Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Issues Of Social Data Analytics With A New Method For Sentiment Analysis Of Social Media Data, Zhaoxia Wang, Victor J. C. Tong, David Chan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Social media data consists of feedback, critiques and other comments that are posted online by internet users. Collectively, these comments may reflect sentiments that are sometimes not captured in traditional data collection methods such as administering a survey questionnaire. Thus, social media data offers a rich source of information, which can be adequately analyzed and understood. In this paper, we survey the extant research literature on sentiment analysis and discuss various limitations of the existing analytical methods. A major limitation in the large majority of existing research is the exclusive focus on social media data in the English language. There …

A Smart Web Crawler For A Concept Based Semantic Search Engine, Vinay Kancherla

Master's Projects

The internet is a vast collection of billions of web pages containing terabytes of information arranged in thousands of servers using HTML. The size of this collection itself is a formidable obstacle in retrieving information necessary and relevant. This made search engines an important part of our lives. Search engines strive to retrieve information as relevant as possible to the user. One of the building blocks of search engines is the Web Crawler. A web crawler is a bot that goes around the internet collecting and storing it in a database for further analysis and arrangement of the data.

The …

Raman Microspectroscopy For The Early Detection Of Pre-Malignant Changes In Cervical Tissue, Nosheen Rashid, Haq Nawaz, Kelvin W. Poon, Franck Bonnier, Salih Bakhiet, Cara Martin, John O'Leary, Hugh Byrne, Fiona Lyng

Articles

Cervical cancer is the third most common cancer affecting women worldwide. The mortality associated with cervical cancer can, however, be significantly reduced if the disease is detected at the pre-malignant stage. The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential of Raman microspectroscopy for elucidation of the biochemical changes associated with the pre-malignant stages of cervical cancer. Formalin fixed paraffin preserved tissue sections from cervical biopsies classified as negative for intraepithelial lesion and malignancy (NILM), low grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (LSIL) or high grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSIL) were analysed by Raman spectral mapping. Raman mapping, with K-Means Cluster …

Evaluation Of Non-Covalent Interaction Models In Molecular Crystals Using Terahertz Spectroscopy, Thomas Juliano

Dissertations - ALL

Density functional theory (DFT) is a powerful tool that can be used to evaluate the low-frequency vibrational spectra of solid-state crystalline materials. Since THz spectroscopy is sensitive to both the intermolecular and intramolecular forces that govern the formation of crystalline materials, it is an ideal tool to investigate the accuracy of calculated DFT crystal structures and their vibrational spectra. When using solid-state DFT, non-covalent dispersion interactions are not fully treated in typical approaches. In order to account for these interactions, the addition of dispersion force correction terms are necessary. A number of methods exist to correct for this deficiency of …

Optical Spring Stabilization, James Lough

Dissertations - ALL

The Advanced LIGO detectors will soon be online with enough sensitivity to begin detecting gravitational waves, based on conservative estimates of the rate of neutron star inspirals. These first detections are sure to be significant, however, we will always strive to do better. More questions will be asked about the nature of neutron star material, rates of black hole inspirals, electromagnetic counterparts, etc. To begin to answer all of the questions aLIGO will bring us we will need even better sensitivity in future gravitational wave detectors.

This thesis addresses one aspect that will limit us in the future: angular stability …

Coordination Polymers Of The Alkaline Earth Metals For Applications In Synthesis And Gas Storage, Peter Josue Rosado Flores

Dissertations - ALL

The work presented in this thesis outlines our efforts to synthesize alkaline earth metal

coordination complexes that could potentially serve as gas storage and synthetic precursor

materials. The properties of these complexes are heavily influenced by factors such as the

propensity to aggregate and the absence of energetically available d-orbitals which provide

directionality. These often pose a challenge in obtaining suitable, stable compounds.

Some challenges in the crystallization of alkaline earth coordination complexes involve

the precipitation of insoluble aggregates. Thus, a great part of the work focused on studying

suitable reaction conditions towards the formation of X-ray quality crystals for …

Protein Expression, Characterization And Activity Comparisons Of Wild Type And Mutant Dusp5 Proteins, Jaladhi Nayak, Adam J. Gastonguay, Marat R. Talipov, Padmanabhan Vakeel, Elise A. Span, Kelsey S. Kalous, Raman G. Kutty, David R. Jensen, Phani Raj Pokkuluri, Daniel S. Sem, Rajendra Rathore, Ramani Ramchandran

Chemistry Faculty Research and Publications

Background

The mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) pathway is critical for cellular signaling, and proteins such as phosphatases that regulate this pathway are important for normal tissue development. Based on our previous work on dual specificity phosphatase-5 (DUSP5), and its role in embryonic vascular development and disease, we hypothesized that mutations in DUSP5 will affect its function.

Results

In this study, we tested this hypothesis by generating full-length glutathione-S-transferase-tagged DUSP5 and serine 147 proline mutant (S147P) proteins from bacteria. Light scattering analysis, circular dichroism, enzymatic assays and molecular modeling approaches have been performed to extensively characterize the protein form and function. …

Compositional Analysis Of Three Clay Artifact Collections From The Southwestern United States, Kathleen R. Kirkham

Theses and Dissertations

This study assessed ways compositional analysis, facilitated by portable X-ray fluorescence technology (PXRF), can be applied in the museum setting to resolve provenance issues and other collections management questions. A major segment of the study evaluated PXRF as a non-invasive geochemical analysis technique to address concerns about whether the resolution of results is sufficient to draw meaningful conclusions. Compositional analysis, mainly facilitated by PXRF, was successfully applied to three clay artifact collections from the southwestern United States. Pottery sherds from Fourmile Ruin were analyzed using PXRF and compared to analyses from invasive wavelength-dispersive XRF and X-ray diffraction techniques. Expanding the …

Fabrication, Characterization, Optimization And Application Development Of Novel Thin-Layer Chromatography Plates, Supriya Singh Kanyal

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation describes advances in the microfabrication of thin layer chromatography (TLC) plates. These plates are prepared by the patterning of carbon nanotube (CNT) forests on substrates, followed by their infiltration with an inorganic material. This document is divided into ten sections or chapters. Chapter 1 reviews the basics of conventional TLC technology. This technology has not changed substantially in decades. This chapter also mentions some of the downsides of the conventional approach, which include unwanted interactions of the binder in the plates with the analytes, relatively slow development times, and only moderately high efficiencies. Chapter 2 focuses primarily on …

Mixed Variational Formulation For The Wellposedness And Numerical Approximation Of A Pde Model Arising In A 3-D Fluid-Structure Interaction, George Avalos, Tom Clark

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

We present qualitative and numerical results on a partial differential equation (PDE) system which models a certain fluid-structure dynamics. Wellposedness is established by constructing for it a nonstandard semigroup generator representation; this representation is accomplished by an appropriate elimination of the pressure. This coupled PDE model involves the Stokes system which evolves on a three dimensional domain O coupled to a fourth order plate equation, possibly with rotational inertia parameter ρ>0. This plate PDE evolves on a flat portion Ω of the boundary of O. The coupling on Ω is implemented via the Dirichlet trace of the Stokes system …

Mathematical Modeling Of Immune Responses To Hepatitis C Virus Infection, Ivan Ramirez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

An existing mathematical model of ordinary differential equations was studied to better understand the interactions between hepatitis C virus (HCV) and the immune system cells in the human body. Three possible qualitative scenarios were explored: dominant CTL response, dominant antibody response, and coexistence. Additionally, a sensitivity analysis was carried out to rank model parameters for each of these scenarios. Therapy was addressed as an optimal control problem. Numerical solutions of optimal controls were computed using a forward-backward sweep scheme for each scenario. Model parameters were estimated using ordinary least squares fitting from longitudinal data (serum HCV RNA measurements) given in …

The Development Of A Laminated Copolyester Electric Guitar, Addison S. Karnes

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is an investigation of the fabrication and assembly methodologies employed in the development of a proof-of-principle prototype electric guitar composed of laminated copolyester. The objective of the project was to develop the processes and procedures to create an optimized physical and visual bond between layers to minimize vibratory dissipation, thus maximizing sustain. A high speed CNC router, abrasive waterjet, laser engraver-cutter, as well as various manual fabrication and assembly methods were investigated in the construction of the guitar prototypes. The lamination processes explored include low-temperature, heat-assisted pressure bonding, solvent and chemical welding, and contact adhesives. The project concluded …

Oxidative Damage To Dna 2´-Deoxyribose By Carbonate Radicals: Reaction Mechanisms And Products, Terence J. Moore

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The carbonate radical anion (CO₃^•-, CR) is an important reactive oxygen species produced in vivo by one-electron oxidation of CO₂ or bicarbonate, constituents of the major physiological buffer. It was demonstrated for the first time by using an HPLC-based analysis of low-molecular products of DNA damage that CRs react with DNA 2΄-deoxyribose by the hydrogen abstraction mechanism. CRs exhibit a ~ 800-fold preference for one-electron oxidation of guanine over hydrogen abstraction from DNA sugar, in sharp contrast with •OH. CRs also have, as compared to •OH, an increased preference for the H1΄ abstraction, which is the …

Assessing The Social And Ecological Factors That Influence Childhood Overweight And Obesity, Katie Callahan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity is increasing at an alarming rate in the United States. Currently more than 1 in 3 children aged 2-19 are overweight or obese. This is of major concern because childhood overweight and obesity leads to chronic conditions such as type II diabetes and tracks into adulthood, where more severe adverse health outcomes arise. In this study I used the premise of the social ecological model (SEM) to analyze the common levels that a child is exposed to daily; the intrapersonal level, the interpersonal level, the school level, and the community level to better …

A Multi-Method And Multi-Scale Approach For Estimating City-Wide Anthropogenic Heat Fluxes, Winston T. L. Chow, Francisco Salamanca, Matei Gergescu, Alex Mahalov, Jeffrey Milne, Benjamin L. Ruddell

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

A multi-method approach estimating summer waste heat emissions from anthropogenic activities (QF)was applied for a major subtropical city (Phoenix, AZ). These included detailed, quality-controlled in-ventories of city-wide population density and traffic counts to estimate waste heat emissions frompopulation and vehicular sources respectively, and also included waste heat simulations derived fromurban electrical consumption generated by a coupled building energyeregional climate model (WRF-BEMBEP). These componentQFdata were subsequently summed and mapped through GeographicInformation Systems techniques to enable analysis over local (i.e. census-tract) and regional (i.e.metropolitan area) scales. Through this approach, local mean dailyQFestimates compared reasonablyversus (1.) observed daily surface energy balance residuals from …

Computational And Experimental Investigation Into Yield Behavior And Cure Rate Dependence Of Thermoset Polymers, Christopher Harold Childers

Dissertations

This dissertation is broken down into two primary sections: firstly, the development and improvement of molecular dynamics simulations of thermoset matrix polymers including their use in understanding molecular response to applied strain deformation and secondly, the discernment of a cure heating ramp rate dependence of the final molecular and macro-molecular properties of thermoset matrix polymer.

The molecular dynamics section will discuss the development of molecular dynamics simulations of thermoset epoxy/amine matrix polymers, and the implementation of this work to determine the underlying molecular level events that cause thermoset matrix polymer yield. It will report a novel method for the determination …

Molecular Probes For The Detection Of Zn2+ And Fe3+ Ions, Erendra Manandhar

Dissertations

A number of molecular probes have been designed and synthesized for the detection of Zn²⁺ and Fe³⁺ ions. Two types of functional groups have been incorporated into the molecular scaffolds to utilize different fluorescent mechanisms. The first class of receptors contains a pyrene moiety. These molecular probes use the excimer mechanism for the detection of Zn²⁺ ion. The probes work well in an organic solvent with a detection limit of 20 nM (one ppb). Alternatives are made to make them water soluble, but this proved to be difficult. An interesting ion-induced self-assembly system will also be discussed. …

Thermal Comfort, Energy Usage And Fuel Poverty In A Sample Of Older Person’S Households In Dublin, Eugene Monahan

Masters

This research was conducted in twenty nine Dublin City Council senior citizen sheltered housing dwellings. Temperature (°C) and relative humidity (% RH) was recorded inside all dwellings using data loggers over two separate monitoring periods of four months between December and March of 2011-2012 and 2012-2013. Energy usage including gas and electricity was also recorded for each dwelling during both monitoring periods. Outside ambient temperature data for both periods was acquired from Met Eireann. A dwelling occupant questionnaire was completed to obtain relevant technical, social and behavioural data, and to establish the prevalence of fuel poverty amongst the sample. The …

Classifying And Cataloging Cyber-Security Incidents Within Cyber-Physical Systems, William B. Miller

Theses and Dissertations

In the past, there were perceived delineations between the cyber world and the physical world. We are becoming increasingly aware of the overlap between these two worlds, and the overlap itself is increasing. The overlap between these two worlds is known as cyber-physical systems. There have been several incidents involving cyber-physical systems and the number of these incidents is increasing dramatically. In the past there has been no effort to identify methods for describing these incidents in the unique context of cyber-physical systems. This research provides a taxonomy for classifying these incidents that focuses on cross domain, impact oriented analysis. …

Understanding Higher-Order Nonlocal Halo Bias At Large Scales By Combining The Power Spectrum With The Bispectrum, Shun Saito, Tobias Baldauf, For Full List Of Authors, See Publisher's Website.

Physics Faculty Research & Creative Works

Understanding the relation between underlying matter distribution and biased tracers such as galaxies or dark matter halos is essential to extract cosmological information from ongoing or future galaxy redshift surveys. At sufficiently large scales such as the baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) scale, a standard approach for the bias problem on the basis of the perturbation theory (PT) is to assume the "local bias" model in which the density field of biased tracers is deterministically expanded in terms of matter density field at the same position. The higher-order bias parameters are then determined by combining the power spectrum with higher-order statistics …

Connections Of Zero Curvature And Applications To Nonlinear Partial Differential Equations, Paul Bracken

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

A general formulation of zero curvature connections in a principle bundle is presented and some applications are discussed. It is proved that a related connection based on a prolongation in an associated bundle remains zero curvature as well. It is also shown that the connection coefficients can be defined so that the partial differential equation to be studied appears as the curvature term in the structure equations. It is discussed how Lax pairs and Bäcklund tranformations can be formulated for such equations that occur as zero curvature terms.

A Comparative Study Of Domestic And Hospital Environmental Microbial Populations In Al-Ain (Uae), Amna Ali Jaffal

Theses

This is the first attempt to estimate biological indoor pollution in the environment of AI-Ain city. The numbers and types of bacteria and fungi in the air and on the surfaces were measured in AI-Ain hospital and three different types of domestic environments.

Five different types of wards at AI-Ain hospital, medical, surgical, pediatrics, operating theater, and intensive care unit were studied. Their estimated indoor bioaerosols were compared to indoor bioaerosols in three types of dwelling houses, very good, average, and poor quality houses in AI-Ain city. A bacteriological mechanical air sampler, MK2 (Casella London) was used in this study. …

Groundwater Assessment In Sweihan Region, The Northeast United Arab Emirates, Maimouna Ali Al-Alawi

Theses

Sweihan is located in the northeast of Abu Dhabi Emirate, the United Arab Emirates. Sweihan landscape is sand dune ridges, which could reach a maximum width of 2 km, and a height of 30 meters, whereas the agricultural fields concentrated in the interdune spaces. Groundwater in Sweihan area is characterized by low recharge amounts, which is being used mainly in irrigation purpose. The intensive agricultural activities in the study area caused depletion and contamination of the groundwater due to heavy uses of organic and chemical fertilizers, as well as heavy pumping. The hydrochemical analysis of 27 samples of groundwater from …

Hybrid Meshless Method For Numerical Solution Of Partial Differential Equations, Jeanette Marie Monroe

Dissertations

A meshless method for solving partial differential equations (PDEs) which combines the method of fundamental solutions (MFS) and the method of particular solutions (MPS) is formulated and tested. The hybrid method finds a numerical approximation by solving only one system of equations as opposed to the two-stage method of fundamental solutions and method of particular solutions. This new approach, denoted MFS-MPS, one-stage MFS-MPS, or hybrid method, can be applied to a wide variety of PDEs including PDEs with variable coefficients. The MFS-MPS can simplify Helmholtz-type differential operators to Laplacian-type differential operators providing flexibility and simplification to calculating particular solutions and …

Utilization Of Aqueous Raft Prepared Copolymers To Improve Anticancer Drug Efficacy, Andrew Christopher Holley

Dissertations

The advent of controlled radical polymerization (CRP) techniques, along with advancements in facile conjugation chemistry, now allow synthetic tailoring of precise, polymeric architectures necessary for drug/gene delivery. Reversible addition- fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization and its aqueous counterpart (aRAFT) afford quantitative control over key synthetic parameters including block length, microstructure, and placement of structo-pendent and structo-terminal functionality for conjugation of active agents and targeting moieties. The relevance of water-soluble and amphiphilic (co)polymers synthesized by RAFT for in vitro delivery of therapeutics in biological fluids is an especially attractive feature. In many cases, polymerization, binding, conjugation, …

First All-Sky Search For Continuous Gravitational Waves From Unknown Sources In Binary Systems, J. Aasi, Marco Cavaglia, For Full List Of Authors, See Publisher's Website.

Physics Faculty Research & Creative Works

Gravitational waves from a variety of sources are predicted to superpose to create a stochastic background. This background is expected to contain unique information from throughout the history of the Universe that is unavailable through standard electromagnetic observations, making its study of fundamental importance to understanding the evolution of the Universe. We carry out a search for the stochastic background with the latest data from the LIGO and Virgo detectors. Consistent with predictions from most stochastic gravitational-wave background models, the data display no evidence of a stochastic gravitational-wave signal. Assuming a gravitational-wave spectrum of Ω_GW(f) = Ω_{α …}

Improved Upper Limits On The Stochastic Gravitational-Wave Background From 2009-2010 Ligo And Virgo Data, J. Aasi, Marco Cavaglia, For Full List Of Authors, See Publisher's Website.

Physics Faculty Research & Creative Works

Gravitational waves from a variety of sources are predicted to superpose to create a stochastic background. This background is expected to contain unique information from throughout the history of the Universe that is unavailable through standard electromagnetic observations, making its study of fundamental importance to understanding the evolution of the Universe. We carry out a search for the stochastic background with the latest data from the LIGO and Virgo detectors. Consistent with predictions from most stochastic gravitational-wave background models, the data display no evidence of a stochastic gravitational-wave signal. Assuming a gravitational-wave spectrum of ΩGW(f)=Ωα±(f/fref)α±, we place 95% confidence level …

Theoretical And Experimental (E, 2e) Study Of Electron-Impact Ionization Of Laser-Aligned Mg Atoms, Sadek Amami, Andrew J. Murray, Al Stauffer, Kate Nixon, Gregory Armstrong, James Colgan, Don H. Madison

Physics Faculty Research & Creative Works

We have performed calculations of the fully differential cross sections for electron-impact ionization of magnesium atoms. Three theoretical approximations, the time-dependent close coupling, the three-body distorted wave, and the distorted wave Born approximation, are compared with experiment in this article. Results will be shown for ionization of the 3s ground state of Mg for both asymmetric and symmetric coplanar geometries. Results will also be shown for ionization of the 3p state which has been excited by a linearly polarized laser which produces a charge cloud aligned perpendicular to the laser beam direction and parallel to the linear polarization. Theoretical and …

X-Ray Emission Produced In Charge-Exchange Collisions Between Highly Charged Ions And Argon: Role Of The Multiple Electron Capture, Sebastian Otranto, N. D. Cariatore, Ronald E. Olson

Physics Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this work we use the classical trajectory Monte Carlo method within an eight-electron scheme to theoretically study photonic spectra that follow charge-exchange processes between highly charged ions of charge states 10+, 17+, 18+, and 36+ with neutral argon. The energy range considered is 18 eV/amu to 4 keV/amu, covering typical electron beam ion traps and solar wind energies. The role played by multiple electron capture processes for the different collision systems under consideration is explicitly analyzed and its contribution separated as arising from radiative decay and autoionizing multiple capture. For the present collision systems we find that multiple electron …

Iowa Waste Reduction Center Newsletter, December 2014, University Of Northern Iowa. Iowa Waste Reduction Center.

Iowa Waste Reduction Center Newsletter

Contents:

--- Nickey Receives Award from UNI
--- New Food Waste Reduction Resources
--- Painter Training Customized with VirtualPaint
--- Industry News