Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Stratigraphic Interpretation And Reservoir Implications Of The Arbuckle Group (Cambrian-Ordovician) Using 3d Seismic, Osage County, Oklahoma, Ryan Marc Keeling

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Arbuckle Group in northeastern Oklahoma consists of multiple carbonate formations, along with several relatively thin sandstone units. The group is a part of the “Great American Carbonate Bank” of the mid-continent and can be found regionally as far east as the Arkoma Basin in Arkansas, and as far west as the Anadarko Basin in Oklahoma. The Arbuckle is part of the craton-wide Sauk sequence, which is both underlain and overlain by regional unconformities.

Arbuckle is not deposited directly on top of a source rock. In order for reservoirs within the Arbuckle to become charged with hydrocarbons, they must be …

Enabling Usage Pattern-Based Logical Status Inference For Mobile Phones, Jon C. Hammer

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Logical statuses of mobile users, such as isBusy and isAlone, are the key enabler for a plethora of context-aware mobile applications. While on-board hardware sensors (such as motion, proximity, and location sensors) have been extensively studied for logical status inference, continuous usage typically requires formidable energy consumption, which degrades the user experience. In this thesis, we argue that smartphone usage statistics can be used for logical status inference with negligible energy cost. To validate this argument, we present a continuous inference engine that (1) intercepts multiple operating system events, in particular foreground app, notifications, screen states, and connected networks; (2) …

Risk Estimation Toward A Natural History Model For Low Grade Glioma Patients, Anh Thi Hoang Pham

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Glioma is a common type of primary brain tumor that represents 28% of all brain tumors and 80% of malignant tumors. According to a recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), gliomas account for 53%, 35% and 29% of all brain tumors (68%, 74% and 81% of malignant brain tumors) among children (aged 0-14), teenagers (aged 15-19) and young adults, respectively. Gliomas are often diagnosed through radiological imaging and histopathology. There are two main groups of gliomas following World Health Organization’s classification: Low grade gliomas (LGG), or grade I and II gliomas; and high grade gliomas …

Resolving Paragneiss Provenance At Grollier Lake In The Athabasca Granulite Terrane, Western Canadian Shield, Dustin Ply

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

U-Pb crystallization ages of metamorphic and detrital zircons from all three paragneiss samples fall into the range of ca. 1.85-2.59 Ga, excluding two much older grains. Evidence suggests that the paragneiss of Grollier Lake record deformation exclusively from the Taltson and Trans-Hudson orogenies. It is apparent from geochronological data that the Taltson orogeny played an exceedingly larger role in the deformation of these rocks than the Trans-Hudson. Deposition of the paragneiss protoliths most likely culminated between ca. 2037-1994 Ma with metamorphism ceasing by 1852.1 ± 11.1 Ma. The oldest overgrowth considered to be concordant is 1994 ± 12 Ma and …

Statistical Analysis Of Fluvial Channel Belts, Kyle Ryan Spencer

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As meandering rivers laterally migrate over time, they build channel belts. The accumulation of all previous flow paths creates the channel belt. To better understand these ancient rivers, modern river systems are being mapped to find statistical relationships between current flow path and the channel belt of river systems. It is important to examine a wide range of systems in terms of age, size, and location. The rivers are being mapped using an ImageJ, interpretations from Saucier (1994) and Google Earth. Three channel belt morphologies are mapped for 15 modern channel belts; the width of the river in relation to …

Evaluation Of Rusle 2 To Estimate Soil Loss From Pastures, Stasha Katrina Balkissoon

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The accurate estimation of soil erosion by the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation version 2 (RUSLE2) is critical for several conservation assessments, least of which is its use in the Phosphorus Index (PI) to identify and rank the vulnerability of agricultural fields to phosphorus (P) runoff. Earlier versions of RUSLE reported a soil loss overestimation, which were revised to give RUSLE2, where biomass production in different climatic regions was more accurately represented. RUSLE version 2.0, which contains the new vegetative biomass production routine, was evaluated using two performance indices, the Nash Sutcliffe Efficiency Index (NSE) and Index of Agreement (D) …

Geospatial Analysis Of Droughts, Rice And Wheat Production, And Agrarian Vulnerability: A District-Level Study Of The Self-Calibrated Palmer Drought Severity Index In India, Aaron Michael Shew

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Droughts have affected more people than any other natural disaster in the last century, causing billions in economic damages and millions of deaths. As the Sea Surface Temperatures (SST) have heated in the Indian Ocean, drought patterns across South Asia have changed; the Indian monsoon has become more volatile and less predictable. In this study, monthly self-calibrated Palmer Drought Severity Index (sc-PDSI) data for the time period between 1950 and 2009 were interpolated to India’s districts; then the data were analyzed for changes in frequency and severity. The data were further evaluated using Anselin’s Local Moran’s I Statistic to elicit …

Identification Of Biomarkers For The Overall Survival Of Ovarian Cancer Patients, Kristi Mai

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Rapid advance in sequencing technology has led to genome-wide analysis of genetic and epigenetic features simultaneously, making it possible to understand the biological mechanisms underlying cancer initiation and progression. However, how to identify important prognostic features poses a great challenge for both statistical modeling and computing. In this thesis, a network-based approach is applied to the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) ovarian cancer data to identify important genes related to the overall survival of ovarian cancer patients. In the first step, a stepwise correlation-based selector is used to reduce the dimensionality of TCGA data, by filtering out a large number of …

Spread Trading In Corn Futures Market, Ryan D. Napier

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The non-linear relationship between old crop – new crop year spreads in corn futures market and stock-to-use (S-U) ratios published by the United States Department of Agriculture is analyzed. Using a non-linear logarithmic smooth transition regression (LSTR) model, we capture asymmetric market behaviors in high and low S-U regimes. Capturing this relationship and understanding the non-linear aspects of the relationship is of interest of grain merchandizers and speculators in the market. A spread trading strategy is simulated for the sample period, January 1985 through April 2015, to determine if the non-linear relationship is a profitable arbitrage opportunity in the market.

A Method Comparison And Stressor-Response Experimental Study Of Nitrogen And Phosphorus Impacts To Periphyton In Ozark Streams, Ashley Renee Rodman

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Stream bioassessment is important for understanding algal-nutrient relationships and the development of scientifically defensible numeric nutrient criteria. However, multiple methods of periphyton data collection are currently used, and little is known about the comparability of resulting datasets. Literature also suggests other factors besides nutrients (i.e. variable grazing, light, and flow) can confound algal-nutrient relationships. A one-year method comparison study and 31-day algal biomass-nutrient manipulative experiment were conducted in the southern Ozarks of Arkansas. The method comparison study was implemented using two common bioassessment procedures (whole-surface and delimiter-reduced periphyton removal) to assess the potential for combining datasets. During the manipulative experiment, …

The Mass Flux Of Non-Renewable Energy For Humanity, Edwin Dale Solomon

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The global energy supply relies on non-renewable energy sources, coal, crude oil, and natural gas, along with nuclear power from uranium and these finite resources are located within the upper few kilometers of the Earth’s crust. The total quantity of non-renewable energy resources consumed relative to the total quantity available is an essential question facing humanity. Analyses of energy consumption was conducted for the period 1800 – 2014 using data from the U. S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) and World Energy Production, 1800-1985 to determine the balance between non-renewable energy resources consumed and ultimately recoverable reserves. Annual energy consumption was …

The Impact Of Cues And User Interaction On The Memorability Of System-Assigned Random Passwords, Mahdi Nasrullah Al Ameen

Computer Science and Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Given the choice, users produce passwords reflecting common strategies and patterns that ease recall but offer uncertain and often weak security. Addressing this usability-security tension in user authentication remains the key research issue in password studies for decades. In this thesis, we aim to understand how humans' cognitive abilities could be leveraged to design more secure and memorable authentication schemes. To achieve this goal, we draw upon multiple theories from cognitive psychology and implement them in the context of improving memorability for system-assigned random passwords. We argue that while the system assigns random passwords, it should also help users with …

Petrophysical Attributes, Depositional Environment, And Diagenetic History Of A Mississippian Interval From Mcpherson County, Kansas, Usa, John Hunter Green

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

Siliceous – carbonate intervals in the Mid-­‐Continent are proven producible hydrocarbon reservoirs, however they have been understudied compared to more classic type reservoirs because of difficulties in characterization and correlations due to the heterogeneity and complex nature of their lithofacies. Understanding the characteristics of siliceous – carbonate lithofacies through macro and micro scale analysis can enhance the assessment of reservoir attributes and quality. Core, thin sections, and well logs were used to determine characteristics of a Mississippian (Osagean – Meramecian) interval (2,906 ft. and 2,946 ft.) from Canton SWD 1-36 located in McPherson County, Kansas, USA. Qualitative and quantitative analyses …

Principles Of Anti-Discriminatory Design, D. E. Wittkower

Philosophy Faculty Publications

Technical design can produce exclusionary and even discriminatory effects for users. A lack of discriminatory intent is insufficient to avoid discriminatory design, since implicit assumptions about users rarely include all relevant user demographics, and in some cases, designing for all relevant users is actually impossible. To minimize discriminatory effects of technical design, an actively anti-discriminatory design perspective must be adopted. This article provides examples of discriminatory user exclusion, then defining exclusionary design in terms of disaffordances and dysaffordances. Once these definitions are in place, principles of anti-discriminatory design are advanced, drawing upon a method of phenomenological variation employed in the …

Differing Roles Of The Great Plains Low-Level Jet In Producing Warm Season Precipitation Over The Central United States In 2002, Mengyuan Shang

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The purpose of this research is to describe and compare different roles of the Great Plains low-level jet (GPLLJ) in producing warm season precipitation over the central United States by model simulation. After going through 35 years’ (from 1979- 2013) NCEP North American Regional Reanalysis (NARR) data, year 2002 was selected for model simulation as it contained a “wet period” (May- June) and a “dry period” (July- August). The model simulation was done by using Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Regional Model. In this study, the GPLLJ was defined by the low-level wind at 925 hPa. The results showed the …

Exploring Elementary Students’ Agricultural And Scientific Knowledge Using Evidence Centered Design, Molly R. Brandt

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The public is more disconnected from agriculture than ever. Americans are two to four generations removed from the farm, and a majority of Americans, even in rural agricultural states have no direct link to agriculture. As a result, the public lacks the knowledge and appreciation of the food, fuel, and fiber it demands. The National Center for Agricultural Literacy (NCAL) uses National Agricultural Learning Objectives (NALOs) to measure student’s agricultural knowledge. The purpose of this project is to develop assessments aligned with the NALOs and to use results from the assessments to further understand students’ agricultural literacy. This study focuses …

Gaur (Bos Gaurus) Abundance, Distribution, And Habitat Use Patterns In Kuiburi National Park, Southwestern Thailand, Supatcharee Tanasarnpaiboon

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Population status of gaur (Bos gaurus), a wild cattle, in most habitats where they are present, is still unknown. As the use of camera traps in wildlife studies are widespread, I developed photographic individual identification procedures and utilized encounter histories of gaur individuals from camera trap data to estimate gaur abundance and density using the spatially explicit capture-recapture analysis. The study was conducted at Kuiburi National Park, southwestern Thailand, comprised of dry evergreen forest, moist evergreen forest, and man-modified secondary forest during November 2013- January 2015. I conducted 71 direct observations in a savannah-like habitat area to observe …

Molecular Mechanism For The Biosynthesis And Regulation Of Secondary Metabolites In Lysobacter, Simon Tesfamichael Tombosa

Department of Chemistry: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This thesis presents regulatory and biosynthetic mechanisms by which microorganisms produce secondary metabolites that can potentially be developed into drugs beneficial to humans. The first section shows the role of small signaling molecules in regulating the production of one of the novel antifungal metabolites, heat stable antifungal factor (HSAF), from Lysobacter enzymogenes.

In the second part of the thesis I report our attempts to isolate and characterize the biosynthesis of WBP, a new secondary metabolite from Lysobacter antibioticus OH13. I have included the in-silico analysis of the gene cluster for WBP and the predicted biosynthetic pathway based on analysis …

Studies In Asymmetric Catalysis: Supramolecular Catalysis And Borane-Assisted Hydrogenation, Kazuya Toyama

Department of Chemistry: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Metal-catalyzed catalytic asymmetric reactions have gained enormous attentions and the utilities of such reactions have facilitated natural products syntheses to afford highly bioactive molecules. While these reactions have provided reliable methodologies to transform basic reactants into product(s) with highly enantio- and regioselective manners, the incompatibility with a many functional groups and the associated need to employ protecting groups increases the number of synthetic steps required. Herein, a solution to such an issue has been proposed in catalytic asymmetric hydroboration of styrene derivatives where supramolecular catalysts developed by Takacs et al. were used to achieve highly regio- and stereoselective reaction on …

General Existence Results For Abstract Mckean-Vlasov Stochastic Equations With Variable Delay, Mark A. Mckibben

Mathematics Faculty Publications

Results concerning the global existence and uniqueness of mild solutions for a class of first-order abstract stochastic integro-differential equations with variable delay in a real separable Hilbert space in which we allow the nonlinearities at a given time t to depend not only on the state of the solution at time t, but also on the corresponding probability distribution at time t are established. The classical Lipschitz is replaced by a weaker so-called Caratheodory condition under which we still maintain uniqueness. The time-dependent case is discussed, as well as an extension of the theory to the case of a nonlocal …

Geomechanical Analysis Of Rock Brittleness With Comparisons To The Mineralogical Brittleness Index, Derek Bammel

Earth & Environmental Sciences Theses - Archive

A significant area of research within the Oil and Gas industry centers around the understanding of rock brittleness and fracture mechanics related to inducing and extending hydraulic fractures. This study defines rock brittleness as the fracture density, or the fracture surface area per unit volume (m-1), at a particular strain state. The first goal of this research was to test whether or not the strain conditions of various rock layers were constant using a geomechanically derived equation, ����������24��2(1+��)=����1−2��+��, where Fd is fracture density, Kic is fracture toughness, u is the shear modulus, v is Poisson’s Ratio, and A and B …

A Game Theoretic Framework For Temporal And Agent Abstractions In Multiagent Learning, Danielle Clement

Computer Science and Engineering Dissertations - Archive

A major challenge in the area of multiagent reinforcement learning is addressing the issue of scale as systems get more and more complex. Systems with multiple agents attempting to explore and learn about the world they inhabit concurrently require more time and resources to learn optimal responses. Increasing the number of agents within a system dramatically increases the cost to represent the problem and calculate the solution. Single agent systems address part of the scaling problem through the use of temporal abstractions, or mechanisms to consider a sequence of many actions as a single temporal “step”. This concept has been …

Renewable Energy Matters: Small Hydel Power And Sustainability In India, Madhu N. Rao

Bridgewater Review

No abstract provided.

Vortices And Quasiparticles In Superconducting Microwave Resonators, Ibrahim Nsanzineza

Dissertations - ALL

Superconducting resonators with high quality factors are of great interest in many areas. However, the quality factor of the resonator can be weakened by many dissipation channels including trapped magnetic flux vortices and nonequilibrium quasiparticles which can significantly impact the performance of superconducting microwave resonant circuits and qubits at millikelvin temperatures. Quasiparticles result in excess loss, reducing resonator quality factors and qubit lifetimes. Vortices trapped near regions of large microwave currents also contribute excess loss. However, vortices located in current-free areas in the resonator or in the ground plane of a device can actually trap quasiparticles and lead to a …

Development And Implementation Of Efficient Noise Suppression Methods For Emission Computed Tomography, Jiahan Zhang

Dissertations - ALL

In PET and SPECT imaging, iterative reconstruction is now widely used due to its capability of incorporating into the reconstruction process a physics model and Bayesian statistics involved in photon detection. Iterative reconstruction methods rely on regularization terms to suppress image noise and render radiotracer distribution with good image quality. The choice of regularization method substantially affects the appearances of reconstructed images, and is thus a critical aspect of the reconstruction process. Major contributions of this work include implementation and evaluation of various new regularization methods. Previously, our group developed a preconditioned alternating projection algorithm (PAPA) to optimize the emission …

Early Growth And Development Impairments In Patients With Ganglioside Gm3 Synthase Deficiency, H. Wang, A. Wang, Dan Wang, A. Bright, V. Sency, Aimin Zhou, B. Xin

Chemistry Faculty Publications

Ganglioside GM3 synthase is a key enzyme involved in the biosynthesis of gangliosides. GM3 synthase deficiency (GSD) causes a complete absence of GM3 and all downstream biosynthetic derivatives. The individuals affected by this disorder manifest severe irritability, intractable seizures and profound intellectual disability. However, we have found that most newborns seem symptom-free for a period of time after birth. In order to further understand the onset of the disease, we investigated the early growth and development of patients with this condition through this study. We compared 37 affected individuals with their normal siblings and revealed that all children with GSD …

Characterization Of Plethodontid Timp-Like Protein (Ptp) And Its Role In Tissue Remodeling During Pheromone Gland Development., Andrew Knight

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

Plethodon shermani is a species of lungless salamander that has a complex courtship ritual during which the female straddles the male’s tail. The male then uses a submandibular mental gland to secrete nonvolatile proteinaceous pheromones to increase females’ receptivity to mating. Investigation of the pheromone extract indicated the presence of a protein, termed Plethodontid TIMP-like protein (PTP), with no pheromonelike activity that bears sequence similarity to a group of proteins known as Tissue Inhibitors of Matrix Metalloproteinases (TIMPs). PTP was functionally characterized by measuring its ability to inhibit a range of mouse and human Matrix Metalloproteinases (MMPs). The results of …

Low Dimensional Semiconducting Nanostructures: Stability, Trends And Promises, Prabath Wanaguru

Physics Dissertations - Archive

Systematic studies of low dimensional semiconducting nanostructures have been performed. In particular, silicon-germanium (SiGe) armchair type nanotubes, and both zigzag and armchair type nanoribbons were used to represent the bottom-up approach while hematite nanoribbons were used to represent the top down approach. Four high symmetric nanostructure atomic arrangements were identified. All the SiGe nanotubes and SiGe nanoribbons show definite semiconducting character and the band gaps span over large range. Zigzag SiGe nanoribbons show direct band gap nature indicating potential applications in opto-electronic devices. Standalone SiGe nanoribbons may roll into nanotubes depending on the atomic arrangement. Li adsorption on SiGe nanotubes …

Cfd Model For Ventilation In Broiler Holding Sheds, Christian Heymsfield

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Broiler production in Arkansas was valued at over $3.6 billion in 2013 (University of Arkansas Extension of Agriculture). Consequently, improvement in any phase of the production process can have significant economic impact and animal welfare implications. From the time poultry leave the farm and until they are slaughtered, they can be exposed to harsh environmental conditions, both in winter and in summer. After road transportation, birds are left to wait in holding sheds once they arrive at the processing plant, for periods of approximately 30 minutes to two hours. This project was interested in this holding shed waiting time during …

Towards Understanding The Compression Of Sound Information, Kathleen Marie Fisher

Computer Science Honors Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to explore data compression, specifically as it relates to sound information. Data transfer is an important part of the current technology driven lifestyle and compressed data means faster transmission. This thesis will explore how compression can be applied to sound while considering often overlooked factors, such as the way the sense of human hearing works to interpret sounds. An example of Huffman compression follows the general discussion of the compression of sound information.