Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

The Impact Of Crystal Morphology On The Thermal Responses Of Ultrasonically-Excited Energetic Materials, J. K. Miller, J. O. Mares, I. E. Gunduz, Steven F. Son, Jeff Rhoads

Purdue Energetics Research Center Articles

The ability to detect explosive materials may be significantly enhanced with local increases in vapor pressure caused by an elevation of the materials'temperature. Recently, ultrasonic excitation has been shown to generate heat within plastic-bonded energetic materials. To investigate the impact of crystal morphology on this heating, samples of elastic binder are implanted with single ammonium perchlorate crystals of two distinct shape groups. Contact piezoelectric transducers are then used to excite the samples at ultrasonicfrequencies. The thermal responses of the crystals are recorded using infrared thermography, and the rate of heating is estimated. Surface temperature increases up to 15 °C …

Applications Of Incomplete Gamma Functions To The Incomplete Normal Distribution, Eric S. Watson

Physics & Astronomy Faculty publications

This paper gives a derivation of a relationship that can be used to estimate the area under a Normal Distribution through the use of Incomplete Gamma Functions.

Adaptive Scaling Of Cluster Boundaries For Large-Scale Social Media Data Clustering, Lei Meng, Ah-Hwee Tan, Donald C. Wunsch

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

The large scale and complex nature of social media data raises the need to scale clustering techniques to big data and make them capable of automatically identifying data clusters with few empirical settings. In this paper, we present our investigation and three algorithms based on the fuzzy adaptive resonance theory (Fuzzy ART) that have linear computational complexity, use a single parameter, i.e., the vigilance parameter to identify data clusters, and are robust to modest parameter settings. The contribution of this paper lies in two aspects. First, we theoretically demonstrate how complement coding, commonly known as a normalization method, changes the …

A Misspecification Test For Logit Based Route Choice Models, Tien Mai, Emma Frejinger, Fabian Bastin

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

The multinomial logit (MNL) model is often used for analyzing route choices in real networks in spite of the fact that path utilities are believed to be correlated. Yet, statistical tests for model misspecification are rarely used. This paper shows how the information matrix test for model misspecification proposed byWhite (1982) can be applied to test path-based and link-based MNL route choice models.We present a Monte Carlo experiment using simulated data to assess the size and the power of the test and to compare its performance with the IIA (Hausman and McFadden, 1984) and McFadden–Train Lagrange multiplier (McFadden and Train, …

Mylife: An Online Personal Memory Album, Di Wang, Ah-Hwee Tan

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

In this demo, we illustrate the formation, retrieval, and playback of autobiographical memory in an online personal memory album named MyLife. The memory in MyLife consists of pictorial snapshots of one's life together with the associated context, namely time, location, people, activity, imagery, and emotion. MyLife allows direct import of memories from other online personal photo repositories. For memory retrieval, users can use not only exact cues, but also partial, vague, inaccurate, and random ones. The retrieved memories are then played back as a movie-like slide show with various visual effects and background music. MyLife holds high potential in both …

Preface Iat 2015, Ah-Hwee Tan, Yuefeng Li, Ee-Peng Lim, An Bo, Anita Raja, Sarvapali Ramchurn

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

This volume contains the papers selected for presentation at the 2015 IEEE/WIC/ACM International Conference on Intelligent Agent Technology (IAT’15), which was held from 6 to 9 December 2015 in Singapore, a city which welcomes people from different parts of the world to work and play. Following the tradition of IAT conference in previous years, IAT’15 was collocated with 2015 IEEE/WIC/ACM International Conference on Web Intelligence (WI’15). Both WI’15 and IAT’15 were sponsored by the IEEE Computer Society, Web Intelligence Consortium (WIC), Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), and the Memetic Computing Society. The two collocated conferences were hosted by the Joint …

Silver Assistants For Aging-In-Place, Di Wang, Budhitama Subagdja, Yilin Kang, Ah-Hwee Tan

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

In this demo, we present an assembly of silver assistants for supporting Aging-In-Place (AIP). The virtual agents are designed to serve around the clock to complement human care within the intelligent home environment. Residing in different platforms with ubiquitous access, the agents collaboratively provide holistic care to the elderly users. The demonstration is shown in a 3-D virtual home replicating a typical 5-room apartment in Singapore. Sensory inputs are stored in a knowledge base named Situation Awareness Model (SAM). Therefore, the capabilities of the agents can always be extended by expanding the knowledge defined in SAM. Using the simulation system, …

Supercnn: A Superpixelwise Convolutional Neural Network For Salient Object Detection, Shengfeng He, Rynson W.H. Lau, Wenxi Liu, Zhe Huang, Qingxiong Yang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Existing computational models for salient object detection primarily rely on hand-crafted features, which are only able to capture low-level contrast information. In this paper, we learn the hierarchical contrast features by formulating salient object detection as a binary labeling problem using deep learning techniques. A novel superpixelwise convolutional neural network approach, called SuperCNN, is proposed to learn the internal representations of saliency in an efficient manner. In contrast to the classical convolutional networks, SuperCNN has four main properties. First, the proposed method is able to learn the hierarchical contrast features, as it is fed by two meaningful superpixel sequences, which …

Oriented Object Proposals, Shengfeng He, Rynson W. H. Lau

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

In this paper, we propose a new approach to generate oriented object proposals (OOPs) to reduce the detection error caused by various orientations of the object. To this end, we propose to efficiently locate object regions according to pixelwise object probability, rather than measuring the objectness from a set of sampled windows. We formulate the proposal generation problem as a generative probabilistic model such that object proposals of different shapes (i.e., sizes and orientations) can be produced by locating the local maximum likelihoods. The new approach has three main advantages. First, it helps the object detector handle objects of different …

Fast Reinforcement Learning Under Uncertainties With Self-Organizing Neural Networks, Teck-Hou Teng, Ah-Hwee Tan

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Using feedback signals from the environment, a reinforcement learning (RL) system typically discovers action policies that recommend actions effective to the states based on a Q-value function. However, uncertainties over the estimation of the Q-values can delay the convergence of RL. For fast RL convergence by accounting for such uncertainties, this paper proposes several enhancements to the estimation and learning of the Q-value using a self-organizing neural network. Specifically, a temporal difference method known as Q-learning is complemented by a Q-value Polarization procedure, which contrasts the Q-values using feedback signals on the effect of the recommended actions. The polarized Q-values …

Bring-Your-Own-Application (Byoa): Optimal Stochastic Application Migration In Mobile Cloud Computing, Jonathan David Chase, Dusit Niyato, Sivadon Chaisiri

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

The increasing popularity of using mobile devices in a work context, has led to the need to be able to support more powerful computation. Users no longer remain in an office or at home to conduct their activities, preferring libraries and cafes. In this paper, we consider a mobile cloud computing scenario in which users bring their own mobile devices and are offered a variety of equipment, e.g., desktop computer, smart- TV, or projector, to migrate their applications to, so as to save battery life, improve usability and performance. We formulate a stochastic optimization problem to optimize the allocation of …

Content-Based Visual Landmark Search Via Multimodal Hypergraph Learning, Lei Zhu, Jialie Shen, Hai Jin, Ran Zheng, Liang Xie

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

While content-based landmark image search has recently received a lot of attention and became a very active domain, it still remains a challenging problem. Among the various reasons, high diverse visual content is the most significant one. It is common that for the same landmark, images with a wide range of visual appearances can be found from different sources and different landmarks may share very similar sets of images. As a consequence, it is very hard to accurately estimate the similarities between the landmarks purely based on single type of visual feature. Moreover, the relationships between landmark images can be …

Robust Execution Strategies For Project Scheduling With Unreliable Resources And Stochastic Durations, Na Fu, Hoong Chuin Lau, Pradeep Varakantham

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

The resource-constrained project scheduling problem with minimum and maximum time lags (RCPSP/max) is a general model for resource scheduling in many real-world problems (such as manufacturing and construction engineering). We consider RCPSP/max problems where the durations of activities are stochastic and resources can have unforeseen breakdowns. Given a level of allowable risk, (Formula presented.), our mechanisms aim to compute the minimum robust makespan execution strategy. Robust makespan for an execution strategy is any makespan value that has a risk less than (Formula presented.). The risk for a makespan value, (Formula presented.) given an execution strategy, is the probability that a …

Hand-Portable Capillary Liquid Chromatography Instrumentation, Sonika Sharma

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation focuses on the development of hand-portable capillary liquid chromatography (LC) instrumentation. In this work, battery-operable nano-flow pumping systems (isocratic and gradient) were developed and integrated with portable UV-absorption detectors for capillary LC. The systems were reduced in size to acceptable weights and power usage for field operation. A major advantage of the pumps is that they do not employ a splitter, since they were specifically designed for capillary column use, thereby greatly reducing solvent consumption and waste generation. UV-absorption detectors were specifically designed and optimized for on-column detection to minimize extra-column band broadening. Initially, an isocratic nano-flow pumping …

High Flow Air Sampler For Rapid Analysis Of Volatile And Semi-Volatile Organic Compounds, Xiaofeng Xie

Theses and Dissertations

Volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds are ubiquitous, and some of them are hazardous. The ability to rapidly detect and identify trace levels of them in air has become increasingly important. The conventional device used today for sampling and concentrating them in air is thermal desorption tubes filled with specific sorbents, which can only collect air samples at flow rates of 100-200 mL/min. In order to detect low concentration (ppt level) VOC compounds, long sampling time (>2 h) and sensitive detection are required. At the same time, portable instrumentation for on-site analysis has been developing rapidly. The somewhat lower performance …

Glass Shards At Pinnacle Point Rock Shelter 5-~6, South Africa: Are They From The Last Super-~Eruption Of Toba?, Amber Elizabeth Ciravolo

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Cryptotephra, in the form of individual glass shards, have been discovered in paleoarchaeological site PP5-6 North at Pinnacle Point, Western Cape, South Africa. This marks the first documentation of cryptotephra in a South African paleoarchaeological site. PP5-6 North is a rock shelter in the cliffs along the coast of the Western Cape and is one of a series of caves and rock shelters at Pinnacle Point that were inhabited by early modern humans. The presence of cryptotephra at PP5-6 is an important discovery in terms of tephra preservation in cave deposits as well as the possibility of tephra being present …

Identifying Student Behavior For Improving Online Course Performance With Machine Learning, Makoto Mori

Theses and Dissertations

In this study we investigate the correlation between student behavior and performance in online courses. Based on the web logs and syllabus of a course, we extract features that characterize student behavior. Using machine learning algorithms, we build models to predict performance at end of the period. Furthermore, we identify important behavior and behavior combinations in the models. The result of prediction in three tasks reach 87% accurate on average without using any score related features in the first half of the semester.

Pick Interpolation For Free Holomorphic Functions, Jim Agler, John E. Mccarthy

Mathematics Faculty Research

We give necessary and sufficient conditions to solve an interpolation problem for free holomorphic functions bounded in norm on a free polynomial polyhedron. As an application, we prove that every bounded holomorphic function on a polynomial polyhedron extends to a bounded free function.

Integrability And Regularity Of Rational Functions, Greg Knese

Mathematics Faculty Research

Motivated by recent work in the mathematics and engineering literature, we study integrability and non-tangential regularity on the two-torus for rational functions that are holomorphic on the bidisk. One way to study such rational functions is to fix the denominator and look at the ideal of polynomials in the numerator such that the rational function is square integrable. A concrete list of generators is given for this ideal as well as a precise count of the dimension of the subspace of numerators with a specified bound on bidegree. The dimension count is accomplished by constructing a natural pair of commuting …

Exposure To Predator Kairomones Influences Egg Number And Size In Littorina Littorea, Jessica Raynor, Simon Rundle

The Plymouth Student Scientist

Predator kairomones play an important role in intertidal ecosystems, but knowledge on their potential role in influencing maternal effects is lacking. The aim of this study was to test whether egg production by female Littorina littorea was influenced by short-term exposure to predator kairomones before egg laying. Laboratory populations were exposed to predator cues from the intertidal crab Carcinus maenas for nine days, and egg number, egg size, and survivorship of the offspring were measured and compared with those from reference populations. Snails exposed to predator cues produced significantly more eggs, which were also significantly smaller than those produced from …

Plymouth Undergraduate Research In Mathematics, Tom Heinzl, Tom Mccourt

The Plymouth Student Scientist

Guest editorial from lectures in Physics and Pure Mathematics.

Bimetallic-Waveguide Coupled Sensors For Tunable Plasmonic Devices, Kunal K. Tiwari

Physics Dissertations - Archive

Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) has been a widely used optical technique for the real time and label free sensing applications in biomedicine, homeland security, food safety, environmental monitoring, etc. Surface plasmons (SPs) being extremely sensitive to the surrounding media, their characteristics can be modulated by tuning their dielectric environment. The unique property of the nematic liquid crystalline materials that their dielectric constant can be tuned by externally applied electric fields formed the basis for development of tunable plasmonic sensor for monitoring changes at metal/dielectric interfaces. Even though sensors with high sensitivity are available, it remains highly desirable to enhance sensor …

Validation Of The Global Distribution Of Co2 Volume Mixing Ratio In The Mesosphere And Lower Thermosphere From Saber, L. Rezac, Y. Jian, J. Yue, J. M. Russell Iii, A. Kutepov, R. Garcia, K. Walker, P. Bernath

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications

The Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry (SABER) instrument on board the Thermosphere Ionosphere Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics satellite has been measuring the limb radiance in 10 broadband infrared channels over the altitude range from ~ 400 km to the Earth's surface since 2002. The kinetic temperatures and CO₂ volume mixing ratios (VMRs) in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere have been simultaneously retrieved using SABER limb radiances at 15 and 4.3 μm under nonlocal thermodynamic equilibrium (non-LTE) conditions. This paper presents results of a validation study of the SABER CO₂ VMRs obtained with a two-channel, self-consistent …

Data In Support Of Ubsrd: The Ubiquitin Structural Relational Database, Joseph S. Harrison, Tim M. Jacobs, Kevin Houlihan, Koenraad Van Doorslaer, Brian Kuhlman

College of the Pacific Faculty Articles

This article provides information to support the database article titled "UbSRD: The Ubiquitin Structural Relational Database" (Harrison et al., 2015) [1] . The ubiquitin-like homology fold (UBL) represents a large family that encompasses both post-translational modifications, like ubiquitin (UBQ) and SUMO, and functional domains on many biologically important proteins like Parkin, UHRF1 (ubiquitin-like with PDB and RING finger domains-1), and Usp7 (ubiquitin-specific protease-7) (Zhang et al., 2015; Rothbart et al., 2013; Burroughs et al., 2012; Wauer et al., 2015) [2], [3], [4], [5]. The UBL domain can participate in several unique protein-protein interactions (PPI) since protein adducts can be attached …

Facile Sol-Gel Molten Salt Synthesis Of Double Perovskite La 2nimno6 As An Electrocatalyst For Oxygen Evolution Reactions, Padmini Kukkapalli

Theses and Dissertations

Double perovskites have attracted a great attention recently for its high intrinsic activity in oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in electrochemical energy storage and conversion systems in alkaline media. In this study, we are the first to report the new approach of La2NiMnO6 double perovskite which was synthesized via Sol-gel molten-Salt synthesis method. However their stability and specific activity remain challenging that need to be addressed to meet the reqiurement for OER activities. Here in this study we synthesized three different samples with varying concentrations by taking molten salts NaNO 3 and KNO3 in (1:1) ratio such as 30:30, 60:60, 90:90. …

Assessing The Physical Security Of Idfs With Psatool: A Case Study, Sulabh Bista

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

PSATool is a checklist-based, web-based application for assessing the physical security of Intermediate Distribution Frameworks. IDFs, or wiring closets, are an integral if often neglected component of information security. Earlier work by Timbs (2013) identified 52 IDF-related security requirements based on federal and international standards for physical security. PSATool refines Timbs’ prototype application for IDF assessment, extending it with support for mobile-device-based data entry.

PSATool was used to assess 25 IDFs at a regional university, a college and a manufacturing corporation, with an average of 9 minutes per assessment. Network managers and assessors involved in the assessments characterized PSATool as …

Modifying A Cow-Calf Biophysical Simulation Model For Analyses Of Alternative Enterprises, Jennifer L. Lutes

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Cow-calf producers in the United States, tasked with providing beef calves for the beef industry, have had a multitude of difficulties to overcome in recent years. Producers in northwest Arkansas were negatively impacted by high hay prices coupled with low beef cattle market prices due to severe drought experienced in portions of 2010, 2011, and 2012. During this time they also faced high grain prices, due to a record low harvest, combined with portions of the corn harvest diverted from human and animal feed to ethanol production. Tight lending policies of this time, reminiscent of the housing market crash in …

Geochemical And Petrological Characterization Of The Back Forty Volcanogenic Massive Sulfide Deposit, Anthony Robert Boxleiter

Masters Theses

The Back Forty Zn-Au deposit is the eastern-most Volcanogenic Massive Sulfide (VMS) deposit in the Penokean Volcanic Belt (PVB). It is the only VMS deposit found in Michigan, and is located along the east side of the Menominee River in Menominee County (45°26'57.5"N, 87°49'43.2"W). The Back Forty is the most zinc-enriched, copper depleted deposit among the major VMS deposits within the PVB that include Flambeau, Crandon, Bend, and Lynne. This work constitutes the first sulfur isotope study on the Back Forty VMS deposit.

The Back Forty is characterized by massive, semi-massive, disseminated and stringer sulfide mineralization hosted within felsic-dominated volcanic …

Petrological And Geochemical Evaluation Of The Sturgeon Falls Intrusive Body, Jonathan Michael Haynes

Masters Theses

The Sturgeon Falls Intrusive Body (SFIB) is a gabbroic intrusion located along the Michigan-Wisconsin border just south of the town of Norway, MI. The SFIB is bounded to the north by the Niagara Shear Zone and the Michigamme Formation (Schulz and Cannon, 2006) and to the south by an unnamed thrust fault zone and the Quinnesec Formation (Sims and Schulz, 1993). Field mapping has shown that the SFIB is composed almost entirely of metagabbro metamorphosed to greenschist facies, with isolated outcrops of clinopyroxenite, which are thought to be xenoliths.

The origin of the SFIB is controversial. Schulz and LeBerge (2003) …

Depositional Facies And Sequence Stratigraphy Of Niagaran-Lower Salina Reef Complex Reservoirs Of The Guelph Formation, Michigan Basin, Matthew J. Rine

Masters Theses

Hydrocarbon reservoirs in the Niagara-Lower Salina Reef Complex in the Michigan Basin have been extensively studied since the early 1960’s. These reservoirs host an immense hydrocarbon resource, existing as closely-spaced, highly-compartmentalized reservoirs that have produced >500 million barrels of oil and 2.9 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Previous studies depict these “pinnacle reefs” as tall, symmetrical towers with a random distribution of facies. This study utilizes abundant core data (32 cores, 20-acre spacing), thin-section petrography, and petrophysical wire-line logs to reconstruct the geometry, facies distributions, depositional history, and sequence stratigraphy of the Columbus III Reef Complex within the Southern …