Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Peer-To-Peer Energy Trading In Smart Residential Environment With User Behavioral Modeling, Ashutosh Timilsina

Theses and Dissertations--Computer Science

Electric power systems are transforming from a centralized unidirectional market to a decentralized open market. With this shift, the end-users have the possibility to actively participate in local energy exchanges, with or without the involvement of the main grid. Rapidly reducing prices for Renewable Energy Technologies (RETs), supported by their ease of installation and operation, with the facilitation of Electric Vehicles (EV) and Smart Grid (SG) technologies to make bidirectional flow of energy possible, has contributed to this changing landscape in the distribution side of the traditional power grid.

Trading energy among users in a decentralized fashion has been referred …

Practical Ai Value Alignment Using Stories, Md Sultan Al Nahian

Theses and Dissertations--Computer Science

As more machine learning agents interact with humans, it is increasingly a prospect that an agent trained to perform a task optimally - using only a measure of task performance as feedback--can violate societal norms for acceptable behavior or cause harm. Consequently, it becomes necessary to prioritize task performance and ensure that AI actions do not have detrimental effects. Value alignment is a property of intelligent agents, wherein they solely pursue goals and activities that are non-harmful and beneficial to humans. Current approaches to value alignment largely depend on imitation learning or learning from demonstration methods. However, the dynamic nature …

Data Curation For Modeling Tall Fescue Biomass Dynamics With Dssat-Csm, M. B. Hanson, P. D. Alderman, T. J. Butler, A. Caldeira Rocateli

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

While models for predicting forage production are available to aid management decisions for some forage crops, there is limited research for a yield model designed specifically for tall fescue (Schedonorus arundinaceus). Therefore, our objective was to adapt an existing perennial forage model, the Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer Cropping Systems Model (DSSAT-CSM) for predicting forage biomass of tall fescue in the southern Great Plains. To evaluate model performance, there must first be a high level of data manipulation and cleaning. In this project, a cohesive dataset combining biomass, weather, soil, and management data were structured into DSSAT …

Opportunities And Challenges In Augmenting Honey Bee Forage Resources With Pasture Legumes In Southern Australia, M. Kratz, M. Brown, M. T. Newell, R. C. Hayes

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

More than 80% of Australian honey is produced from native tree and shrub species. However, with increasing demands on public lands along with production risks posed by drought, floods and wildfires, there is a need to identify alternative forage resources to augment Australian honey production. With over 30 pasture legumes now available for agriculture in southern Australia, opportunity exists to increase the utilisation of some species with co-benefits to multiple production industries. However, there is little understanding of the potential value of most pasture legumes for honey production, and side by side comparisons are complicated by factors such as differences …

Lattice Minors And Eulerian Posets, William Gustafson

Theses and Dissertations--Mathematics

We study a partial ordering on pairings called the uncrossing poset, which first appeared in the literature in connection with a certain stratified space of planar electrical networks. We begin by examining some of the relationships between the uncrossing poset and Catalan combinatorics, and then proceed to study the structure of lower intervals. We characterize the lower intervals in the uncrossing poset that are isomorphic to the face lattice of a cube. Moving up in complexity certain lower intervals are isomorphic to the poset of simple vertex labeled minors of an associated graph.

Inspired by this structure, we define a …

Water-Soluble Palladium, Copper, And Nickel Catalysts And Their Formation In Ligand-Free Suzuki-Miyaura Cross-Coupling Reactions, Priya Karna

Theses and Dissertations--Chemistry

Transition-metal catalyzed Suzuki-Miyaura (SM) cross coupling is a powerful synthetic method for constructing carbon-carbon and carbon-heteroatom bonds in designing organic compounds, agrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, and precursors for materials. However, the nature of catalysis and identity of the transition metal catalysts used in these reactions remain under debate or unknown. This dissertation reports the studies of three metals: Pd, Cu, and Ni. Pd-nanocluster catalysts and their formation in ligand-free SM reactions with Pd(II) nitrate as a precatalyst was investigated. The catalysts are water-soluble neutral Pd tetramer and trimer in their singlet electronic states as identified by UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy and are formed …

Molecular Understanding Of Zwitterions And Quantum Computing For Sustainability, Manh Tien Nguyen

Theses and Dissertations--Chemical and Materials Engineering

The sustainable development of society needs sustainable energy solutions and the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions. One key subject in this area is the development of safe and efficient ion-based batteries. Moreover, CO₂ capture is a crucial pathway in mitigating emissions from the combustion of fossil fuels. Ongoing efforts are to improve both technologies' safety and efficiency. This thesis presents our efforts to conduct computational research on understanding advanced zwitterionic electrolytes and CO₂ capture. Chapters 2-4 illustrate the computational research to understand ionic solvation in zwitterionic electrolytes. Solid-state electrolytes are essential for safer batteries. While solid polymer electrolytes …

Surface Modification Of Carbon-Based Electrodes For Electrochemical Conversion Processes: Oxygen Reduction Reaction And Bicarbonate Conversion, Udari Shyamika Kodithuwakku Arachchige

Theses and Dissertations--Chemistry

Oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and conversion of bicarbonate into value-added chemicals are two significant electrochemical processes for energy storage and conversion. ORR is an important electrochemical reaction in fuel cells and metal-air batteries that provide power conversion and storage capacity, respectively, for portable electronics, and electric vehicles. However, the performance of catalysts (e.g., platinum-based) is critically limited by slow kinetics, inefficient four-electron pathway, and surface deactivation. This limited performance of platinum-based catalysts, the scarcity of platinum, and vulnerable supply chains for critical minerals require the development of alternative electrocatalysts now more than ever. Carbon-based materials possess several key properties that …

Slices Of C_2, Klein-4, And Quaternionic Eilenberg-Mac Lane Spectra, Carissa Slone

Theses and Dissertations--Mathematics

We provide the slice (co)towers of \(\Si{V} H_{C_2}\ul M\) for a variety of \(C_2\)-representations \(V\) and \(C_2\)-Mackey functors \(\ul M\). We also determine a characterization of all 2-slices of equivariant spectra over the Klein four-group \(C_2\times C_2\). We then describe all slices of integral suspensions of the equivariant Eilenberg-MacLane spectrum \(H\ulZ\) for the constant Mackey functor over \(C_2\times C_2\). Additionally, we compute the slices and slice spectral sequence of integral suspensions of $H\ulZ$ for the group of equivariance $Q_8$. Along the way, we compute the Mackey functors \(\mpi_{k\rho} H_{K_4}\ulZ\) and $\mpi_{k\rho} H_{Q_8}\ulZ$.

Surjectivity Of The Wahl Map On Cubic Graphs, Angela C. Hanson

Theses and Dissertations--Mathematics

Much of algebraic geometry is the study of curves. One tool we use to study curves is whether they can be embedded in a K3 surface or not. If the Wahl map is surjective on a curve, that curve cannot be embedded in a K3 surface. Therefore, studying if the Wahl map is surjective for a particular curve gives us more insight into the properties of that curve. We simplify this problem by converting graph curves to dual graphs. Then the information for graphs can be used to study the underlying curves. We will discuss conditions for the Wahl map …

Bicategorical Traces And Cotraces, Justin Barhite

Theses and Dissertations--Mathematics

Familiar constructions like the trace of a matrix and the Euler characteristic of a closed smooth manifold are generalized by a notion of trace of an endomorphism of a dualizable object in a bicategory equipped with a piece of additional structure called a shadow functor. Another example of this bicategorical trace, in the form of maps between Hochschild homology of bimodules, appears in a 1987 paper by Joseph Lipman, alongside a more mysterious ”cotrace” map involving Hochschild cohomology. Putting this cotrace on the same category-theoretic footing as the trace has led us to propose a ”bicategorical cotrace” in a closed …

Toric Bundles As Mori Dream Spaces, Courtney George

Theses and Dissertations--Mathematics

A projective, normal variety is called a Mori dream space when its Cox ring is finitely generated. These spaces are desirable to have, as they behave nicely under the Minimal Model Program, but no complete classification of them yet exists. Some early work identified that all toric varieties are examples of Mori dream spaces, as their Cox rings are polynomial rings. Therefore, a natural next step is to investigate projectivized toric vector bundles. These spaces still carry much of the combinatorial data as toric varieties, but have more variable behavior that means that they aren't as straightforward as Mori dream …

A Scattering Result For The Fifth-Order Kp-Ii Equation, Camille Schuetz

Theses and Dissertations--Mathematics

We will prove scattering for the fifth-order Kadomtsev-Petviashvilli II (fifth-order KP-II) equation. The fifth-order KP-II equation is an example of a nonlinear dispersive equation which takes the form $u_t=Lu + NL(u)$ where $L$ is a linear differential operator and $NL$ is a nonlinear operator. One looks for solutions $u(t)$ in a space $C(\R,X)$ where $X$ is a Banach space. For a nonlinear dispersive differential equation, the associated linear problem is $v_t=Lv$. A solution $u(t)$ of the nonlinear equation is said to scatter if as $t \to \infty$, the solution $u(t)$ approaches a solution $v(t)$ to the linear problem in the …

Asymptotic Behaviour Of Hyperbolic Partial Differential Equations, Shi-Zhuo Looi

Theses and Dissertations--Mathematics

We investigate the asymptotic behaviour of solutions to a range of linear and nonlinear hyperbolic equations on asymptotically flat spacetimes. We develop a comprehensive framework for the analysis of pointwise decay of linear and nonlinear wave equations on asymptotically flat manifolds of three space dimensions that are allowed to be time-varying or nonstationary, including quasilinear wave equations. The Minkowski space and time-varying perturbations thereof are included among these spacetimes. A result on scattering for a nonlinear wave equation with finite-energy solutions on nonstationary spacetimes is presented. This work was motivated in part by the investigation of more precise asymptotic behaviour …

Q-Polymatroids And Their Application To Rank-Metric Codes., Benjamin Jany

Theses and Dissertations--Mathematics

Matroid theory was first introduced to generalize the notion of linear independence. Since its introduction, the theory has found many applications in various areas of mathematics including coding theory. In recent years, q-matroids, the q-analogue of matroids, were reintroduced and found to be closely related to the theory of linear vector rank metric codes. This relation was then generalized to q-polymatroids and linear matrix rank metric codes. This dissertation aims at developing the theory of q-(poly)matroid and its relation to the theory of rank metric codes. In a first part, we recall and establish preliminary results for both q-polymatroids and …

Novel Architectures And Optimization Algorithms For Training Neural Networks And Applications, Vasily I. Zadorozhnyy

Theses and Dissertations--Mathematics

The two main areas of Deep Learning are Unsupervised and Supervised Learning. Unsupervised Learning studies a class of data processing problems in which only descriptions of objects are known, without label information. Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) have become among the most widely used unsupervised neural net models. GAN combines two neural nets, generative and discriminative, that work simultaneously. We introduce a new family of discriminator loss functions that adopts a weighted sum of real and fake parts, which we call adaptive weighted loss functions. Using the gradient information, we can adaptively choose weights to train a discriminator in the direction …

Geometry Of Pipe Dream Complexes, Benjamin Reese

Theses and Dissertations--Mathematics

In this dissertation we study the geometry of pipe dream complexes with the goal of gaining a deeper understanding of Schubert polynomials. Given a pipe dream complex PD(w) for w a permutation in the symmetric group, we show its boundary is Whitney stratified by the set of all pipe dream complexes PD(v) where v > w in the strong Bruhat order. For permutations w in the symmetric group on n elements, we introduce the pipe dream complex poset P(n). The dual of this graded poset naturally corresponds to the poset of strata associated to the Whitney stratification of the boundary of …

Beam Dynamics Simulations And Systematic Studies For The Muon G-2 Experiment At Fermilab, Abel M. Lorente Campos

Theses and Dissertations--Physics and Astronomy

The first results of the positive muon anomalous magnetic moment from the Muon g-2 Experiment at Fermilab differs from the Standard Model prediction by 3.3 standard deviations, with an experimental uncertainty of 0.46 ppm. Combining this result with the previous measurement from the Brookhaven National Laboratory, it sets the difference between experiment and theory at 4.2 standard deviations. The goal of the Muon g-2 Experiment at Fermilab is to increase this discrepancy to 5 standard deviations, which would require unprecedented precision in the measurements of 0.14 ppm. Of significant importance to achieving this precision, beam and spin dynamics simulations are …

Investigations Of Epitaxial Heterostructures Of Layered Iridates With Resonant X-Ray Techniques, Sujan Shrestha

Theses and Dissertations--Physics and Astronomy

In layered 5d transition metal oxides, like Sr₂IrO₄, strong spin-orbit interaction comparable to the relevant interactions such as electron correlation and crystal field splitting provides fertile ground for emergent non-trivial phenomena. Some of these phenomena include metal-insulator transition, high-temperature superconductivity, and spin-orbit Mott insulator. The ground state is governed by the spin-orbit-entangled pseudospins J_eff =1/2, which have a significant orbital contribution. Therefore, magnetic exchange interactions and anisotropies are highly susceptible to external stimuli such as strain and heterointerface. As a result, it has a significant impact on the magnetic properties of the system. However, …

The Effect Of Land-Cover/Land-Use And Habitat Fragmentation On Spatial Patterns Of Lyme Disease In The Eastern United States, Maria Elizabeth Topmiller

Theses and Dissertations--Forestry and Natural Resources

Lyme disease has been of national concern for the past few decades. As our understanding of the role of landscape structure in epidemiology expands, it is essential to apply the principles of landscape ecology to the research of vector-borne and zoonotic disease. This study examined the strength of the relationship between land-cover class, degree of habitat fragmentation and county-level Lyme disease cases. Forest, agricultural, and urban land cover types were the categories of interest, while percent cover, edge density, and patch density were the landscape metric used to measure habitat amount and fragmentation. The general linear trends were modelled with …

Historical And Forecasted Kentucky Specific Slope Stability Analyses Using Remotely Retrieved Hydrologic And Geomorphologic Data, Daniel M. Francis

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

Hazard analyses of rainfall-induced landslides have typically been observed to experience a lack of inclusion of measurements of soil moisture within a given soil layer at a site of interest. Soil moisture is a hydromechanical variable capable of both strength gains and reductions within soil systems. However, in situ monitoring of soil moisture at every site of interest is an unfeasible goal. Therefore, spatiotemporal estimates of soil moisture that are representative of in-situ conditions are required for use in subsequent landslide hazard analyses.

This study brings together various techniques for the acquisition, modeling, and forecasting of spatiotemporal retrievals of soil …

Translating Chemistry, Structure, And Processing To The Solid-State Morphology And Function Of Organic Semiconductors Through Computational Modeling And Simulations, Chamikara D. Karunasena

Theses and Dissertations--Chemistry

The immense synthetic design space and material versatility have driven the exploration and development of organic semiconductors (OSC) over several decades. While many OSC designs focus on the chemistries of the molecular or polymer building blocks, a priori, multiscale control over the solid-state morphology is required for effective application of the active layer in a given technology. However, molecular assembly during solid-state formation is a complex function interconnecting the building block chemistry and the processing environment. Insufficient knowledge as to how these aspects engage, especially at the atomistic and molecular scales, has so far limited the ability to predict …

Developing And Deploying Data-Driven Tools For Accelerated Design Of Organic Semiconductors, Vinayak Bhat

Theses and Dissertations--Chemistry

Organic semiconductors have gained widespread attention due to their potential applications in flexible, low-cost, lightweight electronics, energy storage and generation technologies, and sensing applications. However, developing new organic semiconductors with improved performance remains a significant challenge due to the vast chemical space of possible molecular and materials structures. Furthermore, the high cost and time-consuming nature of experimental synthesis and characterization hinder the rapid discovery of new materials. To overcome these challenges, this dissertation presents a data-driven approach to organic semiconductor discovery. The primary focus of this work is the development of data-driven tools, namely machine learning models, to predict critical …

Exploring The Role Of Ring Annulation In Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons For Organic Electronic Applications, Tanner Smith

Theses and Dissertations--Chemistry

Organic materials offer promising potential for the next generation of electronic devices, as their tunability, processability, and low-temperature manufacturing make them a cheap and versatile alternative to traditional silicon-based electronics. The ability to systematically alter the electronic properties of organic materials is vital for their incorporation into device applications. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are of significant interest for organic electronic applications, as relevant properties are highly dependent on their size, structure, and functionalities, and thus can be tuned to fit a wide variety of applications. Due to the enormous number of structural isomers available in larger PAHs, the development of …

Development And Biological Evaluation Of Selective Small-Molecule Inhibitors Of The Human Cytochrome P450 1b1, Austin Hachey

Theses and Dissertations--Chemistry

The human cytochrome P450 1B1 (CYP1B1) is an emerging target for small- molecule therapeutics. Several solid tumors overexpress CYP1B1 to the degree that it has been referred to as a universal tumor antigen. Conversely, its expression is low in healthy tissues. CYP1B1 may drive tumorigenesis through promoting the formation of reactive toxins from environmental pollutants or from endogenous hormone substrates. Additionally, the expression of CYP1B1 in tumors is associated with resistance to several common chemotherapies and with poor prognoses in cancer patients. However, inhibiting CYP1B1 with small molecules has been demonstrated in cellular and murine model systems to reverse this …

First Principles Calculations To Investigate Surface And Catalytic Properties Of Materials For Green Energy Generation, Keerthan Raghavendra Rao

Theses and Dissertations--Chemistry

Climate change due to greenhouse gas build up in the earth’s atmosphere is an existential threat to humanity. To mitigate climate change, a significant shift from fossil fuels is necessary. Over the years, several renewable energy sources like solar, wind, geothermal etc. have been explored with the aim providing carbon-free energy. In this work, we focus on using density functional theory (DFT) methods to investigate key functional properties of materials of interest for applications in solar cells and catalytic conversion for energy generation. We show geometric effects of carboxylic acid binding on a transition metal surface to impact the deoxygenation …

Application Of Mass Spectrometry For The Characterization Of Synthetic Oligomers And Natural Lignin, Poorya Kamali

Theses and Dissertations--Chemistry

As part of the ongoing effort to substitute finite fuel and chemical resources with renewable ones, biomass is emerging as one of the most promising sources. Biomass consists of three main components of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin. Traditionally, cellulose has been used extensively in pulping industry, while lignin has been considered waste and is burned to generate heat. Lignin, a complex aromatic polymer component of biomass, has the potential to be used as a source of aromatic chemicals and pharmaceutical synthons. The recalcitrant nature of lignin, the lack of effective lignin breakdown methods and analytical techniques to analyze it are …

Development Of An Effective Au:Pd Bimetallic Heterogeneous Catalyst For Oxidative Lignin Depolymerization To Low Molecular Weight Aromatics, Gayan P. Karunasinghe

Theses and Dissertations--Chemistry

The principal concept behind biorefining involves the transformation of lignocellulosic biomass into valuable products and energy resources. Historically, biorefinery strategies for lignocellulosic biomass have primarily focused on improving the conversion of cellulose into ethanol, often neglecting the underutilized lignin component. Lignin consists of phenolic subunits, from which it follows that value-added products can be obtained from lignin depolymerization. Unfortunately, lignin utilization is particularly challenging due to its high structural irregularity and recalcitrance. The goal of this study was to develop an AuPd/Li-Al layered double hydroxide (LDH) bimetallic catalyst for efficient lignin depolymerization, resulting in the production of high-value aromatic compounds. …

Normalization Techniques For Sequential And Graphical Data, Cole Pospisil

Theses and Dissertations--Mathematics

Normalization methods have proven to be an invaluable tool in the training of deep neural networks. In particular, Layer and Batch Normalization are commonly used to mitigate the risks of exploding and vanishing gradients. This work presents two methods which are related to these normalization techniques. The first method is Batch Normalized Preconditioning (BNP) for recurrent neural networks (RNN) and graph convolutional networks (GCN). BNP has been suggested as a technique for Fully Connected and Convolutional networks for achieving similar performance benefits to Batch Normalization by controlling the condition number of the Hessian through preconditioning on the gradients. We extend …

Geometric And Combinatorial Properties Of Lattice Polytopes Defined From Graphs, Kaitlin Bruegge

Theses and Dissertations--Mathematics

Polytopes are geometric objects that generalize polygons in the plane and polyhedra in 3-dimensional space. Of particular interest in geometric combinatorics are families of lattice polytopes defined from combinatorial objects, such as graphs. In particular, this dissertation studies symmetric edge polytopes (SEPs), defined from simple undirected graphs. In 2019, Higashitani, Jochemko, and Michalek gave a combinatorial description of the hyperplanes that support facets of a symmetric edge polytope in terms of certain labelings of the underlying graph.
Using this framework, we explore the number of facets that can be attained by the symmetric edge polytopes for graphs with certain structure. …