Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Climate-Driven Stock Shifts And Expansions In The U.S. Northeast Shelf: Identifying Challenges, Opportunities, And Barriers Through Fishermen And Manager Perspectives, Sophie A. Swetz

All Theses And Dissertations

Climate-driven warming in the U.S. Northeast Shelf (NES) has led to changes in the spatial distributions of many marine resources. Shifts and expansions of commercially important fish stocks pose major challenges to fishermen and fisheries managers in this region. American lobster (Homarus americanus) in the Gulf of Maine (GOM) is one of these impacted stocks and is projected to continue its shift towards more northern and offshore areas. Continued ocean warming could potentially reduce the GOM lobster stock by up to 60% over the next several decades. Given Maine’s reliance on its lobster fishery—which contributes over 80% of …

A Socio-Ecological Model To Assess Tuberculosis In Migrant Farmworkers In The Us-Mexico Border Region, Amit U. Raysoni

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

The migrant and seasonal farmworker toiling in the fields and orchards of the United States of America surmounts innumerable problems daily. Some of these problems pertain to the overall health of the farmworker in addition to the various occupational hazards that he or she faces. This research paper focuses on Tuberculosis infection—both latent and active—in the migrant farmworkers in the United States with a special focus on the US-Mexico border. Using the Socio-Ecological Model as a theoretical framework, the TB health issues faced by this group are studied. The various determinants of health at every level of the Socio-Ecological Model …

Driving Under The Influence Of Drugs: Status In New York City And Development Of New Analytical Tools, Kayla Marschke

Student Theses

Driving under the influence of drugs (DUID) cases have increased in recent years. According to NHTSA, drug use among fatally injured drivers who were tested for drugs rose from 25% in 2007 to 61.4% in 2020. Knowing what drugs are used by the drivers and developing new analytical tools to detect them are essential to prevent this type of cases. The goals of this study were two-fold: 1) To investigate the prevalence of drugs and drug combinations in New York City based on data provided by the Office Chief Medical Examiner (2018-2019); 2) To develop and validate an analytical method …

Hepatocellular Carcinoma Image-Guided Intervention: Quantitative Characterization Of Reagents For Thermochemical Ablation, Emily A. Thompson

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Thermochemical ablation (TCA) is a minimally invasive therapy under development for hepatocellular carcinoma, a leading cause of cancer death worldwide. TCA utilizes acid-base chemistry delivered simultaneously to induce local ablation when administered. When delivered via a mixing catheter placed directly into the tumor, acid (e.g., AcOH) and base (e.g., NaOH) react to completion at the catheter tip, producing the acetate salt, water, and releasing heat (Δ>50°C) in sufficient quantities to induce lethal osmotic and thermal stress in tumor cells. However, these two reagents are not distinguishable from tissues with noninvasive imaging modalities, which makes monitoring the delivery of TCA …

Modeling Of Cns Cancer With A Focus On The Immune Component, Daniel Zamler

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

The knowledge surrounding cancers of the central nervous system remains poorly developed, in particular with regard to the immune component. The works contained in this thesis look at craniopharyngioma, glioblastoma, and several forms of brain metastasis. While some attention is given to the tumor cells themselves, as well as the patient setting which these studies model, the immune component of disease progression and treatment plays a strong role in each and is the primary focus of the works contained.

Craniopharyngioma is a relatively rare tumor in adults. Although histologically benign, it can be locally aggressive and may require additional therapeutic …

Managing Risk For Power System Operations And Planning: Applications Of Conditional Value-At-Risk And Uncertainty Quantification To Optimal Power Flow And Distributed Energy Resources Investment, Thanh To

All Dissertations

Renewable energy sources are indispensable components of sustainable electrical systems that reduce human dependence on fossil fuels. However, due to their intermittent nature, there are issues that need to be addressed to ensure the security and resiliency of these power systems. This dissertation formulates several practical problems, from an optimization perspective, stemming from the increasing penetration of intermittent renewable energy to power systems. A number of Optimal Power Flow (OPF) formulations are investigated and new formulations are proposed to control both operations and planning risks by utilizing the Conditional Value–at–Risk (CVaR) measure. Our formulations provide system operators and investors analysis …

Advancements In Gaussian Process Learning For Uncertainty Quantification, John C. Nicholson

All Dissertations

Gaussian processes are among the most useful tools in modeling continuous processes in machine learning and statistics. The research presented provides advancements in uncertainty quantification using Gaussian processes from two distinct perspectives. The first provides a more fundamental means of constructing Gaussian processes which take on arbitrary linear operator constraints in much more general framework than its predecessors, and the other from the perspective of calibration of state-aware parameters in computer models. If the value of a process is known at a finite collection of points, one may use Gaussian processes to construct a surface which interpolates these values to …

Optimization Of Modular, Long-Range, Ultra-Fast Optical Tweezers With Fluorescence Capabilities For Single-Molecule And Single-Cell Based Biophysical Measurements, Subash C. Godar

All Dissertations

An Optical tweezer is a tightly focused laser beam that applies and senses precise and localized optical force to a dielectric microsphere and offers a unique and effective tool for manipulating the single cell or cell components, including nucleotides and dynein motor proteins. Here, I used highly stabilized optomechanical components and ultra-sensitive detection modules to significantly improve the measurement capabilities over a wide range of temporal and spatial scales. I combined the optical tweezer-based force spectroscopy technique with fluorescence microscopy to develop an integrated high-resolution force-fluorescence system capable of measuring displacements at sub-nanometer, forces at sub-piconewton over a temporal range …

Wetland Uranium Transport Via Iron-Organic Matter Flocs And Hyporheic Exchange, Connor J. Parker

All Dissertations

Uranium (U) released from the M-Area at the Department of Energy Savannah River Site into Tims Branch, a seasonal wetland and braided stream system, is estimated to be 43,500 kg between 1965 and 1984. The motivation for this work is the uranium’s persistence in the wetland for decades, where it is estimated that 80% of the U currently remains in the Tims Branch wetland. U has begun to incorporate into wetland iron (Fe) and carbon cycles, associating with local Fe mineralogy and deposits of rich wetland organic matter (OM). The objective of this work is to characterize the chemical phases …

Characterization Of Water Flow And Solute Transport Driven By Preferential Flow In Soil Vadose Zone, Abdullah Al Mamun

All Dissertations

The vadose zone acts as a buffer zone between the ground surface and the aquifers underneath and controls the transmission of infiltrating water and contaminants, for example, pesticides and chemical spills. Therefore, understanding the flow and transport processes that dominate the vadose zone is important. Macropores are ubiquitous and particularly found in abundance in the vadose zone. These macropores facilitate preferential flow, through which water travels rapidly deep into the soil, bypassing most of the porous matrix. Preferential flow and transport have environmental significance as their processes impact hydrology, ecology, agriculture, subsurface contamination, and waste management sectors. Thus, the overall …

Improved First-Order Techniques For Certain Classes Of Convex Optimization, Trevor Squires

All Dissertations

The primary concern of this thesis is to explore efficient first-order methods of computing approximate solutions to convex optimization problems. In recent years, these methods have become increasingly desirable as many problems in fields such as machine learning and imaging science have scaled tremendously. Our aim here is to acknowledge the capabilities of such methods and then propose new techniques that extend the reach or accelerate the performance of the existing state-of-the-art literature.

Our novel contributions are as follows. We first show that the popular Conditional Gradient Sliding (CGS) algorithm can be extended in application to objectives with H\"older continuous …

Valorization Of Biopolymers And Biomass To Produce Materials For A More Circular Economy, Moira Lauer

All Dissertations

With a globally increasing population and largely unchecked consumption of raw materials, human society is on track for devastating consequences. Two industries responsible for utilizing massive amounts of raw materials and generating equally gargantuan quantities of waste are the packaging and infrastructure sectors. In 2017 in Europe, for example, packaging reached a record 173 kg of packaging waste per capita. One of the largest packaging consumers is the food industry, in which 40% of packaging is made of petroleum-derived single-use plastic, leading to a massive carbon imbalance. “The Built Environment,” on the other hand, is responsible for about 50% of …

Synthesis And Molecular Processes Governing Self-Healing Polymeric Materials, Siyang Wang

All Dissertations

Self-healing polymers capable of recovering from physical damages are promising materials for advanced technologies. In these studies, we developed routes to achieve self-healable properties in acrylic-based copolymers that rely on non-covalent dipolar interactions present in essentially all polymeric materials. Using a combination of spectroscopic tools, thermo-mechanical analysis, and molecular dynamic (MD) simulations, these studies have shown that dipolar interactions lead to conformational changes of macromolecular segments which, in turn, result in self-healing without external intervention. This dissertation also describes the development of novel self-healable acrylic-based covalent adaptable networks (CANs) that combine reprocessing and self-healing properties. The utilization of dipolar interactions …

Seven Years Of Sn 2014c: A Multiwavelength Synthesis Of An Extraordinary Supernova, B. P. Thomas, J. C. Wheeler, V. V. Dwarkadas, C. Stockdale, J. Vinkó, David Pooley, Y. Xu, G. Zeimann, P. Macqueen

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Research

SN 2014C was originally classified as a Type Ib supernova, but at phase ϕ = 127 days, post-explosion strong Hα emission was observed. SN 2014C has since been observed in radio, infrared, optical and X-ray bands. Here we present new optical spectroscopic and photometric data spanning ϕ = 947–2494 days post-explosion. We address the evolution of the broadened Hα emission line, as well as broad [O iii] emission and other lines. We also conduct a parallel analysis of all publicly available multiwavelength data. From our spectra, we find a nearly constant Hα FWHM velocity width of ∼2000 …

Missing Samples Reconstruction Using An Efficient And Robust Instantaneous Frequency Estimation Algorithm, Sadiq Ali, Nabeel Ali Khan

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

In order to recover missing samples in a nonstationary signal, this paper employs a time-signal analysis and filtering method. The instantaneous frequency of a multicomponent signal is first estimated by employing a robust and computationally efficient method. Then the time-frequency filtering is performed using a dechirping operation to recover missing samples. These steps are repeated until convergence. The proposed method achieves better performance than the state of art methods both in terms of the accuracy of the recovered signal and computational efficiency.

Stochastic Day-Ahead Optimal Scheduling Of Multimicrogrids: An Alternating Direction Method Of Multipliers (Admm) Approach, Amin Safari, Hossein Nasiraghdam

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

Multimicrogrid system is a novel notion in modern power systems as a result of developing renewable-based generation units and accordingly microgrids in distribution networks. Their energy management might be challenging due to presence of independent units. Thus, in this paper, a decentralized method for energy management of multimicrogrid systems has been proposed. Decentralized methods can enhance the privacy of users and reduce the burden of calculations. Alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM) is selected as a decentralized approach which has the capability of breaking problems with complicating constraints in order to facilitate the solving process. Using decentralized approach not only …

Priority Enabled Content Based Forwarding In Fog Computing Via Sdn, Yasi̇n İnağ, Metehan Güzel, Feyza Yildirim Okay, Mehmet Demi̇rci̇, Suat Özdemi̇r

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

As the number of Internet of Things (IoT) applications increases, an efficient transmitting of the data generated by these applications to a centralized cloud server can be a challenging issue. This paper aims to facilitate transmission by utilizing fog computing (FC) and software defined networking (SDN) technologies. To this end, it proposes two novel content based forwarding (CBF) models for IoT networks. The first model takes advantage of FC to reduce transmission and computational delay. Based on the first model, the second model makes use of the prioritization concept to address the timely delivery of critical data while ensuring the …

Estimation Of Mode Shape In Power Systems Under Ambient Conditions Using Advanced Signal Processing Approach, Rahul S, Sunitha R

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

This paper presents a dynamic approach for the monitoring and estimation of electromechanical oscillatory modes in the power system in real time with less computational burden. Extensive implementation of phasor measurement units (PMU) and the utilization of advanced signal processing techniques help in identifying the dynamic behaviors of oscillatory modes. Conventional nonstationary analysis techniques are computationally weak to handle a larger quantity of data in real-time. This research utilizes the variational mode decomposition (VMD) for signal decomposition, which is highly tolerant to noise and computationally more robust. The predefined parameters of the VMD process are assigned using FFT analysis of …

Residential Energy Management System Based On Integration Of Fuzzy Logic And Simulated Annealing, Ömer Ci̇han Kivanç, Beki̇r Tevfi̇k Akgün, Semi̇h Bi̇lgen, Sali̇h Bariş Öztürk, Suat Baysan, Ramazan Nejat Tuncay

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

With the increase in prosperity level and industrialization, energy need continues to overgrow in many countries. To meet the rapidly increasing energy needs, countries attach great importance to using limited natural resources rationally, diversifying their energy production using novel technologies, improving the efficiency of existing technologies, and implementing policies and strategies toward alternative energy sources. In particular, individual energy prosumers (someone that both produces and consumes energy) head toward smart home energy management systems (SHEMS) that include renewable energy sources in their homes. By integrating PV solar panels into houses, there is a need to optimize home energy production/consumption scenarios …

Evaluating The Persuasiveness Of Mobile Health: The Intersection Of Persuasive System Design And Data Science, Aleise Mcgowan

Graduate Theses and Dissertations (2019 - present)

Persuasive technology is an umbrella term that encompasses any software (e.g., mobile app) or hardware (e.g., smartwatch) designed to influence users to perform a preferable behavior once or on a long-term basis. Considering the ubiquitous nature of mobile devices across all socioeconomic groups, user behavior modification thrives under the personalized care that persuasive technology can offer. This research examines the roles psychological characteristics play in interpreted mHealth screen perceived persuasiveness. A review of the literature revealed a gap regarding how developers of digital health technologies are often tasked with developing tools designed to engage patients, yet little emphasis has been …

Coastal Sediment Response To The Diel Oxygen Cycle, Kara Gadeken

Graduate Theses and Dissertations (2019 - present)

Shallow coastal sediments are sites of intense respiration and organic matter breakdown. Macroinfauna bioturbate and bioirrigate sediments which supplies microbes with oxygen and newly deposited organic material from surface sediments, facilitating microbial remineralization of organic matter. These processes depend heavily on the concentration of dissolved oxygen in overlying water. Shallow water oxygen patterns often follow a diel cycle as dissolved oxygen decreases at night due to respiration and then increases during the day with photosynthesis, creating recurring suboxic conditions that are potentially stressful to organisms. Sediment oxygen flux is known to depend on ambient dissolved oxygen concentration, but behavioral responses …

Enhancing System Security Using Dynamic Hardware, Sydney L. Davis

Graduate Theses and Dissertations (2019 - present)

Within the ever-advancing field of computing, there is significant research into the many facets of cyber security. However, there is very little research to support the concept of using a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) to increase the security of a system. While its most common use is to provide efficiency and speedup of processes, this research considers the use of an FPGA to mitigate vulnerabilities in both software and hardware. This paper proposes circuit variance within an FPGA as a method of Moving Target Defense (MTD) and investigates its effect on side-channels. We hypothesize that although the functionality of …

Synthesis And Characterization Of Ternary Pt Nanoally Catalysts For Fuel Cells, Ylith Peck

Undergraduate Honors Theses

A hydrogen fuel cell is an electrochemical device that converts oxygen and hydrogen into electrical energy while producing water as the only by-product, which has attracted growing interest, especially in the automotive industry. This technology is efficient and has zero pollution to the environment, in contrast to the direct use of fossil fuels in combustion engines which produce pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. One of the key components for hydrogen fuel cells is the catalyst that operates at the cathode, which currently use platinum. Due to the scarce amount of platinum in the world, the manufacturing cost for fuel cells …

Investigation Of The Binding Domain Interfaces Of The C-Terminus Of The Albino3 Insertase And The 43kda Chloroplast Signal Recognition Particle Subunit Via Single Molecule Förster Resonance Energy Transfer, Amanda Tomanek

Chemistry & Biochemistry Undergraduate Honors Theses

Fluorescent labeling is a technique used for visualizing functional groups contained in biomolecules by fluorescence imaging. This technique was used in this project to analyze post-translational targeting of light-harvesting chlorophyll-binding proteins (LHCP), which are the core complexes that harvest sunlight to drive photosynthetic electron transfer. This protein is synthesized in the cytosol and post-translationally targeted to the stroma of chloroplasts. CpSRP43 is a signal recognition particle (SRP) subunit unique to chloroplasts, which has been shown to interact with the stroma-soluble C-terminus of the thylakoid-bound Albino3 insertase (Alb3-Cterm). In the chloroplast stroma, targeting to thylakoids is performed via the cpSRP pathway …

Diffusion Of A Salt In An Aqueous Media, Aldaly Pineda Hernandez

Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Diffusion is defined as the net transfer of a molecule from a high concentration region to a low concentration region. The concept of diffusion is used in a very important process called "desalination." Desalination is a separation process used to reduce the salt content dissolved in brackish water to make it suitable for human consumption, irrigation, and industrial use.

In desalination plants, it is important to monitor the constantly changing salt content of water, partly due to the diffusive effect. The main purpose of this experiment was to study the diffusion of NaCl in water at two NaCl concentrations. The …

The Effect Of Changing Land Use On Streamflow Statistics And Flood Flows Across Select Gages In Northwest Arkansas, Timothy Mcmullen

Civil Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Since 1901, heavy rainfall events have increased in the United States in both intensity and frequency, and population in the United States has increased, resulting in significant land use changes. Both of these trends could explain an increase in observed flood magnitude and frequency. In order to determine if a relationship exists between land use/land cover and changing stream flows in northwest Arkansas, this study analyzed temporal changes in various flow statistics for fourteen stream gages and compared the rates of change in flow statistics from gages on streams with watersheds that have varying land uses, i.e. urban, agricultural, and …

The Impact Of Inclination-Dependent Attenuation On Ultraviolet Star Formation Rate Tracers, Keith Doore, Rafael T. Eufrasio, Bret D. Lehmer, Erik B. Monson, Antara Basu-Zych, Kristen Garofali

Physics Faculty Publications and Presentations

We examine and quantify how hybrid (e.g., UV+IR) star formation rate (SFR) estimators and the AFUV–β relation depend on inclination for disk-dominated galaxies using spectral energy distribution modeling that utilizes the inclination-dependent attenuation curves described in Doore et al. We perform this analysis on a sample of 133 disk-dominated galaxies from the CANDELS fields and 18 disk galaxies from the Spitzer Infrared Nearby Galaxies Survey and Key Insights on Nearby Galaxies: A Far-Infrared Survey with Herschel samples. We find that both the hybrid SFR estimators and the AFUV–β relation present clear dependencies on inclination. To quantify …

Hands-On Stem: Chemistry, Physics, And Other Science Resources For K-12 Education, Lisa Ahlberg, G. Brendan Cross

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Relative Palatability And Efficacy Of Brodifacoum-25d Conservation Rodenticide Pellets For Mouse Eradication On Midway Atoll, Peter J. Kappes, Shane R. Siers, Israel L. Leinbach, Robert T. Sugihara, Wesley J. Jolley, Jonathan H. Plissner, Elizabeth N. Flint, Kelly L. Goodale, Gregg R. Howald

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Invasive mice (Mus spp.) can negatively impact island species and ecosystems. Because fewer island rodent eradications have been attempted for mice compared to rats (Rattus spp.), less is known about efficacy and palatability of rodenticide baits for mouse eradications. We performed a series of bait acceptance and efficacy cage trials using a standard formulation of brodifacoum-based rodenticide on wild-caught mice from Sand Island, Midway Atoll, to help inform a proposed eradication there. Mice were offered ad libitum brodifacoum pellets along with various alternative food sources, and a “no choice” treatment group received only bait pellets. Mortality in the no choice …

Simple Groups And Related Topics, Simrandeep Kaur

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Since every nonabelian simple group is a homomorphic image of an involutory progenitor 2^(*n):N where N ≤ S_n is transitive, our motivation for the thesis has been to seek finite homomorphic images of such progenitors and construct them using our technique of double coset enumeration. We have constructed U_3 (3):2 over 5^2:S_3, 2x(A_5 x A_5) over D_5 x D_5, S_6 over S_5, 2^5:S_5 over S_5, and 3^3: 2^3 over 3^2:2 . We have discovered original symmetric presentations numerous group as homomorphic images various progenitors. We have also found new monomial representations of groups and given monomial progenitors. We have given …