Nitrogen (N) deposition can alter belowground microbial communities, especially ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungi, resulting in a reduced ability of associated trees to access organic nutrients. This study tested whether N addition decreases ECM species richness and shifts ECM species composition across spatial scales in a subtropical slash pine (Pinus elliottii) plantation...
Carbonation, a neutralizing reaction in cement paste, can be used to date cracks in cementitious materials. Currently, comparison between two cracks is the only method available to predict a relative age with carbonation. These two crack studies require a crack of known age in a similar material with similar exposure...
Miniaturized, wireless instrumentation is now a reality and this thesis describes development of such a system to monitor crack response. Comparison of environmental (long-term) and blast-induced (dynamic) crack width changes in residential structures has lead to a new approach to monitoring and controlling construction vibrations. In wireless systems transducer power...
The 2005 NHL Lockout instituted a hard salary cap, which is the most limiting salary cap of the major US sports leagues. The NHL as a result doesn’t have the luxury of overpaying or dumping a contract as other professional sports leagues have, which places a huge constraint and emphasis...
Performance monitoring of deep excavations typically includes slope inclinometers, optical surveying of soil deformation, tiltmeters and strain gages. Current monitoring data collection and processing requires time consuming site visits and manual data reduction by project engineers. Development of robotic and remote access geotechnical instrumentation conceptually allows processed data to be...
This thesis consists of the data and analysis of structural responses for two different studies: the Office of Surface Mining (OSM) study of the velocity response of “atypical” residential structures and the Autonomous Crack Monitoring (ACM) study. The main basis of this thesis was to do additional analysis on a...
CONTENTS: Tomography of Exsolution Processes in Magnetite; Amorphous Intergranular Phase Controls the Properties of Human Tooth
Enamel; Inorganic-Organic-Inorganic Double-Hybrid Interfaces in Cuprite Nanorod-
Gold Nanoparticle Composites; Characterization of DNA-wrapped CNTs using Atom Probe Tomography
Advances in machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) are enabling computers and robotics to take on an increasing number of work-related tasks that previously were the sole domain of humans. This trend raises questions: Which jobs will be most susceptible to replacement by automation? How many workers risk being replaced?...
Minnesota is the land of 10,000 lakes (technically 11,842 > 10 acres)! This bold proclamation can be seen everywhere from license plates to tourism pamphlets; it reveals how much water matters to the state on not only a commercial level, but as the very identity of the community. At the...
With a glut of competing priorities, the financial industry faces major challenges in extracting timely, relevant, and specifically-focused information from text. Without clear-cut business cases, making the investment in text analysis methods does not justify the return on investment. Furthermore, the business landscape continues to become increasingly complex, and at...