Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Machine Learning Prediction Of Primary Tissue Origin Of Cancer From Gene Expression Read Counts, Lohitha Chintham Reddy

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Cancer is a group of diseases characterized by the uncontrolled growth and spread of abnormal cells. Generally, manufacturing of proteins by cells is controlled by genes. Each gene must have the correct instructions for making its protein, so that it allows the protein to perform the correct function for the cell. When one or more genes in a cell mutate and create an abnormal protein, that is when cancer begins. An abnormal protein provides different information compared to a normal protein. This can cause cells to multiply uncontrollably and cause cancer.

RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) can be used to figure out …

Equation Of State Of H2o Ice Using Melt-Recrystallization, Zachary Michael Grande

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The recent surge in exoplanet discoveries due to advancements in astrophysical technology and analysis has brought the reliability of early equation of state measurements into question as they are the limiting factor when modeling composition of these planets. H2O content is among the most important for the search of habitable planets as well as in understanding planetary dynamics and atmosphere formation. Over the last three decades the equation of state of H2O has been investigated with various techniques but, has suffered from anisotropic strain and poor powder statistics resulting in a large discrepancy in equation of state fits. At pressures …

High-Pressure High-Temperature Exploration Of Phase Boundaries Using Raman Spectroscopy, Jasmine Kashmir Hinton

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Metastability of states can provide interesting properties that may not be readily accessible in a material’s ground state. Many materials show high levels of polymorphism, indicating a rich energy landscape and a potential for metastable states. Melt crystallization techniques provide a potential route to these states. We use a resistively heated diamond anvil cell (DAC) with fine control of a system’s pressure and temperature to explore these systems. Raman spectroscopy is used to track subtle structural changes across phase boundaries. Organic systems, such as glycine and aspirin, were our initial interest due to their high polymorphism and reported low melting …

Riding My Bike In Paradise With Margaret Fuller: A Phenomenological Study, Nanette Rasband Hilton

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Margaret Fuller (1810-1850) was perhaps the most famous American woman during the nineteenth century. After her tragic death, reprints of her best-selling books were heavily edited and she was nearly forgotten. During and after her lifetime, Fuller fell victim to the phenomenological alterity identified and defined by theorists including Derrida and Edward Said as Othering. She spent her career combating Othering in all its forms. Through the lens of both social identity theory and multiple identity theory this study examines how Fuller grappled with social prescriptions. As an autodidact, she mined diverse literary resources to construct heterogeneous texts that cultivate …

Approximation Algorithms For Illuminating 1.5d Terrain, Jiwan Khatiwada

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

We review important algorithmic results for the coverage of 1.5D terrain by point guards. Finding the minimum number of point guards for covering 1.5D terrain is known to be NP-hard. We propose two approximation algorithms for covering 1.5D terrain by a fewer number of point guards. The first algorithm (Greedy Ranking Algorithm) is based on ranking vertices in term of number of visible edges from them. The second algorithm (Greedy Forward Marching Algorithm) works in greedy manner by scanning the terrain from left to right. Both algorithms are implemented in Python 2.7 programming language.

Potential Fossil Yield Classification (Pfyc) Survey Of Nevada Surficial Geology, And A Multi-Sensor, Remote Sensing, Change-Detection Study Of Land-Use/Land-Cover Urbanization Impacting The Las Vegas Formation Located In Northwestern Las Vegas Valley, John Jayson Medema

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This thesis is a combination of two separate but related projects. The first project is a Potential Fossil Yield Classification (PYFC) survey. The PFYC is a Bureau of Land Management funded survey designed to synthesize paleontologic information into a geographic information system (GIS) as a distributable geodatabase. The database is designed to represent surficial geologic deposits contained in a polygon shapefile. Throughout the State of Nevada each polygon represents a mapped geologic unit at a scale of at least 1:250 k. Each mapped geologic unit is then assigned a “potential fossil yield classification”, a numerical ranking value of 1-5 based …

Assessing Minimal-Input Restoration Strategies For Desert Soil And Vegetation Restoration, Audrey Jean Rader

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The Mojave and Sonoran Deserts have been negatively impacted by anthropogenic disturbances. Considering that these ecosystems may recover on millennial timescales, research has shown that restoration techniques can be fairly successful in initiating long-term recovery processes in these sensitive environments. However, uncertainty remains as to which techniques are effective in different circumstances, such as in different climates or across different soil properties, and which techniques may best avoid unintended consequences, such as facilitating non-native plants. To reduce fugitive dust as a human health hazard, increase soil stability, and enhance wildlife habitat, further work is necessary to develop restoration techniques for …

Rethinking Timestamping: Time Stamp Counter Design For Virtualized Environment, Alexander Tabatadze

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Almost every processor supports Time Stamp Counter (TSC), which is a hardware register that increments its value every clock cycle. Due to its high resolution and accessibility, TSC is now widely used for a variety tasks that need time measurements such as wall clock, code benchmarking, or metering hardware usage for account billing.

However, if not carefully configured and interpreted, TSC-based time measurements can yield inaccurate readings. For instance, modern CPU may dynamically change its frequency or enter into low-power states. Also, time spent on scheduling events, system calls, page faults, etc. should be correctly accounted for. Even more complications …

An Analysis Of Postmastectomy Breast Reconstruction Due To Breast Cancer In Nevada And The United States From 2008-2013, Jenna Webb

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Background: In the United States, female breast cancer was the leading cause of new cancer cases from 2011-2015. Since the Women’s Health and Cancer Act of 1998 (WHCRA), the federal government mandates employee and private health insurance providers to cover breast reconstruction if they cover mastectomies. Postmastectomy breast reconstruction (PBR) rates increased after the WHCRA, but these rates have remained relatively low throughout recent years. Objective: The objective of this study was to determine factors associated with women having PBR due to breast cancer in Nevada and the United States from 2008 to 2013. Methods: Using two HCUP database, NIS …

Super Rapid Crystal Growth And Quench Of Monoclinic Bi-Ii* During Dynamic Compression, Zachary Allen Fussell

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

We show that monoclinic Bi-II* forms during a dynamic compression regime with crystal growth rates from melt of ≈ 70 m/s. This extreme quench rate implies crystallization by non-diffusive processes and indicates that the liquid had a high degree of pre-ordering. Using ambient condition single crystal structure analysis we show for the first time that the monoclinic distorted phase of Bi (Bi-II) exists at ambient pressure, albeit bound to formation under dynamic compression. We review the pressure, temperature, and time conditions for formation and growth of this structure.

Numerical Study In The Conservative Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian (Ale) Method For An Unsteady Stokes/Parabolic Interface Problem With Jump Coefficients And A Moving Interface, Michael Joseph Ramirez

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Towards numerical analyses for fluid-structure interaction (FSI) problems in the future, in this thesis the arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) finite element method within a conservative form is developed and analyzed for a linearized FSI problem - an unsteady Stokes/parabolic interface problem with jump coefficients and moving interface, and the corresponding mixed finite element approximation is developed and analyzed for both semi- and fully discrete schemes based upon the so-called conservative formulation. In terms of a novel H1-projection technique, their stability and optimal convergence properties are obtained for approximating the real solution equipped with lower regularity.

Telomeres, Nutrition And Mortality: Risk Factors For The Rate Of Telomere Length Decline And The Associations Between Telomere Length, Nutrition And Mortality, Saruna Ghimire

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Introduction: Telomeres are nucleoprotein structures located at the ends of eukaryotic chromosomes, thought to protect the DNA from damage. As a person experiences stressors, harmful exposures, and other diseases throughout their life, telomeres are thought to become damaged and their length shortened, decreasing their ability to protect the DNA. Nutrition is an important aspect of healthy aging. Preservation of telomere length (TL) is thought to be one of the mechanisms by which good nutrition can delay or prevent the development of chronic disease and death. Recent evidence of preservation of TL with good nutrition is promising. Thus, the aim of …

The Effects Of Injury On Running Status And Gait Biomechanics, Kristyne Wiegand

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Over the past several decades, endurance running has grown steadily as a popular form of physical activity. Running is easily accessible, does not require expensive equipment, and can be performed without specific skill training. Individuals who run also experience health benefits like increased cardiovascular health and reduced risk of all-cause morbidity. Despite these benefits, running is also associated with high rates of musculoskeletal injury. Although researchers have attempted to identify injury risks and mitigate the incidence of running injury, there is still no consensus as to why runners become injured. Research has also attempted to identify biomechanical movement patterns that …

Acr Accreditation For Utah Valley Hospital’S Radiation Oncology Center, Remy Manigold

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Becoming an accredited clinic through the American College of Radiology (ACR) and their Radiation Oncology Practice Accreditation (ROPA) program will provide third-party evaluation of patient care to ensure the best treatment possible for patients.

Talk of getting ACR accreditation has occurred in the past for Utah Valley Hospital/American Fork Hospital, but at the time it was seen as something that did not provide sufficient value vs. the cost. The recent One Intermountain restructuring is intended to unify all of the Intermountain Healthcare radiation oncology centers in Utah so the Radiation Oncology Director has set the goal that all Intermountain radiation …

Classification Of Vegetation In Aerial Imagery Via Neural Network, Gevand Balayan

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This thesis focuses on the task of trying to find a Neural Network that is best suited for identifying vegetation from aerial imagery. The goal is to find a way to quickly classify items in an image as highly likely to be vegetation(trees, grass, bushes and shrubs) and then interpolate that data and use it to mark sections of an image as vegetation. This has practical applications as well. The main motivation of this work came from the effort that our town takes in conserving water. By creating an AI that can easily recognize plants, we can better monitor the …

A Novel Feature Maps Covariance Minimization Approach For Advancing Convolutional Neural Network Performance, Bikram Basnet

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

We present a method for boosting the performance of the Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) by reducing the covariance between the feature maps of the convolutional layers.

In a CNN, the units of a hidden layer are segmented into the feature/activation maps. The units within a feature map share the weight matrix (filter), or in simple terms look for the same feature. A feature map is the output of one filter applied to the previous layer. CNN search for features such as straight lines, and as these features are spotted, they get reported to the feature map. During the learning process, …

Permutation Flow Shop Via Simulated Annealing And Neh, Pooja Bhatt

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Permutation Flow Shop Scheduling refers to the process of allocating operations of jobs to machines such that an operation starts to process on machine j only after the processing completes in j-1machine. At a time a machine can process only one operation and similarly a job can have only one operation processed at a time. Finding a schedule that minimizes the overall completion times for Permutation Flow Shop problems is NP-Hard if the number of machines is greater than 2. Sowe concentrates on approaches with approximate solutions that are good enough for the problems. Heuristics is one way to find …

Storing Iot Data Securely In A Private Ethereum Blockchain, Vinay Kumar Calastry Ramesh

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Internet of Things (IoT) is a set of technologies that enable network-connected devices to perform an action or share data among several connected devices or to a shared database. The actions can be anything from switching on an Air Conditioning device remotely to turning on the ignition of a car through a command issued from a remote location or asking Alexa or Google Assistant to search for weather conditions in an area. IoT has proved to be game-changing for many industries such as Supply Chain, Shipping and Transportation providing updates on the status of shipments in real time. This has …

Machine Learning Classification Of Primary Tissue Origin Of Cancer From Dna Methylation Markers, Sravani Gannavarapu Surya Naga

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Cancer is one of the leading causes of death globally and was responsible for approximately 9.6 million deaths in 2018. One of the main reason for deaths from cancer is late-stage presentation and inaccessible diagnosis and treatment. Cancer often spreads from the part of the body where it started (primary site) to a different part of the body (metastatic site). Identifying the primary site of cancer plays a key role as it directs the appropriate treatment. Cancer which spreads needs the same treatment as its origin. Having this knowledge can help doctors to decide the type of treatment.

All cancers …

Analysis Of Bitcoin Cryptocurrency And Its Mining Techniques, Suman Ghimire

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Bitcoin is a peer-to-peer digital, decentralized cryptocurrency created by an individual under pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto. In fact, it is the first digital, decentralized currency. Several developers and organizations have explored the importance of digital cryptocurrency and the concept of the blockchain. Bitcoin is assumed to be one of the secure and comfortable payment methods that can be used in the upcoming days. The backbone of Bitcoin mining is the concept of the blockchain, which is assumed to beone of the ingenious invention of this century. The blockchain is the collection of blocks that are linked together in such a way …

Numerical Analysis And Fluid Flow Modeling Of Incompressible Navier-Stokes Equations, Tahj Hill

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The Navier-Stokes equations (NSE) are an essential set of partial differential equations for governing the motion of fluids. In this paper, we will study the NSE for an incompressible flow, one which density ρ = ρ0 is constant.

First, we will present the derivation of the NSE and discuss solutions and boundary conditions for the equations. We will then discuss the Reynolds number, a dimensionless number that is important in the observations of fluid flow patterns. We will study the NSE at various Reynolds numbers, and use the Reynolds number to write the NSE in a nondimensional form.

We will …

Effects Of Ecological Restoration Techniques In Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Simone Ka-Voka Jackson

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

A better understanding of key ecological restoration techniques can inform land management in the Southwest on restoration options for areas infested by invasive grasses that can pose threats to ecosystems, from changes in nutrient cycling to altered fire regimes. In the semi-arid desert of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area (GLCA), several exotic grasses pose risks to local ecosystems: Saccharum ravennae, a relatively new invasive perennial grass, and Bromus rubens and Bromus tectorum, widespread annual grasses. In this study, multiple ecological restoration techniques were implemented to assess their effects on native and nonnative vegetation on sites invaded by the non-native grasses …

K-Tuple Sampling From Partially Rank-Ordered Sets, Marvin Javier

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

With the introduction of Ranked Set Sampling (RSS), McIntyre (1952) demonstrated that using ranking information to select units for measurement can lead to estimators with reduced variance when compared to their counterparts based on a simple random sample of the same size. This is done by selecting a set of units, and without direct measurement, ranking the units in the set before identifying one unit for measurement. This ranking of the units can be done through judgement ranking (such as visual assessment), or by using a correlated auxiliary variable.

In its original form, RSS does not allow for ties when …

Batching Problems With Constraints, Shradha Kapoor

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

There is an increasing demand for a phenomenon that can manifest benefits gained from grouping similar jobs together and then scheduling these groups efficiently. Batching is the decision of whether or not to put the jobs into same group based on certain criteria. Batching plays a major role in job scheduling in Information Technology, traffic controlling systems, and goods-flow management. A list batching problem refers to batching a list of jobs in the same order or priority as given in the problem.

In this thesis we consider a one-machine list batching problem under weighted average completion. Given sequence of jobs …

Specific Heat, Magnetic Susceptibility, And The Effect Of Pressure On Structural Properties And Valence Of Eumn2si2, Euco2si2, And Eu5in2sb6, Brian Edward Light

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Many intermetallic solids containing elements from the rare earth series show interesting and unusual behavior associated with 4f electrons. This behavior includes unusual magnetic order, strongly correlated electrons, intermediate valence, heavy fermions, the Kondo effect, superconductivity, and non-Fermi liquid (NFL) to name a few. When long range magnetic order is suppressed to T = 0 K by the application of an external tuning parameter such as pressure, magnetic field, or chemical doping, a quantum critical point (QCP) appears in which strong quantum fluctuations give rise to many of the mentioned unusual properties.

Most of the past studies on unusual 4f …

Utilization Of Remote Sensing Data For Estimation Of The Groundwater Storage Variation, Gaurang Mistry

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Groundwater is the most extracted raw material, with an average withdrawal rate of 982 km3 per year, where 70 percent of the total groundwater withdrawn is used for agriculture globally (Margat & van der Gun, 2013). With climate change and increased water demands in recent years, monitoring the changes in the groundwater storage is of the utmost importance. This thesis presents an analysis that determines the rates, trends, and directions where groundwater storage is going in Pakistan. It also correlates fluctuations in groundwater storage with variations in precipitation and agricultural productivity in the country. The overall objectives of this thesis …

Generalized And Higher Dimensional Apollonian Packings, Daniel Lautzenheiser

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In this thesis, we show that circle, sphere, and higher dimensional sphere packings may

be realized as subsets of the boundary of hyperbolic space, subject to certain symmetry

conditions based on a discrete group of motions of the hyperbolic space. This leads to

developing and applying counting methods which admit rigorous upper and lower bounds on

the Hausdorff (or Besikovitch) dimension of the residual set of several generalized Apollonian

circle packings. We find that this dimension (which also coincides with the critical exponent

of a zeta-type function) of each packing is strictly greater than that of the Apollonian

packing, supporting …

Benchmarking Permutation Flow Shop Problem: Adaptive And Enumerative Approaches Implementations Via Novel Threading Techniques, Hari Prasad Sapkota

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

A large number of real-world planning problems are combinatorial optimization problems which are easy to state and have a finite but usually very large number of feasible solutions. The minimum spanning tree problem and the shortest path problem are some which are solvable through polynomial algorithms. Even though there are other problems such as crew scheduling, vehicle routing, production planning, and hotel room operations which have no properties such as to solve the problem with polynomial algorithms. All these problems are NP-hard. The permutation flow shop problem is also NP-hard problem and they require high computation. These problems are solvable …

Generating Kernel Aware Polygons, Bibek Subedi

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Problems dealing with the generation of random polygons has important applications for evaluating the performance of algorithms on polygonal domain. We review existing algorithms for generating random polygons. We present an algorithm for generating polygons admitting visibility properties. In particular, we propose an algorithm for generating polygons admitting large size kernels. We also present experimental results on generating such polygons.

Multi-Resolution Spatio-Temporal Change Analyses Of Hydro-Climatological Variables In Association With Large-Scale Oceanic-Atmospheric Climate Signals, Kazi Ali Tamaddun

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The primary objective of the work presented in this dissertation was to evaluate the change patterns, i.e., a gradual change known as the trend, and an abrupt change known as the shift, of multiple hydro-climatological variables, namely, streamflow, snow water equivalent (SWE), temperature, precipitation, and potential evapotranspiration (PET), in association with the large-scale oceanic-atmospheric climate signals. Moreover, both observed datasets and modeled simulations were used to evaluate such change patterns to assess the efficacy of the modeled datasets in emulating the observed trends and shifts under the influence of uncertainties and inconsistencies. A secondary objective of this study was to …