Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Surmounting Challenges In Aggregating Results From Static Analysis Tools, Dr. Ann Marie Reinhold, Brittany Boles, A. Redempta Manzi Muneza, Thomas Mcelroy, Dr. Clemente Izurieta

Military Cyber Affairs

Aggregation poses a significant challenge for software practitioners because it requires a comprehensive and nuanced understanding of raw data from diverse sources. Suites of static-analysis tools (SATs) are commonly used to assess organizational security but simultaneously introduce significant challenges. Challenges include unique results, scales, configuration environments for each SAT execution, and incompatible formats between SAT outputs. Here, we document our experiences addressing these issues. We highlight the problem of relying on a single vendor's SAT version and offer a solution for aggregating findings across multiple SATs, aiming to enhance software security practices and deter threats early with robust defensive operations.

Generative Machine Learning For Cyber Security, James Halvorsen, Dr. Assefaw Gebremedhin

Military Cyber Affairs

Automated approaches to cyber security based on machine learning will be necessary to combat the next generation of cyber-attacks. Current machine learning tools, however, are difficult to develop and deploy due to issues such as data availability and high false positive rates. Generative models can help solve data-related issues by creating high quality synthetic data for training and testing. Furthermore, some generative architectures are multipurpose, and when used for tasks such as intrusion detection, can outperform existing classifier models. This paper demonstrates how the future of cyber security stands to benefit from continued research on generative models.

Klimchouk’S Impact On The Development Of Speleogenetic Models For Castile Evaporites: West Texas And Southeastern New Mexico, Usa, Kevin W. Stafford

International Journal of Speleology

Due to the pioneering work of Alexander Klimchouk (2007), hypogene karst is now recognized as being complex and extensive throughout Permian strata of the greater Delaware Basin in West Texas and southeastern New Mexico (USA). Klimchouk heavily influenced our current understanding of hypogene speleogenesis in the Permian Ochoan Castile Formation where we now recognize diverse hypogene manifestations that include vertically-extensive breccia pipes, laterally-extensive blanket breccias, morphologically-varied caves, diagenetically-altered sulfates, and unique venting structures. Underlying Bell Canyon strata provide the transmissive zone for delivery and removal of solutionally aggressive fluids to the conformably overlying Castile evaporites. Current speleogenetic models indicate that …

Dispersion Of Artificial Tracers In Ventilated Caves, Claudio Pastore, Eric Weber, Frédéric Doumenc, Pierre-Yves Jeannin, Marc Lütscher

International Journal of Speleology

Artificial CO₂ was used as a tracer along ventilated karst conduits to infer airflow and investigate tracer dispersion. In the karst vadose zone, cave ventilation is an efficient mode of transport for heat, gases and aerosols and thus drives the spatial distribution of airborne particles. Modelling this airborne transport requires geometrical and physical parameters of the conduit system, including the cross-sectional areas, the airflow and average air speed, as well as the longitudinal dispersion coefficient which describes the spreading of a solute. Four gauging tests were carried out in one mine (artificial conduit) and two ventilated caves (natural conduits). …

Rates Of Diagenesis Of Tropical Insectivorous Bat Guano Accumulations: Implications For Potential Paleoenvironmental Reconstruction, Donald A. Mcfarlane, Joyce Lundberg

International Journal of Speleology

Cave guano deposits are increasingly being recognized as valuable repositories of paleo-climatic and paleo-environmental information. However, that value is constrained by rates of guano decomposition, and these rates have not been previously well-studied. Here we show that field and laboratory studies of deep insectivorous bat guano sequences in the caves of Borneo demonstrate the extreme dependence of decomposition rate on guano water content. Under tropical conditions, moist guanos exhibit decomposition coefficients (k) values of ~ 0.01, implying the loss of most of the organic content on decadal timescales. Under similar temperatures but drier conditions, k values drop to …

Subaqueous Carbonate Speleothems As Paleotemperature Archives – Clumped Isotope Thermometry And Stable Isotope Compositions Of Inclusion-Hosted Water, Attila Demeny, Ágnes Berentés, László Rinyu, Ivett Kovács, Gergely Surányi, Magdolna Virág

International Journal of Speleology

Clumped isotope measurements of carbonates and stable isotope analyses of water trapped in fluid inclusions are both promising techniques to determine carbonate formation temperatures. Cave-hosted carbonate deposits (speleothems) are excellent targets for such studies, but kinetic fractionations and diagenetic influences frequently deteriorate the temperature data obtained from these methods. However, subaqueous carbonate deposits may provide reliable data, as kinetic fractionations are less significant in underwater environments. In this study, subaqueous speleothems, whose formation temperatures were directly measured in the water, were investigated. Additionally, temperatures calculated from the oxygen isotope fractionations between calcite and fluid inclusion-hosted water were compared with clumped …

The International Crisis In Numeracy Education, Nathan D. Grawe

Numeracy

The OECD recently released results from the 2022 administration of the Programme for International Student Assessment test. As other studies suggest, pandemic mitigation policies resulted in deep learning loss including in basic mathematics which forms the foundation of numeracy. Perhaps of greater concern, however, in many countries pandemic effects amplify declining performance that dates back a decade or more. Losses of two or more years' worth of mathematics education are not uncommon among developed countries. The editorial makes an urgent call for research that identifies practical steps to reverse these trends.

Infusing Quantitative Reasoning Skills Into A Differential Equation Class In An Urban Public Community College, Tanvir Prince

Numeracy

This research centers on implementing Quantitative Reasoning (QR) within a differential equations course at an urban public community college. As a participant in the Numeracy Infusion for College Educators (NICE) faculty development program, I sought to integrate QR skills into my curriculum. Students in the course were introduced to QR goals using real-world data sets, particularly those related to population growth, which aim to enhance their understanding, sharpen their problem-solving abilities, and cultivate a positive perspective on the real-world relevance of mathematics. Preliminary findings indicate varied levels of QR skill development among students. These results underscore the potential benefits of …

Assessing Compliance To Water Resources And Reconstruction Framework During Post-Conflict Reconstruction Borno State, Muritala Olaniyi Oke Dr

Journal of African Conflicts and Peace Studies

Northeast and northwest of Nigeria have, as a result of activities of Boko Haram, bandit and kidnappers, had their public and private properties destroyed. Governments and other stakeholders, upon some successes of the military, have started post-conflict reconstruction to rebuild the war-torn urban and rural communities with the provision of water taking the center stage. This paper looks at the utilisation of Water Resources and a Reconstruction framework for integrating water projects into reconstruction processes. This paper rests on the argument that water projects during reconstruction should not be handled as “normal” water projects and that a more culturally and …

Climate Monitoring In The Caumont Cave And Quarry System (Northern France) Reveal Near Oxygen Isotopic Equilibrium Conditions For Carbonate Deposition, Ingrid Bejarano-Arias, Carole Nehme, Sebastian Breitenbach, Hanno Meyer, Sevasti Modestou, Damase Mouralis

International Journal of Speleology

The study of modern cave deposits forming under near isotopic equilibrium conditions can potentially help disentangle the processes influencing the oxygen isotope system and suitability of stalagmites as archives of past hydrological or thermal changes. We used cave monitoring to evaluate the impact of kinetic isotope fractionation and assess the conditions under which modern cave carbonates form in the Caumont cave and quarry system, located in Normandy, northwest France. Over 20 months, we collected climatological data, dripwater, and modern carbonate samples at 2–4-week intervals at three different stations inside the Caumont cave and quarry system. We find highly stable (10.4 …

Reverse Pseudo-Gours: A New Sub-Type Of Folia Observed In The Nerja Cave (Se Spain), Cristina Liñán Baena, Concepción Jiménez De Cisneros, Yolanda Del Rosal, Paolo Forti

International Journal of Speleology

A new sub-type of folia named “reverse pseudo-gour” has been observed and described in the Nerja Cave, southern Spain. It consists of fairly vertical, thin barriers (about 5 mm high and 2 mm thick) that develop on the underside of a sub-horizontal surface (shelfstone) and grow in the opposite direction to normal gours (rimstone dams), generating sinuous shapes. Their mineral composition is essentially calcium carbonate, although globular aggregates composed of clay and phosphate minerals have also been identified. The genesis and evolution of these reverse pseudo-gours occur just at the air-water interface and are controlled by (1) the sub-horizontality of …

Book Review: Australian Caves And Karst Systems, John Webb, Susan White, Garry K. Smith, Jo De Waele

International Journal of Speleology

No abstract provided.

Seasonal Dynamics Of Karst Surface Dissolution Based On A Limestone Tables Experiment (Slovak Karst), Alena Gessert, Zdenko Hochmuth

International Journal of Speleology

Chemical denudation in karst is the basic process of karst relief formation. However, it is influenced by many factors of varying intensity that depend on the climatic conditions and characteristics of each given location. Based on measurable results of weight loss of limestone tablets, we monitored the intensity of chemical denudation in two areas of the Slovak Karst, Silica Plateau and Jasov Plateau that are situated in the most developed karst plateau region of Slovakia. Both experimental sites are similar in terms of geographical conditions, thus comparable between them. In each locality, we placed three sets of standardized tablets at …

Paleokarst Coastal Caves At Torricelle Hills (Lessini Mountains, Venetian Prealps, Italy), Guido Gonzato, Enrico Borghi, Roberto Chignola, Nereo Preto, Guido Rossi

International Journal of Speleology

This paper describes a set of paleokarst caves at Torricelle Hills near Verona (Southern Alps, Italy.) At this locality, erosional surfaces and paleokarst cavities show that sedimentation of late Paleogene neritic limestones was interrupted by subaerial exposure. Karst features developed during a phase of marine regression that started after the early Oligocene and ended in the mid Miocene. These caves were originally completely filled by iron oxides- and hydrated oxides-rich paleosol sediments (ochre) that, for centuries, have been mined for pigments. Mining activity emptied the caves, leaving the voids and related shapes mostly intact; as a result, the original morphologies …

An Attempt To Identify Source Areas Of Clastic Deposits From Selected Caves Of The Prokletije Mountains (Montenegro): A Mineralogical And U-Series Geochemistry Approach, Ditta Kicińska, Jacek Pawlak, Jacek Stienss

International Journal of Speleology

The Prokletije Mountains/Albanian Alps are the highest part of the Dinaric Mountains. Paradoxically, these mountains and their cave areas remain among the most enigmatic in Europe, having only recently become subjects of scientific research and cave exploration. This paper focuses on the Kolata and Greben massifs, where the highest, and thus the oldest, cave systems are located. Through the analysis of heavy mineral composition, the apatite-tourmaline index, and cluster analysis for mineralogical composition and uranium isotopic data, it becomes possible to identify the source areas for the cave clastic deposits. It also allow to distinguish multiple paleoflow directions, each corresponding …

Bibliometric Analysis Of Sustainability In Gastronomy Research, Nihan Akdemir, Bilsen Bilgili

University of South Florida (USF) M3 Publishing

Sustainability can be called the ability to be permanent. The economic, social and ecological dimensions of sustainability are important in terms of gastronomy. The rapid development of gastronomy in recent years has led many studies in literature to discuss gastronomy from different perspectives. The aim of this study is to reveal the development of national and international research on sustainability in gastronomy over the years with bibliometric analysis. In this context, Web of Science (WOS) and ULAKBIM TR-Dizin databases were examined in the analysis of the data until February 2023. For this purpose, articles were selected from the relevant sources …

Predictive Modeling Of Cave Entrance Locations: Relationships Between Surface And Subsurface Morphology, William Blitch, Adia R. Sovie, Benjamin W. Tobin

International Journal of Speleology

Cave entrances directly connect the surface and subsurface geomorphology in karst landscapes. Understanding the spatial distribution of these features can help identify areas on the landscape that are critical to flow in the karst groundwater system. Sinkholes and springs are major locations of inflow and outflow from the groundwater system, respectively, however not all sinkholes and springs are equally connected to the main conduit system. Predicting where on the landscape zones of high connectivity exist is a challenge because cave entrances are difficult to detect and imperfectly documented. Wildlife research has a similar issue of understanding the complexities of where …

An Introduction To The Algebra Revolution, Art Bardige

Numeracy

Bardige, Art. 2022. The Algebra Revolution: How Spreadsheets Eliminate Algebra 1 to Transform Education; (Bookbaby) 135 pp. UNSPSC 55111505.

The Algebra Revolution: How Spreadsheets Eliminate Algebra 1 to Transform Education argues that Algebra 1 can be eliminated by teaching mathematics through spreadsheets. Such a change would eliminate the greatest roadblock to student achievement.

Bite-Sized Quantitative Reasoning Essays: A Review Of Numbers Don’T Lie: 71 Stories To Help Us Understand The Modern World (2020), By Vaclav Smil, Samuel L. Tunstall

Numeracy

In Numbers Don’t Lie: 71 Stories to Help Us Understand the Modern World (2020), Vaclav Smil draws on his interdisciplinary background in science, public policy, and history to provide readers with 71 short essays that help us better understand aspects of the world–including its people, environment, energy consumption, and present crises (among other things). In most of his essays, Smil utilizes both data and reasoning with data to shed light on diverse topics, with issues ranging from happiness rankings and vaccine payoffs to chicken production and diesel engines. Though the book arguably has some flaws, its easy-to-digest essays–many of which …

Climate Of A Cave Laboratory Representative For Rock Art Caves In The Vézère Area (South-West France), Delphine Lacanette, Léna Bassel, Fabien Salmon, Jean-Christophe Portais, Bruno Bousquet, Rémy Chapoulie, Faten Ammari, Philippe Malaurent, Catherine Ferrier

International Journal of Speleology

Leye Cave (Dordogne, France) is a laboratory cave in the Vézère area, a region that contains some of the most famous rock art caves in the world such as Lascaux, Font-de-Gaume and Combarelles, and is listed as Human World Heritage by UNESCO. Leye Cave was selected because it is representative of painted caves, with respect to parameters such as its geological stage, the presence of water and carbon dioxide, the geological state of its walls, and the size of the cave. These wall states are studied to better understand the conditions of conservation of rock art caves without damaging them. …

Preliminary Data Of Potentially Hazardous Radon Concentrations In Modrič Cave (Croatia), Robert Lončarić, Vanja Radolić, Maša Surić, Igor Miklavčić, Matea Šatalić, Dalibor Paar, Lukrecija Obšivač

International Journal of Speleology

Instigated by relatively high cave-air CO₂ concentrations in Modrič Cave (Croatia) recorded for the purpose of speleothem-based paleoclimate research, we established preliminary monitoring of radon (²²²Rn) concentrations within the cave for a 4.5-year period (2018–2022). As radioactive geogenic gas, radon, which often correlates with cave-air CO₂ concentrations, presents a potential health hazard in cases of longer exposure time in high concentration conditions. Since the Modrič Cave is open to tourists and long-term scientific research has been performed within, a safety assessment for radon concentrations was essential. The integrated measurements of radon concentrations were performed by passive …

4d Flow Pattern Of The Longest Cave In The Eastern Alps (Schönberg-Höhlensystem, Totes Gebirge), Lukas Plan, Eva Kaminsky, Pauline Oberender, Clemens Tenreiter, Maximilian Wimmer

International Journal of Speleology

The Schönberg-Höhlensystem (SBH) is not only the longest cave system in the Eastern Alps (length 156 km, depth 1061 m), but a significant proportion of the passages have developed on or just below two surfaces that dip 1.7° to the NE. These so-called "speleogenetic phases" are rarely developed in caves of the Northern Calcareous Alps and have not yet been confirmed by detailed morphological mapping. Furthermore, the deep parts of the cave offer the possibility to study the active epiphreatic zone for a distance of 1.6 km. Detailed morphological mapping shows that the main level at about 1500 m a.s.l. …

Combining Frameworks To Improve Military Health System Quality And Cybersecurity, Dr. Maureen L. Schafer, Dr. Joseph H. Schafer

Military Cyber Affairs

Existing conceptual frameworks and commercially available technology could be considered to rapidly operationalize the use of Quality Measures (QM) within military health systems (Costantino et al. 2020). Purchased healthcare as well as digital healthcare services have paved the way for data collection from multiple information systems thus offering stakeholders actionable intelligence to both guide and measure healthcare outcomes. However, the collection of data secondary to Smart Devices, disparate information systems, cloud services, and the Internet of Medical Things (IOMT) is a complication for security experts that also affect clients, stakeholders, organizations, and businesses delivering patient care. We have combined three …

What Senior U.S. Leaders Say We Should Know About Cyber, Dr. Joseph H. Schafer

Military Cyber Affairs

On April 6, 2023, the Atlantic Council’s Cyber Statecraft Initiative hosted a panel discussion on the new National Cybersecurity Strategy. The panel featured four senior officials from the Office of the National Cyber Director (ONCD), the Department of State (DoS), the Department of Justice (DoJ), and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The author attended and asked each official to identify the most important elements that policymakers and strategists must understand about cyber. This article highlights historical and recent struggles to express cyber policy, the responses from these officials, and the author’s ongoing research to improve national security cyber policy.

Mg Records Of Two Stalagmites From B7-Cave (Northwest Germany) Indicating Long-Term Precipitation Changes During Early To Mid-Holocene, Dana F. C. Riechelmann, Klaus Peter Jochum, Detlev K. Richter, Denis Scholz

International Journal of Speleology

Two stalagmites from B7-Cave in northwest Germany, which is part of the same cave system as the intensively studied Bunker Cave, were re-dated by multi collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (MC-ICPMS) ²³⁰Th/U-dating. Furthermore, the concentration of Mg, Sr, Ba, P, Y, Zn, and Al were determined at high-resolution by laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICPMS). Stalagmite B7-1 grew from 10.8 to 5.8 ka BP. Stalagmite B7-7 grew during three growth phases from 11.0 to 6.2, 3.13 to 2.86 (late Bronze Age), and 1.27 to 1.15 ka BP (early Medieval Period). Aluminium is a proxy for detrital …

Artificial Intelligence, Basic Skills, And Quantitative Literacy, Gizem Karaali

Numeracy

The introduction in November 2022 of ChatGPT, a freely available language-based artificial intelligence, has led to concerns among some educators about the feasibility and benefits of teaching basic writing and critical thinking skills to students in the context of easily accessed, AI-based cheating mechanisms. As of now, ChatGPT can write pretty convincing student-level prose, but it is still not very good at answering quantitatively rich questions. Therefore, for the time being, the preceding concerns may not be shared by a large portion of the numeracy education community. However, as Google and WolframAlpha are definitely capable of answering standard and some …

Beyond Statistical Significance: A Holistic View Of What Makes A Research Finding "Important", Jane E. Miller

Numeracy

Students often believe that statistical significance is the only determinant of whether a quantitative result is “important.” In this paper, I review traditional null hypothesis statistical testing to identify what questions inferential statistics can and cannot answer, including statistical significance, effect size and direction, causality, generalizability, and changeability of the independent variable. I illustrate these issues with examples from an empirical study of the association between how much time teenagers spent playing video games and time spent reading. I describe how study design and context determine each of those aspects of “importance,” and close by summarizing how to provide a …

Establishing The Validity And Reliability Of The Locus Assessments, Tim Jacobbe, Bob Delmas, Brad Hartlaub, Jeff Haberstroh, Catherine Case, Steven Foti, Douglas Whitaker

Numeracy

The development of assessments as part of the funded LOCUS project is described. The assessments measure students’ conceptual understanding of statistics as outlined in the GAISE PreK–12 Framework. Results are reported from a large-scale administration to 3,430 students in grades 6 through 12 in the United States. Items were designed to assess levels of understanding as well as components of the statistical problem solving process as articulated in the GAISE framework. We discuss details of how the model used to develop the LOCUS assessments guided the gathering of evidence for validity and reliability arguments. Three types of validity evidence are …

Cryogenic Ridges: A New Speleothem Type, Bogdan P. Onac, Daniel M. Cleary, Oana A. Dumitru, Victor J. Polyak, Ioan Povara, Jonathan G. Wynn, Yemane Asmerom

International Journal of Speleology

Cryogenic cave carbonates have been described from several formerly or presently glaciated karst caves. In most of these occurrences, they precipitated as loose grains or aggregates with various morphologies and sizes. Here, we report on a new speleothem type (cryogenic ridges) identified in Sohodoalele Mici Cave (SW Romania) within a large chamber near the entrance shaft. This study was motivated by the presence of a network of calcite ridges over the stalactites’ surface and by the observation that during winter, these speleothems are covered by a thin ice layer. The higher δ¹⁸O (−3.5 to –1‰) and …

Sub-Recent Microfauna Within Allogenic Sediments At The Bottom Of A Deep Cave, Njemica (Biokovo Mt., Croatia), Tomislav Kurečić, Valentina Hajek Tadesse, Lara Wacha, Marija Horvat, Nina Trinajstić, Ivan Mišur

International Journal of Speleology

Clastic sediments deposited at the bottom of the vertical, nearly 1000 m deep Njemica Cave (Biokovo Mountain, Croatia) were analysed. Owing to the vertical morphology of the cave, the occurrences of clastic sediments are sparse. Small, up to decimetre-thick, undisturbed sediment accumulations situated near the siphon lake revealed interesting palaeontological and mineralogical data. These data are used as a useful proxy for discussing depositional processes, the provenance of the sediments and paleo-habitats of the subterranean fauna.

The sub-recent assemblages of ostracods were discovered within the sediment, and they were shown to be correlative to the known endemic species in the …