Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Reputation-Aware Trajectory-Based Data Mining In The Internet Of Things (Iot), Samia Tasnim

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Internet of Things (IoT) is a critically important technology for the acquisition of spatiotemporally dense data in diverse applications, ranging from environmental monitoring to surveillance systems. Such data helps us improve our transportation systems, monitor our air quality and the spread of diseases, respond to natural disasters, and a bevy of other applications. However, IoT sensor data is error-prone due to a number of reasons: sensors may be deployed in hazardous environments, may deplete their energy resources, have mechanical faults, or maybe become the targets of malicious attacks by adversaries. While previous research has attempted to improve the quality of …

Charged Fusion Product Plasma Diagnostics In Spherical Tokamaks, Alexander Netepenko

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Charged fusion products from the D(d,p)t reaction, protons (p) and tritons (t), can be detected to obtain time and position dependent information on the fusion reaction profile in plasmas heated with neutral particles beams. We have developed a prototype instrument consisting of charged particle detectors with ion-implanted-silicon surface barrier detectors. Each detector is combined with two replaceable collimators in such a way that it can accept protons and tritons emitted from a well-defined area inside the plasma. The detectors thus provide curved views across the plasma volume.

Combining the data of all six detectors allows one to study changes in …

Trajectory Privacy Preservation And Lightweight Blockchain Techniques For Mobility-Centric Iot, Abdur Bin Shahid

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Various research efforts have been undertaken to solve the problem of trajectory privacy preservation in the Internet of Things (IoT) of resource-constrained mobile devices. Most attempts at resolving the problem have focused on the centralized model of IoT, which either impose high delay or fail against a privacy-invading attack with long-term trajectory observation. These proposed solutions also fail to guarantee location privacy for trajectories with both geo-tagged and non-geo-tagged data, since they are designed for geo-tagged trajectories only. While a few blockchain-based techniques have been suggested for preserving trajectory privacy in decentralized model of IoT, they require large storage capacity …

Molecular Mechanism Of Dream Dimerization And Interactions With A Non-Physiological Ligand Zn2+., Maria D. Santiago Estevez

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Downstream Regulatory Element Antagonist Modulator (DREAM) belongs to the family of neuronal calcium sensor proteins and it is involved in several processes in the brain.

Zinc has been shown to bind to recoverin, with submillimolar affinity. Based on the high sequence homology between the NCS family, it is proposed that DREAM can also serve as an intracellular target for Zn²⁺. Fluorescence and CD studies confirm that zinc binds to DREAM with a of K_d = 4 µM, triggering changes in the proteins’ tertiary structure.

The calcium association to DREAM leads to the formation of a Ca^{2+ …}

Consequences Of Non-Physiological Ligands Binding To Dream On Its Secondary And Tertiary Structures And Interactions With Intracellular Partners., Samiol Azam

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Downstream regulatory antagonist modulator (DREAM) is 29 kDa neuronal calcium sensor (NCS) protein which is expressed in the hippocampus of the brain. DREAM is a multifunctional protein which is involved in a wide spectrum of biological processes, including regulation of potassium current in brain, modulation of pain, presenilin-1 processing, regulation of memory and learning. Exposure to toxic metals such as Pb2+ and Cd2+ have been associated with different types of neurodegenerative diseases. However, how these toxic metals induce neurotoxicity remains an active area of research. In this study, utilizing a combination of spectroscopic and calorimetric techniques, we demonstrated binding of …

Topological Markers For Subcellular Chemical Mapping Using Tof-Sims, Anthony Castellanos

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Time-of-Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (TOF-SIMS) is a powerful mass spectrometry imaging technique that is uniquely suited to the study of small and challenging biological samples. Mass spectrometry imaging permits the simultaneous detection of chemical species without a priori knowledge of a sample. In the present work, the use of endogenous chemical species, three-dimensional dual-beam depth profiling, and multi-modal mass spectrometry approaches are utilized to increase the specificity and reliability of sub-cellular chemical assignments. In addition, the use of these complimentary indicators serve as useful quality controls to ensure optimal preparation of samples for a high-vacuum environment. In the study …

Augkit: An Augmented Drum Set System Designed For Live Performance, Mario A. Carvajal

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Augkit is an augmented drum set system designed for live performance. Augkit consists of a drum kit, microphone, audio interface, MIDI pad controller with foot switches, set of speakers, and a computer. I designed the processing audio engine in the visual programming language Max. Max processes the audio signal in a variety of ways that include delays, flanger, reverb, and synthesis that depend on the frequency content of the signal. Foot switches and MIDI pads toggle and modify the parameters of Augkit. This approach to playing drum set proves to be very flexible and offers new aesthetic possibilities for live …

A Privacy Framework For Decentralized Applications Using Blockchains And Zero Knowledge Proofs, David Gabay

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

With the increasing interest in connected vehicles along with electrification opportunities, there is an ongoing effort to automate the charging process of electric vehicles (EVs) through their capabilities to communicate with the infrastructure and each other. However, charging EVs takes time and thus in-advance scheduling is needed. As this process is done frequently due to limited mileage of EVs, it may expose the locations and charging pattern of the EV to the service providers, raising privacy concerns for their users. Nevertheless, the EV still needs to be authenticated to charging providers, which means some information will need to be provided …

Development Of Microfluidic Paper-Based Analytical Devices For The Detection Of Low Explosives, Kathryn R. Chabaud

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Incidents of terrorism have been on the rise despite increased government regulation of explosives. These regulations and the internet have made the application of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) such as fireworks and smokeless powders more prevalent. These devices contain low explosives which are easier to acquire than high explosives, which are more closely monitored. Pipe bombs typically contain smokeless powders, which are mostly comprised of energetics such as nitroglycerine (NG) and organic additives such as diphenylamine. Another type of easily obtainable material containing low explosives is pyrotechnics. Pyrotechnics are usually made up of a mixture of inorganic chemical oxidizers and …

Development Of Dna Methylation Markers To Infer Age, Smoking Status And Body Fluid Types For Forensic Application, Hussain J.H. Alghanim

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In forensic investigations, biological evidences have great potential to place a suspect at the scene of a crime. However, in many cases suspect(s) usually can’t be identified with any local or national databases. In such challenging cases, police need a tool that can provide investigative leads. Thus, different genetic biomarkers including DNA methylation markers have been developed for different phenotypic traits to serve as source of intelligence information to investigators in cases of unknown DNA profiles. In this project, novel sets of DNA methylation markers were developed for the forensic estimation of human age, determining the smoking status and body …

Centralized And Distributed Detection Of Compromised Smart Grid Devices Using Machine Learning And Convolution Techniques, Cengiz Kaygusuz

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The smart grid concept has further transformed the traditional power grid into a massive cyber-physical system that depends on advanced two-way communication infrastructure. While the introduction of cyber components has improved the grid, it has also broadened the attack surface. In particular, the threat stemming from compromised devices pose a significant danger: An attacker can control the devices to change the behavior of the grid and can impact the measurements or damage the grid equipment. In this thesis, to detect such malicious smart grid devices, we propose a novel machine learning and convolution-based framework, named PowerWatch, that is able to …

Evaluation Of Pre-Eruptive Conditions For Cordon Caulle Rhyo-Dacitic Historic Eruptions, Mauro Andres Mingo

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

For better understanding of Plinian-hybrid eruptive events, I analyzed the variables that affect the pre-eruptive conditions of the latest three eruptive events of the Puyehue Cordon Caulle Volcanic Complex (PCCVC). The analysis was done by performing a petrological study of lava samples followed by Electron Probe Microanalysis (EPMA) on selected mineral phases. Mineral data were then used in established mathematical models to calculate pre-eruptive magma temperature and water content. The acquired data are compared to bulk measured water content, and the difference is utilized to estimate viscosities and evaluate the degassing regime. Results indicate that the historic eruptive events have …

A New Study Of Applying Complexity Theoretical Tools In Algorithm Design, Shuai Xu

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Given n vectors with dimension m in Boolean domain, how to find two vectors whose pairwise Hamming distance is minimum? This problem is known as the Closest Pair Problem. If these vectors are generated uniformly at random except two of them are correlated with Pearson-correlation coefficient, then the problem is called the Light Bulb Problem. In this work, we propose a novel coding-based scheme for the Closest Pair Problem. We design both randomized and deterministic algorithms, which achieve the best-known running time when the length of input vectors m is small and the minimum distance is very small compared to …

Generating Alternatives: The Possible Energy Transitions For France And Germany After The Paris Accord, Anna Fache

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Following the Paris Accord of 2015, multiple countries, including France and Germany, promised to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions in order to slow down climate change. Current energy production and consumption patterns do not allow for such targets. Meeting these emission reduction goals requires a transition in energy production. Energy transitions can be inefficient and costly if not planned properly, and multiple constraints need to be taken into account when putting such a process in place. The model proposed in the present study aims to find the most cost-effective energy portfolios for France and Germany, two highly industrialized nations in …

Functionalized Aptamers For Detection Of Small-Molecule Targets, Haixiang Yu

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Aptamers have recently gained considerable attention for small-molecule detection in diverse applications such as drug identification, medical diagnostics, and environmental monitoring. However, the performance of aptamer-based sensors has been greatly limited by the low target affinity and responsiveness of small-molecule binding aptamers. This dissertation describes several novel aptamer engineering and isolation strategies to remedy this problem. Specifically, we first develop a generally applicable strategy to engineer split aptamers containing two binding domains termed cooperative-binding split aptamers (CBSAs). CBSAs exhibit higher target binding affinity and are far more responsive in terms of target-induced split aptamer assembly compared to single-domain parent split …

Essays On Economic Valuation Of Water Resources, Christina Estela Brown

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Increased potential of flooding caused by heavy precipitation events and sea level rise, as well as growing risk of drought that are likely changes in the frequency and spatial distribution of climatic conditions, pose particular challenges to water management in coastal areas. Extreme events are expected to increase the complexity of managing scarce water resources for competing water users. South Florida, which is characterized by a mosaic of urban settlements, agricultural areas and natural areas, is served by a highly human-engineered water management system grappling to meet multiple objectives, including urban and agricultural water supply, flood control, and environmental restoration. …

Development Of Improved Extraction/Purification Methods And Comprehensive Screening/Confirmation By Lc-Qqq-Ms Analysis For Novel Psychoactive Substances, Ashley N. Kimble

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The presence of novel psychoactive substances (NPS) in forensic casework poses major difficulties for detection, since there are many structural variations of NPS circulating in the street market. There are currently no comprehensive screening/confirmatory/quantitation methods available that encompass the majority of NPS encountered in forensic toxicology. A major issue faced with developing such a method is that full validation is extremely time consuming. The use of a liquid chromatography triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometry (LC-QqQ-MS/MS) method makes the detection of a large number of NPS possible because of high selectivity and sensitivity.

This research included four main tasks: 1) development …

Comprehensive Analysis Of Synthetic Cannabinoids And Metabolites In Oral Fluid By Liquid Chromatography Triple Quadrupole Mass Spectrometry, Carmen T. Mulet

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

According to NIDA, synthetic cannabinoids (SC) include man-made, mind-altering chemicals. Their typically rapid metabolism and instability in biological matrices requires fast analytical methods for detection and confirmation; therefore, the use of oral fluid (OF) matrix is advantageous because collection is fast and non-invasive. The use of liquid chromatography triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (LC-QqQ-MS) and online solid phase extraction (SPE) for sample pretreatment minimizes bias and facilitates low level detection.

This study demonstrates the first use of online SPE for sample pretreatment in the comprehensive analysis of 100 SC and metabolites in OF by LC-QqQ-MS. The method was validated according the …

Spatio-Temporal Multimedia Big Data Analytics Using Deep Neural Networks, Samira Pouyanfar

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

With the proliferation of online services and mobile technologies, the world has stepped into a multimedia big data era, where new opportunities and challenges appear with the high diversity multimedia data together with the huge amount of social data. Nowadays, multimedia data consisting of audio, text, image, and video has grown tremendously. With such an increase in the amount of multimedia data, the main question raised is how one can analyze this high volume and variety of data in an efficient and effective way. A vast amount of research work has been done in the multimedia area, targeting different aspects …

Multimodal Data Analytics And Fusion For Data Science, Haiman Tian

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Advances in technologies have rapidly accumulated a zettabyte of “new” data every two years. The huge amount of data have a powerful impact on various areas in science and engineering and generates enormous research opportunities, which calls for the design and development of advanced approaches in data analytics. Given such demands, data science has become an emerging hot topic in both industry and academia, ranging from basic business solutions, technological innovations, and multidisciplinary research to political decisions, urban planning, and policymaking. Within the scope of this dissertation, a multimodal data analytics and fusion framework is proposed for data-driven knowledge discovery …

Wavenumber-1 Vortex Rossby Wave Propagation In The Inner Waveguide Of A Modeled, Barotropic Nondivergent Tropical Cyclone, Israel Gonzalez

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Vortex Rossby waves (VRWs) have been shown to influence tropical cyclone (TC) structure and intensity change. However, the role of VRWs in TC motion and analyses of the inner waveguide within which the waves propagate have received limited attention. Therefore this dissertation primarily focuses on modeling wavenumber-1 VRWs in a barotropic, nondivergent context to investigate TC-like vortex motion, acquire deeper understanding of propagation within the widest possible inner waveguide, and compare with higher-wavenumber studies.

A mass source-sink pair rotating with a specified frequency is imposed in a mean vortex’s eyewall to excite VRWs. Forced waves manifest as vorticity filaments that …

Towards Trigonal Prismatic Hexanuclear Copper Complexes For Catalytic Water Oxidation, David I. Kreiger

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Our planet is running out of energy resources and traditional renewables are not easily transported nor will be sufficient to cover the void left by fossil fuels. Therefore, a new energy storage system needs to be adopted. The medium with highest energy density that is readily available is hydrogen from water. However, to access hydrogen, water needs to be oxidized and water oxidation catalysts (WOCs) will be required for widespread adoption. In pursuit of WOCs, several hexauclear copper complexes were synthesized and characterized, including the isolation and characterization of a mixed-valent Cu₆ (formally, Cu^II₅Cu^III) …

Phenolate Derivatives Of Octanuclear Iron-Oxo-Pyrazolato Complexes; Enantiomeric Resolution Of T-Symmetry Species, Konstantinos Lazarou

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Octanuclear ferric complexes involving achiral phenolates of the general formula [Fe₈(μ-O)₄(μ-pz)₁₂(R-C₆H₄O)₄], (R = 4-NO₂, 4-CN, 4-F, 4-Cl, 4-I, 4-CH₃O, and 3-NO₃), where synthesized and characterized by single crystal X-ray crystallography, elemental analysis, ¹H-NMR, UV-Vis, IR, ⁵⁷Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy and electrochemical methods (cyclic and differential pulse voltammetry). Results indicate that the nature of the phenolate substituents allows the fine tuning of the spectroscopic data of the compounds.

Subsequently, this project focused on the resolution of the racemic …

Best Probable Subset: A New Method For Reducing Data Dimensionality In Linear Regression, Elieser Nodarse

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Regression is a statistical technique for modeling the relationship between a dependent variable Y and two or more predictor variables, also known as regressors. In the broad field of regression, there exists a special case in which the relationship between the dependent variable and the regressor(s) is linear. This is known as linear regression.

The purpose of this paper is to create a useful method that effectively selects a subset of regressors when dealing with high dimensional data and/or collinearity in linear regression. As the name depicts it, high dimensional data occurs when the number of predictor variables is far …

Stable Isotope Analysis Of Japan Sea And East China Sea Sediments: Late Pleistocene Paleoceanographic Reconstructions, Heather Dawn Black

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The East Asian Monsoon system is an important dynamic of East Asian climates, affecting over one-third of the world’s population. Marginal seas within East Asia are ideal environments to study past fluctuations of monsoon intensities and durations as they are sensitive to climatic and glacio-eustatic sea level changes. This study focuses on continuous sedimentary sequences collected from three Integrated Oceanic Drilling Program Expedition 346 sites; Sites U1426 and U1427 in the Japan Sea and Site U1429 in the East China Sea. Elemental concentration (%TOC, %TN, and %CaCO₃) and stable isotope ratios (δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N) …

Benthic Foraminiferal Assemblages From Marshes And Mangroves In The Everglades (South Florida, Usa) And Their Application As Proxies For Habitat Shifts Due To Sea Level Rise, Zoe Verlaak

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examined benthic foraminifera from marsh and mangrove environments along the coasts of the Everglades in South Florida for their use as proxies for salinity and applied the results to assess the nature and rates of past habitat changes due to sea level rise over the last ~3400 years. Research on modern foraminiferal assemblages from the Everglades are scarce, and this is the first foraminifera-based paleoenvironmental study for this region.

The study of living assemblages examined the extent to which infaunal foraminifera bias modern and fossil assemblages, and which sediment interval should be used as a modern analog for …

Detection And Prevention Of Abuse In Online Social Networks, Sajedul Karim Talukder

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Adversaries leverage social networks to collect sensitive data about regular users and target them with abuse that includes fake news, cyberbullying, malware distribution, and propaganda. Such behavior is more effective when performed by the social network friends of victims. In two preliminary user studies we found that 71 out of 80 participants have at least 1 Facebook friend with whom (1) they never interact, either in Facebook or in real life, or whom they believe is (2) likely to abuse their posted photos or status updates, or (3) post offensive, false or malicious content. Such friend abuse is often considered …

Computational Analysis Of Large-Scale Trends And Dynamics In Eukaryotic Protein Family Evolution, Joseph Boehm Ahrens

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The myriad protein-coding genes found in present-day eukaryotes arose from a combination of speciation and gene duplication events, spanning more than one billion years of evolution. Notably, as these proteins evolved, the individual residues at each site in their amino acid sequences were replaced at markedly different rates. The relationship between protein structure, protein function, and site-specific rates of amino acid replacement is a topic of ongoing research. Additionally, there is much interest in the different evolutionary constraints imposed on sequences related by speciation (orthologs) versus sequences related by gene duplication (paralogs). A principal aim of this dissertation is to …

Coherent And Incoherent Dynamics Of Quasiparticles In Monolayer Molybdenum Diselenide, Michael Titze

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Monolayer Materials, especially single-layer graphite, called graphene, as the first synthesized and most prominent representative, have attracted significant research interest since its discovery in 2004. The efforts were rewarded with a Nobel prize in 2010 for the discovery of graphene, the same year in which the first monolayer transition metal dichalcogenide (ML-TMD) was found to have a direct bandgap. In contrast to graphene ML-TMDs have a direct bandgap in the visible or near-infrared spectral range, making them ideally suited for optoelectronic device applications. Explicit inversion symmetry breaking of the unit cell in ML-TMDs furthermore leads to a new interesting property, …

Tuning The Coordination Properties Of Pyrazoles Towards Specific Applications Via Judicial Choice Of Peripheral Substitution, Shambhu Kandel

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The tunability of pyrazoles make them probably the most versatile ligands, and this is one of the right reasons to its use. Pyrazolyl ligands have intrinsic antibacterial property. Synthesis of pyrazolyl complexes with silver can be of great interest in biological applications. The urgent need to find alternative of currently used antibiotics has been recognized as a major challenge of the 21^st century. Many ideas have been proposed, but re-emergence silver could be the most promising alternative to overcome the limitations of these antibiotics. In spite of the popularity of Sonogashira coupling reactions, there is still a room to …