Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Enhancing Water Sustainability In North Africa: Literature Review And Synthesis Of Current Knowledge Gaps In Sudan, Osman M. A. Adam, Aaron R. Mittelstet, Derek M. Heeren, Troy E. Gilmore

Department of Biological Systems Engineering: Conference Presentations and White Papers

This study delves into the critical role of groundwater in addressing global water challenges, with a focus on the Nubian Sandstone Aquifer System (NSAS) in North Africa. Groundwater constitutes a source of potable water, irrigation, and industrial use, especially in arid regions where surface water is limited. We analyzed the status of water quantity, withdrawals, recharge, and geological characteristics in the NSAS, specifically in Sudan, Egypt, Libya, and Chad. Though the NSAS is largely an untapped resource, we evaluated various scenarios to determine the quantity of cropland that can be sustainably irrigated. The NSAS is located in an arid region, …

Quantifying And Classifying Streamflow Ensembles Using A Broad Range Of Metrics For An Evidence-Based Analysis: Colorado River Case Study, Homa Salehabadi, David G. Tarboton, Kevin G. Wheeler, Rebecca Smith, Sarah Baker

Research Briefs

Using the Colorado River Basin as a case study, this research article highlights the need for streamflow ensembles that accurately represent potential future conditions rather than solely relying on historical data. The comprehensive set of statistical metrics introduced can be used to evaluate and classify these streamflow ensembles. This evidence-based framework can inform water resource management in the face of uncertain conditions.

Iowa Waste Reduction Center Newsletter, July 2024, University Of Northern Iowa. Iowa Waste Reduction Center.

Iowa Waste Reduction Center Newsletter

In this issue:

--- Farewell to Jordan Evans, Environmental Specialist
--- Keeping Tabs on PFAs
--- Library Compost Training Series visits Independence, IA
--- Important Reminders: Library Compost Training Series
--- Industry News

Heat Stress Changes The Bovine Methylome And Transcriptome And Investigation Of Two Novel Genetic Defects In Cattle, Rachel Renae Reith

Department of Animal Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Heat stress is a major concern for livestock producers due to its negative impact on animal health and productivity. Heat stress does so by altering expression of genes through different regulatory mechanisms such as DNA methylation. Understanding how heat stress alters gene expression will help elucidate the genetic basis of physiological changes as well as identify targets for possible heat stress mitigation. The purpose of the first study was to understand how heat stress alters the adipose and skeletal muscle transcriptomes in zilpaterol-fed Brahman, as zilpaterol improves muscle growth and may mitigate the effects of heat stress. Differential expression and …

Integrating Remote Sensing And Machine Learning To Determine Past, Current And Future Crop Water Use From The Nubian Sandstone Aquifer System, Moaz Ishag

Department of Biological Systems Engineering: Dissertations and Theses

The agriculture sector is a significant consumer of water, and sustainable water use begins with monitoring irrigated land. Delineating irrigated land supports decision-makers and promotes the sustainable use of this crucial resource. This study focuses on the Nubian Sandstone Aquifer System (NSAS), the largest aquifers in the world, which spans Egypt, Sudan, Libya, and Chad. The study aims to: 1) quantify the increase in irrigated hectares (both pivot and non-pivot) from 2000-2001 to 2023-2024; 2) identify major irrigated crop types and their water requirements; and 3) quantify groundwater crop water use from the NSAS using remote sensing via the Google …

Cognitive Technologies, Tom Davenport

Asian Management Insights

AI and the revolution of work.

Professor Tom Davenport, the President’s Distinguished Professor of Information Technology and Management at Babson College, speaks about how companies can integrate generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) into their operations while ensuring workforce adaptation and skills development.

Water Current, Volume 56, No. 2, Summer 2024

Water Current Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Tribocorrosion And Metal Release From Austenitic Stainless Steels 304 And 201 In Simulated Cassava Food Contact, Robert Addai, Temitope E. Olowoyo, Thalia E. Standish, Jeffrey Daniel Henderson, Ubong Eduok, Yolanda Hedberg

Chemistry Publications

Cassava is the third most significant calorie source in the tropics. Its processing has changed from traditional methods to stainless steel processing machines. This study investigated the influence of cassava on metal release from two common stainless steels, ASTM 304 and 201, with and without friction, and on tribocorrosion (multianalytically) of 304. Cassava was relatively corrosive and hindered repassivation of the surface oxide of stainless steel, but it also acted as a lubricant against mechanical friction. The combined action of friction and cassava caused a significant increase in iron, chromium, nickel, and manganese release from the stainless steels (30–35- fold …

Compiler-Provenance Identification In Obfuscated Binaries Using Vision Transformers, Wasif Khan, Saed Alrabaee, Mousa Al-Kfairy, Jie Tang, Kim Kwang Raymond Choo

All Works

Extracting compiler-provenance-related information (e.g., the source of a compiler, its version, its optimization settings, and compiler-related functions) is crucial for binary-analysis tasks such as function fingerprinting, detecting code clones, and determining authorship attribution. However, the presence of obfuscation techniques has complicated the efforts to automate such extraction. In this paper, we propose an efficient and resilient approach to provenance identification in obfuscated binaries using advanced pre-trained computer-vision models. To achieve this, we transform the program binaries into images and apply a two-layer approach for compiler and optimization prediction. Extensive results from experiments performed on a large-scale dataset show that the …

New Insights On Hybridization In Potamogeton Floridanus (The Florida Pondweed)), Kaitlyn R. Sampson

<strong> Theses and Dissertations </strong>

Freshwater ecosystems are some of the most important and highest threatened habitats in the world, and aquatic plants play an important, but often-overlooked, role in maintaining them. Potamogeton is a diverse and ecologically important aquatic plant genus well known for taxonomic difficulty and rampant hybridization. lbis study aimed to 1) test the hypothesis that Potamogeton jloridanus (Florida pondweed) is a hybrid between P. oakesianus and P. pulcher, and 2) to investigate correlations in ecological conditions for the focal species. This study revealed the discovery of a new population of P. jloridanus in Big Coldwater Creek in Santa Rosa Co., FL, …

Torus Surgery, Fibrations, Multisections, And Spun 4-Manifolds, Nicholas Paul Meyer

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents from University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

A compact n-manifold X is fibered if it is a fiber bundle where the fiber F and base space B are manifolds. Fibered manifolds are particularly nice, as they are essentially classified by their monodromy maps. Two common examples of 4-dimensional fibered manifolds are surface bundles over surfaces and 3-manifold bundles over the circle.

The main focus of this dissertation is to investigate fibered 4-manifolds whose boundaries are the 3-torus and how these manifolds glue together to give new closed, fibered 4-manifolds. In particular, suppose W is diffeomorphic to S¹ × E_Y (K) where Y …

Nonlocal Frameworks For Nonlinear Conservation Laws And Advection-Diffusion Processes, Anh Thuong Vo

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents from University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

Conservation laws are fundamental principles that play an important role in modeling various phenomena in physics, chemistry, and biology. However, their limitations, such as the development of shocks despite smooth initial conditions, are well known. The nonlocal model framework can be used to overcome these challenges. Nonlocal frameworks utilize integral operators that mimic differential operators but also incorporate long-range interactions within a finite horizon. This approach not only allows for non-smooth solutions, but also provides flexibility in modeling different phenomena. This study investigates the convergence of nonlocal divergence operators, defined with a general flux density function, to their classical counterparts. …

Exploring Producers' Willingness To Pay For Ecosystem Services: Three Essays On Soil Health, Location Preferences, And Cover Crop Adoption, Kaouter Essakkat

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents from University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

This dissertation comprises three essays: one assessing Midwest producers' willingness-to-pay (WTP) for soil health-enhancing ecosystem services (ES), another examining the impact of policy implementation locations on WTP, and a third identifying factors influencing producers' adoption of cover crops (CC).

The first essay pioneers the understanding of agricultural producers’ valuation of soil health-associated ES amid growing concerns of soil degradation due to agricultural intensification. Using a discrete choice experiment, this study assesses producers’ WTP for a policy that incentivizes ES provision, specifically improved water quality, carbon sequestration, and enhanced crop yield. Surveying producers across Iowa, Kansas, and Nebraska, our results show …

A Study Of Electron- And Photon-Induced Dissociative Electron Attachment To Molecules And Within Anion-Molecule Clusters, Mahmudul Hasan

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents from University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

Dissociative electron attachment (DEA) is a resonant process in which a molecule captures a low-energy electron, forming a transient negative ion (TNI). Subsequently, this unstable TNI fragments into a stable anion and one or more neutral fragments. DEA is crucial in various phenomena, ranging from atmospheric and radiation chemistry to processes occurring in plasmas, and is particularly significant in the context of radiation-induced damage to biological molecules. This study uses different experimental methods to better understand the fragmentation in molecular anions forming through dissociative photoexcitation and electron attachment. We have developed an experimental apparatus for dissociative photoexcitation studies. This apparatus …

Letter To The Members Of Sge From Your New Editor, Scott R. Beason

The Compass: Earth Science Journal of Sigma Gamma Epsilon

No abstract provided.

Overview Of The Geology, Paleontology, And Geoscience Education Opportunities Of The University Of Tennessee At Martin Coon Creek Science Center For Visitors, Researchers, And Docents, Michael A. Gibson

The Compass: Earth Science Journal of Sigma Gamma Epsilon

The Coon Creek Formation is an internationally recognized Upper Cretaceous (Campanian, 76 million-years-old) marine clastic lagerstätten deposit with over 500 identified species of nearly perfectly preserved invertebrates, vertebrates, plants, and trace fossils with original shell geochemistry and paleoecological fidelity preserved. The type-locality and type-section, located in rural McNairy County, Tennessee, was preserved for research and education in 1988 when the Memphis Pink Palace Museum constructed a 232-acre geoscience education facility on the site, now run as the University of Tennessee at Martin Coon Creek Science Center. Visitors to the site participate in a wide variety of geoscience education programming and …

46th Biennial Convention Of Sigma Gamma Epsilon, University Of Tennessee At Martin, September 16-18, 2022, Richard L. Ford, Lee S. Potter

The Compass: Earth Science Journal of Sigma Gamma Epsilon

The Society of Sigma Gamma Epsilon (SGE), the national honorary society for the Earth sciences, held its 46th biennial convention (September 16-18, 2022) at satellite facilities of University of Tennessee at Martin (UT Martin) located in Selmer, Tennessee. The convention was hosted by SGE’s Eta Alpha Chapter and the Department of Agriculture, Geoscience, and Natural Resources at UT Martin. Ten (10) of SGE’s approximately 60 active chapters sent delegates to the convention. The traditional convention field trip, an outing to UT Martin’s Coon Creek Science Center, focused on collecting and preparing marine fossils from the Upper Cretaceous Coon Creek Formation. …

Sigma Gamma Epsilon Student Research Poster Session, Geological Society Of America Annual Meeting 2022, Denver, Colorado, Usa, Scott R. Beason

The Compass: Earth Science Journal of Sigma Gamma Epsilon

The Society of Sigma Gamma Epsilon sponsors an annual poster session at every Annual Meeting of the Geological Society of America. The 2022 Sigma Gamma Epsilon undergraduate research poster session took place during the 2022 Geological Society of America Annual Meeting in Denver, Colorado, USA, on Monday, October 10, 2022. Ten (10) posters were presented in Exhibit Hall F at the Colorado Convention Center between 2:00 PM and 6:00 PM at the poster session. Titles, authors (italics for the presenting author), affiliations, and abstracts for each poster are listed in this report.

Sigma Gamma Epsilon Chapter And Student Awards For Academic Year 2022-2023, Lee S. Potter

The Compass: Earth Science Journal of Sigma Gamma Epsilon

The Society of Sigma Gamma Epsilon (SGE) encourages efforts to broaden the education and impact of its members through community outreach. In academic year 2022-2023, four awards were given at the chapter level: The Chapter Service Award to the Gamma Chi Chapter; and the James C. Walters Quality Chapter Award to the Gamma Sigma, Gamma Chi, and Epsilon Omega Chapters. Individual merit was recognized through the W. A. Tarr awards given to twenty-two members by their respective chapters. Two awards, the Austin A. Sartin and Charles J. Mankin Outstanding Poster Awards, were given to four students for merit in scientific …

Stochastic Dominance: Cases Of Interval And P-Box Uncertainty, Kittawit Autchariyapanikul, Olga Kosheleva, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

Traditional decision theory recommendation about making a decision assume that we know both the probabilities of different outcomes of each possible decision, and we know the utility function -- that describes the decision maker's preferences. Sometimes, we can make a recommendation even when we only have partial information about utility. Such cases are known as cases of stochastic dominance. In other cases, in addition to not knowing the utility function, we also only have partial information about the probabilities of different outcomes. For example, we may only known bounds on the outcomes (case of interval uncertainty) or bounds on the …

If Subsequent Results Are Too Easy To Obtain, The Proof Most Probably Has Errors: Explanation Of The Empirical Observation, Olga Kosheleva, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

Many modern mathematical proofs are very complex, checking them is difficult; as a result, errors sneak into published proofs, even into proofs published in highly reputable journals. Sometimes, the errors are repairable, but sometimes, it turns out that the supposedly proven result is actually wrong. When the error is not noticed for some time, the published result is used to prove many other results -- and when the error is eventually found, all these new results are invalidated. This happened several times. Since it is not realistic to more thoroughly check all the proofs, and we want to minimize the …

For 2 X N Cases, Proportional Fitting Problem Reduces To A Single Equation, Olga Kosheleva, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

In many practical situations, for each of two classifications, we know the probabilities that a randomly selected object belong to different categories. For example, we know what proportion of people are below 20 years old, what proportion is between 20 and 30, etc., and we also know what proportion of people earns less than 10K, between 10K and 20K, etc. In such situations, we are often interested in proportion of people who are classified by two classifications into two given categories. For example, we are interested in the proportion of people whose age is between 20 and 30 and whose …

Is Alaska Negative-Tax Arrangement Fair? Almost: Mathematical Analysis, Chon Van Le, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

In the State of Alaska there is no state income tax. Instead, there is a negative tex: every year every resident gets some money from the state. At present, every resident -- from the poorest to the richest -- gets the exact same amount of money: in 2024, it is expected to be around $1500. A natural question is: Is this fair? Maybe poor people should get more since their needs are greater? Maybe the rich people should get proportionally more, since fairness means equal added happiness for all, and for rich people, extra $1500 is barely noticeable? There have …

Why Angles Between Galactic Center Filaments And Galactic Plane Follow A Bimodal Distribution: A Symmetry-Based Explanation, Julio C. Urenda, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

Recent observations have shown that the angles between the Galaxy Center filaments and the Galactic plane follow a bimodal distribution: a large number of filaments are approximately orthogonal to the Galactic plane, a large number of filaments are approximately parallel to the Galactic plane, and much fewer filaments have other orientations. In this paper, we show this bimodal distribution can be explained by natural geometric symmetries.

Why Seismicity In Ireland Is Low: A Possible Geometric Explanation, Julio C. Urenda, Aaron Velasco, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

For each geographic location, its seismicity level is usually determined by how close this location is to the boundaries of tectonic plates. However, there is one notable exception: while Ireland and Britain are at approximately the same distance from such boundaries, the seismicity level in Ireland is much lower than in Britain. A recent paper provided a partial explanation for this phenomenon: namely, it turns out that the lithosphere under Ireland is unusually thick, and this can potentially lead to lower seismicity. However, the current explanation of the relation between the lithosphere thickness and seismicity level strongly depends on the …

Green Finance Growth Prediction Model Based On Time-Series Conditional Generative Adversarial Networks, Aya Salama Abdelhady, Nadia Dahmani, Lobna M. Abouel-Magd, Ashraf Darwish, Aboul Ella Hassanien

All Works

Climate change mitigation necessitates increased investment in green sectors. This study proposes a methodology to predict green finance growth across various countries, aiming to encourage such investments. Our approach leverages time-series Conditional Generative Adversarial Networks (CT-GANs) for data augmentation and Nonlinear Autoregressive Neural Networks (NARNNs) for prediction. The green finance growth predicting model was applied to datasets collected from forty countries across five continents. The Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) test confirmed the non-stationary nature of the data, supporting the use of Nonlinear Autoregressive Neural Networks (NARNNs). CT-GANs were then employed to augment the data for improved prediction accuracy. Results demonstrate the …

Creating And Delivering Audio Descriptions For Videos, Rosiana Natalie

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Despite anti-discrimination regulations mandating the provision of audio descriptions (ADs), the majority of online video content remains inaccessible to blind and low-vision (BLV) individuals. This is because these ADs are either absent or fail to adequately address the diverse and unique needs of the audience. Traditionally, content creators have relied on professionals to author ADs. However, this gold standard may not be accessible for some content creators because this method is still costly and has a long turnaround time. Moreover, when ADs are available, they tend to be static and unalterable, failing to cater to the unique preferences of BLV …

Sequential Decision Learning For Social Good And Fairness, Dexun Li

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Sequential decision learning is one of the key research areas in artificial intelligence. Typically, a sequence of events is observed through a transformation that introduces uncertainty into the observations and based on these observations, the recognition process produces a hypothesis of the underlying events. This learning process is characterized by maximizing the sum of the reward signals. However, many real-life problems are inherently constrained by limited resources. Besides, when the learning algorithms are used to inform decisions involving human beings (e.g., Security and justice, health intervention, etc), they may inherit the potential, pre-existing bias in the dataset and exhibit similar …

Essays On Artificial Intelligence (Ai) In Management, Bowen Zhou

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

This dissertation comprises three essays that investigate the transformative potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in business.

Chapter 1 investigates the fundamental issue of how integrating AI within R&D activities influences a firm’s market value. We developed an "AI Index" using patent data and textual analysis. Interestingly, empirical results indicate a negative correlation between AI integration and market value. However, this does not suggest that AI is an unviable avenue for exploration. Further analysis of the boundary conditions reveals that complementary assets are crucial for successful commercialisation, highlighting that while AI adoption is costly, these assets significantly enhance its market value. …

Decentralized Consensus And Governance For Collaborative Intelligence, Huiwen Liu

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

The data economy today is becoming increasingly collaborative in nature. Take business intelligence, for example. To unleash the full potential of big data, it is essential to integrate multi-source data depicting entities from a multi-faceted and multi-modal perspective, which, not surprisingly, is not achievable by any company alone. In collaborative intelligence, there are two core issues, namely "trust" and "incentive". The core mechanisms to solve these two problems are consensus and tokenization separately.

To solve the trust problem more effectively, we propose a systematic consensus evaluation framework to investigate whether existing consensus algorithms can do so. After a lot of …