Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Field Observations And Stable Isotope Analysis Of Alunite At The Sulphur Bank Mercury Mine, Clear Lake, California, David Edward Muller

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The Sulphur Bank mercury mine is a historic mine located in Lake County, California, first exploited in the 1860s. Underground mining of mercury took place from 1873 to 1906 and open-pit mining of mercury was done from 1927 to 1957. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency listed the Sulphur Bank mine and the adjacent Clear Lake as a Superfund site in 1990 due to mercury contamination at the mine site and in the sediment and food web of Clear Lake. Previous studies have described the vein material mineralogy and wall-rock alteration at Sulphur Bank as well as the composition of water …

Enhancing Basic Geology Skills With Artificial Intelligence: An Exploration Of Automated Reasoning In Field Geology, Perry Ivan Quinto Houser

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This thesis explores the use of Artificial Intelligence, specifically semantics, ontologies, and reasoner techniques, to improve field geology mapping. The thesis focuses on two use cases: 1) identifying a geologic formation based on observed characteristics; and 2) predicting the geologic formation that might be expected next based upon known stratigraphic sequence. The results show that the ontology was able to correctly identify the geologic formation for the majority of rock descriptions, with higher search results for descriptions that provided more detail. Similarly, the units expected next were correctly given and if incorrect, would provide a flag to the field geologist …

The Intersection Of Urban Heat Islands And The Cdc Social Vulnerability Index In Two Border Cities, Ileana Morales

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Development Of A Cost-Constrained Intelligent Prosthetic Knee With Real-Time Machine Learning, Predictive Stumble Control, Lucas Jonathan Galey

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The field of biomechatronics is evolving quickly with advances in computer science, biology, and electrical and mechanical engineering. Coupled with increased interests in machine learning (ML) across all industry sectors, there are opportunities to leverage advanced analytics in uniquely complex problems. This study aimed to deploy real-time ML predictions in a novel microprocessor-controlled prosthetic knee (MPK) device capable of identifying and responding to stumble-events to reduce amputee fall prevalence. Innately, stumbling is a chaotic event. Current MPKs operate by detecting gait characteristics and reacting to preprogrammed states. While these systems are beneficial in significant ways, such as energy expenditure and …

Differentiating Biotic Vs. Abiotic Co2 In The Formation Of Pedogenic Carbonate In Agriculture And Natural Dryland Soils, Valeria Isabel Molina

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Drylands, characterized by low and sporadic precipitation, require irrigation for crop growth. However, irrigation practices can lead to salt accumulation in soil due to high evaporation rates and reduced leaching. In addition to loading salts to soil, irrigation promotes the accumulation of secondary calcite. In natural systems, the formation of pedogenic carbonate (secondary calcite, CaCO3) is critical, impacting the soil properties hydrologically and biogeochemically, and modifying the global carbon cycle over geological time, albeit at a lower rate. In agricultural sites, irrigation water supplies HCO3- and Ca2+, accelerating the rates of CaCO3 formation and releasing abiotic CO2. This study investigated …

Incorporating Community Science In Improving Environmental Data Quality Through Model Based Reasoning Techniques, John Gilbert Olgin

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation will address the questions: In what ways can MBR theory be applied to designtraining that will improve the capacity of Citizen scientists to collect and analyze high quality scientific data? To what degree does this training impact their ability to formulate complex understandings of environmental problems in their Citizen? The project will be comprised of three research objectives focused in three sections, carried out with NASAâ??s GLOBE Observer Citizen Science Program:

Section 1: An analysis of existing GLOBE data will be conducted, identifying whereerrors in data collection originate. At least three principal errors will be selected from this …

Analyzing Software Maintenance Through Machine Learning And Mining Software Repositories Approaches, Sayed Mohsin Reza

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The rapid growth of software systems demands meticulous planning and maintenance to accommodate the evolution of the code base over extended periods. Without maintenance, software systems will become more complex, low in quality, and hence unsustainable. Software engineers who perform maintenance often strive to optimize code quality or minimize code smells in a timely manner. Several techniques have been used to detect code quality or code smells as a part of software maintenance. Most of these techniques are based on heuristics, which create detection rules using a few metrics. These approaches have reasonable accuracy but do not work in cross-project …

Modeling And Predicting Emerging Threats Using Disparate Data, Ismael Villanueva Miranda

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Early detection is crucial to mitigate the impact of emerging threats. This work proposes four innovative frameworks that build machine learning and deterministic epidemiological models using multiple domain-specific datasets to detect the onset of emerging threats in two domains: infectious diseases and cybersecurity. Our models are designed to detect infectious disease outbreaks, model their spread, detect malware activity, and analyze the relationship between software/hardware weaknesses and attack techniques.

First, we present a novel framework to detect multiple infectious disease outbreaks by integrating standardized disease-specific domain knowledge and public search trend data. Our framework showed high performance in identifying infectious disease …

Recursive Forms For Determinant Of K-Tridiagonal Toeplitz Matrices, Eugene Agyei-Kodie

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Toeplitz matrices have garnered renewed interest in recent years due to their practical applications in engineering and computational sciences. Additionally, research has shown their connection to other matrices and their significance in matrix theory. For example, one study demonstrated that any matrix can be expressed as the product of Toeplitz matrices \citep{ye2016every}, while another showed that any square matrix is similar to a Toeplitz matrix \citep{mackey1999every}.

Numerous studies have examined various properties of Toeplitz matrices, including ideals of lower triangular Toeplitz matrices \citep{dogan9some}, matrix power computation with band Toeplitz structures \citep{dogan2017matrix}, and norms of Toeplitz matrices. Moreover, the use of …

Multi-Objective Optimization Framework For Electrified Vehicle Penetration Based On Life Cycle Assessment And Life Cycle Cost., Eva Alondra Diaz Lozano

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This research proposed a novel framework for creating optimal transportation scenarios that consider multiple objectives such as minimum greenhouse gas emissions, air pollutant levels, and cost of ownership. The thesis approach is a multi-objective evolutionary algorithm coupled with the AFEET tool, allowing us to efficiently explore the complex trade-offs between these objectives and identify a diverse set of optimal solutions. Through several case studies and a design of experiments, this demonstrates the effectiveness and practicality in different scenarios. This approach has significant implications for policymakers and industry professionals seeking to make sustainable and cost-effective decisions in the transportation sector.

Everything Is A Matter Of Degree: The Main Idea Behind Fuzzy Logic Is Useful In Geosciences And In Authorship, Christian Servin, Aaron Velasco, Edgar Daniel Rodriguez Velasquez, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

This paper presents two applications of the general principle -- the everything is a matter of degree -- the principle that underlies fuzzy techniques. The first -- qualitative -- application helps explain the fact that while most earthquakes occur close to faults (borders between tectonic plates or terranes), earthquakes have also been observed in areas which are far away from the known faults. The second -- more quantitative -- application is to the problem of which of the collaborators should be listed as authors and which should be simply thanked in the paper. We argue that the best answer to …

Foundations Of Neural Networks Explain The Empirical Success Of The "Surrogate" Approach To Ordinal Regression -- And Recommend What Next, Salvador Robles, Martine Ceberio, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

Recently, a new efficient semi-heuristic statistical method -- called Surrogate Approach -- has been proposed for dealing with regression problems. How can we explain this empirical success? And since this method is only an approximation to reality, what can we recommend if there is a need for a more accurate approximation? In this paper, we show that this empirical success can be explained by the same arguments that explain the empirical success of neural networks -- and these arguments can also provide us with possible more general techniques (that will hopefully lead to more accurate approximation to real-life phenomena).

Integrity First, Service Before Self, And Excellence: Core Values Of Us Air Force Naturally Follow From Decision Theory, Martine Ceberio, Olga Kosheleva, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

By analyzing data both from peace time and from war time, the US Air Force came with three principles that determine success: integrity, service before self, and excellent. We show that these three principles naturally follow from decision theory, a theory that describes how a rational person should make decisions.

Wormholes, Superfast Computations, And Selivanov's Theorem, Olga Kosheleva, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

While modern computers are fast, there are still many practical problems that require even faster computers. It turns out that on the fundamental level, one of the main factors limiting computation speed is the fact that, according to modern physics, the speed of all processes is limited by the speed of light. Good news is that while the corresponding limitation is very severe in Euclidean geometry, it can be more relaxed in (at least some) non-Euclidean spaces, and, according to modern physics, the physical space is not Euclidean. The differences from Euclidean character are especially large on micro-level, where quantum …

What Do Goedel's Theorem And Arrow's Theorem Have In Common: A Possible Answer To Arrow's Question, Miroslav Svitek, Olga Kosheleva, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

Kenneth Arrow, the renowned author of the Impossibility Theorem that explains the difficulty of group decision making, noticed that there is some commonsense similarity between his result and Goedel's theorem about incompleteness of axiomatic systems. Arrow asked if it is possible to describe this similarity in more precise terms. In this paper, we make the first step towards this description. We show that in both cases, the impossibility result disappears if we take into account probabilities. Namely, we take into account that we can consider probabilistic situations, that we can make probabilistic conclusions, and that we can make probabilistic decisions …

Grid Independence Studies Of Eddy-Resolving Models At The Scale Of A River Reach Along A Transect In Marble Canyon Of The Colorado River, Arizona, Rosa Elena España Urresty

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This study presented a novel approach for evaluating the impact of changes in spatial resolution on field-scale models to identify turbulent flow patterns in hydraulic features in canyon-bound rivers. The methodological framework incorporated seven different computational domain resolutions to analyze the sensitivity of field-scale models to spatial resolution changes by employing techniques such as turbulent kinetic energy spectrum, spatiotemporal analysis of eddy structures, divergent Kullback-Leibler (KL) divergence, Nash-Sutcliffe (NS) model efficiency coefficient, wavelet power spectrum, and GCI calculation. Statistical and physical-based skill metrics are employed to quantifying information loss to evaluate a set of domain resolutions. Grid independence studies have …

Causality: Hypergraphs, Matter Of Degree, Foundations Of Cosmology, Cliff Joslyn, Andres Ortiz-Muñoz, Edgar Daniel Rodriguez Velasquez, Olga Kosheleva, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

The notion of causality is very important in many applications areas. Because of this importance, there are several formalizations of this notion in physics and in AI. Most of these definitions describe causality as a crisp ("yes"-"no") relation between two events or two processes -- cause and effect. However, such descriptions do not fully capture the intuitive idea of causality: first, often, several conditions are needed to be present for an effect to occur, and, second, the effect is often a matter of degree. In this paper, we show how to modify the current description of causality so as to …

Towards Decision Making Under Interval Uncertainty, Juan A. Lopez, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

In many real-life situations, we need to make a decision. In many cases, we know the optimal decision in situations when we know the exact value of the corresponding quantity x. However, often, we do not know the exact value of this quantity, we only know the bounds on the value x -- i.e., we know the interval containing $x$. In this case, we need to select a decision corresponding to some value from this interval. The selected value will, in general, be different from the actual (unknown) value of this quantity. As a result, the quality of our decision …

Conflict Situations Are Inevitable When There Are Many Participants: A Proof Based On The Analysis Of Aumann-Shapley Value, Sofia Holguin, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

When collaboration of several people results in a business success, an important issue is how to fairly divide the gain between the participants. In principle, the solution to this problem is known since the 1950s: natural fairness requirements lead to the so-called Shapley value. However, the computation of Shapley value requires that we can estimate, for each subset of the set of all participants, how much gain they would have gained if they worked together without others. It is possible to perform such estimates when we have a small group of participants, but for a big company with thousands of …

People Prefer More Information About Uncertainty, But Perform Worse When Given This Information: An Explanation Of The Paradoxical Phenomenon, Jieqiong Zhao, Olga Kosheleva, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

In a recent experiment, decision makers were asked whether they would prefer having more information about the corresponding situation. They confirmed this preference, and such information was provided to them. However, strangely, the decisions of those who received this information were worse than the decisions of the control group -- that did not get this information. In this paper, we provide an explanation for this paradoxical situation.

Low-Probability High-Impact Events Are Even More Important Than It Is Usually Assumed, Aaron Velasco, Olga Kosheleva, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

A large proportion of undesirable events like earthquakes, floods, tornados occur in zones where these events are frequent. However, a significant number of such events occur in other zones, where such events are rare. For example, while most major earthquakes occur in a vicinity of major faults, i.e., on the border between two tectonic plates, some strong earthquakes also occur inside plates. We want to mitigate all undesirable events, but our resources are limited. So, to allocate these resources, we need to decide which ones are more important. For this decision, a natural idea is to use the product of …

How People Make Decisions Based On Prior Experience: Formulas Of Instance-Based Learning Theory (Ilbt) Follow From Scale Invariance, Palvi Aggarwal, Martine Ceberio, Olga Kosheleva, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

To better understand human behavior, we need to understand how people make decisions, how people select one of possible actions. This selection is usually based on predicting consequences of different actions, and these predictions are, in their turn, based on the past experience. For example, consequences that occur more frequently in the past are viewed as more probable. However, this is not just about frequency: recent observations are usually given more weight that past ones. Researchers have discovered semi-empirical formulas that describe our predictions reasonably well; these formulas form the basis of the Instance-Based Learning Theory (ILBT). In this paper, …

Why Gliding Symmetry Used To Be Prevalent In Biology But Practically Disappeared, Julio C. Urenda, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

At present, many living creatures have symmetries; in particular, the left-right symmetry is ubiquitous. Interestingly, 600 million years ago, very fee living creatures had the left-right symmetry: most of them had a gliding symmetry, symmetry with respect to shift along a line followed by reflection in this line. This symmetry is really seen in living creatures today. In this paper, we provide a physical-based geometric explanation for this symmetry change: we explain both why gliding symmetry was ubiquitous, and why at present, it is rarely observed, while the left-right symmetry is prevalent.

The World Is Cognizable: An Argument Based On Hoermander's Theorem, Miroslav Svitek, Olga Kosheleva, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

Is the world cognizable? Is it, in principle, possible to predict the future state of the world based on the measurements and observations performed in a local area -- e.g., in the Solar system? In this paper, we use general physicists' principles and a mathematical theorem about partial differential equations to show that such prediction is indeed, theoretically possible.

Success (Studying Underlying Characteristics Of Computing And Engineering Student Success) Survey: Non-Cognitive And Affective Profiles In Engineering And Computing Students At Utep (2018-2022), Sanga Kim, Christian Teran Lopez, Andres Segura, Gabriel Miki

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

No abstract provided.

The Geology Of El Paso, William Cornell, Diane Doser, Richard Langford, Joshua Villalobos, Jason Ricketts

Books & Monographs

The Geology of El Paso describes the history of El Paso, Texas and its surrounding region from the Precambrian formation of the continent to the modern use of geologic resources. This book is written in an easy to digest format, with definitions or links for specific geologic terms and references for further reading. It reviews the formation and evolution of local landmark features such as the Franklin Mountains, Cerro Cristo Rey, and the Sierra de Juarez. Fossils and stratigraphic units of the El Paso area are described as well as important geologic features. The book puts the events that shaped …

Interval-Valued And Set-Valued Extensions Of Discrete Fuzzy Logics, Belnap Logic, And Color Optical Computing, Victor L. Timchenko, Yury P. Kondratenko, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

It has been recently shown that in some applications, e.g., in ship navigation near a harbor, it is convenient to use combinations of basic colors -- red, green, and blue -- to represent different fuzzy degrees. In this paper, we provide a natural explanation for the efficiency of this empirical fact: namely, we show that it is reasonable to consider discrete fuzzy logics, it is reasonable to consider their interval-valued and set-valued extensions, and that a set-valued extension of the 3-values logic is naturally equivalent to the use of color combinations.

Why Fractional Fuzzy, Mehran Mazandarani, Olga Kosheleva, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

In many practical situation, control experts can only formulate their experience by using imprecise ("fuzzy") words from natural language. To incorporate this knowledge in automatic controllers, Lotfi Zadeh came up with a methodology that translate the informal expert statements into a precise control strategy. This methodology -- and its following modifications -- is known as fuzzy control. Fuzzy control often leads to a reasonable control -- and we can get an even better control results by tuning the resulting control strategy on the actual system. There are many parameters that can be changes during tuning, so tuning usually is rather …

Designing An Optimal Medicine Cocktail Is Np-Hard, Luc Longpre, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

In many cases, a combination of different drugs -- known as a medicine cocktail -- is more effective against a disease than each individual drug. It is desirable to find the most effective cocktail. This problem can be naturally formulated as a problem of maximizing a quadratic expression under the condition that all the unknowns (concentrations of different medicines) are non-negative. At first glance, it may seem that this problem is feasible -- since a similar economic problem of finding the optimal investment portfolio is known to be feasible. However, it turns out that the cocktail problem is different: it …

Why In Mond -- Alternative Gravitation Theory -- A Specific Formula Works The Best: Complexity-Based Explanation, Olga Kosheleva, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

Based on the rotation of the stars around a galaxy center, one can estimate the corresponding gravitational acceleration -- which turns out to be much larger than what Newton's theory predicts based on the masses of all visible objects. The majority of physicists believe that this discrepancy indicates the presence of "dark" matter, but this idea has some unsolved problems. An alternative idea -- known as Modified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND, for short) is that for galaxy-size distances, Newton's gravitation theory needs to be modified. One of the most effective versions of this idea uses so-called simple interpolating function. In this …