Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Structure Study Of Small Heat Shock Protein 27, Zhaobo Li

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Molecular chaperones are a class of oligomeric proteins that play a critical role inpreventing the aggregation of non-native protein so that these proteins can later be refolded. Chaperones are ubiquitously expressed in all the kingdoms of life where their function is to counteract cellular stress and to maintain protein homeostasis. One subgroup of molecular chaperones is characterized by low molecular weight and are termed small heat shock proteins. The focus of the proposed research is the small heat shock protein 27 (Hsp27). Hsp27 is an ATP independent chaperone that is overexpressed in response to heat shock, radiation damage, oxidative damage, …

Recursive Forms For Determinant Of K-Tridiagonal Toeplitz Matrices, Eugene Agyei-Kodie

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Toeplitz matrices have garnered renewed interest in recent years due to their practical applications in engineering and computational sciences. Additionally, research has shown their connection to other matrices and their significance in matrix theory. For example, one study demonstrated that any matrix can be expressed as the product of Toeplitz matrices \citep{ye2016every}, while another showed that any square matrix is similar to a Toeplitz matrix \citep{mackey1999every}.

Numerous studies have examined various properties of Toeplitz matrices, including ideals of lower triangular Toeplitz matrices \citep{dogan9some}, matrix power computation with band Toeplitz structures \citep{dogan2017matrix}, and norms of Toeplitz matrices. Moreover, the use of …

Seismicity, Tectonics, And Site Response In The Nepalese Himalayas, Mohan Pant

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The continental collision between the Indian plate and the Eurasian plate at ~55 Ma (Molnar and Tapponnier, 1975) has uplifted the northern part of Nepal forming the Himalayas. This convergence of India and Eurasia produced intra-upper crustal shear zones and thickened the crust to its present thickness of 70 km (Molnar, 1988; Zhao et al, 1993). The convergence rate across the Nepalese Himalayas is estimated between 17-21 mm/yr. (Ader et al., 2012). Because of this convergence, the region has experienced large, devastating earthquakes, including the 1934 Mw~8.2 Nepal-Bihar earthquake (Dunn et al., 1939) and two recent earthquakes on April 25, …

Enhancing Earthquake Detection Through Machine Learning- An Application To The 2017 Mw 8.2 Tehuantepec Earthquake In Mexico, Marc Adrian Garcia

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The Tehuantepec seismic gap, located off the southern shore of Oaxaca and Chiapas, Mexico, was previously thought to be an aseismic zone due to no significant event in 100 years. The September 8, 2017 (M8.2) Tehuantepec earthquake disproved this idea and added many questions surrounding the Mexican subduction zone. Specifically, the earthquake did not occur at the subduction megathrust. It ruptured the subducting plate below the megathrust and appeared to stop at the megathrust. Following this event, as well as the September 19, 2017 (M7.1) Morelos-Puebla earthquake, researchers from the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), Universidad Autónoma Cuidad …

Flexible Models For The Estimation Of Treatment Effect, Habeeb Abolaji Bashir

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Estimation of treatment effect is an important problem which is well studied in the literature. While the regression models are one of the most commonly used techniques for the estimation of treatment effect, they are prone to model misspecification. To minimize the model misspecification bias, flexible nonparametric models are introduced for the estimation. Continuing this line of research, we propose two flexible nonparametric models that allow the treatment effect to vary across different levels of covariates. We provide estimation algorithms for both these models. Using simulations and data analysis, we illustrate the usefulness of the proposed methods.

Development Of Multi-Configuration Methods On Density Functional Theory Orbitals And Application On The Study Of Dimers, Jose Gustavo Bravo Flores

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The configuration interaction (CI) methods is an exact method to solve the non relativistic Schrodinger equation, describing the wave function as a linear combination of Slater determinants. Because the computation time grows factorially as the number of electrons, CI is mostly used for relatively small systems. Density functional theory (DFT) rose as one of the most used methods for computational quantum chemistry in the last 30 years. DFT can describe a system's properties with the electron density, which only depends of of three coordinates. Due to its low computational costs it allows one to study bigger systems than CI, however …

Online Dashboards For Sars-Cov-2 Wastewater Data Need Standard Best Practices: An Environmental Health Communication Agenda., Colleen C. Naughton, Rochelle H. Holm, Nancy J. Lin, Brooklyn P. James, Ted Smith

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the benefits of wastewater surveillance to supplement clinical data. Numerous online information dashboards have been rapidly, and typically independently, developed to communicate environmental surveillance data to public health officials and the public. In this study, we review dashboards presenting SARS-CoV-2 wastewater data and propose a path toward harmonization and improved risk communication. A list of 127 dashboards representing 27 countries was compiled. The variability was high and encompassed aspects including the graphics used for data presentation (e.g., line/bar graphs, maps, and tables), log versus linear scale, and 96 separate ways of labeling SARS-CoV-2 wastewater concentrations. …

Towards Understanding The Open Source Interest In Gender-Related Github Projects, Rita Garcia, Christoph Treude, Wendy La

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

The open-source community uses the GitHub platform to exchange and share software applications and services of interest. This paper aims to identify the open-source community’s interest in gender-related projects on GitHub. Our findings create research opportunities and identify resources by the open-source community that promote diversity, equity, and inclusion. We use data mining to identify GitHub projects that focus on gender-related topics. We apply quantitative and qualitative methodologies to examine the projects’ attributes and to classify them within a gender social structure and a gender bias taxonomy. We aim to understand the open-source community’s efforts and interests in gender topics …

Applying Information Theory To Software Evolution, Adriano Torres, Sebastian Baltes, Christoph Treude, Markus Wagner

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Although information theory has found success in disciplines, the literature on its applications to software evolution is limit. We are still missing artifacts that leverage the data and tooling available to measure how the information content of a project can be a proxy for its complexity. In this work, we explore two definitions of entropy, one structural and one textual, and apply it to the historical progression of the commit history of 25 open source projects. We produce evidence that they generally are highly correlated. We also observed that they display weak and unstable correlations with other complexity metrics. Our …

Overcoming Challenges In Devops Education Through Teaching Methods, Samuel Ferino, Marcelo Fernandes, Elder Cirilo, Lucas Agnez, Bruno Batista, Uirá Kulesza, Eduardo Aranha, Christoph Treude

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

DevOps is a set of practices that deals with coordination between development and operation teams and ensures rapid and reliable new software releases that are essential in industry. DevOps education assumes the vital task of preparing new professionals in these practices using appropriate teaching methods. However, there are insufficient studies investigating teaching methods in DevOps. We performed an analysis based on interviews to identify teaching methods and their relationship with DevOps educational challenges. Our findings show that project-based learning and collaborative learning are emerging as the most relevant teaching methods.

Compositional Prompt Tuning With Motion Cues For Open-Vocabulary Video Relation Detection, Kaifeng Gao, Long Chen, Hanwang Zhang, Jun Xiao, Qianru Sun

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Prompt tuning with large-scale pretrained vision-language models empowers open-vocabulary prediction trained on limited base categories, e.g., object classification and detection. In this paper, we propose compositional prompt tuning with motion cues: an extended prompt tuning paradigm for compositional predictions of video data. In particular, we present Relation Prompt (RePro) for Open-vocabulary Video Visual Relation Detection (Open-VidVRD), where conventional prompt tuning is easily biased to certain subject-object combinations and motion patterns. To this end, RePro addresses the two technical challenges of Open-VidVRD: 1) the prompt tokens should respect the two different semantic roles of subject and object, and 2) the tuning …

Opportunities And Challenges From Major Disasters Lessons Learned Of Long-Term Recovery Group Members, Eduardo E. Landaeta

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

Natural hazards caused by the alteration of weather patterns expose populations at risk, with an outcome of economic loss, property damage, personal injury, and loss of life. The unpredictability of disasters is a topic of concern to most governments. Disaster policies need more attention in aligning mitigation opportunities with disaster housing recovery (DHR). The effect of flooding, which primarily impacts housing in coastal areas, is one of the most serious issues associated with natural hazard. Flooding has a variety of causes and implications, especially for vulnerable populations who are exposed to it. DHR is complex, involving the need for effective …

Wearable Sensor Gait Analysis For Fall Detection Using Deep Learning Methods, Haben Girmay Yhdego

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

World Health Organization (WHO) data show that around 684,000 people die from falls yearly, making it the second-highest mortality rate after traffic accidents [1]. Early detection of falls, followed by pneumatic protection, is one of the most effective means of ensuring the safety of the elderly. In light of the recent widespread adoption of wearable sensors, it has become increasingly critical that fall detection models are developed that can effectively process large and sequential sensor signal data. Several researchers have recently developed fall detection algorithms based on wearable sensor data. However, real-time fall detection remains challenging because of the wide …

Nb3Sn Coating Of Twin Axis Cavity And Other Complex Srf Cavity Structures, Jayendrika Kumari Tiskumara

Physics Theses & Dissertations

In the field of Accelerator Science, for the low cost and increased quality factor, thin films coated niobium cavities are used in the modern SRF research. Within the potential substances, Nb₃Sn has shown higher critical temperature than niobium. Here the tin vapor diffusion method is used as the preferred technique to coat niobium cavities. So far, only elliptical cavities have been coated with Nb₃Sn and this technique has not yet been applied to cavities with complex geometries, which are also helpful in the accelerator science field. The Half-wave resonator could provide us data across frequencies of …

Measurements Of Magnetic Field Penetration Of Materials For Superconducting Radiofrequency Cavities, Iresha Harshani Senevirathne

Physics Theses & Dissertations

Superconducting Radio Frequency (SRF) cavities used in particle accelerators are typically formed from or coated with superconducting materials. Currently high purity niobium is the material of choice for SRF cavities which have been optimized to operate near their theoretical field limits. This brings about the need for significant R&D efforts to develop next generation superconducting materials which could outperform Nb and keep up with the demands of new accelerator facilities. To achieve high quality factors and accelerating gradients, the cavity material should be able to remain in the superconducting Meissner state under high RF magnetic field without penetration of quantized …

Information And Communications Technology Within Coastal Resilience Planning Frameworks: The Case Of Jamaica, A Small Island Developing State, Ren-Neasha R. Blake Gilmore

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

Coastal areas increasingly grapple with coastal hazards like hurricanes, tropical storms, sea level rise, and flooding. Proactive and agile coastal resilience solutions are necessary to reduce such risks and their associated socio-economic and environmental impacts. For these reasons, global coastal planners are pursuing climate action through multi-sector collaborations, innovative hybrid natural and manufactured solutions, and feasible mid to long-term coastal resilience strategies. While climate action is high on governments’ agenda globally, integrating information and communications technology has diffused widely within the coastal planning space in small island developing states, drawing on more technology-driven solutions. Very few empirical studies in the …

The Study Of Corrosion On Additive-Manufactured Metals., Braydan Daniels

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate and compare the corrosion mechanisms between wrought and additive-manufactured (3D-printed) copper and stainless steel. The experimental procedure consisted of measuring the open circuit potential, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, linear sweep voltammetry, Tafel analysis, surface topology, and scanning electron microscopy for each metal within salt water, tap water, sulfuric acid, and synthetic body fluid (excluding copper in synthetic body fluid).

Overall, printed stainless steel was more corrosion-resistant than wrought stainless steel in tap water and synthetic body fluid based on OCP, LSV, and surface topology results. Additionally, printed copper was more corrosion-resistant than wrought …

Soil Water Use Efficiency Under Integrated Soil Management Practices In The Drylands Of Kenya, Nathan O. Oduor, Monicah Mucheru-Muna, Jayne Njeri Mugwe, Isaya Sijali, George Nyabuga, Daniel Njiru Mugendi

Graduate School of Media and Communications

Soil moisture scarcity and soil fertility decline in the drylands contribute to declining crop productivity. The possible synergistic effects of integrating soil & water conservation, and soil fertility management practices on soil moisture, and hence water use efficiency (WUE) in the drylands of Tharaka-Nithi County in Kenya was assessed. The experiment was laid in a three by three split plot arrangement, with four replications, for four cropping seasons. Minimum tillagewith mulch, tied ridges, and conventional tillage formed the main plot factors. The sub-plot factors included animal manure plus fertilizer at 120, 60, and 30 N kg ha−1. There was significant …

Storm Surge Risk Assessment In Coastal Communities In The Rio Grande Valley: An Application Of Gis-Based Spatial Multicriteria Decision Analysis With Analytical Hierarchy Process, Dean Kyne

Sociology Faculty Publications

Cameron County, which is located in the Rio Grande Valley, maintains records of storm surges associated with noticeable property damage, fatalities, and injuries. This study investigates storm surge inundation risk in Cameron County using storm surge hazard datasets from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, along with American Community Survey 2019 block group datasets. Using a GIS-based spatial multicriteria decision analysis with an analytical hierarchy process method, the study estimates that storm surge water levels could be above 6.1 m (20 ft) in category 4 and 5 hurricane events, whereas about 37% of the county’s population (159,659 people) could be …

Design, Modeling, And Simulation Of Secure X.509 Certificate Revocation, Sai Medury

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

TLS communication over the internet has risen rapidly in the last seven years (2015--2022), and there were over 156M active SSL certificates in 2022. The state-of-the-art Public Key Infrastructure (PKI), encompassing protocols, computational resources, and digital certificates, has evolved for 24 years to become the de-facto choice for encrypted communication over the Internet even on newer platforms such as mobile devices and Internet-of-Things (IoT) (despite being low powered with computational constraints). However, certificate revocation is one sub-protocol in TLS communication that fails to meet the rising scalability demands and remains open to exploitation. In this dissertation, the standard for X.509 …

Performance Classification Of Ornstein-Uhlenbeck-Type Models Using Fractal Analysis Of Time Series Data., Peter Kwadwo Asante

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation aims to assess the performance of Ornstein-Uhlenbeck-type models by examining the fractal characteristics of time series data from various sources, including finance, volcanic and earthquake events, US COVID-19 reported cases and deaths, and two simulated time series with differing properties. The time series data is categorized as either a Gaussian or a Lévy process (Lévy walk or Lévy flight) by using three scaling methods: Rescaled range analysis, Detrended fluctuation analysis, and Diffusion entropy analysis. The outcomes of this analysis indicate that the financial indices are classified as Lévy walks, while the volcanic, earthquake, and COVID-19 data are classified …

Development Of A Cost-Constrained Intelligent Prosthetic Knee With Real-Time Machine Learning, Predictive Stumble Control, Lucas Jonathan Galey

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The field of biomechatronics is evolving quickly with advances in computer science, biology, and electrical and mechanical engineering. Coupled with increased interests in machine learning (ML) across all industry sectors, there are opportunities to leverage advanced analytics in uniquely complex problems. This study aimed to deploy real-time ML predictions in a novel microprocessor-controlled prosthetic knee (MPK) device capable of identifying and responding to stumble-events to reduce amputee fall prevalence. Innately, stumbling is a chaotic event. Current MPKs operate by detecting gait characteristics and reacting to preprogrammed states. While these systems are beneficial in significant ways, such as energy expenditure and …

Nonparametric Estimation Of Elliptical Copulas, Panfeng Liang

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Elliptical copulas provide flexibility in modeling the dependence structure of a random vector. They are often parameterized with a correlation matrix and a scalar function, called generator. The estimation of the generator can be challenging, because it is a functional parameter. In this dissertation, we provide a rigorous approach to estimating the generator in a Bayesian framework, which is simpler, more robust, and outperforms existing estimation methods in the literature. Based on the proposed framework in this dissertation, other researchers may modify the model for other types of generators in their own research.

Microscopic And Spectroscopic Analysis Of Nordihydroguaiaretic Acid Effect On Astrocytes, Lizbeth Vanessa Martinez Lopez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Astrocytes, one of the most abundant cell components in the central nervous system (CNS), have been a research target in the last few years. Several studies have found that astrocytes are not only mere supporters of neurons but also of essential processes developed in the CNS. Their malfunction could induce neurodegenerative diseases and brain tumors. Thus, further understanding of astrocytes and their role is of high interest to develop possible new treatments and methods of disease diagnosis, especially in brain cancer. The plant Larrea tridentata (La Gobernadora in Mexico or Creosote bush in the United States) is known to have …

Thermal Behavior Of Plain And Fiber-Reinforced Rigid Concrete Airfield Runways, Arash Karimi Pour

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The environmental condition and temperature gradient are important factors resulting in concrete airfield runways cracking during the time. Rigid concrete airfield runways experience different thermal gradients during the day and night due to changes in air temperature. Curling and thermal expansion stresses are the main consequences resulting in various types of cracking over the surface and thickness of concrete airfield runways and increasing maintenance costs. The curvature of concrete slabs increases with an increase in the temperature gradient which is amplified when runways open to traffic. Additionally, the combination of the curling and shrinkage stresses, in rare circumstances, can be …

Developing A Risk Assessment Instrument For Immigration Cases Under Federal Supervision, Mayra Eydie Pacheco

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Isotopic Insights Into Water Of Condensation, Cross-Formation Water Flow, And Natural Hydrocarbon Migration In Sedimentary Basins, Lisa J. Molofsky

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation applies geochemical tools to track the movement, transformation, and behavior of water and gases in hydrocarbon-bearing sedimentary basins. During petroleum exploration and production, hydrocarbons are generated at the surface along with other fluids naturally present in the formation, such as formation water. In addition, where hydraulic fracturing is used to stimulate shale gas and oil production, a percentage of the injected fracturing fluid also returns to the surface. Understanding the origin and movement of these water sources, as well as targeted and non-targeted hydrocarbon gases is critical to evaluating reservoir performance and properly managing fluids at the surface. …

Empowering Female College Students In Pursuing Careers In Science, Technology, Engineering And Mathematics (Stem), Jordan Armstrong

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

As the STEM field continues to grow, it is evident that there is a need to close the gender gap between males and females. This senior capstone examines the evolution of the acronym STEM and how programs have attempted to narrow the gender gap, but it is not easy to completely close the gap. Through a literature review and surveys with educators at the high school and university levels, this research project looks at the factors that have empowered female students to pursue careers in STEM. The findings provide insight into what has led female college students to pursue careers …

Hispanic Human Capital And Financial Aid Application In The West Census Region, Benjamin Lundy-Paine

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

As of 2021, very few Hispanic residents in the United States held a college degree in comparison to non-Hispanic residents. Research has shown that, particularly for Hispanic students, financial aid increases college persistence. Hispanic Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) submission rates rank among the lowest, preventing many Hispanic students from receiving financial assistance. This issue is most prevalent West Census Region (WCR), where there is the highest concentration of Hispanic residents. To understand what barriers may be preventing Hispanic submission in the WCR this Capstone used logistic regression models to analyze student-level data from the National Center for …

Quantum Chemistry–Machine Learning Approach For Predicting Properties Of Lewis Acid–Lewis Base Adducts, Hieu Huynh, Thomas J. Kelly, Linh Vu, Tung Hoang, Phuc An Nguyen, Tu C. Le, Emily Jarvis, Hung Phan

Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Works

Synthetic design allowing predictive control of charge transfer and other optoelectronic properties of Lewis acid adducts remains elusive. This challenge must be addressed through complementary methods combining experimental with computational insights from first principles. Ab initio calculations for optoelectronic properties can be computationally expensive and less straightforward than those sufficient for simple ground-state properties, especially for adducts of large conjugated molecules and Lewis acids. In this contribution, we show that machine learning (ML) can accurately predict density functional theory (DFT)-calculated charge transfer and even properties associated with excited states of adducts from readily obtained molecular descriptors. Seven ML models, built …