Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Stratigraphy Of The Middle Cambrian Lincoln Peak Formation And Evolution Of The House Range Embayment, Eastern Nevada, Ibrahim Zallum

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This study examined the Middle Cambrian (c. 500 MA) Lincoln Peak Formation and Patterson Pass Shale. The initial goal was to create a stratigraphic model for these units. This model was then compared to those from already studied units in western Utah, which combined with the Nevada units form the rock record of an ancient feature known as the House Range Embayment, which was an area of greater water depth superimposed on the continental shelf. This study found that the Nevada units exhibit a series of depositional sequences similar to those in western Utah, but at a lower resolution. This …

Neutro-Connectedness Theory, Algorithms And Applications, Min Xian

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Connectedness plays an important role in human cognitive and learning activities. Human vision system is very sensitive to the connectedness property of objects and effective in "calculating" the property. The study of connectedness will help us explore the way of human brain extracting the global properties of objects, and enable different avenues to design new artificial intelligent (AI) systems with better performances.

However, connectedness is rarely considered in current AI systems because of the lack of complete theoretic system and efficient computation algorithm. In this work, I focus on building the connectedness theory and algorithms in digital space, and apply …

Analysis Of The Hite Fault Group, Southeast Utah: Insights Into Fluid Flow Properties In A Reservoir Analog, Daniel J. Curtis

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In the subsurface faults can act as both barriers and conduits for fluids or gases such as CO₂, hydrocarbons, or water. It is often thought that faults in porous rocks such as sandstone are barriers to fluid flow. In this study we show that this is not always the case. In sandstones like the Cedar Mesa Sandstone it is very important to understand the relationships between this history of fault slip and fluid flow. Better understanding of how fluids migrate through faults and the damaged areas surrounding these faults has strong significance to the oil and gas industry. …

Database Auto Awesome: Enhancing Database-Centric Web Applications Through Informed Code Generation, Jonathan Adams

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Database Auto Awesome is an approach to enhancing web applications comprised of forms used to interact with stored information. It was inspired by Google's Auto Awesome tool, which provides automatic enhancements for photos. Database Auto Awesome aims to automatically or semi-automatically provide improvements to an application by expanding the functionality of the application and improving the existing code.

This thesis describes a tool that gathers information from the application and provides details on how the parts of the application work together. This information provides the details necessary to generate new portions of an application.

These enhancements are directed by the …

Geometric Facility Location Problems On Uncertain Data, Jingru Zhang

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In this dissertation, we study several facility location problems on uncertain data. We mainly consider the k-center problem and many of its variations. These are classical problems in computer science and operations research. These problems on deterministic data have been studied extensively in the literature. We consider them on uncertain data because data in the real world is often associated with uncertainty due to measurement inaccuracy, sampling discrepancy, outdated data sources, resource limitation, etc. Although we focus on the theoretical study, the algorithms developed in this dissertation may find applications in other areas such as data clustering, wireless sensor …

Visualization And 3d Printing Of A 3d Solar Tracker Model Using Mayavi And Pov-Ray, Aditya Mehra

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

In this work, we have created a realistic model of a solar tracker using Mayavi: 3D scientific data visualization and plotting in Python, Enthought Canopy:a comprehensive Python analysis environment and Persistence of Vision Ray Tracer, or POV-Ray, a ray tracing program which generates photo-realistic images from a text-based scene description, a model of the solar tracker was also 3D printed.

Prediction Of Stress Increase In Unbonded Tendons Using Sparse Principal Component Analysis, Eric Mckinney

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

While internal and external unbonded tendons are widely utilized in concrete structures, the analytic solution for the increase in unbonded tendon stress, Δ���, is challenging due to the lack of bond between strand and concrete. Moreover, most analysis methods do not provide high correlation due to the limited available test data. In this thesis, Principal Component Analysis (PCA), and Sparse Principal Component Analysis (SPCA) are employed on different sets of candidate variables, amongst the material and sectional properties from the database compiled by Maguire et al. [18]. Predictions of Δ��� are made via Principal Component Regression models, and the method …

Estimating Accuracy Of Personal Identifiable Information In Integrated Data Systems, Amani "Mohammad Jum'h" Amin Shatnawi

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Both government agencies and private companies rely on the collection of personal data on an ever-increasing scale. Out of necessity, person data include Personal Identifiable Information (PII), which is information that could potentially identify a specific individual. Many of these data would be integrated, so data analyst, policy makers or corporate officers can use it to make decisions or get a conclusion. Integrating data in a heterogeneous database environment create a need to estimate the accuracy of that data; without a valid assessment of accuracy there is a risk of coming with incorrect conclusions or making bad decision based on …

Measuring And Modeling The Conductivity Of Highly Insulating Materials, David King

Physics Capstone Projects

Satellites and other spacecraft must be able to withstand hazardous conditions in order to be viable in their expected operating environments. One specific hazard that occurs due to incident radiation is spacecraft charging. Insulating materials, frequently used in spacecraft and other electrical equipment, while very good at preventing charge flow, also store charge very well. This can create problems; specifically, “if the charge decay time exceeds the orbital period, not all charge will be dissipated before orbital conditions act again to further charge the satellite. As the insulator accumulates charge, the electric field will rise until the insulator breaks down” …

Perspectives On The Distributions Of Esd Breakdowns For Spacecraft Charging Applications, Allen Andersen, Krysta Moser, Jr Dennison

Journal Articles

Electrostatic discharge (ESD) continues to pose significant risks to space missions despite decades of intense study. Tabulated values of material breakdown strength used in spacecraft charging models are often based on cursory measurements that may not be fully relevant to a given mission. Materials physics offers insight into the pertinent variables that affect breakdown and how to address them experimentally for spacecraft applications. We present measured distributions of ESD data across several test configurations for three polymeric materials that, taken together, begin to provide an understanding of how to estimate the likelihood of ESD events over a spacecraft’s mission lifetime. …

Dependence Of Electrostatic Field Strength On Voltage Ramp Rate For Spacecraft Materials, Krysta Moser, Allen Andersen, Jr Dennison

Journal Articles

This work investigated the dependence of electrostatic field strength for spacecraft materials on voltage ramp rate, by applying an increasing incremental electrostatic field until electrostatic breakdown occurred. Tests on Kapton E found that at ramp rates two or three orders of magnitude lower than the maximum recommended rate, the electrostatic breakdown field, FESD was lower by a factor of two or more. This suggests that tabulated values of FESD, which have been used by the spacecraft charging community, could substantially overestimate FESD in common slowly evolving spacecraft situations. This study expanded these ramp rate tests to include a wider range …

Pea System Modeling And Signal Processing For Measurement Of Volume Charge Distributions In Thin Dielectric Films, Lee H. Pearson, Jr Dennison, Erick W. Griffiths, Anthony C. Pearson

Journal Articles

This paper discusses our effort to develop advanced pulsed electroacoustic (PEA) measurement system capabilities that incorporate (1) improved signal processing tools for increased signal/noise ratios; and (2) integrated PEA modeling tools. In addition, we emphasize state-of-the-art system electronic components, integrated environmental controls, and sensor improvements required to achieve high spatial resolution while maintaining reasonable temporal resolution for both ambient and in vacuo measurements of thin dielectrics charged using electron beam injection, which is most applicable for spacecraft charging tests. PEA measurement systems provide an important tool to investigate the spatial extent and dynamic evolution of embedded charge distributions in thin …

Measuring And Modeling The Conductivity Of Highly Insulating Materials, David King

Senior Theses and Projects

Satellites and other spacecraft must be able to withstand hazardous conditions in order to be viable in their expected operating environments. One specific hazard that occurs due to incident radiation is spacecraft charging. Insulating materials, frequently used in spacecraft and other electrical equipment, while very good at preventing charge flow, also store charge very well. This can create problems; specifically, “if the charge decay time exceeds the orbital period, not all charge will be dissipated before orbital conditions act again to further charge the satellite. As the insulator accumulates charge, the electric field will rise until the insulator breaks down” …

Deciphering Delocalized Bonding In Excited States, Solvated Species And Novel 0-, 1-, 2-, And 3-Dimensional Chemical Systems, Alexander Boldyrev

Funded Research Records

No abstract provided.

Quantifying Riverbed Sediment Using Recreational-Grade Side Scan Sonar, Daniel Hamill

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Colorado River in Glen, Marble, and Grand Canyons is subject to a complex regulatory framework, including the Colorado River Compact, the Endangered Species Act, and the Grand Canyon Protection Act of 1992. Physical, biological, and cultural resources are extensively monitored by the Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management Program (GCDAMP) to assess the effect of Glen Canyon Dam (GCD) operations on the downstream environment. The GCDAMP consists of a diverse group of stakeholders who identify priority resources and agree upon water releases at GCD. Large expenditures of money have been devoted to monitoring physical and biological resources in Grand Canyon. …

A Comparison Of Five Statistical Methods For Predicting Stream Temperature Across Stream Networks, Maike F. Holthuijzen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The health of freshwater aquatic systems, particularly stream networks, is mainly influenced by water temperature, which controls biological processes and influences species distributions and aquatic biodiversity. Thermal regimes of rivers are likely to change in the future, due to climate change and other anthropogenic impacts, and our ability to predict stream temperatures will be critical in understanding distribution shifts of aquatic biota. Spatial statistical network models take into account spatial relationships but have drawbacks, including high computation times and data pre-processing requirements. Machine learning techniques and generalized additive models (GAM) are promising alternatives to the SSN model. Two machine learning …

29-Day Analysis Of Scale Heights And The Inference Of The Topside Ionosphere Over Millstone Hill During The 2002 Incoherent Scatter Radar Campaign, Jennifer L. Meehan

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study aims to characterize the topside ionospheric density and temperature profiles using readily available Global Positioning System (GPS) total electron content (TEC) and ionosonde bottomside profile of electron density. The aim of this study is to find a technique that can be applied globally rather than specific locations where a wealth of data exists. Knowledge of the distribution of electron density and its altitude dependence, known as scale height, is important for ionospheric empirical modeling and ionospheric studies, and for practical applications, such as time delay correction of radiowave propagation through the ionosphere.

Over the years, researchers have gathered …

Characteristics Of Mesospheric Gravity Waves Over Antarctica Observed By Antarctic Gravity Wave Instrument Network Imagers Using 3-D Spectral Analyses, Takashi S. Matsuda, Takuji Nakamura, Mitsumu K. Ejiri, Masaki Tsutsumi, Joshihiro Tomikama, Michael J. Taylor, Yucheng Zhao, P.-Dominique Pautet, Damian J. Murphy, Tracy Moffat-Griffin

All Physics Faculty Publications

We have obtained horizontal phase velocity distributions of the gravity waves around 90 km from four Antarctic airglow imagers, which belong to an international airglow imager/instrument network known as ANGWIN (Antarctic Gravity Wave Instrument Network). Results from the airglow imagers at Syowa (69°S, 40°E), Halley (76°S, 27°W), Davis (69°S, 78°E), and McMurdo (78°S, 167°E) were compared, using a new statistical analysis method based on 3-D Fourier transform (Matsuda et al., 2014) for the observation period between 7 April and 21 May 2013. Significant day-to-day and site-to-site differences were found. The averaged phase velocity spectrum during the observation period showed preferential …

Modeling De Novo Granulation Of Anaerobic Sludge, Anna Doloman, Honey Varghese, Charles D. Miller, Nicholas Flann

Computer Science Faculty and Staff Publications

Background: A unique combination of mechanical, physiochemical and biological forces influences granulation during processes of anaerobic digestion. Understanding this process requires a systems biology approach due to the need to consider not just single-cell metabolic processes, but also the multicellular organization and development of the granule.

Results: In this computational experiment, we address the role that physiochemical and biological processes play in granulation and provide a literature-validated working model of anaerobic granule de novo formation. The agent-based model developed in a cDynoMiCs simulation environment successfully demonstrated a de novo granulation in a glucose fed system, with the average specific methanogenic …

Wave Coupling From The Lower To The Middle Thermosphere: Effects Of Mean Winds And Dissipation, F. Gasperini, J. M. Forbes, M. E. Hagan

All Physics Faculty Publications

Recent observational and modeling evidence has demonstrated that planetary waves can modulate atmospheric tides, and secondary waves arising from their nonlinear interactions are an important source of both temporal and longitude variability in the thermosphere. While significant progress has been made on understanding how this form of vertical coupling occurs, uncertainty still exists on how the horizontal structures of primary and secondary waves evolve with height and the processes responsible for this evolution, in part due to lack of global observations between 120ækm and 260ækm. In this work we employ a Thermosphere Ionosphere Mesosphere Electrodynamics general circulation model simulation covering …

Chemical Tools For Delivery Of Carbon Monoxide, Lisa Berreau

Funded Research Records

No abstract provided.

New Strategies For Investigating Oxidative Aliphatic Carbon-Carbon Bond Cleavage Reactions, Lisa Berreau

Funded Research Records

No abstract provided.

Systematic Elucidation Of Factors That Influence The Strength Of Tetrel Bonds, Steve Scheiner

Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Quantum calculations are used to examine the properties of heterodimers formed by a series of tetrel-containing molecules with NH₃ as universal Lewis base. TH₄ was taken as a starting point, with T= C, Si, Ge, and Sn. The H atoms were replaced by various numbers of F atoms: TH₃F, TF₃H, and TF₄ so as to monitor the effects of adding electron-withdrawing substituents. Unsubstituted TH₄ molecules form the weakest tetrel bonds, only up to about 2 kcal/mol. The bond is strengthened when the H opposite NH₃ is replaced by F, rising up …

Fluxes Of Methane, Non-Methane Hydrocarbons And Carbon Dioxide From Natural Gas Well Pad Soils In Eastern Utah, Seth Lyman

Browse all Datasets

We measured fluxes of methane, non-methane hydrocarbons, and carbon dioxide from natural gas well pad soils and from nearby undisturbed soils in eastern Utah. Methane fluxes varied from less than zero to more than 38,000 mg m-2 h-1. Fluxes from well pad soils were almost always greater than from undisturbed soils. Fluxes were greater from locations with higher concentrations of total combustible gas in soil and were inversely correlated with distance from well heads. Several lines of evidence show that the majority of emission fluxes (about 70%) were due to subsurface sources of raw gas that migrated to the atmosphere, …

Collaborative Research: Refining And Testing Methods For Identifying And Quantifying Gaseous Oxidized Mercury In Air, Seth Lyman

Funded Research Records

No abstract provided.

Cathodoluminescence Studies Of Defects In Coated Boron Nitride, Kévin Guerch, Justin Dekany, Jr Dennison, Thierry Paulmier, Sophie Guillemet-Fritsch, Pascal Lenormand

Journal Articles

Optical emission properties of Boron Nitride (BN) substrates, BN with alumina (Al2O3) coating, and thermally-annealed alumina-coated boron nitride (an-BN/Al2O3) were investigated under electron irradiation using cathodoluminescence (CL) measurements. Tests were performed temperatures ranging from ~100 K to ~300 K, with monoenergetic beams from 5 keV to 30 keV, and electron flux densities from 1 nA.cm-2 to 500 nA.cm-2. These experiments were conducted to identify the effects of coating and thermal annealing on the nature and occupation of defect states in different samples with BN substrates. Previous studies have shown that these treatments can limit the charging of BN substrates. Consequently, …

Cedar: Mesospheric Investigation Of Gravity Wave And Mountain Wave Activities And Impacts In The Lee Side Of The Southern Andes, Pierre-Dominique Pautet

Funded Research Records

No abstract provided.

Intraspecific Variation And Ecosystem Function: Implications For More Effective Post-Restoration Monitoring, Donald J. Benkendorf, Howard H. Whiteman

Watershed Sciences Student Research

The effectiveness of stream restoration is often measured by the recolonization of certain focal species. However, important information regarding intraspecific variation (e.g. size structure) of these species is often ignored. Recent research suggests that intraspecific variation such as body size can have profound effects on food web dynamics and ecosystem functioning. Specifically, intraspecific predator size variation has been posited as a major determinant of a species’ ability to control lower trophic levels and even has the potential to alter trophic cascade intensity. The importance of predator feeding strategy (e.g. omnivory) and changes with body size may also be an important …

Opal Cubesat Data Analysis Model, Kenneth Zia, Ludger Scherliess, Michael J. Taylor

Physics Student Research

Understanding the Earth’s lower thermosphere (altitude range 9 km -140km) is of growing interest for many areas of research within the space weather community. The NSF sponsored OPAL (Optical Profiling of the Atmospheric Limb) mission is designed to measure temperature profile by observing the integrated line of sight of the day-time O2 A-band (~760nm) emissions on the limb. The OPAL instrument has an altitude resolution of 1.03km from 80-160km flown on a 3U CubeSat, and is expected to be launched from the ISS (International Space Station) (~400km altitude). We have developed a model of OPAL’s position and attitude of its …

Temperature Dependence Of Electron Yield In Low-Density Polyethylene, Jordan Lee

Senior Theses and Projects

No abstract provided.