Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Contributing Efforts In The Search For Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay, Laura Christine Sparks

Physics

Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events (CUORE) will be part of the next generation of detectors used to search for neutrinoless double beta decay (0νββ). Located in Assergi, Italy at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory (LNGS), CUORE will be a large cryogenic bolometer composed of 988 tellurium dioxide (TeO2) detectors with a total mass of 750 kg, and will search for 0νββ in 130Te. As the experiment will monitor the extremely rare event of 0νββ, all factors contributing to background need to be minimized to effectively increase the sensitivity. I assisted the LNGS researchers over the summer of 2008 by …

Proceedings Of The Scheme And Functional Programming Workshop, John Clements (Editor)

Computer Science and Software Engineering

This volume contains the papers of the tenth annual Workshop on Scheme and Functional Programming, held August 22nd at Northeastern University in close proximity to the Symposium in honor of Mitchell Wand.

Using Bpm As An Interoperability Platform, Dennis Taylor, Hisham Assal, Jens G. Pohl

Collaborative Agent Design (CAD) Research Center

Data mediation is an essential component in the Modeling and Simulation field (M&S). Managing multiple data sources and exchanging data among multiple systems requires sophisticated tools and a powerful process management system. Business Process Management (BPM) provides a framework for modeling and managing business activities, both manual and automated, in a consistent manner. Managing automated processes offers an opportunity to integrate external applications into the platform. By integrating automated data transformation tools into the business processes using graphical programming, we provide an approach to achieve operational interoperability among diverse applications without the need for any application to be aware of …

Conveyance Estimator Ontology: Conceptual Models And Object Models, Xiaoshan Pan, Jens G. Pohl

Collaborative Agent Design (CAD) Research Center

This paper proposes the construction of a Conceptual Model as a logical step prior to the preparation of the Object Model of an ontology to facilitate the design and development of software systems in which a high-level internal representation of context supports some intelligent capabilities. The intent of the Conceptual Model is to be expressive for human interpretation utilizing descriptions that are readily understood by laypersons, subject matter experts, and software developers who may be concerned with only a particular portion of the software system. The intent of the Object Model (as a subset of an ontology) is to be …

Increasing The Expressiveness Of Owl Through Procedural Attachments, Dennis Taylor, Jens G. Pohl

Collaborative Agent Design (CAD) Research Center

The purpose of this paper is to provide an introduction to the OWL Web ontology language, a survey focused on the current state of the art in OWL inferencing capabilities, and a historical perspective on procedural attachments. The perspective is aligned with current OWL research. Several limitations of the OWL language and proposed extensions to overcome these limitations are discussed. A framework that provides empirical testing support for evaluating the effects of procedural attachments to the OWL inferencing capabilities is outlined. The examples presented suggest that it is possible to provide rule-based extensibility support for OWL that does not limit …

Pre-Conference Proceedings Of The Focus Symposium On Knowledge Management Systems, Jens G. Pohl

Collaborative Agent Design (CAD) Research Center

No abstract provided.

The Representation Of Context In Computer Software, Hisham Assal, Kym Pohl, Jens G. Pohl

Collaborative Agent Design (CAD) Research Center

Computers do not have the equivalent of a human cognitive system and therefore store data simply as the numbers and words that are entered into the computer. For a computer to interpret data it requires an information structure that provides at least some level of context. This can be accomplished utilizing an ontology of objects with characteristics, semantic behavior, and a rich set of relationships to create a virtual version of real world situations and provide the context within which intelligent logic (e.g., agents) can automatically operate.

This paper discusses the process of developing ontologies that serve to …

Intelligent Information Management Tools In A Service-Oriented Software Environment, Jens G. Pohl

Collaborative Agent Design (CAD) Research Center

This paper draws attention to the increasing need for agile and adaptive software environments that are capable of supporting rapid re-planning during the execution of time-critical operations involving commercial end-to-end supply chain transaction sequences, as well as disaster response and military missions. It is argued that such environments are currently best served by information-centric software tools executing within a service-oriented paradigm. Service-oriented architecture (SOA) design concepts and principles are described, with a focus on the functions of the services management framework (SMF) and enterprise service bus (ESB) components. Differentiating between data-centric and information-centric services, it is suggested that only intelligent …

Mechanisms For Temporal Change In Phytoplankton Composition In San Luis Obispo Bay California, Marc T. Tognazzini

Master's Theses

Coastal topography and more specifically, the impact of local hydrography can significantly influence phytoplankton dynamics along the California coast. In San Luis Obispo Bay California, the local hydrography is influenced by the presence of a lee and proposed upwelling shadow in the northwest corner of the bay. These conditions allow for periods of unperturbed phytoplankton growth creating phytoplankton incubation areas. Phytoplankton dynamics including accumulation, advection, and composition were examined in San Luis Obispo Bay California from January to June 2004 using all the primary techniques of ocean monitoring encompassed in the coastal module of the Global Ocean Observing System. These …

De Vries Behavior Of The Electroclinic Effect In The Smectic-A* Phase Near A Biaxiality-Induced Smectic-A*–Smectic-C* Tricritical Point, Karl Saunders

Physics

Using a generalized Landau theory involving orientational, layering, tilt, and biaxial order parameters we analyze the smectic-A* and smectic-C* (Sm-A*-Sm-C*) transitions, showing that a combination of small orientational order and large layering order leads to Sm-A*-Sm-C* transitions that are either continuous and close to tricriticality or first order. The model predicts that in such systems the increase in birefringence upon entry to the Sm-C* phase will be especially rapid. It also predicts that the change in layer spacing at the Sm-A*-Sm-C* transition will be proportional to the orientational order. These are two hallmarks of Sm-A*-Sm-C* transitions in de Vries materials. …

Nuclear Testing And Proliferation – An Inextricable Connection, Thomas Graham Jr., David W. Hafemeister

Physics

No abstract provided.

Feeding Phishers, Nicholas J. Lynch

Master's Theses

Phishing campaigns continue to deceive users into revealing their credentials, despite advancing spam filters, browser and toolbar warnings, and educational efforts. Recently, researchers have begun investigating how fake credentials --- or honeytokens --- can be used to detect phishing sites and protect users. BogusBiter, one such work, creates sets of honeytokens based on users' real credentials and sends them alongside real user submissions to phishing sites. In this paper, we present Phish Feeder, an anti-phishing tool which extends the BogusBiter honeytoken generation algorithm in order to create more realistic and authentic-looking credentials. Phish Feeder also employs a ``honeytoken repository'' which …

Capabilities Of The Ims Seismic Auxiliary Network, David W. Hafemeister

Physics

No abstract provided.

Ctbt Space-Based Monitoring: Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar And National Technical Means, David W. Hafemeister

Physics

No abstract provided.

Balloonsat: Design, Implementation, And Application Of A Low-Cost Tethered Weather Balloon Remote Sensing Station, John Saghri, Dustin Blackwell, John Hupton, Robert Hursig, Jessica Kiefer, Matt Schlutz, Scott Seims

Honors Undergraduate Research Journal

No abstract provided.

Land Rehabilitation Of Construction Damaged Parcel At Santa Fe Road And Hoover Avenue In San Luis Obispo, California, Patience J. West

Earth and Soil Sciences

A plan for the rehabilitation of a construction damaged parcel of land with constructed swale running through it using native plants.

Energetic Path Finding Across Massive Terrain Data, Andrew N. Tsui

Master's Theses

Before there were airplanes, cars, trains, boats, or bicycles, the primary means of transportation was on foot. Unfortunately, many of the trails used by ancient travelers have long since been abandoned. We present a software tool which can help visualize and predict where these forgotten trails might lie through the use of a human-centered cost metric. By comparing the paths generated by our software with known historical trails, we demonstrate how the tool can indicate likely trails used by ancient travelers. In addition, this new tool provides novel visualizations to better help the user understand alternate paths, effect of terrain, …

Store And Forward Routing For Sparse Pico-Satellite Sensor Networks With Data-Mules, Trevor Joseph Koritza

Master's Theses

Satellites are playing an increasingly important role in collecting scientific information, providing communication services, and revolutionizing navigation. Until recently satellites were large and very expensive, creating a high barrier to entry that only large corporations and government agencies could overcome. In the past few years the CubeSat project at California Polytechnic University in San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly) has worked to refine the design and launching of small, lightweight, and less expensive satellites called pico-satellites, opening space up to a wider audience. Now that Cal Poly has the launch logistics and hardware under control, a new problem has arisen. These …

Boundless Fluids Using The Lattice-Boltzmann Method, Kyle J. Haughey

Master's Theses

Computer-generated imagery is ubiquitous in today's society, appearing in advertisements, video games, and computer-animated movies among other places. Much of this imagery needs to be as realistic as possible, and animators have turned to techniques such as fluid simulation to create scenes involving substances like smoke, fire, and water. The Lattice-Boltzmann Method (LBM) is one fluid simulation technique that has gained recent popularity due to its relatively simple basic algorithm and the ease with which it can be distributed across multiple processors. Unfortunately, current LBM simulations also suffer from high memory usage and restrict free surface fluids to domains of …

Towards Traceable Test-Driven Development, Jane Huffman Hayes, Alex Dekhtyar, David S. Janzen

Computer Science and Software Engineering

Key among the grand challenges in traceability are those that lead to achieving traceability as a by-product of the natural software development life cycle. This position paper profiles test-driven development (TDD), an emerging software development practice, in which automated tests and code satisfying them are developed in rapid succession over multiple iterations. Our position is that the nature of TDD offers unique opportunities for collecting traceability information throughout the TDD life cycle and that the provision of traceability information to the software developers during TDD will improve the process and the resulting software. We discuss the opportunities, challenges, and plans …

Chiral Sedimentation Of Extended Objects In Viscous Media, Nathan W. Krapf, Thomas A. Witten, Nathan C. Keim

Physics

We study theoretically the chirality of a generic rigid object’s sedimentation in a fluid under gravity in the low Reynolds number regime. We represent the object as a collection of small Stokes spheres or stokeslets and the gravitational force as a constant point force applied at an arbitrary point of the object. For a generic configuration of stokeslets and forcing point, the motion takes a simple form in the nearly free draining limit where the stokeslet radius is arbitrarily small. In this case, the internal hydrodynamic interactions between stokeslets are weak, and the object follows a helical path while rotating …

Memory-Encoding Vibrations In A Disconnecting Air Bubble, Laura E. Schmidt, Nathan C. Keim, Wendy W. Zhang, Sidney R. Nagel

Physics

Many nonlinear processes, such as the propagation of waves over an ocean or the transmission of light pulses down an optical fibre1, are integrable in the sense that the dynamics has as many conserved quantities as there are independent variables. The result is a time evolution that retains a complete memory of the initial state. In contrast, the nonlinear dynamics near a finite-time singularity, in which physical quantities such as pressure or velocity diverge at a point in time, is believed to evolve towards a universal form, one independent of the initial state2. The break-up of a water drop in …

Incremental Validation Of Formal Specifications, Paul S. Corwin

Master's Theses

This thesis presents a tool for the mechanical validation of formal software specifications. The tool is based on a novel approach to incremental validation. In this approach, small-scale aspects of a specification are validated, as part of the stepwise refinement of a formal model.

The incremental validation technique can be considered a form of "lightweight" model checking. This is in contrast to a "heavyweight" approach, wherein an entire large-scale model is validated en masse.

The validation tool is part of a formal modeling and specification language (FMSL), used in software engineering instruction. A lightweight, incremental approach to validation is beneficial …

Evaluating Test-Driven Development In An Industry-Sponsored Capstone Project, John Huan Vu, Niklas Frojd, Clay Shenkel-Therolf, David S. Janzen

Computer Science and Software Engineering

Test-Driven Development (TDD) is an agile development process wherein automated tests are created before production code is designed or constructed in short, rapid iterations. This paper discusses an experiment conducted with undergraduate students in a year-long software engineering capstone course. In this course the students designed, implemented, deployed, and maintained a software system to meet the requirements of an industry sponsor who served as the customer. The course followed an incremental process in which features were added incrementally under the direction of the industry sponsor and the professor. The fourteen students observed in the study were divided into three teams. …

Design Patterns Go To Hollywood: Teaching Patterns With Multimedia, Adam Dukovich, David S. Janzen

Computer Science and Software Engineering

Studies indicate that understanding the contexts in which design patterns are to be used is one of the most (if not the most) difficult challenge in applying design patterns, yet little research on the topic attempts to solve the problem of better teaching the contexts. This paper discusses a new paradigm through which the teaching of design patterns can be viewed, one which focuses on conceptual examples and contexts as the key elements in teaching design patterns. We created several multimedia learning modules that use this approach and we evaluated the modules by comparing them to other methods of instruction …

Water Embodied In Bioethanol In The United States, Yi-Wen Chiu, Brian Walseth, Sangwon Suh

Natural Resources Management and Environmental Sciences

Prior studies have estimated that a liter of bioethanol requires 263−784 L of water from corn farm to fuel pump, but these estimates have failed to account for the widely varied regional irrigation practices. By using regional time-series agricultural and ethanol production data in the U.S., this paper estimates the state-level field-to-pump water requirement of bioethanol across the nation. The results indicate that bioethanol’s water requirements can range from 5 to 2138 L per liter of ethanol depending on regional irrigation practices. The results also show that as the ethanol industry expands to areas that apply more irrigated water than …

A Search For H2O Megamasers In High-Z Type-2 Active Galactic Nuclei, Vardha N. Bennert, Richard Barvainis, Christian Henkel, Robert Antonucci

Physics

We report a search for H₂O megamasers in 274 SDSS type-2 active galactic nuclei (AGNs; 0.3 <z< 0.83), half of which can be classified as type-2 quasi-stellar objects (QSOs) from their [O III] 5007 luminosity, using the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT) and the Effelsberg 100 m radio telescope. Apart from the detection of the extremely luminous water vapor megamaser SDSS J080430.99+360718.1, already reported by Barvainis & Antonucci, we do not find any additional line emission. This high rate of nondetections is compared to the water maser luminosity function created from the 78 water maser galaxies known to date and its extrapolation toward the higher luminosities of "gigamasers" that we would have been able to detect given the sensitivity of our survey. The properties of the known water masers are summarized and discussed with respect to the nature of high-z type-2 AGNs and megamasers in general. In the Appendix, we list 173 additional objects (mainly radio galaxies, but also QSOs and galaxies) that were observed with the GBT, the Effelsberg 100 m radio telescope, or Arecibo Observatory without leading to the detection of water maser emission.

Review Of The 2008 Aps Energy Study, Energy Future: Think Efficiency, David W. Hafemeister

Physics

No abstract provided.

Pipelined Apache Http Server, Kevin Le

Master's Theses

Web servers often become overloaded with irregular surges in web traffic. Several techniques have been explored to cope with these overloads such as distributing load throughout different servers. This thesis presents Pipelined Apache HTTP Server, a modified version of the Apache Software Foundation’s HTTP Server that utilizes a pipelined execution of Apache’s request cycle. We discuss Apache’s original architecture, the modifications necessary for implementation of pipelined execution, and analyze its run time. Ultimately, we hoped to increase throughput of Apache but fall short because of unbalanced request phases and pipelining overhead.

A Semi-Analytical Solution For Transient Streaming Potentials Associated With Confined Aquifer Pumping Tests, B. Malama, A. Revil, K. L. Kuhlman

Natural Resources Management and Environmental Sciences

We consider the transient streaming potential response due to pumping from a confined aquifer through a fully penetrating line sink. Confined aquifer flow is assumed to occur without fluid leakage from the confining units. However, since confining units are typically clayey, and hence more electrically conductive than the aquifer, they are treated as non-insulating in our three-layer conceptual model. We develop a semi-analytical solution for the transient streaming potentials response of the aquifer and the confining units to pumping of the aquifer. The solution is fitted to field measurements of streaming potentials associated with an aquifer test performed at a …