Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Passively Estimating Index Of Refraction For Specular Reflectors Using Polarimetric Hyperspectral Imaging, Jacob A. Martin

Theses and Dissertations

As off-nadir viewing platforms becoming increasingly prevalent in remote sensing, material classification and ID techniques robust to changing viewing geometries must be developed. Traditionally, either reflectivity or emissivity are used for classification, but these quantities vary with viewing angle. Instead, estimating index of refraction may be advantageous as it is invariant with respect to viewing geometry. This work focuses on estimating index of refraction from LWIR (875-1250 wavenumbers) polarimetric hyperspectral radiance measurements.

Rationality, Parapsychology, And Artificial Intelligence In Military And Intelligence Research By The United States Government In The Cold War, Guy M. Lomeo

Theses and Dissertations

A study analyzing the roles of rationality, parapsychology, and artificial intelligence in military and intelligence research by the United States Government in the Cold War. An examination of the methodology behind the decisions to pursue research in two fields that were initially considered irrational.

Evaluating Lithology As An Erosional Control On A Fluviokarst System In Northeastern Kentucky, Andrew K. Francis

Theses and Dissertations

Longitudinal stream profiles can be used to evaluate landscape evolution. Lithology as a control on a stream profile is especially of interests because fluviokarst systems are characterized by the contact of carbonate and non-carbonate rocks at the surface. Due to the difference in weathering processes between carbonates and non-carbonate rocks, it is likely that there is a difference in their rates of erosion. Cave Branch and its tributary Horn Hollow, are fluviokarst systems located in northeastern Kentucky. This area is primarily comprised of sandstone and limestone. The objectives of this study were to determine if variation in lithology was creating …

The Utility Of Mobile Phones For Health Among Women Living With Hiv In Urban Malawi, Linda Marie Dietrich

Theses and Dissertations

The use of mobile phones are becoming ubiquitous with growing interest by healthcare providers to utilize mobile phone technology for various health-related applications, called mHealth. This is especially true in low-income countries such as those in sub-Saharan Africa. When implementing mHealth applications, it is important to understand the dynamic social, cultural and environmental factors where mHealth will be implemented to ensure that interventions developed are effective. A qualitative study to explore the sociotechnical factors experienced by women participating in an HIV support group in urban Malawi was conducted to enhance our understanding of women’s experience with mobile phone use and …

The Impact Of Nanomaterial Functionalization And Core Chemical Composition On Toxicity To Daphnia Magna, Jared S. Bozich

Theses and Dissertations

Nanomaterials (NMs) are being developed for a variety of industrial, biomedical, and environmental applications. Initially these materials consisted of simple metal oxides or carbon based NMs. More recently NMs have become increasingly complex consisting of multiple transition metals and surfaces functionalized with polymers, surfactants and ligands that have the ability to alter their physiochemical properties and enhance performance. As manufactured NM production increases, so does the concern about their release into the environment and potentially harmful effects. The focus of toxicology has largely been on first generation materials and we have comparatively less information about the potential impacts of complex …

A Multi-Faceted Biogeochemical Approach To Analyzing Hypoxia In Green Bay, Lake Michigan, Shelby Labuhn

Theses and Dissertations

Green Bay, Lake Michigan is a large freshwater estuary that has experienced seasonal hypoxia for decades. Hypoxia, or dissolved oxygen concentrations less than 2 mg L-1, is a problem in coastal ecosystems around the world because it has a negative impact on ecosystem health by decreasing biodiversity and fisheries. In order to create adequate management policies for hypoxia, it is important to understand the sources and sinks of oxygen within Green Bay. This study utilizes a number of traditional and novel field methods to measure the production and respiration of oxygen within lower Green Bay, defined as south of Chambers …

Determining The Impacts Of Environmental Contaminants To Zebra Mussels Using Genetic Biomarkers, Nicklaus James Neureuther

Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

DETERMINING THE IMPACTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONTAMINANTS TO ZEBRA MUSSELS USING GENETIC BIOMARKERS

by

Nicklaus James Neureuther

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2016

Under the Supervision of Professor Rebecca Klaper, PhD

Persistent legacy contaminants and emerging chemicals of concern continue to be a threat to the function and health in the Great Lakes Areas of Concern (AOCs). While chemical monitoring programs traditionally sample water and sediment, these studies can only provide information of the type and level of contamination within an (AOC). This being said, information on the biological impacts to the biota are needed to measure impairments of chemical exposure, …

Identifying With “The Native” In Anglo-American Environmental Writing: A Rhetorical Study, Alexis Piper

Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

IDENTIFYING WITH “THE NATIVE”

IN ANGLO-AMERICAN ENVIRONMENTAL WRITING:

A RHETORICAL STUDY

by

Alexis F. Piper

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2016

Under the Supervision of Professor Anne Wysocki

In an effort to contribute to rhetorical theories of “identification” this dissertation examines Anglo nature writing written for Anglo audiences in the United States over several centuries. In my conclusion, I suggest approaches current nature writers might use to offer audiences ways of engaging with Indigenous peoples and Native conceptions of environment that are more ethical, appropriate, and effective than approaches used in previous centuries. I maintain that such approaches could potentially …

Bringing The Outside In: Examining The Impacts That Climate, Exchange, And Identity Processes Have On Organizationally-Beneficial Employee Green Behavior, Sashi C. Sekhar

Theses and Dissertations

My dissertation contributes to growing practitioner and researcher interest in the corporate social responsibility topic of employee green behavior, a key strategic input to organizational environmental sustainability efforts. While it has been recognized that employee behavior can significantly impact sustainability efforts (Daily, Bishop, and Govindarajulu, 2009; Ones and Dilchert, 2012), the psychological mechanisms through which this occurs and the precise nature of these behaviors have not been rigorously examined. To address the gaps, my research investigates the interrelationship between organizational and individual factors in motivating organizational citizenship behavior directed toward the natural environment (OCB-E). The model, which derives from social …

An Adapative Treecode-Accelerated Boundary Integral Solver For Computing The Electrostatics Of A Biomolecule, Andrew Joseph Szatkowski

Theses and Dissertations

The Poisson-Boltzmann equation (PBE) is a widely-used model in the calculation of electrostatic potential for solvated biomolecules. PBE is an interface problem defined in the whole space with the interface being a molecular surface of a biomolecule, and has been solved numerically by finite difference, finite element, and boundary integral methods. Unlike the finite difference and finite element methods, the boundary integral method works directly over the whole space without approximating the whole space problem into an artificial boundary value problem. Hence, it is expected to solve PBE in higher accuracy. However, so far, it was only applied to a …

Analizimi Dhe Zhvillimi I Modulit Të Orarit Në Wordpress, Gëzim Rexhepi

Theses and Dissertations

Përdorimi i një orari do të ishte një lehtësim i madh në menaxhimin e ngjarjeve të cilat ndodhin në një festival, si rezultat i kërkesave dhe nevojave për një orar i cili do të ishte lehtë i menaxhueshëm nga festivalet e ndryshme vendosa të zhvilloj ketë orar. Ky orar është dizajnuar dhe implementuar për festivalin “Dokufest”. Mirëpo ky orar mund të përdoret edhe nga festivale të tjera. Ky orar do ju ndihmoj festivaleve të ndryshme që të kenë më të lehtë shtimin e ngjarjeve të ndryshme e pastaj ato ngjarje ti shfaqin në këtë orar i cili është mjaft i …

Siguria Në Php, Shpat Ajvazi

Theses and Dissertations

Që të rezultojë me sukses një softuer duhet të përmbush shumë kritere, disa nga këto kriteret janë: efikasiteti, siguria dhe fleksibiliteti. Pavarësisht rëndësisë së softuerit çdo softuer duhet te ketë sigurinë në nivel të lartë duke mos lejuar të dhënat të përfundojnë në duar të personave të pa autorizuar. Pothuajse çdo ditë krijohen mundësi të reja për të sulmuar softuer-ët që funksionojnë përmes internet kjo tregon se siguria duhet të analizohet dhe që zhvilluesit gjithmonë duhet të ndjekin teknologjinë e fundit. Në pjesën kryesore shqyrtohen problemet dhe sulmet që bëhen në PHP sa i përket aspektit të sigurisë. Siguria e …

Zbatimi I Mpls Vpn Dhe Siguria, Fëllënza Bunjaku

Theses and Dissertations

Viteve të fundit, temat e nivelit bachelor po ballafaqohen me një nga trendet më të mëdha në botën e rrjetave kompjuterike duke zgjuar poashtu edhe interesimin tim për të studiuar dhe punuar këtë temë aktuale por duke marr në shqyrtim zbatimin e Multiprotocol Label Switching-Virtual Private Network dhe Siguria të cilës në vazhdim të këtij punimi do t’i referohemi si (MPLS VPN).

Objektivi kryesor i këtij punimi është të kuptuarit e teknologjisë MPLS VPN përmes përkufizimit të kësaj teknologjie, si dhe paraqitjes së një skenario ku shqyrtohen protokolle të ndryshme të komunikimit. Shumica e ofruesve të shërbimeve (angl. ISP) që …

Web Aplikacionet Dinamike Me Java Ee, Jetë Leci

Theses and Dissertations

Qëllimi i kësaj teze të shkallës bachelor është bërë për analizimi dhe studimin e platformës më të mirë për zhvillimin e web aplikacioneve dinamike, ky studim nuk paraqet bazat e programimit në Java apo zhvillimin e pjesës së bazës së shënimeve ky studim ofron një pasqyrë të teknologjive dhe framework-ëve për implementimin e aplikacioneve me platformën Java Enterprise Edition. Ky kapitull perfshinë një përmbledhje të shkurtë të studimit dhe përvojës sime së bashku, duke shfaqur një pasqyrë të zhvillimit të aplikacioneve dinamike në web me anë të shpjegimit të secilës pjesë përbërëse të platformës shumë të njohur për realizimin e …

Synthesis And Analysis Of Carbon-Transition Metal Oxide Composites, Binod Manandhar

Theses and Dissertations

Graphene, a two-dimensional honeycomb structure of carbon due to its high electrical and thermal conductivity, and high specific surface area, is an excellent candidate for nano-electronics and energy storage. However, it is very difficult and expensive to produce a single layered graphene by the traditional method of mechanical exfoliation of highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG). It is mainly manufactured by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) or more economically by chemical exfoliation of graphite by Hummer’s modified method. But there is a major disadvantage in using the chemical exfoliation, instead of forming single layer of pure graphene, a non-stoichiometric and insulating graphene …

Feature-Sensitive And Adaptive Image Triangulation: A Super-Pixel-Based Scheme For Image Segmentation And Mesh Generation, Ming Xu

Theses and Dissertations

With increasing utilization of various imaging techniques (such as CT, MRI and PET) in medical fields, it is often in great need to computationally extract the boundaries of objects of interest, a process commonly known as image segmentation. While numerous approaches have been proposed in literature on automatic/semi-automatic image segmentation, most of these approaches are based on image pixels. The number of pixels in an image can be huge, especially for 3D imaging volumes, which renders the pixel-based image segmentation process inevitably slow. On the other hand, 3D mesh generation from imaging data has become important not only for visualization …

Digital Quorum Sensing For Self-Organizing Malware, Mark E. Fioravanti Ii

Theses and Dissertations

INTRODUCTION: Malware authors present an interesting problem for the security community as they evolve and adapt to overcome network and host defenses. The determined adversary is a special class of malware author who may attempt to disrupt national interests. These adversaries may seek potentially novel Command and Control (C2) channels to coordinate their activities. Isolated and air-gapped networks pose an interesting challenge that these adversaries must adapt to in order to maintain persistence on these networks. In this work we propose that a determined adversary may seek to implement a digital quorum sensing system inspired by the quorum sensing systems …

Chemical Forms Of Nitrogen In Runoff From Diverse Florida Watersheds, Jessica Emily Voelker

Theses and Dissertations

Watershed use along the Indian River Lagoon (IRL) on the central east coast of Florida has changed drastically during the past century, bringing with it declining water quality, eutrophication, hypoxia and fish kills. The decline of the lagoon has been directly linked to nutrient overloading; however, the sources and chemical forms of nutrients to the IRL are still not well constrained. This study was designed to determine how watershed land use impacts concentrations and fluxes of the various forms of dissolved nitrogen to the IRL. Five tributaries to the IRL were sampled monthly from July 2015 – September 2016. Storm …

Benthic Foraminiferal Distributions In A Shallow Subtropical Estuary And The Influence Of Environmental Factors, Maria Angelica Zamora-Durán

Theses and Dissertations

Benthic foraminiferal communities are potentially useful tools for assessing and monitoring estuarine ecosystems and as bioindicators of water quality and pollution. To evaluate this indicator for the Indian River Lagoon (IRL) benthic ecosystem, the densities and distributions of Foraminifera were measured in Turkey Creek (Palm Bay, Florida), Crane Creek (Melbourne, Florida), and the adjacent IRL. Spatial population patterns were compared with parameters characterizing benthic sediments, including silt and clay content, organic matter (OM), and associated boundary water column conditions including salinity, temperature, and dissolved oxygen (DO. Samples (n=145) were collected from October 2015 to December 2015 at 12 locations. Four …

Part 1: Design, Synthesis, And Evaluation Of Novel Gram-Positive Antibiotics Part 2: Synthesis Of Dihydrobenzofurans Via A New Transition Metal Catalyzed Reaction Part 3: Design, Synthesis, And Evaluation Of Bz/Gabaa Α6 Positive Allosteric Modulators, Christopher Michael Witzigmann

Theses and Dissertations

Part 1. Lead compound SK-03-92 represents a new scaffold for antibiotic drug discovery. Development of a new process for the synthesis of analogs has led to the development of a number of new ligands with even more potent activity against gram-positive bacteria, including drug-resistant strains of S. aureus. Compounds 36 and 38 represent some of the most potent analogs developed thus far, and preliminary results indicate that they are also not cytotoxic. Research into a Heck-mediated transition metal catalyzed pathway towards electron-rich stilbenoid analogs has greatly expanded the scope of future SAR studies. This development has led to 14 new …

Corrosion Of Aluminum Current Collector In Cost Effective Rechargeable Lithium-Ion Batteries, Shengyi Li

Theses and Dissertations

Rechargeable lithium ion batteries (LIB) have been widely used as commercial energy storage systems for portable equipment, electronic devices and high power applications (e.g. electronic vehicles). One issue with the commercialized LIB is that expensive, highly toxic and flammable organic solvents are used in the electrolyte and the fabrication process of electrodes. The toxic organic based solvents increase the production cost and lead to significant safety concerns in the event of a battery overcharge or short circuit. The recent development of “green manufacturing” technology allows manufacturers to replace the organic solvents used in the cathode coating process by aqueous based …

Reconstruction Of 3d Image For Particles By The Method Of Angular Correlations From Xfel Data, Sung Soon Kim

Theses and Dissertations

The world’s first X-ray Free Electron Laser (XFEL), the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC), is now generating X-ray pulses of unprecedented brilliance (one billion times brighter than the most powerful existing sources), and at the amazing rate of only a few femtoseconds. The first such experiments are being performed on relatively large objects such as viruses, which produce low resolution, low-noise diffraction patterns on the basis of the so called “diffraction before destruction” principle. Despite the promise of using XFEL for the determination of the structures of viruses, the results so far from …

Experimental Methods In Cryogenic Spectroscopy: Stark Effect Measurements In Substituted Myoglobin, Bradley Michael Moran

Theses and Dissertations

Dawning from well-defined tertiary structure, the active regions of enzymatic proteins exist as specifically tailored electrostatic microenvironments capable of facilitating chemical interaction. The specific influence these charge distributions have on ligand binding dynamics, and their impact on specificity, reactivity, and biological functionality, have yet to be fully understood. A quantitative determination of these intrinsic fields would offer insight towards the mechanistic aspects of protein functionality. This work seeks to investigate the internal molecular electric fields that are present at the oxygen binding site of myoglobin.

Experiments are performed at 1 K on samples located within a glassy matrix, using the …

Estimating The Selection Gradient Of A Function-Valued Trait, Tyler John Baur

Theses and Dissertations

Kirkpatrick and Heckman initiated the study of function-valued traits in 1989. How to estimate the selection gradient of a function-valued trait is a major question asked by evolutionary biologists. In this dissertation, we give an explicit expansion of the selection gradient and construct estimators based on two different samples: one consisting of independent organisms (the independent case), and the other consisting of independent families of equally related organisms (the dependent case).

In the independent case we first construct and prove the joint consistency of sieve estimators of the mean and covariance functions of a Gaussian process, based on previous developments …

Eco Ephemeral: Works By Thomas Ferrella & Artists’ Books From Special Collections, Uw-Milwaukee Libraries, Pamela Caserta Hugdahl

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis essay and accompanying exhibition approach environmental concerns through an art historical perspective by considering works of art by Thomas Ferrella, M.D. and artists’ books from Special Collections at UW-Milwaukee Libraries. The exhibition evades conventional boundaries of galleries in order to present artists’ books in their intended manner and to display Ferrella’s outdoor installations in context with UWM’s award-winning sustainability initiatives. The results exemplify how we shape earth and in turn how our actions upon earth impact us, emphasizing human interdependence on fragile ecosystems. Ferrella’s artworks and medical expertise in combination with the content in the artists’ books and …

Sedimentology Of Pleistocene Outwash And Glaciolacustrine Deposits In East-Central Wisconsin, Carrie Czech

Theses and Dissertations

The Green Bay Lobe was one of several lobes of the Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS) to enter Wisconsin during the recent Wisconsinan glaciation. Kewaunee Formation deposits in the Tower Hill sand and gravel pit near the city of De Pere in east-central Wisconsin were previously interpreted to be the result of an ice-contact delta, prograding into former glacial Lake Oshkosh (Mickelson and Mode, 2007). Estimates of water depth in the lake had been poorly constrained as they had been estimated by the elevation of the outlet channels and a few scattered, poorly-preserved strandline deposits (Hooyer, 2007). Reexamination of these Kewaunee …

Late Paleo-Indian Period Lithic Economies, Mobility, And Group Organization In Wisconsin, Ethan Adam Epstein

Theses and Dissertations

The following dissertation focuses upon the organization of Pleistocene / Holocene period lithic technology in Wisconsin circa 10,000 – 10,500 years before present. Lithic debitage and flaked stone tools from the Plainview/Agate Basin components of the Heyrman I site (47DR381), the Dalles site (47IA374), and the Kelly North Tract site at Carcajou Point (47JE02) comprise the data set. These Wisconsin sites are located within a post glacial Great Lakes dune environment, an inland drainage/riverine environment, and an inland wetland/lacustrine environment. An assemblage approach is used to examine the structure of each site’s lithic economy. This broad approach to lithic organization …

Density Estimation For Lifetime Distributions Under Semi-Parametric Random Censorship Models, Carsten Harlass

Theses and Dissertations

We derive product limit estimators of survival times and failure rates for randomly right censored data as the numerical solution of identifying Volterra integral equations by employing explicit and implicit Euler schemes. While the first approach results in some known estimators, the latter leads to a new general type of product limit estimator. Plugging in established methods to approximate the conditional probability of the censoring indicator given the observation, we introduce new semi-parametric and presmoothed Kaplan-Meier type estimators. In the case of the semi-parametric random censorship model, i.e. the latter probability belonging to some parametric family, we study the strong …

Design And Basic Verification Of A Discrete Event Simulator For Glucose Metabolism In Human Beings, Elizabeth Andrews

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis describes the design and basic verification of a discrete event simulator for glucose metabolism in human beings. The simulator implements the glucose metabolism related behavior of various organs in the human body and tracks the blood plasma glucose level as the human body goes through a sequence of diet and exercise events. The simulator can mimic insulin resistance in various organs as well as the loss of insulin production in the pancreas and the adverse impact of these changes on the metabolic behavior of various organs. Thus, the simulator can serve as a model for people with diabetes. …

Investigation Of Sparsifying Transforms In Compressed Sensing For Magnetic Resonance Imaging With Fasttestcs, Christopher Adams Baker

Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this contribution is to achieve higher reduction factors for faster Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scans with better Image Quality (IQ) by using Compressed Sensing (CS). This can be accomplished by adopting and understanding better sparsifying transforms for CS in MRI. There is a tremendous number of transforms and optional settings potentially available. Additionally, the amount of research in CS is growing, with possible duplication and difficult practical evaluation and comparison. However, no in-depth analysis of the effectiveness of different redundant sparsifying transforms on MRI images with CS has been undertaken until this work. New theoretical sparsity bounds …