Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Assessing Inter-Organizational Collaboration Within The Transboundary Network Governing The Conservation Of Southern Resident Killer Whales, Dane Pedersen, Owen Temby, Antonia Sohns, Evelyn Roozee, Gordon M. Hickey

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

The Southern Resident Killer Whale (SRKW) is an endangered and charismatic species whose home range spans the Salish Sea, an ecosystem that extends across the Canada-US border. Conserving and recovering the SRKW represents a high-profile transboundary governance challenge that depends heavily on collaboration between a wide range of organizations. To better understand the factors affecting transboundary SRKW governance in the Salish Sea, this study applies a multi-dimensional trust, control, perceived risk framework to assess the inter-organizational architecture supporting collaboration. The analysis is based on key informant interviews (n=32) and surveys (n=35) conducted with policy actors working for different organizations involved …

Topo-Vm-Unetv2: Encoding Topology Into Vision Mamba Unet For Polyp Segmentation, Diego Adame, Jose Angel Nunez, Fabian Vazquez Jr., Nayeli Gurrola, Huimin Li, Haoteng Tang

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Convolutional neural network (CNN) and Transformer-based architectures are two dominant deep learning models for polyp segmentation. However, CNNs have limited capability for modeling long-range dependencies, while Transformers incur quadratic computational complexity. Recently, State Space Models such as Mamba have been recognized as a promising approach for polyp segmentation because they not only model long-range interactions effectively but also maintain linear computational complexity. However, Mamba-based architectures still struggle to capture topological features (e.g., connected components, loops, voids), leading to inaccurate boundary delineation and polyp segmentation. To address these limitations, we propose a new approach called Topo-VM-UNetV2, which encodes topological features into …

Evaluating Time Series Models With Knowledge Discovery, Li Zhang

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Time series data is one of the most ubiquitous data modality existing in a diverge critical domain such as healthcare, seismology, manufacturing and energy. Recent years, there are increasing interest of the data mining community to develop time series deep learning model to pursue better performance. The models performance often evaluate by certain evaluation metrics such as RMSE, Accuracy, and F1-score. Yet time series data are often hard to interpret and is collected with unknown environment factor, sensor configuration, latent physic mechanisms, and non-stationary evolving behavior. As a result, a model that is better on standard metric-based evaluation may not …

Isolation And Molecular Identification Of Pathogens Causing Sea Turtle Egg Fusariosis In Key Nesting Beaches In Costa Rica, Keilor E. Cordero-Umaña, Ruth Hernando-Martínez, María Martínez-Ríos, Jaime Restrepo, Roldán A. Valverde, Laura Martín-Torrijos, Pilar Santidrián Tomillo, Javier Diéguez-Uribeondo

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

The global rise of fungal pathogens presents an emerging threat to biodiversity, with significant risks to species such as endangered sea turtles. The fungal disease known as sea turtle egg fusariosis (STEF) is associated with high embryo mortality rates and represents a substantial conservation challenge. This disease is caused by two fungal species, namely Fusarium falciforme (Ff) and Fusarium keratoplasticum (Fk), and their identification is essential for guiding future efforts to address potential fungal infections, particularly on important nesting beaches such as those in Costa Rica. In this study, we conducted fungal isolations from sea turtle eggshells …

Generalizations Of Some Q-Product Identities Of Ramanujan And Others, Timothy J. Huber, James Mclaughlin, Dongxi Ye

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

By considering certain limiting cases of a WP-Bailey chain discovered by Andrews, and also limiting cases of certain classical summation formulae for basic hypergeometric series, we derive new expressions for certain Lambert series in terms of basic hypergeometric series. In some cases, the resulting series involve an arbitrary Bailey pair. This allows for the derivation of new basic hypergeometric expansions for some q-products and series that Ramanujan expressed in terms of Lambert series. Some of Ramanujan’s identities are extended to more general relations containing one or more free parameters.

Crises, Coloniality, And Energy Transformations In Puerto Rico, Laura Kuhl, Marla Perez-Lugo, Carlos Arriaga Serrano, Cecilio Ortiz Garcia, Ryan Ellis, Jennie C. Stephens

Sociology Faculty Publications

Increased attention to inclusive processes is essential to ensure injustices are not perpetuated during energy transitions. Crises, such as the collapse of the electric grid in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria, present the promise of opening windows of opportunity for new ideas and voices to inform the future, but they also create opportunities for powerful interests to reinforce existing power dynamics. While coloniality has been recognized as a barrier to sustainable energy transformations, greater integration of the literature on climate coloniality and sustainability transitions is needed. This chapter analyzes visions of the future of the energy system among diverse constituents …

The Taylor Resolution Over A Skew Polynomial Ring, Luigi Ferraro, Desiree Martin, W. Frank Moore

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

Let k be a field and let I be a monomial ideal in the polynomial ring Q = k[x1, . . . , xn]. In her thesis, Taylor introduced a complex which provides a finite free resolution for Q/I as a Q-module. Later, Gemeda constructed a differential graded structure on the Taylor resolution. More recently, Avramov showed that this differential graded algebra admits divided powers. We generalize each of these results to monomial ideals in a skew polynomial ring R. Under the hypothesis that the skew commuting parameters defining R are roots of unity, we prove as an application that …

Polar Decompositions And Spectral Properties Of Linear Operator Pencils, Slaviša Djordjević, Jaewoong Kim, Jasang Yoon

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

In this paper, we introduce the spherical polar decomposition of the linear pencil of an ordered pair T=(T1,T2) . Using this decomposition, we define the generalized spherical Aluthge transforms for the linear pencil of an ordered pair T=(T1,T2) and give spectral properties between the linear pencil and the generalized spherical Aluthge transform of it. In detail, we study whether the spectral properties of the linear pencil of an ordered pair T=(T1,T2) are invariant under the generalized spherical Aluthge transform.

An Overview Of Emri Data Analysis, Zou Xiaobo, Soumya Mohanty, Xie Qunying, Chen Xian, Luo Honggang, Liu Yuxiao, Han Wenbiao, Jiao Jiageng, Zhang Xuehao, Zhao Shaodong

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Publications

The Extreme Mass-Ratio Inspiral (EMRI) refers to binary system with a mass ratio between 104 and 107, where the smaller object loses energy as it inspirals closer to a massive black hole, emitting gravitational waves. It is estimated that there are 105 cycles during the last year before plunge, providing rich information on the evolution of gravitational wave phases. The motion of the smaller object in the strong gravitational field of the massive black hole can reflect the surrounding spacetime structure. The massive black hole is typically located at the center of a galaxy, in which the galaxy environment leaves …

The Gaps Programme At Tng: Lxv. Precise Density Measurement Of Toi-1430 B, A Young Planet With An Evaporating Atmosphere, D. Nardiello, J. M. Akana Murphy, R. Spinelli, M. Baratella, S. Desidera, V. Nascimbeni, L. Malavolta, K. Biazzo, A. Maggio, Ryan J. Oelkers

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Publications

Context. Small-sized (< 4 R_⊕) exoplanets in tight orbits around young stars (10–1000 Myr) give us the opportunity to investigate the mechanisms that led to their formation, the evolution of their physical and orbital properties, and, in particular, their atmospheres. Thanks to the all-sky survey carried out by the TESS spacecraft, many of these exoplanets have been discovered, and have subsequently been characterized with dedicated follow-up observations.

Aims. In the context of a collaboration among the Global Architecture of Planetary Systems (GAPS) team, the TESS-Keck Survey (TKS) team, and the California Planet Search (CPS) team, we measured …

Robust Mitigation Strategy For Misleading Pheromone Trails In Foraging Robot Swarms, Ryan Luna, Qi Lu

Computer Science Faculty Publications

This study advances the security of swarm robotics by examining the resilience of stigmergic communication in foraging robot swarms against deceptive strategies. We specifically investigate the swarm’s vulnerability to attacks via misleading pheromone trails laid by detractor robots, which significantly hinder foraging performance. Through simulations, we evaluated the adverse effects of such attacks on resource collection and forager capture rates, highlighting a notable decline as the percentage of detractors increases. To counter these threats, we implement a robust defense mechanism utilizing DBSCAN for density-based clustering of pheromone trails, complemented by a cluster grouping method that effectively isolates batches of detractors …

Symbol-Temporal Consistency Self-Supervised Learning For Robust Time Series Classification, Kevin Garcia, Cassandra Garza, Brooklyn Berry, Yifeng Gao

Computer Science Faculty Publications

The surge in the significance of time series in digital health domains necessitates advanced methodologies for extracting meaningful patterns and representations. Self-supervised contrastive learning has emerged as a promising approach for learning directly from raw data. However, time series data in digital health is known to be highly noisy, inherently involves concept drifting, and poses a challenge for training a generalizable deep learning model. In this paper, we specifically focus on data distribution shift caused by different human behaviors and propose a self-supervised learning framework that is aware of the bag-of-symbol representation. The bag-of-symbol representation is known for its insensitivity …

Congestion Mitigation For Foraging Robot Swarms Using Spiral Path Strategies, Arturo Gonzalez, Qi Lu

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Swarm robotics offers robust and scalable solutions for tasks such as foraging, but congestion near central collection zones remains a critical challenge, especially with increasing swarm sizes. Traditional solutions, such as static path planning or local repulsion-based methods, often fail to prevent interrobot collisions or bottlenecks near the collection zones. This research presents a comparative study of three strategies to mitigate congestion when returning resources to the central collection zone. The research herein focuses on tightly packed environments where, in theory, robots should follow a preplanned spiral, either ad-hoc, square, or circular, with congestion detection as described in the first …

Understanding Women, Infant And Children Feeding Decisions In Emergencies: The Case Of Covid-19 And The Formula Shortage, Davida Mensah, Edmund F. Agyemang, Constance Gewa

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

Background: The advantages of breastfeeding and its role in emergencies are undeniable. Studies show that many women in developed countries choose formula over breastmilk, even in emergencies. Nevertheless, no one knows if postpartum women under the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program turned out to breastfeed or re-lactate their infants during these crises. This study aims to better understand WIC participants' perceptions about breastfeeding their babies in emergencies.

Methods: A chi-square test of independence was used to assess the association between breastfeeding choice and demographic characteristics and potential covariates of respondents. A post hoc analysis using Dunn's multiple comparisons test …

Magnetized Neutral 2sc Color Superconductivity And Possible Origin Of The Inner Magnetic Field Of Magnetars, Shuai Yuan, Efrain J. Ferrer, Alejandro Pinero

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Publications

In this paper, the neutral 2SC phase of color superconductivity is investigated in the presence of a magnetic field and for diquark coupling constants and baryonic densities that are expected to characterize neutron stars. Specifically, the behavior of the charged gluons Meissner masses is investigated in the parameter region of interest, taking into account, in addition, the contribution of a rotated magnetic field. It is found that up to moderately high diquark coupling constants the mentioned Meissner masses become tachyonic independently of the applied magnetic-field amplitude, hence signalizing the chromomagnetic instability of this phase. To remove the instability, the restructuring …

Effects Of Missing Data Imputation Methods On Univariate Blood Pressure Time Series Data Analysis And Forecasting With Arima And Lstm, Nicholas Niako, Jesus D. Melgarejo, Gladys E. Maestre, Kristina Vatcheva

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

Background: Missing observations within the univariate time series are common in real-life and cause analytical problems in the flow of the analysis. Imputation of missing values is an inevitable step in every incomplete univariate time series. Most of the existing studies focus on comparing the distributions of imputed data. There is a gap of knowledge on how different imputation methods for univariate time series affect the forecasting performance of time series models. We evaluated the prediction performance of autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) and long short-term memory (LSTM) network models on imputed time series data using ten different imputation techniques. …

Highway Crossing Rates Of Wild Felids Before, During, And After Wildlife Crossing Structure Installation, Sarah E. Lehnen, Mitch Sternberg, Hilary M. Swarts, John H. Young Jr., Victoria Hanley, Richard J. Kline

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

In an environment increasingly dominated by roads, wildlife crossing structures (WCS) have been installed to decrease wildlife mortality and improve habitat linkages. In South Texas, vehicle collisions have been a major mortality source for the endangered ocelot ( Leopardus pardalis ). To mitigate threats to this species, eight WCS, along with associated fencing, were strategically placed along Farm‐to‐Market Road 106 (FM106), which passes through ocelot habitat. We assessed the rate of on‐roadway crossings and WCS use by GPS‐collared animals before, during, and after WCS installation using camera traps to verify WCS use. Because of the rarity of ocelots in this …

A Search Using Geo600 For Gravitational Waves Coincident With Fast Radio Bursts From Sgr 1935+2154, A. G. Abac, R. Abbott, I. Abouelfettouh, Teviet Creighton, Mario C. Diaz, Francisco Llamas Villarreal, Soma Mukherjee, Volker Quetschke, Wenhui Wang

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Publications

The magnetar SGR 1935+2154 is the only known Galactic source of fast radio bursts (FRBs). FRBs from SGR 1935+2154 were first detected by the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME)/FRB and the Survey for Transient Astronomical Radio Emission 2 in 2020 April, after the conclusion of the LIGO, Virgo, and KAGRA Collaborations' O3 observing run. Here, we analyze four periods of gravitational wave (GW) data from the GEO600 detector coincident with four periods of FRB activity detected by CHIME/FRB, as well as X-ray glitches and X-ray bursts detected by NICER and NuSTAR close to the time of one of the …

On The Power Series Method For Solitons And Peakons Of Nonlinear Pde, Erika Olivares, Vesselin Vatchev

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

In this paper we discuss the power series method to obtain traveling wave solutions of nonlinear PDE in one space variable. The method, including a recursive procedure for the coefficients and error estimate for the partial sums, is presented for the Camassa-Holm equation. Numerical examples of approximate single soliton and single peakon solutions are included.

A Supervised Machine Learning Statistical Design Of Experiment Approach To Modeling The Barriers To Effective Snakebite Treatment In Ghana, Eric Nyarko, Edmund F. Agyemang, Ebenezer Kwesi Ameho, Louis Agyekum, José María Gutiérrez, Eduardo Alberto Fernandez

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

Background

Snakebite envenoming is a serious condition that affects 2.5 million people and causes 81,000–138,000 deaths every year, particularly in tropical and subtropical regions. The World Health Organization has set a goal to halve the deaths and disabilities related to snakebite envenoming by 2030. However, significant challenges in achieving this goal include a lack of robust research evidence related to snakebite incidence and treatment, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. This study aimed to combine established methodologies with the latest tools in Artificial Intelligence to assess the barriers to effective snakebite treatment in Ghana.

Method

We used a MaxDiff statistical experiment design …

Rapid Characterization Of Exoplanet Atmospheres With The Exoplanet Transmission Spectroscopy Imager, Luke M. Schmidt, Ryan J. Oelkers, Erika Cook, Mary Anne Limbach, Darren L. Depoy, Jennifer L. Marshall, Landon Holcomb, Willians Pena, Jacob Purcell, Enrique Gonzalez Vega

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Publications

The Exoplanet Transmission Spectroscopy Imager (ETSI) amalgamates a low-resolution slitless prism spectrometer with custom multi-band filters to simultaneously image 15 spectral bandpasses between 430 and 975 nm with an average spectral resolution of R = λ / δ λ ∼ 20 . ETSI requires only moderate telescope apertures ( ∼ 2 m ), is capable of characterizing an exoplanet atmosphere in as little as a single transit, enabling the selection of the most interesting targets for further characterization with other ground and space-based observatories, and is also well suited to multi-band observations of other variable and transient objects. This enables …

Intraspecific Variability Of Rice Root Knot Nematodes Across Diverse Agroecosystems For Sustainable Management, Sandip Mondal, Arnab Purohit, Anjan Hazra, Sampa Das, Manohar Chakrabarti, Matiyar Rahaman Khan, Horacio Lopez-Nicora, Dipankar Chakraborti, Abhishek Mukherjee

School of Integrative Biological & Chemical Sciences Faculty Publications

In the rice agroecosystems of Southeast Asia, rice root knot nematode (Meloidogyne graminicola) significantly impairs yield, representing a major species within the ‘graminis-group’ known for its morphological similarities with other root knot nematodes (RKNs). This study delves into the variations in reproductive potential, morphology, morphometrics, and genetic diversity among thirty RKN populations in rice across three distinct agroecological zones in Jharkhand, India. Despite notable differences in reproductive potential among the populations, morphological and morphometric correlations to reproductive potential were inconclusive. However, male and juvenile morphometrics were crucial for identifying intraspecific variability. Genetic analysis utilizing five molecular markers (ITS, …

Source Anisotropies And Pulsar Timing Arrays, Bruce Allen, Deepali Agarwal, Joseph D. Romano, Serena Valtolina

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Publications

Pulsar timing arrays (PTAs) hunt for gravitational waves (GWs) by searching for the correlations that GWs induce in the time-of-arrival residuals from different pulsars. If the GW sources are of astrophysical origin, then they are located at discrete points on the sky. However, PTA data are often modeled, and subsequently analyzed, via a “standard Gaussian ensemble.” That ensemble is obtained in the limit of an infinite density of vanishingly weak, Poisson-distributed sources. In this paper, we move away from that ensemble, to study the effects of two types of “source anisotropy.” The first (a), which is often called “shot noise,” …

Density Functional Theory And Machine Learning Analysis Of C—C Reductive Coupling From Terminal Cyanido And Cyaphido Complexes, Roberto Magdiel Escobar

Theses and Dissertations

Carbon–carbon (C–C) bond activation has gained increased attention as a direct method for the synthesis of pharmaceuticals and industrial chemistry. Due to the thermodynamic stability and kinetic inaccessibility of the C–C bonds, however, activation of C–C bonds by homogeneous transition-metal catalysts under mild homogeneous conditions is still a challenge. Most of the systems in which the activation occurs either have aromatization or relief of ring strain as the primary driving force. The activation of unstrained C–C bonds of phosphaalkynes does not have this advantage. This study employs Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations using the Gaussian16 package to elucidate and compare …

Understanding The Influence Of Traffic And Noise On The Wildlife Community Surrounding Fm106 And Sh100 In South Texas, Anna Rose Mehner

Theses and Dissertations

In South Texas, highways create landscape fragmentation, habitat degradation, and result in wildlife vehicle collisions. Vehicle collisions are the highest known cause of mortality of the endangered ocelot (Leopardus pardalis), which led Texas Department of Transportation to install nine wildlife crossing structures (WCS) on Farm-to-Market 106 and five on State Highway 100. These highways are along Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge, which is the location of the southernmost breeding population of ocelots in the United States. Many other wildlife species including bobcat (Lynx rufus) and coyote (Canis latrans), are present along these highways and …

Structure Modifications And Alternative Monitoring Designs Of Wildlife Road Mitigation Structures, Madison T. Nadler

Theses and Dissertations

Wildlife mitigation structures are designed to keep animals off roadways while providing them safe passage to the other side and not impeding traffic flow. Camera traps are commonly used to assess the success of these mitigation structures, but there are downfalls to both the methods and structures. Alternative mitigation structure designs are needed to better prevent wildlife from accessing roadways in areas where they should be deterred. Additionally, traditional camera trapping methods do not accurately capture the full wildlife communities that may be utilizing these structures and other survey methods are needed, specifically aimed at small mammals, amphibians, and reptiles. …

Technical Potential And Challenges For Agrivoltaic Development In Nigeria, Ifeoluwa Ezekiel Babarinde

Theses and Dissertations

The co-location of agriculture and solar photovoltaic (PV) infrastructure, known as agrivoltaics, is an increasingly popular practice that offers co-benefits like reduced plant drought stress and improved yields of shade-tolerant crops, particularly in water-scarce agricultural regions. Despite its global growth, knowledge on the technical potential, opportunities, and challenges for agrivoltaic development remains limited in the Global South. Here we address this knowledge gap for Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, by identifying high-potential regions based on the premise that agrivoltaic co-benefits are generally most pronounced in arable lands with both high solar irradiation and water stress. We find that northern regions, …

Guiding Wildlife: Evaluating Wildlife Exit Designs And Sensor Lights For Safer Highways In South Texas, Rupesh Maharjan

Theses and Dissertations

Roadside exclusionary fencing is more prevalent on highways to prevent wildlife-vehicle collisions. Although it can mitigate wildlife road mortality by limiting their access to the road, it can also create a barrier for wildlife stranded within the right-of-way. In State Highway 100 of Texas, the Texas Department of Transportation installed ten wildlife exits to allow wildlife to escape the fenced roadway, and a pair of sensor lights on 13 wildlife guards (WGs) to scare off target species (bobcats and coyotes) from crossing the guards and accessing the roadway. In this study, the effectiveness of three wildlife exit (WE) designs were …

Implementing Organic Fertilization Practices To Improve Aloe Vera Growth And Soil Health In The Lower Rio Grande Valley, Isaiah Edward Jaramillo

Theses and Dissertations

Aloe vera (L.) (Aloe) Burm. f., is valued for its applications across the cosmetic, medicinal, and food industries due to its leaf gel. In the aloe industry, the extraction of gel from leaves generates significant quantities of organic waste, which presents an opportunity to repurpose this material as an amendment in aloe cultivation. While Aloe is renowned for its resilience, understanding the feasibility of using these organic shavings as a soil fertility amendment in aloe production is critical. This research aims to identify sustainable fertilization methods for Aloe that can maintain and/or improve crop yield while enhancing soil health. This …

Proof Of Concept: Simulating Drone Tracking In A Border Security Context, Jose Ruben Espinoza

Theses and Dissertations

Worldwide availability of drone technology has risen to unprecedented levels within the past century due to its commercial availability. While there has been various positive applications of such technology, it has additionally found usage within security critical contexts. Specifically, there have been reports of illegal drug smuggling along the Mexico-United States border in which quadrocopter based drones have been used. Within our research we aim to showcase, as a proof of concept, that autonomous drone technology can be leveraged within a defensive approach via the usage of reinforcement learning and object detection for security critical contexts. To promote the importance …