Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Summer Land Surface Temperature: Small-Local Variation In Intro-Urban Environment In El Paso, Tx, Mactar Mohamed

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

ABSTRACT

It has been well documented that rapid urbanization and population growth have led to the transformation of the natural landscape into anthropogenic urban land and changed such surface physical properties as albedo, energy balance, and surface roughness. Cities, therefore, will be warmer at the urban areas than the rural lands; this situation creates a phenomenon called Urban Heat Island (UHI).

In the recent decades, numerous approaches to study the variation of land surface temperature during daytime have emerged; however, little is known about the variation during nighttime. This study addressed the spatial variation of Summer Nighttime Land Surface Temperature …

Impact Of Cerium Oxide Nanoparticles On Cilantro (Coriandrum Sativum), Maria Isabel Morales

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Studies have shown that plants exposed to ENPs suffer different types of stress. Other studies have revealed that plants can take up and accumulate CeO2 NPs without modification. Thus, these NPs could enter the food chain through edible plants, posing a threat for human health. Cilantro (Coriandrum sativum) is a worldwide culinary and medicinal plant consumed either as a fresh herb or a spice. In this research, cilantro plants were germinated and cultivated for 30 days in organic soil treated with CeO2 NPs at concentrations varying from 0 to 500 mg kg!1. Subsequently, plant organs were analyzed by using spectroscopic …

Model Fusion: A New Approach To Processing Heterogeneous Data, Omar Ochoa

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In many practical situations, it is necessary to extract

information from data of different types. For example, in geosciences, several sources of data can be used to determine the interior structure of the earth: the first arriving waves from earthquakes and from man-made sources, measurements of the earth's gravity field, measurements of the dispersion of surface waves generated by earthquakes, etc. At present, most existing data processing techniques deal only with data of one type.

A joint use of all the information derived from multiple types of data sources is an important theoretical and practical challenge. Such a joint use …

Strong Coupled Quark Matter And Drawbacks Of Its Bcs-Bec Crossover, Israel Portillo Vazquez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

It was found many years ago, that the ground state wave functions of the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieer (BCS) superconductivity in a degenerate Fermi gas and the Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) of composite molecules are essentially the same, and those two states can be smoothly connected through a crossover. This BCS-BEC crossover has being recently extended to relativistic Fermi System. This thesis is dedicated to exploring the possible crossover from BEC to BCS phase on strong-interacting matter and its implications for the system Equation of State. The study will be concentrated on dierent phases of dense quark-matter for vanishing temperatures and densities beyond hadronic …

Novel Copper (Ii) Mediated Transfection Nano-Systems And Biological Properties Of Pyridinium Surfactants, Sarit Pal

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Efficacy of gene therapy is relied upon the improvement of gene delivery vectors into mammalian cells. Although viral-based polynucleotide carriers are still considered as the most common method for gene delivery but the cost effectiveness, nonspecific lethal immune response has evoked the renaissance of non-viral synthetic delivery systems. An initial discovery by Felgnar et al showed Cationic Liposomes (CLs) (having an overall positive charge) when mixed with DNA to form CL-DNA complexes can enhance the transfer of polynucleotides into cells followed by its expression. Presently, a flurry of experimental works is taking place for the better understanding of structural characterization …

Two-Photon Microscopy Of Nanoparticles And Biotissues, Judith Noemi Rivera

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Biomedical Imaging is an important tool in medical research and clinical practice. From understanding the fundamental processes involved in our biological makeup to its use in diagnostics in helping determine what ails us, the advancements in imaging and microscopy have helped shape our view of the world and nature. Microscopy in particular is often used to study the smallest of cells and their dynamical properties while attempting to minimally change the sample being studied. My research objective is largely divided into two parts. The first part consists of designing a video-rate raster scanning two-photon microscope that is faster than current …

Unconstrained L1 Optimization With Applications To Signal And Image Processing, Carlos Andres Ramirez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In recent years, the applied mathematical community has witnessed a revolution that is changing the paradigm of classical signal and image processing. Novel and e efficient numerical algorithms have emerged for solving new challenges in large scale signal retrieval, where both constrained and unconstrained L1 minimization methods play a fundamental role.

In this work, we present a new methodology for solving unconstrained L1 minimization problems in the context of image and signal processing. Our approach consists in solving a sequence of relaxed unconstrained minimization problems depending on a positive regularization parameter that converges to zero. The optimality conditions of each …

A Convex Optimization Algorithm For Sparse Representation And Applications In Classification Problems, Reinaldo Sanchez Arias

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In pattern recognition and machine learning, a classification problem refers to finding an algorithm for assigning a given input data into one of several categories. Many natural signals are sparse or compressible in the sense that they have short representations when expressed in a suitable basis. Motivated by the recent successful development of algorithms for sparse signal recovery, we apply the selective nature of sparse representation to perform classification. Any test sample is represented in an overcomplete dictionary with the training sample as base elements. A given test sample can be expressed as a linear combination of only those training …

On Different Techniques For The Calculation Of Bouguer Gravity Anomalies For Joint Inversion And Model Fusion Of Geophysical Data In The Rio Grande Rift, Azucena Zamora

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Density variations in the Earth result from different material properties, which reflect the tectonic processes attributed to a region. Density variations can be identified through measurable material properties, such as seismic velocities, gravity field, magnetic field, etc. Gravity anomaly inversions are particularly sensitive to density variations but suffer from significant non-uniqueness. However, using inverse models with gravity Bouguer anomalies and other geophysical data, we can determine three dimensional structural and geological properties of the given area. We explore different techniques for the calculation of Bouguer gravity anomalies for their use in joint inversion of multiple geophysical data sets and a …

Utilizing Cyber Espionage To Combat Terrorism, Gary Adkins

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The world has effectively exited the Industrial Age and is firmly planted in the Information Age. Global communication at the speed of light has been a great asset to both businesses and private citizens. However, there is a dark side to the age we live in, where terrorist groups are able to communicate, plan, fund, recruit, and spread their message to the world. The relative anonymity the internet provides hinders law enforcement and security agencies in not only locating would-be terrorists but also in disrupting their operations. The internet is a loosely knit group of computers and routers and is …

Olivine Ca Content Measured By Icp-Oes To Estimate P-T, Bradley Benavides

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Ca is a trace element in olivine and its concentration is pressure and temperature dependent, providing a rare opportunity to estimate pressure conditions at which mantle-derived rocks (xenoliths) last equilibrated. This P-T dependence has previously been calibrated for mantle xenoliths, and we applied this technique to samples from Jasper Seamount (Jasper Seamount), an oceanic intraplate volcano (OIV) off the coast of the Baja California Peninsula of Mexico. Preliminary compositions for xenoliths from this location appear to define a magmatic plumbing system that features magma storage near the bottom of the crust. A more detailed analysis of the samples is required …

Post-Pareto Optimality Methods For The Analysis Of Large Pareto Sets In Multi-Objective Optimization, Victor Manuel Carrillo

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Multiple objective optimization involves the simultaneous optimization of more than one, possibly conflicting, objectives. Multiple objective optimization problems arise in a variety of real-world applications. In general, the main difference between single and multi-objective optimization is that in multi-objective optimization there is usually no single optimal solution, but a set of equally good alternatives with different trade-offs, also known as Pareto-optimal solutions. There are two general approaches to solve multiple objective optimization problems: mathematical methods and meta-heuristic methods. The first approach involves the aggregation of the attributes into a linear combination of the objective functions, also known as scalarization. The …

A Semantic Web-Based Methodology For Describing Scientific Research Efforts, Aida Gandara

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Scientists produce research resources that are useful to future research and innovative efforts. In a typical scientific scenario, the results created by a collaborative team often include numerous artifacts, observations and relationships relevant to research findings, such as programs that generate data, parameters that impact outputs, workflows that describe processes, and publications, posters and presentations that explain results and findings. Scientists have options in what results to share and how to share them, however, there is no systematic approach to documenting scientific research and sharing it on the Web.

The goal of this research is to define a systematic approach …

Assessing The Equity Implications Of Greenspace Distribution In An Arid Region, Abdelatif Eldeb

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In the last few decades, vegetation deterioration is receiving increased attention because of its adverse impacts on societal and human health, environmental sustainability, and quality of life. I have selected two cities in Chihuahua Desert region (El Paso and Juarez) as case study sites to develop a novel and applicable methodology for integrating remotely sensed data of different spectral and spatial resolutions into an analysis of the spatial distribution of an urban amenity. The primary objective of this research is to determine if the spatial distribution of greenspace in 2010 is equitable with respect to socio-demographics in El Paso and …

Method Development For A Chemical And Biological Analysis Of Glucocorticoids In Wastewater, Maria Carmen Lozano

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Glucocorticoids are a class of steroid hormones that can either be produced synthetically or naturally by the adrenal glands. The synthetic glucocorticoids are highly prescribed in the United States for their anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive properties to treat a variety of ailments and diseases; however, these have been implicated in a number of adverse human conditions such as obesity, metabolic syndrome, immune-suppression, delayed puberty, adrenal insufficiency and Cushing Syndrome, among others. Ongoing research has shown that synthetic and natural hormones are transported to aquatic environments via mammalian excretion or wastewater effluent, and as a result, the release of glucocorticoids into the …

The Eolian-Sabkha Transition In The Permian Cedar Mesa Sandstone, Se Utah, Alexandra Massad

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This study focuses on the depositional transition between the Permian Cedar Mesa sand dune sea and the adjoining fluvial, lacustrine, playa and a sabkha facies. This transition provides insights into how climate and environment interacted in this unique setting where up to 300 m of eolian sands transition into evaporites. The evaporites are less common as tongues within the eolianites than previously thought and there were several environments that were observed that haven't been previously described or observed in the Cedar Mesa. The arrangement of the various units within the study area support the climate control on stratigraphy.

The intertonguing …

Organic Photovoltaics: A Charge Transfer Perspective In The Study Of Donor-Acceptor Systems, Marco Olguin

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The present research involves the study of donor-acceptor (D/A) dyad complexes from a charge transfer energy perspective. The aim is to provide insight and predictive understanding into the charge transfer processes of the molecular-level components in donor-acceptor based organic solar cells using computational methods to describe photochemical processes at the quantum mechanical level within the Density Functional Theory (DFT) approximation. Predictive understanding is anchored in reproducing experimental results, wherein the present work a perturbative excited-state DFT method is described in detail and shown to give Charge Transfer (CT) energies in excellent agreement with benchmark experimental data. With an accurate excited …

Surface Plasmon Polaritons And Waveguide Modes At Structured And Inhomogeneous Surfaces, Javier Polanco

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In chapter 1, properties of a p-polarized surface plasmon polariton are studied, propagating circumferentially around a portion of a cylindrical interface between vacuum and a metal, a situation investigated earlier by M. V. Berry (J. Phys. A: Math. Gen. 8, (1975) 1952). When the metal is convex toward the vacuum this mode is radiative and consequently is attenuated as it propagates on the cylindrical surface. An approximate analytic solution of the dispersion relation for this wave is obtained by an approach different from the one used by Berry, and plots of the real and imaginary parts of its wave number …

Depositional Setting And Sequence Stratigraphic Analysis Of The Lower Permian Lower Hueco Formation On The Western Margin Of The Orogrande Basin, South Central New Mexico, Jonathon Eric Stautberg

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

On the western margin of the Orogrande Basin in south-central New Mexico, eight outcrop datasets, in the form of measured stratigraphic sections from the lower interval of the Lower Permian Lower Hueco Formation were analyzed in regard to depositional facies distribution and sequence stratigraphy. Based on petrographic analysis of 247 samples and associated field relationships, 11 depositional facies are recognized: 1) quartz sandstone, 2) quartz siltstone and shale, 3) fenestral dolomudstone, 4) microbial intraclast packstone, 5) dolomudstone, 6) green-algal packstone to grainstone, 7) ostracode foram wackestone, 8) oolitic packstone, 9) fossiliferous packstone and grainstone, 10) fusulinid packstone and grainstone, 11) …

Cjc: An Extensible Checker For The Cleanjava Annotation Language, Cesar Eduardo Yeep

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Formal program verification can be used as a complementary technique to software testing. It allows checking the correctness of all the states of a program which may be impossible using only software testing as a verification technique. One software development process that relies on formal verification is Cleanroom Software Engineering. Cleanroom's main principles are to certify the software with respect to its specification and to produce zero-fault or near-zero-fault software. Cleanroom has being tested primarily in safety-critical systems that require a high level of correctness by development teams in places such as NASA and IBM, demonstrating lower fault rates and …

Thermal Barrier Coatings (Tbc's) For High Heat Flux Thrust Chambers, Christopher Michael Bradley

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The last 30 years materials engineers have been under continual pressure to develop materials with a greater temperature potential or to produce configurations that can be effectively cooled or otherwise protected at elevated temperature conditions. Turbines and thrust chambers produce some of the harshest service conditions for materials which lead to the challenges engineers face in order to increase the efficiencies of current technologies due to the energy crisis that the world is facing. The key tasks for the future of gas turbines are to increase overall efficiencies to meet energy demands of a growing world population and reduce the …

Improved Efficiency Of Rna Secondary Structure Prediction Using Distributed Computing, Gerardo A. Cardenas

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The rapidly growing amounts of available biomolecular sequence data, which may represent information from small gene fragments to large complete genomes, have led to the a great need for powerful computational resources for data analysis and storage. With the decoding of the human and other genomes, RNA secondary structure prediction has become an important area of interest in biology and medicine because they help in understanding the mechanisms of many biological processes such as gene regulation and viral replication, and in designing RNA-based therapies to treat various diseases. Due to the complexity of their algorithms, many existing and upcoming computational …

Security Games With Interval Uncertainty, Md Towhidul Islam

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Game theory has become an important tool in solving real-life decision making problems. Security games use the concept of game theory in adversarial scenarios to protect critical infrastructure. The main purpose of security games is to allocate security resources among various targets and maximize payoff for the defender considering various kinds of attackers. It is hard for domain experts to predict the attacker's behavior, so one of the major challenges in describing this game model is representing uncertainty about the attacker's payoff. Several approaches have been developed to generate these game models based on uncertainty, such as Bayesian games. However …

Developing A Sustainable Ecotourism Foundation In Indonesian National Parks Using Cross-Cultural Adaptation And Communication Framing, Adriana Salas

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Previous research on ecotourism in Southeast Asia has focused on its positive and negative effects for conservation. However, the focus in this particular study is to look at what it takes to run a successful ecotourism site in four diverse areas in Indonesia using communication elements like cross-cultural adaptation and communication framing. Communication should be used as a baseline for a successful site and should be used as the most useful tool to address issues and challenges in ecotourism project development.

A successful ecotourism site must carefully look at how their ideas and programs are framed. Ecotourism must also create …

Evaluation Of Emission Control Strategies To Reduce Ozone Pollution In The Paso Del Norte Region Using A Photochemical Air Quality Modeling System, Victor Hugo Valenzuela

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Air pollution emissions control strategies to reduce ozone precursor pollutants are analyzed by applying a photochemical modeling system. Simulations of air quality conditions during an ozone episode which occurred in June, 2006 are undertaken by increasing or reducing area source emissions in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico.

Two air pollutants are primary drivers in the formation of tropospheric ozone. Oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOC) undergo multiple chemical reactions under favorable meteorological conditions to form ozone, which is a secondary pollutant that irritates respiratory systems in sensitive individuals especially the elderly and young children.

The U.S. Environmental Protection …

Generalizations Of Dirichlet Convolution, Juan Carlos Villarreal

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The thesis reviews Dirichlet convolution of arithmetic functions and some generalizations. First, we present the main properties of the Dirichlet convolution on the set of arithmetic functions and some characterizations of prime numbers via arithmetic functions are given. Then we explore the K-convolution and the regular convolutions and finally we extend the study of Dirichlet convolution in categories. We give also an example for the evaluation of the Mobius function of a Mobius category.

Extracting Fuzzy Measures From Sample Data: Optimization Algorithms And Applications, Xiaojing Wang

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM), decisions are based on several criteria that are usually conflicting and non-homogenously satisfied. We use non-additive (fuzzy) measures combined with the Choquet integral to solve MCDM problems, for they allow to model and aggregate the levels of satisfaction of the several criteria of the problem at hand by considering the relationship between these criteria. In practice, it is difficult to identify such fuzzy measures. An automated process is then necessary and can be used when sample data is available. Several optimization approaches have been used to extract fuzzy measures from sample data, for example, genetic …

Recovering Magnesium Hydroxide And Sodium Chloride From Zero Discharge Desalination Concentrate Streams, Alemayehu Asfaw Yetayew

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

UTEP and Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies have been demonstrating and commercializing the Zero Discharge Desalination (ZDD) technology as part of a three year project sponsored by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. ZDD is able to achieve up to 98% recovery by desalinating brackish groundwater. ZDD is typically comprised of a reverse osmosis (RO) or nanofiltration (NF) system and a unique variation of electrodialysis called electrodialysis metathesis (EDM). The ZDD technology increases the yield of fresh water from water supplies that contain enough CaSO4 to cause precipitation problems when the water is treated with RO or NF alone. The EDM …

Seismic Reflection Exploration Of Geothermal Reservoir Atnaval Air Station (Nas) Fallon, Nevada, Alay Ghebremariam Gebregiorgis

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The Primary objective of this study is to increase geologic and tectonic understanding of the geothermal resources at the Naval Air Station (NAS) Fallon, Nevada. The seismic reflection method is employed to study faults, fractures and other tectonic structures in the subsurface in order to identify geothermal drill targets. The efficiency of geothermal systems is strongly dependent on water circulation. Discrete faults may be permeable and provide pathways for water flow depending on the fracture density. It is therefore desirable to detect and map faults and fracture zones and characterize their physical properties when evaluating a geothermal prospect.

The seismic …

Determination Of The Effects Of Zno And Ceo2 Nanoparticles In Mesquite (Prosopis Juliflora) And Soybean (Glycine Max): Synchrotron And Spectroscopic Approaches, Jose Angel Hernandez Viezcas

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The rapid growth of nanotechnology is exposing the environment to abnormal concentrations of engineered nanoparticles (NPs). There is concern about the unknown consequences of NPs on the environment and human health. This Dissertation has relied significantly on Synchrotron and other spectroscopic techniques to give insights on the effects, speciation and distribution of two metal oxide nanoparticles (ZnO, CeO2) on two plant species (Mesquite and Soybean). We evaluated the effects of ZnO (10 nm) and CeO2 (8 nm) NPs on a plant species native to the semi-arid regions of North America, Mesquite (Prosopis juliflora velutina). Mesquite plants grown in hydroponic culture …