Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Infrared Detectability Of Whale Species And Behaviors To Enhance Automatic Detection For Real-Time Vessel Strike Avoidance, Laura J. Howes

Graduate Masters Theses

Real-time detection of large whales at sea is critical for mitigating serious injury and mortality from ship strikes and other human activities such as seismic surveys, especially for endangered species such as the critically endangered North Atlantic Right Whale (Eubalaena glacialis). Traditional marine mammal observers are limited by environmental conditions and human factors, necessitating a robust, 24-hour solution. This study investigates the efficacy of a novel onboard detection tool infrared (IR) technology to detect whale blows and body parts. While IR is a promising advancement, its performance under varying sea conditions (e.g., fog, humidity) and its ability to …

Synthesizing Viscoelasticity: Living Polymers, Micro-Macro Relations, And Paths For Resolution, Adam M. Hasler

Graduate Masters Theses

This thesis investigates the relationship between macroscopic rheological signals and underlying microscopic dynamics in complex fluids, specifically focusing on ”living polymers” within the cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and sodium salicylate (NaSal) surfactant system. The research addresses the inverse parameterization problem, demonstrating how bulk measurements like zero-shear viscosity can mask fundamentally different physical topologies, such as purely cylindrical, reptating micelles versus highly branched networks. Through the successful synthesis of viscoelastically ”degenerate” samples, the study utilizes an array of characterization techniques including frequency sweeps, Large Amplitude Oscillatory Shear (LAOS) to resolve these unique underlying states. Furthermore, the work explores further avenues of study …

The Sliding Aperture Transform: A Mathematical Method Applied To Radiation-Induced Dlts Capacitance Transients, Md Abu Bakkar Siddique

Graduate Masters Theses

This thesis presents the Sliding Aperture Transform (SLAPt), a novel mathematical technique for extracting exponential argument and pre-factor  from experimental data. The method transforms measured waveforms into an inverse-domain representation where exponential decay processes appear as distinct peaks, simplifying data analysis and reducing the effects of baseline offsets and noise. The technique is here applied to time dependent capacitance transients associated with irradiated and non-irradiated silicon pn junction diodes. The technique is further developed and applied to positive argument exponentials using an axillary function. This allows forward bias  current-voltage measurements, and forward pulse-bias current transient measurements to be SLAP analyzed, …

Spatial Association Of Acute Respiratory Infection, Diarrhea, And Low Birth Weight With Stunting Prevalence In Indonesia, 2024, Dian Rosadi, Husaini Husaini, Triawanti Triawanti, Musafaah Musafaah

Kesmas

Stunting remains unevenly distributed across Indonesia, but national evidence integrating spatial analysis and spatial regression is limited. This study examined the spatial distribution of stunting and its associations with acute respiratory infection (ARI), diarrhea, and low birth weight (LBW) across Indonesian provinces. An ecological cross-sectional study used data from the 2024 Indonesian Nutritional Status Survey. Stunting-only analyses included all 38 provinces, whereas analyses involving ARI, diarrhea, and LBW included 37 provinces with complete data. Spatial analyses used a row-standardized symmetric four-nearest-neighbor spatial weights matrix and included Global Moran’s I, bivariate spatial analysis, Local Indicators of Spatial Association, ordinary least squares, …

Modeling Kinetics Of 5-Aminolevulinic Acid-Induced Protoporphyrin Ix Accumulation For Optimal Photodynamic Therapy, Priscilla Melebor

Graduate Masters Theses

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a minimally invasive treatment that uses light-activated photosensitizers to selectively destroy diseased tissue through the generation of reactive oxygen species. However, conventional in vitro models often fail to accurately reproduce the pharmacokinetics of photosensitizer accumulation and clearance observed in vivo. This study investigated protoporphyrin IX (PpIX) accumulation following 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) exposure under physiologically relevant conditions using two-dimensional (2D) monolayers and three-dimensional (3D) spheroids. By comparing continuous ALA exposure with transient exposure followed by ALA washout, this work provides a more biologically relevant framework for studying PpIX kinetics and optimizing photodynamic therapy.

Informationally Complete Measurements In Quantum Theory: Implementation, Geometry, And Correlations, Sachin Gupta

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Informationally complete measurements provide a bridge between the operational and geometric structure of quantum theory. They allow quantum states to be reconstructed from measurement probabilities. This thesis studies informationally complete measurements from two complementary perspectives: their physical implementation and their role in the probabilistic reconstruction of quantum theory.

The first part develops a symmetry-driven Naimark extension for rank-one Weyl- Heisenberg covariant Projective Operator-Valued Measures (POVMs) in arbitrary finite dimension. Since every element of such a POVM is generated from a single fiducial state by the Weyl-Heisenberg displacement operators, the full measurement inherits a strong covariance structure. We show that this …

Motor Imagery Eeg Decoding For Brain-Computer Interfaces: Structured Representation, Transfer, And Drift, Yiming Shen

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Motor imagery EEG decoding is often summarized by the accuracy of a final classifier, but the classifier is only the last stage of the pipeline. Before classification, the signal has already been shaped by preprocessing, feature extraction, source-session organization, and adaptation. This dissertation studies how feature representation, source-session transfer, and drift shape reliable MI-EEG decoding for brain-computer interfaces.

It first studies within-session decoding on public MI-EEG datasets using nested validation that keeps preprocessing, feature fitting, and model selection inside the training folds. This analysis separates gains from feature representation from gains due to nonlinear classification, and relates both comparisons to …

The Grasshopper's Journey To The Bloch Sphere, David Llamas

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

The Grasshopper Problem asks a simple geometric question. A grasshopper lands on a lawn of fixed area and jumps a fixed distance in a random direction. What shape of lawn maximizes the probability that the grasshopper remains on the lawn after jumping? The jump rule is rotationally symmetric, but the best lawns do not have to be. This dissertation studies how that symmetry breaking occurs, maps the continuum problem to a novel constrained spin system, and uses the spherical Grasshopper Problem to compare quantum singlet correlations with classical local models.

For planar lawns, boundary-integral and perturbative calculations explain why the …

Redesigning Quantum Theory, Matthew Weiss

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

QBism understands quantum mechanics to be probability theory supplemented by additional nonclassical coherence conditions. In this dissertation, we develop these nonclassical coherence conditions from first principles, emphasizing the role of a well chosen reference measurement. After treating standard probability on subjective Bayesian lines, we demonstrate an equivalence between the QBist approach and the existing framework of generalized probabilistic theories. We show that the fundamental nonclassical coherence relation may almost always be taken to be a gentle modification of the law of total probability, and give a coherentist account of when an experimental scenario has a classical explanation. Finally, we show …

A Statistical Mechanics Approach To Reinforcement Learning, Jacob Adamczyk

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Reinforcement learning (RL), the study of optimal decision-making over long timescales in stochastic systems, has recently seen remarkable advances due in large part to the efforts of the deep learning community. RL has witnessed great success in solving problems in video games, robotics, biological control, and language modeling. However, a unified statistical mechanics framework to understand and develop the corresponding algorithms is lacking. To address this issue, we begin by showing that the reinforcement learning problem can be formulated and solved using the tools of statistical mechanics. Drawing on physical principles of free energy minimization and invariance, we address important …

Multicomponent Reaction-Initiated Synthesis Of Polyheterocyclic Compounds, Ashutosh Nath

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Efficient synthesis of novel heterocycles with biological interest remains a challenge in modern organic chemistry. This dissertation presents the development of efficient synthetic strategies that combine multicomponent reactions (MCRs) with sequential reactions for rapid access a diverse array of polyheterocyclic compounds. The projects are: 1) Groebke-Blackburn-Bienaymé (GBB) reaction followed by N-acylation and Friedel-Crafts (FC) cyclization for the construction of imidazopyridine- and indole-fused azepinones involving an unusual ring-expansion process. 2) Modified GBB condensation products for intramolecular Diels-Alder (IMDA) cycloaddition and dehydrative re-aromatization to access imidazopyridine-fused isoquinolinones. 3) Integration of the Ugi-three component reaction (Ugi-3CR) and Pictet-Spengler (PS) reaction followed by …

Dynamics Of Swimming Microorganisms At Structured Liquid Crystal Interfaces, Vajra Sabhapathy Badha

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Active matter systems are self-driven units that consume energy to generate motion and mechanical stresses, producing non-equilibrium states of broad physical significance. Examples include synthetic microswimmers and migrating cells. Motile bacteria are a widely studied biological example because their self-propelled motion, hydrodynamic interactions, and collective organization are strongly coupled to local environmental conditions. Their swimming is sensitive to interfacial viscoelasticity, ordering, confinement, and hydrodynamic boundary effects, making them useful for investigating how interfaces regulate active biological motion. Because bacterial accumulation and attachment at interfaces are central to colonization and biofilm formation, these interactions are relevant to both active matter physics …

Predictive Modeling Of Heavy Metal Pollution And Ecological Risk For Sustainable Water Quality Management In The Ny–Nj Harbor System, Md Shahnul Islam, Sara Naveed, Huan Feng, Tapos Kumar Chakraborty

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Evaluating and forecasting surface water quality is essential for protecting aquatic ecosystems and improving water resource management. This study introduces a novel paradigm that integrates machine learning (ML) with the potential ecological risk index (PERI) to dynamically forecast, rather than statically assess, ecological risks from heavy metal contamination in an urban estuarine environment. Surface water samples from the Lower Passaic River in New Jersey, USA, were analyzed for copper (Cu), lead (Pb), and mercury (Hg) across multiple sites and sampling campaigns. Concentrations ranged from 3.1 to 42.6 µg/L for Cu, 1.8 to 25.4 µg/L for Pb, and 0.12 …

Re: Comment Letter For Butte Priority Soils Operable Unit (Bpsou) Draft Diggings East Dewatering Treatability Study Pre-Design Investigation Work Plan (Pdiwp) (Dated August 24, 2026) And The 2026 Draft Diggings East Dewatering Treatability Study Quality Assurance Project Plan (Qapp) (Dated August 24, 2026), Emma Rott

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Guardians Of The Record: A Two-Tiered Streaming Cascade With Kafka, Flink, And A Real Llm, Ilan Goodman

Generative AI Teaching Activities

Students build a streaming vandalism detector for live Wikipedia edits in which a fast rule-based tier decides which few of ~1,500 edits per minute are worth escalating to a slow, rate-limited real LLM (Gemini) — confronting the cost, latency, and failure modes of putting AI inside a production data pipeline.

Re: 2nd Quarter 2026 – Interim Site-Wide Surface Water Monitoring Data Report Silver Bow Creek Butte Area Npl Site, Butte Priority Soils Operable Unit Consent Decree-Civil Action No. Cv 89-039-Bu-She, Josh Bryson

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Guardians Of The Record (Cs2 Edition): Heaps, Queues, And A Scarce Oracle, Ilan Goodman

Generative AI Teaching Activities

Students defend Wikipedia from vandals with data structures instead of infrastructure: a sliding-window edit-velocity tracker (hash map of queues), a hand-built binary min-heap, and a budget-bounded top-K selection decide which few suspicious edits earn a question to an expensive, rate-limited Oracle — a stand-in for a real LLM.

Analysis Of The Throttle Settings Under Uncertain Information, Latafat Gardashova, Nihad Afandi

Chemical Technology, Control and Management

Although classical fuzzy logic controllers are capable of modelling non-linear control systems, they fail to consider the reliability of linguistic information, sensor measurements, and expert knowledge. In this paper, an intelligent controller based on the use of Z-numbers is developed for steam-turbine throttle control. Linguistic information and its confidence degree are considered simultaneously in such a controller. The temperature and pressure values are taken as input variables, while the throttle rotation is selected as the controller output variable. At first, the Z-number representation system is constructed to include the credibility of linguistic measurements and control rules. Then, a Mamdani Type-1 …

Nonlinear System Identification Based On Fuzzy Radial Basis Neural Network With Multi-Connected Weight Connections, Kabul Khudaybergenov

Chemical Technology, Control and Management

This paper builds on our earlier radial basis function network with multiple connections (RBFMC) by placing it within a fuzzy inference framework for nonlinear system identification. The idea is inspired by the diversity of neurotransmitters found in biological neurons: instead of a single hidden-to-output weight, RBFMC gives each hidden unit a multi-dimensional connection whose components act as independent filters. Once fuzzy logic is added, each hidden neuron becomes a fuzzy rule, and its antecedent is built from several Gaussian membership functions, one per connection. The resulting Fuzzy RBFMC produces an interpretable, multi-filter description of local regions of the input space …

Validation Of A Home-Based Tool For Preschool Children Fall Prevention: A Rasch Analysis, Devie Fitri Octaviani, Fatma Lestari, Indang Trihandini, Dadan Erwandi

Kesmas

Unintentional falls are a leading cause of injury among preschool children, primarily occurring in home environments, yet validated tools to assess household fall prevention capacity in low- and middle-income countries remain limited. This study aimed to develop and psychometrically validate the Home-Based Preschool Fall Prevention Instrument using the Rasch Measurement Model. A cross-sectional validation study was conducted in Depok City, Indonesia, involving 167 primary caregivers of preschool children enrolled in kindergartens selected through multistage cluster random sampling. The instrument was developed based on an etiological injury model, socio-ecological perspectives, and risk management principles, and comprised four main factors: child, home, …

Provincial Disparities In Adolescent Fertility In Indonesia: An Ecological Analysis Of Child Marriage, Median Age At First Marriage, And Family Development Index, Andi Nisa Fathimiyah Afidah, Milla Herdayati

Kesmas

Adolescent fertility remains a public health concern in Indonesia, with substantial variations across provinces. However, the evidence explaining provincial disparities using population-level indicators remains limited. This study aimed to examine provincial disparities in adolescent fertility and assess the association of child marriage, median age at first marriage among women, and the Family Development Index called iBangga with adolescent fertility across Indonesia. This ecological, cross-sectional study used aggregated data from 34 Indonesian provinces. Descriptive statistics, spatial visualization, Pearson’s correlation, and multiple linear regression analyses were performed. The mean adolescent fertility rate was 25.0 births per 1,000 female adolescents aged 15–19 years, …

The Association Between Rapid Growth In Children Under The Age Of Five And Adolescent Obesity, Ratu Ayu Dewi Sartika, Fadila Wirawan, Iche Andriyani Liberty, Nurul Husna Mohd Shukri, Siti Arifah Pujonarti, Edy Purwanto, Munaya Fauziah

Kesmas

Early-life nutrition is a critical predictor of long-term health, yet the association between rapid early-childhood growth and adolescent obesity, particularly in relation to the “double burden of malnutrition,” remains under-researched in Indonesia. This study aimed to analyze the association between rapid growth and adolescent obesity. Data were obtained from the 1997, 2000, and 2014 waves of the Indonesian Family Life Survey (IFLS). This study included 641 children (aged 0–23 months at baseline) with complete anthropometric measurements across all three waves. Rapid growth was defined as an increase in z-scores of >0.67 in weight-for-age (WAZ), height-for-age (HAZ), or weight-for-height (WHZ) between …

Environmental Perspective For System Dynamics Modeling Of Stunting Mitigation To Achieve The Sustainable Development Goals In West Sumatra, Indonesia, Elsa Yuniarti, Nabila Azzahra, Yulhendri Yulhendri, Heldi Heldi, Mery Delvina, Saskia Putri Azeli

Kesmas

This study developed a system dynamics model to simulate stunting reduction in West Sumatra Province, Indonesia, by integrating infant and toddler health, maternal health, and environmental determinants. Secondary data from 2020–2024 on low birth weight, immunization, malnutrition, exclusive breastfeeding, maternal chronic energy deficiency, iron and folic acid supplement distribution, sanitation, and safe drinking water access were compiled from West Sumatra Provincial Health Office and Statistics Indonesia, and validated through consultation with five stakeholder institutions. Causal Loop Diagrams mapped feedback relationships among determinants and were translated into Stock Flow Diagrams using Powersim Studio 10. The model was validated through structural verification, …

Concepts For Supporting Indigenous And Tribal Information And Research Needs, Sharon Hausam

Faculty Publications

This is a working paper produced as part of National Science Foundation project #2115169, “Transforming Rural-Urban Systems: Trajectories for Sustainability in the Intermountain West,” known as the “Intermountain West Transformation Network” (TN), led by the University of New Mexico with institutional partners at three additional universities in New Mexico, two in Arizona, and one each in Utah, Colorado, and Washington. The TN’s Indigenous and Tribal engagement was supported through a contract with Dr. Sharon Hausam, additional work by Aaron M. Canter, coordination with Dr. Lani Tsinnajinnie, and an Advisory Committee on Indigenous Information Needs primarily comprised of Indigenous representatives in …

Enhanced Osseointegration Of Functionally Graded Co˗Cr˗Mo˗Ti/Ha Implants: In Vitro And In Vivo Study In A Rabbit Model, Afrah M. Al Hussainey, Randa Kamel Hussain, Aseel Mustafa Abdul Majeed

Karbala International Journal of Modern Science

    The present investigation aims to evaluate the effects of acid and laser surface treatments on the surface characteristics, biocompatibility, and osseointegration of functionally graded implants fabricated from a Co–Cr–Mo–Ti/HA alloy. The implant surfaces were modified using either an Nd: YAG laser or hydrochloric acid (HCl), while untreated implants served as controls. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) showed that the acid-treated surface exhibited the highest mean surface roughness (Sa) of 58.10 ± 0.24 nm compared to the laser-treated surface (42.64 ± 0.83 nm) and the untreated surface (37.73 ± 0.89 nm). The MTT assay also demonstrated a favourable cellular response on the …

Toward A Post-Modern Daoist Pedagogy: Bridging Complexity And Dao Through Inner Cultivation And Autopoietic Currere, Jie Yu, Jingyu Liu

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

This article first critically examines the call to reenchant the world as it resonates within a middle space between science and mysticism and then connects key ideas from complexity theory and systems thinking on complex adaptive systems with two seminal Daoist texts: the Neiye (《內業》, Inner Cultivation), a proto-Daoist chapter from the Guanzi anthology (4th–3rd century B.C.E.), and the Huangting Jing (《黃庭經》, Yellow Court Scripture), a later Daoist classic (3rd–4th century C.E.). Through this dialogue, the article advocates a post-modern Daoist pedagogy through inner cultivation and autopoietic currere—an autopoietic process wherein curriculum emerges organically through participatory dialogue …

Final 2026 Interim Site-Wide Groundwater Monitoring Quality Assurance Project Plan, Woodard & Curran

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Final 2026 Interim Site-Wide Groundwater Monitoring Quality Assurance Project Plan, Woodard & Curran

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Final 2026 Interim Site-Wide Surface Water Monitoring Quality Assurance Project Plan, Woodard & Curran

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Karst Hydrogeologic Framework And Factors Contributing To Flooding In Burgin, Kentucky, Charles Taylor, Junfeng Zhu, Matthew Carmichael, Hudson J. Koch

KGS Publications and Maps

This report examines the karst hydrogeologic setting and drainage characteristics that are thought to contribute to frequent severe flooding in the city of Burgin in Mercer County, Kentucky. Burgin is located at the eastern end of an approximately 4.5 mi² mapped karst groundwater basin in the Ordovician limestone aquifer system in the Inner Bluegrass karst region. Flooding occurs within a streamless 1.4 mi² dry karst valley where almost all channelized surface runoff has been captured by sinkholes and sinking stream segments and diverted underground by con­duit piracy. The only natural outlet for water exiting from the karst valley and larger …