Proefschrift--Amsterdam. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record.

Thesis (Th. M.)--Capital Bible Seminary, 1989. / Bibliography: leaves 46-50.

Proefschrift--Amsterdam. / Also issued in print.

Thesis (Th. M)--Grace Theological Seminary, 1984. / Typescript. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 109-116).

Thesis (Th. M)--Grace Theological Seminary, 1984. / Typescript. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 109-116).

Fuel cells are one of the most promising clean energy technologies under development. But a constraining factor in their further development is related to operating temperature ranges of current fuel cell systems, which is either low or high temperature. The intermediate temperature (200¡ÃƒÂ£C to 600¡ÃƒÂ£ C) would be the most desirable temperature range for a fuel cell for most applications, but there is no existing mature fuel cell technology in this range, mainly because of an absence of appropriate electrolytes. An effort to develop an intermediate-temperature molten-salt electrolyte fuel cell (IT-MSFC) was undertaken in this study. As a start, molten KOH was used as an electrolyte around 200¡ÃƒÂ£ C supported on a porous matrix. Tests used Pt loaded carbon cloth to be the electrode-catalyst layer, hydrogen and oxygen as fuel. The major challenge for this fuel cell was to hold electrolyte within a suitable porous support layer, without crossover of fuel gas during operation. Performance was short-lived, thus several ceramic materials were investigated in this research, including Zirconia felt, Zirconia disk, and porous NiO. To evaluate the properties of KOH molten salts working for IT-MSFCs, the performances were compared to fuel cell tests with KOH saturated solution and phosphoric acid with the same electrolyte support. KOH molten salt has large potential to work as electrolyte, with an open circuit voltage (OCV) of 1.0 V, and had linear performance curve between 1.0 V and 0.6 V, which is characteristic of fuel cells with low kinetic overpotentials. The highest performance was got by using porous NiO support in certain porosity range. Longevity of the fuel cell was a little better than the former, but still far from practical application. The result suggested that the capillarity, permeability and compatibility of support material are essential for performance of this type of fuel cell. Besides the problem of electrolyte II retention by the support matrix, unsuitable water management, degradation of the gas diffusion layer and catalyst may also reduce the fuel cell performance. Although this work is at a preliminary stage, it has demonstrated the immense potential of IT-MSFC, and a great deal of additional work will be required to produce a practical fuel cell.

Neurofilament proteins are intermediate filaments found in the neuronal cytoskeleton. Phosphorylation of these proteins is considered important for the assembly and stability of the filaments. Accurate molecular weights have been difficult to measure, largely because the high degree of phosphorylation results in M[subscript r]'S that are significantly greater than dictated by their putative sequences. Mass spectrometry has now been used to measure the molecular weights of all three bovine neurofilament proteins, NF-L, NF-M and NF-H, which are 62 kDa, 105 kDa and 125 kDa, respectively. Peptide mapping resulted in the elucidation of many phosphorylation sites in NF-L and NF-M. Sixteen serines and four threonines within the C-terminal tail domain of NF-M were found to be phosphorylated. Ten of these are within the lysineserine- proline (KSP) motif, and two are in the variant motif, glutamic acid-serine-proline (ESP). In addition six phosphorylation sites, Ser-136, 163, 241, 242, and Thr-139, and 184 were identified in the rod domain of NF-M. Phosphorylation sites identified in NF-L include four serines in the head domain, and one serine in the C-terminal domain. Digests analyzed by LC-ESI mass spectrometry combined with database searching resulted in 88.5% sequence coverage of NF-M, 79.2% of NF-L and 38.4% of NF-H. Alkylation of NF-L, NF-M, and NF-H using a known neurotoxin, 2,5-hexanedione resulted in complicated spectra due to crosslinked peptides. Presently, software limitations have prevented complete identification of these peptides or alkylation products. / Graduation date: 2003

Recent attention has focused on the use of renewable resources as an alternative to petroleum-based polymers. Fudge et al. (2010) demonstrated that hagfish slime threads, which are composed of “keratin-like” intermediate filament (IF) proteins undergo an α→β transition when strained and when exposed to glutaraldehyde, mechanical properties further improved. Negishi et al. (2012) showed that fibres produced from solubilized hagfish slime threads did not possess comparable mechanical characteristics to native slime threads and were unable to assemble into 10 nm filaments. In this study, fibres were produced from solubilized recombinant vimentin protein and assembled vimentin filaments. Solubilized protein fibres did not display mechanical properties as impressive as fibres made from filaments assembled in the presence magnesium and glutaraldehyde. Additionally, X-ray diffraction analysis of fibres cross-linked with magnesium showed an α→β transition when draw-processed. These data show that fibres produced using IFs can potentially be used for production of sustainable protein polymers.

Quasi static and intermediate strain rate (5 s-1 and 500 s-1) tests are conducted on various aluminum and steel ASTM E8 subsize tensile specimens to validate a newly developed testing method which combines a previously developed serpentine bar for load monitoring and a newly described high-speed actuator. This new actuator is controlled by a semi-passive piezoelectrically actuated brake system mounted to a standard actuator, which allows for the actuator to produce high loads and quick response times (≈100 µs). Limitations of this experimental method are that tests must be monotonic (tension or compression but not cyclic loading) and strain rate rise times limit this method to the intermediate strain rate regime (below 500 s-1).

Community college instructors continue to search for effective instructional methods that promote student success in developmental mathematics courses such as intermediate algebra. According to research, mathematics is a major obstacle for students succeeding, persisting, and completing community college programs. Each student enrolled in intermediate algebra has an ACT sub-score of 16 to 18 or an ACCUPLACER sub-score of 57 to 75. Most community colleges in Mississippi use placement testing to determine the strengths and needs of students. However, students approach math with high anxiety, more than any other areas, which interferes with their learning. Research indicates that to improve students’ success and retention in developmental mathematics, instructors must successfully promote active learning, which utilizes a variety of teaching techniques to incorporate various learning styles, methods, and initiatives. The purpose of this study is to determine which instructional method (traditional lecture, traditional lecture with lab, or online instruction) best tailors or supports student performance in intermediate algebra. Final letter grades for the semesters from fall 2014 to spring 2016 and beginning and ending enrollments for each intermediate algebra class at 2 community colleges in the state of Mississippi were analyzed, yielding for a quantitative research study. According to the study, 80% of the students completed intermediate algebra with a grade C or higher in the traditional lecture with lab courses, while 64% of the students completed intermediate algebra with a C or higher in the traditional lecture courses, and 50% of the students completed intermediate algebra with a C or higher in the online courses. However, more students were retained in the traditional lecture courses (retention rate of 83%). Therefore, this study supports and recommends the importance of instructional lecture courses in developmental algebra classrooms. Developmental algebra courses need to be “instructor-taught” courses. Instructors need to demonstrate and explain the mathematical process for solving problems while implementing active learning.