Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Shortcuts Everywhere And Nowhere: Exploring Multi-Trigger Backdoor Attacks, Yige Li, Jiabo He, Hanxun Huang, Jun Sun, Xingjun Ma, Yu-Gang Jiang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Backdoor attacks have become a significant threat to the pre-training and deployment of deep neural networks (DNNs). Although numerous methods for detecting and mitigating backdoor attacks have been proposed, most rely on identifying and eliminating the “shortcut” created by the backdoor, which links a specific source class to a target class. However, these approaches can be easily circumvented by designing multiple backdoor triggers that create shortcuts everywhere and therefore nowhere specific. In this study, we explore the concept of Multi-Trigger Backdoor Attacks (MTBAs), where multiple adversaries leverage different types of triggers to poison the same dataset. By proposing and investigating …

Robface: A Test Suite For Efficient Robustness Evaluation Of Face Recognition Systems, Ruihan Zhang, Jun Sun

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Face recognition is a widely used authentication technology in practice, where robustness is required. It is thus essential to have an efficient and easy-to-use method for evaluating the robustness of (possibly third-party) trained face recognition systems. Existing approaches to evaluating the robustness of face recognition systems are either based on empirical evaluation (e.g., measuring attacking success rate using state-of-the-art attacking methods) or formal analysis (e.g., measuring the Lipschitz constant). While the former demands significant user efforts and expertise, the latter is extremely time-consuming. In pursuit of a comprehensive, efficient, easy-to-use, and scalable estimation of the robustness of face recognition systems, …

Draft Final Quarterly Operations And Maintenance Report Butte Treatment Lagoon System – Second Quarter 2025, Pioneer Technical Services, Inc.

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Clark Tailings Consolidated Waste Management Area (Ctcwma) Site Investigation Draft Data Summary Report 2019 Surface Water, Groundwater Seep, And Soil Characterization 2021-2023 Surface Water And Groundwater Seep Evaluation 2023 Waterloo Aps Soil And Groundwater Evaluation, Woodard & Curran

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Large Lithium-Ion Battery Model For Secure Shared E-Bike Battery In Smart Cities, Donghui Ding, Zhao Li, Linhao Luo, Ming Jin, Bin Zhu, Yichen Zhong, Junhao Hu, Peng Cai, Huiqi Hu

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Electric bikes powered by lithium-ion batteries are increasingly used in smart cities to promote sustainable mobility and efficient delivery services. However, limited battery range and slow plug-in charging remain key challenges. Shared electric bike battery systems, facilitated by battery swapping stations, offer a promising solution by enabling quick and efficient battery replacements. However, their success hinges on accurate anomaly detection, battery health estimation and remain range prediction. These tasks remain challenging due to data scarcity, battery diversity and environmental variability. Here we show that a large-scale lithium-ion battery model trained on over ten million battery time series data enables robust …

Stylegan-∞: Extending Stylegan To Arbitrary-Ratio Translation With Stylebook, Yihua Dai, Tianyi Xiang, Bailin Deng, Yong Du, Hongmin Cai, Jing Qin, Shengfeng He

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Although pre-trained large-scale generative models StyleGAN series have proven to be effective in various editing and translation tasks, they are limited to pre-defined fixed aspect ratio. To overcome this limitation, we propose StyleGAN-∞, a model that enables pre-trained StyleGAN to perform arbitrary-ratio conditional synthesis. Our key insight is to distill the expressive StyleGAN features into a StyleBook, such that an arbitrary-ratio condition can be translated to other forms by properly assembling pre-defined StyleBook vectors. To learn and leverage the StyleBook, we employ a network with three distinct stages, each corresponding to StyleBook extraction, StyleBook correspondence learning, and arbitrary-ratio synthesis. Extensive …

Non-Perturbative Aspects Of Gauge Theories Through A Complex Parametrization, Antonina Maj

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation explores a complex matrix parametrization of four-dimensional non-Abelian gauge theories as a means of gaining analytical insights into (3+1)-dimensional QCD. The low-energy scale of non-Abelian gauge theories remains an elusive area of research even after decades of work. A key challenge lies in identifying physical, gauge-invariant degrees of freedom that are relevant to non-perturbative phenomena. In this dissertation we develop a complex parametrization of gauge fields on which gauge transformations act homogeneously, thereby enabling a manifestly gauge-invariant analytical formulation of the theory.

Chapter one constructs the complex gauge-invariant parametrization for gauge theories living on both complex projective space …

Novel Machine Learning Methods For Quasar Variability And Strong Gravitational Lensing, Joshua Fagin

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Machine learning methods are well suited to handle the unprecedented data volume expected from upcoming wide-field surveys. The European Space Agency's Euclid telescope was launched in July 2023 and is expected to observe billions of galaxies at high resolution, including tens of thousands of strongly lensed galaxies. The Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) will monitor tens of millions of quasars throughout its ten-year lifetime, thousands of which will be strongly lensed. This flood of data will enable measuring lens galaxy mass distributions and substructure, as well as probing quasar accretion disk structure and black hole properties …

Nonlinear Diffusion, Hydrodynamic Cascades And Jamming In Kinetically Constrained Systems: Insights From Lattice Gas Models, Abhishek Raj

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation investigates non-linear diffusion processes and emergent dynamical phenomena in kinetically constrained lattice gases. Two central models are considered: a one-dimensional lattice gas exhibiting a diffusion cascade triggered by hydrodynamic nonlinearities and a triangular ladder exclusion model that undergoes a jamming transition. The former demonstrates stretched exponential decay consistent with non-perturbative long-time tails, while the latter illustrates how classical-quantum mappings yield insight into glassy dynamics and mobility constraints. Through a combination of numerical simulations, analytical perturbation theory, and mean-field approximations, the work uncovers mechanisms underlying anomalous transport, jamming transitions, and the breakdown of perturbative hydrodynamics.

An Interpolating Regime For The Extreme Values Of A Random Zeta Model, Christine K. Chang

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

We study the large values of a random model of the Riemann zeta function over short intervals. The extreme value statistics depend on the interval size: the log-correlated regime governs intervals of order one while the i.i.d. regime emerges over longer intervals. The main focus is to describe the transition between these two well-understood regimes as the interval varies in length. This thesis shows that there is an intermediate regime where the behavior of the zeta model’s maxima cannot be entirely captured by either extreme— i.i.d. or fully log-correlated. This suggests that the Riemann zeta function exhibits correlations around its …

Towards Automated Evolution Of Imperative Deep Learning Programs, Tatiana Castro-Vélez

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Software engineering (SE) is increasingly intersecting with data-centric domains such as machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL). Similar to bugs in traditional software systems, defects can emerge in ML and DL systems. ML, including DL, systems are now widespread and rely on dynamic models defined by input data. Developers face the challenge of building dependable systems while addressing the demand for scalable software.

Efficiency is essential to support responsiveness with respect to ever-growing datasets. Traditional DL frameworks achieve scalability through deferred execution, enabling symbolic, graph-based deep neural network (DNN) computation. While efficient, this approach is error-prone, cumbersome, and difficult …

Multi-Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (Nmr) Characterization Of Novel Materials, Tawhid Pranto

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The increasing reliance on batteries in commercial products, coupled with the environmental challenges posed by climate change and the limitations of fossil fuel consumption, has created strong financial and environmental incentives to explore innovative energy storage solutions. Renewable energy sources are being actively developed, but their intermittent nature necessitates efficient storage technologies, driving significant research into improving the performance of batteries, fuel cells, and capacitors.

This thesis focuses on the application of advanced Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy to study and understand novel materials for energy storage applications, with an emphasis on electrolytes for rechargeable lithium-ion batteries and all-solid-state batteries. …

Leveraging Stellar Chemistry For A Global View Into The Atmospheres Of Brown Dwarfs And Giant Exoplanets, Emily Calamari

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In the era of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), it is now possible to examine substellar mass atmospheres in unparalleled detail and precision. However, unraveling the complicated thermodynamics and chemistry in these atmospheres remains a challenge. Atmospheric retrievals are a leading data-driven technique capable of recovering an object’s fundamental parameters such as mass, radius, effective temperature, gravity, cloud structure and composition and chemical abundances. However, in directly imaged or isolated worlds, constraining and/or interpreting these fundamental parameters can be difficult, particularly as retrieval models try to parameterize the overall impact of clouds.

For my dissertation, I turned to main …

Starspot Inference Using Light Curve Inversion Techniques, Mohammad Refat

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Star spots are patches that are dark or bright on the surface of a star. They are tightly correlated to the magnetic activity of stars. One of the reasons we want to study star spots is to better understand where the active latitude of stars are located, which helps us understand planet habitability around low mass stars. The Starry package is a set of tools that can map the surface of stars and exoplanets using time series data, with spherical harmonics. Butterpy is a package that allows for the simulation of starspot evolution and their lightcurves. Fleck is a package …

Investigating The Behavior Of Dwarf-Hosting Cosmic Filaments In Regions Of Average Density Within The Universe, Manuel E. Ramirez Hernandez

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The cosmic web is the large-scale structure of the universe, composed of elongated, overdense areas held together by gravity known as cosmic filaments. Within these filaments, dwarf galaxies are ubiquitous and make for excellent laboratories due to their small size. to determine the effects of cosmic web structures on dwarf galaxies. In this thesis, I laid the groundwork to investigate whether dwarf galaxy populations vary across different types of filaments. Filaments were extracted from the gas density field in the New Horizon simulation at $z=0$ using the topological feature finder DisPerSE. I determined the distances of galaxies to their nearest …

Effect Of Equation Of State On The Formation Of Binary Black Holes In Active Galactic Nucleus Disks, Theodore Edwards

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Active galactic nucleus disks have been proposed as a possibly dominant location of the mergers of binary black holes detected by gravitational wave observatories. The nonlinear interactions between stellar mass black holes and disk gas determine when binaries will form from single objects on nearby orbits. Prior work has used smoothed particle hydrodynamics models in an isothermal disk to study this problem. However, the local equation of state near the midplane of an optically thick accretion disk is adiabatic rather than isothermal, even if the radiative equilibrium temperature is azimuthally isothermal. Therefore, we investigate the use of an adiabatic equation …

How To Form A Gravitational-Wave Source: Quantifying Intermediate Evolutionary Stages In Isolated Binary Stellar Evolution, Ana Lam

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Gravitational-wave (GW) detections from double compact object (DCO) mergers provide crucial observational constraints for understanding massive stars across cosmic time. Coupled with these observations, binary population synthesis simulations become powerful tools for probing the formation, evolution, and ultimate fates of their progenitors---massive binary stars. However, complex evolutionary pathways, shaped by key intermediate stages such as mass transfer phases and supernovae, present a significant challenge to assess their impact. To address this, we develop a framework to quantify the influence of intermediate evolutionary stages on GW sources. By combining Sankey diagrams with survival factors, we systematically investigate how intermediate stages influence …

Satellite-Host Galaxy Co-Evolution With Next-Generation Regulator Models, Austen Gabrielpillai

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The evolution of satellites galaxies is an unsolved problem in galaxy formation. Recent observations such as the SAGA and ELVES surveys find tension in HI contents and star formation of satellites around their central host galaxies when compared to our own local environment, the Milky Way. These processes are potentially highly influenced by the host's circumgalactic medium (CGM), and to constrain these cases requires accurate and fast modeling of satellites-host interactions. In this work, we present our methodology for evolving z = 0 surviving satellites alongside their central galaxy in sapphire, a CGM regulator co-evolution model of galaxy formation. …

Miscanthus × Giganteus Increases Soil Maximum Water Holding Capacity Compared To Maize, Jessica T. Nelson, Maoz Dor, Andy D. Vanloocke, Jacob E. Studt, Perla K. Schrock, Marshall D. Mcdaniel

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Soil ecosystem services, like the ability to store water, have been depleted after a century of conventional, annual cropping, and perennial crops offer a solution to this and other agricultural environmental issues. We assessed the impact of Miscanthus × giganteus (miscanthus), a perennial biomass crop, on soil water holding capacity and structure compared to continuous maize (Zea mays L.) at two sites in Iowa. After three growing seasons, we measured the following: (1) maximum water holding capacity (MWHC) with and without soil structure, and (2) total porosity and pore size distribution (PSD) via micro-computed tomography (microCT). Miscanthus increased MWHC …

Lipid And Cholesterol Peroxidation Leads To Α-Crystallin Membrane Aggregation And Cataract Formation, Nawal K. Khadka, Preston Hazen, Oluwaseyi Akinola, Xinzhu Pu, Laxman Mainali

Boise State University Publications and Presentations

Purpose: The significant lens chaperone protein α-crystallin (αABc), comprised of αA-crystallin (αAc) and αB-crystallin (αBc) subunits, is found to form membrane-bound aggregates with age and cataract formation. However, the molecular basis for such aggregate formation is still unclear. Our research primarily aims to elucidate the effect of lipids (phospholipids and sphingolipids) and cholesterol (Chol) peroxidation on the aggregation of αAc, αBc, and αABc to bovine lens nuclear membrane (NM).

Methods: Lipid and Chol peroxidation was induced by a photosensitized peroxidation reaction, and topographical images of NM and oxidized-NM (Ox-NM) with and without αAc, αBc, or αABc were obtained using atomic …

Revised Draft Final 2022 Insufficiently Reclaimed Sites Sampling: Bres No. 38 – Sister Dump Site Evaluation Summary Report, Pioneer Technical Services, Inc.

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Reimagining Academic Assessment In The Age Of Ai, Matthew Hammerton

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

In ‘Reimagining Academic Assessment in the Age of AI’, Matthew Hammerton examines the challenges and opportunities posed by generative AI for higher education assessment. He critiques common responses like banning AI, reverting to in-class exams, or abandoning essays altogether, arguing that they fail to preserve the deeper pedagogical goals of higher order, independent thinking. Instead, Hammerton proposes a guiding principle of intellectual responsibility: students should be accountable for explaining and defending each major choice in their work—regardless of whether they use AI tools. To operationalise this, he advocates for reintegrating oral examinations (‘vivas’) alongside written essays. In this model, students …

Designing The Protocol For An Experimental Flight Simulation Study Encouraging Fuel Efficient Behavior, Thomas S. Reardon

Theses and Dissertations

This study designed and tested an experimental instrument to examine how pilots respond to fuel efficiency feedback in a flight simulator. A standardized flight plan, script, and hardware setup were created using X-Plane 12 software and physical flight simulator hardware. The chosen sortie guided participants from Monterey Regional Airport to Moffett Federal Airfield using instrument flight rules (IFR). The flight script provided step-by-step guidance to ensure consistent behavior across participants. The simulator was mapped to match real cockpit controls and allowed for precise data collection including flight time, altitude, heading, and fuel use. The goal was to support a larger …

Validation And Proposed Expansion Of The Data-Driven D Region Model, Kevin M. Watson

Theses and Dissertations

Predicting ionosphere effects on radio wave propagation is critical for communications and over-the-horizon radar systems. The D region is challenging to model for several reasons, one of which is chemical complexity. Ion density changes during sunrise/sunset introduce substantial uncertainty in electron density profiles (EDPs). The Data Driven D Region (D3R) model solves electron densities through an ion chemistry model and assimilates relevant space weather inputs. This study evaluates D3R against the Faraday International Reference Ionosphere (FIRI) and measurements using Very Low Frequency (VLF) propagation paths. Space weather event impacts on D3R EDPs are evaluated during the disturbed period from 8-12 …

Epa Region 8 Optimized Ufp-Qapp Review Crosswalk, Environmental Protection Agency, Emma Rott

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Gw250114: Testing Hawking’S Area Law And The Kerr Nature Of Black Holes, Jaclyn (Jax) Sanders, Ligo-Virgo-Kagra (Lvk)

Physics Faculty Research and Publications

The gravitational-wave signal GW250114 was observed by the two LIGO detectors with a network matched-filter signal-to-noise ratio of 80. The signal was emitted by the coalescence of two black holes with near-equal masses 𝑚1=33.6^+1.2 _−0.8⁢𝑀⊙ and 𝑚2=32.2^+0.8 _−1.3⁢𝑀⊙, and small spins 𝜒1,2≤0.26 (90% credibility) and negligible eccentricity 𝑒⁢≤0.03. Postmerger data excluding the peak region are consistent with the dominant quadrupolar (ℓ=|𝑚|=2) mode of a Kerr black hole and its first overtone. We constrain the modes’ frequencies to ±30% of the Kerr spectrum, providing a test of the remnant’s Kerr nature. We also examine Hawking’s area law, …

Final Quarterly Operations And Maintenance Report Butte Treatment Lagoon System – Third Quarter 2024, Pioneer Technical Services, Inc.

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Synthesis And Properties Study Of Layered Magnetic Topological Materials, Gokul Acharya

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The discovery of topological materials (TMs) has opened up exciting opportunities for probing fundamental physics and enhancing innovative device integrations. These materials display various exotic properties, such as large magnetoresistance, high mobility, chiral anomaly, and surface Fermi arcs. The magnetic versions of ZrSiS family, LnSbTe and LnPS (Ln = lanthanide) have attracted intensive attention as these materials provide a new platform to study interplay between magnetism, topological states, and electron correlations. The vast pool of topological materials has provided exciting avenues to precisely engineer the topological states by modulating spin-orbital coupling, electronic dimensionality, and lattice constant through element substitutions. This …

Advancing Social Sustainability In Operations And Supply Chain Management: A Multi-Theoretical Exploration Of Technology, Task Familiarity, And Sustainability Interactions, Satabdi Hazarika

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Social sustainability in operations and supply chain management (OSCM) centers on generating economic value through practices that safeguard people, communities, and broader societal systems impacted by the supply chain. While the importance of such practices is increasingly recognized, firms face persistent challenges in embedding social sustainability into formal management systems. This dissertation tackles three such challenges, with a particular focus on safety in trucking—a vital yet underexamined aspect from the lens of social sustainability. Safety performance in this context is influenced by the complexities of using advanced safety technologies, the demanding and solitary nature of truck driving, and the temporal …

The Cannon-Thurston Map For Relatively Hyperbolic Free-By-Cyclic Groups, Kailey Beth Perry

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Let F = H1 ∗ · · · ∗ Hk ∗ Fr be a splitting of a finitely generated free group, H = {H1 , . . . , Hk } a set of subgroups of F , and Φ ∈ Aut(F ) an automorphism such that for any i, Φ([Hi ]) = [Hj ] for some j. Consider the free-by-cyclic group Gϕ = ⟨F, t | t−1 xt = Φ(x)⟩. Suppose Gϕ is strongly hyperbolic relative to H̃ = {H̃1 , . . . , H̃k }, where H̃i = ⟨Hi , t | t−1 xt = Φ(x)⟩. In …