Digital Commons Network^™

Prediction Of Freshwater Harmful Algal Blooms In Western Lake Erie Using Artificial Neural Network Modeling Techniques, Haci Osman Guzel

Natural Resources Management

Blue-green algae are a major environmental concern in freshwater produce toxins and cause a wide range of problems including oxygen depletion, fish kills, harm or death to other aquatic organisms, and subsequent habitat loss. Cyanobacteria are a type of blue-green algae that form harmful algal blooms (HABs) in water ecosystems. In this study, artificial intelligence techniques, in particular artificial neural networks, were developed to estimate blue-green algae fluorescence for the year-round data collected in 2016-17 from western Lake Erie, USA. Based on the lake’s environmental conditions and available data, eight input parameters including phosphorous, nitrogen, chlorophyll-a, air temperature, water temperature, …

Hook Formula For Skew Shapes, Megan Lisa Jensen

Mathematics

The number of standard Young tableaux is given by the hook-length formula of Frame, Robinson, and Thrall. Recently, Naruse found a hook-length formula for the number of skew shaped standard Young tableaux. In a series of papers, Morales, Pak, and Panova prove the Naruse hook-length formula as well as q-analogues of Naruse's formula. In this paper, we will discuss their work, including connections between excited diagrams and Dyck paths.

Hardly Habitual: Chimpanzees And Gorillas Show Flexibility In Their Motor Responses When Presented With A Causally-Clear Task, Sarah L. Jacobson, Lydia M. Hopper

Publications and Research

In contrast to reports of wild primates, studies of captive primates' flexibility often reveal conservatism: individuals are unable to switch to new and more efficient strategies when task demands change. We propose that such conservatism might be a result of task design and hypothesize that conservatism might be linked to primates' lack of causal understanding in relation to experimental apparatuses. We investigated if chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) would show greater flexibility when presented with a causally-clear task. We presented six chimpanzees and seven gorillas with a clear tube from which …

Reconstruction Of Top Quark Pair Dilepton Decays In Electron-Positron Collisions, Helenka Casler, Matthew Manganel, Miguel C. N. Fiolhais, Andrea Ferroglia, António Onofre

Publications and Research

A new algorithm is presented to perform the full kinematic reconstruction of top quark pair events produced at future electron-positron colliders in the case of dilepton decays of the W bosons to electrons or muons. The momentum components of the undetected neutrino and antineutrino in the event are reconstructed by employing several kinematic conditions comprising a nonlinear system of six equations. This system is solved numerically using two independent methods, and the selection of the best candidate real solution for each event is determined by a likelihood discriminant. Results are presented for several reconstructed kinematic properties of the W^{± …}

Fatigue Behavior Of Flax Fiber Reinforced Polymer Matrix Composites, Md. Zahirul Islam

Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics

Bio-based flax fiber polymer composites (FFPC) have the potential to replace metals and synthetic fibers in certain applications due to their unique mechanical properties. However, the long term reliability of FFPC needs to be better understood. In this study, the fatigue limit was evaluated using mathematical, thermographic, and energy-based approaches. Each approach determined fatigue limits around 45% load of ultimate tensile strength at a loading frequency of 5 Hz. Thermographic and energy-based approaches were also implemented at different loading frequencies (5, 7, 10, and 15 Hz) to define the effect of loading frequency on the fatigue life. Fatigue limit was …

Excess Versions Of The Minkowski And Hölder Inequalities, Iosif Pinelis

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

Certain excess versions of the Minkowski and Hölder inequalities are given.

Implementation Of Low Cost, High-Throughput And High Sensitive Biomarker Detection Technique In Serum/Plasma Samples By Integrating Dielectrophoresis And Fluorescence Based Platform, Velmanickam Logeeshan

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Low-cost, highly-sensitivity, and minimally invasive tests for the detection and monitoring of life-threatening cancers can reduce the worldwide disease burden. The disease diagnosis community is constantly working to improve the detection capabilities of the deadly cancers (e.g.: pancreatic and lung) at their early stages. Still there were many cancers cannot be detected at their early stages due to lack of early diagnosis techniques. One of the reason being, many cancers that occur in the body release minute amounts of biomarker molecules during the initial stages (e.g.: DNA, RNA, miRNA and antigens) in the body fluids such as blood and serum. …

The Design And Analysis Of A Microstrip Line Which Utilizes Capacitive Gaps And Magnetic Responsive Particles To Vary The Reactance Of The Surface Impedance, Jerika Dawn Cleveland

Electrical and Computer Engineering

This thesis presents the work of using magnetic responsive particles as a method to manipulate the surface impedance reactance of a microstrip line containing uniform capacitive gaps and cavities containing the particles. In order to determine the transmission line’s surface impedances created by each gap and particle containing cavities, a sub-unit cell that centers the gap and cavities was used. Shown in simulation, the magnetic responsive particles can then be manipulated to increase or decrease the reactance of the surface impedance based on the strength of the magnetic field present. The sub-unit cell with the greatest reactance change was then …

Weak Power Grid Analysis For Renewable Energy Sources Integration, Al Motasem Aldaoudeyeh

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Weakness analysis based on grid strength assessment is useful for identifying potential weak grid issues. However, when taking into account the impact of the interactions among Renewable Energy Sources (RESs), the weakness analysis becomes computationally challenging. Different combinations of PointsofInterconnections (POIs) of RESs may have different impacts on grid strength at each POI. Due to the combination nature, such weakness analysis may be time-consuming when identifying the weakest combination of POIs from a large number of potential candidate locations in realistic power grids. This dissertation addresses the topic of determination of the weakest RESs combinations. Based on impedance ratios as …

Formal Modeling And Verification Methodologies For Quasi-Delay Insensitive Asynchronous Circuits, Ashiq Adnan Sakib

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Pre-Charge Half Buffers (PCHB) and NULL convention Logic (NCL) are two major commercially successful Quasi-Delay Insensitive (QDI) asynchronous paradigms, which are known for their low-power performance and inherent robustness. In industry, QDI circuits are synthesized from their synchronous counterparts using custom synthesis tools. Validation of the synthesized QDI implementation is a critical design prerequisite before fabrication. At present, validation schemes are mostly extensive simulation based that are good enough to detect shallow bugs, but may fail to detect corner-case bugs. Hence, development of formal verification methods for QDI circuits have been long desired. The very few formal verification methods that …

The Near-Peer Mathematical Mentoring Cycle: Studying The Impact Of Outreach On High School Students’ Attitudes Toward Mathematics, Aaron T. Wilson, Sergey Grigorian

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

College students may be seen as near-peers to high school students and high school students are often able to see themselves in the college students who are but one step ahead. This nearness in maturity and educational level may place college students in a particularly powerful position when it comes to reaching out to high school students to promote higher education in math and science. In this study college students gave dynamic mathematics outreach presentations, MathShows, to minority and low-income high school students in a mid-sized public school district on the U.S. border with Mexico. The study investigated the impacts …

On The Brink Of Extinction: The Fate Of The Pacific Northwest's Southern Resident Killer Whales, Sabrina Wilk

Pomona Senior Theses

The killer whales that roam the northeastern Pacific Ocean have been the objects of studies since the 1970s, making them the most well-studied population of orcas in the world. Three distinct ecotypes of killer whales (Orcinus orca), known as residents, transients, and offshores, share these waters. The ecotypes are morphologically and behaviorally distinct to the extent that some scientists consider them separate species, with residents eating salmon, transients specializing on marine mammals, and offshores preferring Pacific sleeper sharks and Pacific halibut. Resident populations have endeared themselves to the region's locals with their striking black and white markings and …

Tennessee Higher Education Fact Book 2017-2018, Tennessee. Higher Education Commission.

Higher Education Fact Book

No abstract provided.

When Archaeology Interacted With The Bible: A Study Of The Search For The City Of Raamses Of Exodus 1:11 In The Searcher's Socio Political Context, Georg Filippou

Master's Theses

The purpose of this thesis is twofold. First, I will research what a selected group of authors and scholars has stated regarding their search for the biblical city of Raamses. 3 This step will involve research of the motive of those researchers who attempted to match Raamses of Exod 1:11 with geographical locations in Egypt, to follow their search within the social and political context of these scholars. Second, based on these scholars’ research, I will attempt to discover what happened when Bible and archaeology interacted in the search for the city of Raamses.

The study begins with some pages …

The Effects Of A Ketone Body On Synaptic Transmission, Alexandra Elizabeth Stanback

Theses and Dissertations--Biology

The ketogenic diet is commonly used to control epilepsy, especially in cases when medications cannot. The diet typically consists of high fat, low carb, and adequate protein and produces a metabolite called acetoacetate. Seizure activity is characterized by glutamate excitotoxicity and therefore glutamate regulation is a point of research for control of these disorders. Acetoacetate is heavily implicated as the primary molecule responsible for decreasing glutamate in the synapse; it is believed that acetoacetate interferes with the transport of glutamate into the synaptic vesicles. The effects on synaptic transmission at glutamatergic synapses was studied in relation to the ketogenic diet …

Ccd Ubv Ri Photometry Of The Open Cluster Berkeley 8, Hi̇kmet Çakmak, Raul Michel, Yüksel Karataş

Turkish Journal of Physics

The poorly studied Berkeley 8 (Be 8) open cluster is analyzed from CCD U BV RI photometric data taken with the 0.90 m telescope at the Sierra Nevada Observatory. The Z = +0.008 PARSEC isochrone gave us a reddening of E(B-V) = 0.69 ± 0.03, a distance of 3410 ± 300 pc, and an age of 2.8 ± 0.2 Gyr. Its median Gaia DR2 distance, d = 3676 ± 810 pc, is in good agreement with our photometric distances, 3410-3620 pc within the uncertainties. The kinematic parameters of five likely members of Be 8 with the circular orbits, ecc = …

Understanding The Significant Disparity Between Observations And Cmip5 Model Simulations At The Ocean/Atmosphere Interface In The Tropics, Robert Anthony Junod

Dissertations

Observations indicate that the warming of the tropical atmosphere is proceeding at a rate significantly less than depicted in model projections. Surface energy fluxes play a central role in the coupling of the atmosphere and ocean components which impact tropospheric temperature. In order to investigate the atmospheric temperature disparity, this study examines the near-surface air temperature and surface energy fluxes at the ocean-atmosphere interface using a suite of Coupled Model Intercomparison Project 5 (CMIP5) models, comparing their output with observations. Observations are used to test model fidelity with respect to the surface energy fluxes (net shortwave, net longwave, latent heat …

Ion-Atom Charge-Exchange Collisions And Their Effect On Plasma-Neutral Coupling, Anthony M. Destefano

Dissertations

The heliosphere is a cavity carved out of the interstellar medium by the supersonic outflow of solar wind (SW) from the Sun. The local interstellar medium (LISM) is partially ionized with the neutral particles penetrating the heliosphere unimpeded by the electric and magnetic (EM) fields. In order to model the heliosphere, both a magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) and a kinetic Boltzmann (or fluid) approach should be used to represent the plasma and neutral particles, respectively. Even though neutral particles are unaffected by EM fields, certain collisions that exchange charge between ions do occur called charge-exchange. This charge-exchange process, in the form of …

Counterfactuals With Latent Information, Dirk Bergemann, Benjamin Brooks, Stephen Morris

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

We describe a methodology for making counterfactual predictions when the information held by strategic agents is a latent parameter. The analyst observes behavior which is rationalized by a Bayesian model in which agents maximize expected utility given partial and differential information about payoff-relevant states of the world. A counterfactual prediction is desired about behavior in another strategic setting, under the hypothesis that the distribution of and agents’ information about the state are held fixed. When the data and the desired counterfactual prediction pertain to environments with finitely many states, players, and actions, there is a finite dimensional description of the …

Spatial Estimation Of Hydraulic Properties In Structured Soils At The Field Scale, Xi Zhang

Theses and Dissertations--Plant and Soil Sciences

Improving agricultural water management is important for conserving water during dry seasons, using limited water resources in the most efficient way, and minimizing environmental risks (e.g., leaching, surface runoff). The understanding of water movement in different zones of agricultural production fields is crucial to developing an effective irrigation strategy. This work centered on optimizing field water management by characterizing the spatial patterns of soil hydraulic properties. Soil hydraulic conductivity was measured across different zones in a farmer’s field, and its spatial variability was investigated by using geostatistical techniques. Since direct measurement of hydraulic conductivity is time-consuming and arduous, pedo-transfer functions …

Mathematical Programming Approach For The Design Of Satellite Power Systems, Allen Flath Iii

Theses and Dissertations--Electrical and Computer Engineering

Satellite power systems can be understood as islanded dc microgrids supplied by specialized and coordinated solar cell arrays augmented by electrochemical battery systems to handle high-power loads and periods of eclipse. The periodic availability of power, the limited capacity of batteries, and the dependence of all mission service on power consumption create a unique situation in which temporal power and energy scarcity exist. A multi-period model of an orbital satellite power system’s performance over a mission’s duration can be constructed. A modular power system architecture is used to characterize the system’s constraints. Using mathematical programming, an optimization problem can be …

Weld Penetration Identification Based On Convolutional Neural Network, Chao Li

Theses and Dissertations--Electrical and Computer Engineering

Weld joint penetration determination is the key factor in welding process control area. Not only has it directly affected the weld joint mechanical properties, like fatigue for example. It also requires much of human intelligence, which either complex modeling or rich of welding experience. Therefore, weld penetration status identification has become the obstacle for intelligent welding system. In this dissertation, an innovative method has been proposed to detect the weld joint penetration status using machine-learning algorithms.

A GTAW welding system is firstly built. Project a dot-structured laser pattern onto the weld pool surface during welding process, the reflected laser pattern …

Optimal Distribution Feeder Reconfiguration With Distributed Generation Using Intelligent Techniques, Ahmad Ghaweta

Theses and Dissertations--Electrical and Computer Engineering

Feeder reconfiguration is performed by changing the open/close status of two types of switches: normally open tie switches and normally closed sectionalizing switches. A whole feeder or part of a feeder may be served from another feeder by closing a tie switch linking the two while an appropriate sectionalizing switch must be opened to maintain the radial structure of the system. Feeder reconfiguration is mainly aiming to reduce the system overall power losses and improve voltage profile. In this dissertation, several approaches have been proposed to reconfigure the radial distribution networks including the potential impact of integrating Distributed Energy Resources …

Curricular Optimization: Solving For The Optimal Student Success Pathway, William G. Thompson-Arjona

Theses and Dissertations--Electrical and Computer Engineering

Considering the significant investment of higher education made by students and their families, graduating in a timely manner is of the utmost importance. Delay attributed to drop out or the retaking of a course adds cost and negatively affects a student’s academic progression. Considering this, it becomes paramount for institutions to focus on student success in relation to term scheduling.

Often overlooked, complexity of a course schedule may be one of the most important factors in whether or not a student successfully completes his or her degree. More often than not students entering an institution as a first time full …

Fast, Sparse Matrix Factorization And Matrix Algebra Via Random Sampling For Integral Equation Formulations In Electromagnetics, Owen Tanner Wilkerson

Theses and Dissertations--Electrical and Computer Engineering

Many systems designed by electrical & computer engineers rely on electromagnetic (EM) signals to transmit, receive, and extract either information or energy. In many cases, these systems are large and complex. Their accurate, cost-effective design requires high-fidelity computer modeling of the underlying EM field/material interaction problem in order to find a design with acceptable system performance. This modeling is accomplished by projecting the governing Maxwell equations onto finite dimensional subspaces, which results in a large matrix equation representation (Zx = b) of the EM problem. In the case of integral equation-based formulations of EM problems, the M-by-N system matrix, Z, …

Fault Location Techniques Using The Traveling Wave Method And The Discrete Wavelet Transform, Wesley Fluty

Theses and Dissertations--Electrical and Computer Engineering

Fault location within electric power systems is an important topic that helps reduce outage duration and increases reliability of the system. This paper explores the topic of fault location using traveling waves generated by fault conditions and the discrete wavelet transform used for time-frequency analysis. The single-ended and double-ended traveling wave methods are presented and evaluated on a single circuit and double circuit 500kV system modeled using MATLAB SIMULINK. Results are compared on the basis of wavelet used for analysis, sampling rate, and fault resistance.

A Compiler Target Model For Line Associative Registers, Paul S. Eberhart

Theses and Dissertations--Electrical and Computer Engineering

LARs (Line Associative Registers) are very wide tagged registers, used for both register-wide SWAR (SIMD Within a Register )operations and scalar operations on arbitrary fields. LARs include a large data field, type tags, source addresses, and a dirty bit, which allow them to not only replace both caches and registers in the conventional memory hierarchy, but improve on both their functions. This thesis details a LAR-based architecture, and describes the design of a compiler which can generate code for a LAR-based design. In particular, type conversion, alignment, and register allocation are discussed in detail.

Encouraging Discourse In High School Mathematics, Sarah Piper

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

The Common Core State Standards in Mathematics increased the emphasis on the skills of reasoning, justifying, and critiquing. Mathematics educators have struggled to meet this requirement, as it requires a distinct shift in classroom culture that both students and teachers find challenging. Visibly random groupings have been suggested as a way to effect a change in classroom norms, as students are asked to work with all members of the class. They thus learn to share their ideas as well as offer feedback on the thinking of other classroom participants. Students in three high school geometry classrooms were observed in an …

Second Wind, Anne A. Yoncha

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

Second Wind is a kinetic, responsive art installation which examines invisible processes taking place in and around a Ponderosa pine tree. Wind speed data, measured at 20', 25', 30', 35', and 40' in the canopy of a Ponderosa on the University of Montana campus, is translated into the gallery in real time using two Raspberry Pi single-board computers. This data determines the velocity of five fans in the gallery. Each fan interacts with a suspended vellum paper structure which moves more or less depending on wind speed. The vellum is painted with an ink made of fermented pine needles from …

Residential Fire Impacts On Richmond, Virginia: A Plan For Identifying And Educating Our Most Vulnerable Communities, Jennifer L. Tillett

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Capstone Projects

In 2017, 1.3 million fires in the U.S. caused 3,400 deaths, 14,600 injuries, and $23 billion in loss. Vulnerable populations are less resilient due to their lack of adequate access to financial, medical, and community resources as well as their propensity to reside in substandard housing. This plan studies the impacts of Richmond’s residential fires (2015-2017) on vulnerable communities within the city. Its purpose is to provide an understanding of where fires occurred in vulnerable communities and to recommend actions for prevention education.

The plan is divided into six sections: Introduction, Background, Methodology, Findings, Recommendations, and Implementation. A Social Vulnerability …