Thesis Archives Search
This search engine will let you explore the over 1800 theses written in Honors at The University of Maine since the Program’s inception in 1935. You may search our thesis archives based on any of the fields listed above. If the thesis is available at the Reynolds Library (Thomson Honors Center) or Fogler Library (Special Collections), the information will appear below the bibliographic data. At last count, we had about 1800 theses in the Reynolds Library.
Search Results
Anti-Leisure in Dystopian Fiction and its Contemporary Analogues
Anti-Semitism in 21st-Century France
Antibody Production in Response to Bovine Placental Lactogen in Dairy Heifers
Antimicrobial Agent Cetylpyridium chloride Disrupts Immune Mast Cell Signaling: Elucidation of Molecular Mechanism with A Focus on Calcium Mobilization
ANTINEUTRINO-INDUCED CHARGE CURRENT QUASI-ELASTIC NEUTRAL HYPERON CROSS-SECTION ON ARGON IN ARGONEUT
Author:
Samuel
Borer
Major: Physics Graduation Year: 2018 Thesis Advisor: Saima Farooq
Description of Publication:
This thesis outlines the first measurement of CCQE neutral hyperon production cross section in a liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) through a topological study [1] and presents the ongoing progress of the addition of a calorimetric study. The analysis uses 1.20 £ 1020 protons-on-target, in the NuMI beam operating in the low energy antineutrino mode. The results of the topological study provide a total cross section measurement at the mean production energy of 3.42 GeV for CCQE neutral hyperons. The result of the topological study is consistent with the NUANCE cross section model and sets a 90% confidence level on the upper limit of the cross section. The calorimetric study is ongoing and shows promise to provide additional results to compare with results of the topological study [1]. The progress and further steps are presented in this thesis.
Location of Publication:
URL to Thesis: https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/honors/466
Major: Physics Graduation Year: 2018 Thesis Advisor: Saima Farooq
Description of Publication:
This thesis outlines the first measurement of CCQE neutral hyperon production cross section in a liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) through a topological study [1] and presents the ongoing progress of the addition of a calorimetric study. The analysis uses 1.20 £ 1020 protons-on-target, in the NuMI beam operating in the low energy antineutrino mode. The results of the topological study provide a total cross section measurement at the mean production energy of 3.42 GeV for CCQE neutral hyperons. The result of the topological study is consistent with the NUANCE cross section model and sets a 90% confidence level on the upper limit of the cross section. The calorimetric study is ongoing and shows promise to provide additional results to compare with results of the topological study [1]. The progress and further steps are presented in this thesis.
Location of Publication:
URL to Thesis: https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/honors/466
ANTIOXIDANTS IN ATLANTIC SALMON ON A DIURNAL BASIS
Author:
Alexa
Grissinger
Major: Animal and Veterinary Sciences Graduation Year: 2017 Thesis Advisor: Timothy Bowden
Description of Publication:
Atlantic salmon is a common aquaculture species that is now greatly impacted by sea lice and amoebic gill disease. Currently, one of the treatments uses hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) because it breaks down safely in water, leaving no toxic residues like some of the previous treatments. Hydrogen peroxide was an effective treatment previously, but now resistance seems to be developing amongst the disease organisms and, if too high a dose is used, it can harm the salmon. Antioxidants, specifically superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and both independent and dependent glutathione peroxidase (GPx), are present in organisms to break down reactive oxygen species (ROS) like H2O2. The goal of this study was to determine if antioxidants follow a daily rhythm, so that an ideal treatment time and a higher dose of H2O2 can be used to kill harmful organisms without causing damage to the salmon, since there are clear indications that many physiological processes vary on a circadian rhythm. Three fish were sampled every four hours for fifty-two hours to determine if the levels of SOD, CAT, and GPx varied over time. Although this data showed some evidence of a daily rhythm, no statistical significance was found except in the GPx dependent levels. This experiment should be repeated using more than one tank and measuring cortisol levels to determine if stress was a possible contributing factor to the lack of statistical significance, or if human error caused the large amount of variance observed.
Location of Publication: fogler reynolds
URL to Thesis: https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/honors/306/
Major: Animal and Veterinary Sciences Graduation Year: 2017 Thesis Advisor: Timothy Bowden
Description of Publication:
Atlantic salmon is a common aquaculture species that is now greatly impacted by sea lice and amoebic gill disease. Currently, one of the treatments uses hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) because it breaks down safely in water, leaving no toxic residues like some of the previous treatments. Hydrogen peroxide was an effective treatment previously, but now resistance seems to be developing amongst the disease organisms and, if too high a dose is used, it can harm the salmon. Antioxidants, specifically superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and both independent and dependent glutathione peroxidase (GPx), are present in organisms to break down reactive oxygen species (ROS) like H2O2. The goal of this study was to determine if antioxidants follow a daily rhythm, so that an ideal treatment time and a higher dose of H2O2 can be used to kill harmful organisms without causing damage to the salmon, since there are clear indications that many physiological processes vary on a circadian rhythm. Three fish were sampled every four hours for fifty-two hours to determine if the levels of SOD, CAT, and GPx varied over time. Although this data showed some evidence of a daily rhythm, no statistical significance was found except in the GPx dependent levels. This experiment should be repeated using more than one tank and measuring cortisol levels to determine if stress was a possible contributing factor to the lack of statistical significance, or if human error caused the large amount of variance observed.
Location of Publication: fogler reynolds
URL to Thesis: https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/honors/306/
Appalachian Spring and All: An American Modernist Idiom in the Works of William Carlos Williams, Edward Hoppper, and Aaron Copland
Application of an Electronic Fuel Injection System to a Two Stroke Cycle Engine
APPLICATION OF PARALLEL COMPUTING TO OPTIMIZE STUDIES OF CRITICAL EXPONENTS IN THE ONE-DIMENSIONAL SZNAJD MODEL
Author:
Joseph
Garcia
Major: Engineering Physics Graduation Year: 2016 Thesis Advisor: Samantha C. Jones
Description of Publication:
The Sznajd model (SM) is a one-dimensional voter-like model used to study consensus in systems where information flows outward from like-minded neighboring agents. Here, we introduce long-range interactions to the SM via the parameter p, where p→1 is the mean-field limit (MFL) and p→0 the one-dimensional limit (1DL). Using Monte Carlo simulations and finite size scaling analyses to characterize the exit probability for p > 0, we find a step function reliant on two p-dependent exponents. By examining the exponents' behavior in the 1DL, we comment on the functional form of the exit probability in one dimension—its nature has been an open question. Complimenting this limiting approach, we also simulate the 1D case via two parallelization techniques (task-level and data-level). Finally, we investigate the quantitative nature of consensus time and system magnetization across the p-spectrum. We find that one of the exponents grows rapidly in the 1DL, its behavior suggesting divergence in this limit; the other stays approximately constant, although more low-p runs are needed to verify both values. Combined, these two exponents give rise to a functional form that well approximates a sigmoidal polynomial that almost exactly fits the original SM simulation results. We also find that consensus time at fixed system size is proportional to p-1.1. In testing the parallel code, we find that the task-level parallelism approach generates a speedup nearly equal to the number of processors applied; conversely, the data-level parallelism approach results tentatively suggest a superlinear speedup for constant system size.
Location of Publication: fogler reynolds
URL to Thesis: https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/honors/386
Major: Engineering Physics Graduation Year: 2016 Thesis Advisor: Samantha C. Jones
Description of Publication:
The Sznajd model (SM) is a one-dimensional voter-like model used to study consensus in systems where information flows outward from like-minded neighboring agents. Here, we introduce long-range interactions to the SM via the parameter p, where p→1 is the mean-field limit (MFL) and p→0 the one-dimensional limit (1DL). Using Monte Carlo simulations and finite size scaling analyses to characterize the exit probability for p > 0, we find a step function reliant on two p-dependent exponents. By examining the exponents' behavior in the 1DL, we comment on the functional form of the exit probability in one dimension—its nature has been an open question. Complimenting this limiting approach, we also simulate the 1D case via two parallelization techniques (task-level and data-level). Finally, we investigate the quantitative nature of consensus time and system magnetization across the p-spectrum. We find that one of the exponents grows rapidly in the 1DL, its behavior suggesting divergence in this limit; the other stays approximately constant, although more low-p runs are needed to verify both values. Combined, these two exponents give rise to a functional form that well approximates a sigmoidal polynomial that almost exactly fits the original SM simulation results. We also find that consensus time at fixed system size is proportional to p-1.1. In testing the parallel code, we find that the task-level parallelism approach generates a speedup nearly equal to the number of processors applied; conversely, the data-level parallelism approach results tentatively suggest a superlinear speedup for constant system size.
Location of Publication: fogler reynolds
URL to Thesis: https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/honors/386
Applying Cluster Analysis to Student Responses from Energy Surveys for Identification of Commonalities in their Understanding
Author:
Arianna
Giguere
Major: Physics Graduation Year: 2020 Thesis Advisor: Michael Wittman & John Thompson
Description of Publication:
Energy is a complicated model that has been developed to describe matter to matter interactions. Since energy can be challenging to define, there are inconsistencies among even teachers and physicists in how they define the concept. It is no wonder that students themselves carry misconceptions and confusions. While it may be difficult to teach, an understanding of energy from a young age is essential for the future of technology, climate change, and scientific discoveries. Middle school students in Maine are required to learn about energy transformation, conservation, and forms, and from 2011-2018, researchers at the University of Maine administered multiple surveys to record some level of student thought processes. This project uses the technique of cluster analysis to analyze the previously collected survey data. The resulting clusters of statistical significance are interpreted to obtain insight on common student understanding of energy. This information can benefit both teachers and students because improvements cannot be made until a problem is identified.
Location of Publication:
URL to Thesis: https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/honors/593/
Major: Physics Graduation Year: 2020 Thesis Advisor: Michael Wittman & John Thompson
Description of Publication:
Energy is a complicated model that has been developed to describe matter to matter interactions. Since energy can be challenging to define, there are inconsistencies among even teachers and physicists in how they define the concept. It is no wonder that students themselves carry misconceptions and confusions. While it may be difficult to teach, an understanding of energy from a young age is essential for the future of technology, climate change, and scientific discoveries. Middle school students in Maine are required to learn about energy transformation, conservation, and forms, and from 2011-2018, researchers at the University of Maine administered multiple surveys to record some level of student thought processes. This project uses the technique of cluster analysis to analyze the previously collected survey data. The resulting clusters of statistical significance are interpreted to obtain insight on common student understanding of energy. This information can benefit both teachers and students because improvements cannot be made until a problem is identified.
Location of Publication:
URL to Thesis: https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/honors/593/