Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Ecological Tax Reform, Robert Costanza, Steve Bernow, Herman E. Daly, Robert Degennaro, Paul Hawken

Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations

Provides an overview detailing the benefits of ecological tax reform. What ecological tax reform would include; Origin of ecological taxes; Implementation in the United States and Europe; Specifics on an ecological tax reform proposal; The need to phase in tax reforms gradually.

The Surface Plasmon Enhancement Effect On Adsorbed Molecules At Elevated Temperatures, P.T. Leung, Hai-Pang Chiang, W. S. Tse

Physics Faculty Publications and Presentations

The surface plasmon enhancement effect on adsorbed molecules at elevated substrate temperatures is studied theoretically using surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) as an example. The surface structure is idealized to be a monodisperse spherical particle with its nonlocal dielectric response accounted for. The temperature effects are modeled using a temperature-dependent collision frequency in the Drude model. Numerical results show that only a small decrease in the SERS enhancement ratio occurs for temperatures up to the melting point of the substrate, even for scattering close to the surface plasmon resonance frequency of the metal. More definitive results are subjected to more …

Specific Heat And Critical Fields Of The Organic Superconductor Β″–(Bedt-Ttf)2sf5ch2cf2so3, S. Wanka, J. Hagel, D. Beckmanm, J. Wosnitza, J. A. Schlueter, Jack M. Williams, P. G. Nixon, Rolf Walter Winter, Gary L. Gard

Chemistry Faculty Publications and Presentations

We report on specific-heat, magnetization, and ac-susceptibility measurements of β″–(BEDT-TTF)₂SF₅CH₂CF₂SO₃, an organic superconductor with Tc=4.5 K, where BEDT-TTF stands for bis(ethylenedithio)-tetrathiafulvalene. The jump of the specific heat C at Tc and the exact form of the specific heat difference between C in the superconducting (B=0 T) and in the normal (B=3.5 T) state can be well described by BCS theory with strong coupling. We estimate an electron-phonon coupling parameter λ≈1.1. From measurements of C in magnetic fields we extract the upper critical field Bc₂(T). Low-field dc-magnetization measurements were used to determine the temperature dependence of the lower critical field Bc₁. …

Morphology, Eruption Rates, And Rheology Of Lava Domes: Insights From Laboratory Models, Jonathan H. Fink, Ross W. Griffiths

Geology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The growth of lava domes can be either quiescent or violent, with transitions between styles of behavior commonly occurring with little warning. Here we propose that the behavior depends on the eruption rate, the magma rheology, and the thickness ofthe cooling surface. We present a model, based on laboratory simulations, field measurements, and photographic analysis, that relates the morphology and texture of a dome to the thickness of its cooled carapace, and thence to eruption conditions. A sequence of four main types of dome (spiny, lobate, platy, and axisymmetric) is identified in laboratory analog experiments with a Bingham plastic. These …

Photoadaptation Rate Of Synechococcus Wh7803 Cultures At Two Iron Concentrations, Jon Daniel Moulton

Dissertations and Theses

The marine cyanobacterium Synechococcus WH7803 adapts to changes in light intensity by changing its photosynthetic physiology. This work is a study o f the rate o f photoadaptation of Synechococcus WH7803 in laboratory cultures. Cultures were shifted from constant 8 µEm^-2s^-1 light to constant 80 µEm^-2s^-1 light, from constant 80 µEm^-2s^-1 light to 8 µEm^-2s^-1 light and from different light regimes to a single fluctuating light regime. The response of high iron cultures grown in modified aquil culture medium at 5*10^-6M Fe was compared with the …

Gravity Drainage Prior To Cake Filtration, Scott A. Wells, Gregory K. Savage

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

During the initial stages of a Buchner funnel or specific resistance test, gravity drainage occurs prior to application of the pressure differential. Some allow time for a small cake to form by gravity drainage. Filtrate data from the gravity drainage period can be used to determine constitutive properties of the cake under a hydrostatic pressure gradient. The constitutive properties that define the structure of the cake include the permeability and porosity as functions of the applied stress. Equations governing the drainage rate during a gravity filtration experiment assuming a constant and a non-constant average cake permeability and cake porosity were …

Modeling Density Currents In Circular Clarifiers, Scott A. Wells, David M. Laliberte

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Design of sedimentation tanks for solid-liquid separation is often dependent on assuming ideal flow conditions. But the geometry of the tank and density currents as a result of temperature and suspended solids influences the fluid mechanics of the tank and can result in significant deviations from ideal flow.

A two-dimensional radial flow model was proposed which incorporated the effect of density currents resulting from temperature and suspended solids differentials within the tank. The numerical model predicted the steady-state, layer-averaged radial flow and layer depth.

The model solution and field data showed that the momentum and suspended solids of the inflow …

Filtration Modeling Of A Plate-And-Frame Press, Scott A. Wells

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

The porosity distribution and filtrate production during cake filtration in a plate-and-frame filter press were simulated mathematically. The model considered filtration that occurs after the filling process, not filtration that occurs as the suspension fills the cell. Governing equations for the temporal porosity distribution were developed for a plateand- frame press. The governing equations were solved numerically using an alternating-direction-implicit scheme. Appropriate initial and boundary conditions were determined based on characteristics of the plate-and-frame press and of the suspension properties. Predicted porosity and velocity distributions were calculated for assumed constitutive parameters.

Soil Moisture Gradients And Controls On A Southern Appalachian Hillslope From Drought Through Recharge, J. Alan Yeakley, W. T. Swank, L. W. Swift, G. M. Hornberger, H. H. Shugart

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Soil moisture gradients along hillslopes in humid watersheds, although indicated by vegetation gradients and by studies using models, have been difficult to confirm empirically. While soil properties and topographic features are the two general physio-graphic factors controlling soil moisture on hillslopes, studies have shown conflicting results regarding which factor is more important. The relative importance of topographic and soil property controls was examined in an upland forested watershed at the Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory in the southern Appalachian mountains. Soil moisture was measured along a hillslope transect with a mesic-to-xeric forest vegetation gradient over a period spanning precipitation extremes. The hillslope …

Self-Consistent Effective Binary Interaction Approximation For Strongly Coupled Multifluid Dynamics, John D. Ramshaw

Physics Faculty Publications and Presentations

An improved self-consistent effective binary diffusion approximation for multicomponent diffusion was recently described [1]. Here we develop an analogous self-consistent effective binary interaction (SCEBI) approximation for simplifying multifluid dynamical descriptions in which each fluid is strongly coupled to the other fluids by pairwise frictional forces. The net drag force on each fluid is the summation of the drag forces due to each of the other fluids. This summation is approximated by a single term proportional to the velocity of the fluid in question relative to an appropriately weighted average velocity. This approximation permits an explicit numerical solution for the fluid …

Will Business-Led Environmental Initiatives Grow In Agriculture?, Sandra S. Batie, David E. Ervin

Economics Faculty Publications and Presentations

This article was stimulated by a 1997 American Agricultural Economics Association annual meeting preconference designed by Batie and Ervin. The authors felt that there was considerable interest and activity in business-led environmental management (also caLLed corporate environmental management)-but most of the interest was found outside of the agricultural sector and the profession. The conference was a means to investigate the extent, motivation, and consequences of business-led poLLution prevention activities. The DuPont and the StahLbush Island Farms examples used in this article were drawn from discussions that took place at the conference and which were published in the proceedings. In the …

Stackguard: Automatic Adaptive Detection And Prevention Of Buffer-Overflow Attacks, Crispin Cowan, Calton Pu, David Maier, Heather Hinton, Jonathan Walpole, Peat Bakke, Steve Beattie, Aaron Grier, Perry Wagle, Qian Zhang

Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper presents a systematic solution to the persistent problem of buffer overflow attacks. Buffer overflow attacks gained notoriety in 1988 as part of the Morris Worm incident on the Internet. While it is fairly simple to fix individual buffer overflow vulnerabilities, buffer overflow attacks continue to this day. Hundreds of attacks have been discovered, and while most of the obvious vulnerabilities have now been patched, more sophisticated buffer overflow attacks continue to emerge.

We describe StackGuard: a simple compiler technique that virtually eliminates buffer overflow vulnerabilities with only modest performance penalties. Privileged programs that are recompiled with the StackGuard …

Statistical Dynamics Of The Royal Road Genetic Algorithm, Erik Van Nimwegen, James P. Crutchfield, Melanie Mitchell

Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Metastability is a common phenomenon. Many evolutionary processes, both natural and artificial, alternate between periods of stasis and brief periods of rapid change in their behavior. In this paper an analytical model for the dynamics of a mutation-only genetic algorithm (GA) is introduced that identifies a new and general mechanism causing metastability in evolutionary dynamics. The GA’s population dynamics is described in terms of flows in the space of fitness distributions. The trajectories through fitness distribution space are derived in closed form in the limit of infinite populations. We then show how finite populations induce metastability, even in regions where …

A Complex-Systems Perspective On The “Computation Vs. Dynamics” Debate In Cognitive Science, Melanie Mitchell

Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

I review the purported opposition between computational and dynamical approaches in cognitive science. I argue that both computational and dynamical notions will be necessary for a full explanatory account of cognition, and give a perspective on how recent research in complex systems can lead to a much needed rapprochement between computational and dynamical styles of explanation.

Adaptive Prefetching For Device-Independent File I/O, Dan Revel, Dylan Mcnamee, David Steere, Jonathan Walpole

Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Device independent I/O has been a holy grail to operating system designers since the early days of UNIX. Unfortunately, existing operating systems fall short of this goal for multimedia applications. Techniques such as caching and sequential read-ahead can help mask I/O latency in some cases, but in others they increase latency and add substantial jitter. Multimedia applications, such as video players, are sensitive to vagaries in performance since I/O latency and jitter affect the quality of presentation. Our solution uses adaptive prefetching to reduce both latency and jitter. Applications submit file access plans to the prefetcher, which then generates I/O …

Spectroscopy Of Charge-Coupled Devices, Lars Mündermann

Dissertations and Theses

A systematic study of persistent, or residual, images occurring in CCD imagers and a systematic study of dark current generation in CCD imagers are presented. These effects are a source of unwanted signal in frames, and should be considered where very exact, low light-level signal processing is necessary. For both studies explanatory models and statistical analysis techniques have been developed which enable the derivation of the densities and the characteristic energies. Furthermore the importance of understanding these phenomena in the context of today's low light-level imaging is discussed.

Impurity sites are found to be responsible for residual images. Photoelectrons are …

The Synthesis And Characterization Of A Porphyrin Oligomer As A Potential Antenna For Light Harvesting Solar Cells, Tristan Timothy Jenkins

Dissertations and Theses

Mankind's attempts to harvest the sun have resulted in photocells with about 15% overall energy conversion efficiency. The best of these cells consist of a light-sensitive dye attached to a semiconductor. Absorbed light energy is transferred to the semiconductor via the delivery of an excited electron from the dye. Dye electrons are replenished with a redox solution, coupling the dye to the counter electrode.

This research was the beginning of an exploration into some potential improvements in the cell. First of all, the redox solution is a corrosive liquid, and leaks present a problem. A porphyrin oligomer with a TCPP …

High Resolution Seismic Reflection Interpretations Of The Hood Canal-Discovery Bay Fault Zone, Puget Sound, Washington, Brian J. Haug

Dissertations and Theses

The north-northeast trending Hood Canal is an elongate 75 km long, 2-5 km wide, maximum 190 m deep glacial trough that represents the western limit of Washington's Puget Sound estuary complex and eastern boundary of the Olympic Peninsula. Airgun seismic reflection data were collected in Hood Canal April 4-5, 1994 onboard the University of Washington's R. V. Thomas G. Thompson for the purpose of defining the enigmatic and relatively unstudied Hood Canal-Discovery Bay fault zone (HDF). This fault zone parallels western Hood Canal, is obscured by marine waters and thick late Quaternary glacio-marine sediments, and is defined locally by gravity …

Usability Of Visual Basic For Parallel Programming On Windows Nt, James Scott Barker

Dissertations and Theses

Visual Basic is a very popular language. Many hardware engineers have learned Visual Basic because of its simplicity, but have never learned C or C++. Furthermore, people are choosing not to use C or C++ for business software development, but instead are embracing languages such as Visual Basic. Since one of the goals of the parallel programming community has been to encourage more widespread use of parallelism in software, this body of programming talent needs to be addressed. This thesis intends to prove that Visual Basic can be used for parallel programming, that using it is at least as easy …

Specification-Driven Optimization, Sheena Day

Dissertations and Theses

Traditionally, optimizing transformations have been built into compilers. The end-user has little or no control over guiding any optimizations that may be applied by the compiler. Moreover, the compiler-writer does not have a simple way to direct the optimizations. Thus, many potentially beneficial opportunities for code optimization may be lost. We have built a system that allows the user to participate in guiding source-to-source transformations via the specification of rewrite rules. A clean separation of the rules from the strategy of applying them makes the system easier to use and modify, compared to other integrated systems. This is especially relevant …

The Green Dyadic Formulation For Radiation Problems With Arbitrary Sources Embedded In Stratified Multi-Layer Structures : Application To Molecular Fluorescence Problems, Robert Lyle Hartman

Dissertations and Theses

The Green Dyadic method for computing fields due to current sources between parallel interfaces of dielectric materials is studied. Computer implementation of the method as presented in a well-known article leads to the conclusion that significant errors are present. Two dissimilar methods of solution lead to corrected formulations which are shown to be equivalent. The same correction is found in the research literature. For confirmation, computations are performed in examples involving an emitting dipole by both the Green dyadic method and Sommerfeld' s Hertz vector method. Finally, the computational examples are used to compute fluorescence decay rates for emitting dipoles …

Paramagnetic Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (Nmr) Studies On The Calcium Binding Site Of [Alpha]-Lactalbumin, Thomas Kurt Ritter

Dissertations and Theses

Paramagnetic NMR has drawn interest as a technique for extending the range of systems that can be investigated. The purpose of this study was to determine whether a combination of paramagnetic two-dimensional and relaxation techniques allows for assigning resonances corresponding to residues forming the metal binding site of proteins in which the metal is coordinated exclusively by amino acid side chains and which have been previously inaccessible to assignment.

α-Lactalbumin (LA) is a calcium binding protein with relatively broad NMR signals; this broadness has prevented complete assignment. LA has been the subject of many studies, because it can form a …

Xanthones As Antimalarial Agents : Binding Interactions Between Heme Analogues And Xanthones, Jane Xu Kelly

Dissertations and Theses

Human falciparum malaria is caused by Plasmodium falciparum parasite, which digests host hemoglobin within its food vacuole, releasing toxic heme. P. falciparum detoxifies free heme to hemozoin by polymerization. This process is believed to be the target of most successful antimalarial drugs, chloroquine and quinine, which are now losing their effectiveness due to the spread of multi-drug resistant strains. Xanthones were recognized in the laboratory of Dr. M. Riscoe (Portland VA Medical Center) to bind to heme, preventing heme polymerization [Ignatushchenko, M., Winter R., and Riscoe, M. (1997) FEBS Letters 409, 67].

This thesis reports a study of the interactions …

Flow And Congestion Control For Internet Streaming Applications, Shanwei Cen, Calton Pu, Jonathan Walpole

Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

The emergence of streaming multimedia players provides users with low latency audio and video content over the Internet. Providing high-quality, best-effort, real-time multimedia content requires adaptive delivery schemes that fairly share the available network bandwidth with reliable data protocols such as TCP. This paper proposes a new flow and congestion control scheme, SCP (Streaming Control Protocol) , for real-time streaming of continuous multimedia data across the Internet. The design of SCP arose from several years of experience in building and using adaptive real-time streaming video players. SCP addresses two issues associated with real-time streaming. First, it uses a congestion control …

Impedance Spectroscopy Of Bilayer Lipid Membranes And Tio₂ Based Solar Cells, Uwe Hermes

Dissertations and Theses

It has been proposed in the literature that a novel class of biosensors can be based on a bimolecular layer of lipids supported on one side by a metallic surface. In order to estimate the potential of this system for the design of membrane sensors, we have studied properties of a two-electrode system consisting of a tefion insulated metallic wire and a Ag/ AgCl electrode, both immersed in KCl solution. The lipid bimolecular layer was formed on the metal surface of the cut tefion insulated wire. The electrical conductivity properties of such a device were studied in the frequency range …

Molecular Fluorescence At A Rough Surface: The Orientation Effects, P.T. Leung, W. L. Blacke

Physics Faculty Publications and Presentations

The problem of the dynamical interaction between an emitting dipole and a metallic grating surface is considered with particular interest in the effects due to different orientations of the dipole with respect to the substrate surface. Our previous perturbative theory is extended to treat both parallel and perpendicular dipoles and the results are applied to the study of modified fluorescence characteristics for admolecules in the vicinity of a rough metal surface modeled as a grating. Numerical results show that some of the characteristics are very sensitive to the molecular orientation and the one along the grating direction is manifested with …

Materialized View Algorithms, Yubo Fan

Dissertations and Theses

A data warehouse is a stand-alone repository of integrated information available for decision support OLAP querying and analysis. Aggregate views can be materialized (stored in disk) to improve query performance in a data warehouse.

Several static and dynamic algorithms for selecting materialized aggregate views (MA V) in a data warehouse are proposed in this thesis. The algorithms are then compared by running a simulation system, which can be configured to compare several algorithms on different type of data warehouses. Simulation results for static algorithms are presented to show that several proposed algorithms perform close to an existing good algorithm (HRU …

An Ice Shelf Mechanism For Heinrich Layer Production, Christina L. Hulbe

Geology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The effect of an ice shelf in the Labrador Sea on ice-rafted sediment delivery to the glacial North Atlantic is investigated using a finite element numerical model of ice shelf flow. Discharge into the shelf from Hudson Strait creates a thick central core, extending downstream into the shelf, that is flanked by relatively thin ice. Melting at the base of the deep keel would produce cool, fresh water which would rise to refreeze along the keel's flanks. Debris deposited by melting deep central ice could create the Heinrich layers observed in the Labrador Sea while the debris-rich ice protected by …

Complexity And Decomposability Of Relations, Martin Zwick

Systems Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

A discrete multivariate relation, defined set-theoretically, is a subset of a cartesian product of sets which specify the possible values of a number of variables. Where three or more variables are involved, the highest order relation, namely the relation between all the variables, may or may not be decomposable without loss into sets of lower order relations which involve subsets of the variables. In a completely parallel manner, the highest order relation defined information-theoretically, namely the joint probability distribution involving all the variables, may or may not be decomposed without loss into lower-order distributions involving subsets of the variables. Decomposability …

Geologic Evidence Of Historic And Prehistoric Tsunami Inundation At Seaside, Oregon, Brooke K. Fiedorowicz

Dissertations and Theses

Over the past decade, research conducted along the Cascadia subduction zone coast established evidence for coseismic subsidence, liquefaction, and nearfield tsunami deposition. Seaside is a low lying northern Oregon coastal city potentially at risk for nearfield tsunami inundation from a Cascadia earthquake. The 1964 Alaskan farfield tsunami impacted Seaside, and deposits from that event serve as a model for interpreting prehistoric tsunami deposits in the Seaside area. A reconnaissance subsurface study of potential tsunami inundation sites was performed by trenching and gouge coring in the coastal wetlands along the Necanicum River, Neacoxie Creek, drainage to the east of Neacoxie Creek, …