Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

The Influence Of Human Disturbance On Wildlife Use Of A Highway In South Texas, Thomas J. Yamashita

Theses and Dissertations

Roads can greatly impact wildlife. Wildlife vehicle collisions contribute to population declines while disturbance from human activity may prevent wildlife from using areas around roads. The construction of mitigation structures may lessen these effects through fine scale modification of animal use of roadside areas. In this thesis, how the construction of wildlife mitigation structures impacted the fine scale distribution of wildlife on State Highway 100 in Cameron County, Texas was examined. Spatial and temporal scale may also influence these relationships. The relationship between human activity and wildlife activity around the highway was explored and how the distribution of wildlife road …

The Rotational Spectrum Of 1,1-Diiodoethane, Michael Joseph Carrillo

Theses and Dissertations

The first chapter of this thesis introduces the basic theory of rotational spectroscopy. This includes the theory of a rigid rotor, centrifugal distortion, and hyperfine effects. The theory behind diatomic systems is explained first, and then expanded to the asymmetric top system. The second chapter encompasses a brief overview on the development of microwave spectroscopy and discusses the instruments that were utilized during this study, namely the cavity-based and chirped-pulse Fourier transform microwave spectrometers. Chapter three describes the quantum chemical calculation methods and basis sets that were applied throughout this study. Chapter four discusses the progress of data analysis of …

Analysis Of The Facilitative Interaction Between Batis Maritima And Avicennia Germinans As A Mangrove Restoration Strategy, Javier R. Navarro

Theses and Dissertations

The multiple experiments conducted in an Avicennia germinans forest in Laguna Vista, TX was focused on determining if facilitation theory could explain the behavior observed between the herbaceous halophyte Batis maritima and A. germinans. I hypnotized that a positive interaction exists but through which mechanisms of facilitation I did not know. The overarching theme of the study is the presence or absence of B. maritima. Facilitation theory tells us that positive interactions are most often found under stressful conditions such as those on the coastal tidal flat of the Laguna Madre. Locally B. maritima has been found to …

Absence Of Landau-Peierls Instability In The Magnetic Dual Chiral Density Wave Phase Of Dense Qcd, Efrain J. Ferrer, Vivian De La Incera

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications and Presentations

We investigate the stability of the magnetic dual chiral density wave (MDCDW) phase of cold and dense QCD against collective low-energy fluctuations of the order parameter. The appearance of additional structures in the system free energy due to the explicit breaking of the rotational and isospin symmetries by the external magnetic field play a crucial role in the analysis. The new structures stiffen the spectrum of the thermal fluctuations in the transverse direction, thereby avoiding the Landau-Peierls instability that affects single-modulated phases at arbitrarily low temperatures. The lack of Landau-Peierls instabilities in the MDCDW phase makes this inhomogeneous phase of …

South Texas Coastal Area Storm Surge Model Development And Improvement, Sara E. Davila, Cesar Davila Hernandez, Martin Flores, Jungseok Ho

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

The intensification of climatic changes, mainly natural geophysical hazards like hurricanes, are of great interest to the South Texas region. Scientists and engineers must protect essential resources from coastal threats, such as storm surge. This study presents the development process and improvements of a hydrodynamic finite element model that covers the South Texas coast, specifically the Lower Laguna Madre, for the aid of local emergency management teams. Four historical tropical cyclone landfalls are evaluated and used as a means of verification of the hydrodynamic model simulation results. The parameters used to improve the accuracy of the model are the tidal …

Homotopy Groups And Quantitative Sperner-Type Lemma, Oleg R. Musin

School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

We consider a generalization of Sperner's lemma for triangulations of m-discs whose vertices are colored in at most m colors. A coloring on the boundary (m-1)-sphere defines an element in the corresponding homotopy group of the sphere. Depending on this invariant, a lower bound is obtained for the number of fully colored simplexes. In particular, if the Hopf invariant is nonzero on the boundary of 4-disk, then there are at least 9 fully colored tetrahedra and if the Hopf invariant is d, then the lower bound is 3d + 3.

Concrete Polytopes May Not Tile The Space, Alexey Garber, Igor Pak

School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Brandolini et al. conjectured in (Preprint, 2019) that all concrete lattice polytopes can multitile the space. We disprove this conjecture in a strong form, by constructing an infinite family of counterexamples in ℝ3 .

Weak Mitoticity Of Bounded Disjunctive And Conjunctive Truth-Table Autoreducible Sets, Liyu Zhang, Mahmoud K. Quweider, Hangsheng Lei, Fitratullah Khan

Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Glaßer et al. (SIAMJCOMP 2008 and TCS 2009)2 proved existence of two sparse sets A and B in EXP, where A is 3-tt (truth-table) polynomial-time autoreducible but not weakly polynomial-time Turing mitotic and B is polynomial-time 2-tt autoreducible but not weakly polynomial-time 2-tt mitotic. We unify and strengthen both of those results by showing that there is a sparse set in EXP that is polynomial-time 2-tt autoreducible but not even weakly polynomial-time Turing mitotic. All these results indicate that polynomial-time autoreducibilities in general do not imply polynomial-time mitoticity at all with the only exceptions of the many-one and 1-tt reductions. …

Infusing Raspberry Pi In The Computer Science Curriculum For Enhanced Learning, Fitratullah Khan, Mahmoud K. Quweider, Ala Qubbaj, Emmett Tomai, Lei Xu, Liyu Zhang, Hansheng Lei

Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

With the advent of cloud computing, the Internet of Things (IoT), and mobile computing, CS faculty are continuously revamping the curriculum material to address such burgeoning set of technologies in practical and relatable ways. Raspberry Pi (RPi) devices represent an ideal hardware/software framework that embodies all these technologies through its simple architecture, small form factor (that minimizes the volume and footprint of a desktop computer), and ability to integrate various sensors that network together and connect to the Cloud. Therefore, one of the strategies of Computer Science Department, to enhance depth of learning concepts, has been to infuse Raspberry Pi …

Burnside Chromatic Polynomials Of Group-Invariant Graphs, Jacob A. White

School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

We introduce the Burnside chromatic polynomial of a graph that is invariant under a group action. This is a generalization of the Q-chromatic function Zaslavsky introduced for gain graphs. Given a group G acting on a graph G and a G-set X, a proper X-coloring is a function with no monochromatic edge orbit. The set of proper colorings is a G-set which induces a polynomial function from the Burnside ring of G to itself. In this paper, we study many properties of the Burnside chromatic polynomial, answering some questions of Zaslavsky

Benchmarking And Parameter Sensitivity Of Physiological And Vegetation Dynamics Using The Functionally Assembled Terrestrial Ecosystem Simulator (Fates) At Barro Colorado Island, Panama, Charles D. Koven, Ryan G. Knox, Rosie A. Fisher, Jeffrey Q. Chambers, Bradley O. Christoffersen, Stuart J. Davies, Matteo Detto

School of Earth, Environmental, and Marine Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Plant functional traits determine vegetation responses to environmental variation, but variation in trait values is large, even within a single site. Likewise, uncertainty in how these traits map to Earth system feedbacks is large. We use a vegetation demographic model (VDM), the Functionally Assembled Terrestrial Ecosystem Simulator (FATES), to explore parameter sensitivity of model predictions, and comparison to observations, at a tropical forest site: Barro Colorado Island in Panama. We define a single 12-dimensional distribution of plant trait variation, derived primarily from observations in Panama, and define plant functional types (PFTs) as random draws from this distribution. We compare several …

Visual Attention Consistency Under Image Transforms For Multi-Label Image Classification, Hao Guo, Kang Zheng, Xiaochuan Fan, Hongkai Yu, Song Wang

Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Human visual perception shows good consistency for many multi-label image classification tasks under certain spatial transforms, such as scaling, rotation, flipping and translation. This has motivated the data augmentation strategy widely used in CNN classifier training -- transformed images are included for training by assuming the same class labels as their original images. In this paper, we further propose the assumption of perceptual consistency of visual attention regions for classification under such transforms, i.e., the attention region for a classification follows the same transform if the input image is spatially transformed. While the attention regions of CNN classifiers can be …

The Role Of Α, Γ, And Metastable Polymorphs On Electrospun Polyamide 6/Functionalized Graphene Oxide, Javier Macossay-Torres, Yazmin I. Avila-Vega, Faheem A. Sheikh, Travis Cantu, Francisco E. Longoria-Rodriguez, Edgar H. Ramirez-Soria, Rigoberto C. Advincula, Jose Bonilla-Cruz

Chemistry Faculty Publications and Presentations

The present paper describes the addition of nitroxide-functionalized graphene oxide (GOFT) into polyamide 6 (PA6) micro- and nanofibers, which were obtained through electrospinning. SEM micrographs demonstrated the presence of fibers. Tensile testing presented an unexpected and non-obvious behavior, in which the Young’s modulus, tensile strength, and elongation simultaneously and remarkably increased compared to the pristine polymer nanofibers. GOFT induces the hydrogen bonding between the NH group from PA6 with the functional groups, thus promoting higher crystallinity of the polymer matrix. Nonetheless, deconvoluted DSC curves revealed the presence of two quasi-steady polymorphous (b and d phases) contributing to 46% of the …

Effect Of Hydrothermal Temperature Treatment On The Variance Of Fluorescence In Ca2sio4:Tb3Þ, Rajaboopathi Mani, Santosh K. Gupta

Chemistry Faculty Publications and Presentations

Investigations of structural defects and their associated impact on the optical properties of optical materials are essential expediencies because different methods are involved in the preparation of those materials for display applications. Lanthanide ion doping is a simple structural probing strategy that facilitates the challenges of identifying the structural defects. Pure and terbium (Tb3+) doped Ca2SiO4 (C2S) particles were prepared using Pechini (C2SP) and hydrothermal methods (C2SH). From SEM images, it is observed that the Tb3+ doped C2SP particles were highly agglomerated, more than the C2SH particles. The TEM study confirmed that the particle size decreased for C2SH prepared at …

Cybersecurity, Digital Forensics, And Mobile Computing: Building The Pipeline Of Next-Generation University Graduates Through Focused High School Summer Camps, Mahmoud K. Quweider, Fitratullah Khan, Liyu Zhang, Lei Xu, Yessica Rodriguez, Yessenia Rodriguez

Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

To prepare the next generation of skilled university graduates that would help in filling the national need for cybersecurity, digital forensics, and mobile computing professionals, a team of minority/under-represented graduate students, the University Upward Bound Program (a federally funded program and part of the U.S. Department of Education; one of 967 programs nationwide) staff, and faculty from the Computer Science (CS) department got together and proposed a focused 10-week long funded summer camp for two local high schools with the following objectives:

1. Provide graduate students to instruct in the areas of` mobile application development, forensics and cyber Security.

2. …

Categorizing Zonal Productivity On The Continental Shelf With Nutrient-Salinity Ratios, Jongsun Kim, Piers Chapman, Gilbert Rowe, Steven F. Dimarco

School of Earth, Environmental, and Marine Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Highlights

• Identifying riverine influence on productivity in the northern Gulf of Mexico
• Use of nutrient/salinity plots to differentiate inputs from two rivers
• Verifying Rowe-Chapman (2002) hypothesis with in situ data

Abstract

Coastal ocean productivity is often dependent on riverine sources of nutrients, yet it can be difficult to determine how far the influence of the river extends. The northern Gulf of Mexico (GOM) receives freshwater and nutrients discharged mainly from the Mississippi and Atchafalaya Rivers. We used nutrient/salinity relationships to (i) differentiate the nutrient inputs of the two rivers and (ii) determine the potential extent of the zones where productivity …

Potential Predictability Of Net Primary Production In The Ocean, Kristen M. Krumhardt, Nicole S. Lovenduski, Matthew C. Long, J. Y. Luo, K. Lindsay, S. Yeager, Cheryl S. Harrison

School of Earth, Environmental, and Marine Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Interannual variations in marine net primary production (NPP) contribute to the variability of available living marine resources, as well as influence critical carbon cycle processes. Here we provide a global overview of near-term (1 to 10 years) potential predictability of marine NPP using a novel set of initialized retrospective decadal forecasts from an Earth System Model. Interannual variations in marine NPP are potentially predictable in many areas of the ocean 1 to 3 years in advance, from temperate waters to the tropics, showing a substantial improvement over a simple persistence forecast. However, some regions, such as the subpolar Southern Ocean, …

Effect Of Pecan Variety And The Method Of Extraction On The Antimicrobial Activity Of Pecan Shell Extracts Against Different Foodborne Pathogens And Their Efficacy On Food Matrices, Veerachandra K. Yemmireddy, Cameron Cason, Juan Moreira, Achyut Adhikari

School of Earth, Environmental, and Marine Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

The shells of pecans are a rich source of bioactive compounds with potential inhibitory activity against various pathogenic microorganisms. This study investigated the antimicrobial activity of pecan shell extracts as effected by the type of cultivar and the method of extraction against various foodborne bacterial pathogens. Defatted shell powders of 19 different pecan cultivars were subjected to aqueous and ethanolic extraction (1:20 w/v) procedures, respectively. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) of lyophilized pecan shell extracts dissolved in deionized water containing 5% DMSO (v/v) were determined against multiple strains of Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella enterica, and …

Level 17 Ramanujan-Sato Series, Timothy Huber, Daniel Schultz, Dongxi Ye

School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Two level 17 modular functions r=q2∏n=1∞(1−qn)(n17),s=q2∏n=1∞(1−q17n)3(1−qn)3 are used to construct a new class of Ramanujan–Sato series for 1/π. The expansions are induced by modular identities similar to those level of 5 and 13 appearing in Ramanujan’s Notebooks. A complete list of rational and quadratic series corresponding to singular values of the parameters is derived.

Mathematical Modeling Of Nonlinear Blood Glucose-Insulin Dynamics With Beta Cells Effect, Gabriela Urbina, Daniel N. Riahi, Dambaru Bhatta

School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

We consider mathematical modeling of blood glucose-insulin regulatory system with the additional effect of the secreted insulin by the pancreatic beta cells and in the presence of an external energy input to such system. Such modeling system is investigated to determine the time-dependent nonlinear dynamics that take place by the quantities, which represent the glucose and insulin concentrations in the blood, insulin action as well as in the absence or presence of secreted insulin due to the pancreatic beta cells. Using both analytical and numerical procedures, we determine such quantities versus time for both diabetes patients and normal human and …

Characterizing Quantum Physics Students’ Conceptual And Procedural Knowledge Of The Characteristic Equation, Kaitlyn Stephens Serbin, Brigitte Johana Sánchez Robayo, Julia Victoria Truman, Kevin Lee Watson, Megan Wawro

School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Research on student understanding of eigentheory in linear algebra has expanded recently, yet few studies address student understanding of the Characteristic Equation. In this study, we explore quantum physics students’ conceptual and procedural knowledge of deriving and using the Characteristic Equation. We developed the Conceptual and Procedural Knowledge framework for classifying the quality of students’ conceptual and procedural knowledge of both deriving and using the Characteristic Equation along a continuum. Most students exhibited deeper conceptual and procedural knowledge of using the Characteristic Equation than of deriving the Characteristic Equation. Furthermore, most students demonstrated deeper procedural knowledge than conceptual knowledge of …

An Effective Method To Obtain Contour Of Fisheye Images Based On Explicit Level Set Method, Xuegang Wu, Zhijun Qiao

School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Obtaining the effective contour from an image taken by fisheye lens is important for the following transactions. Many studies try to develop suitable methods to get accurate contours of fisheye images. Using the traditional level set method (CV model) is hard to meet the desire task that the final segmentation region is a circle. Therefore, the preprocessing of fisheye images and the improvement of traditional level set method are redesigned to get a final circular segmentation which may be suitable to other applications. In this paper, we use the local entropy method to make the value of pixels be even …

A New Species Of Chromis (Teleostei: Pomacentridae) From Mesophotic Coral Ecosystems Of Rapa Nui (Easter Island) And Salas Y Gomez, Chile, Bart Shepard, Hudson T. Pinheiro, Tyler A. Y. Phelps, Erin E. Easton, Alejandro Perez-Matus, Luiz A. Rocha

School of Earth, Environmental, and Marine Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

A new species of Chromis (Teleostei: Pomacentridae) is described from three specimens collected at 90 m depth in a mesophotic coral ecosystem at Rapa Nui, Chile. Chromis mamatapara, new species, can be distinguished from its congeners by the following combination of characters: dorsal-fin rays XIV,13–14; pectoral-fin rays 18–19, third from top of fin longest; tubed lateral-line scales 18; total gill rakers on first arch 30–32; vertebrae 11þ15; and by coloration of living specimens, especially the presence of a single, pronounced, white spot, roughly the same diameter as the orbit, located where the posterior base of the dorsal fin intersects the …

The Pantropical Response Of Soil Moisture To El Niño, Kurt C. Solander, Brent D. Newman, Alessandro Carloca De Araujo, Holly R. Barnard, Z. Carter Berry, Damien Bonal, Mario Bretfeld, Benoit Burban, Luiz Antonio Candido, Rolando Celleri, Jeffery Q. Chambers, Bradley O. Christoffersen

School of Earth, Environmental, and Marine Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

The 2015–2016 El Niño event ranks as one of the most severe on record in terms of the magnitude and extent of sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies generated in the tropical Pacific Ocean. Corresponding global impacts on the climate were expected to rival, or even surpass, those of the 1997–1998 severe El Niño event, which had SST anomalies that were similar in size. However, the 2015–2016 event failed to meet expectations for hydrologic change in many areas, including those expected to receive well above normal precipitation. To better understand how climate anomalies during an El Niño event impact soil moisture, …

Survival Of Off-Host Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) Annulatus (Acari: Ixodidae) Larvae In Study Arenas In Relation To Climatic Factors And Habitats In South Texas, Usa, Emily Jesselle Zamora

Theses and Dissertations

The cattle fever tick, Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) annulatus (Say), is an economically destructive arthropod because of its ability to vector bovine babesiosis. Cattle fever ticks can spend more than 90% of their life cycle as questing larvae, but the effect of climatic factors on their off-host behavior and survival is unclear. The goal of this study was to measure the effects of specific ecological factors on off-host larvae in nature. The study was conducted in a south Texas pasture over a 20-mo period, during which time larval populations were surveyed and ambient weather variables - relative humidity and temperatures – were …

Partial Differential Equations In Curved Spacetimes, Jorge A. Garcia

Theses and Dissertations

It is the ambition of this thesis to analyze in a concise and coherent manner the idiosyncratic nature of partial differential equations and their mathematical structure in distinct curved spacetimes. In our work special interest is taken in quantum fields dwelling within the de-Sitter geometry. In Chapters I, II, III, and IV, a meticulous study of general relativity is undertaken with one of its solutions derived, an introduction of quantum mechanics is posed, the relativistic quantum theory of fermions is defined, and a “merging” of the former chapters and results are considered, respectively. With what has been derived we seek …

Algorithmic Assembly Of Nanoscale Structures, Austin Luchsinger

Theses and Dissertations

The development of nanotechnology has become one of the most significant endeavors of our time. A natural objective of this field is discovering how to engineer nanoscale structures. Limitations of current top-down techniques inspire investigation into bottom-up approaches to reach this objective. A fundamental precondition for a bottom-up approach is the ability to control the behavior of nanoscale particles. Many abstract representations have been developed to model systems of particles and to research methods for controlling their behavior. This thesis develops theories on two such approaches for building complex structures: the self-assembly of simple particles, and the use of simple …

Exploring Mechanical Properties And Configurational Energetics Of Toxbox Using Molecular Dynamics Simulation, Shams Mehdi

Theses and Dissertations

All-atom Molecular Dynamics Simulations (MDS) have been performed to obtain 5 ns trajectory of the solvated, neutralized, and equilibrated toxbox system in NPT ensemble at 300 K. This trajectory data has been used to calculate the configurational entropy of toxbox by employing a quantum mechanical approach. The method is based on evaluating determinant of the covariance matrix, built from generalized coordinates of all atoms for each frame. The upper limit to the configurational entropy of toxbox has been calculated to be 30,030 J/mol-K. A preliminary investigation has been conducted to study the effects of sequence-dependent DNA conformation (DNA Crookedness) on …

Detection And Enumeration Of Bacterial Pathogens In The American Oyster (Crassostrea Virginica), Mohammad Maruf Billah

Theses and Dissertations

American oyster (Crassostrea virginica) is a popular seafood for its delicacy and high nutritional value. Based on increasing concern about contamination of bacterial pathogens in raw oyster, my research objectives have been focused on detection and enumeration of two important bacterial pathogens, Escherichia coli and Salmonella spp. in the American oyster in south Texas waters, local markets and controlled laboratory studies. Immunohistochemical and RT-PCR analyses showed substantial bacterial pathogen’s presence in gills and digestive glands of oysters collected from San Martin Lake and South Padre Island as well as local markets. Laboratory studies showed increasing trend of both …

Tipping Points Of Mississippi Delta Marshes Due To Accelerated Sea-Level Rise, Torbjörn E. Törnqvist, Krista L. Jankowski, Yong-Xiang Li, Juan L. Gonzalez

School of Earth, Environmental, and Marine Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Coastal marshes are threatened by relative sea-level (RSL) rise, yet recent studies predict marsh survival even under the high rates of RSL rise expected later in this century. However, because these studies are mostly based on short-term records, uncertainty persists about the longer-term vulnerability of coastal marshes. We present an 8500-year-long marsh record from the Mississippi Delta, showing that at rates of RSL rise exceeding 6 to 9 mm year−1, marsh conversion into open water occurs in about 50 years. At rates of RSL rise exceeding ~3 mm year−1, marsh drowning occurs within a few centuries. Because present-day rates of …