Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Soil Organic Matter Distribution In A Douglas-Fir-Tanoak Forest, Humboldt County, California, Hollie A. Ernest

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Soil carbon (C) affects the active gases in the atmosphere, nutrient cycling, and diversity of flora and fauna. Soil organic matter (SOM) is partially comprised of C, and a widely-accepted ratio of 0.58 organic carbon (OC) to organic matter (OM) is used to measure soil C on a landscape scale. However, this ratio varies according to vegetation, depth, hydrology, and may lead to miscalculations of soil C and SOM estimates. Soil C and SOM are inherently complex and it is not completely understood which environmental factors have the most influence in their formation, which occurs on a time scale of …

Macroconstants Of Development: A New Benchmark For The Strategic Development Of Advanced Countries And Firms, Andrey V. Bystrov, Vyacheslav N. Yusim, Tamilla Curtis

Publications

This research proposed a new indicator of countries’ development called “macroconstants of development”. The literature review indicates that the concept of "macroconstants of development" is not used at the moment in neither the theory nor the practice of industrial policy. Research of longitudinal data of total GDP, GDP per capita and their derivatives for most countries of the world was conducted. An analysis of statistical information has been done by employing econometric analyses.

Based on the analysis of the statistical data, which characterizes the development of large, technologically advanced countries in ordinary conditions, it was identified that the average acceleration …

Data From: How Uncertainty In The Neutral Wind Limits The Accuracy Of Ionospheric Modeling And Forecasting, Michael David, Jan Sojka, Robert W. Schunk

Browse all Datasets

Output files from runs of the TDIM ionospheric model used for the figures and calculations in the article in JGR Space Physics.

Synthetic Flexibility Of A Bromopyrrole Ester Intermediate : Toward Novel Biologically Active Compounds, Scott Cameron Yeudall

Honors Theses

Compounds containing the pyrrole ring as a core structural motif continue to show significant biological activity, and both natural product derivatives and novel chemical scaffolds show potential for use as pharmaceuticals in treating a variety of cancers, infections, and inflammation. Given the widespread and important applications of compounds containing this motif, novel, rapid, and selective methods for the synthesis of multifunctional pyrroles is of some importance. Previous work in our group has utilized palladium-mediated Suzuki cross-coupling as a powerful tool for functionalizing activated bromopyrrole esters, generating structural analogues of bioactive natural products. We have also used a similar approach to …

Cameron-Liebler Line Classes And Partial Difference Sets, Uthaipon Tantipongipat

Honors Theses

The work consists of three parts. The first is a study of Cameron-Liebler line classes which receive much attention recently. We studied a new construction of infinite family of Cameron-Liebler line classes presented in the paper by Tao Feng, Koji Momihara, and Qing Xiang (rst introduced in 2014), and summarized our attempts to generalize this construction to discover any new Cameron-Liebler line classes or partial difference sets (PDSs) resulting from the Cameron-Liebler line classes. The second is our approach to finding PDS in non-elementary abelian groups. Our attempt eventually led to the same general construction of PDS presented in John …

An Examination Of The Cmb Large-Angle Suppression, Ellis Herman

Honors Theses

As shown by COBE­DMR and then by the Wilkinson Anisotropy Probe (WMAP), there exists an anomaly in the correlation function of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation, namely that said correlation function is suppressed to zero on large angular scales. This observation conflicts with the prediction made by Lambda­CDM, the standard model of cosmology, indicating either necessary changes to the standard model or that our universe is a rare fluke within LCDM ­ such suppressions are seen in only about 0.3% of universes predicted by LCDM. To differentiate into which of these categories our universe falls, we have attempted to …

Structure-Function Relationships Affecting The Sensing Mechanism Of Monolayer-Protected Cluster Doped Xerogel Amperometric Glucose Biosensors, Luke T. Dipasquale

Honors Theses

The research conducted in the Leopold Bioanalytical and Nanomaterials Analytical Chemistry Lab prior to the summer of 2013 focused on the synthesis of a functional biosensor equipped with a nanoparticle network embedded in a xerogel film for the detection of glucose. Xerogel-based films featuring embedded glucose oxidase enzyme and doped with alkanethiolate-protected gold NPs, known as monolayer protected clusters (MPCs), exhibit significantly enhanced performance compared to analogous systems without NPs including higher sensitivity, faster response time, and extended linear/dynamic ranges.

The following presented research is a systematic study of the structure-function relationships critical to understanding the sensing mechanism of the …

Intermittency Of Gravity Wave Momentum Flux In The Mesopause Region Observed With An All-Sky Airglow Imager, Bing Cao, Alan Z. Liu

Publications

The intermittency of gravity wave momentum flux (MF) near the OH airglow layer (∼87 km) in the mesopause region is investigated for the first time using observation of all-sky airglow imager over Maui, Hawaii (20.7∘N, 156.3∘W), and Cerro Pachón, Chile (30.3∘S, 70.7∘W). At both sites, the probability density function (pdf) of gravity wave MF shows two distinct distributions depending on the magnitude of the MF. For MF smaller (larger) than ∼16 m2 s−2 (0.091 mPa), the pdf follows a lognormal (power law) distribution. The intermittency represented by the Bernoulli proxy and the percentile ratio shows that gravity waves have higher …

Chemical Transport Of Neutral Atmospheric Constituents By Waves And Turbulence: Theory And Observations, Chester S. Gardner, Alan Liu

Publications

Vertical chemical transport occurs when the density fluctuations of a species, caused by perturbations of its chemistry, are strongly correlated with the vertical wind fluctuations. Chemical transport can exceed dynamical and eddy transport of chemically active species. Theoretical expressions are derived for the chemical fluxes and transport velocities and used to characterize the vertical transport of mesospheric O3 and meteoric Na and Fe between 85 and 100 km. Chemical transport is dependent on the intrinsic frequency spectrum of the temperature fluctuations and on the chemical cutoff periods of the species. For O3 only high-frequency fluctuations contribute to chemical transport because …

Southern Hemisphere Summer Mesopause Responses To El Niño–Southern Oscillation, Tao Li, Natalia Calvo, Jia Yue, James Russell Iii, Alan Liu

Publications

In the Southern Hemisphere (SH) polar region, satellite observations reveal a significant uppermesosphere cooling and a lower-thermosphere warming during warm ENSO events in December. An opposite pattern is observed in the tropical mesopause region. The observed upper-mesosphere cooling agrees with a climate model simulation. Analysis of the simulation suggests that enhanced planetary wave (PW) dissipation in the Northern Hemisphere (NH) high-latitude stratosphere during El Niño strengthens the Brewer–Dobson circulation and cools the equatorial stratosphere. This increases the magnitude of the SH stratosphere meridional temperature gradient and thus causes the anomalous stratospheric easterly zonal wind and early breakdown of the SH …

First Measurement Of Horizontal Wind And Temperature In The Lower Thermosphere (105–140 Km) With A Na Lidar At Andes Lidar Observatory, Alan Liu, Yafang Guo, Fabia A. Vargas, Gary Swenson,

Publications

We report the first measurement of nighttime atmospheric temperature and horizontal wind profiles in the lower thermosphere up to 140 km with the Na lidar at Andes Lidar Observatory in Cerro Pachón, Chile (30.25°S, 70.74°W), when enhanced thermospheric Na was observed. Temperature and horizontal wind were derived up to 140 km using various resolutions, with the lowest resolution of about 2.7 hr and 15 km above 130 km. Thus, the measurements span 60 km in vertical, more than double the traditional 25 km. On the night of 17 April 2015, the horizontal wind magnitude in the thermosphere exceeds 150 ms−1, …

Evidence Of The Excitation Of A Ring-Like Gravity Wave In The Mesosphere Over The Andes Lidar Observatory, Fabio Vargas, Gary Swenson,, Alan Liu, Dominique Pautet

Publications

On 23 March 2012, our all-sky imager recorded a concentric, ring-like gravity wave pattern. The wave arose within the area covered by images of both OH and O(1S) nightglow emissions taken at the Andes Lidar Observatory (ALO), Chile (30.3°S, 70.7°W). We have estimated the observed and intrinsic parameters of the event and located the wave source within the lower mesosphere altitude range using a reverse ray tracing method. By the analysis of GOES and LIS satellite images, we have not found evidence of neither convective nor lightning activity nearby ALO, indicating that the source of the ring-like wave …

From Enrollment To Employment: A Dacum Approach To Information Systems And Information Security And Assurance Curriculum Design, Leila Halawi, Wendi M. Kappers, Aaron Glassman

Publications

Issues associated with information security are numerous and diverse. Since the majority of organizational actions rely greatly on information and communication technologies, Information Systems (IS) security is now a main concern for firms, governments, institutes, and society as a whole. As a result, a plethora of graduate programs have been created, covering nearly every aspect of IS security. The authors review the current state of the IS industry presented in the literature, and identify a panel of IS experts in which to explore current job skill needs using a “Developing a Curriculum,” DACUM, process to support curriculum design for two …

Fact Sheet, Yale University Office Of Institutional Research

Fact Sheets

No abstract provided.

A Dielasma Community From The Triassic Of Makhtesh Ramon, Southern Israel, Howard R. Feldman, Alexa J. Belowich

Lander College for Women - The Anna Ruth and Mark Hasten School Publications and Research

The cosmopolitan brachiopod Dielasma ranges from the Upper Mississippian through the Upper Triassic. In southern Israel a new Dielasma community is recognized from the Triassic Saharonim Formation, Ramon Crater. The shells represent a new species and are very strongly sulciplicated, a feature that seems to be more prevalent in the Mesozoic than the Paleozoic. The Saharonim Formation was deposited under normal, calm, relatively shallow marine conditions as part of the global transgression of the Early Ladinian sea. There is no evidence of evaporitic or dolomitic sediments. The complete absence of scouring within the carbonates or signs of channeling and ripple …

The Map Portal Project At The Geological Survey Of Israel, Marcelo Rosensaft, Howard R. Feldman

Lander College for Women - The Anna Ruth and Mark Hasten School Publications and Research

The Geological Survey of Israel is mandated to prepare official geological maps of Israel at different scales. When, by the end of the 80’s, GIS systems became more popular and a realistic option for us, we started the development of a methodology and system that led to the completion of a new geological map of Israel at 1:200,000 in 1998. This resulted in a huge impetus for the preparation of the Geological Map of Israel at 1:50,000 in 79 separate sheets. In addition, using the above GIS system, other maps were prepared; outcomes of various projects - in hydrogeology, geological …

Virginia Wins $120.5 Million Resilience Grant Spearheaded By Old Dominion University, Brendan O'Hallarn

News Items

No abstract provided.

Partitioning Groups With Difference Sets, Rebecca Funke

Honors Theses

This thesis explores the use of difference sets to partition algebraic groups. Difference sets are a tool belonging to both group theory and combinatorics that provide symmetric properties that can be map into over mathematical fields such as design theory or coding theory. In my work, I will be taking algebraic groups and partitioning them into a subgroup and multiple McFarland difference sets. This partitioning can then be mapped to an association scheme. This bridge between difference sets and association schemes have important contributions to coding theory.

Mechanism Of Seasonal Arctic Sea Ice Evolution And Arctic Amplification, Kwang-Yul Kim, Benjamin D. Hamlington, Hanna Na, Jinju Kim

CCPO Publications

Sea ice loss is proposed as a primary reason for the Arctic amplification, although the physical mechanism of the Arctic amplification and its connection with sea ice melting is still in debate. In the present study, monthly ERA-Interim reanalysis data are analyzed via cyclostationary empirical orthogonal function analysis to understand the seasonal mechanism of sea ice loss in the Arctic Ocean and the Arctic amplification. While sea ice loss is widespread over much of the perimeter of the Arctic Ocean in summer, sea ice remains thin in winter only in the Barents-Kara seas. Excessive turbulent heat flux through the sea …

Modelling The Response Of Ice Shelf Basal Melting To Different Ocean Cavity Environmental Regimes, David E. Gwyther, Eva A. Cougnon, Benjamin K. Galton-Fenzi, Jason L. Roberts, John R. Hunter, Michael S. Dinniman

CCPO Publications

We present simulation results from a version of the Regional Ocean Modeling System modified for ice shelf/ocean interaction, including the parameterisation of basal melting by molecular diffusion alone. Simulations investigate the differences in melting for an idealised ice shelf experiencing a range of cold to hot ocean cavity conditions. Both the pattern of melt and the location of maximum melt shift due to changes in the buoyancy-driven circulation, in a different way to previous studies. Tidal forcing increases both the circulation strength and melting, with the strongest impact on the cold cavity case. Our results highlight the importance of including …

An Ongoing Shift In Pacific Ocean Sea Level, B. D. Hamlington, S. H. Cheon, P. R. Thompson, M. A. Merrifield, R. S. Nerem, R. R. Leben, K.-Y. Kim

CCPO Publications

Based on the satellite altimeter data, sea level off the west coast of the United States has increased over the past 5 years, while sea level in the western tropical Pacific has declined. Understanding whether this is a short‐term shift or the beginning of a longer‐term change in sea level has important implications for coastal planning efforts in the coming decades. Here, we identify and quantify the recent shift in Pacific Ocean sea level, and also seek to describe the variability in a manner consistent with recent descriptions of El Nino‐Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and particularly the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO). …

Are Long Tide Gauge Records In The Wrong Place To Measure Global Mean Sea Level Rise?, P. R. Thompson, B. D. Hamlington, F. W. Landerer, S. Adhikari

CCPO Publications

Ocean dynamics, land motion, and changes in Earth's gravitational and rotational fields cause local sea level change to deviate from the rate of global mean sea level rise. Here we use observations and simulations of spatial structure in sea level change to estimate the likelihood that these processes cause sea level trends in the longest and highest-quality tide gauge records to be systematically biased relative to the true global mean rate. The analyzed records have an average twentieth century rate of approximately 1.6 mm/yr, but based on the locations of these gauges, we show that the simple average underestimates the …

Understanding The Structure And Functioning Of Polar Pelagic Ecosystems To Predict The Impacts Of Change, E. E. Murphy, R. D. Cavanagh, K. F. Drinkwater, S. M. Grant, J. J. Heymans, E. E. Hofmann, G. L. Hunt Jr., N. M. Johnston

CCPO Publications

The determinants of the structure, functioning and resilience of pelagic ecosystems across most of the polar regions are not well known. Improved understanding is essential for assessing the value of biodiversity and predicting the effects of change (including in biodiversity) on these ecosystems and the services they maintain. Here we focus on the trophic interactions that underpin ecosystem structure, developing comparative analyses of how polar pelagic food webs vary in relation to the environment. We highlight that there is not a singular, generic Arctic or Antarctic pelagic food web, and, although there are characteristic pathways of energy flow dominated by …

A Novel Copper (Ii) Complex Identified As A Potent Drug Against Colorectal And Breast Cancer Cells And As A Poison Inhibitor For Human Topoisomerase Iiᶐ, Shayna Sandhaus, Rosella Taylor, Tiffany Edwards, Alexis Huddleston, Stephen J. Beebe, Alvin A. Holder

Bioelectrics Publications

A novel complex, [Cu(acetylethTSC)Cl]Cl · 0.25C₂H₅OH 1 (where acetylethTSC = (E)-N-ethyl-2-[1-(thiazol-2-yl)ethylidene]hydrazinecarbothioamide), was shown to have anti-proliferative activity against various colon and aggressive breast cancer cell lines. In vitro studies showed that complex 1 acted as a poison inhibitor of human topoisomerase IIᶐ which may account for the observed anti-cancer effects.

A Demonstration Project Of The Action-Oriented Stakeholder Engagement For A Resilient Tomorrow (Asert) Framework: Efficacy, Juita-Elena (Wie) Yusuf, Michelle Covi, Carol Considine, Burton St. John Iii, Gail Nicula, Pragati Rawat, Kaitlin Giles

Presentations, Lectures, Posters, Reports

Poster presentation by the Research Team of the ODU Resilience Collaborative used March-May 2016. This poster focuses on efficacy of the ASERT Framework and includes charts.

Action-Oriented Stakeholder Engagement For A Resilient Tomorrow (Asert) Framework, Michelle Covi, Juita-Elena (Wie) Yusuf, Carol Considine, Burton St. John Iii, Gail Nicula

Presentations, Lectures, Posters, Reports

Poster presentation from the Research Team of the ODU Resilience Collaborative.

Paleoenvironmental Analysis Of Cretaceous Mudstones At Slope Mountain, Alaska Using Carbon Stable Isotopes, Ashley Ratigan

Honors Papers

This project uses field samples, microfacies analysis, and carbon stable isotopes of mudstones to determine past environmental conditions of North Slope, Alaska during the Albian-Cenomanian (Cretaceous). Samples were taken at Slope Mountain, Alaska located north of the Brooks Range. Slope Mountain includes the Torok Formation and the upper and lower Nanushuk Formations that consist of alluvial, deltaic, and shallow marine facies that were deposited into the North Slope foreland basin on the Arctic Alaska micro plate. An exhaustive search for identifiable microfossils, such as pollen, diatoms, and foraminifera in the samples yielded nothing but charcoal and carbon residue. No other …

A Comparative Analysis Of An Interior-Point Method And A Sequential Quadratic Programming Method For The Markowitz Portfolio Management Problem, Zhifu Xiao

Honors Papers

In this paper, I give a brief introduction of the general optimization problem as well as the convex optimization problem. The portfolio selection problem, as a typical type of convex optimization problem, can be easily solved in polynomial time. However, when the number of available stocks in the portfolio becomes large, there might be a significant difference in the running time of different polynomial-time solving methods. In this paper, I perform a comparative analysis of two different solving methods and discuss the characteristics and differences.

An Investigation Of Ams In Oman Ophiolite Gabbros, Sarah D. Trutner

Honors Papers

Crustal accretion processes at mid-ocean ridges are still poorly understood, and several competing models exist that try to explain exactly how magma from the mantle is incorporated into oceanic crust at a crustal spreading center. Ophiolites, or fragments of oceanic crust exposed on land, are useful sites at which to conduct rock fabric studies to understand oceanic crust formation processes. This study focuses on samples of upper foliated gabbros taken from the Oman ophiolite in order to characterize their fabric orientations and contribute to a better model of crustal formation. Much of the focus of this study is on using …

Plasma Density Analysis Of Cubesat Wakes In The Earth’S Ionosphere, Robert M. Albarran Ii, Aroh Barjatya

Publications

Spinning or tumbling CubeSats with Langmuir probes deployed on booms will render spin-modulated plasma densities as the probes move in and out of the spacecraft wake. It is traditionally assumed that the lower-density measurements from the spin cycle are made in the spacecraft wake, and the higher-density measurements are outside the wake. Although this assumption is valid for larger spacecraft in the Earth’s ionosphere, this paper scrutinizes its validity for CubeSats in similar conditions. Spacecraft–plasma interactions (surface charging, plasma sheaths, and wakes) are less understood for CubeSats, and the small CubeSat dimensions must be considered with respect to characteristic length …