Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Breaking The Loop: Strategies For Fighting Climate Change On U.S. Farms, Ashley Barry

Honors Capstones

Climate change is an increasingly urgent area of research due to the hardships it causes for lands and communities across the globe. Specifically in regard to the United States (U.S.), climate change has many concerning implications on our agricultural system. Increased weather hazards, decreased crop production, and drought are just a few of the hardships American farmers are facing in their fight to keep their farms alive and feed their communities, despite a rapidly changing climate. This study investigates how farmers can fight and prevent climate change through the use of specific mitigation and adaptation strategies on their farms. Semi- …

Grey To Green: The Impact Of Environmental Policy On Us Crime Rates, Kassandra Gonzalez

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This study explores the social implications of climate change and environmental degradation on deviant and criminal behavior. This study employs general strain theory to examine the effectiveness of city-level climate change mitigation actions in reducing crime rates. Through a systematic approach, this study reviews literature on environmental harms and community strain and explores the impact of local pro-environmental policies on crime reduction. Focusing on the United States, UCR crime rate reports and UN-guided Sustainable Development Goal data are analyzed at the US county level. The findings suggest that sustainable practices, especially those related to local infrastructure and community engagement, could …

Enhanced Maximum Likelihood Models For Underreported Variables: Extending To Multiple Claims Dimension, Shalaka Sudhanshu Sarpotdar

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This thesis builds upon the foundations laid out in Xia et al. [2023], which explored the utilizationof Maximum Likelihood approach to model misrepresentation data in Generalized Linear Models (GLM) ratemaking models. We introduce the concept of “underreported variables”, a form of insurance misrepresentation where insured individuals provide inaccurate information about risk factors that influence insurance eligibility, premiums, and insured amounts. Unlike fraudulent misrepresentation, underreported variables arise from a lack of awareness regarding the insured’s mental and physical health conditions, rather than fraudulent intent. The study rigorously tests the proposed model using health insurance data and extends its applicability to other …

Jlootbox: An Agent-Based Model Of Social Influence And Gambling In Online Video Games, Lila Zayed

Honors Capstones

Loot boxes are digital treasure chests that players spend real money to purchase, wherein the contents are randomly generated. Since players spend money on the pretense they might receive something valuable, many comparisons have been drawn to gambling behavior as the reward is up to chance. To explore this phenomenon, agent-based modeling will be used to simulate this behavior. Agent-based modeling allows us to create heterogenous agents who follow simple rules so that we may observe emergent behavior in a population. An agent-based model was created using Repast Simphony for this end.

Parameters included the player’s internal decision strategy around …

Impact Of Prairie Restoration On Geochemistry And Microbial Communities In Groundwater, Kayla Koenig

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Prairie restoration is important for reversing the loss of biodiversity and repairing ecosystem functions humanity is dependent on diverse ecosystems. This study looks at the impact of the beginning phases of prairie restoration on groundwater geochemistry and microbial communities the relationship between them. This research project studied the geochemistry and microbial communities in five wells before, during, and after the beginning phases of the first year of a prairie restoration on the Northern Illinois University campus. Water samples were collected bimonthly for a year and analyzed on an Ion Chromatograph. Microbial samples were collected monthly and underwent DNA extraction, amplification, …

Comparison Of Topsoil Moisture In E3sm Model Simulations And In-Situ Observations Over Illinois, Jacinda Lee Mayer

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Soil moisture stimulates land-atmosphere interactions by modifying energy and water fluxes in the boundary layer and it plays an important role in climate change studies. The objective of this research is to quantify the spatial and temporal variations of the Illinois Climate Network’s (ICN) observed topsoil moisture, as well as evaluate how accurately the new climate model, E3SM, is simulating soil moisture compared to the observed data during 2003-2014. Observed topsoil moisture averaged over growing season during the 12-year period indicates a general dry-north and wet-south pattern in Illinois, and northeast and southwest become drier with the progression of the …

Modeling And Visualization Of Long-Term Public Opinion On Covid-19 Vaccine, Ashiqur Rahman

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The coronavirus pandemic created significant dependence on social media. While the social web was crucial in spreading timely information and informing the public, misinformation has also spread with little to no oversight. Several works have focused on identifying misinformation and topic analysis in COVID-19 (SARS-COV-2) tweets. While most of the previous studies focus on a shorter time frame, we analyzed a larger dataset starting from the beginning of the pandemic until the end of December 2021. Our work focuses on a novel area that identifies the motivating and demotivating topics of COVID-19 vaccination and analyzes these topics based on time, …

Perceived Social And Environmental Impacts Of The Maya Train Project On The Yucatan Peninsula Of Mexico: A Case Study Of Puerto Morelos, Emely Hernandez Yac

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The Maya Train Project (MTP) is a new national megaproject in Mexico, meant to connect the perimeter of the Yucatan Peninsula, and facilitate easier transportation for tourism, industry, and agriculture. Given the region’s dependence on tourism, the train will accelerate the growth, as well as the social and environmental impacts of tourism in the region. Globally, the tourism industry has resulted in inequitable social and environmental impacts for the local communities and there is concern that this new Maya Train Project will serve to accelerate uneven development in the region. This project focused on the coastal tourist city of Puerto …

Optimization Of Dynamic Objective Functions Using Path Integrals, Paramahansa Pramanik

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Path integrals are used to find an optimal strategy for a firm under a Walrasian system. We define dynamic optimal strategies and develop an integration method to capture all non-additive non-convex strategies. We also show that the method can solve the non-linear case, for example Merton-Garman-Hamiltonian system, which the traditional Pontryagin maximum principle cannot solve in closed form. Furthermore, we assume that the strategy space and time are inseparable with respect to a contract. Under this assumption we show that the strategy spacetime is a dynamic curved Liouville-like 2-brane quantum gravity surface under asymmetric information and that traditional Euclidean geometry …

Clinical Applications And Feasibility Of Proton Ct And Proton Radiography, Christina Marie Sarosiek

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Proton therapy is a form of radiation treatment for cancer that utilizes the Bragg peak to create conformal high dose regions around the tumor volume. However, the use of x-ray computed tomography (CT) and x-ray radiography for treatment planning and pre-treatment quality assurance procedures improves the achievable effectiveness of proton treatment plans (using proton CT) and the pretreatment verification (using proton radiography). Errors in the conversion from x-ray Hounsfield units (HU) to proton relative stopping powers (RSP) leads to errors in the predicted proton range. To account for the errors, 3.5% margins are included in the treatment plan. This means …

Pumping Fees And Spillovers In The Groundwater Commons: An Evaluation Of A Conservation Tool And Irrigator Competitive Behavior, Godwin Kwabla Ekpe

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

My dissertation examines the effectiveness of pumping fees in groundwater commons agricultural irrigation as a conservation tool in the presence of varying water scarcity levels and spatial interdependence among irrigators. The first chapter provides a brief overview of three important areas of groundwater commons irrigation addressed in this dissertation. The second chapter’s objectives are two-fold. First, I review the common-pool resources literature relative to concerns of sustainable extraction and implementation of conservation policies focusing on pricing incentives in the management of groundwater commons where irrigators share the same underlying aquifer. Second, I introduce a theoretical model involving incorporating a non-constant …

A "Warm" Or "Cold" Early Mars: Evidence From Valley Networks, Xuezhi Cang

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Although Mars is cold and dry today, many lines of evidence suggest that ancient Mars had large amount of water and surface fluvial processes. However, climate modelers have encountered difficulties in modeling such early warm and wet conditions with an above freezing temperature, mainly due to the Martian orbit being further away from the Sun and the faintness of the young Sun. The main purpose of this dissertation is to test the ancient Martian climate hypotheses by investigating the spatial pattern of valley network (VN) properties that can survive post-formational modification (i.e., the robust characteristics) and by analogizing the Earth …

The Relevance Of Credit Risk In The Determination Of Commercial Banks’ Profitability: Evidence From Ghana, Godwin Kwabla Ekpe

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Existing empirical literature on the relationship between credit risk and bank’s profitability is replete with mixed results. This research investigates the probable effect of credit risk on banks’ profitability by examining the nature of the relationship between two measures of credit risk (Loss provisioning rate and Actual provisioning charge rate) and two measures ofprofitability (Return on assets and Return on Equity). The investigation is conducted using data on the Ghanaian banking industry. Various modeling techniques are used to fit the data, including frequentist beta regression and Bayesian beta regression models. The results across all models suggest negative linear relationship between …

The Emotions Of Science: Using Social Media To Gauge Public Emotions Toward Research Topics, Cole C. Freeman

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Online and in the real world, communities are bonded together by emotional consensus around core issues. Emotional responses to scientific findings often play a pivotal role in these core issues. When there is too much diversity of opinion on topics of science, emotions flare up and give rise to conflict. This conflict threatens positive outcomes for research. Emotions have the power to shape how people process new information. They can color the public's understanding of science, motivate policy positions, even change lives. And yet little work has been done to evaluate the public's emotional response to science using quantitative methods. …

Environmental Discriminators For Significant Tornadoes And Hail In The U.S. Using Proximity Soundings, Cody Michael Converse

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Over the last 50 years, the United States has experienced an increase in severe storm events that produced $1 billion in damages or greater. Much of this loss is attributed to significant tornadoes and hail associated with deep, moist convection. Improving forecasts for these significant events assist in mitigating the impacts of these events. Previous work has identified statistically significant environmental parameters associated with severe thunderstorms, but more research is needed in identifying statistically significant ingredients associated with environments that produce significant tornadoes and hail.

This thesis aims to answer the following question: “Can diagnostics commonly used to forecast for …

Morphometric Analysis Of Subfossil Macronycteris Spp. (Chiroptera: Hipposideridae) From Madagascar, Jamie Lynn Alumbaugh

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Macronycteris bats are morphologically conservative between species but demonstrate intraspecific morphological variation between geographic locations and sexes. Two of the four living species of Macronycteris are found on Madagascar, where they are broadly distributed and demonstrate a trend in body size correlated with the latitudinal precipitation cline on the western side of the island. The presence of an extinct species, M. besaoaka, from Anhjohibe Cave in northern Madagascar suggests that Macronycteris was once more diverse, at least with respect to morphology. Since its description, taxonomic and phylogenetic revisions have reshaped our understanding of this genus. On Madagascar, these include the …

Impact Of Agreeableness On Virtual Team Performance Through Team Identification And Shared Mental Models, Alexandria Brown

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Virtual teams help organizations efficiently utilize their employees for a task without the requirement of co-location. The literature on team performance suggests that teamwork is integral to a team’s success; however, in virtual teams this is often a challenge. Certain personality characteristics on virtual teams may be particularly important to the development of effective teamwork. An under-investigated factor is the role agreeableness in virtual team processes and how it affects the overall team performance. The main research question of this study is how the degree of agreeableness on a virtual team affects the overall team performance through predicted associations with …

A Review Of Reasons For Failure In Applying Machine Learning To Financial Trading And An Experiment Investigating Combinatorial Purged Cross Validation’S Merit In Preventing The Most Prominent Of These Reasons, Multiple Testing Bias, Colin Fritz

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The interest in applying machine learning to financial trading in the hedge fund industry has exploded in the last five years due to the massive success of a handful of ‘quantitative’ investment firms like Renaissance Technologies who has pioneered the use of machine learning techniques in investment since the 1980s. The failure rate of such firms attempting to deploy financial machine learning strategies is very high. This thesis reviews many of the causes for failure such as harmful correlations between examples in the dataset, redundant observations, improper data sampling paradigm, and multiple testing bias. Of these, multiple testing bias is …

Simulating And Modelling Opinion Dynamics, Jennifer Heermance

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The foundation of social media is conversation. Social media allows people to share ideas and opinions, as well as discuss those opinions. A point of intrigue for many social scientists is how those opinions change through interaction with others. What influences someone’s opinion? When is a person willing to adapt their opinion, and when does it remain the same? Is it possible to measure these opinion dynamics? Our overall goal is to develop a more comprehensive model for opinion dynamics. The first step of this process is to simulate data that can then be analyzed and used to develop a …

Applications Of Bayesian Functional Data Analysis, Hao Shen

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Functional Data Analysis (FDA) is a set of statistical methods that can deal with the data which represent curves or functions. In this dissertation, we consider two extensions of FDA to two types of data, circadian data and multidimensional data. The first part of the dissertation is concerned with the analysis of circadian data. We estimate circadian functions by using Bayesian smoothing splines under the generalized linear model, and extract two measures from each estimated function, magnitude and roughness. Based on extracted measures, we cluster individual functions into normal group and abnormal group by utilizing a density based clustering method. …

A Climatology Of Quasi-Linear Convective Systems In The U.S., Jacob Adam Strohm

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Quasi-linear convective systems, or QLCSs, are a common, organized thunderstorm mode in the U.S. Over the last fifty years, severe weather research has focused on the supercell, but, recently, QLCSs have become an increasingly important area of study. Researchers and operational meteorologists realize that this morphology is difficult to forecast and may be responsible for a large proportion of the severe weather reports in the eastern two-thirds of the U.S. This study seeks to determine the degree to which QLCSs threaten humans and their assets by, first, assessing their climatology and, second, measuring their contribution to the severe report record. …

Factors Affecting Superfund Hazardous Waste Site Cleanups, Leili Solatyavari

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

My dissertation focuses on assessing environmental equity in neighborhoods hosting hazardous waste lands known as Superfund sites. I define environmental equity as equal and timely removal of Superfund sites regardless of the demographic profile of hosting communities. In the first chapter, I introduce the Superfund program and various steps that need to be taken by the EPA in order to remove a hazardous site from a neighborhood. The second chapter discusses theoretical frameworks that motivate the empirical analysis by visualizing the Superfund enforcement and cleanup process.

The third chapter objectives are twofold. First, I investigate the factors that may affect …

Occupational Seasonality And Paleoenvironmental Reconstruction At Quebrada Jaguay 280, Stephanie Melissa Gruver

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Quebrada Jaguay 280 (QJ-280) is one of the oldest maritime archaeological sites in the New World. Previous excavations of the southern Peruvian coastal site have dated occupation from ~13,000-8,000 cal yr BP. These excavations also determined that the occupants of the site used preferential maritime resource procurement strategies and had an interzonal connection to the highlands. In 2017 a new excavation was conducted at QJ-280 and the remains of the marine mollusk Mesodesma donacium were recovered. Geochemical examinations on the shell remains informed on the occupational seasonality of the site and reconstructed sea surface temperatures experienced off the coast of …