Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Identification And Profiling Of Socioeconomic And Health Characteristics Associated With Consumer Food Purchasing Behaviours Using Machine Learning, Daniel Burke, Martin Boudou, Jennifer Mccarthy, Majid Bahramian, Courage Krah, Christina Kenny, Paul Hynds, Anushree Priyadarshini

Articles

Food systems and food-related policies influence food consumption, dietary patterns, and human and environmental health. Consumers play a vital role in enhancing health and sustainability through their purchasing choices. To identify and cluster food purchasing behaviours and map relationships, a cross-sectional survey was conducted across Ireland with a sample size of 957 adults. Two-step cluster analysis, generalised linear models, and recursive partitioning and regression trees were used to elucidate adherence to identified food purchasing behavioural clusters. Three clusters (‘food quality’, ‘taste’, and ‘price’) were identified based on food purchasing priorities and statistically categorised. ‘Food quality’ members were significantly less likely …

Butte Priority Soils Operable Unit (Bpsou) Draft Final 2022 Insufficiently Reclaimed Sites Sampling Bres No. 32 – Corra 2 Dump Site Evaluation Summary Report, Mike Mcanulty

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Optimal Algorithm For Managing On-Campus Student Transportation, Youssef Harrath, Jood Alyusuf, Zeena Ghulam, Muna Aldoseri

Research & Publications

This study analyzed the transportation issues at the University of Bahrain Sakhir campus, where a bus system with an unorganized and fixed number of buses allocated each semester was in place. Data was collected through a survey, onsite observations, and student schedules to estimate the number of buses needed. The study was limited to students who require to move between buildings for academic purposes and not those who choose to ride buses for other reasons. An algorithm was designed to calculate the optimal number of buses for each time slot, and for each day. This solution could improve transportation efficiency, …

Bayesian Estimation Of A Pragmatic Model For Monetary Policy Analysis: The Case Of Pakistan, Shahzad Ahmad, Waliullah .

CBER Conference

In this study, Bayesian maximum likelihood estimation of quarterly projections model for Pakistan as presented, as documented in Ahmad & Pasha (2015). Estimation results based on quarterly data from 2001 to 2023 show substantial differences in values of estimated versus calibrated parameters related to aggregate demand, aggregate supply, monetary policy rule and exogenous shock processes. The aim of this study is to compare forecasting performance for key macro variables. It shows that the estimated model provides more precise forecasts in case of headline inflation, real GDP growth, interest rate and exchange rate over 8-quarters forecast horizon. An estimated model for …

Monetary Policy In Good Times And In Bad: Empirical Evidence From Pakistan, Haider Ali

CBER Conference

A significant body of literature explores and establishes the impact of monetary policy on output and prices, at least in the short run. However, the subsequent question is whether this effect is symmetric concerning the various states of the economy (see, Tenreyro and Thwaites, 2016; Bernstein, 2021; Eichenbaum et al., 2022; among others). This study contributes to the literature on state-dependent (non-linear) effects of unanticipated monetary policy shocks according to two important features of the economy. The amount of slack in the economy and the amount of the public-sector footprint in the market. Evaluating state-dependent effects is crucial because assuming …

Unlocking The Power Of Data: Enhancing Public Policy Through Advanced Data Infrastructure And Language Model Analysis, Zahid Asghar

CBER Conference

Data is the fundamental building block for advancements in artificial intelligence (AI), general AI (GAI), machine learning (ML), and large language models (LLMs). This study emphasizes the critical need for robust data infrastructure, arguing that without it, countries cannot fully benefit from technological advancements in various economic sectors. Governments possess vast repositories of both structured and unstructured data across multiple domains such as the judiciary, parliaments, and civil bureaucracy. However, these potential goldmines remain untapped due to inadequate data management capabilities and a lack of appreciation for the necessity of high-quality data. The research identifies key issues in public data …

The Energy Efficiency Price Premium Of Residential Buildings In Three Italian Regions, Elena Giarda, Demetrio Panarello

CBER Conference

The aim of this paper is to investigate whether a higher energy efficiency of residential buildings translates into higher house prices in Italy. We employ novel, and almost unexploited, data on Energy Performance Certificates of three Italian regions (EmiliaRomagna, Lombardy and Piedmont) and merge them with house prices and socioeconomic variables at various aggregation levels. The relationship between house prices and energy efficiency is estimated by means of hedonic regression models, quantile regressions and fixed effects panel data models. Our results reveal the existence of an energy-efficiency price premium in the three regions, with significant differences among them. Heterogeneity is …

Virtual Water Trade: Theory And An Empirical Application, Sultan Sat, Harun Uçak

CBER Conference

Throughout human history, water has been a determining factor in all human actions. In fact, it is seen that the oldest civilizations were established near rivers. There have been mutual effects between civilizations and water, and lifestyles have changed due to these effects. Today, access to usable water is becoming increasingly difficult. The water problem that arises due to some qualitative and quantitative negativities in a country is spreading to other countries with a butterfly effect under the influence of increasing globalization. This situation removes the water problem from being a local problem and turns it into a global problem. …

Does Tourists’ Perception Of Social Responsibility Awareness Shape Tourists’ Environmental Behavior: A Case Study In A High Mountain Region, Amjad Ali

CBER Conference

Tourism has emerged as a crucial source of livelihood for high mountain communities in Pakistan, leading to a notable increase in tourist influx over the past few years (Ali and Shedayi, 2023). This growth has created numerous income-generating opportunities for local communities, particularly in the hotel and transport sectors, offering substantial employment to the local population. However, tourism has significant adverse environmental impacts on destinations, especially fragile mountain areas (Ali, 2021). Irresponsible tourist behavior exacerbates these adverse effects (Juvan & Dolnicar, 2017; Lee et al., 2013). Therefore, understanding tourist behavior is crucial for effective destination management and policymaking. Developing and …

Snap Recipients' Labor Supply In The Presence Of Children In Households, Sanae Tashiro, Jongsung Kim

Mathematics and Economics Faculty Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

Physical Properties Of Aqueous Imide-Based Electrolyte Solutions, Mollie Harr

Honors Capstones

In order to observe the effects that cations have on the physical properties of -TFSI [-bis(trifluoromethane sulfonyl)imide] based salts, four salts (LiTFSI, NaTFSI, Mg(TFSI)2, and Al(TFSI)3) were selected for testing. The data gathered shows that when the anion is large and bulky like -TFSI, the size of the cation does not have a large effect on the physical properties, but the oxidation state of the cation may have a significant effect. The ion-ion interactions, such as collisions, aggregation, and repulsion are more significant when the cation has a higher oxidation state due to the increased ratio of anion per molecule …

Conditional Cooperation With Longer Memory, Nikoleta E. Glynatsi, Ethan Akin, Martin A. Nowak, Christian Hilbe

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Research & Creative Works

Direct reciprocity is a wide-spread mechanism for the evolution of cooperation. In repeated interactions, players can condition their behavior on previous outcomes. A well-known approach is given by reactive strategies, which respond to the coplayer's previous move. Here, we extend reactive strategies to longer memories. A reactive-n strategy takes into account the sequence of the last n moves of the coplayer. A reactive-n counting strategy responds to how often the coplayer cooperated during the last n rounds. We derive an algorithm to identify the partner strategies within these strategy sets. Partner strategies are those that ensure mutual cooperation without exploitation. …

Draft Final Butte Treatment Lagoons (Btl) Groundwater Treatment System Routine Operations, Maintenance, And Monitoring (Om&M) Plan, Pioneer Technical Services, Inc.

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Developing Resilient Organic Dryland Wheat Systems In The Face Of Climate Change., Jennifer R. Reeve

Funded Research Records

No abstract provided.

Increased Thermal Stability And Retained Antibacterial Properties In A Sulbactam And Amantadine Salt: Towards Effective Antibacterial-Antiviral Combination Therapies, Josephine Bicknell, Ivan Bondarenko, Alice Colatrella, Elani J. Cabrera-Vega, Jesus Daniel Loya, Delbert S. Botes, Jay L. Mellies, Gonzalo Campillo-Alvarado

Chemistry Faculty Publications and Presentations

A clinically relevant multidrug solid comprising sulbactam (β-lactamase inhibitor) and amantadine (antiviral) displays enhanced thermal stability and sustained antibacterial activity compared to starting materials.

We describe the formation of a multidrug salt comprising sulbactam (SUL, β-lactamase inhibitor) and amantadine (AMNH, antiviral). Physicochemical investigation of the SUL·AMNH salt revealed enhanced thermal stability compared to pristine starting materials. In vitro studies found that salt formation in SUL·AMNH does not disrupt antibacterial activity against model organisms Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus epidermidis. To our knowledge, we show the first β-lactamase inhibitor-antiviral salt where both components have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug …

Current Status And The Significance Of Local Wisdom Biofertilizer In Enhancing Soil Health And Crop Productivity For Sustainable Agriculture: A Systematic Literature Review, Irwandhi, Fiqriah Hanum Khumairah, Emma Trinurani Sofyan, Nadia Nuraniya Kamaluddin, Anne Nurbaity, Diyan Herdiyantoro, Tualar Simarmata

Jurnal Kultivasi

Soil fertility is recognized as a crucial factor in supporting plant growth and productivity. The utilization of biofertilizers as environmentally friendly fertilizers is aimed at enhancing soil fertility and plant productivity. This study aims to explore the potential of local material for developing local wisdom biofertilizers (LWB) for achieving sustainable agriculture. A systematic literature review was conducted using bibliometric analysis, Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews, and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) method, employing the Scopus search engine with the keywords "local AND wisdom AND biofertilizer" OR "biofertilizer" OR "local AND microorganism" OR "soil AND health OR crop AND productivity OR sustainable agriculture". …

Identifying Subject Bias In Wifi-Based Human Activity Recognition Evaluation Methods, Amany Elkelany, Robert J. Ross, Susan Mckeever

Conference papers

WiFi-based Human Activity Recognition (HAR) has emerged as a promising approach for monitoring and analysing human activities in a non-intrusive manner, leveraging WiFi signals for activity classification. Despite advancements, existing WiFi-based HAR research lacks consideration of subject (human) bias. This results in learning models performing well on individuals used in the training samples but failing to generalise to new/unseen subjects, in contrast to known good practices in machine learning. In this paper, we address this oversight directly by systematically examining the evaluation methodology for the WiFi-based HAR context. Specifically, we investigate the impact of Leave-One-Subject-Out Cross-Validation (LOSOCV) in a hybrid …

Predicting Chaotic Systems With Quantum Echo-State Networks, Erik Connerty, Ethan N. Evans, Gerasimos Angelatos, Vignesh Narayanan

Publications

Recent advancements in artificial neural networks have enabled impressive tasks on classical computers, but they demand significant computational resources. While quantum computing offers potential beyond classical systems, the advantages of quantum neural networks (QNNs) remain largely unexplored. In this work, we present and examine a quantum circuit (QC) that implements and aims to improve upon the classical echo-state network (ESN), a type of reservoir-based recurrent neural networks (RNNs), using quantum computers. Typically, ESNs consist of an extremely large reservoir that learns high-dimensional embeddings, enabling prediction of complex system trajectories. Quantum echo-state networks (QESNs) aim to reduce this need for prohibitively …

Moderate Physical Perspectivalism, Emily Adlam

Philosophy Faculty Articles and Research

Recent developments in the foundations of physics have given rise to a class of views suggesting that physically meaningful descriptions must always be relativized to a physical perspective. In this article, I distinguish between strong physical perspectivalism, which maintains that all facts must be relativized to a perspective, and moderate physical perspectivalism, which maintains that all empirically meaningful descriptions must be relativized to a perspective. I argue that scientific evidence and philosophical considerations support moderate physical perspectivalism over strong physical perspectivalism. In particular, motivations connected to epistemic humility and the social nature of science are more compatible with the moderate …

Detection Of The Orbital Modulation Of Fe Kα Fluorescence Emission In Centaurus X-3 Using The High-Resolution Spectrometer Resolve On Board Xrism, Yuto Mochizuki, Masahiro Tsujimoto, Richard L. Kelley, Bert Vander Meulen, Teruaki Enoto, Yutaro Nagai, Chris Done, Pragati Pradhan, Natalie Hell, Katja Pottschmidt, Ken Ebisawa, Ehud Behar

Publications

The Fe Kα fluorescence line emission in X-ray spectra is a powerful diagnostic tool for various astrophysical objects to reveal the distribution of cold matter around photoionizing sources. The advent of the X-ray microcalorimeter on board the XRISM satellite will bring new constraints on the emission line. We present one of the first such results for the high-mass X-ray binary Centaurus X-3, which is composed of an O-type star and a neutron star (NS). We conducted a 155 ks observation covering an entire binary orbit. A weak Fe Kα line was detected in all orbital phases at an equivalent width …

Environmental Concerns: Thinking Beyond The Traditional Elections, Muhammad Faisal Ali

CBER Conference

A sustainable future is intricately tied to maintaining a sustainable environment, both on a global scale and within individual countries. In 2023, recorded temperatures reached unprecedented highs, signaling a concerning trend toward global warming and prompting widespread alarm. These circumstances have spurred increased global attention and a shift away from intensive emission practices towards more environmentally friendly approaches. This research provides empirical evidence on the monetary value of lost environmental benefits due to the production of massive ballot papers for the elections. Focusing on the environmental impact of the 2024 General Election, the study also considers the environmental implications beyond …

Impact Of Pathogenic E. Coli In Drinking Water On The Well-Being Of Children, Aysha Khatoon

CBER Conference

Despite global advancements, unsafe drinking water is a major cause of illness, ranked as the eighth highest worldwide (Forouzanfar et al., 2015). Studies indicate that even improved water sources, can harbour faecal contamination (Shaheed et al., 2014; Bain et al., 2014b). Globally, 1.8 billion people rely on drinking water contaminated with faecal matter (Bain et al., 2014a), with pathogenic E. coli being a primary concern. In Pakistan, the situation is dire. About 25 million people, particularly children, suffer due to open defecation, leading to 53,000 child deaths annually from diarrhoea (UNICEF, 2021). Pathogenic E. coli is a significant contributor to …

Assessing University Students' Behavior Toward Environmental Sustainability In Pakistan; A Case Study Of Islamabad And Rawalpindi, Shahla Rani

CBER Conference

The rising temperature and unsustainable environmental conditions are worldwide issues, posing critical threats to the ecosystem and human well-being. According to the Environmental Performance Index (EPI) 2022, Pakistan ranks second last among 180 countries, highlighting severe environmental challenges. This study aims to understand the current state of students' behavior toward the environment using the theory of planned behavior. By understanding these behaviors, the research seeks to determine whether students' actions align with sustainable practices. Additionally, the study will review environmental policies in Pakistan and internationally, focusing on the extent to which these policies incorporate behavioral aspects. This research intends to …

Analyzing Food Security Trends Amidst Environmental Challenges: A Convergence Perspective, Faisal Azeem Abbassi, Muhammad Jamil

CBER Conference

This study aims to test the existence of convergence in global food security from 2012 to 2022. It contributes to the existing literature by connecting two empirical findings: first, income per capita is a significant determinant of countries’ state of food security, and second, the neoclassical growth model predicts income per capita to converge over time. These findings suggest the possibility of convergence in global food security. This study employs Phillips and Sul’s (2007) club convergence methodology on the Global Food Security Index (GFSI) 2022 model, developed by Economist Impact for 113 countries. Results indicate an absence of global convergence …

Role Of Greenfield Investment, Institutional Quality, And Economic Activities On Environmental Performance In Belt & Road Initiative Countries, Jamal Hussain, Sajid Hassan

CBER Conference

Researchers have produced varying conclusions on the matter of coexistence of economic activities with the protection or improvement of environmental performance. This study investigates the association between greenfield investments, economic activity, institutional quality, and environmental performance in Belt & Road Initiative (BRI) countries from 2003 to 2022. Yale University's Environmental Performance Index (EPI) assesses environmental performance. Advanced second-generation econometrics estimation approaches address concerns like cross-sectional dependence, potential endogeneity, and heterogeneity. Further analysis is employed across four income-level sub-panels: lowincome (LI), lower-middle-income (LMI), upper-middle-income (UMI), and high-income (HI) countries, covering the years 2003 to 2021 to validate reliability and consistency. This …

Customer Data And The Digital Age, Mahdi Ansari

CBER Conference

Data is widely regarded as the most valuable resource in today’s economy, yet its value often eludes precise quantification. This paper examines customer data as an intangible capital asset and addresses the challenge of measuring its impact. A novel database was created by merging Compustat with online clickstream data capturing the activity of approximately 200 million users, providing proxies for data inflow based on visit metrics. The analysis documents that the distribution of firms’ customer data stocks follows a rightskewed log-normal pattern with a fat tail. Additionally, a positive relationship emerges between sales and data inflow, data stock, profit, and …

If You Can’T Beat Them Join Them: Empirical Assessment Into How Integrating Conventional Taxis On The Uber App Impacts Conventional Taxi Ridership, Shahmeer Mohsin

CBER Conference

Since the emergence of ride-hailing platforms like Uber, conventional taxi ridership has taken a severe hit. Taxi-hailing apps like Curb and Arro have allowed conventional taxis to jump on the platform economy bandwagon and offer a similar service to ride-hailing platforms. Despite the emergence of these taxi-hailing apps, strong lock-in effects and high switching costs of popular ride-hailing platforms (Uber, Lyft, etc.) restrict the ridership volumes of conventional taxis. Recently, the ride-hailing platform, Uber has started to add conventional taxis on its app under increasing pressure from Cities and conventional taxi associations. Such integrations have the potential of increasing conventional …

Synthesis And Characterization Of Metal-Organic Framework Nanostructures And Evaluation Of Their Photocatalytic Activity, James Kegere

Thesis/ Dissertation Defenses

Reticular materials have enlisted tremendous interest from researchers across the globe in the last two decades. This heightened interest stems from the novelty in structure and chemistry that renders them peerless in multiple fields such as medicine, energy, and environment. On the environmental research front these materials have found applications in mitigation of different pollutants such as CO₂ which is the most important greenhouse gas through storage and conversion, catalysis of CO₂ conversion into useful products. Furthermore, these materials have also proven to be effective sorbent materials for many toxic compounds that find their way into freshwater systems …

Na2B12Si6Se18: A Novel B12-Cluster-Containing Quaternary Selenoborate Framework Material, Gopabandhu Panigrahi, Hunter B. Tisdale, Gregory Morrison, Hans Conrad Zur Loye

Faculty Publications

We report the successful synthesis of the new quaternary, three-dimensional Na₂B₁₂Si₆Se₁₈ material using a solid-state synthesis route. This compound is characterized by a unique framework structure that features the rare icosahedral [B₁₂]¹⁰⁺ cation which is connected via Si2Se6 polyhedral units into a 3D framework structure with Na+ ions located inside the channels. The Na₂B₁₂Si₆Se₁₈ compound crystallizes in the cubic crystal system in the space group Im, with lattice parameter a = 11.91110(10) Å and unit cell volume of 1689.88(4) ų. …

Antibiotic Resistance Of Laboratory E. Coli Strains, Alexis H. Hart

Honors Projects

Antibiotic resistance is an ongoing global health crisis. The prevalence and distribution of antibiotic resistance in environmental microbial communities have become climactic areas of investigation due to their far-reaching implications for ecosystem health, human well-being, and the sustainability of antimicrobial efficacy.