Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Uas-Based Object Tracking Via Deep Learning, Marc Dinh

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Tracking is the task of identifying an object of interest and detect its position over time, and has numerous applications like surveillance, security and traffic control. In present times, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) have been more and more common which provides us with a new and less explored domain, with an ideal vantage point for surveillance and monitoring applications.. Aerial tracking is a particularly challenging task as it introduces new environmental variables such as rapid motion in 3D space. We propose a new deep learned tracker architecture catered to aerial tracking.

First, a study of six state-of-the-art deep learned trackers …

Estimation Of The Parameters In A Spatial Regressive-Autoregressive Model Using Ord's Eigenvalue Method, Sajib Mahmud Mahmud Tonmoy

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In this thesis, we study one of Ord's (1975) global spatial regression models.

Ord considered spatial regressive-autoregressive models to describe the interaction

between location and a response variable in the presence of several covariates. He also

developed a practical estimation method for the parameters of this regression model

using the eigenvalues of a weight matrix that captures the contiguity of locations.

We review the theoretical aspects of his estimation method and implement it in the

statistical package R.

We also implement Ord's methods on the Columbus, Ohio, crime data set from the

year 1980, which involves the crime rate of …

Examining Environmental Hazards In Rental Homes And Habitability Laws In Clark County, Nevada, Jorge Luis Bertran

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

It is well established that home conditions are linked to the health outcomes of occupants. There are over 880,000 housing units in Clark County, Nevada; nearly half of those are renter-occupied units (ROUs). Currently, there is limited research on the characteristics of environmental hazards found in Clark County ROUs and the strength of habitability statutes created to protect tenants from substandard housing. Understanding how renters in Clark County are affected by environmental hazards in ROUs and the processes by which landlords and tenants resolve grievances related to those hazards would benefit public health. It would enhance the ability to quickly …

Toward An Understanding Of Grb Prompt Emission Mechanism. Ii. Patterns Of Peak Energy Evolution And Their Connection To Spectral Lags, Z. Lucas Uhm, Bing Zhang, Judith Racusin

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Research

The prompt emission phase of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) exhibits two distinct patterns of the peak energy (E p ) evolution, i.e., time-resolved spectral analyses of νF ν spectra of broad pulses reveal (1) "hard-to-soft" and (2) "flux-tracking" patterns of E p evolution in time, the physical origin of which still remains not well understood. We show here that these two patterns can be successfully reproduced within a simple physical model invoking synchrotron radiation in a bulk-accelerating emission region. We show further that the evolution patterns of the peak energy have, in fact, direct connections to the existence of two different …

First Observation Of P-Odd Gamma Asymmetry In Polarized Neutron Capture On Hydrogen, D. Blyth, J. Fry, N. Fomin, R. Alarcon, L. Alonzi, E. Askanazi, S. Baeßler, S. Balascuta, L. Barrón-Palos, Alex Barzilov, J. D. Bowman, N. Birge, J. R. Calarco, T. E. Chupp, V. Cianciolo, C. E. Coppola, C. B. Crawford, K. Craycraft, D. Evans, C. Fieseler, E. Frlež, I. Garishvili, M. T. W. Gericke, R. C. Gillis, K. B. Grammer, G. L. Greene, J. Hall, J. Hamblen, C. Hayes, E. B. Iverson, M. L. Kabir

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Research

We report the first observation of the parity-violating gamma-ray asymmetry A(gamma)(np) in neutron-proton capture using polarized cold neutrons incident on a liquid parahydrogen target at the Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. A(gamma)(np) isolates the Delta I = 1, S-3(1)-> P-3(1) component of the weak nucleon-nucleon interaction, which is dominated by pion exchange and can be directly related to a single coupling constant in either the DDH meson exchange model or pionless effective field theory… See full text for full abstract.

Rare Helium-Bearing Compound Feo2he Stabilized At Deep-Earth Conditions, Jurong Zhang, Jian Lv, Hefei Li, Xiaolei Feng, Cheng Lu, Simon A. T. Redferm, Hanyu Liu, Changfeng Chen, Yanming Ma

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Research

There is compelling geochemical evidence for primordial helium trapped in Earth’s lower mantle, but the origin and nature of the helium source remain elusive due to scarce knowledge on viable helium-bearing compounds that are extremely rare. Here we explore materials physics underlying this prominent challenge. Our structure searches in conjunction with first-principles energetic and thermodynamic calculations uncover a remarkable helium-bearing compound FeO2He at high pressure-temperature conditions relevant to the core-mantle boundary. Calculated sound velocities consistent with seismic data validate FeO2He as a feasible constituent in ultralow velocity zones at the lowermost mantle. These mutually corroborating findings establish the first and …

Inclined Massive Planets In A Protoplanetary Disc: Gap Opening, Disc Breaking, And Observational Signatures, Zhaohuan Zhu

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Research

We carry out 3D hydrodynamical simulations to study planet–disc interactions for inclined high-mass planets, focusing on the disc’s secular evolution induced by the planet. We find that, when the planet is massive enough and the induced gap is deep enough, the disc inside the planet’s orbit breaks from the outer disc. The inner and outer discs precess around the system’s total angular momentum vector independently at different precession rates, which causes significant disc misalignment. We derive the analytical formulae, which are also verified numerically, for: (1) the relationship between the planet mass and the depth/width of the induced gap, (2) …

The Circulation Of Climate Change Denial Online: Rhetorical And Networking Strategies On Facebook, Emma Frances Bloomfield, Denise Tillery

Communication Studies Faculty Publications

This study uses a topical, rhetorical approach to analyze how climate change denial circulates online through the 25 most popular posts on the Watts Up With That and the Global Warming Policy Forum Facebook pages. These groups adopt the appearance of credibility through reposting and hyperlinking, thus establishing a supportive, networked space among other skeptical sites, while distancing readers from original sources of scientific information. Visitors use a variety of rhetorical strategies to echo posts’ main themes and to discredit alternative viewpoints. Differences between the topoi and rhetorical strategies of WUWT and the GWPF show that the climate change denial …

College Of Engineering Senior Design Competition Fall 2018, University Of Nevada, Las Vegas

Fred and Harriet Cox Senior Design Competition Projects

Part of every UNLV engineering student’s academic experience, the senior design project stimulates engineering innovation and entrepreneurship. Each student in their senior year chooses, plans, designs, and prototypes a product in this required element of the curriculum. A capstone to the student’s educational career, the senior design project encourages the student to use everything learned in the engineering program to create a practical, real world solution to an engineering challenge. The senior design competition helps focus the senior students in increasing the quality and potential for commercial application for their design projects. Judges from local industry evaluate the projects on …

Review Of: The World Of Scary Video Games: A Study In Videoludic Horror, Approaches To Digital Game Studies, Matthew Murray

Library Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Cm-Wavelength Obserations Of Mwc 758: Resolved Dust Trapping In A Vortex, Simon Casassus, Sebastián Marino, Wladimir Lyra, Clément Baruteau, Matías Vidal, Alwyn Wootten, Sebastián Pérez, Felipe Alarcon, Marcelo Barraza, Miguel Cárcamo, Ruobing Dong, Anibal Sierra, Zhaohuan Zhu, Luca Ricci, Valentin Christiaens, Lucas Cieza

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Research

The large crescents imaged by ALMA in transition discs suggest that azimuthal dust trapping concentrates the larger grains, but centimetre–wavelengths continuum observations are required to map the distribution of the largest observable grains. A previous detection at ∼1 cm of an unresolved clump along the outer ring of MWC 758 (Clump 1), and buried inside more extended sub-mm continuum, motivates followup VLA observations. Deep multiconfiguration integrations reveal the morphology of Clump 1 and additional cm-wave components that we characterize via comparison with a deconvolution of recent 342 GHz data (∼1 mm). ... See full text for complete abstract.

Probabilistic Interpretation Of Solutions Of Linear Ultraparabolic Equations, Michael D. Marcozzi

Mathematical Sciences Faculty Research

We demonstrate the existence, uniqueness and Galerkin approximatation of linear ultraparabolic terminal value/infinite-horizon problems on unbounded spatial domains. Furthermore, we provide a probabilistic interpretation of the solution in terms of the expectation of an associated ultradiffusion process.

Photospheric Radius Evolution Of Homologous Explosions, Liang-Duan Liu, Bing Zhang, Ling-Jun Wang, Zi-Gao Dai

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Research

Recent wide-field surveys discovered new types of peculiar optical transients that showed diverse behaviors of the evolution of photospheric properties. We develop a general theory of homologous explosions with constant opacity, paying special attention to the evolution of the photospheric radius R ph. We find that regardless of the density distribution profile, R ph always increases early on and decreases at late times. This result does not depend on the radiation and cooling processes inside the ejecta. The general rising/falling behavior of R ph can be used to quickly diagnose whether the source originates from a supernova-like explosion. The shape …

Boron Oxides Under Pressure: Prediction Of The Hardest Oxides, Huafeng Dong, Artem R. Oganov, Vadim V. Brazhkin, Qinggao Wang, Jin Zhang, M. Mahdi Davari Esfahani, Xiang-Feng Zhou, Fugen Wu, Qiang Zhu

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Research

We search for stable compounds of boron and oxygen at pressures from 0 to 500 GPa using the ab initio evolutionary algorithm uspex. Only two stable stoichiometries of boron oxides, namely, B6O and B2O3, are found to be stable, in good agreement with experiment. A hitherto unknown phase of B6O at ambient pressure, Cmcm−B6O, has recently been predicted by us and observed experimentally. For B2O3, we predict three previously unknown stable high-pressure phases—two of these (Cmc21 and P212121) are dynamically and mechanically stable at ambient pressure, and should be quenchable to ambient conditions. Their predicted hardnesses, reaching 33–35 GPa, make …

Diffusion And Concentration Of Solids In The Dead Zone Of A Protoplanetary Disk, Chao-Chin Yang, Mordecai-Mark Mac Low, Anders Johansen

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Research

The streaming instability is a promising mechanism to drive the formation of planetesimals in protoplanetary disks. To trigger this process, it has been argued that sedimentation of solids onto the mid-plane needs to be efficient, and therefore that a quiescent gaseous environment is required. It is often suggested that dead-zone or disk-wind structure created by non-ideal magnetohydrodynamical (MHD) effects meets this requirement. However, simulations have shown that the mid-plane of a dead zone is not completely quiescent. In order to examine the concentration of solids in such an environment, we use the local-shearing-box approximation to simulate a particlegas system with …

First-Principles Structural, Mechanical, And Thermodynamic Calculations Of The Negative Thermal Expansion Compound Zr2(Wo4)(Po4)2, Philippe F. Weck, Eunja Kim, Margaret E. Gordon, Jeffrey A. Greathouse, Remi Dingreville, Charles R. Bryan

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Research

The negative thermal expansion (NTE) material Zr2(WO4)(PO4)2 has been investigated for the first time within the framework of the density functional perturbation theory (DFPT). The structural, mechanical, and thermodynamic properties of this material have been predicted using the Perdew, Burke and Ernzerhof for solid (PBEsol) exchange–correlation functional, which showed superior accuracy over standard functionals in previous computational studies of the NTE material α-ZrW2O8. The bulk modulus calculated for Zr2(WO4)(PO4)2 using the Vinet equation of state at room temperature is K0 = 63.6 GPa, which is in close agreement with the experimental estimate of 61.3(8) at T = 296 K. The …

Bunching Coherent Curvature Radiation In Three-Dimensional Magnetic Field Geometry: Application To Pulsars And Fast Radio Bursts, Yuan-Pei Yang, Bing Zhang

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Research

The extremely high brightness temperatures of pulsars and fast radio bursts (FRBs) require their radiation mechanisms to be coherent. Coherent curvature radiation from bunches has been long discussed as the mechanism for radio pulsars and recently for FRBs. Assuming that bunches are already generated in pulsar magnetospheres, we calculate the spectrum of coherent curvature radiation under a three-dimensional magnetic field geometry. Different from previous works assuming parallel trajectories and a monoenergetic energy distribution of electrons, we consider a bunch characterized by its length, curvature radius of the trajectory family, bunch opening angle, and electron energy distribution. We find that the …

A Long-Lived Neutron Star Merger Remnant In Gw170817: Constraints And Clues From X-Ray Observations, L Piro, E Troja, Bing Zhang, G Ryan, H Van Eerten, R Ricci, M H. Wieringa, A Tiengo, N R. Butler, S B. Cenko, O D. Fox, H G. Khandrika, G Novara, A Rossi, T Sakamoto

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Research

Multimessenger observations of GW170817 have not conclusively established whether the merger remnant is a black hole (BH) or a neutron star (NS). We show that a long-lived magnetized NS with a poloidal field B ≈ 1012 G is fully consistent with the electromagnetic dataset, when spin-down losses are dominated by gravitational wave (GW) emission. ... See full text for complete abstract.

Fast Radio Burst Energetics And Detectability From High Redshifts, Bing Zhang

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Research

We estimate the upper limit redshifts of known fast radio bursts (FRBs) using the dispersion measure (DM)-redshift (z) relation and derive the upper limit peak luminosity L p and energy E of FRBs within the observational band. The average z upper limits range from 0.17 to 3.10, the average L p upper limits range from 1.24 × 1042 erg s−1 to 7.80 × 1044 erg s−1, and the average E upper limits range from 6.91 × 1039 erg to 1.94 × 1042 erg. FRB 160102 with DM = 2596.1 ± 0.3 pc cm−3 likely has a redshift greater than 3. …

Elevation And Azimuth-Aided Channel Estimation Scheme For Airborne Hyperspectral Data Transmission, Vahid Vahidi, Ebrahim Saberinia

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Research

A channel-estimation (CE) scheme is proposed to estimate the complex amplitude, Doppler shift, angle-of-departure, and angle-of-arrival of the channel taps for sparse and doubly selective channels for hyperspectral image transmission from unmanned aircraft vehicles (UAVs) to ground stations. The proposed method is dubbed as compressed-sensing joint parameter estimation (CS-JPE) and finds the channel parameters matrix by employing a compressed-sensing (CS)-based method. Afterward, a modified version of the joint parameter estimation (JPE) is proposed as CS-JPE and is dubbed as M-CS-JPE, which employs the elevation-azimuth angles of the line-of-sight channel tap to estimate the channel parameters with higher accuracy and lower …

Linking Gait Dynamics To Mechanical Cost Of Legged Locomotion, David V. Lee, Sarah L. Harris

Life Sciences Faculty Research

For millenia, legged locomotion has been of central importance to humans for hunting, agriculture, transportation, sport, and warfare. Today, the same principal considerations of locomotor performance and economy apply to legged systems designed to serve, assist, or be worn by humans in urban and natural environments. Energy comes at a premium not only for animals, wherein suitably fast and economical gaits are selected through organic evolution, but also for legged robots that must carry sufficient energy in their batteries. Although a robot's energy is spent at many levels, from control systems to actuators, we suggest that the mechanical cost of …

Streaming Instability Of Multiple Particle Species In Protoplanetary Disks, Noemi Schaffer, Chao-Chin Yang, Anders Johansen

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Research

The radial drift and diffusion of dust particles in protoplanetary disks affect both the opacity and temperature of such disks, as well as the location and timing of planetesimal formation. In this paper, we present results of numerical simulations of particle-gas dynamics in protoplanetary disks that include dust grains with various size distributions. We have considered three scenarios in terms of particle size ranges, one where the Stokes number τs = 10−1−100, one where τs = 10−4−10−1, and finally one where τs= 10−3−100. Moreover, we considered both discrete and continuous distributions in particle size. In accordance with previous works we …

A Bayesian Framework For Exoplanet Direct Detection And Non-Detection, Jean-Baptiste Ruffio, Dimitri Mawet, Ian Czekala, Bruce Macintosh, Robert J. De Rosa, Garreth Ruane, Michael Bottom, Laurent Pueyo, Jason J. Wang, Lea Hirsch, Zhaohuan Zhu, Eric L. Nielsen

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Research

Rigorously quantifying the information in high-contrast imaging data is important for informing follow-up strategies to confirm the substellar nature of a point source, constraining theoretical models of planet–disk interactions, and deriving planet occurrence rates. However, within the exoplanet direct imaging community, non-detections have almost exclusively been defined using a frequentist detection threshold (i.e., contrast curve) and associated completeness. This can lead to conceptual inconsistencies when included in a Bayesian framework. A Bayesian upper limit is such that the true value of a parameter lies below this limit with a certain probability. The associated probability is the integral of the posterior …

Reaction Optimization Of Pyrazinoquinoxaline Based Organic Semiconductor With Cruciform Shape, Marco Valverde Paredes, Dong-Chan Lee

LSAMP Poster Presentations

In this work, an optimum reaction condition was established to synthesize a pyrazinoquinoxaline based organic semiconductor with cruciform shape.

Multicolor Blackbody Emission In Grb 081221, Shu-Jin Hou, Bin-Bin Zhang, Yan-Zhi Meng, Xue-Feng Wu, En-Wei Liang, Hou-Jun Lü, Tong Liu, Yun-Feng Liang, Lin Lin, Rui-Jing Lu, Jin-Shu Huang, Bing Zhang

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Research

The radiation mechanism of the prompt emission of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) remains an open question. Although their spectra are usually well fitted with the empirical Band function, which is widely believed to be fully nonthermal and interpreted as an optically thin synchrotron emission, accumulating evidence shows that a thermal component actually exists. In this paper, a multicolor blackbody (mBB) model is proposed for the time-integrated spectrum of GRB 081221 by assuming a power-law distribution of the thermal luminosities with temperature, which manifests photospheric emissions from a different radius and/or angle. The effects of the minimum temperature kT min, the maximum …

Pressure Effect On The Antiferromagnetic Compound Ce2ni3ge5, Jun Gouchi, Yuki Nakamura, Miho Nakashima, Tasushi Amako, Ravhi Kumar, Yoshiya Uwatoko

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Research

In this study, the electrical resistivity and magnetization of a single crystal of Ce2Ni3Ge5 heavy fermion compound were performed under pressure. The resistivity and magnetization showed two antiferromagnetic transitions at ambient pressure. On applying pressure, the transitions merged at 1 GPa. At higher pressures, the antiferromagnetic transition temperature decreases, and disappears. It is suggesting that the critical pressure of Ce2Ni3Ge5 was 4.1 GPa.

A Comprehensive Analysis Of Fermi Gamma-Ray Burst Data. Iv. Spectral Lag And Its Relation To E P Evolution, Rui-Jing Lu, Yun-Feng Liang, Da-Bin Lin, Jing Lü, Xiang-Gao Wang, Hou-Jun Lü, Hong-Bang Liu, En-Wei Liang, Bing Zhang

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Research

The spectral evolution and spectral lag behavior of 92 bright pulses from 84 gamma-ray bursts observed by the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) telescope are studied. These pulses can be classified into hard-to-soft pulses (H2S; 64/92), H2S-dominated-tracking pulses (21/92), and other tracking pulses (7/92). We focus on the relationship between spectral evolution and spectral lags of H2S and H2S-dominated-tracking pulses. The main trend of spectral evolution (lag behavior) is estimated with ( ), where E p is the peak photon energy in the radiation spectrum, t + t 0 is the observer time relative to the beginning of pulse −t …

Speciation Of Technetium In Carbonate Media Under Helium Ions And Γ Radiation, Mohammad Ghalei, Johan Vandenborre, Frederic Poineau, Guillaume Blain, Pier-Lorenzo Solari, Jerome Rôques, Ferid Haddad, Massoud Fattahi

Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Research

Technetium carbonates complexes produced by chemical, electrochemical and radiolytic methods have been studied by UV-Visible, X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (XAFS) and Density Functional Theory methods. The (NH4)2TcCl6 salt was dissolved in 2 M KHCO3. The resulting purple solution was analyzed by XAFS and UV-Visible spectroscopy. The UV-Visible spectra exhibits a band centered at 515 nm. The XAFS results were consistent with the presence of polymeric species containing the [Tc2(μ−O)2]4+ core coordinated to carbonate ligand. Concerning the electrochemical methods, the pertechnetate anion was electrochemically reduced in concentrated carbonate solution [(CO32−)=5 M and (HCO3−)=0.5 M]. For the radiolytic reduction, the speciation of …

Review Of: Families At Play: Connecting And Learning Through Video Games, Matthew Murray

Library Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Optical/Nir Afterglow Of Grb 111209a: Complex Yet Not Unprecedented, D. A. Kann, P. Schady, E. F. Olivares, S. Klose, A. Rossi, D. A. Perley, Bing Zhang, T. Krühler, J. Greiner, A. Nicuesa Guelbenzu, J. Elliott, F. Knust, Z. Cano, R. Filgas, E. Pian, P. Mazzali, J. P. U. Fynbo, G. Leloudas, P. M. J. Afonso, C. Delvaux, J. F. Graham, A. Rau, S. Schmidl, S. Schulze, M. Tanga, A. C. Updike, K. Varela

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Research

Context. Afterglows of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are simple in the most basic model, but can show many complex features. The ultra-long duration GRB 111209A, one of the longest GRBs ever detected, also has the best-monitored afterglow in this rare class of GRBs. Aims. We want to address the question whether GRB 111209A was a special event beyond its extreme duration alone, and whether it is a classical GRB or another kind of high-energy transient. The afterglow may yield significant clues. Methods. We present afterglow photometry obtained in seven bands with the GROND imager as well as in further seven bands …