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Articles 121 - 150 of 3165

Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Soil Water Content Beneath Agrivoltaic Installations In A Subtropical Semi-Arid Climate, John Justin Rodriguez May 2026

Soil Water Content Beneath Agrivoltaic Installations In A Subtropical Semi-Arid Climate, John Justin Rodriguez

Theses and Dissertations

Agrivoltaics (AV) not only beneficially influences agricultural microclimates in the field, AV systems can generate on-site energy to offset operational costs, diversify income sources, and improve overall resilience, while providing environmental co-benefits such as reduced heat stress on plants and improved resource use efficiency. This thesis evaluated agrivoltaic shading effects on SWC and soil temperature using high-resolution in situ measurements collected over one year in an active vineyard, incorporating row type, soil depth, shading, and time of day. With precipitation as the primary water source, shaded soils exhibited up to 24.53% lower SWC relative to sun-exposed soils, likely due to …


Multivariate Time-Series Forecasting Of 24-Hour Ambulatory Blood Pressure Using Long Short-Term Memory And Temporal Fusion Transformers, Sebastian Alejos Torres May 2026

Multivariate Time-Series Forecasting Of 24-Hour Ambulatory Blood Pressure Using Long Short-Term Memory And Temporal Fusion Transformers, Sebastian Alejos Torres

Theses and Dissertations

Time series play a central role in healthcare by enabling continuous patient monitoring and forecasting of physiological and clinical measurements. Traditional models, such as autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA), are limited in capturing nonlinear dynamics and irregular sampling. In this study, we develop and evaluate Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) networks and Temporal Fusion Transformers (TFTs) to forecast 24-hour ambulatory systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP and DBP) time series enriched with demographic and clinical features. Mean absolute error (MAE), root mean squared error (RMSE), mean absolute percentage error (MAPE), and R² were used to evaluate predictive accuracy and temporal pattern …


Structure–Property Engineering Of Sn-Based Hybrid Perovskites Via Bulky Organic Cation Incorporation: From 3d To 2d Architectures, Kevin Alejandro May 2026

Structure–Property Engineering Of Sn-Based Hybrid Perovskites Via Bulky Organic Cation Incorporation: From 3d To 2d Architectures, Kevin Alejandro

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigates tin-based hybrid organic/inorganic perovskites (HOIPs) as a lead-free alternative to silicon solar cells. To manipulate optoelectronic and efficiency of the semiconductors, methylammonium was substituted with bulky propylammonium and tetrabutylammonium cations to induce quasi-2D/3D Ruddlesden-Popper phases. X-Ray Diffraction confirmed 2D layered phases in propylammonium hybrids (5-15%), while tetrabutylammonium hybrids faced steric limits, triggering vacancy ordered perovskite phases at 1% concentration. Optical analysis showed a bandgap narrowing from 1.30 eV to 1.26 eV with increased substitution. Although photovoltaic performance generally declined, the 10% propylammonium hybrid achieved the highest fill factor of ~0.79, indicating superior internal charge transport. This work …


Fixed Perimeter Analogues Of Some Partition Results, Gabriel Gray, Emily Payne, Holly Swisher, Ren Watson May 2026

Fixed Perimeter Analogues Of Some Partition Results, Gabriel Gray, Emily Payne, Holly Swisher, Ren Watson

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

Euler's partition identity states that the number of partitions of n into odd parts is equal to the number of partitions of n into distinct parts. Strikingly, Straub proved in 2016 that this identity also holds when counting partitions of any size with largest hook length (perimeter) n. This has inspired further investigation of partition identities and inequalities in the fixed perimeter setting. Here, we explore fixed perimeter analogues of some well-known partition results inspired by Euler's partition identity.


Low Methane Emissions From Nutrient-Rich Former River Channels In A Hydrologically Managed Dryland Delta, Siena Stassi, Jude A. Benavides, Chu-Lin Cheng, Marcelo Gomes Da Silva, Nicholas E. Ray, Nathan O. Barros, Rafael M. Almeida May 2026

Low Methane Emissions From Nutrient-Rich Former River Channels In A Hydrologically Managed Dryland Delta, Siena Stassi, Jude A. Benavides, Chu-Lin Cheng, Marcelo Gomes Da Silva, Nicholas E. Ray, Nathan O. Barros, Rafael M. Almeida

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Anthropogenic stresses in dryland regions can alter hydrology, salinization, and biogeochemical processes. How these pressures influence methane (CH4) cycling and emissions from aquatic ecosystems remains poorly understood. Over the course of 1 year, we measured diffusive and ebullitive CH4 emissions from resacas—shallow, hydrologically managed distributary channels prevalent throughout the Lower Rio Grande Valley along the US–Mexico border. Despite warm, nutrient-rich waters, CH4 emissions from resacas were low, and more comparable to rates observed in estuarine systems. CH4 fluxes were positively related to temperature but negatively related to salinity and rainfall. Elevated salinity, driven by evaporation and source water from the …


Landscape Connectivity And Wildlife Access To Water Across An International Border: Barriers And Opportunities For Facilitating Transboundary Movement, Bogdan Chivoiu, Erin L. Koen, Michael J. Osland, Christopher A. Gabler, Jerald T. Garrett, Ernesto Reyes, Stephanie A. Bilodeau, Mitch A. Sternberg, Jude A. Benavides, James Martinez May 2026

Landscape Connectivity And Wildlife Access To Water Across An International Border: Barriers And Opportunities For Facilitating Transboundary Movement, Bogdan Chivoiu, Erin L. Koen, Michael J. Osland, Christopher A. Gabler, Jerald T. Garrett, Ernesto Reyes, Stephanie A. Bilodeau, Mitch A. Sternberg, Jude A. Benavides, James Martinez

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Rapid global acceleration in the construction of physical barriers along international borders has greatly influenced biodiversity and animal movement. Physical barriers can fragment landscapes, hinder access to essential resources, impact long-distance migrations, and inhibit dispersal and gene flow. The effects of physical barriers on animal movement and landscape connectivity can be exacerbated in dryland environments where access to water is a limiting factor. In recent decades, the construction of border barrier infrastructure has accelerated along the international boundary between the United States and Mexico. Here, we used a landscape connectivity model to investigate the effects of barriers on wildlife access …


Optical Counterparts To X-Ray Sources In Lsst Dp1, Yuankun David Wang, Eric Bellm, Robert I. Hynes, Yue Zhao, Poshak Gandhi, Liliana E. Rivera Sandoval, Sandro Campos, Neven Caplar, Melissa Delucchi, Konstantin Malanchev May 2026

Optical Counterparts To X-Ray Sources In Lsst Dp1, Yuankun David Wang, Eric Bellm, Robert I. Hynes, Yue Zhao, Poshak Gandhi, Liliana E. Rivera Sandoval, Sandro Campos, Neven Caplar, Melissa Delucchi, Konstantin Malanchev

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Publications

We present a crossmatch between a combined catalog of X-ray sources and the Vera C. Rubin Observatory Data Preview 1 (DP1) to identify optical counterparts. The six fields targeted as part of DP1 include the Extended Chandra Deep Field South (E-CDF-S), the Euclid Deep Field South, the Fornax Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy (Fornax dSph), 47 Tucanae (47 Tuc), and science validation fields with low Galactic and ecliptic latitude (SV_95_-25 and SV_38_7, respectively). We find matches to 2314 of 3830 X-ray sources. We also compare our crossmatch to DP1 in the E-CDF-S field to previous efforts to identify optical counterparts. The probability …


Exploration Of Extended Chemical Reaction Networks, Ramiro Santos May 2026

Exploration Of Extended Chemical Reaction Networks, Ramiro Santos

Theses and Dissertations

Chemical Reaction Networks (CRNs) is a well-established model for analyzing distributed and concurrent systems. A central problem studied across CRNs is the reachability problem, which asks whether a target configuration can be obtained from a given initial configuration through a sequence of valid transitions. Classical CRNs are highly expressive but not Turing-universal; their reachability problem is Ackermann-complete, indicating extremely high computational complexity that nevertheless falls short of full universality.

In this thesis, we study Extended Models of Chemical Reaction Networks in which the dynamics of the system are modified. We analyze these models through two fundamental questions. First, simulation, we …


Bounding The Average Kissing Number, Including New Bounds For Three-Dimensional Binary Sphere Packings, Mark William Bockhaus May 2026

Bounding The Average Kissing Number, Including New Bounds For Three-Dimensional Binary Sphere Packings, Mark William Bockhaus

Theses and Dissertations

The average kissing number is defined as the supremum over all sphere packings of the value: two times the number of tangencies divided by the number balls in the packing. In this paper, we present a survey of the literature about bounding the average kissing number, beginning with the first non-trivial results, through the most up-to-date bounds. We then turn our focus to binary sphere packings: those which contain spheres of two different radii. We improve upon known bounds for the average kissing number for binary sphere packings in three-dimensions and find exact bounds for many packings.


Modeling Causal Interactions Across Brain Functional Systems For Population-Specific Disease Analysis, Alissen Moreno May 2026

Modeling Causal Interactions Across Brain Functional Systems For Population-Specific Disease Analysis, Alissen Moreno

Theses and Dissertations

Functional brain connectivity provides critical insight into neural mechanisms underlying neurodegenerative and affective disorders. Traditional neuroimaging studies rely on undirected or region-specific connectivity measures developed predominantly using racially homogeneous cohorts, limiting fairness and generalizability across diverse populations.

We propose a population-aware framework modeling directed causal interactions across large-scale brain functional subnetworks. Resting-state fMRI data from the HABS-HD cohort were used to construct subject-level causal connectivity matrices via ICA-LiNGAM, aggregated into interpretable system-level hyper-connectomes representing interactions among eleven canonical brain subsystems. These features trained nonlinear models for Alzheimer’s disease stage classification and trait worry prediction.

Results demonstrate that MLP models outperform …


Vision-Language Guided Quadruped Navigation With Reinforcement Learning Control, Chen Yuan Wang May 2026

Vision-Language Guided Quadruped Navigation With Reinforcement Learning Control, Chen Yuan Wang

Theses and Dissertations

Large Language Models and their multimodal variants, Vision-Language Models (VLMs), can interpret natural language instructions and visual context. Reinforcement Learning (RL) methods such as Proximal Policy Optimization (PPO) have been shown to successfully learn stable quadruped locomotion. This work investigates whether a VLM integrated with an RL controller can control a quadruped robot to perform instruction-following navigation to a predefined target using text instructions, egocentric vision, and proprioceptive state.

Most VLM-based robotics work directly target prediction of robot actions from multimodal inputs. This approach often depends on large amounts of expert demonstration data, generated by controllers such as trained RL …


On The Structure Of The Homotopy Lie Algebra Of Local Rings, Dawson M. Strong May 2026

On The Structure Of The Homotopy Lie Algebra Of Local Rings, Dawson M. Strong

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigates the construction and homological properties of the homotopy Lie algebra π(R) of a commutative local ring (R,m,k). Drawing upon the theoretical framework of differential graded (DG) algebras, we first establish the theory of minimal free resolutions and other standard topics in homological algebra. The core of this work details the iterative construction of the acyclic closure R⟨Y⟩ of k over R, which is achieved by the systematic adjunction of exterior and divided power variables to eliminate cycles in homology. We demonstrate that this acyclic closure serves as a minimal free resolution and provides the means to define …


Accurate Polyp Segmentation With Visual Mamba, Diego Adame May 2026

Accurate Polyp Segmentation With Visual Mamba, Diego Adame

Theses and Dissertations

Medical image segmentation is a fundamental task in computer-aided diagnosis because it enables precise delineation of anatomical structures and pathological regions from clinical images. While convolutional neural networks and Transformer-based models have achieved strong performance on many medical segmentation benchmarks, CNNs struggle to model long-range dependencies and Transformers often incur high computational complexity for high-resolution medical images. Recently, state space models have emerged as an efficient alternative for dense prediction tasks due to their ability to capture long-range dependencies with linear complexity. However, existing Mamba-based segmentation models still rely on pixel-wise raster scanning that disrupts spatial locality and use simple …


A Catalogue Of Orbital Periods Of Cataclysmic Variables And Candidates From Tess Observations, Meryem K. Dag, Simone Scaringi, Kieran O’Brien, Martina Veresvarska, Nikita Rawat, Yusuke Tampo, Santiago Hernández-Díaz, Liliana Rivera Sandoval, Wendy Mendoza, Ryan J. Oelkers, Jan Kára May 2026

A Catalogue Of Orbital Periods Of Cataclysmic Variables And Candidates From Tess Observations, Meryem K. Dag, Simone Scaringi, Kieran O’Brien, Martina Veresvarska, Nikita Rawat, Yusuke Tampo, Santiago Hernández-Díaz, Liliana Rivera Sandoval, Wendy Mendoza, Ryan J. Oelkers, Jan Kára

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Publications

We present a systematic analysis of 2544 cataclysmic variable systems and related candidates observed by the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), with the aim of compiling a comprehensive catalogue of orbital periods. Using 2-min photometric time-series data, we applied an automated algorithm to generate Lomb–Scargle periodograms and identify the most significant coherent periodic signals, which were subsequently verified through visual inspection. This process yielded a confident sample of 910 sources exhibiting at least one periodic signal, hereafter referred to as the Cataclysmic Variable Confident Catalogue (CCC). For each object, we report the most likely orbital period together with …


Apparent Hack’S Law In River Deltas, Tian Y. Dong, Lawrence Vulis, Hongbo Ma, Alejandro Tejedor, Timothy A. Goudge Apr 2026

Apparent Hack’S Law In River Deltas, Tian Y. Dong, Lawrence Vulis, Hongbo Ma, Alejandro Tejedor, Timothy A. Goudge

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

River deltas are densely populated, ecologically vital landscapes threatened by rising sea levels. Distributary channel networks disperse sediment to build deltaic land, yet the relationship between the network organization and land building remains elusive. Inspired by Hack’s law, which shows that watershed drainage area scales with channel length in tributary networks, we analyzed a global dataset of distributary networks and found a nearly identical scaling relationship between distributary channel length and nourishment area, the land-building counterpart to drainage area. Despite this apparent global scaling, we further identified two distinct local land-building patterns: uniform delta networks consistently follow Hack’s law, whereas …


Geospatial Assessment Of Agrivoltaic Opportunities And Land Use Requirements In Nigeria, Ifeoluwa Ezekiel Babarinde, Bashir Salisu, Jude A. Benavides, Engil Pereira, Steven M. Grodsky, Rafael M. Almeida Apr 2026

Geospatial Assessment Of Agrivoltaic Opportunities And Land Use Requirements In Nigeria, Ifeoluwa Ezekiel Babarinde, Bashir Salisu, Jude A. Benavides, Engil Pereira, Steven M. Grodsky, Rafael M. Almeida

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Agrivoltaics, the co-location of agriculture and solar photovoltaic (PV) infrastructure, can deliver co-benefits like reduced plant drought stress and improved yields of shade-tolerant crops, particularly in water-scarce regions. Despite growing global interest, the technical potential and opportunities for agrivoltaics remain poorly understood in many regions facing both food and energy insecurity, such as sub-Saharan Africa. Here we provide a spatial assessment of agrivoltaic opportunities in Nigeria by integrating cropland distribution, solar resources, and water stress. We find that northern states—where cropland is abundant and water-stressed, solar irradiance is high, and electricity access remains low—offer the greatest potential for agrivoltaic systems …


All-Sky Search For Long-Duration Gravitational-Wave Transients In The First Part Of The Fourth Ligo-Virgo-Kagra Observing Run, A. G. Abac, I. Abouelfettouh, F. Acernese, Teviet Creighton, Mario C. Diaz, Raul A. Espinosa, J. Lawrence, Francisco Llamas Villarreal, Soma Mukherjee, Volker Quetschke, Miriam Ramos Arevalo, Wenhui Wang Apr 2026

All-Sky Search For Long-Duration Gravitational-Wave Transients In The First Part Of The Fourth Ligo-Virgo-Kagra Observing Run, A. G. Abac, I. Abouelfettouh, F. Acernese, Teviet Creighton, Mario C. Diaz, Raul A. Espinosa, J. Lawrence, Francisco Llamas Villarreal, Soma Mukherjee, Volker Quetschke, Miriam Ramos Arevalo, Wenhui Wang

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Publications

We present an all-sky search for long-duration gravitational waves (GWs) from the first part of the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA fourth observing run (O4), called O4a and comprising data taken between May 24, 2023, and January 16, 2024. The GW signals targeted by this search are the so-called “long-duration” ( ≳1  s) transients expected from a variety of astrophysical processes, including nonaxisymmetric deformations in magnetars or eccentric binary coalescences. We make minimal assumptions on the emitted GW waveforms in terms of morphologies and durations. Overall, our search targets signals with durations of ∼1–1000  s and frequency content in the range 16–2048 Hz. In …


Evaluation Of Sirna-Mediated Knockdown Of Heat Shock Protein 16.2 In Adult Acropora Cervicornis, Edward P. Gniffke, Benjamin D. Young, Keir J. Macartney, Michael S. Studivan, Ian C. Enochs, Erin E. Easton Apr 2026

Evaluation Of Sirna-Mediated Knockdown Of Heat Shock Protein 16.2 In Adult Acropora Cervicornis, Edward P. Gniffke, Benjamin D. Young, Keir J. Macartney, Michael S. Studivan, Ian C. Enochs, Erin E. Easton

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Acropora cervicornis is a critically endangered Caribbean coral species facing a precipitous decline due to disease and thermal bleaching. To combat the loss of ecologically important reef-building corals, novel molecular approaches can be used to understand mechanisms of resilience and ultimately provide a means to modulate coral performance. In this study, we tested a recently developed method for gene knockdown in adult corals that utilizes short interfering RNAs (siRNAs) and the RNA interference pathway. The Heat Shock Protein 16.2 (HSP16.2) gene in fragments of adult A. cervicornis was targeted for knockdown using a single siRNA construct. RT-qPCR analysis of HSP16.2 …


Theory And Simulations Of Delayed Stochastic And Deterministic Models Of Prion Diseases, Gangadhara Boregowda, Omar Sharif, Daniel Gutierrez Iii, Allegra Simmons, Laurent Pujo-Menjouet, Tamer Oraby, Michael R. Lindstrom Apr 2026

Theory And Simulations Of Delayed Stochastic And Deterministic Models Of Prion Diseases, Gangadhara Boregowda, Omar Sharif, Daniel Gutierrez Iii, Allegra Simmons, Laurent Pujo-Menjouet, Tamer Oraby, Michael R. Lindstrom

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

Neurodegenerative diseases (NDs), such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and prion diseases, are characterized by the dynamical spread of toxic proteins through the brain. In prion diseases, cellular prion protein (PrPC), produced by neurons, misfolds into a toxic form, known as scrapie prion protein (PrPSc). PrPSc induces neuronal stress which ultimately leads to cell death. In this paper, we develop mathematical models for the progression of prion diseases, incorporating a cellular defense mechanism that introduces a delay term affecting protein translation and a volatility term accounting for unaccounted biological factors influencing the system. We also extend the model to capture the spatial …


Emergent Storylines That Influence Positions And Mathematical Status In Collaborative Small-Group Proof Activity, Brittney M. Ellis, Tenchita Alzaga Elizondo Apr 2026

Emergent Storylines That Influence Positions And Mathematical Status In Collaborative Small-Group Proof Activity, Brittney M. Ellis, Tenchita Alzaga Elizondo

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

In this paper, we used positioning theory to examine storylines that emerged in students’ discourse as they collaborated on a proof construction task. We purposefully selected a case of group work from an inquiry-oriented introduction to proof course as prior analyses showed it was highly collaborative (Alzaga Elizondo, 2022), yet power dynamics seemed unbalanced. We hypothesized that positioning theory could provide a useful lens to interrogate such power dynamics. Through this analysis, we identified several implicit storylines that influenced the interaction related to the nature of proofs, the nature of mathematics, writing proofs, the role of an external authority, …


Molecular Adaptation Of Sweet Potato To Martian Soil Simulant: Insights From Mrna And Long Non-Coding Rna Analyses, Subramanyam Reddy Chinreddy, Karthik Chinnannan, Purushothaman Natarajan, Vaibhavi Patel, Gwonjin Lee, Manohar Chakrabarti, Padma Nimmakayala, Umesh K. Reddy Apr 2026

Molecular Adaptation Of Sweet Potato To Martian Soil Simulant: Insights From Mrna And Long Non-Coding Rna Analyses, Subramanyam Reddy Chinreddy, Karthik Chinnannan, Purushothaman Natarajan, Vaibhavi Patel, Gwonjin Lee, Manohar Chakrabarti, Padma Nimmakayala, Umesh K. Reddy

School of Integrative Biological & Chemical Sciences Faculty Publications

Introduction: Understanding how crops adapt to extraterrestrial environments is essential for sustainable space agriculture. Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas), a nutritionally rich and stress-resilient crop, is a promising candidate for cultivation under Martian-like conditions, characterized by high salinity, heavy metal contamination, and poor water retention.

Objective: This study aimed to elucidate the molecular mechanisms underlying sweet potato adaptation to Martian soil analog conditions using Mars Global Simulant-1 (MGS-1).

Methods: Leaf, shoot, and storage root tissues of sweet potato grown in MGS-1 were subjected to RNA sequencing. Differentially expressed mRNAs and long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) were identified, and functional enrichment analyses were …


High Germinability Can Facilitate Recovery Of Adelia Vaseyi (Euphorbiaceae), An Imperiled Tamaulipan Thornscrub Shrub, Saroj Dhakal, Bashira Chowdhury, Alejandro Fierro-Cabo Apr 2026

High Germinability Can Facilitate Recovery Of Adelia Vaseyi (Euphorbiaceae), An Imperiled Tamaulipan Thornscrub Shrub, Saroj Dhakal, Bashira Chowdhury, Alejandro Fierro-Cabo

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

While critical to maintaining dryland biodiversity and drought resilience, reforestation has been limited in subtropical dry forests because of knowledge gaps in seed biology that must be filled to upscale seedling production and ensure recovery of imperiled endemic plants. We characterized seed germination, dormancy, and storage needs for Adelia vaseyi, a threatened endemic shrub commonly included in planting mixes to restore Tamaulipan thornscrub, an imperiled subtropical forest spanning South Texas and Northeastern Mexico. We found A. vaseyi seeds have high germinability (82.0%) and a short mean germination time (3.04 ± 0.08 days). A delia vaseyi seed does not appear …


Brown Pelican (Pelecanus Occidentalis) Groundings On A Four-Lane Divided Highway In South Texas: A Comparative Study Using Citizen Science, Bradley Evan Beer, Kevin W. Ryer, Md. Saydur Rahman, John H. Young Jr., Richard J. Kline Apr 2026

Brown Pelican (Pelecanus Occidentalis) Groundings On A Four-Lane Divided Highway In South Texas: A Comparative Study Using Citizen Science, Bradley Evan Beer, Kevin W. Ryer, Md. Saydur Rahman, John H. Young Jr., Richard J. Kline

School of Integrative Biological & Chemical Sciences Faculty Publications

The population of the once-endangered brown pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis) has increased over the past several decades and is now considered fully recovered. However, in south Texas, the combined effects of weather patterns, transportation infrastructure, and brown pelican biology have led to road mortalities on State Highway 48 (SH 48) at the Carl “Joe” Gayman Bridge. To mitigate these mortalities, the Texas Department of Transportation modified traffic barriers on SH 48. We aimed to examine the effect of the barrier change and determine which weather variables influence brown pelican groundings on SH 48. Citizen scientists monitored sections of SH …


Applications Of Machine Learning In Enhancing Evaporation Estimation For Small Reservoirs: A Case Study In Semi-Arid South Texas, Syed Muhammad F Abdullah, Chu-Lin Cheng, Jude A. Benavides, Jungseok Ho, Rafael M. Almeida Apr 2026

Applications Of Machine Learning In Enhancing Evaporation Estimation For Small Reservoirs: A Case Study In Semi-Arid South Texas, Syed Muhammad F Abdullah, Chu-Lin Cheng, Jude A. Benavides, Jungseok Ho, Rafael M. Almeida

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Small reservoirs in semi-arid regions experience substantial evaporative losses but are rarely monitored at daily scales. A multi-reservoir machine learning (ML) framework was developed to estimate daily open-water evaporation. Empirical models (Penman, Penman-Monteith, Priestley-Taylor, Bowen Ratio Energy Budget) andabenchmark combination method (Daily Lake Evaporation Model-DLEM) were compared against ML models. Predictors combined gridded meteorology (gridMET) with reservoir attributes (surface area, average depth, maximum depth, and fetch). ML models (Random Forest-RF, Decision Tree-DT, K-Nearest Neighbor-KNN, and Support Vector Regression-SVR) were trained on four reservoirs using data from 2018 to 2025. Results from ML models were further validated using both DLEM and …


What It Takes To Solve The Origin Of Life: An Integrated Review. Part 1–Experimental Methods And Data Repositories, Silke Asche, Carla Bautista, Celia Blanco, David Boulesteix, Alexandre Champagne-Ruel, Cole Mathis, Omer Markovitch, Zhen Peng, Avinash Vicholous Dass, Eloi Camprubi Apr 2026

What It Takes To Solve The Origin Of Life: An Integrated Review. Part 1–Experimental Methods And Data Repositories, Silke Asche, Carla Bautista, Celia Blanco, David Boulesteix, Alexandre Champagne-Ruel, Cole Mathis, Omer Markovitch, Zhen Peng, Avinash Vicholous Dass, Eloi Camprubi

School of Integrative Biological & Chemical Sciences Faculty Publications

The origin(s) of life (OoL), which has puzzled scientists for centuries, remains a major scientific challenge in the 21st century. Research on OoL spans many disciplines, including chemistry, physics, biology, planetary sciences, computer science, and mathematics. The sheer number of different scientific perspectives relevant to the problem has resulted in the coexistence of diverse tools, techniques, data, and software in OoL studies. This has made communication between the disciplines relevant to the OoL extremely difficult because the interpretation of data, analyses, or standards of evidence varies dramatically. Here, we hope to bridge this wide field of study by providing common …


Spatial Future Ahead! Augmented Reality And Anticipated Life Consequences, Sergio Barta, Reto Felix, Chris Hinsch, Mahdokht Kalantari, Nina Krey, Philipp A. Rauschnabel Apr 2026

Spatial Future Ahead! Augmented Reality And Anticipated Life Consequences, Sergio Barta, Reto Felix, Chris Hinsch, Mahdokht Kalantari, Nina Krey, Philipp A. Rauschnabel

Marketing Faculty Publications

Purpose: This study explores how initial exposure to immersive spatial computing experiences using AR headsets generates lasting inspiration and shapes consumers expected long-term life consequences (i.e., enhancement of reality, perceived substitutability and social impact).

Design/methodology/approach: The study uses a time-lagged research design based on 148 first-time users of spatial computing devices (AR headsets). Respondents were interviewed once shortly after being exposed to AR and a few days later. Data is analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).

Findings: Users' immediate “inspired-by” experiences predict increased “inspired-to” intentions days later. Such inspiration translates into anticipated consequences such as virtually customizing …


Morphology, Phylogeny And Distribution Of Scaeurgus (Cephalopoda: Octopoda) In Southeast Pacific Seamounts, Sergio A. Carrasco, Christian M. Ibáñez, Andrea I. Varela, Jan M. Tapia-Guerra, Erin E. Easton, Javier Sellanes Apr 2026

Morphology, Phylogeny And Distribution Of Scaeurgus (Cephalopoda: Octopoda) In Southeast Pacific Seamounts, Sergio A. Carrasco, Christian M. Ibáñez, Andrea I. Varela, Jan M. Tapia-Guerra, Erin E. Easton, Javier Sellanes

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Octopuses of the genus Scaeurgus inhabit upper bathyal benthic habitats and are composed of five recognized species. In this study, we conducted morphological and molecular phylogenetic analyses of two individuals of Scaeurgus and provided additional field observations of the genus in seamounts of the Nazca and Salas y Gómez ridges (southeast Pacific Ocean) over the last six years. Specifically, two specimens of Scaeurgus were collected at 234 m depth in 2019 during the EPIC oceanographic cruise onboard the R/V Mirai (JAMSTEC, Japan), and five other specimens were video recorded at depths between 210 and 340 m during three oceanographic expeditions …


Dissection Of The Quintuple Product, With Applications, Tim Huber, James Mclaughlin, Dongxi Ye Apr 2026

Dissection Of The Quintuple Product, With Applications, Tim Huber, James Mclaughlin, Dongxi Ye

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

This work considers the m-dissection (for m≢0(mod3)">m≢0(mod3)) of the general quintuple productQ(z,q)=(z,q/z,q;q)∞(qz2,q/z2;q2)∞.">Q(z,q)=(z,q/z,q;q)∞(qz2,q/z2;q2)∞.Multiple novel applications arise from this m-dissection. For example, we derive the general partition identityDS(mn+(m2−1)/24)=(−1)(m+1)/6bm(n), for all n≥0,">DS(mn+(m2−1)/24)=(−1)(m+1)/6bm(n), for all n≥0,where m≡5(mod6)">m≡5(mod6) is a square-free positive integer relatively prime to 6; DS(n)">DS(n) is defined, for S the set of positive integers containing no multiples of m, to be the number of partitions of n into an even number of distinct parts from S minus the number of partitions of n into an odd number of distinct parts from S; and …


Soliton Solutions To The Coupled Sasa–Satsuma Equation Under Mixed Boundary Conditions, Changyan Shi, Xiyao Chen, Guangxiong Zhang, Chengfa Wu, Bao-Feng Feng Apr 2026

Soliton Solutions To The Coupled Sasa–Satsuma Equation Under Mixed Boundary Conditions, Changyan Shi, Xiyao Chen, Guangxiong Zhang, Chengfa Wu, Bao-Feng Feng

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

In this paper, we derive general bright–dark soliton solutions to the coupled Sasa–Satsuma (CSS) equation using the Kadomtsev–Petviashvili reduction method. Since the CSS equation is a special case of the four-component Hirota equation, our approach begins with the construction of two-bright-two-dark soliton solutions for the four-component Hirota equation. By imposing specific parameter constraints, these solutions are subsequently reduced to the bright–dark soliton solutions of the CSS equation. Finally, the dynamical behaviours of the one- and two-bright–dark soliton solutions are thoroughly analysed and illustrated.


Short-Term Electricity Price Forecasting With Constrained Regressors, Mucun Sun, Li Zhang, Yifeng Gao Apr 2026

Short-Term Electricity Price Forecasting With Constrained Regressors, Mucun Sun, Li Zhang, Yifeng Gao

Computer Science Faculty Publications

The volatility of electricity price presents a challenge to market participants as their decision-making process are highly depend on the accuracy of price forecasts. However, there is growing empirical evidence of increasing price volatility and price spikes in electricity markets as a result of variable renewable energy generation, extreme weather events, and other factors. The distribution shift caused by spikes in electricity price data differentiates the forecasting tasks from other renewable energy sources. Moreover, the observations may be compromised by cyberattacks and thus not available in the testing phase. To this end, we propose a Similarity-Enhanced Electricity Decomposition Forecasting model …