Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Remote Sensing Sensors And Applications In Environmental Resources Mapping And Modelling, Assefa M. Melesse, Qihao Weng, Prasad S. Thenkbail, Gabriel B. Senay

Department of Earth and Environment

The history of remote sensing and development of different sensors for environmental and natural resources mapping and data acquisition is reviewed and reported. Application examples in urban studies, hydrological modeling such as land-cover and floodplain mapping, fractional vegetation cover and impervious surface area mapping, surface energy flux and micro-topography correlation studies is discussed. The review also discusses the use of remotely sensed-based rainfall and potential evapotranspiration for estimating crop water requirement satisfaction index and hence provides early warning information for growers. The review is not an exhaustive application of the remote sensing techniques rather a summary of some important applications …

Effects Of A Switchgrass Buffer Strip On Soil Microorganisms Near A Field Applied With Endosulfan, Cristina Clark-Cuadrado

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A field study to determine the effects of a switchgrass buffer strip (SBS) on soil microorganisms near a field applied with endosulfan was carried out. Soil samples were taken from a SBS and bare soil area downslope from a field applied with endosulfan at different distances, days, and two seasons (wet and dry). Soil samples were analyzed for endosulfan, soil fungi, and bacteria. Analysis of endosulfan concentrations was done by reversed-phase liquid chromatography. No endosulfan runoff was detected by this method. Analysis of soil fungi and bacteria was done by fungal and bacterial enumeration by plate count method on rose …

The Structure Of Games, David Michael Kaiser

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Computer Game Playing has been an active area of research since Samuel’s first Checkers player (Samuel 1959). Recently interest beyond the classic games of Chess and Checkers has led to competitions such as the General Game Playing competition, in which players have no beforehand knowledge of the games they are to play, and the Computer Poker Competition which force players to reason about imperfect information under conditions of uncertainty. The purpose of this dissertation is to explore the area of General Game Playing both specifically and generally. On the specific side, we describe the design and implementation of our General …

Role Of Information And Communication Networks In Malaria Survival, Pallab Mozumder, Achla Marathe

Department of Earth and Environment

Background: Quite often symptoms of malaria go unrecognized or untreated. According to the Multilateral Initiative on Malaria, 70% of the malaria cases that are treated at home are mismanaged. Up to 82% of all malaria episodes in sub-Saharan Africa are treated outside the formal health sector. Fast and appropriate diagnosis and treatment of malaria is extremely important in reducing morbidity and mortality. Method: Data from 70 different countries is pooled together to construct a panel dataset of health and socio-economic variables for a time span of (1960–2004). The generalized two-stage least squares and panel data models are used to investigate …

Wetland Restoration Response Analysis Using Modis And Groundwater Data, Assefa M. Melesse, Vijay Nangia, Xixi Wang, Michael Mcclain

Department of Earth and Environment

Vegetation cover and groundwater level changes over the period of restoration are the two most important indicators of the level of success in wetland ecohydrological restoration. As a result of the regular presence of water and dense vegetation, the highest evapotranspiration (latent heat) rates usually occur within wetlands. Vegetation cover and evapotranspiration of large areas of restoration like that of Kissimmee River basin, South Florida will be best estimated using remote sensing technique than point measurements. Kissimmee River basin has been the area of ecological restoration for some years. The current ecohydrological restoration activities were evaluated through fractional vegetation cover …

Differentiation Of Toxic Molds Via Headspace Spme-Gc/Ms And Canine Detection, Robert T. Griffith, Krish Jayachandran, Kateel G. Shetty, William Whitstine, Kenneth G. Furton

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry

Indoor mold growth has recently become a concern in the legal world in regards to insurance litigation. Hazardous mold exposure to humans has been linked to many acute and chronic adverse health effects including death. As it grows, mold produces several types of primary and secondary metabolites, including microbial volatile organic compounds (MVOCs). Microbial volatile organic compound emission may be used as a preliminary indication of a mold infestation that is invisible to the unaided eye. The objective of the study is to identify the unique odor signatures of three species of molds, Aspergillus versicolor, Penicillium chrysogenum, and …

²H(E, E'P) Studies Of The Deuteron At High Q², Luminita Coman

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A high resolution study of the quasielastic ²H(e, e′p)n reaction was performed in Hall A at the Thomas Jefferson Accelerator Facility in Newport News, Virginia. The measurements were performed at a central momentum transfer of |q| ~ 2400 MeV/c, and at a central energy transfer of ω ~ 1500 MeV, a four momentum transfer Q² = 3.5 (GeV/c)² , covering missing momenta from 0 to 0.5 GeV/c. The majority of the measurements were performed at Φ = 180° and a small set of measurements were done at Φ = 0°. The Hall A High Resolution Spectrometers (HRS) …

Specific Binding Of Mammalian High Mobility Group Protein At-Hook 2 To The Minor Groove Of At-Rich Dnas : Thermodynamic And Specificity Studies, Tengjiao Cui

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The mammalian high mobility group protein AT-hook 2 (HMGA2) is a small transcriptional factor involved in cell development and oncogenesis. It contains three "AT-hook" DNA binding domains, which specifically recognize the minor groove of AT-rich DNA sequences. It also has an acidic C-terminal motif. Previous studies showed that HMGA2 mediates all its biological effects through interactions with AT-rich DNA sequences in the promoter regions. In this dissertation, I used a variety of biochemical and biophysical methods to examine the physical properties of HMGA2 and to further investigate HMGA2's interactions with AT-rich DNA sequences. The following are three avenues perused in …

Calculations On The End-Group Conformational Barrier In Carotenoids And A Study Of The Bioavailability Of Xanthophyll Esters In Humans, Francesca Alvarez-Calderon

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The present study measures the increase in serum carotenoid concentration in 30 healthy individuals after supplementation with a low dose xanthophyll ester (3 and 6 mg of lutein equivalent/per day) when compared to a placebo. Serum levels of carotenoids were measured using HPLC and showed an increase in the concentration of lutein, zeaxanthin and four lutein metabolites proportional to dose.

In order to further assess the importance of the end-group structure in carotenoids we have investigated the influence of the end-group type and functionality on the conformational energy barrier. We used the density functional method implemented on GAUSSIAN 98 to …

A Coupled Remote Sensing And Simplified Surface Energy Balance Approach To Estimate Actual Evapotranspiration From Irrigated Fields, Gabriel B. Senay, Michael Budde, James P. Verdin, Assefa M. Melesse

Department of Earth and Environment

Accurate crop performance monitoring and production estimation are critical for timely assessment of the food balance of several countries in the world. Since 2001, the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) has been monitoring crop performance and relative production using satellite-derived data and simulation models in Africa, Central America, and Afghanistan where ground-based monitoring is limited because of a scarcity of weather stations. The commonly used crop monitoring models are based on a crop water-balance algorithm with inputs from satellite-derived rainfall estimates. These models are useful to monitor rainfed agriculture, but they are ineffective for irrigated areas. This study …

The Non-Timber Forest Products Sector In Nepal : Policy Issues In Plant Conservation And Utilization, Ranju Shresthal Acharya

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The non-timber forest products (NTFPs) sector in Nepal is being promoted with the concept of sustainable management as articulated by the Convention on Biological Diversity. To promote and regulate this sector, Nepal adopted the Herbs and NTFP Development Policy in 2004. The goal of this thesis was to assess the effectiveness of this policy along with other forestry and natural resource policies in Nepal concerning the conservation and sustainable use of NTFPs. I conducted open-ended semi-structured interviews with 28 key informants in summer 2006 in Nepal where I also collected relevant documents and publications. I did qualitative analysis of data …

Macular Pigment Response To A Supplement Containing Meso-Zeaxanthin, Lutein And Zeaxanthin, Richard A. Bone, John T. Landrum, Yisi Cao, Alan N. Howard, Francesca Alvarez-Calderon

Department of Physics

Background: Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a disease with multiple risk factors, many of which appear to involve oxidative stress. Macular pigment, with its antioxidant and lightscreening properties, is thought to be protective against AMD. A result has been the appearance of dietary supplements containing the macular carotenoids, lutein and zeaxanthin. More recently, a supplement has been marketed containing, in addition, the third major carotenoid of the macular pigment, meso-zeaxanthin. The purpose of the study was to determine the effectiveness of such a supplement in raising macular pigment density in human subjects. Methods: A 120 day supplementation study was conducted …

Analysis And Properties Of Carotenoids In Vivo And In Vitro, Yisi Cao

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to develop a deeper understanding of the nature of carotenoid metabolism in the human and primate retina. We have sought to do this from two perspectives (1) through preparation and study of a carotenoid diketone that is a candidate metabolic product and (2) through measurement of the carotenoid distribution in the retinas of neonatal macaques.

In this thesis we report the synthesis, purification, and characterization of the product using HPLC, UV/Vis, MS, ¹H-NMR. The data obtained are all consistent with the proposed β,β-carotene-3,3'-dione.

There has been no thorough study of the development of …

Knowledge Assisted Data Management And Retrieval In Multimedia Database Sistems, Min Chen

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

With the proliferation of multimedia data and ever-growing requests for multimedia applications, there is an increasing need for efficient and effective indexing, storage and retrieval of multimedia data, such as graphics, images, animation, video, audio and text. Due to the special characteristics of the multimedia data, the Multimedia Database management Systems (MMDBMSs) have emerged and attracted great research attention in recent years. Though much research effort has been devoted to this area, it is still far from maturity and there exist many open issues. In this dissertation, with the focus of addressing three of the essential challenges in developing the …

An Integrated Framework For Ensuring The Quality Of Software Design, Yujian Fu

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Software development is an extremely complex process, during which human errors are introduced and result in faulty software systems. It is highly desirable and important that these errors can be prevented and detected as early as possible. Software architecture design is a high-level system description, which embodies many system features and properties that are eventually implemented in the final operational system. Therefore, methods for modeling and analyzing software architecture descriptions can help prevent and reveal human errors and thus improve software quality. Furthermore, if an analyzed software architecture description can be used to derive a partial software implementation, especially when …

High Energy Three-Body Breakup Of Three-Nucleon Systems, Tigran Abrahamyan

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The main goal of this dissertation was to study two- and three-nucleon Short Range Correlations (SRCs) in high energy three-body breakup of ³He nucleus in ³He(e, e'NN)N reaction. SRCs are characterized by quantum fluctuations in nuclei during which constituent nucleons partially overlap with each other.

A theoretical framework is developed within the Generalized Eikonal Approximation (GEA) which upgrades existing medium-energy methods that are inapplicable for high momentum and energy transfer reactions. High momentum and energy transfer is required to provide sufficient resolution for probing SRCs. GEA is a covariant theory which is formulated through the effective Feynman …

Determining Magmatic Processes From Analysis Of Phenocrysts And Gabbroic Xenoliths Contained In Calbuco Andesites, Tiffany Sperry Horst

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Calbuco Volcano, in Southern Chile, has eruptive products of predominantly andesitic hornblende-bearing lava. A purpose of this work is to understand magmatic processes and how Calbuco magma chemistry is related to the explosive volcanic character. Calbuco lava has a mineral assemblage of plagioclase, hornblende, orthopyroxene, clinopyroxene, olivine, and magnetite and entrained gabbroic xenoliths with the same mineral assemblage. The presence of hornblende is evidence for dissolved water in the magma. Detailed petrographic/textural analysis has been done using petrographic microscopy and back-scattered electron imaging (BSE); geochemical analysis by electron microprobe (EPMA). Major findings include 1) that hornblende and hornblende-bearing gabbroic cumulates …

2007 Annual Report Of The Water Quality Monitoring Project For The Water Quality Protection Program Of The Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, Joseph N. Boyer, Henry O. Briceño

SERC Research Reports

No abstract provided.

Biometrics For Hospitality And Tourism: A New Wave Of Information Technology, Bomi Kang, Kathleen Pearl Brewer, Billy Bai

Hospitality Review

The technologies that empower biometrics have been around for a number of years, but until recently these technologies have been viewed as exotic. In the not too distant future biometrics will be used to regulate internal processes and to improve services in the hospitality and tourism industries. This paper provides an understanding of the current use of biometrics in general and its practical value for the future in hospitality and tourism. The study presents a review of current practices of biometrics with special reference to the hospitality and tourism businesses, addresses key issues imposed by this technology, and identifies business …