Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

William & Mary

Discipline
Keyword
Publication Year
Publication
Publication Type
File Type

Articles 661 - 690 of 4602

Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

On Cross-Series Machine Learning Models, Xiaodan Zhu Jan 2020

On Cross-Series Machine Learning Models, Xiaodan Zhu

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Sparse high dimensional time series are common in industry, such as in supply chain demand and retail sales. Accurate and reliable forecasting of high dimensional time series is essential for supply chain planning and business management. In practical applications, sparse high dimensional time series prediction faces three challenges: (1) simple models cannot capture complex patterns, (2) insufficient data prevents us from pursuing more advanced models, and (3) time series in the same dataset may have widely different properties. These challenges prevent the currently prevalent models and theoretically successful advanced models (e.g., neural networks) from working in actual use. We focus …


Cross-Scale Simulations: An Innovative Approach To Evaluate The Impacts Of Sea-Level Rise On Tidal Marsh Habitats, Mirtha Karinna Nunez Jan 2020

Cross-Scale Simulations: An Innovative Approach To Evaluate The Impacts Of Sea-Level Rise On Tidal Marsh Habitats, Mirtha Karinna Nunez

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

There is a universal consensus that global sea levels will rise at an increased rate from those in the recent past. Rising seas will dramatically increase the vulnerability of coastal communities and ecosystems. Tidal marshes are considered to be among the most valuable and vulnerable ecosystems in the world. The effects of sea-level rise (SLR) on tidal marshes are diverse, comprising changes in tidal amplitude and flow patterns, changes in sediment transport, shoreline erosion, changes in salinity gradients, landward migration of tidal habitats, variations in species composition, and habitat loss. There is an increasing concern over how accelerated rates of …


Experiments And Theory On Dynamical Hamiltononian Monodromy, Matthew Perry Nerem Jan 2020

Experiments And Theory On Dynamical Hamiltononian Monodromy, Matthew Perry Nerem

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

In classical mechanics, one of the advanced topics is the study of action and angle variables. These variables are quite abstract, but very powerful tools for describing classical motion. If a system has a full set of conservation laws, and if the motion of the system is bounded, then the motion can be described as flow on a torus. Action variables are functions of the conservation laws that identify the torus on which the motion lies, while angle variables tell the location of the system on that torus. In certain cases, the functional relationship between the conservation laws and the …


Influence Of Suspended Particle Size And Composition On Particle Image Processing, Estuarine Floc Fractal Properties, And Resulting Estuarine Light Attenuation, Kelsey Fall Jan 2020

Influence Of Suspended Particle Size And Composition On Particle Image Processing, Estuarine Floc Fractal Properties, And Resulting Estuarine Light Attenuation, Kelsey Fall

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Understanding the nature of suspended particles is crucial to explaining water clarity issues in many estuaries, including the Chesapeake Bay and its tidal tributaries. Typical near surface estuarine particles are not individual sediment grains, but rather are clusters of inorganic and organic components known as flocs. Because of their fragile nature, flocs are challenging to observe in-situ, so their influence on the optical properties of the system are not well-known. This dissertation used a combination of state-of-the-art optical instrumentation, including laser scattering and transmissometry, a high-definition particle imaging camera system (PICS), and irradiance meters, along with supporting laboratory analysis techniques …


The Role Of Suspended Sediment In Assessing Coastal Wetland Vulnerability, Daniel J. Coleman Jan 2020

The Role Of Suspended Sediment In Assessing Coastal Wetland Vulnerability, Daniel J. Coleman

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Coastal wetlands sequester carbon, attenuate waves and storm surge, filter out nutrients and pollutants, and act as nursery habitat for important fisheries. The value of these ecosystems is underscored by their vulnerability to climate change, especially sea level rise. To persist under the threat of rising sea level, coastal wetlands must build elevation vertically. Delivery of sediment to the marsh during tidal flooding is a key component in the ecogeomorphic feedbacks that lead to elevation gain. Despite the importance of suspended sediment to assessing coastal wetland vulnerability, many questions remain unanswered. This dissertation addresses the impact of suspended sediment concentration …


Recruitment Characteristics Of Juvenile Striped Bass (Morone Saxatilis) Across Recovery Periods, Year Classes, And Subestuaries Of The Chesapeake Bay, Olivia M. Phillips Jan 2020

Recruitment Characteristics Of Juvenile Striped Bass (Morone Saxatilis) Across Recovery Periods, Year Classes, And Subestuaries Of The Chesapeake Bay, Olivia M. Phillips

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

The Atlantic coast striped bass fisheries collapsed in the late 1970's due to recruitment overfishing and poor habitat quality. Recovery of the fisheries in 1995 resulted from protection of mature females, favorable environmental conditions, and several years of strong recruitment. Today, the striped bass stock is overfished. The purpose of this study was to examine recruitment characteristics of juvenile striped bass during the pre- and post-recovery periods through (1) a comparison of mortality and hatch-date distribution between periods, and (2) to examine growth metrics of individuals from the post-recovery year classes. Lengths and otolith-derived daily ages from juvenile striped bass …


Pinpointing Software Inefficiencies With Profiling, Shasha Wen Jan 2020

Pinpointing Software Inefficiencies With Profiling, Shasha Wen

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Complex codebases with several layers of abstractions have abundant inefficiencies that affect the performance. These inefficiencies arise due to various causes such as developers' inattention to performance, inappropriate choice of algorithms and inefficient code generation among others. To eliminate the redundancies, lots of work has been done during the compiling phase. However, not all redundancies can be easily detected or eliminated with compiler optimization passes due to aliasing, limited optimization scopes, and insensitivity to input and execution contexts act as severe deterrents to static program analysis. There are also profiling tools which can reveal how resources are used. However, they …


Spatial And Temporal Distribution Of Phycotoxins In Lower Chesapeake Bay: Method Development And Application, Michelle D. Onofrio Jan 2020

Spatial And Temporal Distribution Of Phycotoxins In Lower Chesapeake Bay: Method Development And Application, Michelle D. Onofrio

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Harmful algae can illicit adverse effects on aquatic and human health through various mechanisms, including through the production of bioactive compounds called phycotoxins. In the Chesapeake Bay, the largest estuary in the United States, little information was known about the distribution of phycotoxins, even though this region is known to harbor 37+ different species of harmful algae. Due to the presence of multiple species that can produce distinct groups of phycotoxins, a multi-toxin approach was taken to study this region. Two methods for the quantification of 13 phycotoxins (microcystin-RR, -LR, YR, azaspiracid-1, -2, karlotoxin 3, goniodomin A, yessotoxin, brevetoxin-2, pectenotoxin-2, …


Motion Sensors-Based Human Behavior Recognition And Analysis, Hongyang Zhao Jan 2020

Motion Sensors-Based Human Behavior Recognition And Analysis, Hongyang Zhao

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Human behavior recognition and analysis have been considered as a core technology that can facilitate a variety of applications. However, accurate detection and recognition of human behavior is still a big challenge that attracts a lot of research efforts. Among all the research works, motion sensors-based human behavior recognition is promising as it is low cost, low power, and easy to carry. In this dissertation, we use motion sensors to study human behaviors. First, we present Ultigesture (UG) wristband, a hardware platform for detecting and analyzing human behavior. The hardware platform integrates an accelerometer, gyroscope, and compass sensor, providing a …


Quantitative Analysis Of Ekg And Blood Pressure Waveforms, Denise Erin Mckaig Jan 2020

Quantitative Analysis Of Ekg And Blood Pressure Waveforms, Denise Erin Mckaig

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

In the intensive care unit (ICU) of a hospital, patients are monitored continuously and the data on those patients provide powerful diagnostic tools for the medical community. However, the patient data creates incredibly large data sets with instruments measuring multiple signals simultaneously. This work seeks to improve monitoring techniques through analysis of large data sets from former ICU patients. By knowing the outcomes of patients in the past, can we detect patterns to diagnose future patients while also reducing the amount of recorded information? This thesis first seeks to improve methods of storing infant electrocardiograms (EKGs) by reducing the full …


Understanding Performance Inefficiencies In Native And Managed Languages, Pengfei Su Jan 2020

Understanding Performance Inefficiencies In Native And Managed Languages, Pengfei Su

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Production software packages have become increasingly complex with millions of lines of code, sophisticated control and data flow, and references to a hierarchy of external libraries. This complexity often introduces performance inefficiencies across software stacks, making it practically impossible for users to pinpoint them manually. Performance profiling tools (a.k.a. profilers) abound in the tools community to aid software developers in understanding program behavior. Classical profiling techniques focus on identifying hotspots. The hotspot analysis is indispensable; however, it can hardly diagnose whether a resource is being used in a productive manner that contributes to the overall efficiency of a program. Consequently, …


A First-Principles Study Of The Nature Of The Insulating Gap In Vo2, Christopher Hendriks Jan 2020

A First-Principles Study Of The Nature Of The Insulating Gap In Vo2, Christopher Hendriks

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Upon cooling past a critical temperature Tc = 340 K Vanadium dioxide (VO2) exhibits a metal-insulator transition (MIT) from a metallic rutile R to an insulating monoclinic M1 phase. Other insulating phases, a monoclinic M2 and triclinic T, have been identifed and are accessible via strain or doping. Despite decades of research, the nature of the VO2 MIT is still not fully understood. In this work we present ab-initio hybrid density functional theory (DFT) calculations on the insulating phases, compare the results to experimental measurements and discuss their implications on our understanding of the VO2 MIT. Recent measurements on M1 …


Deep Learning In Software Engineering, Cody Watson Jan 2020

Deep Learning In Software Engineering, Cody Watson

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Software evolves and therefore requires an evolving field of Software Engineering. The evolution of software can be seen on an individual project level through the software life cycle, as well as on a collective level, as we study the trends and uses of software in the real world. As the needs and requirements of users change, so must software evolve to reflect those changes. This cycle is never ending and has led to continuous and rapid development of software projects. More importantly, it has put a great responsibility on software engineers, causing them to adopt practices and tools that allow …


Study Of Scalar Extensions For Physics Beyond The Standard Model, Marco Antonio Merchand Medina Jan 2020

Study Of Scalar Extensions For Physics Beyond The Standard Model, Marco Antonio Merchand Medina

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

In this thesis we investigate the phenomenology of beyond the Standard Model scenarios with extra scalar fields. A review and motivation of extended electroweak symmetry breaking is presented. Then we address observational evidence of new physics such as possible lepton flavor violating processes and the relic abundance of dark matter by implementing models with three Higgs doublets. The complementarity between theoretical restrictions and experimental bounds on some of the predicted signals is leveraged to sharpen the allowed parameter space. After that we study embeddings of two-Higgs doublets into the Randall-Sundrum model with emphasis on the scalar fluctuations of the metric …


Expanding The Use Of Natural And Nature-Based Infrastructure To Enhance Coastal Resiliency: Forecast And Hind-Cast Load Reductions From Living Shoreline Bmps : Project Report (Year 2 Of 3), Marcia Berman, Pamela Mason, Tamia Rudnicky Jan 2020

Expanding The Use Of Natural And Nature-Based Infrastructure To Enhance Coastal Resiliency: Forecast And Hind-Cast Load Reductions From Living Shoreline Bmps : Project Report (Year 2 Of 3), Marcia Berman, Pamela Mason, Tamia Rudnicky

Reports

The vulnerability of coastal communities and the growing risks to coastal infrastructure continue largely due to past and ongoing patterns of development in high risk areas. This project is focused on increasing the use of natural and nature-based features (NNBFs) to increase resilience of coastal communities to flooding caused by extreme weather events. This project has proposed two efforts to increase understanding of NNBFS; 1) describe the current status, and 2) quantify role of NNBF creation/ restoration for water quality benefits in support of coastal resilience. The products of the 3-year project are intended to support informed coastal management decision-making …


Shoreline Decision Support Tools Improved, Center For Coastal Resources Management, Virginia Institute Of Marine Science. Jan 2020

Shoreline Decision Support Tools Improved, Center For Coastal Resources Management, Virginia Institute Of Marine Science.

Reports

Rivers & Coast is a periodic publication of the Center for Coastal Resources Management, Virginia Institute of Marine Science. The goal of Rivers & Coast is to keep readers well informed of current scientific understanding behind key environmental issues related to watershed rivers and coastal ecosystems of the Chesapeake Bay.


Structural And Dosage Dependence Of Electron Transfer From Conjugated Polymer Nanoparticles, Jaclyn Rebstock Jan 2020

Structural And Dosage Dependence Of Electron Transfer From Conjugated Polymer Nanoparticles, Jaclyn Rebstock

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Conjugated polymer nanoparticles (CPNs or Pdots) have become popular fluorophores for a variety of fluorescence imaging applications due to their brightness, photostability, and aqueous compatibility. Recently, their ability to generate charged species has begun to be exploited in applications ranging from photocatalysis to photovoltaic cells. Upon excitation, CPNs can eject an electron via photoinduced electron transfer (PET) to oxygen or other acceptors. The competition between fluorescence and PET is undesirable in redox-based applications. However, CPNs are capable of the simultaneous generation and detection of reactive oxygen species, expanding their use in photodynamic therapy (PDT). We seek to determine the dependence …


Growth Engineering And Characterization Of Vanadium Dioxide Films For Ultraviolet Detection, Jason Andrew Creeden Jan 2020

Growth Engineering And Characterization Of Vanadium Dioxide Films For Ultraviolet Detection, Jason Andrew Creeden

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

There is a need for efficient ultraviolet (UV) detectors in many fields, such as aerospace, automotive manufacturing, biology, environmental science, and defense, due to photomultiplier tubes (the currently available technology) often not meeting application constraints in weight, robustness, and power consumption. In my thesis, I demonstrate that high quality vanadium dioxide (VO2) thin films, epitaxially grown on niobium doped titanium dioxide substrates (TiO2:Nb), display a strong photoconductive response in the UV spectral range, making them promising candidates for photomultiplier-free UV photodetection. By adjusting the characteristics of the substrate and VO2 film, the samples achieve external quantum efficiency exceeding 100% (reaching …


Wearable Technology For Healthcare And Athletic Performance, Amanda Annette Watson Jan 2020

Wearable Technology For Healthcare And Athletic Performance, Amanda Annette Watson

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Wearable technology research has led to advancements in healthcare and athletic performance. Devices range from one size fits all fitness trackers to custom fitted devices with tailored algorithms. Because these devices are comfortable, discrete, and pervasive in everyday life, custom solutions can be created to fit an individual's specific needs. In this dissertation, we design wearable sensors, develop features and algorithms, and create intelligent feedback systems that promote the advancement of healthcare and athletic performance. First, we present Magneto: a body mounted electromagnet-based sensing system for joint motion analysis. Joint motion analysis facilitates research into injury prevention, rehabilitation, and activity …


Temporal Variability In Cohesive Sediment Dynamics In A Partially Mixed Estuary, The York River Estuary, Virginia, Usa: A Numerical Study Developed From Observations, Danielle Tarpley Jan 2020

Temporal Variability In Cohesive Sediment Dynamics In A Partially Mixed Estuary, The York River Estuary, Virginia, Usa: A Numerical Study Developed From Observations, Danielle Tarpley

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Fine-grained material such as silts and clays are the predominant sediment type in low energy systems such as micro-tidal embayments and estuaries. Due to its cohesive nature, fine sediment typically moves through marine systems as aggregated particles, or flocs, rather than as individual mineral grains. The particle's components, local hydrodynamics, and concentration influence floc size, density, and fall velocity. These, in turn, impact suspended sediment transport, which complicates predictions of the fate of sediment for water quality, contaminant distribution, and dredging purposes in these systems. This dissertation used a state-of-the-art modeling system and observations to examine the variability in sediment …


Environmental Controls On Pteropod Ecology And Physiology Along The Western Antarctic Peninsula, Patricia Susan Thibodeau Jan 2020

Environmental Controls On Pteropod Ecology And Physiology Along The Western Antarctic Peninsula, Patricia Susan Thibodeau

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Pteropods (pelagic snails) are ubiquitous zooplankton in the Southern Ocean and abundant along the Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP), one of the most rapidly warming regions on the planet. They are important prey for higher trophic levels, grazers of phytoplankton, and contribute to particulate organic and inorganic carbon export. Pteropods are heralded as bioindicators of ecosystem health due to the vulnerability of their aragonitic shells under ocean acidification conditions, which could greatly affect their abundances in the future. Despite their importance within Antarctic food webs, few studies have analyzed the effects of climate change on pteropod physiology and biogeography in the …


Copper(I) Iodide-Based Chemical Sensor Materials In Gaseous And Aqueous Media, Matthew D. Kessler Jan 2020

Copper(I) Iodide-Based Chemical Sensor Materials In Gaseous And Aqueous Media, Matthew D. Kessler

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Chemical detection is an area of great importance in the shift to more green approaches to industry. Some of the chemical species produced by assorted industries can be harmful, long lived, and challenging to differentiate. Copper(I) iodide (CuI) is a material that readily forms complexes of multiple colors, both under visible and ultraviolet (UV) light. The process of CuI reacting with dimethyl sulfide vapor to produce a color change (vapochromism) has been analyzed to propose mechanistic information about the process. Using the information obtained, a series of potential sensor materials were developed with CuI as the base. The complexes were …


Insulator To Metal Transition Dynamics Of Vanadium Dioxide Thin Films, Scott Madaras Jan 2020

Insulator To Metal Transition Dynamics Of Vanadium Dioxide Thin Films, Scott Madaras

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Vanadium Dioxide (VO2) is a strongly correlated material which has been studied for many decades. VO2 has been proposed for uses in technologies such as optical modulators, IR modulators, optical switches and Mott memory devices. These technologies are taking advantage of VO2’s insulator to metal transition (IMT) and the corresponding changes to the optical and material properties. The insulator to metal transition in VO2 can be accessed by thermal heating, applied electric field, or ultra-fast photo induced processes. Recently, thin films of VO2 grown on Titanium Dioxide doped with Niobium (TiO2:Nb), have shown promise as a possible UV photo detector …


Exploring Heterogeneous Architectures With Tools And Applications, Du Shen Jan 2020

Exploring Heterogeneous Architectures With Tools And Applications, Du Shen

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Heterogeneous architectures have become popular due to programming flexibility and energy efficiency. Heterogeneous architectures include GPU accelerators, and memory subsystems consisting fast and slow components. Achieving high performance for programs running on heterogeneous architectures requires sophisticated tools and applications. They either lack hardware support for fast memory component, or provide complex programming model, which puts extra burdens on compilers and programmers. However, existing tools either rely on simulators or lack support across different GPU architectures, runtime or driver versions. Thus, they only provide insufficient insights. In the first project, we develop DataPlacer, a profiling tool to provide guidance for data …


Filling In The Gaps: Applications Of Deep Learning, Satellite Imagery, And High Performance Computing For The Estimation And Distribution Of Geospatial Data, Seth Goodman Jan 2020

Filling In The Gaps: Applications Of Deep Learning, Satellite Imagery, And High Performance Computing For The Estimation And Distribution Of Geospatial Data, Seth Goodman

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Many regions around the world suffer from a lack of authoritatively-collected data on factors critical to understanding human well-being. This challenges our ability to understand the progress society is making towards reducing poverty, improving lifespans, or otherwise improving livelihoods. A growing body of research is exploring how deep learning algorithms can be used to produce novel estimates of sparse development data, and how access to such data can impact development efforts. This dissertation contributes to this literature in three parts. First, using Landsat 8 satellite imagery and data from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, convolutional neural networks …


Reducing Avian Collisions With Human-Made Structures: A Sensory Ecology Approach To Open-Air Settings, Timothy James Boycott Jan 2020

Reducing Avian Collisions With Human-Made Structures: A Sensory Ecology Approach To Open-Air Settings, Timothy James Boycott

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Billions of birds fatally collide with human-made structures each year. These mortalities have impacts on species of conservation concern and potentially on avian populations as a whole. This source of human-wildlife conflict also places economic and operational constraints on various human industries. Furthermore, with continued increases in urbanization, the rate and extent of collisions continues to increase. Efforts to reduce collisions have largely centered on making structures more visible to birds but have been met with limited success. Currently, there is a call for solutions to be tailored to both the environmental context of hazardous structures and to the sensory …


Development Of Quantum Information Tools Based On Multi-Photon Raman Processes In Rb Vapor, Nikunjkumar Prajapati Jan 2020

Development Of Quantum Information Tools Based On Multi-Photon Raman Processes In Rb Vapor, Nikunjkumar Prajapati

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Multi-photon nonlinear processes in atoms have served as important tools for quantum metrology, quantum communications, and quantum sensing. In this thesis, we experimentally address the interplay of various multi-photon Raman processes in hot Rb vapor, with the four-wave mixing (FWM) process being a central theme. FWM is the nonlinear response of a medium to a strong optical pump field inelastically scattering off atomic resonances and resulting in the generation of additional photons in different modes. FWM is a detrimental, but inherent part of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) and Raman based quantum memories. However, we were able to weaken the four-photon …


Impacts Of Fertilization On Salt Marsh Resilience: Altered By Location-Specific Drivers, Kenneth Michael Czapla Jan 2020

Impacts Of Fertilization On Salt Marsh Resilience: Altered By Location-Specific Drivers, Kenneth Michael Czapla

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Salt marshes provide valuable ecosystem services to human society, but are currently under threat from accelerating sea level rise and nutrient enrichment. Carbon (C) and mineral accumulation allow salt marshes to maintain elevation above sea level and survive. Anthropogenic nitrogen (N) loading is increasing in many salt marshes, causing negative impacts on marsh resilience such as increased decomposition and decreased below-ground production. However, increasing N may also have simultaneous positive effects such as increased primary production and above-ground biomass, surface sediment accretion, and denitrification rates, which remove excess N from coastal waters. Many studies have been conducted to determine the …


Unravelling The Aggregation Of Eosin Y Photosensitisers For Solar Energy Conversion, Huw Richards Jan 2020

Unravelling The Aggregation Of Eosin Y Photosensitisers For Solar Energy Conversion, Huw Richards

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

The impact of molecular aggregation on the photophysics of eosin y adsorbed to TiO2 was investigated using diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, steady-state fluorescence and time correlated single photon counting (TCSPC) measurements. Deconvolution of the diffuse reflectance spectra of eosin y on TiO2 revealed the formation of H-aggregates, with the extent of H-aggregation increasing with increasing dye-loading concentration. The resultant bathochromic shift from the monomer diffuse reflectance maximum is due to Charge-transfermediated H-aggregates The fluorescent maximum also shifts with increasing dye loading concentration starting at 537.5 nm at a dye loading concentration of 7.5x10-7 M and shifting to 585 …


Single Image Direct-Global Illumination Separation, Zhaoliang Duan Jan 2020

Single Image Direct-Global Illumination Separation, Zhaoliang Duan

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Global light transport, including diffuse interreflections, caustic, refractions and subsurface scattering, is important to achieve photorealistic rendering. However rendering these phenomena is very time-consuming. Furthermore, many inverse rendering methods’ accuracy in computer graphics and computer vision is adversely affected by the presence of global light transport. Therefore, separating direct-global light transport components is necessary to help in designing new rendering methods and in improving the accuracy of many image inverse methods. Prior work on separating direct and global light transport from photographs either requires expensive hardware, requires multiple photographs of the scene, or fails to accurately recover high frequency details. …