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Odd Botany
No full textOdd Botany engages with the concepts of the wild and the domestic in poetry to create whimsical, humorous poems that contend with the darker aspects of living. Varied in form, many of these poems are persona poems and use animals other than humans as speakers. Using distortion, surprise, and word-play, the poems attempt to create a psychic-turbulence to be pleasurable and enlivening to the reader
The Synthesis of Heterogeneous Catalysts: Transition Metal Nanoparticles Encapsulated in Halloysite and Applications in Organic Transformations
Get PDFThe natural scrolled clay, halloysite, was studied as a catalyst and solid support for the development of encapsulated transition metal nanoparticles (M@Hal). With the unique tubular nanostructure, raw halloysite exhibited remarkable chemical reactivity superior to other clays in the esterification of biomass-derived carboxylic acids. Raw halloysite was also effective in the esterification of various aromatic and non-aromatic carboxylic acids. These results indicated that halloysite has the potential utility as a “Green” heterogeneous catalyst for a broad scope of esterification applications. A novel Pd@Hal nanocomposite was synthesized under ambient conditions. The newly prepared catalyst was applied to the widely used Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling reaction. This nanocomposite material produced exceptionally high yields of biaryl compounds under ambient conditions. Complete product conversion was obtained with no byproducts using an alcohol: water solvent system at room temperature. It showed excellent results with both hydrophobic/ hydrophilic substrates. The Pd@Hal nanocomposite was also utilized in the hydrogenation reaction of nitro compounds. It exhibited high reaction yields of the corresponding aniline derivatives under ambient conditions. The catalyst was shown to be recoverable and recyclable in both reaction systems without significant loss of catalytic activity. A reliable method was developed for the preparation of the Ir@Hal nanocomposite. The Ir@Hal catalyst was very efficient for the hydrogenation and transfer hydrogenation of phenol to furnish cyclohexanol. The Ir@Hal nanocomposite effectively hydrogenated various aldehydes and ketones with a broad scope of substrates under very ambient conditions. The catalyst was shown to xxi be recoverable and recyclable without significant loss of catalytic activity for both the hydrogenation of phenol and cyclohexanone to yield cyclohexanol. The M@Hal nanocomposites developed in this study proved robust and stable under various reaction conditions. Furthermore, as catalysts, these M@Hal nanocomposites afforded high yields of the target compounds, were amenable to scalable conditions and exhibited incredible rate enhancement for various organic transformations. In addition, these M@Hal nanocomposites demonstrated the further utility of halloysite as a support for the development of transition metal@based nanocomposite for heterogeneous catalysis having all the advantages of easy separation, easy recovery, and excellent solubility/dispersion
Homeless Voices Across the Nation
No full textSix subtopics are found throughout homeless-related literature including definitions of homelessness, mental health, substance abuse, policy, housing models, and COVID-19. Through conduction of 323 homeless lived experience surveys across 15 diverse cities in the United States, this research has found assumptions and conclusions between firsthand perspective and literature’s subtopics. A major gap in literature exists with the inclusion of lived experience, as this was routinely an emphasized response from the homeless population themselves. Alternate needs and solutions were proposed from the participants which found general similarities to the subtopics and included significance of perceived apathy from politicians towards the homeless community. This research suggests a need for greater inclusion of lived experience in the policy making process, as well as throughout the literature for a more accurate depiction of what the population needs. The importance of such inclusion is vital due to the impact COVID-19 is projected to have on rising homeless population counts. While the six subtopics are critical to analyze throughout homeless-related research, the inclusion of lived experience is the largest gap, yet the most critical to fill in hopes of reducing homeless counts in the United States. Moreover, the in-field research found that majority of participants have never been asked to help in the political process, yet are willing to do so, particularly to share the unique lived experience, as someone living without housing
A GIS-SWMM System to Evaluate Low Impact Development (LID) Feature Effectiveness on UNO\u27s Campus
Get PDFThe EPA’s Storm Water Management Model (SWMM) includes the ability to model low impact development (LID) systems involving various types of green infrastructure (GI) for stormwater detention and infiltration.
The SWMM model requires hydrologic attribute inputs for individual subcatchments, including percent impervious surfaces, surface roughness, depression storage, and curve number. These SWMM attributes can be more accurately, consistently, and efficiently be defined in GIS by calculating the subcatchment area-weighted attribute values and importing them to SWMM. Thus, GIS becomes a valuable pre-processing input tool for SWMM-LID modeling.
The three objectives of this thesis are to 1) use GIS geoprocessing tools to more accurately and consistently calculate hydrologic attributes for 82 subcatchments, 2) use GIS to more efficiently enter attributes into my SWMM model, and 3) conduct a preliminary study to evaluate the effectiveness of low impact development (LID) features in a SWMM model of the University of New Orleans (UNO)
Investigation of Added Mass of Heeled 2-D Sections in a Seaway using the Patch Method in Heave, Roll, and Sway Motions
Get PDFThis thesis analyzes the effects of the angle of heel and beam-to-draft ratio on the sectional added mass of primitive cross-sectional shapes in regular harmonic waves in the frequency domain using 2-D boundary element method for uncoupled heave, sway, and roll motion. This 2-D boundary element method uses the patch method developed by Söding (1993b) [4] to compute the added mass of asymmetric geometry. The angles of heel used varied from 0 to 90 degrees in 5-degree intervals, while the beam-to-draft ratios varied from B/T = 0.5 to B/T = 3.0 in half increments. Triangles, rectangles, and rectangles with rounded bilges (rounded corners at the baseline), were the cross-sections analyzed, with two different bilge radii: 0.5 feet and 2.0 feet. It was found that for all the shape types, certain angles of heel can result in significant negative added mass, for roll and heave. It was outside the scope of this thesis to determine whether this affected vessel response, but it was concluded that the presence of this negative added mass meant a reduction in inertial forces on the cross-sections. In addition, it was found that angle of heel and beam-to-draft ratio cause the added mass curves to significantly change in magnitude and shape. Generally increasing B/T ratio causes the added mass to increase in magnitude and for the curves to flatten, especially for heave. Changing the heel angle influences the location of the peak added mass, and corresponding encounter frequency, generally causing it to move to lower frequencies for heave and roll. However, for sway motion the peak frequency generally gained in value with the angle of heel
Kudzu invasion and control in southern upland forests of Mississippi
Get PDFKudzu, Pueraria montana var. lobata (Willd.), is a common invasive species throughout the American South. In southern upland mixed oak-pine forests of Mississippi, kudzu invasion generally and indiscriminately suppressed the pre-invasion plant community. Three different control methods reduced kudzu density but differed in the level of reduction achieved and in their effects on the pre-existing plant community. A combination of burning and herbicides produced the most desirable outcome in terms of restoring the pre-invasion community. Kudzu invasion significantly increased nitrate pools compared to control sites, but had no effect on ammonium or nitrite, or on the microbial processes of mineralization or nitrification. Nitrogen ions and microbial activity differed little among infested, control and kudzu removal sites, but did exhibit variation over time. The effects of kudzu on nitrogen cycling were largely transient, suggesting that its impact on native plant communities is mainly due to light competition. An economic analysis of kudzu control methods revealed that life history largely determines the level of control attainable, but that either prescribed burning or herbicide treatment may effectively control slow-growing populations. This analysis compares the relative importance of mechanisms through which kudzu affects native communities, methods for its control, and cost-benefit analysis useful for evaluating methods for active management
Genotoxicity of Oil Photoproducts in Aqueous Environments
No full textAn Ames Test was used to examine the genotoxicity of Macondo and surrogate oil photoproducts. 200 µL of oil on 10 mL of pure water were irradiated at 27 ˚C for 6h to 48h. A 48h dark control was included. The aqueous fraction was collected and filtered. S. typhimurium cultures TA98 and TA100, which test for frameshift and base-pair substitution mutations, were grown for 16h at 37 ˚C. Each sample was tested with both strains as well as with two different treatments. For the first treatment, samples were incorporated with bacterial culture into the top agar before being poured onto minimal media plates. The other treatment included a preincubation of the bacterial culture with the sample for 20 min at 37 ˚C before being mixed with the top agar. Plates were incubated for 48h. A positive control of a known mutagen specific to each bacterial strain was included. Autoclaved water was used as a negative control. All treatments were completed in quadruplicate. After 48h of incubation, the plates were removed and photographed. The center of each plate was imaged and analyzed in ImageJ. Colony counts were checked manually to eliminate automatic counting errors. Results showed an increase in genotoxicity with increasing irradiation time. A vanishing background lawn on plates with preincubation indicated that acute toxicity may also be present under certain conditions. The observed acute toxicity correlated with irradiation time. The results demonstrate that photoproducts exhibit genotoxic effects, potentially impacting the long-term impacts of oil photoproducts in aqueous environments
The Race to Fifty Feet: An Effort to Determine the Benefits of Deepening the Mississippi River
Get PDFThis research examined the benefits and drawbacks of deepening the Lower Mississippi River to fifty feet. It established that the deepening of the Lower Mississippi River will impact not only the local area but also the inland regions that rely on the river systems and lower river ports for product movement. The perspectives of vessel operators, maritime industry experts and charterers are provided to offer insight. The sources for the research include educational literature, maritime research and interviews of industry experts. Based on this research, it is clear that this project will benefit many parties. The beneficiaries will include both local and international interests. These benefits will include new land as a result of using the dredged material and better economies of scale by allowing more heavily loaded vessels to transit the area. The findings associated with this research make it abundantly clear that the project will indeed benefit many