Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Population Changes Of Invasive Annuals In California Annual And Perennial Grasslands, Richard King

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Some non-native annual forbs and grasses can be invasive in California's annual grassland region. Taeniatherum caput-medusae (L.) Nevski and Centaurea solstitialis L. can spread quickly, become nearly monospecific stands, and reduce carrying capacity for livestock and wildlife. Centaurea also can be toxic to horses. Lathyrus hirsutus L. is less invasive, but the seed is toxic to various livestock. Since 1991, the author has raised beef cattle on 16 ha of predominantly annual grassland where these 3 species occur, and a family member has raised cattle on approximately 40 ha of adjacent property. Surface soils in this hilly land are …

The Effect Of Sheep Grazing At Two Stocking Rates On The Seedling Recruitment Of Grassland Forbs, Johannes Isselstein, Markus Kowarschik, S. Bonn, M. Hofmann

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Limitations for seedling recruitment are major constraints to maintain and enhance plant species diversity in productive grasslands (Bakker & Berendse 1999). Grass sward condition plus species-specific requirements for germination and survival determine the recruitment success. Therefore, a field experiment investigated the establishment of oversown seeds from wildflower forbs in relation to grass sward management.

Adsorption Performance Of Mg0.33ni0.33co0.33fe2o4 Nanoparticles Doped With Gadolinium And Lanthanum For Lead (Ii) Removal, Mariam Rabaa, Amani Aridi, Ghassan Younes, Ramadan Awad

BAU Journal - Science and Technology

The issue of water pollution has become a major concern in recent times, and the need for effective strategies for treating contaminated water sources has become more urgent. One promising approach that has been gaining attention in the field of wastewater treatment is the use of nano-ferrites. In this regard, novel Mg_0.33Ni_0.33Co_0.33La_xFe_2-xO₄ and Mg_0.33Ni_0.33Co_0.33Gd_xFe_2-xO₄ nanoparticles (NPs), where x = 0.00, 0.01 and 0.08, were synthesized to test their adsorption performance for the removal of Pb (II). The structural …

Robust And Parallel Segmentation Model (Rpsm) For Early Detection Of Skin Cancer Disease Using Heterogeneous Distributions, Nancy Zreika, Ali El-Zaart, Abdallah El Chakik

BAU Journal - Science and Technology

Melanoma is the most common dangerous type of skin cancer; however, it is preventable if it is diagnosed early. Diagnosis of Melanoma would be improved if an accurate skin image segmentation model is available. Many computer vision methods have been investigated, yet the problem of finding a consistent and robust model that extracts the best threshold value, persists. This paper suggests a novel image segmentation approach using a multilevel cross entropy thresholding algorithm based on heterogeneous distributions. The proposed strategy searches the problem space by segmenting the image into several levels, and applying for each level one of the three …

Size Effect On The Optical Response Of Cylindrical Palladium Nanoparticles, Salem Marhaba, Mohammed Khalaf

BAU Journal - Science and Technology

In this work, a computational study is carried out to investigate the optical response of palladium nano-cylinders. The Finite Element Method (FEM) is employed using the COMSOL MULTIPHYSICS simulation program to calculate the scattering, absorption, and extinction cross-sections. The influence of the size of the cylindrical nanoparticles on their optical properties is discussed. The results are plotted for a broad spectral range of wavelengths from ultra-violet to infra-red of the incident electromagnetic wave on the cylindrical nanoparticles.

Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance Of Palladium Parallelepiped Nanoparticles, Salem Marhaba, Nourhan El Kawni

BAU Journal - Science and Technology

Localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) of palladium parallelepiped nanoparticle have been investigated using Finite Element Method (FEM) in the frame of COMSOL Multiphysics Software. Spectral characteristics (magnitude, peak position and width) of LSPR of a single Pd nanoparticle having the shape of a parallelepiped are investigated in two different cases. The first case studied the size effect on LSPR by fixing the height with varying both length and width. However, the second case studied the shape effect on the LSPR by rounding the corners of the parallelepiped for different radii while fixing its dimensions. The extinction cross-section spectra of these …

A Basis For Designing Policies To Optimize Soil Carbon Sequestration In Southeastern Us Grasslands, Joel R. Brown, D. L. Faulkner

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Increasing the amount of carbon (C) stored in terrestrial ecosystems is an important part of most national greenhouse gas (GHG) management strategies. Among the policy and program options available to achieve increased C sequestration, improved management of grasslands offers an attractive option to both reduce atmospheric concentrations of C and enhance environmental co-benefits (soil quality, water quality, food and fibre production, and wildlife habitat). In the United States, incentives for applying improved land management practices come primarily via federal government conservation programs administered by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). While private sector markets offer opportunities to increase the …

The Nature Of Sequestered Carbon In Different Irish Mineral Soils, C. M. Byrne, D. Fay, J. A. Ferreira, M. H. B. Hayes

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Humic substances (HS) provide the major sinks for carbon (C) in soils. Although HS have a degree of resistance to microbial degradation, they are degraded in time. Humin, the HS component in association with the soil mineral colloids, has greatest resistance to degradation. To understand the extent to which soil can be a sink for C it is important to know the soil mineralogy, and to be aware of aspects of the structures of the humic components. Enhanced biological oxidation occurs in soils in long term cultivation. Its effects can be observed by comparing the amounts and compositions of the …

Three-Dimensional Higher-Order Compressive Sensing For Raypath Separation In An Acoustic Waveguide, Fengyan Zhong

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

In an acoustic waveguide, the separation of multiple raypaths, especially close raypaths, is a challenging task in the presence of colored noise due to interference in the acoustic eld. In this paper, a three-dimensional higher-order compressive sensing method for raypath separation is proposed. The method is applied on an array-to-array experimental conguration where both emitter and reception arrays are used. With the array-to-array conguration, the raypaths are characterized by three parameters including arrival direction, departure direction, and arrival time. Furthermore, the performance of the proposed algorithm is illustrated by simulations and experiments. The numerical results based on simulation illustrate that …

Projection Of Sea Surface Temperature Based On Empirical Mode Decomposition And Its Application In Typhoon Number Forecast, Wen-Cheng Huang, Jung-Chen Lee

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

The primary objective of this paper is to demonstrate the applicability of empirical mode decomposition (EMD) in projecting non-stationary daily sea surface temperature (SST) series, and the other is to apply the projected series of SST to estimate the number of typhoons. The study focuses on an area ranging from 5°N~25°N and 110°E~170°E, collecting daily sea temperature data and typhoons records within this region. The findings conclusively indicate that the EMD-based data generation method proposed in this paper can effectively addresses the limitations of previous hydrological models in generating non-stationary series, signifying a significant advancement in hydrological time series modeling …

Studies On High Energy Emission Process In Misaligned Active Galaxies, Sanna Gulati

University Departments

No abstract provided.

Search For Low-Mass Dark Matter Via Bremsstrahlung Radiation And The Migdal Effect In Supercdms, M. F. Albakry, I. Alkhatib, D. Alonso-González, D. W. P. Amaral, T. Aralis, T. Aramaki, I. J. Arnquist, I. Ataee Langroudy, E. Azadbakht, S. Banik, C. Bathurst, R. Bhattacharyya, P. L. Brink, R. Bunker, B. Cabrera, R. Calkins, R. A. Cameron, C. Cartaro, D. G. Cerdeño, Y. -Y. Chang, M. Chaudhuri, R. Chen, N. Chott, J. Cooley, H. Coombes, J. Corbett, P. Cushman, S. Das, F. De Brienne, M. Rios, S. Dharani, M. L. Di Vacri, M. D. Diamond, M. Elwan, E. Fascione, E. Figueroa-Feliciano, C. W. Fink, K. Fouts, M. Fritts, G. Gerbier, R. Germond, M. Ghaith, S. R. Golwala, J. Hall, N. Hassan, B. A. Hines, Z. Hong, E. W. Hoppe, L. Hsu, M. E. Huber, V. Iyer, D. Jardin, V. K. S. Kashyap, M. H. Kelsey, A. Kubik, N. A. Kurinsky, M. Lee, A. Li, M. Litke, J. Liu, Y. Liu, B. Loer, E. Lopez Asamar, P. Lukens, D. B. Macfarlane, R. Mahapatra, J. S. Mammo, N. Mast, A. J. Mayer, H. Meyer Zu Theenhausen, É. Michaud, E. Michielin, N. Mirabolfathi, B. Mohanty, J. Nelson, H. Neog, V. Novati, J. L. Orrell, M. D. Osborne, S. M. Oser, W. A. Page, L. Pandey, S. Pandey, R. Partridge, D. S. Pedreros, L. Perna, R. Podviianiuk, F. Ponce, S. Poudel, A. Pradeep, M. Pyle, W. Rau, E. Reid, R. Ren, T. Reynolds, A. Roberts, A. E. Robinson, T. Saab, D. Sadek, B. Sadoulet, I. Saikia, J. Sander, A. Sattari, B. Schmidt, R. W. Schnee, S. Scorza, B. Serfass, S. S. Poudel, D. J. Sincavage, P. Sinervo, J. Street, H. Sun, G. D. Terry, F. K. Thasrawala, D. Toback, R. Underwood, S. Verma, A. N. Villano, B. Von Krosigk, S. L. Watkins, O. Wen, Z. Williams, M. J. Wilson, J. Winchell, C. -P. Wu, K. Wykoff, S. Yellin, Betty A. Young, T. C. Yu, B. Zatschler, S. Zatschler, A. Zaytsev, E. Zhang, L. Zheng, A. Zuniga

Physics

We present a new analysis of previously published SuperCDMS data using a profile likelihood framework to search for sub-GeV dark matter (DM) particles through two inelastic scattering channels: bremsstrahlung radiation and the Migdal effect. By considering these possible inelastic scattering channels, experimental sensitivity can be extended to DM masses that are undetectable through the DM-nucleon elastic scattering channel, given the energy threshold of current experiments. We exclude DM masses down to 220  MeV/𝑐² at 2.7×10−30  cm² via the bremsstrahlung channel. The Migdal channel search provides overall considerably more stringent limits and excludes DM masses down to 30  MeV/𝑐 …

Neutrosophic Decision Making Model For Investment Portfolios Selection And Optimizing Based On Wide Variety Of Investment Opportunities And Many Criteria In Market, Ayman H. Abdel-Aziem, Hoda K. Mohamed, Ahmed Abdelhafeez

Neutrosophic Systems with Applications

Investment portfolio selection is a difficult subject due to the presence of competing factors. Choosing a portfolio for one's investments is a major choice that may have far-reaching effects on one's financial well-being. Risk tolerance, time horizon, investing objectives, asset allocation, and investment selection are only a few of the factors that will be studied in this article. The Stable Preference Ordering Towards Ideal Solution (SPOTIS) technique is the basis for our proposed integrated multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) model. This paper used the single-valued neutrosophic set as a framework to deal with uncertain data. The purpose of the suggested SPOTIS–Neutrosophic model …

Effects Of Hydrogen/Deuterium Exchange On Protein Stability In Solution And In The Gas Phase, Yousef Haidar, Lars Konermann

Chemistry Publications

Mass spectrometry (MS)-based techniques are widely used for probing protein structure and dynamics in solution. H/D exchange (HDX)-MS is one of the most common approaches in this context. HDX is often considered to be a “benign” labeling method, in that it does not perturb protein behavior in solution. However, several studies have reported that D₂O pushes unfolding equilibria toward the native state. The origin, and even the existence of this protein stabilization remain controversial. Here we conducted thermal unfolding assays in solution to confirm that deuterated proteins in D₂O are more stable, with 2 – 4 …

Chlorate Levels In Dairy Products Produced And Consumed In Ireland, Lorna Twomey, Ambrose Furey, Bernadette O'Brien, Tom P. Beresford, Paula Reid, Martin Danaher, Mary Moloney, David Glleeson

Physical Sciences Publications

In recent years, chlorate has become a residue of concern internationally, due to the risk that it poses to thyroid gland function. However, little is known about its occurrence in dairy products of Irish origin. To address this, a study was conducted in which samples of milk (n = 317), cream (n = 199), butter (n = 178), cheese (n = 144) and yoghurt (n = 440) were collected from grocery stores in the Republic of Ireland. Sampling was conducted across spring, summer, autumn and winter of 2021. Samples from multiple manufacturers of each respective dairy product were procured and …

Impact Of Soil Amelioration On Weed Ecology And Control, Catherine Borger, Arslan Peerzada Dr, Gaus Azam Dr

Experimental Summaries - Plant Research

The project focussed on three main findings from the literature review:

1. Weed ecology in response to changes in soil characteristics.
2. Soil movement and weed seed burial following use of varying strategic tillage implements; and
3. Management of weeds in the years directly after amelioration.

The work highlighted that weed growth was either less impacted by changes to soil properties than crop growth, or weed growth and competitive ability were favoured by the same amelioration techniques that favour crop growth. Following amelioration, improved growth of competitive weed species needs to be considered in weed management plans.

Research was conducted on weed seed …

Special Case Of Partial Fraction Expansion With Laplace Transform Application, Laurie A. Florio, Ryan D. Hanc

CODEE Journal

Partial fraction expansion is often used with the Laplace Transforms to formulate algebraic expressions for which the inverse Laplace Transform can be easily found. This paper demonstrates a special case for which a linear, constant coefficient, second order ordinary differential equation with no damping term and a harmonic function non-homogeneous term leads to a simplified partial fraction expansion due to the decoupling of the partial fraction expansion coefficients of s and the constant coefficients. Recognizing this special form can allow for quicker calculations and automation of the solution to the differential equation form which is commonly used to model physical …

Adaptive Plasmonic Metasurfaces For Radiative Cooling And Passive Thermoregulation, Azadeh Didari-Bader, Nooshin M. Estakhri, Nasim Mohammadi Estrakhri

Engineering Faculty Articles and Research

In this work, we investigate a class of planar photonic structures operating as passive thermoregulators. The radiative cooling process is adjusted through the incorporation of a phase change material (Vanadium Dioxide, VO₂) in conjunction with a layer of transparent conductive oxide (Aluminum-doped Zinc Oxide, AZO). VO₂ is known to undergo a phase transition from the “dielectric” phase to the “plasmonic” or “metallic” phase at a critical temperature close to 68°C. In addition, AZO shows plasmonic properties at the long-wave infrared spectrum, which, combined with VO₂, provides a rich platform to achieve low reflections across the …

Optimization Techniques For Machine Learning Inference And Near Memory Image Processing In Hardware For Highly Constrained Iot Edge Nodes, Rajeev Joshi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The growing demand for fast and energy-efficient hardware for resource-constrained Internet of Things (IoT) edge devices has highlighted the limitations of conventional computing architectures. This research focuses on addressing the demand for fast, optimized, and energy-efficient machine learning inference engines as well as image processing in IoT edge applications. In this work, we address three challenging research problems and devise efficient solutions. Our investigation involved comprehensive exploration and analysis, leading to the proposal of effective approaches for overcoming these demanding issues. Through our work, we contribute novel solutions that offer improved efficiency and effectiveness in handling these research problems.

First, …

Multimodal Assessment Of Human Behavior With Applications In Analysis Of Autism Spectrum Disorder, Sk Rahatul Jannat

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Human behavior analysis is an important application area of artificial intelligence. Usingdata collected from sensors (e.g., cameras), human behavior including, but not limited to, emotions, expressions, body movement, and eye gaze are analyzed. This analysis is useful in applications in diverse fields ranging from healthcare, defense, education, and marketing. Considering this, in this dissertation, we have proposed new approaches to emotion and expression recognition, subject identification, and classification of autism spectrum disorder. More specifically, this dissertation has the following contributions: 1) A new approach for multimodal ubiquitous emotion recognition is proposed; 2) Investigation into the impact of large expression variations …

Flow Generation And Propagation From Headwater Wetlands To Downstream Waters, Leanne Marie Stepchinski

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Headwater wetlands are connected to one another and to downstream waters by dynamic hydrologic flowpaths, functioning as integrated hydrologic networks at the watershed scale. Headwater wetlands perform a variety of hydrologic lag, sink, and source functions, including flow generation and propagation, thereby contributing to the natural flow regimes of downgradient waters. The functions of individual wetlands and their contributions to hydrologic connectivity and subsequently to the natural flow regime have been widely studied and are well understood. Comparatively, the functions and hydrologic connectivity within wetland complexes as a whole and their collective subsequent contributions to the natural flow regime of …

Detection Of Subsidence In West-Central Florida Using Persistent Scatterer Interferometry And Near-Surface Geophysics, Tonian R. Robinson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation consists of three studies that employ Persistent Scatterer Interferometry (PSI, also known as PSInSAR) to better understand how subsidence in west-central Florida relates to underlying geological processes. In the first study, near-surface geophysical methods (Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) and Electrical Resistivity (ERT)), terrestrial remote sensing applications (Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) and Structure from Motion (SfM)), and PSI were used to monitor the spatial and temporal behaviors of a suspected growing sinkhole in the Sandhill Boyscout Reservation, Hernando County, Florida. The survey area was located within and around a topographic low assumed to be the surface of the …

Roboboits: A Simulation-Based Tutoring System To Support Ai Education Through Robotics, Sara Guerreiro-Santalla, Helen Crompton, Francisco Bellas

STEMPS Faculty Publications

This paper presents a novel tutoring system to educate pre-university students about AI, a key issue to develop AI in Education for Sustainable Society. With the aim of following a learning-by-doing approach to AI, we decided to focus on robotics as the main application domain for the students’ activities. Specifically, the tutoring system is based on the Robobo educational robot, and its simulation environment. A prototype version of the tutoring system, called RoboboITS, has been released and tested in two in-person sessions with 17 students in a secondary school at Virginia (USA), leading to and promising outcomes for future development.

Privacy Preserving Identification Of Population Stratification For Collaborative Genomic Research, Leonard Dervishi, Wenbiao Li, Anisa Halimi, Xiaoqian Jiang, Jaideep Vaidya, Erman Ayday

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The rapid improvements in genomic sequencing technology have led to the proliferation of locally collected genomic datasets. Given the sensitivity of genomic data, it is crucial to conduct collaborative studies while preserving the privacy of the individuals. However, before starting any collaborative research effort, the quality of the data needs to be assessed. One of the essential steps of the quality control process is population stratification: identifying the presence of genetic difference in individuals due to subpopulations. One of the common methods used to group genomes of individuals based on ancestry is principal component analysis (PCA). In this article, we …

Fucik Spectrum With Weights And Existence Of Solutions For Nonlinear Elliptic Equations With Nonlinear Boundary Conditions, Nsoki Mavinga, Q. A. Morris, S. B. Robinson

Mathematics & Statistics Faculty Works

We consider the boundary value problem −Δu + c(x)u = αm(x)u⁺ − βm(x)u⁻ + f(x,u), x∈Ω, (∂u)/(∂η) + σ(x)u = αρ(x)u⁺ − βρ(x)u⁻ + g(x,u), x∈∂Ω, where (α,β) ∈R2, c, m ∈ L^∞(Ω), σ, ρ ∈ L^∞(∂Ω), and the nonlinearities f and g are bounded …

Exploring High School Students' Concept Mastery Of Work And Energy Topics: A Quantitative Descriptive Study With Insights For Stem Learning, Maharani Karunia Putri, Parno Parno, Nuril Munfaridah, Marlina Ali

Jurnal Pendidikan Sains

This quantitative descriptive study investigates the concept mastery of work and energy among high school students, specifically focusing on 105 students from the XI MIPA Laboratory UM High School. The research employs a concept mastery test, adapting Bloom's taxonomy indicators from C2 to C6, comprising 15 reasoned multiple-choice questions with a reliability value of 0.704. Student responses, categorized into No Response (NR), No Understanding (NU), Incorrect Understanding (IU), Partial Understanding (PU), and Sound Understanding (SU), reveal a prevalent mastery level in the category of Incorrect Understanding or partial comprehension of misconceptions. Specifically, NR, NU, IU, PU, and SU categories are …

Study Of Scientific Reasoning And Concept Mastery Of Students Through Guided Inquiry Learning Model Assisted By Formative Assessment, Selvina Visbad Saiya, Sentot Kusairi, Sunaryono Sunaryono

Jurnal Pendidikan Sains

This study endeavors to assess the impact of guided inquiry learning, complemented by formative assessment, on students’ scientific reasoning (SR) and concept mastery (CM). The research involved 20 students from class XI A at SMA Muhammadiyah 02 Sumberpucung, utilizing questions adapted from the modified Lawson classroom test of scientific reasoning (MLCTSR) to measure SR, and the force concept inventory (FCI) to gauge CM. The instructional focus was Newton’s law of motion. Both qualitative and quantitative analyses were employed for data interpretation. The findings revealed a substantial influence of the guided inquiry learning model on SR, with a d-effect size value …

Lightweight And Effective Website Fingerprinting Over Encrypted Dns, Yong Shao, Kenneth Hernandez, Kia Yang, Eric Chan-Tin, Mohammed Abuhamad

Computer Science: Faculty Publications and Other Works

The DNS over HTTPS (DoH) protocol is implemented to improve the original DNS protocol that uses unencrypted DNS queries and responses. With the DNS traffic, an eavesdropper can easily identify websites that a user is visiting. In order to address this concern of web privacy, encryption is used by performing a DNS lookup over HTTPS. In this paper, we studied whether the encrypted DoH traffic could be exploited to identify websites that a user has visited. This is a different type of website fingerprinting by analyzing encrypted DNS network traffic rather than the network traffic between the client and the …

Product Costing And Pricing In Small And Medium Enterprises In Tanzania, Cosmas F Kindole

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

metalwork small and medium enterprises located in Dar es Salaam with the aim of establishing methods used by SMEs in Tanzania in setting selling prices of their products. The study was necessitated by the apparent discrepancy of prices for similar products from SMEs. The approach used to gather information was mainly through direct interview and the use of questionnaires. Direct observation and literature review were also used to establish the whole costing and pricing practices in metal manufacturing SMEs. The findings of the study established that product selling practices of the surveyed SMEs were based on instinct and appearance of …

Draft Final Quarterly Operations And Maintenance Report Butte Treatment Lagoon System – First Quarter 2023, Pioneer Technical Services, Inc.

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.