Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Re-Evaluating Missouri’S Strategic Element Potential: A Geochemical Study Of The Mesoproterozoic Fe-Cu-Co-Ree Deposits In Southeast Missouri, Usa, Brandon James Sullivan

Doctoral Dissertations

"Iron-oxide-copper-gold (IOCG) deposits are poorly understood mineral systems. For example, we do not know why Cu- and Co-rich IOCG deposits typically occur proximal to Fe ore deposits that are notably Cu and Co-poor, such as Iron Oxide Apatite (IOA) deposits. To better understand the formation of IOA and IOCG deposits in Missouri, USA, this PhD thesis examines the genesis of the Kratz Spring IOA and the Boss Central Dome IOCG deposits. This study presents the first constraints on formation conditions and fluid sources in the studied deposits using integrated petrographic, mineral composition, and Fe isotope analyses of oxide minerals. Observations …

Enhancing Exploration-Exploitation In Harmony Search For Airborne Hyperspectral Imaging Band Selection (E3hs), Mohammed Abdulmajeed Moharram, Divya Meena Sundaram

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

Hyperspectral imaging has emerged as a prominent area of research in the field of remote sensing science. However, hyperspectral images (HSIs) pose a notable challenge due to the presence of numerous irrelevant and redundant spectral bands exhibiting high correlation. Therefore, it is necessary to enhance the classification performance for HSI processing by selecting the most relevant discriminative spectral bands. To this end, this paper introduces a metaheuristic search method called enhancing exploration-exploitation in harmony search (E3HS). The standard harmony search suffers from many weaknesses, such as premature convergence and falling easily into the local optimum. Consequently, E3HS was proposed to …

Electromagnetic Methods In The Detection Of Water Hazards In Coal Mines: A Review, Zhang Jifeng, Sun Naiquan, Liu Zuiliang, Qi Zhipeng

Coal Geology & Exploration

Water hazards in coal mines are a major type of hidden danger in safe coal mining. The accurate detection of hidden factors to cause hazard is the prerequisite to solving the water hazards. Electromagnetic methods, which are sensitive to low-resistivity bodies and have multiple types and high adaptability, can be used to effectively detect water-rich hazard-causing factors. Traditional ground electromagnetic methods, including the controlled source audio-frequency magnetotellurics (CSAMT) method and the loop source transient electromagnetic method, play an important role in detecting hidden hazard-causing factors in coal mines. With the continuous development of new technologies, near-source electromagnetic methods have developed …

Titaniferous-Vanadiferous, Magnetite-Ilmenite Mineralization In A Mafic Suite Within The Chhotanagpur Gneissic Complex, Bihar, India, Ashmeer Mohammad, Anup K. Prasad, Kehe-U Wetsah, Mohammad Azad, Vivek Aryan, Hesham El-Askary

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Titanium or vanadium metals or their alloys are important industrial metals/alloys. Because these resources are in short supply, the investigation of potential titaniferous-vanadiferous deposits needs special attention to bridge the supply-demand gap. The study integrates geological, geochemical, remote sensing, and geophysical data for assessing the potentiality of titaniferous-vanadiferous, magnetite-ilmenite mineralization in and around the Sudamakund and Paharpur areas, Gaya and Jehanabad districts, Bihar, India, and delineation of specific targets for detailed exploration. Field visits for large scale mapping on (1:12,500 scale) were used to conduct a reconnaissance survey for magnetite-ilmenite mineralization in parts of toposheet number 72G/04 in the Gaya …

Research Progress And Development Direction Of Key Technologies For Efficient Coalbed Methane Development In China, Xu Fengyin, Yan Xia, Lin Zhenpan, Li Shuguang, Xiong Xianyue, Yan Detian, Wang Hongya, Zhang Shuangyuan, Xu Borui, Ma Xinyuan, Bai Nan, Mei Yonggui

Coal Geology & Exploration

During the 13th Five Year Plan period, the major problem of the low output of a single well of coalbed methane (CBM) has restricted the efficient development of CBM in China. Through Major National Science and Technology Projects and other technical researches, significant progress has been made in the theoretical understanding and engineering technology of CBM exploration and development. It is manifested in four aspects as follows. Firstly, the exploration concept has changed from looking for rich dessert areas to high-yield dessert areas, and the extensive development deployment has become finer. Secondly, in terms of efficient stimulation technology, with the …

Using Lake Sediment Chemistry In The Exploration For Nickel Laterite Deposits In Tropical Regions, Gabriela Yvonne Ramirez

Masters Theses

"Developing reliable geochemical indicators to guide the search for ore deposits is a long-standing goal. This particularly applies to tropical regions that are often heavily vegetated which hampers boots-on-the ground exploration efforts. Here we present the preliminary results of a study that investigates the usefulness of lake sediment chemistry in the exploration for nickel laterite ore deposits in tropical regions using Lake Izabal, Guatemala, as a case study. Lake Izabal’s catchment area contains Ni laterite deposits along its northern shore, whereas no Ni-laterite discoveries have been made in the south except for a Ni mine in the southern region that …

Metareasoning, Opportunistic Exploration, And Explanations For Autonomous Indoor Navigation, Raj Korpan

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Autonomous indoor navigation is an important task for mobile robots deployed without a map in real-world environments, such as museums or offices. While it travels, an autonomous robot navigator must contend with lack of prior knowledge, sensor noise, actuator error, and inquisitive people. This dissertation addresses these challenges with a cognitively-based hierarchical reasoning architecture that incorporates learning, exploration, reactivity, planning, heuristics, and explanations. Evaluation by simulation in large, complex, indoor environments shows that a robot controller can successfully navigate without a detailed map of every obstruction's location when it performs limited initial global exploration and plans in its learned spatial …

Variation In Personality Among Semi-Wild Myanmar Timber Elephants, Sateesh Venkatesh

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines two personality traits: exploration and neophobia, which could influence human-elephant conflicts. Thirty-one semi-wild elephants were tested over two trials using a custom novel puzzle tube containing three tasks and three rewards. Our studies show that elephants do vary significantly between individuals in both exploration and neophobia.

Radiological Identification Of Near‐Surface Mineralogical Deposits Using Low‐Altitude Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, Peter G. Martin, Dean T. Connor, Natalia Estrada, Adel El-Turke, David Megson-Smith, Chris P. Jones, David K. Kreamer, Thomas B. Scott

Geoscience Faculty Research

An ever‐increasing global population and unabating technological growth have resulted in a relentless appetite for mineral resources, namely rare earth elements, fuel minerals and those utilised in electronics applications, with the price of such species continuing to climb. In contrast to more established large‐scale and high‐cost exploration methodologies, this work details the application of novel multi‐rotor unmanned aerial vehicles equipped with miniaturised radiation detectors for the objective of undertaking resource exploration at lower costs, with greater autonomy and at considerably enhanced higher spatial resolutions; utilizing the ore material’s inherent low levels of characteristic radioactivity. As we demonstrate at the former …

Multi-Strategy Cooperative Evolutionary Pso Based On Cauchy Mutation Strategy, Yongji Wang, Tingting Su, Liu Lei

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: For improving the performance of particle swarm optimization (PSO) in optimization simulation, a multi-strategy cooperative evolutionary PSO based on Cauchy mutation strategy is proposed. The new algorithm divides the whole swarm into three sub-swarms. A part of particles is selected to Cauchy mutation with a certain probability, and the rest of particles adjust their exploitation and exploration by different evolutionary strategies (large-scale search strategy, local search strategy, and adaptive velocity updating strategy). The sub-swarms share their information to achieve cooperation. Three strategies are used to optimize three test functions, and the result shows the advantages …

Dimensionality And Factorial Invariance Of Religiosity Among Christians And The Religiously Unaffiliated: A Cross-Cultural Analysis Based On The International Social Survey Programme, Carlos Miguel Lemos, Ross Joseph Gore, Ivan Puga-Gonzalez, F. Leron Shults

VMASC Publications

We present a study of the dimensionality and factorial invariance of religiosity for 26 countries with a Christian heritage, based on the 1998 and 2008 rounds of the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) Religion survey, using both exploratory and multi-group confirmatory factor analyses. The results of the exploratory factor analysis showed that three factors, common to Christian and religiously unaffiliated respondents, could be extracted from our initially selected items and suggested the testing of four different three-factor models using multi-group confirmatory factor analysis. For the model with the best fit and measurement invariance properties, we labeled the three resulting factors …

An Adaptive Memory-Based Reinforcement Learning Controller, Keith August Cissell

MSU Graduate Theses

Recently, the use of autonomous robots for exploration has drastically expanded--largely due to innovations in both hardware technology and the development of new artificial intelligence methods. The wide variety of robotic agents and operating environments has led to the creation of many unique control strategies that cater to each specific agent and their goal within an environment. Most control strategies are single purpose, meaning they are built from the ground up for each given operation. Here we present a single, reinforcement learning control solution for autonomous exploration intended to work across multiple agent types, goals, and environments. The solution presented …

P-T-X Constraints On Ilmenite Unit Cell And Relationship To Kimberlitic And Non-Kimberlitic Sources, Mitchell R. Galarneau

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This research investigates the mineral ilmenite, focusing on the relationship between crystal structure and geochemical and/or pressure data. Ilmenites were obtained from diamond-rich and diamond-poor kimberlites and non-kimberlitic localities, to discriminate between these populations. Crystallographic results showed a delineation between kimberlitic and non-kimberlitic ilmenites at a c-axis value of 14.02 (±0.01) Å. Adding geochemistry and pressure enhances the separation of kimberlitic and non-kimberlitic samples; however, this isn’t the case for diamond-rich versus diamond-poor kimberlites, even with three-dimensional and cluster analyses. A subset of kimberlitic ilmenites (manganese rich) were found with c-axis values and geochemical concentrations similar to non-kimberlitic ilmenites.

By …

Coal

Activities

Coal has been a source of energy for almost as long as Homo sapiens have inhabited the planet. The earliest record for its use dates back more than 3000 years to China where it may have been used to smelt copper. In areas where coal seams intersected the surface, coal was a ready supply of energy just waiting to be exploited. It did have some drawbacks, though. Most of the coal near the surface burns dirty, requiring some form of chimney if it is to be used indoors. It is also heavy to transport, limiting its use to regions near …

Multi-View Ontology Explorer (Moe): Interactive Visual Exploration Of Ontologies, Zhao Lin

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

An ontology is an explicit specification of a conceptualization. This specification consists of a common vocabulary and information structure of a domain. Ontologies have applications in many fields to semantically link information in a standardized manner. In these fields, it is often crucial for both expert and non-expert users to quickly grasp the contents of an ontology; and to achieve this, many ontology tools implement visualization components. There are many past works on ontology visualization, and most of these tools are adapted from tree and graph based visualization techniques (e.g. treemaps, node-link graphs, and 3D interfaces). However, due to the …

The Tuscaloosa Marine Shale: Geologic History, Depositional Analysis, And Exploration Potential, Jessica D. Pair

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Tuscaloosa Marine Shale (TMS) was deposited across southern Louisiana and Mississippi during the Upper Cretaceous. The study focuses on a core region containing vast deposits of Cretaceous-aged sediments that have economic importance for oil and gas exploration. This region has been conventionally drilled for decades, focusing on the recovery of the Cretaceous hydrocarbons. Explorers within this region had traditionally targeted the massive sand units of the Lower and Upper Tuscaloosa Group while neglecting the middle Tuscaloosa Marine Shale unit. With the onset of unconventional drilling technology, new explorers to the region have begun to delineate the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale’s …

Hindsight: Encouraging Exploration Through Direct Encoding Of Personal Interaction History, Mi Feng, Cheng Deng, Evan M. Peck, Lane Harrison

Faculty Journal Articles

Physical and digital objects often leave markers of our use. Website links turn purple after we visit them, for example, showing us information we have yet to explore. These “footprints” of interaction offer substantial benefits in information saturated environments - they enable us to easily revisit old information, systematically explore new information, and quickly resume tasks after interruption. While applying these design principles have been successful in HCI contexts, direct encodings of personal interaction history have received scarce attention in data visualization. One reason is that there is little guidance for integrating history into visualizations where many visual channels are …

An Evaluation Of The Lithologies And Geochemistry Of The Upper Beaver Deposit Of The Kirkland Lake Area, Katherine E. Feick

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The Upper Beaver Cu-Au deposit contains a unique style of mineralization in the Larder Lake and Kirkland Lake areas in terms of mineralization, alteration style, and age. This study aims to use company-provided data, supplemented with focused data collection, to evaluate what information can be attained from company-provided geochemical data. The evaluation uses a combination of hand sample, petrographic, geochemical, statistical, and microprobe analytical methods.

Lithogeochemical analyses indicated that the altered igneous host rock is calc-alkaline in composition and is most likely part of the diorite-monzonite suite. Further, exploratory data analysis of Au and Cu mineralization identified that there are …

Geology And Mineralization Controls Surrounding The Palmarejo Mining District - A Compilation Of Remote And Hands On Exploration Techniques, Castulo Molina Sotelo

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Exploration is the base of the mining industry, and it is often taken as synonymous with "finding a mine". In reality it is a more complex process; where the selection, evaluation, screening and testing of successively smaller areas lead to the discovery of an economic deposit. Once the deposit is found, the economic factors become more important than the geological ones, and then the exploration becomes a tool to give sustainability to the mining operation through time.

The silver and gold deposits of the world-class Palmarejo District are typical, intermediate sulfidation- style epithermal, precious metal occurrences, hosted in Cretaceous- to …

Srcmx: A Gui Application For Srcml, Brian Kovacs

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

srcMX is a GUI application that utilizes the srcML command-line tool to convert and display source code using the srcML format. The goal is for srcMX to promote the manipulation and exploration of source code using srcML. I also hope that the user-friendly nature inherent to GUI applications allows srcMX to introduce a larger audience to the many features offered by srcML. The application is written in C++ using the Qt and Qt Quick frameworks.

Pre-Mission Input Requirements To Enable Successful Sample Collection By A Remote Field/Eva Team, Barbara A. Cohen, Darlene S. S. Lim, Kelsey E. Young, Anna Brunner, Richard C. Elphic, Audrey Horne, Mary C. Kerrigan, Gordon O. Osinski, John R. Skok, Steven W. Squyres, David Saint-Jacques, Jennifer L. Heldmann

Journal of Human Performance in Extreme Environments

We used a field excursion to the West Clearwater Lake Impact structure as an opportunity to test factors that contribute to the decisions a remote field team (for example, astronauts conducting extravehicular activities (EVA) on planetary surfaces) makes while collecting samples for return to Earth. We found that detailed background on the analytical purpose of the samples, provided to the field team, enables them to identify and collect samples that meet specific analytical objectives. However, such samples are not always identifiable during field reconnaissance activities, and may only be recognized after outcrop characterization and interpretation by crew and/or science team …

Cova Des Pas De Vallgornera, (Mallorca, Spain): History Of Exploration And Cave Description, Antoni Merino, Antoni Mulet, Guiem Mulet, Antoni Croix, Anders Kristofersson, Francesc Gràcia, Miquel A. Perelló

International Journal of Speleology

The Cova des Pas de Vallgornera lies in the Llucmajor municipality, in southern Mallorca, and is the longest cave in the Balearic Islands. Currently its surveyed length is over 74,000 metres, including more than 17,000 of underwater extensions. The cave was discovered accidentally in 1968, but it was in 2004 when a major breakthrough shed light on its real extension and importance. The cave roughly shows two tiers of passages, apart from the underwater extensions, the first one is between 7 and 11 m above the mean sea level, the second one is about at the water table level. The …

Statistical Modeling, Exploration, And Visualization Of Snow Water Equivalent Data, James Beguah Odei

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Due to a continual increase in the demand for water as well as an ongoing regional drought, there is an imminent need to monitor and forecast water resources in the Western United States. In particular, water resources in the Intermountain West rely heavily on snow water storage. Thus, the need to improve seasonal forecasts of snowpack and considering new techniques would allow water resources to be more effectively managed throughout the entire water-year. Many available models used in forecasting snow water equivalent (SWE) measurements require delicate calibrations.

In contrast to the physical SWE models most commonly used for forecasting, we …

Shear Zone Influence On The Emplacement Of A Giant Pegmatite: The Whabouchi Lithium Pegmatite, Quebec,Canada, Laurisha Bynoe

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The Whabouchi pegmatite is within a transpressional high-strain zone of a metamorphosed volcano-sedimentary belt. A well-developed subvertical transposition foliation and a subvertical stretching lineation are present in this zone. The main body of the Whabouchi pegmatite is parallel to the transposition foliation and branching veinlets from this body have been folded and boudinaged by shear zone deformation. Thus suggesting that the Whabouchi pegmatite intruded syn-kinematically during the deformation of the shear zone. Previously, the Whabouchi pegmatite gave a zircon age of 2577 + 14Ma. The Whabouchi pegmatite is linked geochemically and geochronologically to a large pegmatite body to the south …

Comparative Geochemical Study Of Soils Developed On Characteristic Black And Yellow Polymetallic Massive Sulfide Deposits In Eastern Pontides (Ne Turkey), Nezi̇hi̇ Köprübaşi, Emi̇n Çi̇ftçi̇, Sai̇t Cordan, Necla Köprübaşi, Cafer Özkul, Fatma Şi̇şman Tükel

Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences

The Harşit-Köprübaşı (Tirebolu) and Killik (Espiye) volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS) deposits occur in the Eastern Pontide tectonic belt, one of the major tectonic units comprising Anatolia. They are hosted by Late Cretaceous dacitic to rhyolitic rocks overlain by thin layers of pelitic sediments. The region is considered as a metallogenic province since it is a host to numerous VMS deposits, mainly of the Kuroko type, with varying sizes and reserves and with fairly similar geochemical and mineralogical characteristics. In this study, 489 soil samples were systematically collected from both known mineralized sites and remote areas that have no indication of …

Integrated Geophysical Exploration Of A Known Geothermal Resource: Neal Hot Springs, Clinton Ryan Colwell

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

I present an integrated geophysical characterization of the Neal Hot Springs geothermal system in eastern Oregon. This newly established 23 MW geothermal production site is located in a region of complex geology and intersecting faults associated with two major extensional systems; the Oregon-Idaho Graben and the western Snake River Plain. The intersection of two dominant fault orientations, coupled with a high geothermal gradient from relatively thin continental crust and radioactive decay from a shallow granitic body, produces the pathways and heat needed for deep water circulation at Neal Hot Springs. New geologic mapping, geochemistry, and measurements from several boreholes in …

Lithogeochemical And Stable Isotope Characteristics Of Bristol And Northern Thorneloe Townships And Its Correlation With Gold Mineralization, Zachary Grant Stevison

Wayne State University Theses

The Porcupine Mining Camp located in the southwestend of the Abitibi Greenstone Belt has been mined extensively for its prolific precious and base metal enrichment. This study targeted Bristol and Northern Thorneloe, fifteen kilometers southwest of Timmins, ON, an area that is of economic interest for its gold mineralization. Rock samples were collected (drill- core and outcrop) throughout both townships and analyzed for their major and trace element composition, These were used to determine hydrothermal alteration signatures as well as specific elemental enrichment that relate to gold mineralization in Bristol-Thorneloe Township. Quartz-carbonate and quartz-carbonate-tourmaline vein samples were also collected near …

Observatory Of Trends In Software Related Microblogs, Achananuparp Palakorn, Nelman Lubis Ibrahim, Yuan Tian, David Lo, Ee Peng Lim

David LO

Microblogging has recently become a popular means to disseminate information among millions of people. Interestingly, software developers also use microblog to communicate with one another. Different from traditional media, microblog users tend to focus on recency and informality of content. Many tweet contents are relatively more personal and Opinionated, compared to that of traditional news report. Thus, by analyzing microblogs, one could get the up-to-date information about what people are interested in or feel toward a particular topic. In this paper, we describe our microblog observatory that aggregates more than 70,000 Twitter feeds, captures software-related tweets, and computes trends from …

Towards Greater Systemisation In Ci Research: An Exploration Of Social Development As A Framework For Comparison And Understanding, William Tibben

Dr William Tibben

The theme of complexity alludes to the difficulties community informatics (CI) researchers face when analysing use of ICTs by communities. In response, de Moor (2009a, 2009b) and Stillman (2010) identify the need for greater systemisation of CI research that enables complex socio-technical processes to be analysed over multiple cases. The principle by which such systemisation should occur is open to debate. It seems improbable that a single theoretical approach, at least in the short term, is going to satisfy everyone as greater systemisation is pursued. The paper suggests that, as a first step, efforts should be devoted to better appreciation …

An Exploration Of Aged Care Nurse's Readiness And Ability To Use It In Their Work - Outline Of A Proposed Research, Ping Yu, Patrick Crookes, Sunaina Lobo

Dr Ping Yu

Dramatic changes in health care have led to a major restructuring of clinical nursing practice. In addition to data processing functions, computers are being used for assisting nurse care delivery such as monitoring patients, scheduling, order entry and result reporting, preventing drug interactions by cross-referencing drug compatibilities and warning appropriate staff of potential risks. This research will mainly focus on investigating the perceptions of use of clinical IT by aged care nurses. Aged care nurses' acceptance and ability to use IT to conduct every day tasks will be investigated.