Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

The Development Of Hydrodynamic And Kinetic Models For The Plasmasphere Refilling Problem Following A Geomagnetic Storm, Kausik Chatterjee

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The objective of this dissertation is the development of computer simulation-based models for the modeling of upper ionosphere, starting from the first principles. The models were validated by exact analytical benchmarks and are seen to be consistent with experimentally obtained results. This area of research has significant implications in the area of global communication. In addition, these models would lead to a better understanding of the physical processes taking place in the upper ionosphere.

Sensitivity Of The Opal Instrument For Gravity Wave Detection, Kenneth I. Zia

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Knowing what goes on in the upper atmosphere (∼80-140 km) is very important to the space science community. There are several competing forces that influence the temperature and densities of neutral molecules in that region. OPAL (Optical Profiling of the Atmospheric Limb) is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to measure the temperature there using light from oxygen molecules (∼760 nm). To accomplish this,OPAL is built into a CubeSat (a satellite the size of a loaf of bread) to be launched from the International Space Station (ISS) at an altitude of about 400 km. This vantage point is needed …

Sheaf Theory As A Foundation For Heterogeneous Data Fusion, Seyed M-H Mansourbeigi

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

A major impediment to scientific progress in many fields is the inability to make sense of the huge amounts of data that have been collected via experiment or computer simulation. This dissertation provides tools to visualize, represent, and analyze the collection of sensors and data all at once in a single combinatorial geometric object. Encoding and translating heterogeneous data into common language are modeled by supporting objects. In this methodology, the behavior of the system based on the detection of noise in the system, possible failure in data exchange and recognition of the redundant or complimentary sensors are studied via …

Energy And Risk: Discourse, Framing, And Content, Temis Gardner Taylor

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This research examined how people communicate and create knowledge about energy-related risks. Analysis of the discourse, frames, and content surrounding unconventional energy policy and development in the Western United States was conducted using three case studies. The results contribute to an understanding of energy-related risk perceptions in social and historical contexts.

Discourses contained in newspapers and public comments to the Bureau of Land Management presented arguments on the basis of risks to the environment; climate; human health and safety; jobs and economic prosperity; property rights; and local governments. Governments were seen as risks when they were perceived to allow misuse …

Identifying Criticality In Market Sentiment: A Data Mining Approach, Vaibhav Sahu

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The aim of this thesis is to study and identify time periods of high activity in commodity and stock market sentiment based on a data mining approach. The method is to develop tools to extract relevant information from web searches and Twitter feeds based on the tally of certain keywords and their combinations at regular intervals. Periods of high activity are identified by a measure of complexity developed for analysis of living systems. Experiments were conducted to see if the measure of activity could be applied as a predictor of changes in stock market and commodity prices.

Carbon Monoxide On Demand: Light-Induced Co Release Of Flavonols, Stacey N. Anderson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Carbon monoxide (CO) is an extremely useful molecule with applications in industrial manufacturing, synthetic procedures as a C1 building block, and as a potential pharmaceutical to produce anti-inflammatory effects and vasodilation. However, the toxicity associated with CO has prevented its full utilization. In order to safely handle CO, compounds and molecules have been developed that act as storage materials for the gas. Ideal storage platforms only release CO upon stimulation via a trigger. Light activation is the most desirable trigger as it can be regulated in terms of the intensity and the wavelength of light used. The majority of light-induced …

Mesospheric Gravity Wave Climatology And Variances Over The Andes Mountains, Jonathan Rich Pugmire

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Look up! Travelling over your head in the air are waves. They are present all the time in the atmosphere all over the Earth. Now imagine throwing a small rock in a pond and watching the ripples spread out around it. The same thing happens in the atmosphere except the rock is a thunderstorm, the wind blowing over a mountain, or another disturbance. As the wave (known as a gravity wave) travels upwards the thinning air allows the wave to grow larger and larger. Eventually the gravity wave gets too large – and like waves on the beach – it …

Statistical Methods To Account For Gene-Level Covariates In Normalization Of High-Dimensional Read-Count Data, Lauren Holt Lenz

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The goal of genetic-based cancer research is often to identify which genes behave differently in cancerous and healthy tissue. This difference in behavior, referred to as differential expression, may lead researchers to more targeted preventative care and treatment. One way to measure the expression of genes is though a process called RNA-Seq, that takes physical tissue samples and maps gene products and fragments in the sample back to the gene that created it, resulting in a large read-count matrix with genes in the rows and a column for each sample. The read-counts for tumor and normal samples are then compared …

The Power Law Distribution Of Agricultural Land Size, Lauren Chamberlain

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This paper demonstrates that the distribution of county level agricultural land size in the United States is best described by a power-law distribution, a distribution that displays extremely heavy tails. This indicates that the majority of farmland exists in the upper tail. Our analysis indicates that the top 5% of agricultural counties account for about 25% of agricultural land between 1997-2012. The power-law distribution of farm size has important implications for the design of more efficient regional and national agricultural policies as counties close to the mean account for little of the cumulative distribution of total agricultural land. This has …

Ncer Assistance Agreement Annual Progress Report For Grant #83582401 - Assessment Of Stormwater Harvesting Via Manage Aquifer Recharge (Mar) To Develop New Water Supplies In The Arid West: The Salt Lake Valley Example, Ryan Dupont, Joan E. Mclean, Richard C. Peralta, Sarah E. Null, Douglas B. Jackson-Smith

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

The goals of the original proposed project remain the same, that is, to test the hypothesis that Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) for stormwater harvesting is a technically feasible, socially and environmentally acceptable, economically viable, and legally feasible option for developing new water supplies for arid Western urban ecosystems experiencing increasing population, and climate change pressures on existing water resources. The project is being carried out via three distinct but integrated components that include: 1) Monitoring of existing distributed MAR harvesting schemes involving a growing number of demonstration Green Infrastructure (GI) test sites; 2) Integrated stormwater/vadose zone/groundwater/ ecosystem services modeling; and …

Imagining Across Disciplines For A Sustainable Future, Emily James

Writing Center Analysis Papers

At present, the words sustainable and sustainability tend to be associated with environmental issues. Yet, the word sustain comes from the Old French sostenier meaning, “hold up, bear; suffer, endure” and Latin’s sustinere that adds, “hold upright; furnish with means of support; undergo.” Latin’s sustinere can further be broken down into the elements sub and tenere, the root of which, ten, means, “to stretch” (Harper). This paper reflects upon the ways in which the concept of sustainability affects my role as a writing tutor and composition instructor as I seek to help students stretch their abilities to develop ideas …

Can The Desiccation Of Great Salt Lake Be Stopped?, Wayne A. Wurtsbaugh, Craig Miller, Sarah E. Null, R. Justin Derose, Peter Wilcock

Watershed Sciences Faculty Publications

Great Salt Lake is a terminal lake, with its watershed in the Wasatch and Uinta Mountains of Utah, Wyoming and Idaho. Like all terminal lakes, the water inflows are balanced only by evaporative loss from its surface—when inflows decrease the lake shrinks until evaporation matches that inflow.

Crystallographic And Computational Characterization Of Methyl Tetrel Bonding In S-Adenosylmethionine-Dependent Methyltransferases, Raymond C. Trievel, Steve Scheiner

Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Tetrel bonds represent a category of non-bonding interaction wherein an electronegative atom donates a lone pair of electrons into the sigma antibonding orbital of an atom in the carbon group of the periodic table. Prior computational studies have implicated tetrel bonding in the stabilization of a preliminary state that precedes the transition state in S_N2 reactions, including methyl transfer. Notably, the angles between the tetrel bond donor and acceptor atoms coincide with the prerequisite geometry for the S_N2 reaction. Prompted by these findings, we surveyed crystal structures of methyltransferases in the Protein Data Bank and discovered …

Wild Bees Of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument: Richness, Abundance, And Spatio-Temporal Beta-Diversity, Olivia Messinger Carril, Terry Griswold, James Haefner, Joseph S. Wilson

All PIRU Publications

Interest in bees has grown dramatically in recent years in light of several studies that have reported widespread declines in bees and other pollinators. Investigating declines in wild bees can be difficult, however, due to the lack of faunal surveys that provide baseline data of bee richness and diversity. Protected lands such as national monuments and national parks can provide unique opportunities to learn about and monitor bee populations dynamics in a natural setting because the opportunity for large-scale changes to the landscape are reduced compared to unprotected lands. Here we report on a 4-year study of bees in Grand …

Developmental Parameters Of A Southern Mountain Pine Beetle (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) Population Reveal Potential Source Of Latitudinal Differences In Generation Time, Anne E. Mcmanis, James A. Powell, Barbara J. Bentz

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Publications

Mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae, Hopkins) is a major disturbance agent in pine ecosystems of western North America. Adaptation to local climates has resulted in primarily univoltine generation time across a thermally diverse latitudinal gradient. We hypothesized that voltinism patterns have been shaped by selection for slower developmental rates in southern populations inhabiting warmer climates. To investigate traits responsible for latitudinal differences we measured lifestage-specific development of southern mountain pine beetle eggs, larvae and pupae across a range of temperatures. Developmental rate curves were fit using maximum posterior likelihood estimation with a Bayesian prior to improve fit stability. …

Rectifying Garbage-In Equals Garbage-Out Using A Secondary Electron Yield Materials Database, Phil Lundgreen, Jr Dennison

Presentations

No abstract provided.

Sediment Dynamics In The Bear River-Mud Lake-Bear Lake System, Patrick Belmont, Mitchell Donovan, Janice Brahney, Lindsay Capito, Zach Burgert

Watershed Sciences Faculty Publications

The overarching goal of this project was to compile and analyze a variety of existing datasets, and generate several new datasets, to advance our understanding of how the Bear River Mud Lake-Bear Lake system functions, how it has, or is expected to change, identify which components are degraded or vulnerable to degradation, and determine if/where critical data and/or knowledge gaps exist. We conducted a series of analyses to evaluate changes in hydrology and suspended sediment, collected sediment cores from nine locations in Mud Lake to evaluate how sedimentation rates, sediment sources and water quality have changed over time, and utilized …

Kinetic Characterization Of The Shigella Type Three Secretion System Atpase Spa47 Using Α-32p Atp, Heather B. Case, Nicholas E. Dickenson

Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Publications

ATPases represent a diverse class of enzymes that utilize ATP hydrolysis to support critical biological functions such as driving ion pumps, providing mechanical work, unfolding/folding proteins, and supporting otherwise thermodynamically unfavorable chemical reactions. We have recently shown that the Shigella protein Spa47 is an ATPase that supports protein secretion through its specialized type three secretion apparatus (T3SA), supporting infection of human host cells. Characterizing ATPases, such as Spa47, requires a means to accurately determine enzyme activity (ATP hydrolysis) as a function of time, reaction conditions, and potential cofactors, regulators, inhibitors, etc. Here, we describe a detailed protocol for characterizing …

An Introduction To Quantile-Quantile Plots For The Experimental Physicist, Allen Andersen, Jr Dennison

Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

Interfacing Nickel Nitride And Nickel Boosts Both Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution And Oxidation Reactions, Fuzhan Song, Wei Li, Jiaqi Yang, Guanqun Han, Peilin Liao, Yujie Sun

Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Electrocatalysts of the hydrogen evolution and oxidation reactions (HER and HOR) are of critical importance for the realization of future hydrogen economy. In order to make electrocatalysts economically competitive for large-scale applications, increasing attention has been devoted to developing noble metal-free HER and HOR electrocatalysts especially for alkaline electrolytes due to the promise of emerging hydroxide exchange membrane fuel cells. Herein, we report that interface engineering of Ni₃N and Ni results in a unique Ni₃N/Ni electrocatalyst which exhibits exceptional HER/HOR activities in aqueous electrolytes. A systematic electrochemical study was carried out to investigate the superior hydrogen …

Dependence Of Nmr Chemical Shifts Upon Ch Bond Lengths Of A Methyl Group Involved In A Tetrel Bond, Steve Scheiner

Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Four different Lewis acids that might participate in a tetrel bond with a nucleophile (SEt₂Me⁺, NMe₄⁺, SMe₂, NMe₃) are examined. The NMR chemical shifts of the methyl C and H atoms are calculated as the CH bond lengths are systematically stretched and contracted, in the absence of a base. The C shielding diminishes by roughly 2 ppm for a stretch of 0.01 Å, while that of H drops by only 0.3 ppm. The deshieldings caused purely by the bond length changes are far too small to account for the …

Entry Of A Sphere Into A Water-Surfactant Mixture And The Effect Of A Bubble Layer, Nathan B. Spiers, Mohammad M. Mansoor, Randy Craig Hurd, Saberul I. Sharker, W. G. Robinson, B. J. Williams, Tadd T. Truscott

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

A rigid sphere entering a liquid bath does not always produce an entrained air cavity. Previous experimental work shows that cavity formation, or the lack thereof, is governed by fluid properties, wetting properties of the sphere, and impact velocity. In this study, wetting steel spheres are dropped into a water-surfactant mixture with and without passing through a bubble layer first. Surprisingly, in the case of a water-surfactant mixture without a bubble layer, the critical velocity for cavity formation becomes radius dependent. This occurs due to dynamic surface tension effects, with the local surface tension in the splash increasing during surface …

A Novel Shortwave Infrared Proximal Sensing Approach To Quantify The Water Stability Of Soil Aggregates, Azadeh Gholoubi, Hojat Emami, Scott B. Jones, Markus Tuller

Plants, Soils, and Climate Faculty Publications

Soil structure and aggregate stability (AS) are critical soil properties affecting water infiltration, root growth, and resistance to soil and wind erosion. Changes in AS may be early indicators of soil degradation, pointing to low organic matter (OM) content, reduced biological activity, or poor nutrient cycling. Hence, efficient and reliable AS measurement techniques are essential for detection, management, and remediation of degraded soil resources. Here we quantify soil AS by developing a novel proximal sensing technique based on shortwave infrared (SWIR) reflectance measurements. The novel approach is similar to the well-documented high energy moisture characteristic (HEMC) method, which yields a …

Fluted Films, Nathan B. Spiers, Mohammad M. Mansoor, Jesse Belden, Randy Craig Hurd, Zhao Pan, Tadd T. Truscott

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

This paper is associated with a poster winner of a 2017 APS/DFD Milton van Dyke Award for work presented at the DFD Gallery of Fluid Motion. The original poster is available from the Gallery of Fluid Motion, https://doi.org/10.1103/APS.DFD.2017.GFM.P0030

Real-Time Video Processing Of Arcing Events To Determine Coincidence, Jr Dennison, Gregory Wilson, Jonh Mojica Decena, Brian Wood

Posters

No abstract provided.

Real-Time Video Processing Of Arcing Events To Determine Coincidence, Jr Dennison, Gregory Wilson, Jonh Mojica Decena, Brian Wood

Posters

A system has been developed and tested for real-time monitoring of environmentally-induced electrostatic discharge events to test spacecraft component and material survivability. Simultaneous detection by several parallel methods in coincidence, enhances event detection, minimizes false signals, and collects complementary information to determine arc location, intensity, and timing. This research focuses on four computer-interfaced video cameras which provide spatial and temporal detection of visual arcing from the surface of various elements. A real time processing solution was developed which can calculate integrated intensities, sensitively detect intensity threshold events, and store relevant video frames from these threshold events. Post processing of this …

Charging Effects Of High Voltage Probe Pulse On Pulsed Electroacoustic Measurements, Zachary Gibson, Jr Dennison, Erick W. Griffiths, Lee Pearson, Anthony Pearson

Presentations

No abstract provided.

Characterizing Vibrationally Induced Damage Of Carbon Nanotube Forests, Jordan Lee, Brian Wood, Ashlan Keeler, Jr Dennison, T. -C. Shen

Presentations

No abstract provided.

Detection And Classification Of High Energy Beta Radiation Induced Damage Of Raspberry Pi Zero Intended For Opal Cubesat, Jonh Mojica Decena, Ryan J. Martineau, Jr Dennison, Brian Wood, Michael J. Taylor

Presentations

No abstract provided.

Electron Yield Measurements Of Multilayer Conductive Materials, Gregory Wilson, Matthew Robertson, Jordan Lee, Jr Dennison

Presentations

No abstract provided.