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Articles 1 - 30 of 140
Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Development Of A Multiband Remote Sensing System For Determination Of Unsaturated Soil Properties, Cyrus D. Garner
Development Of A Multiband Remote Sensing System For Determination Of Unsaturated Soil Properties, Cyrus D. Garner
Graduate Theses and Dissertations
A multiband system including active microwave sensing and visible-near infrared reflectance spectroscopy was developed to measure unsaturated soil properties in both field and laboratory environments. Remote measurements of soil volumetric water content (θv), soil water matric potential (ψ), and soil index properties (liquid limit [LL], plastic limit [PL], and clay fraction [CF]) were conducted. Field-based measurement of θv was conducted using a ground-based radar system and field measurements within 10 percentage points of measurements acquired with traditional sampling techniques were obtained. Laboratory-based, visible and near infrared spectroscopy was found to be capable of obtaining empirical, soil specific regression functions (partial …
Understanding N-Nitrosodimethylamine Formation In Water: Chloramine Chemistry, Kinetics, And A Proposed Reaction Pathway, Huong Thu Pham
Understanding N-Nitrosodimethylamine Formation In Water: Chloramine Chemistry, Kinetics, And A Proposed Reaction Pathway, Huong Thu Pham
Graduate Theses and Dissertations
The formation of N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) in drinking water systems is a concern because of its potential carcinogenicity and occurrence at toxicologically relevant levels. The postulated mechanism for NDMA formation involves a substitution between dichloramine and amine-based precursors to form an unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine (UDMH), which is then oxidized by ground-state molecular oxygen to form NDMA. However, this latter reaction is spin forbidden, thus likely occurs at a slow rate. It is hypothesized that the reaction between monochloramine and hydroxylamine (a nitrification product) may form an intermediate, which is involved in the NDMA formation pathway. This intermediate may also be generated from …
Infrared Energy Conversion In Plasmonic Fields At Two-Dimensional Semiconductors, Gregory Thomas Forcherio
Infrared Energy Conversion In Plasmonic Fields At Two-Dimensional Semiconductors, Gregory Thomas Forcherio
Graduate Theses and Dissertations
Conversion of infrared energy within plasmonic fields at two-dimensional, semiconductive transition metal dichalcogenides (TMD) through plasmonic hot electron transport and nonlinear frequency mixing has important implications in next-generation optoelectronics. Drude-Lorentz theory and approximate discrete dipole (DDA) solutions to Maxwell’s equations guided metal nanoantenna design towards strong infrared localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR). Excitation and damping dynamics of LSPR in heterostructures of noble metal nanoantennas and molybdenum- or tungsten-disulfide (MoS2; WS2) monolayers were examined by parallel synthesis of (i) DDA electrodynamic simulations and (ii) near-field electron energy loss (EELS) and far-field optical transmission UV-vis spectroscopic measurements. Susceptibility to second-order nonlinear frequency …
Characterization Of Coupled Gold Nanoparticles In A Sparsely Populated Square Lattice, Roy Truett French Iii
Characterization Of Coupled Gold Nanoparticles In A Sparsely Populated Square Lattice, Roy Truett French Iii
Graduate Theses and Dissertations
Metal nanoparticles deposited in regular arrays spaced at optical wavelengths support a resonance due to a coherent coupling between localized surface plasmon mode and lattice diffraction allowing for engineering of tunable devices for use in biological sensors, nanoantennae, and enhanced spectroscopy. Techniques such as electron beam lithography, focused ion beam lithography, nanosphere lithography, and nanoimprint lithography are used for fabrication but are limited by cost, device throughput, and small deposition. Polymer soft lithography and continuous dewetting of particles is a potentially viable alternative showing promise in all of those areas. This thesis developed the fabrication of a refined hydrophilic nanoimprinted …
Morphology Controlled Synthesis Of Copper Based Multimetallic Nanostructures And Their Electrocatalytic Properties For Methanol Oxidation Reaction, Leanne Elizabeth Mathurin
Morphology Controlled Synthesis Of Copper Based Multimetallic Nanostructures And Their Electrocatalytic Properties For Methanol Oxidation Reaction, Leanne Elizabeth Mathurin
Graduate Theses and Dissertations
This research focuses on the development of shape-controlled synthesis of Cu NM, Cu-based bimetallic and trimetallic nanostructures, and their electrocatalytic properties for methanol oxidation reaction (MOR). Copper nanomaterials (Cu NM) with specific surface facets can tailor their catalytic activity. Understanding reagents responsible for Cu NM growth is important for morphology-controlled synthesis of the nanostructures. This research studies the halide influence on Cu NM growth and morphology in an oil-based synthesis. The morphology of the Cu NM varies with the halide type (i.e., Cl-, Br-, I-), and the halide concentration. Additionally, the type of Cu precursor also influenced the morphology of …
Exploiting Semantic Distance In Linked Open Data For Recommendation, Sultan Dawood Alfarhood
Exploiting Semantic Distance In Linked Open Data For Recommendation, Sultan Dawood Alfarhood
Graduate Theses and Dissertations
The use of Linked Open Data (LOD) has been explored in recommender systems in different ways, primarily through its graphical representation. The graph structure of LOD is utilized to measure inter-resource relatedness via their semantic distance in the graph. The intuition behind this approach is that the more connected resources are to each other, the more related they are. One drawback of this approach is that it treats all inter-resource connections identically rather than prioritizing links that may be more important in semantic relatedness calculations. Another drawback of current approaches is that they only consider resources that are connected directly …
Dpweka: Achieving Differential Privacy In Weka, Srinidhi Katla
Dpweka: Achieving Differential Privacy In Weka, Srinidhi Katla
Graduate Theses and Dissertations
Organizations belonging to the government, commercial, and non-profit industries collect and store large amounts of sensitive data, which include medical, financial, and personal information. They use data mining methods to formulate business strategies that yield high long-term and short-term financial benefits. While analyzing such data, the private information of the individuals present in the data must be protected for moral and legal reasons. Current practices such as redacting sensitive attributes, releasing only the aggregate values, and query auditing do not provide sufficient protection against an adversary armed with auxiliary information. In the presence of additional background information, the privacy protection …
Molecular Dynamics Simulations Of Dna-Functionalized Nanoparticle Building Blocks On Gpus, Tyler Landon Fochtman
Molecular Dynamics Simulations Of Dna-Functionalized Nanoparticle Building Blocks On Gpus, Tyler Landon Fochtman
Graduate Theses and Dissertations
This thesis discusses massively parallel molecular dynamics simulations of nBLOCKs using graphical processing units. nBLOCKs are nanoscale building blocks composed of gold nanoparticles functionalized with single-stranded DNA molecules. To explore greater simulation time scales we implement our nBLOCK computational model as an extension to the coarse grain molecular simulator oxDNA. oxDNA is parameterized to match the thermodynamics of DNA strand hybridization as well as the mechanics of single stranded DNA and double stranded DNA. In addition to an in-depth review of our implementation details we also provide results of the model validation and performance tests. These validation and performance tests …
A Hybrid Partially Reconfigurable Overlay Supporting Just-In-Time Assembly Of Custom Accelerators On Fpgas, Zeyad Tariq Aklah
A Hybrid Partially Reconfigurable Overlay Supporting Just-In-Time Assembly Of Custom Accelerators On Fpgas, Zeyad Tariq Aklah
Graduate Theses and Dissertations
The state of the art in design and development flows for FPGAs are not sufficiently mature to allow programmers to implement their applications through traditional software development flows. The stipulation of synthesis as well as the requirement of background knowledge on the FPGAs' low-level physical hardware structure are major challenges that prevent programmers from using FPGAs. The reconfigurable computing community is seeking solutions to raise the level of design abstraction at which programmers must operate, and move the synthesis process out of the programmers' path through the use of overlays. A recent approach, Just-In-Time Assembly (JITA), was proposed that enables …
Plasmon-Mediated Energy Conversion In Metal Nanoparticle-Doped Hybrid Nanomaterials, Jeremy Dunklin
Plasmon-Mediated Energy Conversion In Metal Nanoparticle-Doped Hybrid Nanomaterials, Jeremy Dunklin
Graduate Theses and Dissertations
Climate change and population growth demand long-term solutions for clean water and energy. Plasmon-active nanomaterials offer a promising route towards improved energetics for efficient chemical separation and light harvesting schemes. Two material platforms featuring highly absorptive plasmonic gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) are advanced herein to maximize photon conversion into thermal or electronic energy. Optical extinction, attributable to diffraction-induced internal reflection, was enhanced up to 1.5-fold in three-dimensional polymer films containing AuNPs at interparticle separations approaching the resonant wavelength. Comprehensive methods developed to characterize heat dissipation following plasmonic absorption was extended beyond conventional optical and heat transfer descriptions, where good agreement was …
Synthesis, Characterization, And Fabrication Of All Inorganic Quantum Dot Leds, Haider Baqer Salman
Synthesis, Characterization, And Fabrication Of All Inorganic Quantum Dot Leds, Haider Baqer Salman
Graduate Theses and Dissertations
Quantum Dot LEDs with all inorganic materials are investigated in this thesis. The research was motivated by the potential disruptive technology of core shell quantum dots in lighting and display applications. These devices consisted of three main layers: hole transport layer (HTL), electron transport layer (ETL), and emissive layer where the emission of photons occurs. The latter part was formed of CdSe / ZnS core-shell quantum dots, which were synthesized following hot injection method. The ETL and the HTL were formed of zinc oxide nanocrystals and nickel oxide, respectively. Motivated by the low cost synthesis and deposition, NiO and ZnO …
Fabrication Of Infrared Photodetectors Utilizing Lead Selenide Nanocrystals, Justin Anthony Hill
Fabrication Of Infrared Photodetectors Utilizing Lead Selenide Nanocrystals, Justin Anthony Hill
Graduate Theses and Dissertations
Colloidal lead selenide and lead selenide / lead sulfide core/shell nanocrystals were grown using a wet chemical synthesis procedure. Absorbance and photoluminescence measurements were made to verify the quality of the produced nanocrystals. Absorbance spectra were measured at room temperature, while photoluminescence spectra were measured at 77 K. Organic ligands were exchanged for shorter ligands in order to increase the conductivity of the nanocrystals. Absorption and PL spectra for both core and core/shell nanocrystals were compared. Interdigital photodetector devices with varying channel widths were fabricated by depositing gold onto a glass substrate. Lead selenide nanocrystals were deposited onto these metallic …
Just In Time Assembly (Jita) - A Run Time Interpretation Approach For Achieving Productivity Of Creating Custom Accelerators In Fpgas, Sen Ma
Graduate Theses and Dissertations
The reconfigurable computing community has yet to be successful in allowing programmers to access FPGAs through traditional software development flows. Existing barriers that prevent programmers from using FPGAs include: 1) knowledge of hardware programming models, 2) the need to work within the vendor specific CAD tools and hardware synthesis. This thesis presents a series of published papers that explore different aspects of a new approach being developed to remove the barriers and enable programmers to compile accelerators on next generation reconfigurable manycore architectures. The approach is entitled Just In Time Assembly (JITA) of hardware accelerators. The approach has been defined …
Interactive Physics And Characteristics Of Photons And Photoelectrons In Hyperbranched Zinc Oxide Nanostructures, Garrett Edward Torix
Interactive Physics And Characteristics Of Photons And Photoelectrons In Hyperbranched Zinc Oxide Nanostructures, Garrett Edward Torix
Graduate Theses and Dissertations
As is commonly known, the world is full of technological wonders, where a multitude of electronic devices and instruments continuously help push the boundaries of scientific knowledge and discovery. These new devices and instruments of science must be utilized at peak efficiency in order to benefit humanity with the most advanced scientific knowledge. In order to attain this level of efficiency, the materials which make up these electronics, or possibly more important, the fundamental characteristics of these materials, must be fully understood. The following research attempted to uncover the properties and characteristics of a selected family of materials. Herein, zinc …
Automatic Assessment Of Environmental Hazards For Fall Prevention Using Smart-Cameras, Jeffrey Kutchka
Automatic Assessment Of Environmental Hazards For Fall Prevention Using Smart-Cameras, Jeffrey Kutchka
Graduate Theses and Dissertations
As technology advances in the field of Computer Vision, new applications will emerge. One device that has emerged is the smart-camera, a camera attached to an embedded system that can perform routines a regular camera could not, such as object or event detection. In this thesis we describe a smart-camera system we designed, implemented, and evaluated for fall prevention monitoring of at-risk people while in bed, whether it be for a hospital patient, nursing home resident, or at home elderly resident. The camera will give a nurse or caregiver environmental awareness of the at-risk person and notify them when that …
Asbestos Cement Pipe Condition Assessment And Remaining Service Life Prediction, Abiy Melles Ghirmay
Asbestos Cement Pipe Condition Assessment And Remaining Service Life Prediction, Abiy Melles Ghirmay
Graduate Theses and Dissertations
This research details a condition assessment of asbestos cement (AC) pipe within in the Bella Vista Village Property Owners Association water distribution system. Bella Vista Village contains appropriately 300 miles of AC pipe with nominal diameters from 6-14 inch. The goal of the research is to determine the current condition of AC pipe within the system and predict future performance of the pipes. AC pipe samples were obtained from 23 locations disturbed across the distribution system with nominal pipe diameters of 6-8 inch. Estimates of current level of degradation were obtained using phenolphthalein staining and hardness measurements of each sample. …
Chlorine Demand Shows Thresholds And Hierarchy With Source Water Quality At Beaver Lake, Arkansas, Jaime M. Gile
Chlorine Demand Shows Thresholds And Hierarchy With Source Water Quality At Beaver Lake, Arkansas, Jaime M. Gile
Graduate Theses and Dissertations
This study investigated the effects of source water quality in Beaver Lake on the amount of chlorine (Cl) needed to develop decision support system to help guide chlorination practices in pre-treatment of source water. Chlorine demand assays were performed on water samples from Beaver Lake collected from the intake structure at Beaver Water District from March 2014 through August 2015, and using data from these assays, the two points of interest in this study were the Cl dose at which Cl residuals began to accumulate and the mean Cl demand occurring after that dose. Three methods of analysis were used …
Electricity Generation, Electricity Consumption, And Energy Efficiency In The United States: A Dual Climatic-Behavioral Approach, Christopher A. Craig
Electricity Generation, Electricity Consumption, And Energy Efficiency In The United States: A Dual Climatic-Behavioral Approach, Christopher A. Craig
Graduate Theses and Dissertations
Much of the United States (US) has seen an increase in warm days, decrease in cool days, and increase in extreme weather events. These trends are projected to continue across much of the US and in turn increase the demand for electricity and subsequent greenhouse gas emissions. Ambitious energy efficiency (EE) programs are used across the US by energy utility organizations to reduce electricity demand and emissions. This study examined the impact of climatic variability on electricity consumption, as well as how pro-conservation interventions such as EE programs and experiential learning can be utilized to mitigate residential electricity consumption and …
Trend Analysis Of Water Quality In Northwest Arkansas Streams Reflects Changes In The Watershed, Zachary Paul Simpson
Trend Analysis Of Water Quality In Northwest Arkansas Streams Reflects Changes In The Watershed, Zachary Paul Simpson
Graduate Theses and Dissertations
Watershed export of nutrients, sediments, and chemicals impacts receiving waters. Changes within the watershed (e.g., anthropogenic or climatic) can alter the transport of constituents in streams. Stream monitoring is crucial for understanding these effects. This study developed a potential improvement to flow-adjusting constituent concentrations in streams, an important step of analyzing monitoring data in lotic systems for trends. The method incorporates a K-fold cross-validation procedure to optimize a model explaining the relationship between the concentration and streamflow, thus providing a valuable tool to researchers in water quality. Additionally, two case studies were conducted on watersheds located in northwest Arkansas using …
Photoluminescence Measurement On Low-Temperature Metal Modulation Epitaxy Grown Gan, Yang Wu
Photoluminescence Measurement On Low-Temperature Metal Modulation Epitaxy Grown Gan, Yang Wu
Graduate Theses and Dissertations
A low-temperature photoluminescence (PL) study was conducted on low-temperature metal modulation epitaxy (MME) grown GaN. By comparing the PL signal from high temperature grown GaN buffer layers, and MME grown cap layers on top of the buffer layers, it was found that MME grown GaN cap has a significantly greater defect-related emission. The band edge PL from MME grown GaN found to be 3.51eV at low temperature. The binding energy of the exciton in GaN is determined to be 21meV through temperature dependence analysis. A PL peak at 3.29eV was found in the luminescence of the MME grown cap layer, …
Evaluating A Measure-Calculate Method For Determining Sediment Oxygen Demand In Lakes, Adrian Beirise
Evaluating A Measure-Calculate Method For Determining Sediment Oxygen Demand In Lakes, Adrian Beirise
Graduate Theses and Dissertations
A steady-state mass diffusion model used with simple measurable and calculable inputs for determining sediment oxygen demand (SOD) is compared to an intact core incubation (ICI) SOD method using samples from three lakes. The mass diffusion model coupled with inputs is known as the measure-calculate method (M-C) and is a potential alternative to existing methods for measuring SOD which are more complex, time-consuming, and costly. The M-C method requires inputs for volumetric sediment oxygen uptake (Ṅsed), sediment density and porosity, and water properties. Ṅsed was determined by suspending sediment in oxygen-saturated water with a DO probe and determining the steady …
Electrodeionization Versus Electrodialysis: A Clean-Up Of Produced Water In Hydraulic Fracturing, Brigitte Marie Rodgers
Electrodeionization Versus Electrodialysis: A Clean-Up Of Produced Water In Hydraulic Fracturing, Brigitte Marie Rodgers
Graduate Theses and Dissertations
Electrodeionization (EDI) is a widely studied process ranging from applications in wastewater clean-up in the food and beverage industry to purifying organic compounds. To date, there are no apparent studies on applying this technology to produced wastewater recovered from hydraulic fracking sites. Water consumption within hydraulic fracturing sites can reach in the upwards of millions of gallons per site, so a need for a water recycling process becomes necessary within areas where water requirements are scarce. Implementation of an EDI module that is capable of handling high salt solutions from produced wastewater in subsequent fracturing practices will decrease overall water …
Study Of Plasmonic Properties Of The Gold Nanorods In The Visible To Near Infrared Light Regime, Pijush Kanti Ghosh
Study Of Plasmonic Properties Of The Gold Nanorods In The Visible To Near Infrared Light Regime, Pijush Kanti Ghosh
Graduate Theses and Dissertations
Nanostructures of noble metals show unique plasmonic behavior in the visible to near-infrared light range. Gold nanostructures exhibit a particularly strong plasmonic response for these wavelengths of light. In this study we have investigated optical enhancement and absorption of gold nanorods with different thickness using finite element method simulations. This study reports on the resonance wavelength of the sharp-corner and round-corner rectangles of constant length 100 nm and width 60 nm. The result shows that resonance wavelength depends on the polarization of the incident light; there also exists a strong dependence of the optical enhancement and absorption on the thickness …
The Role Of Organic Matter In The Fate And Transport Of Antibiotic Resistance, Metals, And Nutrients In The Karst Of Northwest Arkansas, Victor Lee Roland Ii
The Role Of Organic Matter In The Fate And Transport Of Antibiotic Resistance, Metals, And Nutrients In The Karst Of Northwest Arkansas, Victor Lee Roland Ii
Graduate Theses and Dissertations
Organic matter (OM) in the environment acts as a nutrient, but may also act as a transport vector for harmful chemical compounds and bacteria. Acetate is a labile form of OM produced during fermentation in anaerobic lagoons used to store animal fecal-waste from concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs). Dry and liquid fertilizers from CAFOs pose a threat to groundwater by introducing excessive amounts of nutrients (e.g. OM, nitrate and ammonia), metals, and antibiotic compounds. In the epikarst of Northern Arkansas in the Buffalo River watershed additional input of labile dissolved organic carbon (DOC) from liquid CAFO waste-fertilizers was hypothesized to …
Field Observations And Computer Modeling Of Tornado-Terrain Interaction And Its Effects On Tornado Damage And Path, Nawfal Shihab Ahmed
Field Observations And Computer Modeling Of Tornado-Terrain Interaction And Its Effects On Tornado Damage And Path, Nawfal Shihab Ahmed
Graduate Theses and Dissertations
Tornado forces on structures have been a research focus for the past decades, and some comparisons have been made to distinguish between straight boundary layer (SBL) wind and tornado wind forces on specific structures. However, very little attention has been paid to terrain effects on tornado damage and path. Available damage investigation data for four tornado locations (Joplin-2011, Tuscaloosa-2011, Parish-2011 and Mayflower-2014) is utilized to explore terrain effects on tornado damage and path. Google Earth, site visits and aerial images are employed to study the influence of terrain on an extent of damage and path variation. Additionally, a three dimensional …
Impact Of Extreme Summer Temperatures On Bridge Structures, Ryan Hagedorn
Impact Of Extreme Summer Temperatures On Bridge Structures, Ryan Hagedorn
Graduate Theses and Dissertations
Climate change and its effect on weather in the United States is a well-documented phenomenon. In particular, extreme heat waves have become more intense, more frequent, and longer lasting, especially in the southern United States. As with much of America’s transportation infrastructure, prestressed concrete bridge girders experience the effects of these heat waves. Uneven heating of optimized bridge girder sections results in large non-linear temperature gradients. In this study, temperature was monitored in three different AASHTO I-girders to determine the vertical and transverse temperature gradients in a pre-deck placement condition. It was determined that the current design standard, which uses …
Risk Estimation Toward A Natural History Model For Low Grade Glioma Patients, Anh Thi Hoang Pham
Risk Estimation Toward A Natural History Model For Low Grade Glioma Patients, Anh Thi Hoang Pham
Graduate Theses and Dissertations
Glioma is a common type of primary brain tumor that represents 28% of all brain tumors and 80% of malignant tumors. According to a recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), gliomas account for 53%, 35% and 29% of all brain tumors (68%, 74% and 81% of malignant brain tumors) among children (aged 0-14), teenagers (aged 15-19) and young adults, respectively. Gliomas are often diagnosed through radiological imaging and histopathology. There are two main groups of gliomas following World Health Organization’s classification: Low grade gliomas (LGG), or grade I and II gliomas; and high grade gliomas …
Design Of A Nutrient Reclamation System For The Cultivation Of Microalgae For Biofuel Production And Other Industrial Applications, Heather Sandefur
Design Of A Nutrient Reclamation System For The Cultivation Of Microalgae For Biofuel Production And Other Industrial Applications, Heather Sandefur
Graduate Theses and Dissertations
Microalgal biomass has been identified as a promising feedstock for a number of industrial applications, including the synthesis of new pharmaceutical and biofuel products. However, there are several economic limitations associated with the scale up of existing algal production processes. Critical economic studies of algae-based industrial processes highlight the high cost of supplying essential nutrients to microalgae cultures. With microalgae cells having relatively high nitrogen contents (4 to 8%), the N fertilizer cost in industrial-scale production is significant. In addition, the disposal of the large volumes of cell residuals that are generated during product extraction stages can pose other economic …
Experimental And Computational Studies Of Cortical Neural Network Properties Through Signal Processing, Wesley Patrick Clawson
Experimental And Computational Studies Of Cortical Neural Network Properties Through Signal Processing, Wesley Patrick Clawson
Graduate Theses and Dissertations
Previous studies, both theoretical and experimental, of network level dynamics in the cerebral cortex show evidence for a statistical phenomenon called criticality; a phenomenon originally studied in the context of phase transitions in physical systems and that is associated with favorable information processing in the context of the brain. The focus of this thesis is to expand upon past results with new experimentation and modeling to show a relationship between criticality and the ability to detect and discriminate sensory input. A line of theoretical work predicts maximal sensory discrimination as a functional benefit of criticality, which can then be characterized …
Enabling Usage Pattern-Based Logical Status Inference For Mobile Phones, Jon C. Hammer
Enabling Usage Pattern-Based Logical Status Inference For Mobile Phones, Jon C. Hammer
Graduate Theses and Dissertations
Logical statuses of mobile users, such as isBusy and isAlone, are the key enabler for a plethora of context-aware mobile applications. While on-board hardware sensors (such as motion, proximity, and location sensors) have been extensively studied for logical status inference, continuous usage typically requires formidable energy consumption, which degrades the user experience. In this thesis, we argue that smartphone usage statistics can be used for logical status inference with negligible energy cost. To validate this argument, we present a continuous inference engine that (1) intercepts multiple operating system events, in particular foreground app, notifications, screen states, and connected networks; (2) …