Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Evaluating Learning Geometric Concepts To Generate Predicate Abstract Domains In Static Program Analysis, Patrick Chadbourne

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Accuracy of static analysis over predicate abstract domains depends on the partitions of predicates. More precise predicates approximate concrete values of program variables resulting in more accurate analysis. Manual reasoning about these partitions must be done on a case-by-case basis and is time consuming and difficult.

This work explores learning geometric concepts to automate discovery of predicate domain candidates.

The proposed framework uses run-time data from program executions to gather training data for a PAC-learner to generate separating hyperplanes that can be projected onto predicate domains.

The thesis implements the framework and performs evaluations of it effectiveness on a set …

Influence Of Urbanization And Climate On Irrigation Diversions And Return Flows In The Lower Boise River Basin, Bridget M. Bittmann

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The western US is facing both the rapid urbanization of agricultural lands and a changing climate, producing subsequent changes to irrigation water demand and availability. Adaptive water management requires knowledge regarding how and why water usage and availability is changing; however, managers often do not possess the tools or resources for the necessary analysis. These environmental changes are also place-based, meaning that water managers cannot directly use studies from other basins to actively manage theirs. Co-produced, actionable research can help fill this knowledge gap and provide the necessary information for adaptive management. The Lower Boise River Basin (LBRB) in southwestern …

Association Of Lockdown Policies With Covid-19 Early Case Growth Rates In The United States, Anna Barefield

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted essentially the entire globe, infecting over 755 million people worldwide and resulting in over 6.8 million deaths to date. Different countries have had varying levels of success in managing the spread of the pandemic, and the success or lack thereof could be explained by the impact of government intervention, such as lockdown policies, mask mandates, and social distancing advisories. The United States responded particularly poorly to the early pandemic outbreak as compared to other similar countries, due to its lack of coordinated planning to implement effective policies, with large variations in action taken by each …

Integrating Climate And Wildfire Education In The Classroom: Development And Implementation Of K-12 Place-Based Wildfire Educational Modules, Danielle Marquette

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

In the United States, even though most parents would like their children to be educated about climate change, and most teachers support including climate change in K-12 curriculum, many schools fail to educate students about the causes, consequences, solutions, and personal connections to climate change. Teaching anthropogenic climate change through the local context is one of the most effective methods of teaching climate change. In Idaho the lengthening fire season and the increasing occurrence of larger, more severe fires is a tangible impact of climate change. Yet students from Idaho and other high wildfire risk states in the western United …

Characteristics Of Stream Source Water Contributions And Associated Geochemical Signatures Along A Climate And Vegetation Gradient In A Glacierized Landscape, Southcentral Alaska, Hannah K. Richardson

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Mountain-derived snow and ice melt are essential for global water resources, and over one-sixth of the population depends on melt for freshwater. Rising air temperatures are causing vegetation to replace snow- and ice-covered landscapes and precipitation regimes to change. Collectively, these changes will alter the hydrology of mountain environments, although the exact impacts to hydrologic regimes are poorly understood. The source waters of streamflow (i.e. the proportion of ice melt, snowmelt, rain, and groundwater) dictate the timing and magnitude and affect temperature, sediment, and nutrient fluxes. By examining differences in source waters across basins with varying land covers and precipitation …

Effects Of Discharge And Morphology On Fluvial Sound, Scott J. Gauvain

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Rivers, streams, and tributaries play a critical role in the global water cycle and their dispersion of freshwater is essential for widespread human consumption, crop irrigation, waste management, and hydropower generation. Currently, there is a need for innovative, non-invasive, and low-cost methods of surface freshwater discharge gauging. With careful site selection, recording the acoustics produced by streamflow could be used reliably and inexpensively to infer changes in local discharge. An important knowledge gap currently preventing the use of acoustics for stream gauging is the unknown relationships by which stream sounds depend on discharge and stream morphology. To address this, I …

Picking Up Steam: A Year Long Infrasonic Record Of Steamboat Geyser. Minor And Major Paroxysms Of The Multi-Phase Eruptions At Steamboat Geyser, Yellowstone National Park, Margaret Holahan

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The renewed activity of the world’s tallest geyser, Steamboat Geyser (Yellowstone National Park) in 2018, offers the opportunity to utilize long-term continuous infrasound and low-frequency acoustic monitoring to quantify eruptive behaviors. Eruption parameters including onset timing, duration, phase transitions between steam and water, instantaneous sound intensity, eruptive power, energy content, and spectral character, may be used to characterize individual eruption styles and reveal eruption trends. I interpret the character of the acoustic radiation through corroboration of first-hand observations and time-lapse video. I find that infrasound (acoustic energy below 20 Hz) is a particularly effective tool for tracking the evolving eruption …

A History Of The Hurwitz Problem Concerning Branched Coverings, James Alexander Byars

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

From a d-sheeted branched covering f : M → N, where M and N are surfaces, one can read off the branch datum

D(f) = {M, N, d, (A₁, . . . , A_r)},

where A_i = [e_i1, . . . , e_{in_i}] is a partition of d. Furthermore, a relationship between the Euler characteristics between M and N is known, called the Riemann-Hurwitz formula

𝒳(M) = d𝒳(N) − v(D(f …

Robust Digital Nucleic Acid Memory, Golam Md Mortuza

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The rapid growth of data generation from electronic devices has created a critical demand for efficient and sustainable data storage solutions. Traditional storage systems face challenges regarding reliability, energy consumption, and scalability, necessitating the exploration of alternative technologies. This dissertation explores the potential of Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) as an alternative storage medium, along with the associated challenges and potential solutions.

This dissertation focuses on Digital Nucleic Acid Memory (dNAM), which utilizes Single Molecule Localization Microscopy (SMLM) to encode and store data within DNA structures called DNA origami. SMLM surpasses the limitations of light’s diffraction limit, enabling the imaging of biological …

Fair Layouts In Information Access Systems: Provider-Side Group Fairness In Ranking Beyond Ranked Lists, Amifa Raj

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Information access systems, such as search engines and recommender systems, often display results in ranked order based on their estimated relevance. The fairness of these rankings has received attention as an important evaluation criteria along with traditional metrics capturing constructs such as utility or accuracy. Fairness has many facets, including provider and consumer-side fairness at both group and individual levels. Research on provider-side group fairness involve concerns regarding measurement and optimization of fairness in ranking. Although there are several fair ranking metrics to measure provider-side group fairness based on various “sensitive attributes”, multiple open challenges still exist in this area …

Application Of A High-Resolution Climate Model Dataset To Assess Habitat Suitability For Spotted Wing Drosophila In Southwest Idaho, Elizabeth Padian

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

As global climate change continues to produce large deviations from the normals of the 19th and 20th centuries, the agricultural sector will need to adapt to these changes in order to maintain yields and feed the global population. Crop selections, yield amounts, and pest management techniques may need to be adjusted to adapt. The Spotted Wing Drosophila (SWD) is a small fruit fly-like bug that can infest berries and stone fruit crops by burrowing into the fruit (at most points in the fruit’s lifecycle) and laying its eggs. These eggs will hatch and the larvae will burrow back out of …

Investigating The Petrogenesis Of The Naifeh And Plumeria Seamounts: Insights Into The Geochemical Diversity Of Seamounts Adjacent To The Hawaiian Seamount Chain, Geoffrey Montour

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The Naifeh and Plumeria seamount clusters, which consist of 10 submarine volcanoes located ~220km north of the Northwest Hawaiian Ridge, were mapped and sampled by the E/V Nautilus expedition NA101 in 2018. The origin of these seamounts is unknown, but their unique orientation and location imply several possible mechanisms of formation. Four possible mechanisms of formation include: 1) off-axis upwelling of the Hawaiian mantle plume, 2) ancient arch volcanism, 3) intraplate extension and deformation, 4) hotspot volcanism. Investigating the origin of these seamount clusters will better constrain the composition of the underlying mantle, as well as the depth and extent …

Hydrologic Implications Of Snow-Vegetation Interactions In A Semiarid Mountain Climate, Maggi Kraft

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Knowledge of the complex interaction between snow, vegetation, and streamflow in semiarid mountain climates is necessary for predicting water resources. The effects of warming temperatures on snow distribution will cascade into vegetation water use and streamflow. Due to our reliance on snow water resources, it is necessary to understand how vegetation affects snow distribution, how vegetation uses snow water inputs and the subsequent effects on streamflow in the current and warming climate. The overall objective of this research is to improve our understanding of snow-vegetation interactions in a semiarid climate. In this dissertation, I use field data to evaluate how …

Interactive Effects Of Fungal Community Structure And Soil Moisture On Wyoming Big Sagebrush Performance, Arden Marlene Engel

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Large swathes of the North American sagebrush steppe have been converted to grazing and agricultural use. Remaining fragmented areas are threatened by invasive annual grasses and associated perpetuation of increased fire frequency, with efforts to restore sagebrush after fire largely unsuccessful. Lack of success may be due, in part, to poor interactions between sagebrush seed sourced from distant locations and unfamiliar soil fungi.

A greenhouse experiment was designed to evaluate effects of soil fungal community composition on sagebrush reestablishment by answering: (1) How does inoculation with ‘coevolved’ versus ‘foreign’ fungal inoculum impact sagebrush fitness? (2) How does moisture availability modify …

Exploring The Capability Of A Self-Supervised Conditional Image Generator For Image-To-Image Translation Without Labeled Data: A Case Study In Mobile User Interface Design, Hailee Kiesecker

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

This research investigates the effectiveness of a conditional image generator trained on a restricted number of unlabeled images for image-to-image translation in computer vision. While previous research has focused on using labeled data for image labeling in conditional image generation, this study proposes an original framework that utilizes self-supervised classification on generated images. The proposed approach, which combines Conditional GAN and Semantic Clustering, showed promising results. However, this study has several limitations, including a limited dataset and the need for significant computational power to generate a single UI design. Further research is needed to optimize the performance of the proposed …

High-Performance Domain-Specific Library For Hydrologic Data Processing, Kalyan Bhetwal

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Hydrologists must process many gigabytes of data for hydrologic simulations, which takes time and resources degrading performance. The performance issues are caused mainly by domain scientists’ preference for using Python, which trades performance for productivity. In my thesis, I demonstrate that using the static compilation technique to compile Python to generate C code along with several optimizations reduces time and resources for hydrologic data processing. I developed a Domain Specific Library (DSL) which is a subset of Python and compiles to Sparse Polyhedral Framework - Intermediate Representation (SPF-IR), which allows opportunities for optimizations like read reduction fusion which are not …

Sparse Format Conversion And Code Synthesis, Tobi Goodness Popoola

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Sparse computations are important in scientific computing. Many scientific applications compute on sparse data. Data is said to be sparse if it has a relatively small number of non-zeros. Sparse formats use auxiliary arrays to store non-zeros, as a result, the contents of auxiliary arrays are not known until run-time. The Inspector/Executor (I/E) paradigm uses run-time information for compiler optimizations. An inspector computes information at run-time to drive transformations. The executor---a compile-time transformation of the original code--- uses information computed by the inspector. The sparse polyhedral framework (SPF) encompasses a series of tools to support I/E run-time transformations. This work …

Severity Measures For Assessing Error In Automatic Speech Recognition, Ryan Whetten

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

A common metric for evaluating Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) is Word Error Rate (WER) which solely takes into account discrepancies at the word-level. Although WER is useful, it is not guaranteed to correlate well with intelligibility or performance on downstream tasks that make use of ASR. Meaningful assess- ment of ASR mistakes becomes even more important in high-stake scenarios such as health-care. I propose 2 general measures to evaluate the quality or severity of mistakes made by ASR systems, one based on sentiment analysis and another based on text embeddings. Both have the potential to overcome the limitations of WER. …

The U.S. Endangered Species Act And Agency Discretion: The Role Of Public Commenting During The Rulemaking Process, Krista Helmstadter Lyons

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The most recent International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List classifies 40,084 out of the 142,577 evaluated species as threatened with extinction, with 1,962 of those species identified in the United States. The U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA) was enacted in 1973 to protect and recover threatened and endangered species from extinction. The ESA federal listing process can be lengthy and arduous, taking years for a species to be proposed for listing. During the process the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) seeks comments from the public and peer reviewers on the proposed rule. Previous research debates the …

Improved Computational Prediction Of Function And Structural Representation Of Self-Cleaving Ribozymes With Enhanced Parameter Selection And Library Design, James D. Beck

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Biomolecules could be engineered to solve many societal challenges, including disease diagnosis and treatment, environmental sustainability, and food security. However, our limited understanding of how mutational variants alter molecular structures and functional performance has constrained the potential of important technological advances, such as high-throughput sequencing and gene editing. Ribonuleic Acid (RNA) sequences are thought to play a central role within many of these challenges. Their continual discovery throughout all domains of life is evidence of their significant biological importance (Weinreb et al., 2016). The self-cleaving ribozyme is a class of noncoding Ribonuleic Acid (ncRNA) that has been useful for …

Deep Learning Of Microstructures, Amir Abbas Kazemzadeh Farizhandi

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The internal structure of materials also called the microstructure plays a critical role in the properties and performance of materials. The chemical element composition is one of the most critical factors in changing the structure of materials. However, the chemical composition alone is not the determining factor, and a change in the production process can also significantly alter the materials' structure. Therefore, many efforts have been made to discover and improve production methods to optimize the functional properties of materials. The most critical challenge in finding materials with enhanced properties is to understand and define the salient features of the …

Meshfree Methods For Pdes On Surfaces, Andrew Michael Jones

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation focuses on meshfree methods for solving surface partial differential equations (PDEs). These PDEs arise in many areas of science and engineering where they are used to model phenomena ranging from atmospheric dynamics on earth to chemical signaling on cell membranes. Meshfree methods have been shown to be effective for solving surface PDEs and are attractive alternatives to mesh-based methods such as finite differences/elements since they do not require a mesh and can be used for surfaces represented only by a point cloud. The dissertation is subdivided into two papers and software.

In the first paper, we examine the …

Characterizing Wildfire In The Frank Church Wilderness, Idaho, Between 1972-2012, Abigail Christine Axness

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

I examined wildfire characteristics in the Frank Church Wilderness, central Idaho, between 1972-2012. Studying fire characteristics in the Frank Church Wilderness provides an opportunity to understand the history of wildfires in a federally designated wilderness area, largely devoid of management impacts with limited human access and activity. The ~958,000-hectare Frank Church Wilderness area encompasses the Middle Fork Salmon River. Vegetation cover ranges from high elevation (~2500-3200 meters) mixed conifer forests in the headwaters to low-elevation (~600-1000 meters) sagebrush-steppe and ponderosa pine (Pinus Ponderosa) forests. The Frank Church Wilderness is defined as unmanaged because effective fire suppression (e.g., vehicle …

Petrochronology And Statistical Analysis To Integrate Different Types Of Data To Solve Complex Earth Systems Problems, Claire Ostwald Harrigan

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Complex Earth systems problems, like reconstructing orogens and calibrating the geologic time scale, require investigations that link time to geologic processes. To use time as a means of organizing geologic evidence, geochronometric dates must be contextualized by integrating with different data types. This is the work of petrochronology—linking mineral ages to geochemical, textural, or other geologic information. The U-Pb isotopic system as preserved in the minerals zircon (ZrSiO₄) and titanite (CaTiSiO₅) can be used in a petrochronological context to date geologic events including the age of granitoid pluton emplacement, the age of rock fabric formation in …

The Curacautín Eruption Of Llaima Volcano, Chile, Aaron Asdale Marshall

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Mafic magmas are the most common magmas erupted on Earth and on rocky bodies in the Solar System. The low viscosity of mafic magmas results in eruptions that are primarily effusive to mildly explosive. Rarely, mafic magmas erupt as more violent, explosive events, and the causes of this transition in eruptive style are hotly debated. In this dissertation, I investigated the conditions in the conduit and shallow subsurface that generated the unusually explosive mafic, Curacautín eruption of Llaima volcano, Chile. The Curacautín ignimbrite (Ci) is a basaltic andesite ignimbrite consisting of four flow units of variable thicknesses. New ¹⁴C …

Development Of Remote Optical Instrumentation For The Enhanced Detection Of Airborne Environmental Toxins, Riley Mungo

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The severity of wildfires in the United States are increasing and in the amount of acreage burned due to climate change and a sustained drought in the western part of the country. As a greater number of wildfires burn in the west, the amount of smoke produced becomes a health concern to the public. Wildfires release airborne toxins and hazardous air pollutants that cause adverse health effects to the public in high concentrations but are of principle concern to health officials as they have differential impacts on infants and children. Some of the airborne toxins released are carbonyl compounds such …

Disturbance, Vegetation Co-Occurrence, And Human Intervention As Drivers Of Plant Species Distributions In The Sagebrush Steppe, Fiona Claire Schaus Noonan

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Changes in fire regimes, invasive species dynamics, human land use, and drought conditions have shifted important plant species in the Northern Great Basin (NGB)—including big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata ssp.), conifers (e.g., Juniperus spp.) and invasive annual grasses (e.g., Bromus tectorum). Characterizing how these overlapping disturbances influence species distributions is critical for land management decision-making. Previous research has explored the individual effects of drought, wildfire, restoration, and invasive species on sagebrush steppe communities, but the specific effects of these disturbances in context with one another remain poorly understood at a landscape scale. To address this …

Advancements In Measuring And Modeling The Mechanical And Hydrological Properties Of Snow And Firn: Multi-Sensor Analysis, Integration, And Algorithm Development, Tate G. Meehan

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Estimating snow mechanical properties – such as elastic modulus, stiffness, and strength – is important for understanding how effectively a vehicle can travel over snow-covered terrain. Vehicle instrumentation data and observations of the snowpack are valuable for improving the estimates of winter vehicle performance. Combining in-situ and remotely-sensed snow observations, driver input, and vehicle performance sensors requires several techniques of data integration. I explored correlations between measurements spanning from millimeter to meter scales, beginning with the SnowMicroPenetrometer (SMP) and instruments applied to snow that were designed for measuring the load bearing capacity and the compressive and shear strengths of roads …

From River Channel To Cloud Tops: Evaluation And Applications Of Regional Climate Models In Mountain Watersheds, William J. Rudisill

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Mountain ranges are vital ”water towers” of the world and are uniquely threatened by anthropogenic climate change. At the same time, the paucity of observing networks limits our understanding of hydrometeorological processes in water-resource critical regions, including the Western United States. In the past decade, non-hydrostatic, convection permitting ( 1-4km horizontal resolution) regional climate models (RCMs) have emerged as a promising tool for both reconstructing regional scale mountain hydroclimates, and for forecasting the impacts of climate perturbations on watersheds and water-resources. Still, challenges remain. To-date, computational and data storage limitations have generally precluded many RCM studies to a handful of …

Toxicological Investigation, Identification, And Bioactivity Evaluation Of Steroidal Alkaloids Derived From Veratrum Parviflorum, Jared Taylor Seale

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Plants of the Veratrum genus have been used throughout history for their emetic properties, rheumatism, and for the treatment of high blood pressure. However, inadvertent consumption of these plants, which resemble wild ramps, induces life threatening side effects attributable to an abundance of steroidal alkaloids. Several of the steroidal alkaloids from Veratrum spp. have been investigated for their ability to antagonize the Hedgehog (Hh) signaling pathway, a key pathway for embryonic development and cell proliferation. Uncontrolled activation of this pathway is linked to the development of various cancers, most notably basal cell carcinoma and acute myeloid leukemia. Additional investigation of …