Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Skimming Genomes For Systematics And Dna Barcodes Of Corals, Andrea M. Quattrini, Luke J. Mccartin, Erin E. Easton, Jeremy Horowitz, Herman H. Wirshing, Hailey Bowers, Kenneth Mitchell, María Del P. González-García, Makiri Sei, Catherine S. Mcfadden

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Numerous genomic methods developed over the past two decades have enabled the discovery and extraction of orthologous loci to help resolve phylogenetic relationships across various taxa and scales. Genome skimming (or low-coverage genome sequencing) is a promising method to not only extract high-copy loci but also 100s to 1000s of phylogenetically informative nuclear loci (e.g., ultraconserved elements [UCEs] and exons) from contemporary and museum samples. The subphylum Anthozoa, including important ecosystem engineers (e.g., stony corals, black corals, anemones, and octocorals) in the marine environment, is in critical need of phylogenetic resolution and thus might benefit from a genome-skimming approach. We …

Bernstein Polynomials Method For Solving Multi-Order Fractional Neutral Pantograph Equations With Error And Stability Analysis, M. H. T. Alshbool

All Works

In this investigation, we present a new method for addressing fractional neutral pantograph problems, utilizing the Bernstein polynomials method. We obtain solutions for the fractional pantograph equations by employing operational matrices of differentiation, derived from fractional derivatives in the Caputo sense applied to Bernstein polynomials. Error analysis, along with Chebyshev algorithms and interpolation nodes, is employed for solution characterization. Both theoretical and practical stability analyses of the method are provided. Demonstrative examples indicate that our proposed techniques occasionally yield exact solutions. We compare the algorithms using several established analytical methods. Our results reveal that our algorithm, based on Bernstein series …

Using Pre-Trained Models For Vision-Language Understanding Tasks, Rui Cao

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

In recent years, remarkable progress has been made in Artificial Intelligence (AI), with an increasing focus on integrating AI systems into people’s daily lives. In the context of our diverse world, research attention has shifted towards applying AI to multimodal understanding tasks. This thesis specifically addresses two key modalities, namely, vision and language, and explores Vision-Language Understanding (VLU).

In the past, addressing VLU tasks involved training distinct models from scratch using task-specific data. However, limited by the amount of training data, models may easily overfit the training data and fail to generalize. A recent breakthrough is the development of Pre-trained …

Enabling And Optimizing Multi-Modal Sense-Making For Human-Ai Interaction Tasks, Dulanga Kaveesha Weerakoon Weerakoon Mudiyanselage

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

The rapid pace of adoption of mixed-reality in tandem with advances in NLP and computer vision have opened up unprecedented opportunities for more naturalistic interaction interfaces which underpin Human-AI collaborative applications such as spatial computing and interactive conversational agents. One notable example is the emergence of interactive virtual assistants, which facilitate more natural communication of instructions and queries through modalities like voice and text. This trend is driving the development of innovative ubiquitous, mixed-reality computing applications. Such interactive, natural communication is also critical to support advances in human-robot interactive co-working, across a variety of industrial, commercial and home environments. Conventional …

Enabling Criticality-Aware Optimized Machine Perception At The Edge, Ila Nitin Gokarn

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Cyber-physical systems and applications have fundamentally changed people and processes in the way they interact with the physical world, ushering in the fourth industrial revolution. Supported by a variety of sensors, hardware platforms, artificial intelligence and machine learning models, and systems frameworks, CPS applications aim to automate and ease the burden of repetitive, laborious, or unsafe tasks borne by humans. Machine visual perception, encompassing tasks such as object detection, object tracking and activity analysis, is a key technical enabler of such CPS applications. Efficient execution of such machine vision perception tasks on resource-constrained edge devices, especially in terms of ensuring …

Dimensional Regularization And Two-Loop Vacuum Polarization Operator: Master Integrals, Analytic Results, And Energy Shifts, Stefano Laporta, Ulrich D. Jentschura

Physics Faculty Research & Creative Works

We Present a Complete Reevaluation of the Irreducible Two-Loop Vacuum-Polarization Correction to the Photon Propagator in Quantum Electrodynamics, i.e. with an Electron-Positron Pair in the Fermion Propagators. the Integration is Carried Out by Reducing the Integrations to a Limited Set of Master Integrals, Which Are Calculated using Integration-By-Parts Identities. Dimensional Regularization is Used in D=4-2ϵ Dimensions, and On-Mass Shell Renormalization is Employed. the One-Loop Effect is Given to Order ϵ, to Be Combined with the 1/ϵ Divergence of the Two-Loop Amplitude. Master Integrals Are Given. Final Evaluations of Two-Loop Energy Shifts for 1S, 2S, and 2P States Are Done Analytically, …

Crystallographic Defects In Weyl Semimetal Laalge, Inseo Kim, Byungkyun Kang, Hyunsoo Kim, Minseok Choi

Physics Faculty Research & Creative Works

Crystallographic Defects in a Topological Semimetal Can Result in Charge Doping and Scattering Centers Which May Mask the Exotic Spectroscopic and Transport Properties, respectively. Here, We Investigate the Possible Crystallographic Defects Including Vacancy and Antisite in Weyl Semimetal LaAlGe using Hybrid-Density-Functional Theory Calculations. We Show that a Considerable Concentration of Al- and Ge-Related Defects Naturally Form during Growth Due to their Low Formation Enthalpy. Specifically, Al Can Be Easily Replaced by Ge in the I41md Phase of LaAlGe, Forming the Ge-On-Al Antisite, GeAl. the Counterpart, Al-On-Ge (AlGe), is Also Probable. the Most Abundant Defect GeAl is Donorlike, Effectively Electron Doping, …

Scalar Susceptibility Of A Diluted Classical Xy Model, Reece Beattie-Hauser, Thomas Vojta

Physics Faculty Research & Creative Works

We Analyze the Amplitude Fluctuations in a Diluted 3D Classical XY Model Near the Magnetic Phase Transition, motivated by the Unusual Localization Properties of the Amplitude (Higgs) Mode Recently Found at the Disordered Superfluid-Mott Glass Quantum Phase Transition. We Calculate the Amplitude Correlation Function and the Corresponding Scalar Susceptibility by Means of Monte Carlo Simulations. in Contrast to the Quantum Case, in Which the Scalar Susceptibility Was Found to Violate Naive Scaling, We Find that the Scalar Susceptibility of the Classical System Fulfills Naive Scaling (Employing the Clean Critical Exponents, as Expected from the Harris Criterion) as the Temperature is …

Exploring The Coronal Magnetic Field With Galactic Cosmic Rays: The Sun Shadow Observed By Hawc, R. Alfaro, C. Alvarez, J. C. Arteaga-Velázquez, K. P. Arunbabu, D. Avila Rojas, R. Babu, E. Belmont-Moreno, K. S. Caballero-Mora, T. Capistrán, A. Carramiñana, S. Casanova, P. Colín-Farias, U. Cotti, J. Cotzomi, S. Coutiño De León, E. De La Fuente, C. De León, D. Depaoli, R. Diaz Hernandez, J. C. Diaz-Velez, M. Durocher, M. A. Duvernois, K. Engel, C. Espinoza, K. L. Fan, N. Fraija, J. A. Garcia-Gonzalez, F. Garfias, A. Gonzalez Munoz, M. M. Gonzalez, J. A. Goodman, J. P. Harding, D. Huang, F. Hueyoyl-Zahuantitla, A. Iriarte, S. Kaufmann, A. Lara, J. Lee, H. Leon Vargas, A. L. Longinotti, G. Luis-Raya, K. Malone, O. Martinez, J. Martinez-Castro, J. A. Matthews, P. Miranda-Romagnoli, E. Moreno, M. Mostafa, A. Nayerhoda, L. Nellen, T. Niembro, R. Noriega-Papaqui, N. Omodei, E. G. Perez-Perez, C. D. Rho, D. Rosa-Gonzalez, E. Ruiz-Velasco, J. Ryan, H. Salazar, D. Salazar-Gallegos, A. Sandoval, J. Serna-Franco, A. J. Smith, Y. Son, R. W. Springer, O. Tibolla, K. Tollefson, I. Torres, R. Turner, F. Urena-Mena, E. Varela, L. Villasenor, Xiaojie Wang, I. J. Watson, E. Willox, S. Yun-Carcamo, H. Zhou

Physics Faculty Research & Creative Works

Galactic cosmic rays (GCRs) are charged particles that reach the heliosphere almost isotropically in a wide energy range. In the inner heliosphere, the GCR flux is modulated by solar activity so that only energetic GCRs reach the lower layers of the solar atmosphere. In this work, we propose that high-energy GCRs can be used to explore the solar magnetic fields at low coronal altitudes. We used GCR data collected by the High-Altitude Water Cherenkov observatory to construct maps of GCR flux coming from the Sun's sky direction and studied the observed GCR deficit, known as Sun shadow (SS), over a …

Analyzing And Revivifying Function Signature Inference Using Deep Learning, Yan Lin, Trisha Singhal, Debin Gao, David Lo

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Function signature plays an important role in binary analysis and security enhancement, with typical examples in bug finding and control-flow integrity enforcement. However, recovery of function signatures by static binary analysis is challenging since crucial information vital for such recovery is stripped off during compilation. Although function signature recovery using deep learning (DL) is proposed in an effort to handle such challenges, the reported accuracy is low for binaries compiled with optimizations. In this paper, we first perform a systematic study to quantify the extent to which compiler optimizations (negatively) impact the accuracy of existing DL techniques based on Recurrent …

A Best Way Forward To The Organisation Of Entomological Training Courses In Sub-Saharan Africa, Kurt Jordaens, Marc De Meyer, Muriel Van Nuffel, Ashley H. Kirk-Spriggs, Christopher Sabuni, Maulid Mwatawala, Ramadhani Mujabwa, Sija Kabota, Terence Bellingan, Georg Goergen, Mervyn Mansell, Aruna Manrakhan, Antonio Sinzogan, Mark K. Schutze, Arianna Thomas-Cabianca, Robert Copeland, Burgert Muller, Massimiliano Virgilio, Ella Bert, Eva November, John Midgley

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Despite their significant impact on human life in the Afrotropical Region, Diptera remain understudied. For a large part this is due to a lack of Diptera taxonomic experts and collection curators from the Afrotropical Region (except for South Africa perhaps), the difficulties some developing countries face in maintaining collections, and the low number of digitised specimens. This impedes the use of these Diptera collections for identification services, taxonomic and phylogenetic research, and other biological research areas. The dire need for knowledge transfer and training of young and emerging entomologists in the Afrotropical Region has prompted the Royal Museum for Central …

Super Mario Evolution By The Augmentation Of Topology, Russell A. Autin

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This paper describes the creation and development of an implementation of the NeuroEvolution of Augmenting Topologies (NEAT) architecture to train an agent to play Super Mario Brothers. Building off of a basic implementation of NEAT, this thesis project shows the process of refining the fitness calculation that ranks the networks in the population and also defines the creation and application of a dataset to train the agent. The use of a dataset to train an agent is a novel idea in the world of reinforcement learning because, generally, reinforcement learning trains an agent to complete a singular task like the …

Chemical Composition, Fate, And Toxicity Of Dissolved Hydrocarbon Oxidation Products In High Latitude Aquatic Environments, Maxwell Louis Harsha

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Oil spilled in aquatic environments undergoes abiotic and biotic oxidation processes that produce hydrocarbon oxidation products (HOPs). HOPs rapidly diffuse in the water column, persisting and readily bioavailable to aquatic organisms. Characterizing HOPs is challenging because most of the mixture resides in the unresolved complex mixture (UCM). Understanding of the formation, fate, and toxicity of HOPs in high latitude environments remains limited. This research addresses these gaps through a comprehensive experimental approach, utilizing various analytical techniques including nonvolatile dissolved organic carbon (NVDOC) analysis, ultrahigh-resolution mass spectrometry, tandem mass spectrometry, inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, and fluorescence excitation-emission matrix spectroscopy. Additionally, …

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.

Computational Study For Tissue-Specific Dosimetric Quantities Of Secondary Radiation For Mars Exploration, Sungmin Pak

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The two main sources of primary space radiation, Galactic Cosmic Rays (GCRs) and Solar Particle Events (SPEs), encompass a spectrum of ions, ranging from protons (Z=1) to nickel ions (Z=28), with energies spanning from less than 1 keV to exceeding a few TeV. While SPEs represent sporadic events primarily comprised of a high flux of low- to intermediate-energy protons, GCRs are characterized by continuous low flux of diverse ions with higher energies, peaking in intensity near the solar minimum. During a Mars mission, astronauts will encounter primary particles of high energy from GCR and SPE spectra, capable of penetrating spacecraft …

Boron-Doped Diamond As A Resilient Electrode Material In Molten Salts, Hannah Katherine Patenaude

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Molten salt chemistry has a range of applications within nuclear technology, including for the Molten Salt Reactors (MSRs) and pyroprocessing to recover valuable actinides for energy and national security needs. However, the high-temperature, corrosive nature of molten salts makes them particularly challenging to deploy on an industrial scale and study in benchtop measurements. Material accountability and corrosion monitoring of MSR fuels are essential components to the successful deployment of MSRs, and electroanalytical techniques like cyclic voltammetry (CV) and spectroelectrochemistry (SEC) can provide a wealth of information to describe salt systems in situ. To perform such measurements, it is imperative to …

Dynamical Studies Of Misaligned Circumbinary Disks, Ian C. Rabago

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Binary stars are common outcomes of the star formation process, with nearly half of Sun-like stars forming as part of a binary pair. The presence of a second star adds additional complexity and dynamical effects to the planet formation process in the surrounding circumbinary disk. In this work, I investigate the behavior of a circumbinary disk using hydrodynamic modeling, specifically in the case where the disk is misaligned to the binary orbital plane. Around eccentric binaries, highly inclined disks can align themselves perpendicular to the binary orbital plane. These "polar disks'' can produce vortices and spiral arms when the disk …

Plant-Plant Interaction In Early- Vs. Late-Successional Varieties Of The Hawaiian Landscape-Dominant Tree, Metrosideros Polymorpha, Tomoko Sakishima

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Plant-plant interactions play an important role in assembling plant communities. Interactions between neighboring plants can vary as a result of the genetic relatedness of neighbors, impacting rates of growth and patterns of resource allocation. When growing alongside close relatives, some species decrease their growth in a form of cooperation, while others grow faster through facilitation. A complication of plant interaction studies arises because decreased growth in the presence of close relatives can also be due to competition for resources, which increases with phenotypic similarity. Further complicating matters, mycorrhizal fungi, through their connections with plant roots, may strongly influence plant interactions. …

Identifying Disease-Related Gene-Environment Interactions Based On Method Of Moments, Linchuan Shen

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Human diseases are often caused by a complex interplay of multiple factors, including genetics and environmental factors. These factors can play critical roles in the development and progression of diseases. Although genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have successfully identified many genetic variants associated with human diseases, the estimated effects of these variants are small and can explain only a relatively small portion of the heritability of the underlying diseases.

Detecting gene-environment interactions (G × E) can shed light on the biological mechanisms of diseases. However, most existing methods that investigate G × E only look at how one environmental …

Evaluation Of The Extent Of Floods In 2022 In Different Land Cover And Land Use Classes In Sindh Province, Pakistan Using Sentinel-1 And Sentinel-2 Imageries, Alina Shrestha

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Floods are one of the most frequent and most devastating natural disasters, which cause widespread destruction and pose significant risks to human life, infrastructure, and the environment. Advancement in remote sensing technologies and methodologies have demonstrated their efficacy in disaster-related applications, such as the detection, monitoring, and analysis of floods. This study explores the utilization of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and optical imagery for flood extent mapping and studying the extent of flood over various land cover and land use classes in Pakistan's Sindh province, utilizing the cloud computing power of Google Earth Engine. The change detection method identified extensive …

Online Learning For Acid-Fast Bacilli Detection In Histopathological Images, Shizhao Wang

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The acid-fast stain is frequently used for laboratory diagnosis of tuberculosis. It is a labor intensive task requiring thorough examination of extremely high-resolution images to pinpoint the presence of the mycobacteria. This paper presents a machine learning assisted slide image analysis tool with the aim of aiding histopathology professionals in the accurate diagnosis of tuberculosis in patients through the analysis of microscopic imagery. The proposed tool combines a digital whole slide image viewer with an online learning framework. We also conducted a survey of different state-of-the-art online learning methods, and found that MIR with pre-training has the best performance on …

Space Transformation For Open Set Recognition, Atefeh Mahdavi

Theses and Dissertations

Open Set Recognition (OSR) is about dealing with unknown situations that were not learned by the models during training. In OSR, only a limited number of known classes are available at the time of training the model and the possibility of unknown classes never seen at training time emerges in the test environment. In such a setting, the unknown classes and their risk should be considered in the algorithm. Such systems require not only to identify and discriminate instances that belong to the source domain (i.e., the seen known classes contained in the training dataset) but also to reject unknown …

Cross-Framework Validation Of Cnn Architectures: From Pytorch To Onnx, Shreya Nandanwar

Theses and Dissertations

This research presents CIPAC (CNN Inter-framework Parameter Analysis and Comparison), a validation approach designed to ensure the integrity of Deep Learning models during their transfer between computational frameworks. Although initially tested on Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs), CIPAC is versatile enough for various Deep Learning architectures. It goes beyond traditional methods that focus on output accuracy, by examining the models’ architecture, parameters, and components to maintain consistency after transitions, like moving from PyTorch to ONNX framework. Inspired by software architecture’s stringent validation standards, CIPAC addresses the challenges of working with Machine Learning models on different platforms, making it an essential tool …

Harnessing Social Media For Climate Action In Developing Countries: A Case Study Of Egypt, Nicolas Hamelin, Passant Halawa

Faculty Journal Articles

Like many developing nations, Egypt is facing a climate crisis due to its agricultural dependence and the Nile Delta’s vulnerability. Despite government plans for sustainable development, recent infrastructure projects have resulted in large-scale green space removal. Effective communication about environmental issues can spark pro-environmental behavior and citizen activism. This study explores social media’s potential to bridge this gap in Egypt. Utilizing Facebook AB testing with a limited budget, we reached a significant 2.3% of Egypt’s online population (nearly 2 million users). This study explored message framing, with findings showing that rational posts resonated best while fear appeals had minimal impact. …

Maximization Of Brackish Water Productivity For The Sustainable Production Of Striped Catfish (Pangasianodon Hypophthalmus) And Grain Sorghum (Sorghum Bicolor (L.) Moench) Cultivated Under An Integrated Aquaculture–Agriculture System, Fahad Kimera, Muziri Mugwanya, Khaled Madkour, Mahmoud A.O. Dawood, Hani Sewilam

Faculty Journal Articles

Freshwater scarcity, salinity, and poor soil fertility are the major challenges affecting both food and feed productions in arid and semi-arid regions of the world. Utilization of brackish water in the production of saline-tolerant fish and valuable field crops under an integrated system is promising in the maximization of yield per crop. The aim of this study, therefore, was to (1) assess the effect of saline aquaculture wastewater on the growth, yield, forage quality, and nutritive composition of sorghum seeds and (2) assess the effect of different water qualities on the survival, growth performance, and health status of Pangasianodon hypophthalmus. …

Conditional Quantization For Uniform Distributions On Line Segments And Regular Polygons, Tsianna Danielle Dominguez

Theses and Dissertations

Quantization for a Borel probability measure refers to the idea of estimating a given probability by a discrete probability with support containing a finite number of elements. If in the quantization some of the elements in the support are preselected, then the quantization is called a conditional quantization. In this thesis, we have investigated the conditional quantization for the uniform distributions defined on the unit line segments and m-sided regular polygons, where m ≥ 3, inscribed in a unit circle.

Seasonal Comparison Of Air Quality Variables And Evaluation Of Carbon Dioxide And Particulate Measurement Period In Classrooms, Daud Nosham

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Indoor air quality and thermal environmental variables were measured in 55 classrooms in the mid-western United States spanning a full academic year. The studied air quality and environmental factors included carbon dioxide, temperature, relative humidity, particle counts, air velocity, formaldehyde, total volatile organic compounds, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, and ozone.

Carbon dioxide and Particulate matter concentrations were measured for a four-day measurement period. Then one-day, two-day, and four-day occupied time average concentrations were calculated which were then compared statistically to figure out an appropriate measurement period for these air quality variables. Kruskal Wallis test and Wilcoxon test were used to …

Strong First Order Electroweak Phase Transitions In The Standard Model With A Real Scalar Singlet Extension, Anthony James Hooper

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

The large matter-antimatter asymmetry of the universe and whether the electroweak sector has always been broken are currently unanswered by the standard model (SM). One solution that addresses both these concerns is to impose a strong first order electroweak phase transition (SFOEWPT) and ensure electroweak baryogenesis occurs. Models that undergo a SFOEWPT in the early universe create bubbles of the true vacuum that expand until the universe reaches the vacuum expectation value measured today. If the phase transition is strong enough, then these bubbles may generate a detectable stochastic gravitational wave (GW).

However, the SM by itself can only perform …

Charge And Strain Engineering Of Ferroic And Correlated Oxides, Yifei Hao

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

This dissertation presents a comprehensive study of the charge and strain effects on the electronic and magnetic properties of epitaxial ferroic and correlated oxide thin films and heterostructures. We perform the planar Hall effect to quantify the magnetocrystalline anisotropy (MCA) in epitaxial La_1-xSr_xMnO₃ films (x = 0.2 and 0.33) deposited on SrTiO₃ substrates. The biaxial magnetic anisotropy energy of L_0.67Sr_0.33MnO₃ is about 17% larger than La_0.8Sr_0.2MnO₃. By comparing with the theoretically predicted values, we have decoupled the doping and strain effects on …

Approximation Via Degree Reduction Of Nonlinearities With Applications To Turbulent Flows, Flame Fronts, And Magnetohydrodynamics, Matthew Enlow

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

We perform an analytical and computational investigation on the effectiveness of a locally bounded truncation function, which we call a calming function, when applied to the nonlinear terms of several dissipative partial differential equations. In particular, the 3D Navier-Stokes equations of incompressible fluid flow, the 2D Kuramoto-Sivashinsky equations of laminar flame fronts, and the 2D MHD-Boussinesq equations of magnetohydrodynamics. Each of these equations have open questions about the global existence and uniqueness of their solutions. These calming functions effectively reduce the algebraic degree of select nonlinear terms, thus one can verify global wellposedness for these "calmed systems." More specifically, in …