Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Draft Final 2024 Unreclaimed Sites Sampling: Ur-44 Site Evaluation Summary Report, Pioneer Technical Services, Inc.

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

The Colorado River Upper Initial Units Take Center Stage, Eric Kuhn, Anne Castle, Jack Schmidt, Kathryn Sorensen, Katherine Tara

The Traveling Wilburys of the Colorado River

In 1956, Congress authorized the Upper Initial Units—Flaming Gorge Reservoir,

Navajo Reservoir, and the Aspinall Unit (UIUs)—for a variety of water use

purposes in the Upper Colorado River Basin, including compliance with the

1922 Colorado River Compact (1922 Compact). The historical record is clear

that the primary reason these reservoirs exist is to satisfy the math of the 1922

Compact and the obligations it imposed on the Upper Division States

regarding flows at Lee Ferry.

Simulating Infrared Spectra Of Matrix Isolation Experiments: What Works Best?, Matthew H.V. Graneri, Dino Spagnoli, Duncan A. Wild, Allan J. Mckinley

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Matrix isolation is an experimental technique which allows spectroscopists to observe highly reactive or weakly bound systems by trapping them in frozen noble gas matrices. In this work, we studied the viability of using ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) to simulate several H2S·amine complexes isolated in solid argon crystals, comparing the results with conventional density functional theory (DFT) harmonic and anharmonic calculations to assess the most practical and accurate method to calculate the vibrational spectrum of such systems. While AIMD accurately predicted the intensity ratios of certain peaks, the frequencies themselves were no more accurate than conventional harmonic DFT calculations. …

Funding And Financing Mechanisms For Decarbonization At Higher Education Institutions, Emma Coopersmith, Dimitra Prassa, Alexander R. Barron

Environmental Science and Policy: Faculty Publications

A growing number of higher education institutions (HEIs) are decarbonizing their campuses, with thermal energy networks supported by ground-source-heat pumps (GSHPs) as the most common approach (Barron et al., 2025). The value proposition of these systems includes net savings on energy and maintenance, increasing occupant comfort, reducing air pollution and addressing deferred maintenance, guarding against future regulatory risk, providing education and research opportunities, and helping institutions meet climate goals. Despite the many benefits of decarbonization, funding and financing pose a significant challenge given the high upfront costs for GSHPs and building retrofits. “How will we pay for this?” is likely …

Detector Orientation Matters: Consequences For Gravitational-Wave Background Detectability, Nelson Christensen, Joseph D. Romano, Mairi Sakellariadou, Jishnu Suresh

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Publications

Cross-correlation searches for gravitational-wave backgrounds depend on the geometrical configuration (physical separation and relative orientation) of the detectors comprising the network. Applying standard techniques to a few simple examples, we illustrate how the relative orientation of a pair of Earth-based L-shaped laser interferometers can drastically impact the detectability of both isotropic and anisotropic gravitational-wave backgrounds.

Identifiability, Sequentiality And Infinity (--Remarks--), Jose L. Menaldi

Mathematics Faculty Research Publications

Two sections are added to my previous article with similar title, in relation to the so-called dynamic logic-error, other complications with modern mathematics and some details on the philosophy behind scene. These remarks could be seen as more details on the axioms of math-arguments and the actual basis-inspiration of the meta-math previously developed. In other words, this `continuation' gives the connection between (meta-)mathematics and the science of the creation-energy.

Butte Priority Soils Operable Unit Draft Final Unreclaimed Sites Field Sampling And Investigation Plan: Ur-54 – East Of Main And Gagnon, Mike Mcanulty

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Bridging Theory And Practice: A Data-Driven Community Partnership To Optimize Maintenance Effectiveness, Daniel Wu

Academic Affairs

This project established an immersive, industry-engaged learning experience that embedded Data Science students in a professional business environment through a partnership with Thiele Kaolin. Students applied advanced data mining, machine learning, and big data analytics techniques to large proprietary datasets to address authentic business challenges and generate actionable, data-driven insights. By working with complex real-world data, students bridged the gap between classroom theory and industry practice while gaining hands-on experience with the full data science workflow, including data preparation, exploratory analysis, predictive modeling, and results interpretation. The project also fostered critical thinking, teamwork, and professional competencies. Students collaborated in multidisciplinary …

Clark Tailings Consolidated Waste Management Area Site Investigation Quality Assurance Project Plan (Qapp), Woodard & Curran

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Computational Study Of Irrational Rotations Via Exact Discontinuity Tracking: A New Experimental Framework, Hannah Kravitz

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Publications and Presentations

We present an algorithm for studying the sum𝐺𝑁⁡(𝑥,𝜌)=𝑁∑𝑘=1[{𝑥+𝑘⁢𝜌}−12],

which is closely related to the discrepancy of the irrational rotation. Computation of𝐺𝑁and associated statistics is notoriously difficult due to numerical instability and the failure of sampling to capture the discontinuities. Our algorithm instead fully defines𝐺𝑁through its discontinuities, which allows computation of𝐺𝑁⁡(𝑥,𝜌)with errors on the order of𝑁times machine epsilon in𝑂⁡(𝑁)time for practical𝑁. The associated probability density function can then be computed in𝑂⁡(𝑁⁢log⁡𝑁)time. Presented as a tool for experimental mathematics, the algorithm enables reliable plots of the descriptive statistics of𝐺𝑁over𝑁, in particular the length of the support of the pdf (the discrepancy), revealing …

Fisheries Science Update - Pilbara Demersal Scalefish Resource - October 2026, Department Of Primary Industries And Regional Development, Western Australia

Fisheries Science Updates

The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) monitors the status of Western Australia’s demersal scalefish resources by undertaking periodic stock assessments on key indicator species.

This summary provides key outcomes of the 2026 Pilbara red emperor stock assessment (Resource Assessment Report No. 12).

Resource Assessment Report No. 12: North Coast Demersal Scalefish Resource: Pilbara Red Emperor 2026 Assessment, Fabian I. Trinnie, Rubie Evans-Powell, Brett Crisafulli, S. A. Hesp, Ainslie Denham, Dion Boddington, Craig L. Skepper

Resource Assessment Reports

Executive Summary

The North Coast Demersal Scalefish Resource (NCDSR) comprises ecological suites of tropical demersal fish species that occur predominantly in inshore (20–250 m deep) and offshore (> 250 m deep) waters of the North Coast Bioregion (NCB). More than 60 demersal species are landed by fisheries operating in the Kimberley and Pilbara regions of the NCB each year, including higher-valued species, such as red emperor (Lutjanus sebae), goldband snapper (Pristipomoides multidens), rankin cod (Epinephelus rankini), and ruby snapper (Etelis boweni), and lower-valued species, such as bluespotted emperor (Lethrinus punctulatus).

The Pilbara Demersal Scalefish Resource (PDSR) is harvested by the …

Don’T Sweat Interaction Trees Proof-Guided Local Variable Lifting For Interaction Trees, Yiming Lin, Ian Kariniemi, Yao Li

Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Verifying existing software is hard: Programs are developed in languages not amenable to verification, involve complicated optimizations that obscure the underlying logic, and are gigantic in size. In this paper, we propose a way to ease this pain via a simplification framework that employs interaction trees as a language-agnostic interface. We show that local variable lifting, the technique underlying AutoCorres for the Simpl language, can be generalized to interaction trees via an implementation in Rocq. A key challenge with simplifying interaction trees is that they are highly dynamic structures and we would like our approach to work with mostly uninterpreted …

Chemnetworks: New Capabilities For High-Throughput, Real-Time Chemical Graph Construction And Analysis, Daniel J. Pope, Jackson Elowitt, Bo Zhang, Manish Parashar, Aurora E. Clark

Michigan Tech Publications

A major revision of the ChemNetworks software (originally published in the Journal of Computational Chemistry, 2014, 35, 495–505) is presented. While the original ChemNetworks provided foundational graph construction capabilities for chemical systems, it was limited to simple distance and 3-body angular edge criteria, was not designed for high-performance computing environments or real-time operation alongside running simulations. This release addresses these limitations through three core contributions. First, a recursive Z-matrix-based search algorithm is introduced that enables chemically intuitive, arbitrarily descriptive three-dimensional structure searches, supporting geometric, energetic, and logical criteria. Second, the DataSpaces data staging framework is incorporated as an optional I/O …

Age-Related Lens Membrane Composition And N101d Deamidation Modulate Αa–Crystallin Membrane Interactions Relevant To Cataract, Preston Hazen, Jordyn Anderson, Navdeep Kalkat, Binod Aryal, Nawal K. Khadka, Laxman Mainali

Boise State University Publications and Presentations

Purpose: αA-crystallin (αAc), the predominant subunit comprising α-crystallin (αABc), becomes increasingly deamidated and membrane bound with cataract formation. Furthermore, the lens lipids and cholesterol (Chol) composition significantly change with age and cataract formation. Despite this, the relationship between αAc deamidation and lens membrane composition in cataractogenesis remains unclear. To address this, we analyzed the role of N101 deamidation and membrane composition in the membrane interactions of αAc.

Methods: Experimentation involved using electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) to analyze wild-type (WT) and N101D-αAc membrane binding and its physical effects on the membrane properties of 60-year-old (yo) and 20-yo model human lens lipid …

Online Multidimensional Multiple Choice Knapsack Path Planner For Uavs, Manisha Wadhwa, Neelima Gupta, Sanjay Madria

Computer Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

The rapid proliferation of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in safety–critical and time-sensitive applications such as disaster management, battlefield reconnaissance, urban surveillance and infrastructure inspection demands online path planning strategies. A fundamental requirement in such missions is generating flight paths that pass through some pre-specified waypoints while servicing dynamically requested spatio-temporal task points arriving randomly such as capturing aerial imagery. Existing UAV path planning approaches, including A* and its variants, meta-heuristic algorithms, and dynamic programming, find the shortest distance path from source to destination, but they are predominantly offline and assume complete prior environmental knowledge, thus, incur significantly higher computational cost …

Finite Mathematics: A Course Guide, Angela West Dixon, Hillary Dosser

Faculty Publications

Finite Mathematics: A Course Guide is a supplement to Mathematics for Business and Social Sciences by Kathryn Bollinger and Vanessa Coffelt. The authors of this Course Guide, Angela Dixon and Hilary Dosser, are instructors of Mathematics at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas. This Course Guide was developed in response to adapting MATH 1324, Finite Mathematics to a zero-cost course, using an Open Educational Resource (OER) implemented in the Fall semester of 2026. According to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board’s Academic Course Guide Manual (ACGM), MATH 1324 Mathematics for Business and Social Sciences concerns the application of …

Rent-A-Rag: Embedding-Space Watermarks For Auditing Third-Party Rag, Alexandr Goultiaev Tolstokorov, Kyriakos Mouratidis, Javad Dogani, Nikolaos Laoutaris

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Third-party retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) marketplaces create a new auditing problem: data providers may license corpora to a RAG operator, yet later have no visibility into whether their documents are being reused without compensation. Auditing this misuse is difficult because the operator is non-cooperative, answers are paraphrased by the generator, and one response may combine evidence from many providers. We propose DirBucket, a provider-side semantic watermarking and black-box auditing framework for document-level reuse in multi-provider RAG. DirBucket watermarks documents by meaningpreserving paraphrases whose embeddings are biased toward provider-bucket secret directions, enabling detection from black-box answers while preserving retrieval utility. On a …

Are We Stuck? Modeling And Detecting Deadlocks In Multi-Autonomous Vehicle Systems, Mingfei Cheng, Xiaofei Xie, Lili Quan, Yuan Zhou

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Autonomous driving system (ADS) testing is essential to ensure the safety and reliability of autonomous vehicles (AVs) prior to deployment. As ADSs are increasingly deployed in multi-AV traffic environments, it becomes crucial to assess their cooperative performance, particularly with respect to deadlock, a fundamental liveness issue in concurrent systems that can lead to traffic congestion and prolonged stalling. However, the analysis and testing of ADSs’ cooperative capabilities with respect to deadlock remain largely underexplored. In this work, we present the first systematic study of deadlock in multi-AV systems. We formalize deadlock in autonomous driving using a time-indexed wait-for relation grounded …

Compiling Code Llms Into Lightweight Executables, Jieke Shi, Junda He, Zhou Yang, Chengran Yang, Mykhailo Klymenko, Thong (James) Hoang, Sherry (Xiwei) Xu, Zhenchang Xing, David Lo

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

The demand for better prediction accuracy and higher execution performance in neural networks continues to grow. The emergence and success of Large Language Models (LLMs) have produced many cloud-based tools for software engineering tasks such as code suggestion. Although effective, cloud deployment raises concerns over privacy, latency, and reliance on network connectivity. Running LLMs locally on personal devices such as laptops would address these issues, because it enables offline use and reduces response time. However, local deployment is challenging, since commodity devices lack high-performance accelerators such as GPUs and are constrained by limited memory and compute capacity, which makes it …

Microwave Spectrum And Iodine Nuclear Quadrupole Coupling Constants Of Difluorodiiodomethane, Cf2i2, Michael J. Carrillo, Michael J. Tubergen, Garry S. Grubbs, S. A. Cooke, Stewart E. Novick

Chemistry Faculty Research & Creative Works

The high-resolution rotational spectrum of difluoro diiodomethane is reported for the first time. A molecular-beam broadband Fourier transform microwave spectrometer recorded the spectrum over the frequency range of 5.9–18.1 GHz. The rotational constants, centrifugal distortion constants, nuclear quadrupole coupling constants, and nuclear spin-rotation constants for the two equivalent iodine nuclei were determined from fitting 1378 hyperfine transitions of 163 rotational transitions: A = 2743.79691(18)MHz, B = 587.83103(5) MHz, C = 528.72470(5) MHz, χaa = −1213.287(6) MHz, χbb – χcc = −885.210(5) MHz, and χab = 1437.721(5) MHz. 31 dipole-forbidden/quadrupole-allowed transitions, arising from the large nuclear quadrupole coupling effect of iodine, …

Fostering Public Appreciation For Science Through Online Communication, Carrie Craig-Barnes

Paul English Applied Artificial Intelligence (AI) Institute Publications

This presentation explores strategies for fostering public appreciation for science through online communication, highlighting initiatives developed by the NSF Center for Computer Assisted Synthesis (C-CAS). Carrie Craig-Barnes discusses the use of social media platforms, including Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok, to communicate scientific research, engage broader audiences, and make complex scientific concepts more accessible.

The presentation examines approaches to science communication through short-form videos, educational content, collaborations with science communicators, and audience engagement strategies. It also introduces an interactive video game project that combines chemistry education, machine learning, and crowdsourced scientific research, allowing participants to contribute to the classification of scientific …

Deflation-Based Preconditioning For Parallel Time Stepping Algorithms, Marina Nacianceno, Josef A. Sifuentes

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

Often, in solving large systems of differential equations using a time-stepping algorithm, one must solve multiple linear systems where the coefficient matrix is unchanged or shifted by a constant multiple of the identity. This can be computationally expensive when the coefficient matrix involved is very large. Where direct methods like Gaussian elimination are infeasible, iterative methods like GMRES are often used. It is especially useful when the matrices involved are sparse or allow for fast matrix multiplication algorithms. In this paper, we propose preconditioning strategies that glean information from previous runs of GMRES to build an effective preconditioner for subsequent …

First Evaluation Of Contrast-Enhanced Micro-Xct As A Tool For Organismal And Reproductive Trait Observations In Corals Based On Scans Of Thesea Nivea Deichmann, 1936, Erin E. Easton

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Micro-X-ray computed tomography (micro-XCT) with contrast enhancement is considered a non-destructive tool that is increasingly being applied to explore the internal and external structures of vertebrates and invertebrates. Although micro-XCT has been applied to corals to study skeletal features, contrast enhancement has not been applied to evaluate the utility for visualization of soft tissue structures in corals. This study is the first to evaluate the utility of contrast enhancement to visualize internal and external features, including soft tissue features, of octocorals. Contrast staining of a Thesea nivea specimen with 2.5% Lugol's iodine permitted visualization of soft tissues with sufficient density …

Blue Carbon Ecosystems As Climate Solutions: Sequestration Across Coastal And Marine Environments, Allison K. White, Richard J. Kline, Md. Saydur Rahman

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Blue carbon ecosystems (BCEs) such as mangroves, salt marshes, and seagrasses, sequester significant amounts of CO2 from the atmosphere. These ecosystems capture and store carbon in biomass and sediments over long periods. Other marine ecosystems, including the open ocean, kelp forests, bivalve reefs, and coral reefs, have been excluded from the BCEs, but they have the potential to serve as crucial blue carbon sinks or to support adjacent BCEs. Climate change, however, poses severe threats to these ecosystems. Rising sea levels, increasing temperatures, and ocean acidification can lead to habitat loss, reduced biodiversity, and impaired carbon sequestration capacity. Consequently, anthropogenic …

User-First Approach To Designing A Library Ai Chatbot, Samantha Seah, Zhenyan Li

Research Collection Library

At SMU Libraries, after a year of experimentation, user testing, and preparation, we have just launched an AI-assisted chatbot to handle Tier 1 questions – will the library be open this weekend, where can I find printers, what workshops does the library offer, etc. While this can be thought of as a technology-forward project, we hope to illustrate how the human elements were essential to elevate the project. Throughout this journey, while learning the ins and outs of new technologies, we placed more emphasis on user-centred service design and we will show how other libraries can do so as well. …

Sex-Based Disparities In Artificial Intelligence For Cardiovascular Disease: A Scoping Review, Maurgan Lee, Tarek Atasi, Michael Mclellan, Yodit Beru, Jason Booza

Population, Patient, Physician and Professionalism Projects

No abstract provided.

Study Of A Nonlinear Delayed Parabolic Model For Prion Disease Dynamics With The Unfolded Protein Response, Gangadhara Boregowda, Laurent Pujo-Menjouet, Zhaosheng Feng, Michael R. Lindstrom

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

Prion diseases are neurodegenerative disorders characterized by the dynamic spread of misfolded toxic proteins in the brain. In this process, the normal cellular prion protein (PrPC) produced by neurons misfolds into a toxic form known as scrapie prion protein (PrPSc). These misfolded proteins propagate through the brain by converting healthy prions into their toxic form. This biological mechanism can be modeled by a system of nonlinear parabolic partial differential equations, accompanied by a nonlinear delayed integral boundary condition. Our primary objective is to establish the existence of nonnegative classical solutions to this system. Furthermore, we derive a priori estimates for …

2026 October 1 - Tennessee Weekly Drought Summary, Tennessee Climate Office, East Tennessee State University

Tennessee Climate Office Weekly Drought Summaries

No abstract provided.

State-Aware Fuzzing Of Javascript Engines With Llm-Guided Instrumentation, Wai Kin Wong, Dongwei Xiao, Cheuk Tung Lai, Ping Fan Ke, Shuai Wang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

The security of the modern web depends on the correctness of JavaScript (JS) engines, yet these complex systems remain vulnerable to high-impact bugs. A critical limitation of state-of-the-art fuzzers is the coverage plateau: once a fuzzer saturates the control-flow graph, edge coverage loses its ability to guide discovery. Because complex engine behaviors, such as JIT optimization tiers and hidden class transitions, often share identical edge coverage, standard coverage metrics are blind to the distinct internal states required to trigger deep errors. To bridge this gap, we present StateLens, a framework that employs Large Language Models (LLM) to automate the discovery …