Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

A Novel Algorithmic Approach To Safeguarding Inter-Vehicular Communications And Privacy, Susan Zehra

Graduate Student Government Association Research Conference

Vehicular networks have become a crucial technology for implementing various safety applications for both drivers and passengers. These networks are currently receiving significant attention due to their ability to facilitate access to a diverse range of ubiquitous services. However, the growing popularity of vehicular networks has also led to an increase in security vulnerabilities within their inter-vehicular services and communications, resulting in a rise in security attacks and threats.

Ensuring the security of vehicular networks is paramount, as their deployment should not compromise the safety and privacy of stakeholders. Effectively defending against a broad spectrum of attacks necessitates the development …

Detection Of Pollutants In Soil Using Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (Libs), Ekhlas Jabir Mahmood, Mithaq Muter Mehdy Al- Sultani

Al-Bahir

The tremendous development in various industrial and agricultural fields has led to an increase in pollution of soil and water bodies, which has been reflected in the quality of agricultural products and their quantity, as well as the damage that this pollution causes to human health and the growth system of other living organisms. Many soils are polluted with heavy metal elements like lead (Pb), zinc (Zn), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), iron (Fe), aluminum (Al), and mercury (Hg), which makes the environmental situation more difficult. As part of this sensitive stage, monitoring and analysis have become essential to …

Cure Rate Analysis Of National Health Insurance Scheme Claims Payment Survival Times In Ghana: The Case Of Pru District, Ahmed Tamimu, Suleman Nasiru, Dioggban Jakperik

Al-Bahir

In this study, cure models have been applied to model National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) claims payment data with cured proportion using Pru District in the Bono East Region of Ghana as a case study. The covariates effects were also modelled to investigate the effects of the covariates on the cured proportion. The estimates of the parameters of the models were obtained by directly maximizing the observed likelihood functions. Most estimates of the parameters of the cure models are significant at 5% significance level. The study revealed that the cured claims payments rate increases over time with an estimated cured …

Investigating The Role Of Peat Moss In Sage Plant Growth, Lilianna Wrenne, Lindsey Powell, Victoria Rylan Wolkonowski, Fatema Al-Hemoud, Darlene Panvini

Science University Research Symposium (SURS)

This research examined the effect peat moss (Sphagnum flexuosum) had on growth of garden sage (Salvia officinalis). Sage has been used for centuries in traditional medicine for various health benefits. Sage grows best in cooler seasons, but with rising temperatures and longer seasons of heat and humidity, it may be harder to cultivate. Since peat moss helps maintain moisture while fixing carbon and nitrogen levels in the surrounding soil, it might promote healthier sage plant growth. Three sage plants were grown in sheets of peat moss (experimental) and three plants were grown alone (control) on Belmont’s …

Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi’S Effect On Lemon Balm Growth, Alissia D. Fulton, Oliver M. Banks, Tatum P. Fortney, Darlene Panvini Phd

Science University Research Symposium (SURS)

As used by Indigenous tribes throughout the Great Plains, lemon balm (Melissa officinalis) can be used for herbal remedies, ritualistic ceremonies, and culinary dishes. Studies show arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi improve nutrient uptake, stress tolerance, root growth, and disease resistance in their symbiotic plant relationships. From September to November 2024, 12 lemon balm plants were planted on the green roof at Belmont University. Half of them were treated with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi; half of them were a control group. The control group grew more leaves than the fungi group. However, the fungi group grew taller than the control group. The inoculation …

Boosting The Power Performance Of Microbial Fuel Cells By Using Dual Nanomaterial-Modified Carbon Felt Electrodes, Krishna Thapa, Wenyan Liu, Yuwei Zhang, David J. Westenberg, Yishu Zhou, Risheng Wang

Chemistry Faculty Research & Creative Works

Innovative design enhancements to microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are pivotal for improving their viability as renewable energy sources. This study introduces a dual approach to electrode modification, integrating polyaniline (PANI) and gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) on carbon felt (CF) anodes coupled with a unique cathode composed of DNA origami and chitosan. The synergistic effect of PANI and AuNPs significantly increases the hydrophilicity and conductivity of the anode, leading to a considerable surge in power density. Concurrently, the biocompatible DNA origami and chitosan-functionalized cathode facilitates efficient electron transfer without relying on conventional catalysts. Together, these modifications yield a 52.42% increase in the …

Investigating The Learning Goals And Expectations Of Laboratory Coordinators, Graduate Teaching Assistants, And Students In General And Organic Chemistry Laboratory Courses, Elizabeth Blanche Vaughan, A. Montoya-Cowan, Christine Kim, Alexandra Stephens, Osie Hamilton, Jack Barbera

Chemistry Faculty Publications and Presentations

As chemistry education researchers and practitioners continue to investigate and improve undergraduate laboratory courses, it is necessary to consider the perspectives held by each of the stakeholders who are directly involved in these courses, including laboratory coordinators, graduate teaching assistants, and students. This study sought to qualitatively investigate the learning goals and expectations held by laboratory coordinators, graduate teaching assistants (GTAs), and students for general and organic chemistry laboratory courses at a single institution. This was completed through the collection and analysis of semistructured interview data from laboratory coordinators and GTAs and open-ended written responses from students. Results indicated that …

New Fueter-Type Variables Associated To The Global Operator In The Quaternionic Case, Daniel Alpay, Kamal Diki, Mihaela Vajiac

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

The purpose of this paper is to develop a new theory of three non-commuting quaternionic variables and its related Schur analysis theory for a modified version of the quaternionic global operator.

Constraining Accreted Neutron Star Crust Shallow Heating With The Inferred Depth Of Carbon Ignition In X-Ray Superbursts, Zachary P. Meisel

Faculty Publications

Evidence has accumulated for an as-yet unaccounted for source of heat located at shallow depths within the accreted neutron star crust. However, the nature of this heat source is unknown. I demonstrate that the inferred depth of carbon ignition in X-ray superbursts can be used as an additional constraint for the magnitude and depth of shallow heating. The inferred shallow heating properties are relatively insensitive to the assumed crust composition and carbon fusion reaction rate. For low-accretion rates, the results are weakly dependent on the duration of the accretion outburst, so long as accretion has ensued for enough time to …

Sea Surface Temperatures, The Gulf Of Mexico Loop Current, Hurricane Ian, And Their Junction, Alexander K. Nickerson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the first chapter, a climatology was created for the deep Gulf of Mexico, West Florida Shelf, and Tampa Bay. These climatologies were compared to each other and to global temperatures. Seasonal variability is shown to be a product of bathymetry as well as latitude. In Chapter Two, using the self-organizing map neural network, patterns of the Gulf of Mexico Loop Current were analyzed to establish phases with necessary and sufficient conditions for translation from one phase to the next. Two separate patterns of evolution were established from these analyses, and empirical arguments are used to confirm the findings from …

Re: Approval Letter For The Butte Priority Soils Operable Unit (Bpsou) Residential Metals Abatement Program (Rmap) Residential Daycares Field Sampling Plan (Fsp) – Submittal R- 04941 And R-04947 (Dated November 5, 2024), Molly Roby

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Factors Impacting The Adoption And Acceptance Of Chatgpt In Educational Settings: A Narrative Review Of Empirical Studies, Mousa Al-Kfairy

All Works

This narrative review synthesizes and analyzes empirical studies on the adoption and acceptance of ChatGPT in higher education, addressing the need to understand the key factors influencing its use by students and educators. Anchored in theoretical frameworks such as the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), Diffusion of Innovation (DoI) Theory, Technology–Organization–Environment (TOE) model, and Theory of Planned Behavior, this review highlights the central constructs shaping adoption behavior. The confirmed factors include hedonic motivation, usability, perceived benefits, system responsiveness, and relative advantage, whereas the effects of social influence, facilitating conditions, privacy, and security …

Permission Recommendation For Android Applications: Leveraging Natural Language Processing On App Descriptions, Saeed Salem Al Shebli

Thesis/ Dissertation Defenses

This study develops an NLP-based system to recommend essential permissions for Android apps by analyzing app descriptions. It leverages advanced models, including LSTM and ensemble techniques, to align permissions with app functionality while minimizing unnecessary requests.

Physiochemical Characterization And In-Vitro Investigation Of The Effect Of Commercial And Novel Non-Digestible Fiber/Prebiotics On The Growth Of Probiotics, Shaikha Salem Al Ameri

Thesis/ Dissertation Defenses

Probiotics and prebiotics play a major role in enhancing the gut microbiota and, consequently, human health. Non-digestible dietary fibers (prebiotics) are selectively fermented and induce specific changes in the composition and/or activity of the gastrointestinal microbiota (probiotics), thus conferring benefit(s) upon the host's health. The consumption of prebiotic products has been extended from diet supplementation to clinical application in various health complications, emerging as a potential therapeutic to manipulate several diseases. Different pharmaceutical companies normally use a blend of many fibers from various sources to prepare commercial prebiotic products. Currently, no data is available to what extent the components of …

Using Academic Librarians And The Academic Library: Survey Results From Mathematics Faculty In United States And Canada, Elizabeth Novosel, Daniel G. Kipnis, Jenni Burke, Rasitha Jayesekera

Libraries Scholarship

Presented at STEM Librarian South Conference, November 6, 2024

Despite our diligent outreach and relationship-building efforts, certain groups of faculty within STEM disciplines remain hesitant to engage with academic librarians and utilize library resources. This challenge raises a critical question: How can librarians effectively support a department when faculty members are unresponsive?

Our research team, composed of three frustrated mathematics librarians and one mathematics faculty member, recognized the need for a fresh approach. Mathematics, a department known for its independence, has received limited attention in scholarly Library and Information Science (LIS) literature. To address this gap, we embarked on a …

On The Work Of Cartan And Münzner On Isoparametric Hypersurfaces, Thomas E. Cecil, Patrick J. Ryan

Mathematics and Computer Science Department Faculty Scholarship

A hypersurface Mⁿ in a real space form Rⁿ⁺¹, Sⁿ⁺¹, or Hⁿ⁺¹ is isoparametric if it has constant principal curvatures. This paper is a survey of the fundamental work of Cartan and Münzner on the theory of isoparametric hypersurfaces in real space forms, in particular, spheres. This work is contained in four papers of Cartan [3]–[6] published during the period 1938–1940, and two papers of Münzner [47]–[48] that were published in preprint form in the early 1970’s, and as journal articles in 1980–1981. These papers of Cartan and Münzner have been the …

What Can We Learn From Cavity-Nesting Birds?, Jennifer Uehling

Sustainability Research & Practice Seminar Presentations

Professor Jennifer Uehling, Biology, "What can we learn from cavity-nesting birds?".

Purely Pseudo-Anosov Subgroups Of The Genus Two Handlebody Group, Marissa E. Chesser, Christiopher J. Leininger

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

We prove that finitely generated, purely pseudo-Anosov subgroups of the genus 2 handlebody group are convex cocompact.

Quantifying Chemomechanical Weakening In Muscovite Mica With A Simple Micromechanical Model, Jordan J. Sickle, William M. Mook, Frank W. Delrio, Anastasia G. Ilgen, Wendelin Wright, Karin A. Dahmen

Faculty Journal Articles

In response to gradual nanoindentation, the surface of muscovite mica deforms by sudden stochastic nanometer-scale displacement bursts. Here, the statistics of these displacement events are interpreted using a statistical model previously used to model earthquakes to understand how chemically reactive environments alter the surface properties of this material. We show that the statistics of nanoindentation displacement bursts in muscovite mica are tuned by chemomechanical weakening in a manner similar to how the statistics of model events are tuned by a mechanical weakening parameter that describes how easily system-spanning cracks can be nucleated. Because the predictions of this model are independent …

The Costs Of Ecosystem Disturbances, E. Wesley F. Peterson

Cornhusker Economics

Presents an illustration of the interdependencies inherent in natural ecosystems. An ecosystem may be defined as: “… a single environment and every living (biotic) organism and non-living (abiotic) factor that is contained within it or characterizes it. An ecosystem embodies every aspect of a single habitat, including all interactions between its different elements” (Knapp 2020). In such interdependent systems, removal of one or more of the essential “elements” can severely disrupt the functioning of the system and such disruptions can give rise to negative impacts on the environment and human health and well-being.

Smooth And Proper Maps With Respect To A Fibration, Mathieu Anel, Jonathan Weinberger

Engineering Faculty Articles and Research

This paper explain how the geometric notions of local contractibility and properness are related to the Σ-types and Π-types constructors of dependent type theory. We shall see how every Grothendieck fibration comes canonically with such a pair of notions—called smooth and proper maps—and how this recovers the previous examples and many more. This paper uses category theory to reveal a common structure between geometry and logic, with the hope that the parallel will be beneficial to both fields. The style is mostly expository, and the main results are proved in external references.

Quantization Dimensions For The Bi-Lipschitz Recurrent Iterated Function Systems, Amit Priyadarshi, Mrinal Kanti Roychowdhury, Manuj Verma

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

In this paper, the quantization dimensions of the Borel probability measures supported on the limit sets of the bi-Lipschitz recurrent iterated function systems under the strong open set condition in terms of the spectral radius have been estimated.

Satellite-Based Mapping Of Seagrass Habitats And Coastal Wetlands In The Us Gulf Of Mexico And Florida: A Remote Sensing Approach For Environmental Conservation And Management, Luis Lizcano-Sandoval

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Coastal wetlands and seagrass meadows provide multiple services to nature and human society, but their spatial and temporal changes are often not well characterized. They are habitats that are threatened by natural and human causes such as changes in water quality, urban development, pollution, and climate change, among others. Coastal ecosystems rely on water quality and sea level variability for survival, and changes in those variables and their potential effects are of concern to many coastal communities. Satellite remote sensing is a powerful tool that has been used for mapping ecosystem distribution on land and in the ocean. Satellite sensors …

Characterizing The Temporal And Nearshore To Offshore Spatial Scale Of Phytoplankton Assemblages Within The Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, Sebastian P. Di Geronimo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates the spatial and temporal dynamics of phytoplankton communities within the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary (FKNMS) from 2016 to 2021. Phytoplankton biomass and community composition were analyzed across four seasons and from both Nearshore (within 2 km of shore) and Offshore (8 to 10 km from shore) locations along the Florida Keys from Miami to the Western Sambo Ecological Reserve. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) quantified chlorophyll-a (tchla) as a proxy for bulk biomass, and other pigments. CHEMTAX, a chemotaxonomic identification method, was employed to estimate phytoplankton community composition. Our results revealed significant seasonal variability in bulk biomass, …

Examining Wildfire Dynamics Using Ecostress Data With Machine Learning Approaches: The Case Of South-Eastern Australia's Black Summer, Yuanhui Zhu, Shakthi B. Murugesan, Ivone K. Masara, Soe W. Myint, Joshua B. Fisher

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Wildfires are increasing in risk and prevalence. The most destructive wildfires in decades in Australia occurred in 2019–2020. However, there is still a challenge in developing effective models to understand the likelihood of wildfire spread (susceptibility) and pre-fire vegetation conditions. The recent launch of NASA's ECOSTRESS presents an opportunity to monitor fire dynamics with a high resolution of 70 m by measuring ecosystem stress and drought conditions preceding wildfires. We incorporated ECOSTRESS data, vegetation indices, rainfall, and topographic data as independent variables and fire events as dependent variables into machine learning algorithms applied to the historic Australian wildfires of 2019–2020. …

Draft Final 2024 Residential Metals Abatement Program (Rmap) Residential Daycares Field Sampling Plan (Fsp) Submittal R-04941 And R-04947, Woodard & Curran

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Polymorphism Control Of Polyethylene Terephthalate (Pet) Degradation Product Via Mechanochemistry Leads To Accelerated Microbial Degradation, Deepika Shingwekar, Nicholas Lutz, Delbert S. Botes, Elani J. Cabrera-Vega, Gonzalo Campillo-Alvarado, Jay L. Mellies, Jesus Daniel Loya

Chemistry Faculty Publications and Presentations

Here, we optimized a chemo-microbial degradation of polyethylene terephthalate. Developed a path to mechanochemically interconvert between BHET polymorphs and established that BHET polymorphism influences bacterial biodegradation rate.

Classification Manner Utilizing Electroencephalography Signals To Investigate Waveforms, Wessam Al-Salman, Ali Basim Al-Khafaji, Mishall Al-Zubaidie

Karbala International Journal of Modern Science

Waveform detection has been an area of continuous investigation for many years. One important waveform in sleep stage 2 is the k-complex. Numerous researchers have created various strategies for auto-k-complex detection; some of these strategies state that the automated detection techniques are adequate. Because of its analytically relevant resolution, the Electroencephalogram (EEG) is a commonly utilized technique to analyze the k-complexes in order to understand the nervous system activity of the brain. Several researchers have classified waveforms using EEGs in a variety of ways. It appears that the majority of the waveform detection had limitations. The …

Bacterial Cellulose Production From Fermented Fruits And Vegetables Byproducts: A Comprehensive Study On Chemical And Morphological Properties, Yati Maryati, Hakiki Melanie, Windri Handayani, Yasman Yasman

Karbala International Journal of Modern Science

This study aimed to produce α-cellulose from Bacterial Cellulose SCOBY (BCS) using alternative substrates from fermented fruit and vegetable byproducts: katuk leaves (KT), kale leaves (KL), guava (JB), dragon fruit (NG), and banana (PS). BCS production involved juice extraction, SCOBY inoculation, and sucrose addition, followed by 21 days of fermentation. Initially, the NG medium had the highest concentration of Total Reducing Sugars (TRS), but all media showed a decline as sugars were consumed. Fermentation reduced pH and increased total polyphenols, with KL and JB showing the highest rise (0.13-0.15 mg GAE/mL). Flavonoid levels varied, decreasing in KL and PS but …

Metabolite Profiling Of Potential Fraction From Ethyl Acetate Extract Of Ziziphus Mauritiana Leaves By Lc-Ms/Ms Analysis, Nurhayati Bialangi, Weny Ja Musa, Boima Situmeang

Karbala International Journal of Modern Science

In Indonesia, the treatment with leaves as a traditional medicine is still firmly integrated into the community to overcome various health problems experienced, one of which is the treatment with Bidara leaves (Ziziphus mauritiana). Ziziphus mauritiana belongs to family of Rhamnaceae, and it is generally considered a potential source of antioxidant and cholesterol lowering. This study aimed to examine phytochemical characterization, antioxidant potential, and cholesterol-lowering effects of ethyl acetate fraction derived from Ziziphus mauritiana. Extraction was accomplished using ethyl acetate, and the resultant extract was fractionated through chromatography with a blend of n-hexane and ethyl acetate as …