2024 MU Theses - Freely available online
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Item A model for evaluating urban afforestation as a climate change mitigation and conservation strategy(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2024) Smolensky, Alyssa; Halsey, SamniquekaIn the coming decades, humanity will face unprecedented biodiversity loss, population growth, and global warming. Urban afforestation offers a promising nature-based solution to lessen urbanization's exacerbating effects on these three challenges, but its efficacy is weakened by critical knowledge gaps in urban ecology. My study tested a novel modeling approach to simulate different urban afforestation strategies and evaluate their potential for wildlife conservation and climate-change mitigation. The model's three-phase framework involves (1) identifying potential planting locations and simulating afforested landscapes, (2) using species-presence data to identify suitable wildlife habitat, and (3) assessing impacts to urban communities and wildlife populations. I tested nine afforestation scenarios in Cook County, Illinois, featuring different planting strategies that targeted improvement in ecological metrics or community welfare. The model identified the locations of 2,414,610 potential planting sites for new trees, nearly a third of which would be planted in high-need areas. The scenarios produced an estimated $8.118 – $31.09 million in annual value to urban communities through ecosystem services, such as carbon sequestration and atmospheric pollutant removal. All scenarios improved landscape connectivity and suitable habitat area for the focal species, although scenarios that implemented an ecological approach at a high afforestation intensity yielded the greatest benefits to wildlife. Results indicate that urban afforestation can strengthen species conservation and mitigate biodiversity loss, but alone is not a viable climate-change mitigation approach. The model demonstrated exceptional performance with minimal data inputs, showing great promise as an integrated analysis framework that embeds ecological and socioeconomic considerations into climate-resilient decision-making.Item Asthenia lullaby(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2024) Shirvani, Mahbod; Asuroglu, UtkuInstrumentation: 1 Piccolo 1 Flute 1 Oboe 1 English Horn 1 Clarinet in Bb 1 Bass Clarinet in in Bb 1 Bassoon 1 Contrabassoon 2 Horn in F 2 Trumpet in C 1 Trombone 1 Bass Trombone Timpani (32-30in) 2 Percussionists: 1. Bass Drum Wood block Glockenspiel Triangle 2. Vibraphone Cymbal Tubular bells Tam-tam Harp Violin I Violin II Viola Violoncello Contrabass Transposed Score Duraton: Approx. 7:10Item WO BIST DU JETZT? Trauma, travel, and the subversion of narrative structure in Olivia Wenzel’s 1000 Serpentinen Angst(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2024) Engellandt,Julia; Howes, SethThe debut novel 1000 Serpentinen Angst (1000 Coils of Fear, 2020), by German playwright Olivia Wenzel, addresses the reality of living as a Black and Queer woman in Germany, a country where privilege and discrimination lie ever so close together. While the narrative is formally marked by an unconventional structure, a dialogic narrative voice and the movement through the narrative in switchbacks, the protagonist learns to navigate and come to terms with her positionality in German society. Through travel, the protagonist flees not only her traumatizing past but also the discriminatory structures which ostracize her as a non-German Other. While the narrative structure provides the incommensurable topic of trauma with a language to make its complex nature accessible to an outside reader, the travel experiences substantiate great emancipatory potential: on the one hand as a liberatory moment for the individual, on the other hand as a means of reflecting on and confronting discriminatory structures in society. Here the travel narrative, traditionally a predominantly male and imperial genre, is reimagined as a radical instrument to explore issues of race and gender while providing a basis for acts of self-assertion within the woman-narrator. My analysis situates the novel in the chronology of the development of Afro-German literature by taking into consideration activists and writers who have shaped the diasporic movement and community and reconstructs the development thereof in the context of Germany’s failed dealings with the impacts of colonialism and National Socialist racial ideology. The novel contributes to a blossoming African diasporic culture in Germany that actively works to fight against the racist structures that affect the lives of many until this day. The thesis is an attempt to further decolonize the (German) literary canon by redirecting the focus to marginalized voices within the realms of literature and beyond.Item On the formation of a new full-length DNA with non-canonical backbone by spermine mediated strand cleavage at abasic (AP) site in duplex DNA(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2024) Mahbub, Md Selim; Gates, Kent S.[EMBARGOED UNTIL 12/01/2025] Abasic (Ap) sites are among the most prevalent DNA lesions, resulting from the loss of a nucleobase. These sites exhibit chemical reactivity and can lead to strand cleavage via ?-elimination, which is catalyzed by various factors, including biological amines. In this study, we investigate the products formed during spermine-mediated strand cleavage at Ap sites. Spermine, a naturally occurring polyamine, facilitates the formation of a reactive ?,?-unsaturated iminium ion intermediate (3'ddR-Sp+) at the strand break. This intermediate reacts with exocyclic amine groups of nucleobases to produce unique low-molecular-weight interstrand crosslinks (LMW ICLs). In this thesis, we report the discovery of a novel "re-ligated" product formed through the 1,4-Michael addition of guanine's exocyclic amine group to the iminium ion intermediate. The ligated product exhibits remarkable stability under physiological conditions and resists cleavage by most human DNA repair enzymes, including APE1 and Fpg, but is effectively processed by bacterial endonuclease IV. Our findings highlight the biochemical consequences of spermine-mediated Ap site cleavage and reveal a previously unrecognized DNA lesion with potential implications for genomic stability and cellular repair mechanisms. These results provide critical insights into the reactivity of Ap sites and their repair pathways, advancing our understanding of DNA damage and its biological consequences.Item Improvement of glass curtain wall connections subjected to quasistatic and dynamic loading(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2024) White, Donald Andrew; Salim, Hani[EMBARGOED UNTIL 12/01/2025] Extreme events, such as explosions, can significantly compromise the structural integrity of buildings. Currently, glass curtain wall (CW) systems are widely used as façade solutions in government, educational, medical, and commercial structures. However, advancements in manufactured and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) have resulted in a rise in explosive incidents and related injuries in recent years. Despite their widespread use, there has been limited experimental research on full-scale CW system connections. This study aims to address this gap by developing blast design and retrofit connection recommendations for modern curtain walls through quasi-static and dynamic testing of curtain wall mullions and connections. Several studies were conducted to assess the conventional design of glass curtain wall connection and explore ways to enhance the connections for improved mechanical properties. The initial test involved a quasi-static evaluation of a 1219.2 mm (48 in) long mullion specimen. The widely used conventional T anchor connection was tested first, followed by five additional strengthening techniques. These techniques included: a through bolt connecting the mullion and T anchor, a steel C channel insert, a steel C channel insert with through bolts, aluminum and steel bearing angles, and a closed T anchor stem design. Each of these designs was compared to the conventional model to evaluate the mechanical advantages provided by the strengthening techniques. Preliminary experimental work for dynamic loading was initiated on both the conventional and strengthened connections. A drop weight machine was used to apply dynamic loads to the 1219.2 mm (48 in) long mullion specimens, utilizing piezoelectric load cells to measure the reactions at each end and the load applied at the midspan of the mullion. These results were used to help develop a dynamic increase factor (DIF) to help correlate the responses from the quasistatic testing to the dynamic testing in terms of peak load. Finally, experimental work was conducted on full-scale mullion specimens subjected to quasi-static loads. These samples demonstrated the behavioral differences between flexural failure and shear failure in the mullion specimens. The results from these tests varied from those of the 1219.2 mm (48 in) long mullion specimens. Load and deflection data were collected for all tests, which are detailed in the results section below. Understanding how strengthening the connections in a full-scale glass curtain wall system can improve energy absorption is crucial for designing against catastrophic events like blast explosions. This paper discusses these key characteristics and offers practical insights for achieving better performance than conventional designs.