thought. Throughout the German-Soviet War, Nazi leadership sought to reduce the independence of the German Army through hyper-politicization and in so-doing destroyed its technical abilities, just as Soviet leadership developed greater confidence in the Red Army and allowed its officers greater freedom to prosecute the war successfully. Ultimately, it is concluded that armies must be brought to adhere to political objectives without destroying their ability to conduct operations.Introduction -- Background through the Interwar -- Civil-Military Relations through -- Institutional Conflict -- Pride and Insecurity -- Introduction -- The German Army - Moltke to Halder -- The Red Army - The Tsar to Tukhachevsky -- Conclusion -- Theory - Independence and Integration -- Introduction -- The German Army - Clausewitz to Beck -- The Red Army - Lenin to Isserson -- Conclusion -- Operational Art and its Salience to War and Politics -- Origins and Importance -- German Operational Art -- Soviet Operational Art -- The War -- Impact of Ideology - Totalitarianism on the Battlefield -- The Nazification of the Heer -- Recovering from the Great Purge -- Effects of the Dictators - Hitler and Stalin as commander-in-chief -- Hitler - The Omnipotent Corporal -- Stalin - The Compromises of Necessity -- Conclusion
Russia and The United States: A Shared History of Figure Skating and Potential for Healing.
No full text47 pages; illustrations, diagram.46 leaves.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 42-46).The rising tensions between the United States and Russia has continued to grow without solution over the last few years. As the result of this rising tension, there are growing concerns that the tension will turn into direct conflict. Figure Skating, which both the United States and Russia share a long history of cooperation in, would create a potential avenue for improving relations through the ongoing positive relationship that already exists between Russian and American skaters. Thus I propose that the American and Russian Figure Skating teams come together to put on a showcase to make a statement that Russia and the United States can work together and create something beautiful and enjoyable to all people
Neocolonialism in New York City: Urban Planning Through Critical Theory
No full text195 leaves : illustrationsIncludes bibliographical references (leaves 181-195).Most land use proposals in New York City must be approved through the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP). Within this process, the Department of City Planning, the City Planning Commission, the City Council and the Mayor each hold binding positions in relation to those in the community. This disproportionate power distribution results in a pattern where community voices are continually and systematically marginalized. In response, neighborhoods have formed coalitions, associations and grassroots organizations across the city in order to advocate for themselves and resist unjust planning measures. Through interviews with individuals involved with neighborhood housing movements, this study listens and learns from local narratives about how they have been impacted by city planning initiatives. These conversations reflect how individuals are reclaiming their power on personal and communal levels in order to create more equitable cities for themselves and for future generations. Additionally, these interviews are directly juxtaposed with the dominant narratives of city government officials gathered from media sources and government publications.
Motivated by emancipatory and hermeneutic pre-knowledge interests, this study utilizes the Frankfurt School’s Critical Theory and Michel Foucault’s methodology of “insurrection of subjugated voices,” in order to recognize the systems of inequality that are perpetuated by the institution of urban planning in New York City. Within this theoretical framework, the findings of this research emphasize that the current legal arrangements of urban planning structurally sideline community voices by valuing a neoliberal approach to constructing the city. By continually prioritizing quantitative factors and profit over real human costs, the institution of urban planning in New York City reveals its neocolonial characteristics.Introduction -- Chapter 1: The Politico-Epistemic Significance of a Critical Theory Framework -- Chapter 2: Narratives of Grassroots Organizers in New York City -- Chapter 3: Critical Comparison of Official Narratives --Conclusio