Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Surficial Geology Of The Fulton Quadrangle, Avery Merkley, Starr Claussen, Sage Cappi, Chad Heinzel

Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP) Symposium

• The Fulton 7.5’ Quadrangle lies within a geographic region known as the East-Central Iowa Drift Plain.
• The East-Central Iowa Drift Plain is characterized by glacial deposits that occurred over 1.8 million years ago. These glacial deposits are part of what makes up the loose soil material, which overlays a bedrock surface that is about 360-485 million years old.
• This area experiences significant change in elevation from the highest points to the lowest points in the Quadrangle.

A Tale Of Two Rivers: Unveiling Water's Secrets Across Continents, Jace Bell, Mohammad Iqbal

Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP) Symposium

Dry Run Creek outside of Cedar Falls, Iowa in the United States and New Town Rivulet surrounding Hobart, Tasmania in Australia are two comparable hydrological water flows. From the natural sources of the water flows to the watershed impacts from industrial, municipal, and agricultural practices further downstream, the similarities and differences of the physical, chemical, and geomorphological properties of these two hydrological systems on separate continents will permit further understanding of Earth’s comprehensive ecosystem on two continents.

Water from seven sites along the Cedar River and the Mississippi River and at Prairie Lake, Alice Wyth Lake, and Big Woods Lake …

Geometric Curves From P-Circles, Isaiah Dempsey, Bill Wood

Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP) Symposium

p-Circles are a generalization of the usual circle satisfying the equation |x|^p + |y|^p = 1. The 1-circle is the square with vertices (1,0),(0,1),(-1,0),(0,-1). As p goes to infinity the p-circle equation becomes max(|x|, |y|) = 1. So the ∞-circle is the square with vertices (1,1),(-1,1),(-1,-1),(1,-1). From 1≤p≤2 the p-circle smoothly transforms from a square to a circle, and from 2≤p≤∞ the p-circle smoothly transforms from a circle to a square.

Molybdenum Disulfide (Mos₂) As A Nanocellulose Substrate, Mariana Torres, Dylan Seiffert, Elise Hong-Miller, T. E. Kidd

Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP) Symposium

Cellulose is a substance abundant in nature, found in fruits and vegetables, plant cell walls (National Center for Biotechnology Information, 2023), and wood (Sjostrom, 1993). The abundance of cellulose is attributable to its linear chemical structure, as it is composed of long strands of glucose molecules linked together by hydrogen atoms, which enable the substance to withstand significant pressure without breaking (Rongpipi et al., 2019). This property—known as high tensile strength—is joined by its non-toxicity and sustainability, given cellulose may be degraded and renewed naturally (Kaur, 2021). These various properties indicate versatility, and its resultant current and desired uses—such as …

Flow Through Processing Of Nanocellulose For Space Exploration Applications, Dylan Seiffert, T. E. Kidd

Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP) Symposium

Nanocellulose is synthesized from cellulose, which is the most abundant organic molecule found in nature. Nanocellulose solids are biodegradable and have a strength-to-weight ratio eight times that of steel¹. The production of nanocellulose solids is challenging due to the large volume loss that occurs during the curing process as well as the time and cost associated with ultrasonic processing. The loss of volume during curing often results in cracking and deformation of the cured solid. The issues caused by the large volume loss can be mitigated using additives that do not compromise the strength, shape, or machineability of …

Electronic, Magnetic, And Structural Properties Of Covmnsb: Ab Initio Study, Pavel Lukashev, Adam Ramker, Brandon Schmidt, Paul M. Shand, Parashu Kharel, Vagharsh Mkhitaryan, Zhenhua Ning, Liqin Ke

Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP) Symposium

• Spin degree of freedom in electronic devices.
• Ideal candidate – room temperature half-metal.
• Heusler compounds attractive because of high Curie temperature
• Various mechanisms altering spin polarization – mechanical strain, structural disorder, temperature, termination surface/interface, etc.
• CoVMnSb: nearly spin gapless semiconductor.

Impacts And Applications Of Vegetable Glycerin On Nanocellulose, Elise Hong-Miller, Dylan Seiffert, T. E. Kidd

Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP) Symposium

Nanocellulose is created by breaking down cellulose, the most common organic molecule found in nature. Nanocellulose has attractive properties, such as a very high strength-to-weight ratio, for many different applications. A major challenge is that nanocellulose has a very high shrinkage % (~90%) when it is dried, as well as a strong probability to crack. Different additives can be added in varying amounts to either mitigate or intensify these aspects, as well as affect its drying conditions. This investigation is helping the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the U.S. Army to find a use for this highly renewable …

Investigation Of A Magnet Falling Through A Copper Pipe, Brianna Williams, Paul M. Shand

Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP) Symposium

• The goal of this research is to explore the effects of wall thickness and temperature on the rate at which a magnet falls through a copper pipe.
• A magnet is not attracted to copper. Copper is not magnetic; however, it is a great conductor of electricity.
• Due to Faraday’s law and Lenz’s law, we know that a changing magnetic flux will produce an electric current that opposes the change in magnetic flux that produced it. These laws together explain why a magnet will fall slowly in a copper pipe even though it is not attracted.

Exploration Of Pocketlab Devices For Uni’S Campus, Classrooms, And Community, Isabel Harms, Alexa Sedlacek

Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP) Symposium

PocketLab devices by Myriad Sensors were acquired by UNI’s Earth and Environmental Science department in the fall of 2022 through the Carver Grant. These citizen science devices are incredibly useful in educating and exploring real life issues in the environmental sciences that we are experiencing today. Issues such as air quality and weather are increasingly important topics to examine as the climate warms. During the summer of 2023, Iowa has had multiple cases of unhealthy air quality levels due to particulate matter from fires in Canada. Southern states have experienced extreme heat indexes, pointing to the need to consider the …

Watermark Hiding In Hdr Image Based On Visual Saliency And Tucker Decomposition, Roa'a M. Al-Airaji, Ibtisam A. Aljazaery, Haider Th. Salim Alrikabi

Karbala International Journal of Modern Science

Recently, great attention has been paid to high dynamic range (HDR) images because of their richly detailed and high dynamic range of intensity. The need for pre-processing of the HDR image format with tone mapping (TM) operators makes it unique; the TM operators are provided on display with a low dynamic range (LDR). On the other hand, TM can be regarded as an inevitable attack when protecting HDR image ownership is considered. An adaptive approach for concealing watermarks based on visual saliency and Tucker decomposition has been presented in this article. In the first step, three feature maps were produced …

Spherical Bouguer Effect Of Topography On Gravity With Constant And Laterally Varying Density, Mehmet Si̇mav

Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences

Gravitational attraction of the Earth's visible topography above the mean sea level is generally regarded as an unwanted signal in various geoscience applications. It should be removed from the observations to reveal the remaining signals of subsurface anomalous density distribution or to satisfy the boundary condition in solving the geodetic boundary value problems. However, the task of determining the gravimetric terrain effects involves tedious numerical computations when high-resolution elevation data is used. While the traditional computational approach relies on flat-Earth approximation and neglects the topographic masses beyond some fixed integration radius, e.g., planar complete Bouguer correction, the modern methods apply …

A Controlled Source Tomography In Sarımeşe, İzmit, At The Western Section Of North Anatolian Fault Zone, Tuğçe Ergün

Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences

A high-resolution two-dimensional tomographic velocity image in the eastern Marmara region along a 1.2 km long N-S trending seismic profile, which crosses the surface rupture of the İzmit earthquake on the North Anatolian Fault (NAF) is presented. A vibroseis source at more than 180 points with 50 receivers was used along the long profile. A regularized inversion technique was applied to the first arrival travel times. More than 6500 first arrivals from 129 shot gathers were analyzed to construct velocity images and were qualitatively evaluated for the fault zone-related effects. The velocity model was constrained to a maximum depth of …

Characteristic Features And Paleoseismological Behaviours Of The Anamas Block Boundary Faults, Southwestern Anatolia, Turkey, Seli̇m Özalp, Hasan Elmaci, Ayhan Yavuzoğlu, Meryem Kara

Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences

The Anamas Block is located at the apex of the Isparta Angle which is one of the most important tectonic structures of Anatolia. The Isparta Angle, which has a complex tectonic structure, was formed as a result of compressional and extensional tectonic events that initiated from the Late Cretaceous continuing to the present. The GPS and kinematic data indicate the Anamas Block currently rotates clockwise due to the impact of the normal faults (Beyşehir Gölü and Sarıidris) with a minor right lateral strike-slip component on the east and west boundaries, while it is moved to the southeast by the effect …

Textural And Genetic Investigations Of Gold Mineralization In Fault-Controlled Quartzcarbonate Veins In Bayburt-Zarani Area (Eastern Pontides-Ne Turkey), Necati̇ Tüysüz, Gülten Yaylali Abanuz, Oğuzhan Gümrük, Bahri̇can Ar

Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences

The Eastern Pontides Orogenic Belt (EPOB), geographically corresponding to the northeastern part of Turkey hosts several different types of mineralizations that are closely related to Late Mesozoic-Early Cenozoic arc magmatism. Of these, Zarani gold mineralization, which is located in the southern part of the EPOB occurs as quartz-carbonate veins/veinlets within the Pulur metamorphic massif of Paleozoic age. Mineral textures indicate low-temperature vein-type mineralization. Gold mainly occurs in quartz and pyrite. The presence of calcite, dolomite, and sericite in the mineralization indicates near neutral pH conditions of ore-forming fluid. Geochemical analyses of chlorites in the quartz-carbonate veins reveal a temperature of …

Investigating The Determinants Of Ordering Alternative Fueled New Vessels, Yuantao Chen

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Attempt And Operation Of Container Sharing Platform In The Yangtze River Delta : Efficient Transfer Of Empty Containers And Resources Sharing, Yifei Wei

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Crustal Structures Of Diebold Knoll And Adjacent Juan De Fuca Oceanic Crust From Integration Of Seismic, Gravity And Magnetic Data, Md Ariful Islam

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Cascadia Subduction Zone (CSZ) has a long history of devastating earthquakes as the Juan de Fuca plate subducts beneath North America, where an imminent megathrust earthquake is expected. Compared to other subduction zones, CSZ exhibits unusually low seismic activity, particularly in the central region with respect to relatively high seismicity zones to the north and south. Some researchers attribute this behavior to subducted seamounts, although their impact on seismicity remains poorly understood and highly debated in the literature. Examining subducted seamounts is challenging due to complexity of the overburden strata. That is why this study focuses on an isolated not-yet-subducted …

Light Alters Leaf Breakdown Rates And Metabolic Activity In Anthropogenically Impacted Nebraska Streams, William Reilly Farrell

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Algal growth influences carbon breakdown rates in aquatic ecosystems; however, the magnitude and direction of these effects differ based on ecosystem context. To explore algal priming effects on decomposition in anthropogenically impacted ecosystems, I conducted light manipulation experiments in three streams, each surrounded by different land uses (i.e., predominantly urban, row crop, or concentrated animal feeding operation) across Nebraska. I measured leaf breakdown rates, metabolic activity, fungal and algal biomass, and leaf percent carbon (C) and phosphorus (P) to assess the effect of light differences. These streams were impacted by sedimentation and turbidity over the course of the leaf incubation. …

Pronghorn Survival And Resource Selection In Western Nebraska's Agriculturally Dominated Landscape, Katie Piecora

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Nebraska’s pronghorn population has been stable over the last decade, yet their presence on the landscape remains a contentious subject amongst private landowners. Conversion of grassland for crop production and increased anthropogenic activity has drastically altered pronghorn behavior throughout their current range, however basic ecology and resource use by pronghorn in Nebraska remains poorly understood. Establishing baseline population metrics and seasonal patterns of resource use for this population at the eastern periphery of the species range is critical to guide management actions. We deployed GPS collars on 110 adult pronghorn to quantify survival, mortality risk, and seasonal resource selection in …

Critical Factors And Individual Decision Making In Earthquake And Tsunami Preparedness Among Coastal Communities In Oregon U.S.A., Shelley Olds

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Earthquakes and tsunamis are natural hazards that cause considerable loss of life, destruction of property and infrastructure, and economic damage. Preparedness is critical in regions of significant earthquake and tsunami risk. A key challenge for organizations that manage hazard preparedness and response is mobilizing earthquake preparedness among individuals and families. This dissertation provides an examination of individual earthquake and tsunami preparedness from both a global and regional perspective. It comprises two publications that explore various aspects of disaster preparedness.

Chapter One provides an overview of global seismic and tsunami hazards, along with potential impacts, and addresses the challenges in promoting …

Evaluating The Influence Of Recent Tectonic Activity On The River Evolution Using The Identification Of Knickpoints In The South Of Central Alborz Belt, Masoomeh Alaei, Alireza Nadimi, Homayon Safaei, Maryam Dehbozorgi

Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences

Change in the steepness of river profiles caused by tectonic forces (uplift and material weakening in fault zones) causes the formation of the tectonically formed knickpoints (TFKs), which is an important geomorphic feature in bedrock river morphology. In this research, knickpoints in a wide area of the south of Central Alborz using the stream gradient (Gd) and the normalized steepness index (k$_{sn}$) were identified. According to the location of the knickpoints in relation to the faults in the area, the TFKs were identified. Analysis of the extracted TFKs with the longitudinal profile, logarithm slope-area plots, and natural logarithm gradient-distance plots …

Annotation Of Non-Model Species’ Genomes, Taiya Jarva

Master's Theses

The innovations in high throughput sequencing technologies in recent decades has allowed unprecedented examination and characterization of the genetic make-up of both model and non-model species, which has led to a surge in the use of genomics in fields which were previously considered unfeasible. These advances have greatly expanded the realm of possibilities in the fields of ecology and conservation. It is now possible to the identification of large cohorts of genetic markers, including single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and larger structural variants, as well as signatures of selection and local adaptation. Markers can be used to identify species, define population …

Use Of Aeromagnetic Data For Structural Mapping Of The Tlemcen Mountains (Northwestern Algeria), Lahcen Rerbal, Boualem Bouyahiaoui, Abbas Marok, Abdeslam Abtout, Hassina Boukerbout, Kamar Eddine Bensefia

Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences

In order to refine the geological mapping and to improve our knowledge of the Tlemcen Mountains structure (northwestern Algeria), the interpretation of aeromagnetic data using several processing techniques allowed us to map the Paleozoic basement of Rhar Roubane Mountains and the sedimentary cover constituted by geological formations of Mesozoic and Cenozoic age. Structurally, the Tlemcen Mountains are formed by several structures (e.g., Sebdou Graben), separated by three major transverse faults NNE-SSW (Tafna-Magoura, Oued Chouly and Aïn Tellout transverse faults). We have also been able to highlight a set of deep and shallower structures, trending mainly in NE-SW, N-S, and E-W, …

Visualizing Oceanographic Data To Depict Long-Term Changes In Phytoplankton, Patricia S. Thibodeau, Jongsun Kim

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Oceanographic time series provide an important perspective on environmental processes in ecosystems. The Narragansett Bay Long-Term Plankton Time Series (NBPTS) in Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island, USA, represents one of the longest plankton time series (1959-present) of its kind in the world and presents a unique opportunity to visualize long-term change within an aquatic ecosystem. Phytoplankton represent the base of the food web in most marine systems, including Narragansett Bay. Therefore, communicating their importance to the 2.4 billion people who live within the coastal ocean is critical. We developed a protocol with the goal of visualizing the diversity and magnitude of …

Federated Generalized Linear Mixed Models For Collaborative Genome-Wide Association Studies

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Federated association testing is a powerful approach to conduct large-scale association studies where sites share intermediate statistics through a central server. There are, however, several standing challenges. Confounding factors like population stratification should be carefully modeled across sites. In addition, it is crucial to consider disease etiology using flexible models to prevent biases. Privacy protections for participants pose another significant challenge. Here, we propose distributed Mixed Effects Genome-wide Association study (dMEGA), a method that enables federated generalized linear mixed model-based association testing across multiple sites without explicitly sharing genotype and phenotype data. dMEGA employs a reference projection to …

2023 Final Butte Priority Soils Operable Unit Interim Site-Wide Surface Water Monitoring Quality Assurance Project Plan (Qapp), Woodard & Curran

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Recent Progress Of Bifunctional Electrocatalysts For Oxygen Electrodes In Unitized Regenerative Fuel Cells, Tian-Long Zheng, Ming-Yu Ou, Song Xu, Xin-Biao Mao, Shi-Yi Wang, Qing-Gang He

Journal of Electrochemistry

Unitized regenerative fuel cells (URFCs), which oxidize hydrogen to water to generate electrical power under thefuel cells (FCs) mode and electrolyze water to hydrogen under the water electrolysis (WE) mode for recycling, areknown as clean and sustainable energy conversion devices. In contrast to the hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR) andhydrogen evolution reaction (HER) on the hydrogen electrode side, the sluggish kinetics of oxygen reduction reaction(ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) on the oxygen electrode side requires highly efficient bifunctional oxygencatalysts. Conventional precious metal oxygen catalysts combine Pt and IrO₂ with excellent ORR and OER activities toachieve bifunctional electrocatalysis performance, but …

Ultramicroelectrode Experiments: Principles, Fabrications And Voltmmetric Behaviors, Zhen Ma, Jia-Yang Lin, Wen-Jing Nan, Lian-Huan Han, Dong-Ping Zhan

Journal of Electrochemistry

Due to the small size at least in one dimension (< 25 μm), ultramicroelectrode (UME) has small electric-double-layer capacitance, low IR drop, rapid mass transfer rate, fast response, high signal/noise ratio and high spatiotenporal resolution. UME is qualified not only to study the kinetics of fast electrode processes, but also to act as the probe of scanning electrochemical microscopies to obtain the localized chemical or electrochemical reactivity of the substrates. Thus, UMEs play a significant role in various research domains of electrochemistry, and have become an important electrochemical experimental method. Herein, we will introduce the basic principles, a simple fabrication method and voltammetric experimental protocols of UME, providing a guide to carry out the UME experiments.

Band Alignments Of Metal/Oxides-Water Interfaces Using Ab Initio Molecular Dynamics, Yong-Bin Zhuang, Jun Cheng

Journal of Electrochemistry

Band alignments of electrode-water interfaces are of crucial importance for understanding electrochemical interfaces. In the scenario of electrocatalysis, applied potentials are equivalent to the Fermi levels of metals in the electrochemical cells; in the scenario of photo(electro)catalysis, semiconducting oxides under illumination have chemical reactivities toward redox reactions if the redox potentials of the reactions straddle the conduction band minimums (CBMs) or valence band maximums (VBMs) of the oxides. Computational band alignments allow us to obtain the Fermi level of metals, as well as the CBM and VBM of semiconducting oxides with respect to reference electrodes. In this tutorial, we describe …

Electrochemical Scanning Tunneling Microscopy: Taking The Initial Stage Of Cu Electrodeposition On Au(111) As An Example, Zhuo Tan, Kai-Xuan Li, Bing-Wei Mao, Jia-Wei Yan

Journal of Electrochemistry

Electrochemical scanning tunneling microscopy (ECSTM) plays an important role in the field of electrochemistry, which can obtain potential-dependent structural information of electrode surface with high spatial resolution and observe some reaction processes in electrolyte solutions, and provide a powerful way to understand the interfacial structure and electrode processes from the perspective of high spatial resolution. In this article, the study of electrodeposition of Cu on Au (111) by ECSTM is taken as an example to introduce the experimental methods required for ECSTM and share our experience with other electrochemical groups. Firstly, the working principle of STM is introduced so that …