Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Bay Water Level Influences On Inundation And Morphological Changes Of A Semi-Connected Barrier Island During A Hurricane, Sydney D. Goodman

Graduate Theses and Dissertations (2019 - present)

This research aims to identify flooding and erosion changes along a semi-connected barrier island system due to varying bay water levels during storm conditions. The numerical model XBeach is used to simulate Hurricane Michael conditions and the resulting inundation and morphological change near Tyndall Air Force Base (Tyndall AFB). The installation is located 12 miles southeast of Panama City Beach along the panhandle of Florida and is vulnerable to flooding due to its proximity to the Gulf of Mexico (GoM), Saint Andrew Sound and Saint Andrew Bay. A land bridge connects the barrier island to the mainland of Tyndall AFB …

Draft Final 2023 Bpsou Subdrain Data Summary Report (Dsr), Pioneer Technical Services, Inc.

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Final Repository Screening Report, Pioneer Technical Services, Inc.

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Descriptions Of Interglacial Mastodons From Snowmass, Colorado, Connor White

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Ziegler Reservoir fossil site (ZRFS) in Colorado contains over 4000 mastodon bones that date from 140,000 to 100,000 years ago. At an elevation of ~2705 meters above sea level, ZRFS represents an alpine ecosystem dated to Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5. Formal descriptions of cheek teeth, mandibles, crania, and femora were completed. Statistical analyses of the upper and lower third molars, including a novel measurement of interloph(id) distances, indicate significant differences between ZRFS mastodons and Mammut pacificus, while falling within the ranges for Mammut americanum. This study agrees with the taxonomic assignment of ZRFS mastodons to Mammut …

Strategy-Proof Social Choice Functions On Condorcet Domains., Flannery Marie Musk Wells

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A social choice function is said to be strategy-proof if no voter has any motivation to lie about their true preference. Strategy-proofness is a desirable property of social choice functions so we consider here functions that always satisfy this property. We add to this property the additional desirable conditions of anonymity and neutrality and present domains on which we can get a characterization of majority rule as the only social choice function that satisfies these three properties. Furthermore, we consider what functions look like when we drop the condition of anonymity.

Sustainable Methodologies For Synthesis Of Small Organic Molecules Using Micellar Catalysis., Deborah Sam Ogulu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Organic synthesis is a critical process in the creation of small molecule pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals. However, most methods for synthesizing these small molecules rely on toxic organic solvents as the reaction medium which account for approximately 80% of pharmaceutical waste. Moreover, many catalytic reactions require expensive endangered precious metals like palladium and costly metals. This dissertation presents research that aims to develop sustainable, eco-friendly reaction conditions to address these issues. We developed a ligand-free bimetallic nanocatalyst for the hydrogenation of unsaturated enones. This ligand-free nanocatalyst was prepared from nickel and ppm loading of palladium and was stabilized by harnessing the …

Ligand-Stabilized Sno2 As A High-Performance And Scalable Electron Transport Material For Inverted Perovskite Solar Cells., Sashil Chapagain

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Over the past decade, perovskite solar cell (PSC) technology has attracted significant attention for its low material costs, simple fabrication processes, and impressive photovoltaic performance, with recent power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) surpassing 26%. This advancement marks PSCs as strong competitors to traditional silicon-based photovoltaics. Despite the high efficiency of PSCs, the path to commercialization is hindered by challenges in stability, scalability, and module efficiency. The stability and scalability of PSCs are primarily dependent on the successive charge transfer layers (CTLs) that are interfaced with the perovskite layer. Among CTLs, metal oxide (MO_x) CTLs are preferred for their cost-effectiveness, …

Assessing Sustainability Within The Brewing Industry: A Literature Review And Benchmarking Analysis., Elijah Thomas Miller

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The goals of this study were twofold: to further examine sustainability within the brewing industry through a literature analysis across four academic journals, and a benchmarking analysis of a Louisville, Kentucky brewery’s resource consumption and emissions production. Publications related to the brewing industry were examined for the presence of sustainability keywords: “efficiency, sustainability, carbon footprint, climate change and greenhouse gas”. Benchmarking examined the local brewery’s primary production facility to determine their performance compared to other surveyed breweries pursuing sustainability across the country. Literature examination found noticeable discrepancies between the appearance of sustainability topics within article abstracts and their discussion within …

Using Dynamic Schemas For Query Optimization Over Json Data., Tomas Felipe Llano-Rios

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Query optimization in document stores has traditionally relied on rule-based approaches, but recent research advocates for a shift towards cost-based optimization. However, this transition is hindered by the fragmented nature of existing approaches, stemming from the early development stage of cost-based query optimization for document databases. A key challenge lies in the absence of a standardized query language and semantics, exacerbated by the diverse and schema-less nature of JSON document collections. To tackle these challenges, the literature has proposed dynamic schemas, primarily utilized at parsing time. However, these schemas lack a formal foundation that describes meaningful semantics for query optimization. …

Predicting The Effects Of Precipitation On Groundwater Contamination Near Capped And Uncapped Coal Ash Storage Facilities In Louisville, Kentucky., Daryl Jialiang Chen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the impact of rainfall event characteristics and water table elevations on arsenic and boron contamination in groundwater near two coal ash ponds in Louisville, Kentucky. Utilizing data from 2011 to 2019, the research focuses on both capped and uncapped ponds at Mill Creek and Cane Run sites, employing Threshold Analysis, Regularized Discriminant Analysis (RDA) and Random Forest (RF) to assess contamination levels in groundwater. Analysis shows that capped ponds generally exhibit reduced arsenic levels, though variations exist depending on the contaminant and site. Key predictors such as maximum precipitation and river height were identified, highlighting their significant …

Synthesis, Electrical Conductivity, Electrocatalytic Activity For Water Splitting, And Pseudocapacitive Properties Of Perovskite Oxide Derivatives., Kinithi Meththa Kumari Wickramaratne

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Developing green and sustainable energy solutions is crucial to addressing the energy and environmental challenges. Hydrogen is an attractive candidate given its high energy density and low carbon emission compared to gasoline and coal. Electrochemical water splitting through a water electrolyzer is recognized as a green method for generating hydrogen and oxygen gases. Developing cost-effective electrocatalysts to reduce overpotential in hydrogen and oxygen generation is essential for the overall process. The growing interest in perovskite oxides as versatile and sustainable catalysts is driven by their compositional flexibility, tunable electronic structure, earth abundance, and inherent catalytic performance. In our research, we …

Electrochemical Modulation Of Surface Plasmon Wave To Investigate Dna-Based Sensing Platforms And Detection Of Sars-Cov2., Anil Sharma

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study offers a thorough comparative analysis of optical and electrical signaling strategies for assessing the electrochemical properties of different redox-labeled DNA-based biosensing platforms. In addition, it illustrates the development of an optical interrogation technique with electrochemical modulation of surface plasmon waves (ECM-SPW) as a route for analyzing and implementing DNA-based hybridization sensors. For those quantitative analyses, we chose a model sensing platform composed of a methylene blue (MB)-modified single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) signaling probe and an unlabeled capture ssDNA probe that complements the signaling probe. Two types of signaling probes were employed in this work: one with MB attached to …

Multimodal Stylometry: A Novel Approach For Authorship Identification., Glory O. Adebayo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation introduces multimodal stylometry, a novel approach to authorship identification that integrates text and source code features for a comprehensive understanding of an author's unique style. Traditional stylometric methods have primarily focused on either text stylometry or source code stylometry, thereby neglecting the potential insights that multimodality may provide. This research aims to bridge this gap by proposing a framework that combines textual and source code data to enhance the accuracy and reliability of authorship identification. The study begins by reviewing existing literature on authorship identification and stylometry, highlighting the limitations of unimodal approaches. Leveraging recent advancements in multimodal …

Utilizing Metal Ligand Cooperativity To Activate Small Molecules., Christine Burgan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The problems created from the excessive use of fossil fuels can be approached from two directions: capture the CO₂ from the atmosphere or develop alternative energy sources. The current industrial standards for these are environmental and/or health hazards and utilize precious metals, respectively. Metal ligand cooperativity (MLC) has emerged as a promising alternative to using precious metals to activate small molecules. In this dissertation, we focus on a series of metal complexes based on the ligand diacetyl-2-(4-methyl-thiosemicarbazone)-3-(2-hydrazinopyridine) (H₂L¹) for either hydrogen evolution or CO₂ capture. The novel complexes were characterized by ¹H NMR, …

Multithreaded Applications On The Heterogeneous Research Computing Environment., Sungbo Jung

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Bioinformatics is a domain that has experienced rapid research growth in recent years, as evidenced by the increasing number of articles in biomedical databases such as PubMed, which adds over a million publications every year. However, this also poses a challenge for researchers who need to find relevant citations for their work. Therefore, developing efficient indexing and searching methods for text data is crucial for Bioinformatics. One key technique for information retrieval is document inversion, which involves creating an inverted index to enable efficient searching through vast collections of text or documents. This Ph.D. research aims to design the research …

Investigations Of Physical Properties Of Novel Magnetic And Non- Magnetic Two-Dimensional (2d) Alloys., Mohammed Ameen Irziqat

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research work reports investigations of structural and physical properties of novel magnetic and non-magnetic 2D alloys. Three techniques were utilized in this investigation: Angle-resolved polarized Raman spectroscopy (ARPRS), Electrical &Thermoelectric power measurements, Magneto-optic Kerr effect (MOKE) spectroscopy. ARPRS and MOKE experiments were constructed during the course of this work. ARPRS was used to study the anisotropy of 2-dimensional black-arsenic phosphors (b-AsxP1-x) as a function of arsenic concentration (x). It was observed experimentally that all Raman modes of the studied samples with x=0, 0.4, 0.8 exhibit polarization dependence. More interestingly, the polarization dependence of Raman modes due to the vibrations …

Dijkgraaf-Witten Theory For Surfaces, Austin Fender

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

In this paper I describe Dijkgraaf-Witten theory as it applies to oriented surfaces. The first section provides physical motivation from the background of quantum field theory along with necessary definitions and ingredients of a topological quantum field theory. These include category theory, fiber bundles, covering spaces and bordisms. In the second section we make clear the connection between bordisms and principal G-bundles. We then describe the machinery of Dijkgraaf-Witten theory and explicitly construct a topological quantum field theory for the circle. This leads to a brief interlude on representation theory which we use to give constructions on elementary bordisms …

Secure Multiparty Protocols On Blockchain With Fairness And Scalability, Joshua Holmes

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Secure multiparty computation is a major field of research in modern cryptography. It allows for the creation of a protocol that maintains the privacy of the inputs and ensures that violation of the protocol results in no undue benefit to the violator or detriment to an honest party. These protocols can be used in many fields. In this dissertation, we explore the application of the mechanisms of secure party computation in the context of peer-to-peer lending, fair exchange with cryptocurrencies, consensus, and electronic voting. In all these areas, honesty of execution and fairness in the outcome should be assured or …

Interpretation And Robustness Of Black-Box Ml Models For Secure Cyber Space, Qudrat E. Alahy Ratul

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The advent of sophisticated Machine Learning (ML) models has revolutionized the cybersecurity landscape, offering unprecedented capabilities to address complex challenges. Despite the ML model's capabilities, such models are still perceived as black boxes, the critical aspects of interpretability and robustness within these models often remain underexplored, rendering them susceptible to adversarial attacks and hindering their integration into sensitive applications. This dissertation focuses on interpretability and robustness of black-box ML models, aiming to fortify the cyberinfrastructure. Through a meticulous investigation of advanced techniques and methodologies, this work contributes towards elucidating and enhancing the interpretability and robustness of ML models in cybersecurity …

Final Butte Priority Soils Operable Unit Repository Screening Report, Pioneer Technical Services, Inc.

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

A Statistical Fetch Model For Water Wave Glint Correction Using Worldview-3 Imagery, Amanda Jade Quintanilla

Theses and Dissertations

Sun glint in satellite imagery of the water surface contaminates the upwelling signal received by a detector. Many models exist that attempt to correct for this wave facet effect and phenomena. In this work a model for sun glint correction is created using the comparison of image transects between two nearly simultaneously collected images of the same area, although with differing sensor geometry. One image utilized in this research is almost entirely glint free while the other is contaminated by water wave facet glint. Although many models for removing sun glint exist based on various techniques, none are completely accurate, …

Computational Linguistics And Multilingualism: A Comparative Analysis With Spanish And English Data, Evelyn Lawrie

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Computational linguistics is an increasingly ubiquitous field, serving as the basis for artificial intelligence and machine translation. It aims to analyze the syntax and semantics of individual words and phrases. While there have been in-depth advancements in computational linguistics strategies for the English language, others have not been developed as thoroughly. This lack of emphasis on multilingualism has contributed to the disappearance of Hispanic perspectives in the digital world. Especially those of indigenous heritage, as the decline of many indigenous languages has been exacerbated by the lack of digital translation services. Sentiment analysis is a branch of computational linguistics that …

High Intraspecific Diversity Of Pocillopora Damicornis In Southeast Asia Reflects Adaptive Potential To Climate Change, Maria Lucille Carr

Theses and Dissertations

Marine heatwaves are increasing in intensity and frequency because of increased emissions of greenhouse gases. On coral reefs, warmer temperatures cause coral bleaching, mortality, and shifts in benthic composition. However, coral bleaching responses and survival vary geographically. Several hypotheses may explain such geographical differences in thermal tolerance, including the possibility that some localities may support higher intraspecific diversity than other localities, increasing the likelihood of survival of some individuals through heatwaves. Here we assessed geographic patterns of intraspecific genetic diversity in the ubiquitous coral Pocillopora damicornis. Intraspecific genetic diversity was assessed for 428 sequences across 44 sites in the Pacific …

Representation Learning For Generative Models With Applications To Healthcare, Astronautics, And Aviation, Van Minh Nguyen

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores applications of representation learning and generative models to challenges in healthcare, astronautics, and aviation.

The first part investigates the use of Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) to synthesize realistic electronic health record (EHR) data. An initial attempt at training a GAN on the MIMIC-IV dataset encountered stability and convergence issues, motivating a deeper study of 1-Lipschitz regularization techniques for Auxiliary Classifier GANs (AC-GANs). An extensive ablation study on the CIFAR-10 dataset found that Spectral Normalization is key for AC-GAN stability and performance, while Weight Clipping fails to converge without Spectral Normalization. Analysis of the training dynamics provided further …

Effect Of Asynchronous Virtual Interviews On Ethnic Minority Matriculation Into A Doctor Of Physical Therapy Program, Conner Clark, Nanea Lagasca, Gladys Miller, Jasmine Puspos

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Purpose/Methods: This study examines the impact of the use of asynchronous virtual interviews (AVIs) in the admissions process of the Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) program at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). This research aims to examine racial and ethnic subgroup differences in AVI scores, evaluate the influence of AVIs on applicant scores in the admissions process, and assess the AVI inter-rater reliability among faculty evaluators using data from the 2019-2022 admissions cycles.

Results: Significant differences were found in AVI scores among racial and ethnic groups, with Black applicants scoring highest and Asian applicants scoring lowest. Additionally, inclusion …

An Examination Of The Teaching And Learning Of Resonance In General Chemistry I And Organic Chemistry I Using Variation Theory, Sabrina Barakat

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Resonance is a fundamental chemistry concept first introduced to students in General Chemistry I, reintroduced in Organic Chemistry I, and then utilized throughout other higher-level chemistry courses. A molecule or ion can be said to exhibit resonance when it can be represented by two or more chemical structures (i.e., Lewis structures) that differ only in their arrangement of electrons. In other words, resonance represents the electronic structure of a molecule or ion when a single Lewis structure does not adequately depict the true distribution of electrons. The molecule or ion is best represented as a combination of all of the …

Assessing The Potential For Magmatic Sulfides Within Southwestern Laurentia Large Igneous Province, Thomas J. Boes

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The ~1.1 Ga magmatism of the Southwestern Laurentia Large Igneous Province (SWLLIP) generated a series of mafic-ultramafic sheets, sills, and dikes emplaced within Mesoproterozoic sedimentary units and older crystalline basement rock throughout the southwest United States and northern Mexico. This large igneous province (LIP) event remains enigmatic in identifying the processes that generated this magmatism. In addition, potential links to the contemporaneous magmatism of North America's magmatic Ni-Cu-platinum group element (PGE) mineralized Mid-Continent Rift (MCR) LIP to the northeast of the SWLLIP remain unclear. The contemporaneous 1.1 Ga MCR LIP event hosts economically viable magmatic sulfide deposits in the Duluth …

Seasonal Climate And Environmental Conditions Associated With Physiological Variations Of Southwestern United States Pines, Taylor Brewer

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Juvenile and adult conifers in the southwestern United States are vulnerable to a range of different abiotic and biotic factors, yet it is unclear how their stress tolerance varies across environments. Predicted increases in the frequency and intensity of disturbance as well as greater climate and weather variability across the region highlight the potential for differential physiological responses across tree species and populations. This thesis focuses on two physiologic mechanisms, hydraulic vulnerability and mortality, that could be altered by climate change in two broadly distributed southwestern United States conifers: ponderosa pine and pinyon pine.

In chapter 2, I measured the …

Experiment Development And Validation Of A Granular Jamming Robotic Gripper, Jacob R. Dowd

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

A granular jamming gripper (GJG) is widely known as a Universal Gripper because of the wide range of objects that it can grasp and the simplicity of control, design, and manufacturing. Despite multitude of research improving the GJG, here, we focus on the base version of the GJG and attempt to glean the range of objects that it may reliably grasp. Despite the limited range of objects, which were a sphere, rectangular prism, and cylinder, we gleaned geometric properties as it relates to successful and unsuccessful grasping. This was based on the two types of testing: push and pull testing …

Triangulation Guided High Clearance Collision-Free Paths, Sandeep Maharjan

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Algorithms dealing with the construction of high clearance collision-free paths in the presence of polygonal obstacles is an important problem in robotics and transportation engineering. Method of extracting collision-free paths guided by triangulation of free space is examined. Two algorithms for improving the standard triangulation guided algorithms are presented. The time complexities of the presented algorithms are analysed. Finally, further applications of the proposed techniques are discussed.