Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Precipitation And Transformation Of Iron-Sulfide Nanoparticles In Low-Temperature Aqueous Environment: Effects Of Reactant Iron And Sulfide Sources, Ezequiel A. Moreno Flores

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Iron sulfide nanoparticles assume an important role within a wide range of geological settings as indicators of redox environmental conditions and elemental cycling mechanisms. Initial precipitates of iron sulfide are exclusively nanoscale sized in low temperature aqueous conditions and have been reported to go through diverse morphological and phase transformations, possibly leading to the ultimate deposits of pyrite in geologic records of various times. A systematic understanding of how the early-stage nanoparticles of iron sulfide may develop into more crystalline iron sulfide forms is still lacking however. The major goal for this study was to illuminate the effects of the …

The Illusion Of An Abundant End- A Phenomenological Approach To Sustainability: The Progress Trap And The Transformative Potential Of Dialogue, Shantanu Rojatkar

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Abundance is a concept according to which a thing is deemed to be in plenty. The feeling of satisfaction and assurance, arising from something that is concretely abundant, serves as a material reason for motivation of a desired action. Just like the stock of food lying in our fridge, ensuring more than just the needs of the moment, the abundance cooks the taste of freedom, freedom from worrying about tomorrow. However, over consumption out of greed as a potential outcome of abundance, could result in the increased capacity of a person in order to reach the initial level of satisfaction. …

Dedicated Hardware For Machine/Deep Learning: Domain Specific Architectures, Angel Izael Solis

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Artificial intelligence has come a very long way from being a mere spectacle on the silver screen in the 1920s [Hml18]. As artificial intelligence continues to evolve, and we begin to develop more sophisticated Artificial Neural Networks, the need for specialized and more efficient machines (less computational strain while maintaining the same performance results) becomes increasingly evident. Though these “new” techniques, such as Multilayer Perceptron’s, Convolutional Neural Networks and Recurrent Neural Networks, may seem as if they are on the cutting edge of technology, many of these ideas are over 60 years old! However, many of these earlier models, at …

Ductile Deformation In The Central Panamint Mountains - A Multi-Disciplinary Approach To A Multi-Dimensional Problem., Tai Antonia Subia

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This study provides new insights into the geometry and timing of ductile, syn-metamorphic structures in the central Panamint Mountains of eastern California. The study focused on Surprise Canyon, where exposures of Meso- to Neoproterozoic miogeocline rocks, reworked crystalline basement, and syn-metamorphic granitoids record fabric overprints indicative of at least two distinct dynamo-thermal metamorphic events. Prograde metamorphism at greenschist and amphibolite metamorphic facies conditions occurred during Early Jurassic plutonism based on deformation of a dioritic pluton with a U-Pb date reported here of 175.6 ± 3.2 Ma. Mid Jurassic deformation (D1) generated the main continuous cleavage in the rocks (S1) as …

Fishers' Ecological Knowledge And Stable Isotope Analysis: A Social-Ecological Systems Approach To Endangered Species Conservation, Kathryn Rose Wedemeyer-Strombel

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Identifying developmental habitat is essential for understanding population structure and species resiliency, especially for critically endangered species. In long-lived, oceanic, migratory animals such as sea turtles, elucidating developmental grounds is particularly difficult. When data are deficient or challenging to acquire, scientists often lean towards traditional quantitative methods when a social-ecological systems approach could better provide crucial baseline data and guiding information. Fishers’ ecological knowledge (FEK), the combination of experiential and culturally transmitted knowledge, is expert knowledge and should be treated as such. In 2008, FEK led to the “rediscovery” of the critically endangered eastern Pacific (EP) population of hawksbill sea …

Isolation Of Rabies Virus From The Salivary Glands Of Wild And Domestic Carnivores During A Skunk Rabies Epizootic, Cornell University Jimenez, Terry R. Spraker, Jessica Anderson, Richard Bowen, Amy Gilbert

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Rabies is a fatal zoonotic disease of global importance. Rabies virus is shed in the saliva of infected hosts and is primarily transmitted through bite contact. Canine rabies has been eliminated from the US, but wildlife constitutes more than 90% of the reported cases of animal rabies in the US each year. In the US, several wild carnivore species are reservoirs of distinct variants of rabies virus (RV). After decades of apparent absence, the south-central skunk (SCSK) RV variant was detected in Colorado in 2007 and resulted in a large-scale epizootic in striped skunk (Mephitis mephitis) populations in northern Colorado …

Experimental Infections Of Norway Rats With Avian‑Derived Low‑Pathogenic Influenza A Viruses, Kaci K. Vandalen, Nicole M. Nemeth, Nicholas O. Thomas, Nicole L. Barrett, Jeremy W. Ellis, Heather J. Sullivan, Alan B. Franklin, Susan A. Shriner

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Influenza A viruses (IAVs) are a public-health, veterinary, and agricultural concern. Although wild birds are considered the primary reservoir hosts for most IAVs, wild-bird IAV strains are known to spill over into poultry, domestic or wild mammals, and humans. Occasionally, spillover events may result in adaptation or reassortment with other strains. Moreover, some IAV strains found in wild waterfowl mutate into highly pathogenic forms in poultry, causing tremendous economic losses. When domestic animals, wildlife, and humans dwell in close proximity to each other, such as may be the case with agricultural operations, wildlife may represent a potential risk for interspecies …

Predation And Disease-Related Economic Impacts Of Wild Pigs On Livestock Producers In 13 States, Aaron M. Anderson, Chris Slootmaker, Erin Harper, Ryan S. Miller, Stephanie A. Shwiff

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

We report the results of a survey on wild pigs (Sus scrofa) damage to livestock producers in 13 US states (Alabama, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas). The survey was distributed by the USDA National Agricultural Statistical Service in the summer of 2017 to a sample of livestock producers in the 13-state region. Findings indicate that predation and disease-related damage can be substantial in certain states and for certain types of livestock. In particular, damage to cattle operations in Texas and Arkansas was substantially higher than damage in other states …

Potential Role Of Wildlife In The Usa In The Event Of A Foot-And-Mouth Disease Virus Incursion, Vienna R. Brown, Sarah N. Bevins

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is caused by foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) which affects domestic and wild cloven-hoofed species. The FMD-free status of the USA and the tremendous economic impact of a virus incursion motivated the development of this evaluation of the potential role of wildlife in the event of a virus introduction. Additionally, this manuscript contains a summary of US vulnerabilities for viral incursion and persistence which focuses specifically on the possible role of wildlife. The legal movement of susceptible live animals, animal products, by-products and animal feed containing animal products pose a risk of virus introduction and spread. Additionally, the …

Reducing Prairie Dog Populations And Damage By Castration Of Dominant Males, Gary W. Witmer

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Black-tailed prairie dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus) occur widely across the prairie states of North America. They compete with livestock for forage, transmit plague, and damage lawns, landscaping, and property. Interest in non-lethal methods, such as immunocontraception, is growing; however, reductions in the population due to contraception may be offset by increases in survival because adults and yearlings are not subject to the energetic demands of reproduction, and lower densities may increase the amount of resources available to growing offspring. Surgical sterilization provides a means for modeling these effects. Thus, we castrated males prior to the 1998 breeding season to simulate the …

The Role Of Scavenging In Disease Dynamics, Joaquín Vicente, Kurt C. Vercauteren

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Contents

Introduction................ 161

The Use of Animal Remains and the Exposure of Scavengers to Disease........ 163

The Relevance of Scavenging for Pathogens to Spread and Persist.......... 166

Human Related Factors Resulting in Increased Risk for Disease Transmission Through Scavenging.............. 170

Management of Scavenging to Reduce Disease Risks.............. 173

Restoration of Large Predators.................. 174

Elimination of Hunting of Scavengers............ 174

Destruction of Big Game and Domestic Animal Carcasses........... 174

Restoration of the Effects of Overabundance............. 175

Excluding Mammalian and Avian Scavengers from Natural Carrions.......... 176

Excluding Mammalian and Avian Scavengers from Vulture Restaurants........... 176

Conclusions and Future Perspectives........... 178

References............... 178

Cloud Resource Optimization For Processing Multiple Streams Of Visual Data, Zohar Kapach, Andrew Ulmer, Daniel Merrick, Arshad Alikhan, Yung-Hsiang Lu, Anup Mohan, Ahmed S. Kaseb, George K. Thiruvathukal

Computer Science: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Hundreds of millions of network cameras have been installed throughout the world. Each is capable of providing a vast amount of real-time data. Analyzing the massive data generated by these cameras requires significant computational resources and the demands may vary over time. Cloud computing shows the most promise to provide the needed resources on demand. In this article, we investigate how to allocate cloud resources when analyzing real-time data streams from network cameras. A resource manager considers many factors that affect its decisions, including the types of analysis, the number of data streams, and the locations of the cameras. The …

Experimental Applications Of Virtual Reality In Design Education, Amber Bartosh, Phillip Anzalone

Publications and Research

By introducing rapid reproduction, algorithms, and complex formal configurations, the digital era of architecture began a revolution. Architects incorporated the computational capacity of the computer into the design process both as a tool and as a critical component of the theories and practice of architecture as a whole. As we move into what has been coined “the second digital turn,” a period in which digital integration is considered ubiquitous, how can we consider, prepare, and propel towards the next technological innovation to significantly inform design thinking, representation, and manifestation? What tools are available to investigate this speculative design future and …

Charged Particle Filter For Entrance Of Imap-Lo, Daniel Abel

Honors Theses and Capstones

No abstract provided.

Connecting Composting And Greenhouses: An Energy Capture And Usage Model, Dena M. Hoffman

Honors Theses and Capstones

At the Organic Dairy Research Farm in Lee, New Hampshire, the practice of aerated static composting is researched for potential heat capture. In early 2019, an Excel model was created to illustrate the ability of greenhouses to retain heat during a cold month of January and the total energy balance for each day. This model shows that an average greenhouse, based on the dimensions of the greenhouse at Kingman Farm, requires an additional, external heat source to supplement its heating needs. By adding the heat generated by the aerated static composting pile to the greenhouse in the Excel model, the …

Spin Response Function For Spin Transparency Mode Of Rhic, V. S. Morozov, P. Adams, Y. S. Derbenev, Y. Filatov, H. Huang, A. M. Kondratenko, M. A. Kondratenko, F. Lin, F. Méot, V. Ptitsyn, W. B. Schmidke, Y. Zhang

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

In the Spin Transparency (ST) mode of RHIC, the axes of its Siberian snakes are parallel. The spin tune in the ST mode is zero and the spin motion becomes degenerate: any spin direction repeats every particle turn. In contrast, the lattice of a conventional collider determines a unique stable periodic spin direction, so that the collider operates in the Preferred Spin (PS) mode. Contributions of perturbing magnetic fields to the spin resonance strengths in the PS mode are usually calculated using the spin response function. However, in that form, it is not applicable in the ST mode. This paper …

Experimental Verification Of Transparent Spin Mode In Rhic, V. S. Morozov, P. Adams, Y. S. Derbenev, Y. Filatov, H. Huang, A. M. Kondratenko, M. A. Kondratenko, F. Lin, F. Méot, V. Ptitsyn, W. B. Schmidke, Y. Zhang

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

High electron and ion polarizations are some of the key design requirements of a future Electron Ion Collider (EIC). The transparent spin mode, a concept inspired by the figure 8 ring design of JLEIC, is a novel technique for preservation and control of electron and ion spin polarizations in a collider or storage ring. It makes the ring lattice "invisible" to the spin and allows for polarization control by small quasi-static magnetic fields with practically no effect on the beam’s orbital characteristics. It offers unique opportunities for polarization maintenance and control in Jefferson Lab’s JLEIC and in BNL’s eRHIC. The …

A Novel Set Of Weight Initialization Techniques For Deep Learning Architectures, Diego Aguirre

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The importance of weight initialization when building a deep learning model is often underappreciated. Even though it is usually seen as a minor detail in the model creation cycle, this process has shown to have a strong impact on the training time of a network and the quality of the resulting model. In fact, the implications of choosing a poor initialization scheme range from leading to the creation of a poorly performing model to preventing optimization techniques (like stochastic gradient descent) from converging.

In this work, we introduce and evaluate a set of novel weight initialization techniques for deep learning …

Deciduous Shrub Encroachment Effects On Tundra Soil Properties, Daniela Aguirre

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Deciduous shrub abundance is increasing in tundra ecosystems as an effect of rising temperatures which may change tundra physical properties and, in turn, microbial communities and biogeochemical processes. Two mechanisms through which shrub presence may affect tundra ecosystems were examined in this study; the physical presence of the shrubs and effects of increasing shrub litter inputs. In a sub-arctic alpine tundra ecosystem, dominated by the deciduous shrub Betula glandulosa, both shrub presence (shrub present and removed) and litter quantity (no litter/litter removed, ambient litter, and twice ambient litter) were manipulated; multiple ecosystem properties where measured within the treatment plots over …

Time-Reflective Text Representations For Semantic Evolution Tracking And Trend Analytics, Roberto Camacho Barranco

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The extraction of significant, relevant, and useful trends from massive document collections, such as a streaming newswire or scientific publications, is a challenging and significant problem in many different fields, including intelligence analysis, recommendation systems, and scientific research. However, techniques that tackle trend analytics of such large text corpora are limited because research that addresses the temporal nature of these publications is still in its early stages. In this work, we first show that it is possible to capture the evolution of a story (or trend) by connecting the dots between different documents in a text corpus. The observed results …

Electronic Tuning Of Dimolybdenum Complexes Through Symmetry Manipulation Of Formamidinate Ligands In Their Second Coordination Sphere, Iván Alonso Cervantes Cervantes Martã­Nez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Alternative sustainable energy sources are required to decrease our dependence on carbon-based fuels. Small molecule activation is one of the most promising to fulfill global energy demand and maintain a sustainable world. Most of the industrial processes relevant for global energy supply and expenditure involves small molecules and metal catalysts. However, it is still required to gain fundamental insights on how these catalysts achieve such reactions. Dinuclear compounds, namely dimolybdenum complexes, may serve as a good experimental model to understand metal-metal cooperativity and its influence in catalysis.

In Chapter 2, three unsymmetric aryl formamidines were synthesized and characterized through 1H …

Stratigraphic Response Of The Differential Rise Of The Gypsum Valley Salt Wall, Jurassic Entrada Formation, Paradox Basin, Colorado, Rafael Andres Delfin

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The effect of halokinetic processes on fluvial and marine depositional environments adjacent to salt diapirs have been well established through extensive research, however eolian systems in similar geologic settings have not been documented. This has left a void in our understanding of eolian depositional environments adjacent to salt diapirs. This study is aimed at providing new knowledge and a solid foundation on eolian systems and diapiric processes. Despite our limited understanding of theses interactions, there has been a recent interest in deep water prospectively in the Gulf of Mexico. Successful tests of the Norphlet Formation prove that eolian sandstones deposited …

Quasi-Harmonic And Anharmonic Entropies In Transition Metals, Bimal K C

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Density functional theory (DFT) employing the quasi-harmonic approximation (QHA) is a robust method for evaluating thermal properties of solids. In the case of transition metals however, the method yields high values of the thermal pressure when compared to experimental data or with more direct methods like quantum-molecular dynamics (QMD) simulations. Surprisingly, there has not been to date, a systematic study aimed at understanding the reasons for these large discrepancies, particularly at low temperature, i.e. below the Debye temperature of the solid. Using Tantalum as a test model for which a lot of experimental data exist, thermal properties were evaluated employing …

Origin And Characterization Of Intrasalt Non-Halite Lithologies Of The Neoproterozoic Patawarta Diapir, Central Flinders Ranges, South Australia, Rachelle A. Kernen

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Non-halite lithologies in salt diapirs are variously referred to as clasts, chips, rafts, stringers, sutures, and encased minibasins in the literature. Due to the complexities of gathering and processing seismic reflection data within salt bodies, nonhalite intrasalt lithologies, collectively referred to as inclusions here, are often first identified while drilling wells. These wells may penetrate unexpected lithologies of unknown fluid pressure, which can result in economic failure and pose serious drilling hazards and a threat to human life. Therefore, it is imperative to identify and determine the nature of inclusions prior to drilling, and ideally during the well planning process …

Non Linear Optics For Materials Fabrication And Medical Instrumentation, Aurelio Paez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Two-photon absorption is a nonlinear optical process where two photons are absorbed by a molecule simultaneously. The probability of this quantum phenomenon is proportional to the quadratic excitation of light intensity. It has many applications in biomedical and materials research, such as two-photon fluorescence microcopy. The first project is to apply two-photon absorption induced bond cleavage in photoreactive materials for engineering 3D tissue scaffolds. The major challenge for growing thick 3D tissues is the lack of vasculature, where nutrients and oxygen can be delivered to the growing cells. Our collaborators have synthesized a novel polypeptide that is composed of 34-mer …

Combination Of Resampling Based Lasso Feature Selection And Ensembles Of Regularized Regression Models, Abhijeet R. Patil

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In high-dimensional data, the performance of various classiers is largely dependent on the selection of important features. Most of the individual classiers using existing feature selection (FS) methods do not perform well for highly correlated data. Obtaining important

features using the FS method and selecting the best performing classier is a challenging task in high throughput data. In this research, we propose a combination of resampling based least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) feature selection (RLFS)

and ensembles of regularized regression models (ERRM) capable of handling data with the high correlation structures. The ERRM boosts the prediction accuracy with …

Scratching The Surface Of The Isotope Landscape Of An Ore Deposit Molybdenum-Sulfur Isotope Relationships In A Porphyry Copper-Molybdenum Deposit (Santa Rita / Chino Mine, Nm), Joshua Roger Peterson

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

More than 95% of the world's molybdenum (Mo) is mined from porphyry deposits (Sinclair, 2007). Molybdenum is an important component for the metal industry, as a key ingredient in stainless steel alloys and high-speed heat resistant tools. Despite the importance of porphyry deposits for the supply of this industrially important metal, major questions about Mo mineral precipitation remain unresolved and the process of ore body emplacement and formation remains poorly investigated (Cooke et al., 2014a).

Recent observations have revealed a wide range of Mo isotope compositions in porphyry deposits, both globally and locally (Greber et al., 2014a; Shafiei et al., …

Fault Kinematics Of The Southern Rio Grande Rift: Exploring The Possibility Of Fault Reactivation, Georgina Rodriguez Gonzalez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The region in and around the southern Rio Grande rift has experienced a long and complex tectonic history since the Precambrian era. In addition to recording extension directions due to the opening of the Rio Grande rift, faults can also possibly record contractional deformation related to the Laramide orogeny, extension along the boundary of the Mesozoic Chihuahua Trough, and possibly strike - slip movement since the Precambrian related to the Texas Lineament. The northern and central segments of the Rio Grande rift preserve mostly N - S-trending faults, whereas the southern segment preserves NW - SE-trending faults. The main hypoThesis …

Towards Analytical Techniques For Systems Engineering Applications, Griselda Valdepeñas Acosta

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

One of the main objectives of systems engineering is to design, maintain, and analyze systems that help the users. To design an appropriate system for an application domain, we need to know: what are the users' desires and preferences (so that we know in what direction we should aim to change this domain), what is the current state and what is the dynamics of this application domain, and how to use all this information to select the best alternatives for the system design and maintenance. Designing a system includes selecting numerical values for many of the parameters describing the corresponding …

Exposing Students To Stem Careers Through Hands-On Activities With Drones And Robots, Vukica M. Jovanović, George Mcleod, Thomas E. Alberts, Cynthia Tomovic, Otilia Popescu, Tysha Batts, Ms. Mary Louise Sandy

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

Autonomous robots have been used in a variety of ways from collecting specimen in hazardous environments to space exploration. These robots can be found in various manufacturing systems as Autonomous Guided Vehicles (AGVs) to transport parts and assemblies throughout the manufacturing system. They have also been used as a vehicle to convey design thinking and other STEM-related concepts in mechanical engineering/mechanical engineering technology, electrical engineering/electrical engineering technology, computer science, and computer engineering. Various outreach events have included robotics based activities that engage students in building and programming autonomous robots for the purpose of achieving a specific task. These events are …