Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

A Robust Real Time Eye Tracking And Gaze Estimation System Using Particle Filters, Tariq Iqbal

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Eye tracking and gaze estimation techniques have been extensively investigated by researchers in the computer vision and the psychology community for the last few decades. Still it remains a challenging task due to the individuality of the eyes, variability in shape, scale, location, and lighting conditions. Eye tracking has many applications in neuroscience, psychology, and human-computer interaction. Gaze estimation plays a vital role in the field of human attention analysis, human factors in industrial engineering, marketing and advertising, human cognitive state analysis, gaze-based interactive user interfaces, and monitoring driver vigilance systems.

Eye-tracking technology was originally a pioneer method in reading …

A Study Of Wo3 And W0.95ti0.05o3 Thin Films Using Comparative Spectroscopy, James Heyward Howard

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Tungsten oxide (WO3) is important and well-studied in materials science, particularly for sensor applications. In this research work, we consider the innovation of adding Ti to thin films of this material. Since the characteristics of any such material are strongly dependent on the conditions and methods used in its deposition, the main objective of this project is to provide a detailed spectroscopic characterization by Raman scattering, infrared absorption, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) of WO3 and of W0.95Ti0.05O3. This characterization will be based on comparison of the morphology and composition of WO3-based thin films, grown by radio frequency magnetron reactive …

Decision Rule Induction For Service Sector Using Data Mining- A Rough Set Theory Approach, Zhonghua Hu

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Nowadays, data mining is more widely used than ever before; not only by the academic area, but also in the industry and business area. Apart from execution of business processes, the creation of knowledge base and its utilization for the benefit of the organization is becoming a strategy tool to compete. Despite of having ever growing data bases, the problem is that the finance company fails to fully capitalize the true benefits which can be gained from this great wealth of information. The data mining technology instead of classic statistical analysis is developed to help the people to discover the …

Stereo Matching: Evaluation Of Three Algorithms And Two Cost Functions, Victor Jacob Jordan

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The stereo matching or correspondence problem, which consists of finding the disparity map of a pair of stereo images, is an integral part of many computer vision techniques. For instance, Digital Elevation Model (DEM) generation from Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images uses stereoscopy to deal with steep mountain regions that contain forests, and stereo matching is an integral part of the stereoscopy technique. Furthermore, automatic stereo processing, for which stereo matching is a critical component, is heavily used in obstacle detection and avoidance for unmanned vehicles and automated manufacturing processes, among many other applications. Stereo matching algorithms perform a combination …

Grain Size Distribution With Geomorphology On Gypsum Dunes In The White Sands Erg, White Sands National Monument, New Mexico, Slade Jones

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In order to examine grain size distribution over dunes at the White Sands dune field, 1214 geolocated surficial samples were collected and analyzed by laser diffraction. Local variations in dunes such as neighboring interdune types and the presence of vegetation, deflation features, and granule ripples on the dunes were noted. This study indicates that recrystallization of gypsum and the generation of fresh sediments is occurring in significant quantities within interdunes, providing both high and low anomalies in grain size distribution through much of the central portion of the dune field. Other local variations as previously mentioned such as scour surfaces …

Water Mass Balances For The Rio Grande/Bravo From Fort Quitman, Texas To Foster Ranch Near Langtry, Texas: An Assessment Of Factors, Ramiro Lujan

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Water availability is declining in many regions of the planet, particularly in arid and semi-arid regions. Water bodies located in these regions, like the Rio Grande/Bravo at the U.S. - Mexico border, are subjected to high water demands. This research project makes an assessment of the spatial and temporal variability of elements intervening in the water mass balance for the section of the Rio Grande/Bravo between Fort Quitman and Langtry, Texas during the time period extending from January 1990 through December 2005. This document mentions the main Rio Grande/Bravo stakeholders from the U.S. and Mexico, and describes issues related …

Analysis Of Differential Item Functioning On Selected Items Assessing Conceptual Knowledge Of Descriptive Statistics For Spanish-Speaking Ell And Non-Ell College Students, Angelica Amy Monarrez Rodriguez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Recently, there has been growing interest in promoting conceptual understanding of statistical concepts in the classroom. The Assessment Resource Tools for Improving Statistical Thinking (ARTIST) project is a resource for maintaining and developing scales useful for measuring statistical conceptual knowledge. The focus of this study is to investigate whether items assessing conceptual knowledge of measures of center and variation from the (ARTIST) database show evidence of differential item functioning when administered to English Language Learners (ELLs). This is pertinent topic since the population of English Language Learners (ELL) in the United States has been growing rapidly in the past few …

Investigation Of Gas-Solid Fluidized Bed With Non-Spherical Particles, Mario Alberto Ruvalcaba

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The number of experimental and numerical studies of multiphase flows has remarkably increased over the last several years. This research has abundant applications in energy, chemical, and conversion processes. Common use of these technologies includes catalytic cracking for petroleum refineries, fluidized bed reactors (type of chemical reactor), interface modification, and has been an important technology breakthrough in coal gasification. The present work will concentrate on the investigation and validation of gas-solid flows utilizing numerical methods. The gas-solid flows study on this research assumes the solid and gas phases as continua with averaged properties.

The fluid flow computation was achieved using …

Synthesis And Characterization Of Novel Pyridyl Silver (I) Lipid Complexes, Luis J. Andujo

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Cationic surfactants are being used in many applications in industrial manufacture and medical technologies. Pyridinium salts come under the category of cationic surfactants. Surfactants have two distinct regions in their chemical structure, one of which is water-linking or hydrophilic and the other of which water-avoiding or hydrophobic. These molecules are referred to as amphiphilic or amiphipathic molecules or simply as surfactants or surface active agents. Depending on their charge the characteristics of the surface-active molecules may be anionic, cationic, zwitterionic (ampholytic) or non-ionic. These surfactants are used less for their wetting abilities than for their pronounced germicidal properties and their …

Measurement And Analysis Of Turbulent Syngas/Air And Methane Oxy-Combustion, Vishwanath Reddy Ardha

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Development of a next generation gas turbine combustors for power production by using fossil fuels is increasing substantially in order to maintain energy sustainability. National Energy Technology Laboratory has made efforts for developing hydrogen and oxy-fuel based gas turbine combustors which could enhance plant efficiency and ensure low or zero NOx production without sacrificing operational advantages. The current experimental work aims to characterize the turbulent flow-field of premixed syngas/air flames, methane/oxy flames and syngas/oxy flames in a laboratory scaled burner by varying the Reynolds numbers, blockage ratios, firing inputs and blockage ratios in the upstream of the burner. The effects …

Ozone Studies In The Paso Del Norte Region, Fernando Becerra-Davila

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The Paso del Norte region forms the largest contiguous bi-national conglomerate on the US-Mexico border. With a combined population of around 2 million inhabitants, the Paso del Norte region is isolated, more than 500 km away from the nearest urban area of comparable size, thus making it an ideal location for air quality studies of an isolated urban environment.

The meteorological conditions leading to a high ozone episode in this region, such as the historical ozone episode of June 2006, are analyzed. It is well known that stagnation and minimal winds, high temperatures, and pressure ridges over the region are …

Characterization Of Thrust Faults On The Moon Using Fault Dynamics And 3d Visualizations, Jaclyn Danielle Clark

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Many small, lobate scarps, interpreted to be the surface traces of thrust faults, have been found all over Earth's moon by previous researchers. Fault dynamical calculations, assuming an initially completely molten Moon, have shown that these scarps can form due to compressional stresses that accumulate over time as the result of large-scale contraction of the Moon as it cooled. With high-resolution images from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC), previously undetected lobate scarps can be found globally and viewed at high resolution. By investigating these fault scarps, we can determine better constraints on the amount of crustal shortening and improve …

Lifting And Wavelets: A Factorization Method, Adrian Delgado

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

We begin with the concept of a discrete wavelet transformation. We begin with a scaling function satisfying a certain number of properties to be able to implement the wavelet transformation. We will then require translates of the scaling function to obey the same set of properties and this set will form what is called a Multiresolution Analysis. We then switch the ideas to the Fourier transform domain were we get equivalent results. However, instead of choosing a scaling function with coefficients to satisfy a set of properties, we will work backwards and construct a scaling function based on having a …

An Assessment Of Land Cover Change At The Indio Mountains Research Station, Rebecca Anne Escamilla

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Land cover change is a significant contributor to environmental change on a global scale. In the arid regions of the southwest US, shrub encroachment is one of the most important forms of land cover change. Many factors contribute to shrub encroachment, which can impact structure and function. In the Chihuahuan Desert, mountain ecosystems are known as biodiversity hotspots and are especially susceptible to environmental change making them useful indicators of global change. The overarching goal of this dissertation is to improve i) understanding of land cover change in a Chihuahuan Desert mountain landscape, and ii) how knowledge of land cover …

Constrained Optimal Control For A Multi-Group Discrete Time Influenza Model, Paula Andrea Gonzalez Parra

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

During the last decades, mathematical epidemiological models have been used to understand the dynamics of infectious diseases and guide public health policy. In particular, several continuous models have been considered to study single in uenza outbreaks and the impact of dierent control policies. In this dissertation, a discrete time model is introduced in order to study optimal control strategies for in uenza transmission; since epidemiological data is collected on discrete units of time, a discrete formulation is more ecient. From a mathematical point of view, continuous time model are easier to analyze, however, the numerical solution of discrete-time models is …

Dna-Carbon Nanotubes Composites As Gene Sensors, Hugo Alarcon

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Carbon fullerenes are unusually structured molecules with robust mechanical and electronic properties. Their versatility is astounding; envisioned applications range from field emission displays to impregnated metal composites, battery storage media, and nanoelectronic devices. The combination of simple constituency, diverse behavior, and ease of fabrication makes these materials a cornerstone topic in current research.

This work describes experiments conducted on nanotubes using Dynamic light scattering (DLS). The aim is to detect cluster formation from individual carbon nanotube (CNT) solutions using a nanotube DNA binding sequence and a secondary recognizing complementary DNA sequence to bind neighboring CNTs. Dynamic Light Scattering is an …

Applied Evaluation For Life Cycle Impact Assessment Methodologies In The Medical Industry, Aaron Arturo Martinez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In the present thesis, a comparative evaluation using different Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) Methodologies is presented; the study is performed considering the LCIA of ChloraPrep 26 mL Hi-Lite Applicator produced in a local manufacturing company. The focus of the research is to analyze the different aspects such as: characterization, classification and normalization; that each of the LCIA methodologies evaluate and are used for a policy regulations and sustainable development. The evaluation will determine which aspects could be used depending on the Life Cycle Inventory, since limited information is available if not using softwares, such as SimaPro or GaBi, to …

Upgrades To Nrlmol Code, Luis Basurto

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This project consists of performing upgrades to the NRLMOL code in order to enhance its performance by increasing its flexibility by utilizing dynamically allocated arrays and enable the simulating of larger systems than it's currently capable of executing, as well as exploring simultaneous concurrent executions of the program through the use of an already existing MPI environment.

Development Of New Mathematical Methods For Post-Pareto Optimality, Victor Manuel Carrillo

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Many real-world applications of multi-objective optimization involve a large number of objectives. A multi-objective optimization task involving multiple conflicting objectives ideally demands finding a multi-dimensional Pareto-optimal front. Although the classical methods have dealt with finding one preferred solution with the help of a decision-maker, evolutionary multi-objective optimization (EMO) methods have been attempted to find a representative set of solutions in the Pareto-optimal front. Multiple objective evolutionary algorithms (MOEAs), which are biologically-inspired optimization methods, have become popular approaches to solve problems with multiple objective functions. With the use of MOEAs, multiple objective optimization becomes a two-part problem. First, the multiple objective …

Market Reactions To Publicly Announced Privacy And Security Breaches Suffered By Companies Listed On The United States Stock Exchanges: A Comparative Empirical Investigation, Adolfo S. Coronado

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Using a sample of security and privacy breaches the present research examines the comparative announcement impact between the two types of events. The first part of the dissertation analyzes the impact of publicly announced security and privacy breaches on abnormal stock returns, the change in firm risk, and abnormal trading volume are measured. The second part of the dissertation analyzes differential impact between security and privacy breaches on abnormal stock returns, the change in firm risk, and abnormal trading volume are measured.

Using a sample of 114 security (65) and privacy (49) breaches on average, security breaches resulted in more …

Metal Catalyzed Activation Of E-H Bonds, E = Si, Ge, Sn, Renzo Nelson Arias Ugarte

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The present project covers the use of complexes of the type: (C5H5)M(CO)nLMe, (M = Fe, n = 1; L = CO, Ph3P; M = Mo, n = 2; L = CO, Ph3P); M(CO)6, (M = Cr, Mo, W) and M(CO)5NMe3 as catalysts for the activation of E-H bonds (E = Si, Ge and Sn). The work is divided in three sections; the first two involves dehydrogenation and the last one amide reduction.

Analytical And Numerical Solution To The Partial Differential Equation Arising In Financial Modeling, Pavel Bezdek

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In this work we will present a self-contained introduction to the option pricing problem. We will introduce some basic ideas from the probability theory and stochastic differential equations. Later we will move to the partial differential equations since the option pricing problem arising in financial mathematics when asset is driven by a stochastic volatility process and assumed presence of transaction cost leads to solving non-linear partial dif- ferential equation. We will also present the complete process from deriving the desired partial differential equation to the proof of existence of a solution and also the numerical simulations. Using techniques form stochastic …

Three-Dimensional Deformation And Stress Models Of The Death Valley And San Andreas Fault Zones, Cecilia Del Pardo

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Crustal deformation studies of tectonic motions have been the topic of many scientific investigations, as they can provide critical information about how tectonic structures shape and deform the Earth. While crustal deformation studies using observational data alone can provide a great deal of information about how the Earth is presently deforming, it is standard practice to implement mathematical and physics-based models to investigate the underlying causes of deformation in the crust. These models, constrained by geological, geodetic and seismic data, have successfully contributed key constraints of ongoing deformation processes and have provided predictions of past and future tectonic behavior of …

Comparative Investigation Of Cognitive And Pragmatic Thinking Modes Linear Algebra, Enayatollah Kalantarian

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The analysis focused on the presence of different thinking modes found on the interview and responses to questions related to linear independence, span, and spanning sets of two students taking their first linear algebra course at the college level. The findings provide insight on how first year linear algebra students move from one thinking mode to another. The focal point of this research was to document and discern the similarities and differences between student thinking modes displayed on their interviews and class assignments.

Based on the analysis, it was concluded that the level of exposure of the two students to …

San Miguel Volcanic Seismicity And Structure In Central America: Insight Into The Physical Processes Of Volcanoes, Ezer Patlan

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

San Miguel volcano lies near the city of San Miguel, El Salvador (13.43°N, 88.26°W). An active stratovolcano, it presents a significant natural hazard for the city of San Miguel. In general, the internal state and activity of volcanoes like San Miguel remains an important component to understanding volcanic hazards. The main technology for addressing volcanic hazards and associated processes is through the analysis of data collected from the deployment of seismic sensors that record ground motion. Six seismic stations were deployed by UTEP around San Miguel volcano during the 2007-2008 the time period to define internal structure or magmatic plumbing …

Vertical Deformation Along The San Andreas Fault, Garrett Thornton

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

There have been numerous M 6+ earthquakes along the San Andreas Fault System (SAFS) (Schwartz et al., 1984) (Figure. 1.1) in the historical past. These rupture events have created millions of dollars worth of damage, and have been responsible for multiple lives lost. An improved understanding of the motions and crustal characteristics along the SAFS can lead to better hazard mitigation (Bakun et al., 2005). Horizontal crustal motions of the SAFS have been widely studied and applied to seismic hazard models (WGCEP, 2007), however vertical motions are not often utilized due to their complicated origin and sometimes large uncertainties. This …

Development Of The Control And Ignition Systems On A High Pressure Gas Turbine Combustor, Carlos Alejandro Valdez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The ignition and control systems of a laboratory scale high-pressure gas turbine combustor were developed in the present work. This work provides a detailed description of the design, development and testing of the remote control system developed for a High Pressure Gas Turbine Combustor (HPTC).

The combustor has the capability to operate at pressures up to 1.5 MPa and temperatures up to 2400 K. It is also designed for a maximum air and fuel flow rates of 81.93 g/s and 35.77 g/s respectively. The fuel used will be CH4 for the early experiments but it is designed to operate using …

New Multi-Objective Evolutionary Game Theory Algorithm For Border Security, Franciso Oswaldo Aguirre

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The complexity of border security relays on the diversity and volume of illegal activity that must be controlled, and the variety of resources that can be deployed to secure the border. A key operational problem encountered by those charged with the task of border security is the scheduling and deployment of patrols. Patrolling can be defined as the act of walking or traveling around an area - network-, at regular intervals, in order to protect or supervise it. The problem of optimizing schedules for patrolling open areas is one that arises in many contexts, and has attracted significant attention from …

Microelement Localization In Leaves Of Populus Spp. And Tolerance Mechanisms To Boron-Salt Toxicity, Daniel Arriaga

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Phytoremediation has been proposed as a low-cost, environmentally friendly alternative to clean highly contaminated sites. Phytoremediation using trees offer the advantage of metal immobilization (phytostabilization), high hydraulic pumping pressures, produce large plant biomass, absorption of total dissolved salts within their tissue, long life spans, less frequent irrigation and, a massive root system that helps soil attachment. Hybrid poplar varieties are long-lived, perennial, fast growing, and produce a large amount of foliage to harvest. Boron is an essential micronutrient for plants. Certain locations, such as California and Turkey, have suffered from high boron efflux from irrigation waters. It has been identified …

Granular Computing For Assessment Of Mild Traumatic Brain Injury, Melaku Ayenew Bogale

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) is one of the most common neurological disorders. It is a serious public health problem in the United States. Although, penetrating (open) brain injuries that result in extended period of loss of consciousness (LOC) usually gets attention and well taken care of by the emergency departments, mild traumatic brain injury with no visible sign of damage, may be undetected or misdiagnosed. The clinical assessments and evaluations are mostly based on subjective cognitive and behavioral tests. Many people after suffering mTBI complain about decreased balance, coordination and stability even though the clinical evaluations show no sign …