Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Ontology-Driven Integration Of Data For Freight Performance Measures, Eduardo J. Torres

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Transportation performance measures are defined as quantitative and qualitative indicators that rely on data or information to explain mobility, congestion, safety, environmental and other factors. Though performance measures have been used for freeways and other highways, not many have been specified and applied to the freight transportation system. Recently, freight performance measures have been recommended by Federal Highway Administration to quantify the operating efficiency of the freight transportation system on existing infrastructures. This research seeks to expand this concept and to develop a comprehensive freight performance measurement framework. The expanded framework recommended in this Thesis consists of four criteria: safety, …

Robustness As A Criterion For Selecting A Probability Distribution Under Uncertainty, Songsak Sriboonchitta, Hung T. Nguyen, Vladik Kreinovich, Olga Kosheleva

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

Often, we only have partial knowledge about a probability distribution, and we would like to select a single probability distribution $\rho(x)$ out of all probability distributions which are consistent with the available knowledge. One way to make this selection is to take into account that usually, the values $x$ of the corresponding quantity are also known only with some accuracy. It is therefore desirable to select a distribution which is the most robust -- in the sense the x-inaccuracy leads to the smallest possible inaccuracy in the resulting probabilities. In this paper, we describe the corresponding most robust probability distributions, …

The Characterization Of A Recombinant Virophage Integrase, Martin Christopher Chacon

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Virophages are satellite-like dsDNA viruses that parasitize giant viruses of the family Mimiviridae. Mavirus is the second virophage discovered that associates with its host virus Cafeteria roenbergensis Virus (CroV). When co-infecting their common host cell Cafeteria roenbergensis, a marine zooplankton that is widely spread throughout the oceans, mavirus will inhibit CroV's replication. In addition, mavirus was shown to share high similarities to the Maverick/Polinton eukaryotic DNA transposons. A coding sequence in mavirus genome (MV02) reveals high homology to retroviral integrases such as those found in HIVs. The putative integrase MV02 is predicted to integrate mavirus DNA into the host genome. …

Quantifying A Mining Investability Quotient To Mitigate Junior Mining Investment Risk, Jonathan Mickey Merguerian

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Uncertainty and risk are inherent features of investing in mineral exploration ventures. Investors rely on qualitative and quantitative analysis to evaluate risk of capital. The distinction between risk and uncertainty pertaining to mineral exploration is that risk is an opportunity for loss and uncertainty can be described as the range of probabilities that some condition may occur (Rose, 1987). Stakeholders rely on a combination of investment conferences, risk analysis equations, press releases, financial reports, and investment research to determine if an investment potential. J. M. Cozzolini developed a formula for Risk Adjusted Value (RAV) of an exploration venture. The study …

Improving The Engineering Properties Of Pla For 3d Printing And Beyond, Carmen R. Rocha

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Additive manufacturing (AM), now more commonly known as 3D printing, has been classified as efficient, fast, and practical in the prototyping sector of product development. In the work presented here, we will use one of the AM techniques known as Material extrusion 3D printing (ME3DP), which has all the advantages of AM. However, one of the biggest challenges facing ME3DP technologies is the limitation of the range of materials used by this technique. Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) and poly-lactic acid (PLA) are currently the most common thermoplastics materials used in ME3DP because of their ability to melt and be reprocessed. …

3-D Structure Of Colombia From 1-D Constrained Joint Inversion Of Receiver Functions And Surface Wave Dispersion, Nick Talavera

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The country, Colombia, resides at the northwest corner of the South America with seismicity and volcanism due to the intersections of the Nazca, South America and Caribbean tectonic plates (Figure 1). The boundaries of the South America plate, on which Colombia lies, borders between 60 to 200 kilometers from its coasts. A dense spot of seismicity known as the Bucaramanga Nest has had many theories to explain its existence. Two tectonic microplates suspected in this region have not been well understood. With many mysteries of the behavior of the tectonic plates beneath Colombia, using new methods may shed light on …

The New Issues In Classification Problems, Md Mahmudul Hasan

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The data involved with science and engineering getting bigger everyday. To study and organize a big amount of data is difficult without classification. In machine learning, classification is the problem of identifying a given data from a set of categories. There are several classification technique people using to classify a given data. In our work we present a sparse representation technique to perform classification. The popularity of this technique motivates us to use on our collected samples. To find a sparse representation, we used an $l_1$-minimization algorithm which is a convex relaxation algorithm proven very efficient by researchers. The purpose …

Using Word Embeddings For Text Classification In Positive And Unlabeled Learning, Emmanuel Carlo Tafoya

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Machine Learning is a sub-field of Artificial intelligence that aims to automatically improve algorithms by experience. It has been used successfully to solve various problems, such as playing checkers, or even as simple as word prediction when typing a sentence. These algorithms perform best with large amounts of training data. The more labeled data, the better a machine learning algorithm will be able to recognize patterns. However, the ideal scenario, where there is a large amount of labeled data available to train the algorithm, does not occur all the time. There are cases where labeling data is both time-consuming and …

A Unified Cyber-Enhanced Approach For Detecting Cross-Site Scripting Attacks On Web Applications, Bhanukiran Gurijala

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Cyber-security is one of our nation's most critical security priorities, and its importance continues to grow with the pervasiveness of computers and Web-based applications. In particular, cross-site scripting (XSS) is one of the most common and dangerous types of injection attacks that exploit input validation vulnerabilities. XSS has intensified due to: 1) lack of extensive security domain knowledge of software engineers who are involved in building and/or maintaining Web-applications; and 2) lack of proper software development processes focused on security, resulting in fixes to security vulnerabilities late in the software development lifecycle. Indeed, the cost benefits of removing defects, in …

On An Iteration Method For Solving A Class Of Nonlinear Matrix Equations, Mohamed Illafe

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In this thesis, I looked at the most recent extension of the Banach Contraction Principle [1]. Then I show that a concept of Sorgenfrey space may be used to explain this extension as well as Ran and Reurings fixed point theorem.

Sedimentologic And Stratigraphic Analysis Of Synrift Siliciclastic Fluvial And Lacustrine Strata In The Lower Cretaceous Upper Yucca Formation, Indio Mountains, West Texas, Matthew Robert Fox

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Outcrops of the upper Yucca Formation in the Indio Mountains near Van Horn, Texas provide temporal, tectonic, and climatic similarities to Lower Cretaceous, synrift, greenhouse pre-salt lacustrine strata along in the subsurface of the South Atlantic margin. These "pre-salt" strata hold prolific petroleum reservoirs but despite extensive seismic studies performed for regional scale hydrocarbon exploration in these lacustrine reservoirs, sedimentologic and stratigraphic analyses have rarely been published. The Upper Yucca Formation in the Indio Mountains contain lacustrine reservoir analogs that intertongue with fluvial and deltaic sandstones. Near Squaw Canyon, fluvial-deltaic sandstones are reduced in abundance to lacustrine carbonates by nearly …

Touch And Step Potential Analysis At 23.9kv To 4.16kv & 13.8kv To 4.16kv Distribution Substations With Pad-Mounted Transformers, Floating Grounds, And Other Exposed Ungrounded Metal Bodies Using Winigs, David Guillermo Guzman

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

An electrical substation is composed of various subsystems that allow for the effective and safe operation of the power grid. One of the subsystems integrating a conventional substation is defined as the ground grid system. This system allows for the effective operation of the power grid and all the electrical equipment connected to it by providing a ground potential reference, commonly known as the system ground. In addition, the ground grid system provides safety to the workers and the public transiting inside or living nearby a substation by reducing the step and touch potential (or voltage) levels present during a …

Regional Geochemical Mapping Of The Superior Upland Province; Ichnology Of The Cretaceous Mesilla Valley Formation, Cerro De Cristo Rey; A New Ichnospecies Of Cardioichnus From The Cretaceous (Albian) Of New Mexico; A Pedagogy For The Cerro De Cristo Rey Tracksite; Walking In The Footprints Of Dino, Eric J. Kappus

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This is a multi-disciplinary study that covers a variety of geoscience topics on both international borders of the continental United States. This Dissertation is the product of several separate investigations. First is a report on the landscape geochemistry of the Superior Upland Province of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan, with regional maps of 37 chemical elements interpreted in terms of bedrock, glacial reworking, and anthropogenic influence. The next 2 sections are reports on the invertebrate ichnology of the Cretaceous Mesilla Valley Formation at Cerro de Cristo Rey, including the proposal of a new ichnospecies of echinoid resting trace, Cardioichnus biloba nov. …

Synthesis, Characterization, And Functional Evaluation Of Nanocomposites For Water Purification, Julio Eduardo Padilla

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The United Nations estimate that around 780 million people do not have access to clean and safe water and around 2.5 billion people do not have proper water sanitation. As a result, around 6-8 million people die each year due to water related diseases, such as cholera and dysentery, and disasters. As population increases the water problem will become more difficult to solve. Furthermore, climate change threatens to intensify water scarcity. The design of functional materials at the nanoscale offer unique solutions in molecular sorbents and catalytic systems that can develop into cost-effective solutions in water treatment by reducing the …

Insights Into Volcanic Processes Using Seismic Data Techniques, Ezer Patlan

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

We present in this study numbers of technique to understand the volcanic processes using seismology. The types of techniques we used are earthquake location (double difference travel-time, cross-correlation tremor technique, and time reversal), stresses (b-values, focal mechanism), and tomography imagery (ambient noise tomography). The areas of study we focus on are in two different tectonic settings. The East Africa Rift System at Kenya, studying four volcanoes: Menengai Caldera, Silali, Paka, and Korosi volcanoes. The other area of study is located in a subduction zone in Central America, Salvador at San Miguel volcano.

In this study we aim to calculate accurate …

An Effective And Optimal Quality Control Approach For Green Energy Manufacturing Using Design Of Experiments Framework And Evolutionary Algorithm, Juan Alejandro Saavedra

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Quality Control (QC) and Quality Assurance (QA) strategies vary significantly across industries in the manufacturing sector depending on the product being built. Such strategies range from simple statistical analysis and process controls, decision-making process of reworking, repairing, or scraping defective product. This study proposes an optimal QC methodology in order to include rework stations during the manufacturing process by identifying the amount and location of these workstations. The factors that are considered to optimize these stations are cost, cycle time, reworkability and rework benefit. The goal is to minimize the cost and cycle time of the process, but increase the …

Identifying Non-Classical Active Sites As A Tool For Enzyme Inhibition, Marisol Serrano

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Chagas disease, caused by the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, is an endemic life-threatening disease that affects mainly the heart. It remains the leading cause of heart failure in Latin American countries. Since current treatments against this parasite are highly toxic and somewhat ineffective, novel and more efficacious types of interventions are desired. Cruzain, identified as the major cathepsin for T. cruzi, plays a major role in the parasite's life cycle; making this enzyme very attractive for potential trypanocidal drugs discovery. The recombinant cruzain is synthesized as a zymogenic pro-protein (PCZN) which possesses a pro domain and a catalytic domain. In this …

Study Of No2 Photolysis Rate Coefficients For The Paso Del Norte Region, Pema Wangchuk

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The photolysis of nitrogen dioxide is one of the most influential chemical processes in the formation of photochemical air pollution. In this study, we compared simulated and measured nitrogen dioxide photolysis rate coefficients (J_(NO_2 )) for the Paso Del Norte (PdN) region. The Tropospheric Ultraviolet-Visible (TUV) radiation transfer model was used to calculate J_(NO_2 ) values. The measurements of hemi-spherically integrated, spectrally resolved solar photon flux between the wavelengths 400 and 700 nm were used to obtain the photolysis rate coefficients for ã??NOã??_2. Results are presented for a selected episode on July, 2015. The work investigated the use of measured …

Studying Grazing Behavior Of Cafeteria Roenbergensis With Two-Photon Microscopy, Faisal Abedin Abedin

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Major innovations in recent years have largely revolutionized the fluorescence imaging. Two-photon fluorescence microscopy is one of them. Two photon fluorescence microscopy has evolved as an alternative to conventional single-photon confocal microscopy and has been shown to provide several advantages. These include three-dimensionally resolved fluorescence imaging of living cells deep within thick, strongly scattering samples, and reduced phototoxicity, enabling long term imaging of photosensitive biological specimens. The inherent three-dimensional resolution of TPE microscopy has been exploited in a number of studies wherein spatial discrimination of fluorescence signals at the micrometer and submicrometer scale within thick biological specimens proved critical. In …

Gravimetrically Characterizable Common Alkali Reducing Agents And Ligand Design Of A New Electron Rich Guanidinate, Efrain Maximiliano Castillo

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

SynThesis, isolation and characterization of 12 new alkali arenides was performed by the addition of the chelating base 18-crown-6. Electrochemistry, UV-vis/NIR spectroscopy and XRD studies were performed.

The incoorporation of an imidazolin-2-iminato group to the background of a guanidinate showed that this kind of ligand is electronically flexible and metal dependent. It was found that is more electron donating than some previously reported guanidinates and ketimine guanidinates.

Salt Tectonic Controls On Facies And Sequence Stratigraphy Of The Triassic Chinle Formation, Gypsum Valley Salt Wall, Colorado, Elizabeth Heness

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This study focuses on mapping the facies geometry and depositional sequences of the Chinle Formation adjacent to the Gypsum Valley Salt Wall (GVSW). Interactions between salt tectonics and fluvial systems can affect sediment distribution. The upper Triassic Chinle Formation was deposited across the western U.S. in an intra-cratonic, fluvial environment. Throughout the Paradox Basin in Utah and Colorado, deformation associated with rising salt anticlines and subsiding minibasins coincided with Chinle deposition. In most areas, only small and isolated remnant Chinle outcrops actually expose the contact between Chinle sediments and the salt diapir. In Gypsum Valley three study areas were mapped …

Sample Size Estimation For Genomics Experiments With Dependent End Points, Desmond Koomson

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In typical genomics studies involving numerous association tests of gene mutations with a disease, error rate control via multiplicity adjustment is paramount because even if all genes were to be non-differentially associated, we would still make some false positives. Many methods exist that incorporate the control of multiplicity for normally distributed endpoints in sample size estimation, but none addresses the issue for non-normally correlated endpoints.

One common practice in the literature is to assume an equal correlation among all differentially associated or expressed genes, thereby using the generalized binomial or beta-binomial model to compute the comparison-wise power of detecting these …

Forecasting Customer Electricity Load Demand In The Power Trading Agent Competition Using Machine Learning, Saiful Abu

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Accurate electricity load demand forecasting is an important problem in managing the power grid for both economic and environmental reasons. The Power TAC simulation provides a platform to do research on smart grid energy generation and distribution systems. Brokers are the focus of the design task posed to developers by the system. The brokers work as self-interested entities that try to maximize profits by trading electricity across multiple markets. To be successful, a broker has to forecast the electricity demand for customers as accurately as possible so it can use this information to operate efficiently. My proposed forecasting method uses …

Dft Study On The Structure And Properties Of Vsc2n@C68, Surendra Bhatta

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

A computational study on the structure and electronic properties of the VSc2N@C68 molecule was carried out using the density functional theory. This molecule is based on the recent report on the synThesis of the VSc2N@C80 and V2ScN@C80 fullerenes. The Sc3N@C68 is also a stable endohedral fullerene that has a cage with fuse pentagonal rings. The doping by a V atom changes the structure as well as the spin state of the Sc3N@C68 from S=0 to S=1 state. Since the C68 has 6332 isomers, we have carried out an extensive search for the lowest energy structure of the C68 in several …

Evidence Of Active Rifts In The Southwest United States Using Geophysical Inversion Of Seismic Data, Sergio H. Celis

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

A continental rift represents a zone where the lithosphere has become thinner due to extensional forces associated with plate tectonics. Many of these rifts are still active, such as the East Africa rift, while others appear to be failed rifts. I build upon recent results of crustal structure for the southern section of the Rio Grande Rift using seismic data collected by USArray stations, and extend the analysis into the states of New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana to investigate the differences between active and failed rifts in the state of Texas. I collect two geophysical data sets, including receiver …

Evaluating The Effects Of The Phytohormone Indole-3-Acetic Acid In The Response Of Green Pea (Pisum Sativum L.) To Nanoscale Cuo Exposure In Soil, Loren Ochoa

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The response of plants to copper oxide nanoparticles (nCuO) in presence of the phytohormones such as IAA, is unknown. In this study, green pea (Pisum sativum) plants were cultivated to full maturity in soil amended with nCuO, CuO bulk (bCuO), and CuCl2 at 50 and 100 mg/kg and indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) at 10 and 100 µM. Several analytical techniques were used to evaluate the effects of treatments in the agronomical, physiological, and biochemical effects of treatments. Results showed that only CuCl2 reduced root length and number of leaves. Root copper (Cu) increased in plants exposed to nCuO without IAA; however, …

Bayesian Parameter Estimation For The Birnbaum-Saunders Distribution And Its Extension, Tun Lee Ng

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

We utilize the Bayesian approach to estimate the parameters of the Birnbaum-Saunders (BS) distribution devised by Birnbaum and Saunders (1969a), as well as the Generalized Birnbaum-Saunders (GBS) distribution obtained by Owen (2006), in the presence of random right censored data. We also derive the classical MLE expressions for the observed Information matrix of the GBS distribution, in order to illustrate the fact that no closed form expressions are available for the MLE, and numerical approximations are required to obtain the point estimates and asymptotic confidence intervals. Where Bayesian approach is concerned, new sets of priors are considered based on the …

Design And Evaluation Of The Impact Of A Multi-Agent Control System (Framework) Applied To A Social Setting, Perez Antonio Perez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The objective of this research is to design and analyze the performance of a new mechanism to improve the advising of students in a nontraditional environment. This nontraditional environment includes: a minority serving, commuter campus with a high percentage of transfer students. Specifically, these demographics are unable to keep a tightly controlled cohort of students flowing through to the completion of the curriculum. Students in these circumstances usually have varied course loads and competing priorities due to family and financial needs or other societal responsibilities. Therefore, there is a need for an individualized approach to advising.

University administrations face challenges …

Geology, Geochemistry, And 3d Geological Modelling Of The Independencia - Los Bancos Ag-Au Epithermal Vein Systems In The Palmarejo District, Chihuahua, Mexico, Arturo Ramirez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The Sierra Madre Occidental (SMO) is a Cretaceous-Tertiary silicic ignimbrite province in northwestern Mexico. It is the result of tectonic and magmatic events produced by the subduction of the Farallon plate under North America (80-40 Ma) and the opening of the Gulf of California (14-12 Ma), thus forming the SMO metallogenic provinces. The Late Eocene to Oligocene was a major period of metallic mineralization hosting various deposit types, principally Ag-Au (±Pb-Zn-Cu) epithermal veins, which have been economically significant.

The study area lies in the Palmarejo district, operated by Coeur Mining Inc., which was the worldâ??s fifth largest silver producer in …

National Evaluation For Development And Exploration Potential Of Mineral Commodities In Produced Waters, Stephanie Ray

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The U.S. Geological Survey recently updated a geochemical database consisting of data for approximately 160,000 produced waters samples, primarily from petroleum and geothermal reservoirs. Using major and trace elements from conventional and unconventional well types from the database, this Thesis provides a comprehensive, national evaluation for mineral commodity potential in produced waters. Produced waters contain virtually every naturally occurring element and can range in salinity to several times that of seawater. Despite the typical outlook to view produced waters as a waste, they have potential for natural resource development.

This Thesis provides, for each mineral commodity found in the produced …