Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

The Role Of Climate In Modern Water Planning And Related Decisions: Nebraska Case Study, Donna L. Woudenberg

Open Access Master's Theses (through 2010)

Climate and weather play an integral role in the planning and decision-making processes for those involved in agricultural and natural resource fields. This project was conducted to determine whether climate and weather data are being efficiently and effectively used in these processes.

A survey was mailed to those who work in water-related fields in Nebraska and post-survey interviews were conducted to obtain greater detail. Survey results were analyzed in the following three ways: as a whole; stratified by respondent’s agency; and stratified by the educational background of respondents. It was found that climate and weather data are more likely to …

Crab Louse Infestation In Pre-Columbian America, F. M. Rick, G. C. Rocha, K. Dittmar, C. E. A. Coimbra Jr., Karl J. Reinhard, F. Bouchet, L. F. Ferreira, A. Araújo

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Until now, Pthirus pubis infestation in ancient human populations had only been recorded in the Old World. We found crab lice on South American mummified bodies from the Atacama Desert region. Crab louse eggs were found attached to the pubic hairs of a 2,000-yr-old Chilean mummy. Well-preserved adults were found in sediment and clothing from a Peruvian mummy dated 1,000 yr ago. Paleoparasitological evidence expands the knowledge of the distribution of this ectoparasite in ancient populations. As with many other parasites, pubic lice recorded in Andean populations show the antiquity of this parasite in the New World. It is likely …

Analysis Of Integrated Farming Systems In Eastern Nebraska, Lori A. Hoagland

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Agroecosystems in the U.S. are beset with social, ecological and environmental problems as large industrial farming methods are edging out small family-sized farms and replacing ecological services provided by biodiversity with synthetic inputs and practices. While many of the benefits of smaller diversified or integrated farming systems are well known, farm producers need a concrete model that shows how integration is possible and with what crops. The objective of this study was to investigate some of these supplemental farm activities, and identify and evaluate whether they were compatible given the time and resource constraints of a typical eastern Nebraska farm. …

Water Current, Volume 34, No. 6. December 2002

Water Current Newsletter

• UNL Aquaculturist Sees Fish Farming Niche in Empty Hog Barns by Steve Ress

• From the Director

• Meet the Faculty

• The Army Corps’ Missouri River Mission by Brig. Gen. David A. Fastabend

• Water News Briefs

On Computing Condensed Frequent Pattern Bases, Jian Pei, Guozhu Dong, Wei Zou, Jiawei Han

Kno.e.sis Publications

Frequent pattern mining has been studied extensively. However, the effectiveness and efficiency of this mining is often limited, since the number of frequent patterns generated is often too large. In many applications it is sufficient to generate and examine only frequent patterns with support frequency in close-enough approximation instead of in full precision. Such a compact but close-enough frequent pattern base is called a condensed frequent patterns-base.

In this paper, we propose and examine several alternatives at the design, representation, and implementation of such condensed frequent pattern-bases. A few algorithms for computing such pattern-bases are proposed. Their effectiveness at pattern …

Provenance Of Sand In Periglacial Sand Wedges And Sheet Sand, Northeastern Nebraska, Usa, William J. Wayne

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Sand-wedge polygons on upland surfaces beneath thin loess in northeastern Nebraska record existence of permafrost around the margin of the Wisconsinan glacier at its maximum advance. Strong unidirectional wind not only kept the upland surfaces free of snow, allowing frost to penetrate deeply and thermal contraction cracks to develop, but also dessicated the surface material so that frost action and sublimation of pore ice could loosen surface material. The strong NW-SE winds deflated soils from upland surfaces, made ventifacts of the cobbles in the lag that remained and created fields of yardangs oriented NW-SE. Sand derived from the soils and …

Analysis Of Doppler-Broadened X-Ray Emission Line Profiles From Hot Stars, David H. Cohen, Roban Hultman Kramer , '03, S. P. Owocki

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Works

We show how X-ray emission arising within an accelerating, expanding medium that also contains a source of continuum absorption generates line profiles of a characteristic shape. A simple, spherical wind model based on this picture provides good fits to the Chandra HETGS spectrum of the prototypical O star, Zeta Pup. We discuss the model, the fitting procedure and the determination of confidence limits on the model parameters, and our initial results for this star. The derived fit parameters are consistent with a generic wind-shock scenario for Zeta Pup, but there are several surprising aspects of the results, including a lower-than-expected …

An Integrated Bathymetric And Topographic Digital Terrain Model Of The Canadian Arctic Archipelago, Goran Alm, Ron Macnab, Martin Jakobsson, Johan Kleman, Mark Mccracken

Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping

No abstract provided.

Review Of "The Health Of Nations: Infectious Disease, Environmental Change, And Their Effects On National Security And Development," By Andrew T. Price-Smith, Andrew Mierins

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

[Excerpt] "Andrew T. Price-Smith, author of The Health of Nations: Infectious Disease, Environmental Change, and Their Effects on National Security and Development, provides a well documented and reasoned analysis of the need for world leaders, including the United States, to place the threat of infectious disease on the front burner of consideration when shaping both national and international policy. Professor Price-Smith has provided both empirical data and historical analysis to support the impassioned plea for this natural threat to be taken seriously. The book is geared toward the academic community and policy analysts; however, other professionals not involved in these …

Review Of "The Future Of Life," By Edward O. Wilson, Bryan Erickson

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

[Excerpt] "It is refreshing to read an environmental diatribe where the writer has both the authority of a world expert and a willingness to compromise to pursue realistic solutions. Wilson is a Harvard biology professor, two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, and a director of the Nature Conservancy. In The Future of Life, he presents a succinct evaluation of the great ecological issues of our day, focusing on the rapid pace of species extinctions, and on the promise of finding a balance between conservation and human activity that will bring the extinctions to a halt."

Geochemical And Isotopic Characteristics Associated With High Conductivities In A Shallow Hydrocarbon-Contaminated Aquifier, Franklyn D. Legall

Dissertations

In-situ vertical resistivity probes (VRPs) deployed at a hydrocarboncontaminated site in SW Michigan showed high soil conductivities within the contaminated zone. Within this zone, different phases of hydrocarbon impact were recognized, namely, zones with residual and dissolved phase hydrocarbons (RDH) and zones where these phases coexist with free product (RDFH). Bulk soil conductivities were highest ( 12 to 30 mS/m) in the zone with RDFH compared to the RDH zone (10 to 25 mS/m). Groundwater chemistry and stable carbon isotope data from closely spaced vertical samples within the anomalous conductive zones were used to provide evidence for biodegradation and to …

Lake Tahoe Bottom Characteristics Extracted From Shoals Lidar Waveform Data And Compared To Backscatter Data From A Multibeam Echo Sounder, G. Elston, James V. Gardner

Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping

The waveforms recorded by airborne lidar bathymetry (ALB) systems are currently processed only for depth information. In addition to bathymetry, multibeam echo sounder (MBES) systems provide backscatter data in which regions of different acoustic properties are distinguishable. These regions can often be correlated to different bottom types. Initial attempts to extract equivalent data from the ALB waveforms have confirmed the expectation that such information is encoded in those waveforms. Water clarity, bathymetry, and bottom type control the detailed shapes of ALB waveforms in different ways. Specific features of a bottom-reflected signal can be identified, for example its rise-time and amplitude, …

Notes From The Director, The Mcnair Team

McNair Scholars Research Journal

No abstract provided.

Exclusion Limits On The Wimp-Nucleon Cross Section From The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search, D. Abrams, D. S. Akerib, M. S. Armel-Funkhouser, L. Baudis, D. A. Bauer, A. Bolozdynya, P. L. Brink, R. Bunker, B. Cabrera, D. O. Caldwell, J. P. Castle, C. L. Chang, R. M. Clarke, M. B. Crisler, R. Dixon, D. Driscoll, S. Eichblatt, R. J. Gaitskell, S. R. Golwala, E. E. Haller, J. Hellmig, D. Holmgren, M. E. Huber, S. Kamat, A. Lu, V. Mandic, J. M. Martinis, P. Meunier, S. W. Nam, H. Nelson, T. A. Perera, M. C. Perillo Isaac, W. Rau, R. R. Ross, T. Saab, B. Sadoulet, J. Sander, R. W. Schnee, T. Shutt, A. Smith, A. H. Sonnenschein, A. L. Spadafora, G. Wang, S. Yellin, Betty A. Young

Physics

The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS) employs low-temperature Ge and Si detectors to search for weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) via their elastic-scattering interactions with nuclei while discriminating against interactions of background particles. For recoil energies above 10 keV, events due to background photons are rejected with >99.9% efficiency, and surface events are rejected with >95% efficiency. The estimate of the background due to neutrons is based primarily on the observation of multiple-scatter events that should all be neutrons. Data selection is determined primarily by examining calibration data and vetoed events. Resulting efficiencies should be accurate to ∼10%. Results of …

Full Issue, The Mcnair Team

McNair Scholars Research Journal

No abstract provided.

Acknowledgements, The Mcnair Team

McNair Scholars Research Journal

No abstract provided.

Resolving The Ripples (And A Mine): High-Resolution Multibeam Survey Of Martha's Vineyard Onr Mine Burial Program Field Area, Larry A. Mayer, Richard Raymond, Gerd Glang, Lloyd C. Huff

Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping

In an effort to better understand the coastal processes responsible for the burial and exposure of small objects on the seafloor, the Office of Naval Research is sponsoring the Mine Burial Program. Among the field areas chosen for this program is the site of the Martha's Vineyard Coastal Observatory (MVCO), a permanent instrumented node in 12 m of water about 500 m off the southern shore of Martha?s Vineyard. In support of the ONR program, several site surveys of the MVCO area have been conducted (see Goff et al); here we report the result of the most recent of these …

Introduction To Special Issue On Radiation Effects, P. Andrew Karam

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

[Excerpt] "How dangerous is radiation? How much radiation does it take to give us cancer? Are we wasting money on overly restrictive regulations, or are we not being sufficiently protective of our radiation workers and the public? How much clean-up is necessary on our Department of Energy facilities? What about Yucca Mountain and nuclear reactor plants – can they be made safe?

These are only a few of the questions that have been asked, and will continue to be asked, about radiation. Unfortunately, these all come down, in part or in whole, to the question “What is the shape of …

Si Doping Of High-Al-Mole Fraction Alxga1-Xn Alloys With Rf Plasma-Induced Molecular-Beam-Epitaxy, Jeonghyun Hwang, William J. Schaff, Lester F. Eastman, Shawn T. Bradley, Leonard J. Brillson, David C. Look, J. Wu, Wladek Walukiewicz, Madalina Furis, Alexander N. Cartwright

Physics Faculty Publications

Very high levels of n-type doping of Al_xGa_1−xN alloys were recently achieved by rf plasma-induced molecular-beam epitaxy on sapphire substrates and Si as a dopant. Electron concentrations were obtained up to 1.25×10²⁰ cm⁻³ when the Al mole fraction was 50%, and 8.5×10¹⁹ cm⁻³ electrons were measured even when the Al mole fraction was 80%. Other material properties were determined by optical absorption, photoluminescence, cathodoluminescence, x-ray diffraction, and atomic force microscopy measurements and high optical and morphological qualities were shown.

Recombination Of Excitons Bound To Oxygen And Silicon Donors In Freestanding Gan, A. Wysmolek, K. P. Korona, R. Stepniewski, J. M. Baranowsky, J. Bloniarz, M. Potemski, R. L. Jones, David C. Look, J. Kuhl, S. S. Park, S. K. Lee

Physics Faculty Publications

The neutral donor bound exciton recombination processes in freestanding GaN have been studied. The photoluminescence spectrum shows emission lines related to silicon and oxygen donors. Time-resolved luminescence allows us to correlate the principal donor bound exciton lines with their two-electron satellites. The magnetic field splitting of the two-electron lines is well described by the theory of the hydrogen atom in a magnetic field. For the oxygen donor a 1.5 meV chemical shift and a 30.8 meV effective Rydberg have been evaluated. Two-electron satellites involving excitations to the 2p and 2s donor states are separated by an energy of 1.0 and …

Data Mining With Newton's Method., James Dale Cloyd

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Capable and well-organized data mining algorithms are essential and fundamental to helpful, useful, and successful knowledge discovery in databases. We discuss several data mining algorithms including genetic algorithms (GAs). In addition, we propose a modified multivariate Newton's method (NM) approach to data mining of technical data. Several strategies are employed to stabilize Newton's method to pathological function behavior. NM is compared to GAs and to the simplex evolutionary operation algorithm (EVOP). We find that GAs, NM, and EVOP all perform efficiently for well-behaved global optimization functions with NM providing an exponential improvement in convergence rate. For local optimization problems, we …

Effects Of The Shape Of The Radiation Dose-Response Curve On Public Acceptance Of Radiation And Nuclear Energy, Audeen W. Fentiman

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

[Excerpt] “The public generally accepts the premise that exposure to radiation can have an undesirable effect. Furthermore, it believes that as the radiation dose increases, the magnitude of the effect will increase. On the other hand, while the background radiation dose varies from a few hundred millirem/year (a few millisieverts/yr) in some places to a few thousand millirem/yr (tens of millisieverts/yr) in others, researchers have been unable to find a correlation between the level of background radiation and incidence of cancer or other maladies attributable to radiation.

…

Because there is considerable controversy about the relationship between radiation dose and …

The Debate On The Health Effects Attributable To Low Radiation Exposure, Abel J. Gonzalez

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

[Excerpt] "Few scientific issues have aroused passions more than the dispute about the health effects attributable to low levels of exposure to ionizing radiation (or radiation in short) and the currently authoritative dose response hypothesis, termed “linear non-threshold,” or LNT. Finding out whether health effects are induced by low-level radiation exposures, and if so, what they are, has become a kind of contest rather than a serious scientific inquiry. Sometimes it seems that rationality, or a methodical examination of the unknown, has disappeared from this debate. While the confrontation of different hypotheses is typical in academic discussions – at least …

Sign-Changing And Multiple Solutions For The P-Laplacian, Siegfried Carl, Kanishka Perera

Mathematics and System Engineering Faculty Publications

We obtain a positive solution, a negative solution, and a sign-changing solution for a class of p-Laplacian problems with jumping nonlinearities using variational and super-subsolution methods.

Microbial Community Structure In Hydrocarbon Impacted Sediment Associated With Anomalous Geophysical Signatures, Joseph W. Duris

Masters Theses

The Crystal Refinery is a former refinery site in Carson City Michigan that has had historic releases of refined and unrefined crude oil dating back to the late 1940's. The contamination of soil with light non-aqueous phase liquids (LNAPL) has had a dynamic impact on the subsurface environment in adjacent Carson City Park. Very little is known about the complex interactions between microbial communities, geochemistry and geophysics. In order to investigate possible connections between these parameters a multidisciplinary study was undertaken to investigate the hypothesis that the degradation of LNAPL by resident microbial communities causes a local increase in organic …

Immobilization Of Fission Iodine By Reaction With A Fullerene Containing Carbon Compound And Insoluble Natural Organic Matrix: Quarterly Report September-December 2002, Spencer M. Steinberg

Separations Campaign (TRP)

The recovery of iodine released during the processing of used nuclear fuel poses a significant challenge to the transmutation of radioactive iodine. This proposal will develop and examine the use of Fullerene Containing Carbon (FCC) compounds as potential sorbents for iodine release from the reprocessing of nuclear fuel. This work will also include the development of bench-scale testing capabilities at UNLV to allow the testing of the FCC material in a simulated process off-gas environment. This experimental capability will also be used to test other potential sorbtion materials and processes, such as natural organic matter (NOM) and other promising alternatives. …

Poly(Meta-Phenylene Isophthalamide) Nanofibers: Coating And Post Processing, Wenxia Liu, Matthew Graham, Edward A. Evans, Darrell H. Reneker

Chemical, Biomolecular, and Corrosion Engineering Faculty Research

Electrospun nanofibers have applications in the areas of filtration, composites; biomaterials, and electronics. Controlling the surface properties of these nanofibers is important for many applications. Nanofibers can also be used as unique substrates for observing the growth of deposited films and creating nanoscale structures. In this work, electrospun poly(meta-phenylene isophthalamide) (MPD-I) nanofibers were used as substrates for creating nanoscale structures out of carbon-based materials and metals. MPD-I was used because it can be electrospun into nanofibers with diameters smaller than 10 nm and it has good thermal stability. MPD-I nanofibers were coated with carbon, copper, and aluminum using plasma enhanced …

Normal Forms For Two-Inputs Nonlinear Control Systems, Issa Amadou Tall, Witold Respondek

Miscellaneous (presentations, translations, interviews, etc)

We study the feedback group action on two-inputs non-linear control systems. We follow an approach proposed by Kang and Krener which consists of analyzing the system and the feedback group step by step. We construct a normal form which generalizes that obtained in the single-input case. We also give homogeneous m-invariants of the action of the group of homogeneous transformations on the homogeneous systems of the same degree. We illustrate our results by analyzing the normal form and invariants of homogeneous systems of degree two.

Geoelectrical Response Of An Aged Lnapl Plume: Implications For Monitoring Natural Attenuation, Douglas D. Werkema Jr.

Dissertations

The geoelectric stratigraphy at a site impacted with light non-aqueous phase liquids (LNAPLs) is investigated for its link to natural biodegradation, its contribution to the conductive model for aged (i.e. mature) LNAPL contaminated sites, and the relationship to the natural hydrologic regime. The highest conductivities (lowest resistivities) were observed in portions o f soils where LNAPL was in residual and free phase. Corroborating evidence from bacteria enumeration from soil close to the vertical resistivity probe (VRP) installations show orders-of-magnitude increase in both heterotrophic and oil degrading microbes at the depths where the conductivity was at a maximum. The coincidence o …

Crystalclear: Active Visualization Of Association Rules, Hian-Huat Ong, Kok-Leong Ong, Wee-Keong Ng, Ee Peng Lim

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Effective visualization is an important aspect of active data mining. In the context of association rules, this need has been driven by the large amount of rules produced from a run of the algorithm. To be able to address real user needs, the rules need to be summarized and organized so that it can be interpreted and applied in a timely manner. In this paper, we propose two visualization techniques that is an improvement over those used by existing data mining packages. In particular, we address the visualization of "differences" in the set of rules due to incremental changes in …