Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Finite Element Modeling And Analysis Of Breech Face Impressions, James A. Hamilton

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Finite element analysis (FEA) is a technique which has not been widely used in Forensic Science in general and firearms examination in particular. The general utility of FEA was assessed by the simulation of scenarios commonly encountered during the investigation of firearm related crimes. As a test, simulations included the perforation of a windshield and sheet metal with a 9 mm projectile, the development of pseudo subclass characteristics during the manufacturing of a breech face, and the impact of a projectile with another projectile in air and with a solid body. Results from the simulations were compared to projectiles and …

Forecasting And Optimizing Sensitivity To Low-Frequency Gravitational Waves, Andrew Ryan Kaiser

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Pulsars are among the most exotic objects in our Universe. These rapidly
spinning, high magnetic field neutron stars can be used for a wide range of
scientific studies: from the makeup of their own extremely dense and poorly
understood interior to using their extremely regular signals to detect gravita-
tional waves (GWs). Pulsar timing continues to expand to broader communi-
ties, with larger and more sensitive radio telescopes planned and partnerships
between pulsar timing arrays (PTAs) that span the entire globe. A realm of
new physics with the detection of a background hum of gravitational waves
from black holes merging …

The Influence Of Instrumental Sources Of Variance On Mass Spectral Comparison Algorithms, Isabel Cristina Galvez Valencia

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Current search algorithms for the identification of substances based only on their electron ionization mass spectra provide the correct compound as their top result approximately 80% of the time. One contributing factor to the ~20% deviation in the first-hit recognition rate is that traditional algorithms work by comparing the unknown spectrum to an ‘ideal’ or consensus spectrum of each reference compound. The inclusion of replicate reference spectra in a database has been shown to improve the probability of ranking the correct identity in the number one position, but the variance in ion abundances caused by different conditions or different instruments …

Estimate Of The Random Match Frequency Of Acquired Characteristics In A Forensic Footwear Database, Alyssa N. Smale

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

When analyzing footwear impression evidence, one of the goals of an examiner is to determine if an exemplar shoe could be the source of an impression found at a crime scene. This opinion is based on an assessment of the similarity of class characteristics and randomly acquired characteristics (RACs) between the known and questioned impressions, as well as the rarity of the observed characteristics. The primary aim of this research was to estimate the random match frequency of randomly acquired characteristics (RAC-RMF) within a forensic footwear database to determine the frequency of RACs with geometric similarity occurring in the same …

Developing New Ionization Strategies For Characterizing Structural Flexibility, Heterogeneity, And Transformation Of Biopolymers, Daud Sharif

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Biopolymers, such as proteins and nucleic acids, serve important functions dictated by their structural folding. Information excavated from the intricate structural arrangements of biopolymers have been proved to be vital in diagnosing diseases, unveiling disease mechanisms, and developing new drugs. A continuous effort has been put to improve the characterization techniques of these biomolecules so that more precision can be achieved in terms of detailing their structure-function relationship. Mass spectrometry (MS) is one such technique that has become very relevant for structural biology with the emergence of soft ionization techniques such as electrospray ionization (ESI). A prerequisite to the application …

Quantifying Variation In High-Quality Footwear Replicate Impressions, Samantha K. Brady

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

A footwear impression collected at a crime scene can provide information about the shoe that created it, yielding investigative leads, excluding persons-of-interest, and linking evidence between cases. The analysis of footwear evidence often requires the preparation of test impressions from known exemplar shoes created under controlled laboratory conditions for comparison to questioned impressions. The goal of these comparisons is to evaluate the degree of similarities and differences between the questioned impression and potential sources.

Given that this comparison leads to an assessment of the nature and degree of agreement between questioned and known impressions, it is important to characterize the …

Finite Matroidal Spaces And Matrological Spaces, Ziyad M. Hamad

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The purpose of this thesis is to present new different spaces as attempts to generalize the concept of topological vector spaces. A topological vector space, a well-known concept in mathematics, is a vector space over a field \mathbb{F} with a topology that makes the addition and scalar multiplication operations of the vector space continuous functions. The field \mathbb{F} is usually \mathbb{R} or \mathbb{C} with their standard topologies. Since every vector space is a finitary matroid, we define two spaces called finite matroidal spaces and matrological spaces by replacing the linear structure of the topological vector space with a finitary matroidal …

Development Of Novel Mass Spectrometry Method For The Analysis Of Complex Compounds, Jing Wang

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

As mass spectrometry methods continue to advance, there is a growing need for innovative interfaces that can seamlessly integrate sample pretreatment, separation, and ionization, allowing for direct mass analysis while maintaining a simple and flexible system. The evolution of ambient ionization techniques has made it feasible to nebulize analyte compounds at ambient pressure. Moreover, single-cell proteomics using mass spectrometry is gaining increasing attention, necessitating the development of precise sample preparation techniques to enhance sensitivity. In this dissertation, I demonstrate the novel mass spectrometry system to couple the sample pretreatment with the direct mass spectrometry detection for the analysis of diverse …

Methods For Analyzing Physics Student Retention And Physics Curricula, John Darrell Hansen

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Retention of students in college has been a concern of academic institutions for many years. In the last two decades, the focus on student retention in STEM fields has intensified. The current graduation rate of students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields is well below that required to fill the projected need of STEM professionals. The work presented in this dissertation investigates the problem of student retention in physics programs. Four studies were performed. The first identifies the relationships between student retention and pre-college and early-college academic factors at an eastern U.S. university using logistic regression and Bayesian …

Application Of Computational Biophysics Techniques To Characterize Cell Membrane-Associated Events, Kyle Billings

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Cell membranes are crowded environments which can modulate protein structure-function relationships through interaction with lipids, other proteins, carbohydrate structures and so on. This work focuses the impact of the membrane environment on two varieties of peptides: Microbial rhodopsin proteins, and cyclic peptides.

Life on Earth is dependent on the ability of plants and microbes to harness sunlight for energy production. Their ability to transform light into carbohydrates requires tailor-made machinery, and for a wealth of microorganisms, microbial rhodopsin proteins (MR) are critical for maintaining the concentration gradients used to produce the energy molecule Adenosine triphosphate (ATP). The central retinal molecule …

Exploiting The Advantages And Overcoming The Challenges Of The Cable In A Tethered Drone System, Rogerio Rodrigues Lima

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This dissertation proposes solutions for motion planning, localization, and landing of tethered drones using only tether variables. A tether-based multi-model localization framework for tethered drones is proposed. This framework comprises three independent localization strategies based on a different model. The first strategy uses simple trigonometric relations assuming that the tether is taut; the second method relies on a set of catenary equations for the slack tether case; the third estimator is a neural network-based predictor that can cover different tether shapes. Multi-layer perceptron networks previously trained with a dataset comprised of the tether variables (i.e., length, tether angles on the …

Studies On Depth And Torsion In Tensor Products Of Modules, Uyen Huyen Thao Le

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This dissertation represents an in-depth exploration of two distinct yet interconnected research topics within commutative algebra: one centered around a conjecture of Huneke and R. Wiegand and the other concerns a depth inequality of Auslander. It consists of the following three papers as well as the author's work under the direction of Professor Olgur Celikbas:

• Remarks on a conjecture of Huneke and Wiegand and the vanishing of (co)homology, Journal of Mathematical Society of Japan Advance Publication. (joint work with Olgur Celikbas, Hiroki Matsui, and Arash Sadeghi).
• An extension of a depth inequality of Auslander, Taiwanese Journal of Mathematics, …

Improving The Health And Safety Of Manufacturing Workers By Detecting And Addressing Personal Protective Equipment (Ppe) Violations In Real-Time With The Use Of Automated Ppe Detection Technology, Joseph Olufemi Fasinu

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) emphasized that Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) can significantly reduce the risk of occupational injuries and illnesses. However, improper use, failure to use, and other PPE-related violations can still result in injuries and fatalities. Eye and face protection violation has been one of the top 10 most frequently violated OSHA standards in fiscal years 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 consecutively. A common practice among safety professionals to ensure PPE compliance has been to physically inspect or monitor PPE usage among workers, which has been found to be unsustainable on a continuous real-time …

Solid State Nmr Analysis Of Insect Wing Membranes, Samuel Eddy

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Solid State NMR is a powerful tool for analyzing the chemical composition of insects. Previous studies have used Solid State NMR to investigate the chemical composition and investigate the sclerotization (tanning) process of insect exoskeletons. Acquiring sufficient exoskeleton sample for analysis has been relatively simple. This is however not the case for other components of an insect’s physiology, particularly the wing membrane material. The wings of an insect only compose a small percentage of their overall body mass, and many hundreds to thousands of insects must be processed in order to achieve a few milligrams of wing membrane sample. The …

Investigations Into Indole Formation: Base-Mediated Formation Of N-Hydroxy- And N-Alkoxyindoles, Ancillary Ligand Development For Watanabe-Cenini-Söderberg Cyclization, And Total Synthesis Of Racemosin B, Blaine Thomas Mcclay

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

A novel, base-mediated cyclization was developed to form N-hydroxy- and N-alkoxyindoles from 2-(2-nitrophenyl)butenoates. Potassium tert-butoxide or sodium tert-pentoxide, with or without the in-situ addition of an electrophile, formed a multitude of N-hydroxy- and N-alkoxyindoles. The formation of these butanoate precursors was improved via a Barluenga coupling reaction. Novel 4,5,6,7-tetramethoxy-1,10-phenanthroline was utilized as an ancillary ligand within the Watanabe-Cenini-Söderberg reductive cyclization reaction conditions. These new reaction conditions produced high yields for sterically hindered 2-nitrostyrenes and the first synthesis of dilemmaone A using this reductive cyclization. Racemosin B was synthesized in a three-step process utilizing a …

Dynamic Predictions Of Thermal Heating And Cooling Of Silicon Wafer, Hitesh Kumar

Master's Projects

Neural Networks are now emerging in every industry. All the industries are trying their best to exploit the benefits of neural networks and deep learning to make predictions or simulate their ongoing process with the use of their generated data. The purpose of this report is to study the heating pattern of a silicon wafer and make predictions using various machine learning techniques. The heating of the silicon wafer involves various factors ranging from number of lamps, wafer properties and points taken in consideration to capture the heating temperature. This process involves dynamic inputs which facilitates the heating of the …

Job Tailored Resume Content Generation, Sumedh Kale

Master's Projects

Generally candidates apply to multiple jobs with a single resume and do not tend to customize their resume to match the job description. This hampers their chances of getting a resume shortlisted for the job. The project aims to help such candidates build job tailored resumes that help them create a customized and targeted resume for a specific job or industry. The tool specifically targets candidates’ employment history, for resume content generation. We then use natural language processing

(NLP) techniques to extract and organize this data into a structured format for the dataset. We experiment with multiple variations of the …

Multi-Label Text Classification With Transfer Learning, Likhitha Yelamanchili

Master's Projects

Multi-label text categorization is a crucial task in Natural Language Processing, where each text instance can be simultaneously assigned to numerous labels. This project's goal is to assess how well several deep learning models perform on a real-world dataset for multi-label text classification. We employed data augmentation techniques like Synonym Substitution and Random Word Substitution to address the problem of data imbalance. We conducted experiments on a toxic comment classification dataset to evaluate the effectiveness of several deep learning models including Bi-LSTM, GRU, and Bi-GRU, as well as fine- tuned pre-trained BERT models. Many metrics, including log loss, recall@k, and …

Comparative Analysis Of Transformer-Based Models For Text-To-Speech Normalization, Pankti Dholakia

Master's Projects

Text-to-Speech (TTS) normalization is an essential component of natural language processing (NLP) that plays a crucial role in the production of natural-sounding synthesized speech. However, there are limitations to the TTS normalization procedure. Lengthy input sequences and variations in spoken language can present difficulties. The motivation behind this research is to address the challenges associated with TTS normalization by evaluating and comparing the performance of various models. The aim is to determine their effectiveness in handling language variations. The models include LSTM-GRU, Transformer, GCN-Transformer, GCNN-Transformer, Reformer, and a BERT language model that has been pre-trained. The research evaluates the performance …

Driving Simulator : Driving Performance Under Distraction, Kaushik Pilligundla

Master's Projects

This pilot study used a driving simulator experiment to look into how podcast consumption affects driving performance as a continuous distraction. Three volunteers conducted three trials in the study, each with a different driving scenario. Data analysis was done to compare two conditions. The first condition is the Audio, where volunteers listen to podcasts while driving. The second condition is no-audio condition.. The no-audi condition had nothing to play in the background. We used eye-tracking technology to gather gaze data. The study's findings using the post survey and eye fixation data indicate that listening to podcasts leads to continuous distraction …

3d Ar Reconstruction, Sneh Arvind Kothari

Master's Projects

The goal of the project is to improve the shopping experience for users by using augmented reality technology. People generally want opinions from others when buying shoes offline. Clicking and sending images of a shoe is not an ideal solution as it does not give the complete feel of the shoe. We developed the 3D AR Reconstruction app to make this process better. A user of our app clicks photos of the shoe. This image data is converted to form a mesh that can be shared. On receiving a model the user can open it in the app and interact …

Detecting Botnets Using Hidden Markov Model, Profile Hidden Markov Model And Network Flow Analysis, Rucha Mannikar

Master's Projects

Botnet is a network of infected computer systems called bots managed remotely by an attacker using bot controllers. Using distributed systems, botnets can be used for large-scale cyber attacks to execute unauthorized actions on the targeted system like phishing, distributed denial of service (DDoS), data theft, and crashing of servers. Common internet protocols used by normal systems for regular communication like hypertext transfer (HTTP) and internet relay chat (IRC) are also used by botnets. Thus, distinguishing botnet activity from normal activity can be challenging. To address this issue, this project proposes an approach to detect botnets using peculiar traits in …

Nosql Databases In Kubernetes, Parth Sandip Mehta

Master's Projects

With the increasing popularity of deploying applications in containers, Kubernetes (K8s) has become one of the most accepted container orchestration systems. Kubernetes helps maintain containers smoothly and simplifies DevOps with powerful automations. It was originally developed as a tool to manage stateless microservices that run seamlessly in containers. The ephemeral nature of pods, the smallest deployable unit, in Kubernetes was well-aligned with stateless applications since destroying and recreating pods didn’t impact applications. There was a need to provision solutions around stateful workloads like databases so as to take advantage of K8s. This project explores this need, the challenges associated and …

A Mathematical Modeling Technique To Understand The Role Of Decoy Receptors In Ligand‑Receptor Interaction, Subrata Dey, Aditi Ghosh, Malay Banerjee

Faculty Publications

The ligand‑receptor interaction is fundamental to many cellular processes in eukaryotic cells such as cell migration, proliferation, adhesion, signaling and so on. Cell migration is a central process in the development of organisms. Receptor induced chemo‑tactic sensitivity plays an important role in cell migration. However, recently some receptors identified as decoy receptors, obstruct some mechanisms of certain regular receptors. DcR3 is one such important decoy receptor, generally found in glioma cell, RCC cell and many various malignant cells which obstruct some mechanism including apoptosis cell‑signaling, cell inflammation, cell migration. The goal of our work is to mathematically formulate ligand‑receptor interaction …

Enhancing The Forensic Comparison Process Of Common Trace Materials Through The Development Of Practical And Systematic Methods, Meghan Nicole Prusinowski

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

An ongoing advancement in forensic trace evidence has driven the development of new and objective methods for comparing various materials. While many standard guides have been published for use in trace laboratories, different areas require a more comprehensive understanding of error rates and an urgent need for harmonizing methods of examination and interpretation. Two critical areas are the forensic examination of physical fits and the comparison of spectral data, which depend highly on the examiner’s judgment.

The long-term goal of this study is to advance and modernize the comparative process of physical fit examinations and spectral interpretation. This goal is …

Stability Properties Of A System Of Receptors In The Presence Of Attractive Domains, Basim Mohammed Al-Maliki

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

I use mathematical modeling to understand aspects of molecular processes in living cells. Specifically, we look at the first few steps in cell signaling. Signal initiation requires that receptors located on the cell membrane bind together to form dimers. Microscopic imaging of receptors on the cell membrane revealed that receptors tend to accumulate in small areas (clusters). Studies also show that the membrane has a complex landscape consisting of domains and barriers of various origin.

Here we study the way receptor dimerization is influenced by domains on the cell membrane. Our underlying hypothesis is that the physical and chemical properties …

Enabling Technologies For Chemical Synthesis: I. Selective Microwave Heating; Ii. Synthesis And Regioselective Cyclotrimerizations Of Tethered 1,6-Diynes, Amir Tavakoli

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Reaction discoveries, method developments, and technology advancements lie at the heart of synthetic organic chemistry. These innovations are essential for creating and manipulating complex molecules, which are the building blocks of many important chemical compounds, including pharmaceuticals, materials, and agrochemicals. Here, we first describe new methods to prepare neopentylene-tethered (NPT) 1,6-diynes which are valuable substrates for reaction discovery and target-oriented synthesis, especially in benzannulation strategies toward illudalane natural products. NPT 1,6-diynes have been employed as coupling partners in cyclotrimerization reactions for the synthesis of highly substituted benzene rings which present a persistent challenge in chemical synthesis and are underrepresented scaffolds …

Clustering Hospital Performance Using Group-Based Multi-Trajectory Modeling With Singular Bayesian Information Criterion, Gaixin Du

Theses and Dissertations--Epidemiology and Biostatistics

Hospital performance is complex and patient-experience oriented. Currently, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) evaluate hospitals yearly with a single score of one to five ("Star Rating") using composite measures from five domains. However, a single composite score cannot fully describe it, and alternative measures should be considered. Healthcare quality improvement needs long-term data to validate effectiveness. Group-based multi-trajectory modeling (GBMTM) estimates probabilities of latent group membership based on longitudinal profiles from multiple outcomes. We use GBMTM to identify groups of hospitals with similar performance in SAS PROC TRAJ.

We downloaded Medicare-eligible hospitals (N=5,111) that provided patient care …

Potential Alzheimer's Disease Plasma Biomarkers, Taylor Estepp

Theses and Dissertations--Epidemiology and Biostatistics

In this series of studies, we examined the potential of a variety of blood-based plasma biomarkers for the identification of Alzheimer's disease (AD) progression and cognitive decline. With the end goal of studying these biomarkers via mixture modeling, we began with a literature review of the methodology. An examination of the biomarkers with demographics and other health factors found evidence of minimal risk of confounding along the causal pathway from biomarkers to cognitive performance. Further study examined the usefulness of linear combinations of biomarkers, achieved via partial least squares (PLS) analysis, as predictors of various cognitive assessment scores and clinical …

Active Learning For Efficient Soil Monitoring In Large Terrain With Heterogeneous Sensor Network, Hui Chen, Ju Wang

Publications and Research

Soils are a complex ecosystem that provides critical services, such as growing food, supplying antibiotics, filtering wastes, and maintaining biodiversity; hence monitoring soil health and domestication is required for sustainable human development. Low-cost and high-resolution soil monitoring systems are challenging to design and build. Compounded by the sheer size of the monitoring area of interest and the variety of biological, chemical, and physical parameters to monitor, naive approaches to adding or scheduling more sensors will suffer from cost and scalability problems. We investigate a multi-robot sensing system integrated with an active learning-based predictive modeling technique. Taking advantage of advances in …