The LAIR at East Texas A&M
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Substituent Effect Analysis on Halogen Bonding Interactions
No full textThis study was used to determine the significance of substituents placed on aromatic molecules and how electron-donating groups (EDG) and electron-withdrawing groups (EWG) affect the strength of the halogen bond. Each study involved the same substituents, each differing in electron-withdrawing and electron-donating capability. Five different systems were created on computational software to evaluate the distance between the halogen bond donor and halogen bond acceptor. In two studies, the goal was to find the best electron-donor on the halogen bond acceptor (donor of electron density) while the halogen bond donor remained constant. For one study, the goal was to determine the best electron-acceptor on the halogen bond donor, which changed its electron density. For a fourth study, a nitro group was utilized as the electron donor. For the final study, substituents of varying electron-donating and withdrawing ability were studied on both the halogen bond donor and acceptor to allow for pairing the best substituents. Hammett plots were utilized to correlate substituent σ values and the halogen bond distance. Halogen bonding is a relatively newly discovered type of intermolecular attraction under the branch of supramolecular chemistry that has been used to drive molecular self-assembly in crystal engineering. This project may contribute to a goal of developing sensors for explosives. Nitro groups are part of many explosives (ex. TNT) and a halogen bond could be used to attract, and therefore detect nitro containing compounds. Halogen bonding could also be used to develop sensor applications containing anions and amines. Anions have the potential to be environmental contaminants/pollutants and amines are in many narcotics. Developing sensors for these may contribute to decreasing the abundance in the environment or aid in drug detection or drug detoxification
Principal Perceptions of Dual Language Programs
No full textAs U.S. demographics change, making Latinx students majority minorities that comprise 78.1% of the emergent bilingual population nationwide, education systems must be ready to respond to the challenges. Texas shares similar demographics. This student group has historically underperformed and faced challenges in terms of language acquisition and being predominantly economically disadvantaged. This underperformance has created an achievement gap for Latinx emergent bilinguals. Dual language programs are the only programs that have the unique ability to close the achievement gap. These programs can close the achievement gap with the conditions that students participate and learn their first language and English for at least 6 years and that the program stays true to valuing the first language as a right and as a resource. Schools are inherently politicized which can reinforce the marginalization of student groups such as Latinx emergent bilinguals. Legislation at the national and state level has gone through different periods of allowing and restricting first language instruction. While some legislative attempts have been made to protect emergent bilinguals, it is not enough to ensure their academic success and educational equity. This is why campus leaders are instrumental in the success of their schools. Research states that “high-quality leadership makes a significant difference to school improvement and student learning outcomes” (Devine et al., 2013). Campus principals must take on the responsibility to ensure the fidelity of implementation of their dual language programs and take steps to ensure educational equity for Latinx emergent bilinguals. However, some campus administrators may not be aware of their ideologies and perceptions regarding their dual language programs and how they may impact the achievement of their Latinx emergent bilinguals. Their Ideologies and perceptions will impact the way language policies are carried out and determine the success of the language program and consequently[ the success of its students. Despite the important role that campus leaders play in the success of their dual language programs, there is not sufficient research that targets the impact their ideologies and perceptions have on their leadership. This study sets out to study this relationship to add to the body of research
The Relationship Between Pelvic Floor Dysfunction, Female Sexual Dysfunction, and a History of Childhood Sexual Abuse
No full textThe purpose of this study was to explore the predictive relationship between pelvic floor dysfunction and female sexual dysfunction in adult females with a history of childhood sexual abuse. A correlational research design was used. Participants were recruited through flyers at local clinics and online social media posts. A small sample (N = 23) of adult women participated and the research team collected survey and observational data with instrumentation including: a demographic form, the Trauma Antecedents Questionnaire, the Female Sexual Function Index, and a pelvic floor examination. The data were analyzed using a binary logistic regression model. Upon analysis, the results demonstrated no significant findings in the predictive relationship of pelvic floor dysfunction with female sexual dysfunction. Nonetheless, the study did identify interesting trends in other portions of the analyses, including a strong indication that pelvic floor dysfunction is associated with sexual dysfunction. Implications and recommendations for future research and practice involve the need for professionals and public servants who provide services to female survivors of CSA to actively cultivate increased sensitivity to potential signs of pelvic floor dysfunction and sexual dysfunction in this population without making assumptions about either
The Effects of Styles of Love on College Students’ Personal Well-Being
No full textIn 1986, Clyde and Susan Hendrick proposed and researched the six styles of love: Eros, Ludus, Storge, Pragma, Mania, and Agape. Their theory has been a major point in research about love and relationships. Though this is a large topic of discussion in the world of psychological literature, there has not been research done about how an individual love style can affect personal well-being, especially between different sexes and genders. This study found that queer individuals reported higher levels of stress, lower scores of well-being, and more likely to be Agapic lovers. Furthermore, honors college students reported lower levels of stress and are less likely to be Pragmatic lovers than their counterparts. Our research looks at the college population, seeing as this is a time where the pressure of finding a relationship along with classes and other life instances. This study also examined the differences between gender and sexuality in relation to all the variables above. The purpose of this study was to expand the knowledge of how love styles could predict self-care, while also searching for differences in those students who are a part of the Honors College or not
Numerical Modeling and Analysis of Strengthened Steel–Concrete Composite Beams in Sagging and Hogging Moment Regions
No full textStrengthening of composite beams is highly needed to upgrade the capacities of existing beams. The strengthening methods can be classified as active or passive techniques. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to provide detailed FE simulations for strengthened and unstrengthened steel–concrete composite beams at the sagging and hogging moment regions with and without profiled steel sheeting. The developed models were verified against experimental results from the literature. The verified models were used to present comparisons between the effect of using external post-tensioning and CFRP laminates as strengthening techniques. Applying external post-tensioning at the sagging moment regions is more effective because of the exhibited larger eccentricity. In the form of an initial camber and compressive stresses in the bottom flange prior to loading, this reasonable eccentricity induces reverse loading on the reinforced beams, reducing the net tensile stress induced during loading. Using CFRP laminates on the concrete slab for continuous composite beams is more effective in enhancing the beam capacity in comparison with using the external post-tension. However, reductions in the beam ductility were obtained
Computational Study of the Rotational Barrier in Indole Derivatives
No full textThe purpose of this computational study is to understand the rotational barrier in indole derivatives, leading to stereoisomers, specifically atropisomers, which will impact the research direction focused on the development of a porphyrin hosts in Professor Starnes’s group. The Starnes research group is working to synthesize a porphyrin host that can function as a sensor or to remove harmful and deleterious anions such as phosphate and nitrates (Busschaert, et al, 2015). We will utilize the data provided to understand the required energy to restrict a rotation around the indole-benzene bond. To do so, the indole derivatives will be studied using Spartan by Wavefunction to investigate the rotational properties with different alkyl groups and other substituents added near the indole-benzene bond
Initial-Final Mass Relation of Massive White Dwarfs in the Open Cluster Messier 11
No full textThe initial-final mass relation is a direct measure of the integrated mass loss of white dwarf progenitor stars. It provides the end state evolution of the cores of the asymptotic giant branch stars, whose models are complicated by intricate and delicate physics, especially in intermediate-mass (4-8 solar mass) progenitors. Additionally, the initial-final mass relation provides direct constraints on the upper mass limit of white dwarf progenitors. Despite significant ongoing efforts, the initial-final mass relation remains poorly constrained for intermediate-mass stars, due in large part to the steepness of the initial mass function and combination of data from multiple star clusters. Here we present initial results of a determination of the intermediate to high-mass initial-final mass relation in the rich open star cluster Messier 11. Archival data from the HST shows Messier 11 contains a well populated white dwarf cooling sequence, including candidates for ultra-massive white dwarfs. We use the HST multi-band photometry to calculate the mass and surface gravity of individual white dwarfs in the cluster, and from there determine each object’s initial mass. We then describe potential implications our results have on the high-mass end of the initial-final mass relation. According to preliminary results, very few of these massive and ultra-massive white dwarf progenitors reach 5 solar masses
Study on Biosorption of Heavy Metal Contaminated Wastewaters Integrated with Hydrothermal Liquefaction to Generate Biofuel
No full textIndustrial establishments released effluents possess heavy metals and these pose serious risks to the environment and society. To add more to this issue, drastic use of fossil fuels in the modern world would need to be addressed due to its environmental impacts and non-renewable nature. Governing and utilizing nonrenewable sources has become vital for most countries that pledged to scale down greenhouse gas emissions. Substituting biomass with fossil fuel resources to adhere to the sustainable development programs has been practiced for years now and is also widely accepted. Microalgae can thrive in industrial waste and other harmful environments. Its fast-growing nature and its ability to efficiently bind metal ions with the functional groups on the surface of their cell wall enables microalgae to be an ideal medium for cleaning up wastewater containing metals via biosorption. This study focused on biosorption of heavy metal rich wastewater using chlorella followed by hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) process for biofuel production to provide a way to solve both environmental and energy issues in one shot. Three different brands of chlorella were used to investigate their biosorption capacities and kinetics toward Cu/Ni contaminated wastewater and to produce bio-oil via HTL. Starwest showed better results than the other two chlorella brands both for biosorption of Cu and or Ni and bio-oil production. A maximum bio-oil yield of 35.16wt% was obtained from the HTL of 0.5ppm Cu contaminated Starwest chlorella in 250-0-Air condition. Starwest also showed the highest weight change in the boiling point range of 200-300°C. Higher the metal concentration used in biosorption of Cu, higher the percentage of N heterocyclic compounds found in GCMS analysis of bio-oil
Principal Component and Regression Analyses on Nuclear Equation of State Parameters Constrained by Neutron Star Observations
No full textMachine learning algorithms have grown in popularity in the physical sciences in accordance with increasing computational power. This is especially true in nuclear and higher energy physics as more experiments produce large data sets which need to be studied carefully and efficiently. One particularly interesting research question in nuclear physics is how to model and describe the nuclear equation of state (EoS), especially at saturation density. This is an especially ripe area in nuclear physics because there are terrestrial experiments and astronomical observations that can provide direct constraints on the EoS. In literature these constraints are provided by different Monte Carlo Markov Chain (MCMC) processes to infer parameterized EoS which can then be used to restrict theoretical and phenomenological predictions. The MCMC process outputs a joint posterior probability distribution of the input parameters which were constrained by comparing the theoretical predictions with a given set of observations. Then, generally, the probability distribution is marginalized for each model parameter and often simple Pearson correlation scores are provided between the parameters. In this work we discuss some basic machine learning algorithms and the EOS parametrizations and use these as a guide to explore the potential use of a well established machine learning algorithms, principal component analysis, and various regression techniques as an extension to better understand the correlations between EOS parameters constrained by neutron star data. We find a number of statistically viable models and conclude the importance of each EOS parameter in determining the radius of a 1.4 solar mass neutron star. In order we determined these to be Ksym, L, Jsym, K0, J0, and Esym