Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Geometry Of Discrete And Continuous Bounded Surfaces, Kyung Eun Kim

Dissertations - ALL

We work on reconstructing discrete and continuous surfaces with boundaries using length constraints. First, for a bounded discrete surface, we discuss the rigidity and number of embeddings in three-dimensional space, modulo rigid transformations, for given real edge lengths. Our work mainly considers the maximal number of embeddings of rigid graphs in three-dimensional space for specific geometries (annulus, strip). We modify a commonly used semi-algebraic, geometrical formulation using Bézout's theorem, from Euclidean distances corresponding to edge lengths. We suggest a simple way to construct a rigid graph having a finite upper bound. We also implement a generalization of counting embeddings for …

Evaluation Of The Energetic Factors In Crystalline Pharmaceuticals Using Solid-State Density Functional Theory And Low-Frequency Vibrational Spectroscopy, Margaret P. Davis

Dissertations - ALL

Due to the importance of maintaining stable and effective pharmaceutical solid doses, it is critical to study the variety of solid forms that active pharmaceutical ingredients can adopt including polymorphs, hydrates, and cocrystals. In this work, low-frequency vibrational spectroscopies and rigorous quantum mechanical simulations are combined to provide a new technique for characterizing and investigating pharmaceutically relevant polymorphs, hydrates, and cocrystals as well as a series of model cocrystals. Low-frequency spectra in the sub-200 cm-1 range provide not only unique and characteristic spectra for all of the systems explored here but, along with X-ray structural parameters, they offer a way …

Adversarial Activity Detection And Prediction Using Behavioral Biometrics, Amin Fallahi

Dissertations - ALL

Behavioral biometrics can be used in different security applications like authentication, identification, etc. One of the trending applications is predicting future activities of people and guessing whether they will engage in malicious activities in the future. In this research, we study the possibility of predicting future activities and propose novel methods for near-future activity prediction.

First, we study gait signals captured using smartphone accelerometer sensor and build a model to predict a future gait signal. Activity recognition using body movements captured from mobile phone sensors has been a major point of interest in recent research. Data that is being continuously …

Characterization Of Scintillation Light In Large Liquid Argon Detectors And The Implications For Proton Decay Searches, Kyle Spurgeon

Dissertations - ALL

The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is a planned long baseline neutrino experi- ment. The detector will be comprised of four modules with 10kt of active volume each, making it an ideal target to neutrino oscillation physics and searches for proton decay. ProtoDUNE-SP was a single-phase liquid argon time projection chamber - a prototype for the first far detector module of DUNE with an active volume of 700 tons operating until 2020. It was installed at the CERN Neutrino Platform and took particle beam and cosmic ray data over its two year lifespan. Liquid argon scin- tillation light is still …

Patterns Of Dissolved Methane In Groundwater And Its Contribution To Emissions Inventories, Amanda E. Campbell

Dissertations - ALL

The Marcellus Shale is the largest shale gas play in the U.S. production of natural gas using high-volume hydraulic fracturing (HVHF) and production is prevalent throughout the play except in New York (NY), where it is currently banned. High concentrations of methane, the main component of natural gas, in groundwater, as well as its presence in the atmosphere, can have negative consequences. In this dissertation, three aspects of this issue are explored: 1) how and why naturally-occurring methane concentrations vary through time; 2) how elevated naturally-occurring methane concentrations in domestic water wells can be predicted from commonly observed well characteristics; …

Measurement Of |Vcb| Using The Semileptonic Decay Λb → Λcμνμ, Scott Edward Ely

Dissertations - ALL

A preliminary measurement of the quark-mixing parameter |Vcb| using the exclusive decay Λ0b→ Λ+c μ−νμ is presented. A sample of Λb semileptonic decays is provided by √s = 13TeV proton-proton collisions collected by the LHCb detector in 2017. Λ0b → Λ+c μ−νμX decays are identified from muon tracks, combined with a Λc baryon. The ground state Λ0b → Λ+c μ−νμ is isolated by a fit to the Λb corrected mass spectrum. The raw yield NRaw(Λ0b → Λ+c μ−νμ) is corrected, and the semileptonic width ΓMeas. (Λ0b → Λ+c μ−νμ) is obtained. Lattice QCD calculations predict ΓTh.(Λ0b → Λ+c μ−νμ)/|Vcb|2. A …

A New Class Of Antibiotic That Prevents Drug Tolerance, Persistence, And Resistance By Controlling Emergence Of Phenotypes., Pankaj Dinkar Patil

Dissertations - ALL

The fight against bacterial infections and innovations in antibiotic therapy has never halted throughout human history. However, bacteria have evolved smartly and resistance against practically all conventional antibiotics has been developed. Furthermore, bacteria can form biofilms, which are surface-attached multicellular colonies. Biofilms shield bacteria against antibiotics and makes it harder to entirely eradicate infections . Under antibiotics stress, bacteria evolve into different phenotypes like hyper motile, hyper adherent and hyper virulent which are tolerant and persistent to antibiotic treatment. The use of antibiotic therapy to combat such resilient bacterial phenotypes is extremely tough. As a result, the scientific community is …

Constraining Beam Backgrounds And Analyzing The Detector Response In A Test Beam With The Nova Experiment, Abhilash Yallappa Dombara

Dissertations - ALL

NOvA is a long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment with two functionallyidentical detectors with the Near Detector at Fermilab, Illinois, and the Far Detector at Ash River, Minnesota. NOvA measures the rate of muon neutrino disappearance and electron neutrino appearance using muon neutrinos generated by the NuMI beam from the Accelerator Division(AD), thus NOvA measures neutrino oscillation parameters in the Pontecorvo-Maki- Nakagawa-Sakata matrix. The main experimental goal of NOvA is to determine the mass hierarchy, probe Charge-Parity violation and measure sin2 θ23 precisely. In this dissertation, the experimental setup, the latest analysis methods used in NOvA, and its results from analyzing 6 …

Studying Redox Conditions Of Devonian And Neoproterozoic Oceans Using I/Ca Proxy From Bulk Carbonate Rocks, Ruliang He

Dissertations - ALL

Iodine is an important trace element in biogeochemical and redox reactions. It has a nearly consistent concentration of ~0.46 μmol/L in the seawater and the inorganic speciation (IO3− and I−) of iodine is primarily controlled by redox conditions in water columns. Iodate (IO3−), not iodide (I−), is the only species that can be incorporated into carbonate minerals. Therefore, I/Ca ratio from carbonate rocks can be used to constrain the redox condition in the water column over a range of time scale. This dissertation contains three chapters that utilizes I/Ca ratio from bulk carbonate rocks to reconstruct ocean redox changes during …

Assessing Impact Of Unconventional Oil And Gas Development On Groundwater Quality In The Northern Appalachian Region With Mixed Land Uses, Favour C. Epuna

Theses - ALL

Over the past decade, the rapid growth of unconventional oil and gas development (UOGD) has raised public concerns about its potential impact on groundwater quality. High methane and salt levels in groundwater have been the most widely cited UOGD-related impairments. The attribution of these contaminants to UOGD is usually complex, especially in regions with mixed land uses. Here, we compiled a large hydrogeochemistry dataset containing 13 geochemical analytes for 17,794 groundwater samples from the rural northern Appalachia, i.e., 19 counties located on the boundary between Pennsylvania (PA; UOGD is permitted) and New York (NY; UOGD is banned). With this dataset, …

A Gis Suitability Model Evaluating Habitat Characteristics Influencing Beaver (Castor Canadensis) Lodge Site Selection And Lodge Occupancy In Central Adirondacks, New York, Amanda K. Jacobs

Theses - ALL

The North American beaver (Castor canadensis) represents a quintessential example of an "ecosystem engineer." Yet the species' landscape-scale impacts on hydrology, geomorphology, and ecosystem ecology are not uniformly distributed through landscapes or time. Understanding beaver lodge site selection and lodge fidelity through time can help to predict where the greatest effects of beaver activity may occur. In this research project, I seek to understand the relationships between beaver habitat suitability, the habitat variables that currently define suitable areas, and lodge occupancy over time. Using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to model habitat suitability, I use hydrologic, vegetative, and physiographic variables to …

Unique Role Of Vimentin Networks In Compression Stiffening Of Cells And Protection Of Nuclei From Compressive Stress, Katarzyna Pogoda, Fitzroy Byfield, Piotr Deptuła, Mateusz Cieśluk, Łukasz Suprewicz, Karol Skłodowski, Jordan L. Shivers, Anne Van Oosten, Katrina Cruz, Ekaterina Tarasovetc, Ekaterina L. Grishchuk, Fred C. Mackintosh, Robert Bucki, Alison E. Patteson, Paul A. Janmey

Physics - All Scholarship

In this work, we investigate whether stiffening in compression is a feature of single cells and whether the intracellular polymer networks that comprise the cytoskeleton (all of which stiffen with increasing shear strain) stiffen or soften when subjected to compressive strains. We find that individual cells, such as fibroblasts, stiffen at physiologically relevant compressive strains, but genetic ablation of vimentin diminishes this effect. Further, we show that unlike networks of purified F-actin or microtubules, which soften in compression, vimentin intermediate filament networks stiffen in both compression and extension, and we present a theoretical model to explain this response based on …

Trichloroacetimidates As Outstanding Electrophiles For The Carbon-Nitrogen, Carbon-Oxygen And Carbon-Carbon Bonds Formation And Synthetic Studies Of Protein Phosphatase-5 (Pp5) Small Molecule Inhibitors, Nilamber Mate

Dissertations - ALL

Trichloroacetimidates have been previously used for glycosidic bond formation in carbohydrate chemistry and in Friedel-Craft reactions. Traditionally, trichloroacetimidates had be synthesized using an alcohol and strongly basic conditions, but in recent years milder preparation methods have been reported. Given the ease of preparation of these versatile reagents, their chemistry has been explored intensely in recent years. While few reported methods suggest they can react under promoter free conditions, activation by Lewis or Brønsted acid leads to a formation of a carbocation from benzylic trichloroacetimidates. Work described herein makes use of these convenient carbocation precursors for new reactions.Isatin is an ambidentate …

Applications Of Powerset Operators, Especially To Matroids, Nathan Uricchio

Dissertations - ALL

Let \(\mathcal{V}\) denote a vector space over an arbitrary field with an inner product. For any collection \(\mathcal{S}\) of vectors from \(\mathcal{V}\) the collection of all vectors orthogonal to each vector in \(\mathcal{S}\) is a subspace, denoted as \(\mathcal{S}^{\perp_v}\) and called the \textit{orthogonal complement} of \(\mathcal{S}\). One of the fundamental theorems of vector space theory states that, \((\mathcal{S}^{\perp_v})^{\perp_v}\) is the subspace \textit{spanned} by \(\mathcal{S}\). Thus the ``spanning'' operator on the subsets of a vector space is the square of the ``orthogonal complement'' operator.

In matroid theory, the orthogonal complement of a matroid \(M\) is also well-defined and similarly results in …

Stable Carbon And Nitrogen Isotopes Of Shell Bound Organic Matter, Implications For Modern And Ancient Food Web Dynamics, Shibajyoti Das

Dissertations - ALL

Stable isotopes are an important tool for solving biogeochemical problems and have been increasingly applied in ecosystem studies because of their utility as source-to-sink tracers and for ecological information. Elements like C and N have more than one stable isotope, and their isotopic compositions (δ15N and δ13C) vary in a foreseeable way and are specifically useful in studying global elemental cycles and energy flow through ecosystems. δ15N and δ13C of organic matter (OM) are diagnostic of an organism's diet and have been used as a proxy for trophic level reconstructions. However, because of several analytical constraints, the use of stable …

Probing Lepton Flavour Universality With $\Bz \To \Kstarz \Taup \Taum$, Aravindhan Venkateswaran

Dissertations - ALL

Neutral current $\bquark \to \squark ll$ processes have long been known to be precise probes of physics beyond the Standard Model. A pattern of anomalies seen in $\bquark \to \squark \mup \mun$ and in $\bquark \to \cquark \tau \nu$ data has hinted at the violation of lepton flavour universality. Effective field theories which attempt to find an explanation for these anomalies predict sizeable enhancements to the rate of $\bquark \to \squark \taup \taum$ currents. We use $pp$ collision data collected by the LHCb detector to estimate a sensitivity of $\BF(\Bz \to \Kstarz \taup \taum) < 1.5 \times 10^{-3}$ at 95\% C.L.

Synthesis, Characterization And Cellular Uptake Of Magnesium Complexes Of Pyrones And Amino Acids, Derek Robert Case

Dissertations - ALL

This thesis focuses on the treatment of micronutrient deficiency, specifically hypomagnesemia, through the synthesis and solution- and solid-state characterization of "pharma grade", biorelevant magnesium complexes (nutraceuticals) utilizing short-chain peptides (di- and tri-), pyrones, and amino acids. There is further emphasis placed on determining the in vitro uptake of all produced complexes. This work aims to mitigate the shortcomings of current magnesium supplements and better illustrate an understanding of the factors impacting magnesium uptake. Specifically, 1) There is a paucity of information regarding the coordination of biorelevant ligands to magnesium, most of which was investigated between the 1950s and 1980s, and …

Understanding And Hardening Blockchain Network Security Against Denial Of Service Attacks, Kai Li

Dissertations - ALL

This thesis aims to examine the security of a blockchain's communication network. A blockchain relies on a communication network to deliver transactions. Understanding and hardening the security of the communication network against Denial-of-Service (DoS) attacks are thus critical to the well-being of blockchain participants. Existing research has examined blockchain system security in various system components, including mining incentives, consensus protocols, and applications such as smart contracts. However, the security of a blockchain's communication network remains understudied.

In practice, a blockchain's communication network typically consists of three services: RPC service, P2P network, and mempool. This thesis examines each service's designs and …

Subsurface Geophysical Investigations Of Oneida Lake Ny: Insights Into Ice Sheet Processes And Deglaciation At Termination I, Nicholas John Zaremba

Dissertations - ALL

Reconstructing the retreat of the Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS) provides insight into understanding end-Pleistocene climate, a critical set of boundary conditions prior to the onset of Holocene climates that were optimal for human dispersal and societal growth. Constraining ice sheet dynamics, glacier retreat rates, and the timing of still-stands and readvances requires identifying glacial landforms such as moraines, drumlins, and mega-scale glacial lineations (MSGLs). Drumlins and MSGLs indicate ice sheet flow directions and provide the location of paleo-ice streams, which were accelerated and localized pathways for ice discharge. Ice streams control ice sheet mass balance; therefore, identifying the location of …

Detector Improvements And Optimization To Advance Gravitational-Wave Astronomy, Varun Srivastava

Dissertations - ALL

The thesis covers a range of topics relevant to the current and future gravitational-wave facilities. After the last science observing run, O3, that ended in March 2020, the aLIGO and VIRGO gravitational-wave detectors are undergoing upgrades to improve their sensitivity. My thesis focuses on the work done at the LIGO Hanford Observatory to facilitate these upgrade activities. I worked to develop two novel technologies with applications to gravitational-wave detectors. First, I developed a high-bandwidth, low-noise, flexure-based piezo-deformable mirror for active mode-matching. Mode-matching losses limit improvements from squeezing as they distort the ground state of the squeezed beam. For broadband sensitivity …

Fairness In Social Networks, Zeinab Saghati Jalali

Dissertations - ALL

In professional and other social settings, networks play an important role in people's lives. The communication between individuals and their positions in the network, may have a large impact on many aspects of their lives.In this work, I evaluate fairness from different perspectives.First,tomeasurefairnessfromgroupperspective,Iproposethenovelinformation unfairness criterion, which measures whether information spreads fairly to different groups in a network. Using this criterion, I perform a case study and measure fairness in information flow in different computer science co-authorship networks with respect to gender. Then, I consider two applications and show how to increase fairness with respect to a fairness metric. The first …

Matrix Factorizations With More Than Two Factors, Tim Tribone

Dissertations - ALL

Let $S$ be a regular local ring and $f$ a non-zero non-invertible element of $S$. In this thesis, we study the notion of a matrix factorization of $f$ with $d\ge 2$ factors, that is, we consider tuples of square matrices $(\phi_1,\phi_2,\dots,\phi_d)$, with entries in $S$, such that their product is $f$ times an identity matrix of the appropriate size. These objects have been studied thoroughly in the case $d=2$ and were originally introduced by Eisenbud in his study of free resolutions of modules over hypersurface rings. Many of the results given in this thesis are extensions of well-known results in …

Monitoring Bacteria Cultures Using Near Infrared (Nir) Binary Spectronephelometry (Bsn), Raman Spectra And Principal Component Analysis (Pca), Steven Ortiz

Dissertations - ALL

Current noninvasive methods cannot continuously and simultaneously monitor the concentrations of cells and media components that define the state of native bacterial cultures, because of changing turbidity. A new technique, binary spectronephelometry (BSN) has the same or better sensitivity and precision for population monitoring as optical density at 600nm (OD600), while simultaneously measuring metabolic processes. The BSN algorithm uses laser induced emission to probe mildly turbid media i.e., propagation of light occurs in the single scattering regime. A BSN "training set" associates a grid of elastic emission measurements, comprising Rayleigh and Mie scattering, and inelastic emission measurements, comprising fluorescence and …

Spreading Rates Of Bacterial Colonies Depend On Substrate Stiffness And Permeability, Alison Patteson, Merrill Asp, Minh H. Thanh, Danielle A. Germann, Robert J. Carroll, Alana Franceski, Roy D. Welch, Arvind Gopinath

Physics - All Scholarship

The ability of bacteria to colonize and grow on different surfaces is an essential process for biofilm development. Here, we report the use of synthetic hydrogels with tunable stiffness and porosity to assess physical effects of the substrate on biofilm development. Using time-lapse microscopy to track the growth of expanding Serratia marcescens colonies, we find that biofilm colony growth can increase with increasing substrate stiffness, unlike what is found on traditional agar substrates. Using traction force microscopy-based techniques, we find that biofilms exert transient stresses correlated over length scales much larger than a single bacterium, and that the magnitude of …

Materials Science And Mechanosensitivity Of Living Matter, Alison E. Patteson, Merrill E. Asp, Paul A. Janmey

Physics - All Scholarship

Living systems are composed of molecules that are synthesized by cells that use energy sources within their surroundings to create fascinating materials that have mechanical properties optimized for their biological function. Their functionality is a ubiquitous aspect of our lives. We use wood to construct furniture, bacterial colonies to modify the texture of dairy products and other foods, intestines as violin strings, bladders in bagpipes, and so on. The mechanical properties of these biological materials differ from those of other simpler synthetic elastomers, glasses, and crystals. Reproducing their mechanical properties synthetically or from first principles is still often unattainable. The …

Rab11 Endosomes And Pericentrin Coordinate Centrosome Movement During Pre-Abscission In Vivo, Nikhila Krishnan, Maxx Swoger, Lindsay I. Rathbun, Peter J. Fioramonti, Judy Freshour, Michael Bates, Alison E. Patteson, Heidi Hehnly

Physics - All Scholarship

The last stage of cell division involves two daughter cells remaining interconnected by a cytokinetic bridge that is cleaved during abscission. Conserved between the zebrafish embryo and human cells, we found that the oldest centrosome moves in a Rab11-dependent manner towards the cytokinetic bridge sometimes followed by the youngest. Rab11-endosomes are organized in a Rab11-GTP dependent manner at the mother centriole during pre-abscission, with Rab11 endosomes at the oldest centrosome being more mobile compared with the youngest. The GTPase activity of Rab11 is necessary for the centrosome protein, Pericentrin, to be enriched at the centrosome. Reduction in Pericentrin expression or …

Vimentin Intermediate Filaments Mediate Cell Morphology On Viscoelastic Substrates, Maxx Swoger, Sarthak Gupta, Elisabeth E. Charrier, Michael Bates, Heidi Hehnly, Alison E. Patteson

Physics - All Scholarship

The ability of cells to take and change shape is a fundamental feature underlying development, wound repair, and tissue maintenance. Central to this process is physical and signaling interactions between the three cytoskeletal polymeric networks: F-actin, microtubules, and intermediate filaments (IFs). Vimentin is an IF protein that is essential to the mechanical resilience of cells and regulates cross-talk among the cytoskeleton, but its role in how cells sense and respond to the surrounding extracellular matrix is largely unclear. To investigate vimentin’s role in substrate sensing, we designed polyacrylamide hydrogels that mimic the elastic and viscoelastic nature of in vivo tissues. …

A Solid-State Phase Camera For Advanced Gravitational Wave Detectors, Erik Muniz

Dissertations - ALL

I present a novel way of wavefront sensing using a commercially available, continuouswavetime-of- ight camera with QVGA-resolution. This CMOS phase camera is capable of sensing externally modulated light sources with frequencies up to 100 MHz. The high-spatial-resolution of the sensor, combined with our integrated control electronics, allows the camera to image power modulation index as low as -62 dBc/second/pixel. The phase camera is applicable to problems where alignment and mode-mismatch sensing is needed and suited for diagnostic and control applications in gravitationalwave detectors. Specically, I explore the use of the phase camera in sensing the beat signals due to thermal …

Observation Of Ω Contribution In The C1(3872) → Π+Π−J/Ψ Decays, Baasansuren Batsukh

Dissertations - ALL

Resonant structure in the dipion mass spectrum produced via \decay{\Bu}{\X\Kp}, \decay{\X}{\jpsi \pip \pim}, with \decay{\jpsi}{\mu^+\mu^-} is analyzed using Run 1 and Run 2 data samples from the LHCb experiment. The spectrum is dominated by $\rhoz\to\pi^+\pi^-$, but cannot be described by this contribution alone. A significant $\omega\to\pi^+\pi^-$ contribution, interfering with $\rhoz$, is observed for the first time. This is a more significant observation ($>7.1\sigma$) of $\X\to\omega\jpsi$ decays, than previously achieved with $\omega\to\pi^+\pi^-\pi^0$ decays. The relative contribution of $\omega$ to the total $\X\to\pi^+\pi^-\jpsi$ rate is at the level expected from the measured $\X\to(\omega\to\pi^+\pi^-\pi^0)\jpsi$ rate, if the interference between the $\rho^0$ and …

Buckling Patterns And Mechanics Of Thin Interfacial Polymer Films, Monica M. Ripp

Dissertations - ALL

Thin elastic solids are easily deformed and will readily collapse into complex buckling modes. They can also transition between distinct buckling modes when the confining forces evolve over time, forming a variety of robust and striking patterns. Here we explore how thin interfacial films and the buckling modes they present couple with evolving macroscopic forces and how multi-scale features of the systems give rise to patterns.

In the indentation of a circular film floating on a liquid bath three buckling modes arise: wrinkling, crumpling, and folding. This work shows that striking transitions between these states accompany four regimes in the …