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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Ecometric Estimation Of Present And Past Climate Of North America Using Crown Heights Of Rodents And Lagomorphs: With Application To The Middle Miocene Climatic Optimum, Julia Schap May 2019

Ecometric Estimation Of Present And Past Climate Of North America Using Crown Heights Of Rodents And Lagomorphs: With Application To The Middle Miocene Climatic Optimum, Julia Schap

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Continental scale studies on ungulate crown heights in relation to climate and habitat changes have revealed a correlation between increasing hypsodonty and a shift to more arid environments. Small mammals have been shown to adapt to changing habitats millions of years earlier than larger mammals. In this study I examined fossil localities throughout the last 37 Ma across North America. Diversity of rodents and lagomorphs were analyzed through this time period, with examination of community structure characterized by relative percentages of taxa with different crown heights. Overall, a decrease in precipitation and temperature was found across North America from 37 …


Development Of Granulated Adsorbent For Clean-Up Of Water Contaminated By Cesium, Esther Alorkpa May 2019

Development Of Granulated Adsorbent For Clean-Up Of Water Contaminated By Cesium, Esther Alorkpa

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A study was conducted on sol-gel synthesis of an adsorbent (phosphotungstic acid embedded in silica gel, H-PTA/SiO­2) of radioactive cesium. A novelty of this work is covalent bonding of PTA to the surface of solid support that prevents leaching from the surface of the material. The sample was granulated with a binder, aluminium oxide (γ-Al2O3). Solid-state NMR and FT-IR spectroscopy were used to confirm the presence of Keggin units of PTA in the bound materials. Thermal analysis of H-PTA/SiO­2 - γ-Al2O3 (50 %) showed that the water content in the …


Generalizations Of The Arcsine Distribution, Rebecca Rasnick May 2019

Generalizations Of The Arcsine Distribution, Rebecca Rasnick

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The arcsine distribution looks at the fraction of time one player is winning in a fair coin toss game and has been studied for over a hundred years. There has been little further work on how the distribution changes when the coin tosses are not fair or when a player has already won the initial coin tosses or, equivalently, starts with a lead. This thesis will first cover a proof of the arcsine distribution. Then, we explore how the distribution changes when the coin the is unfair. Finally, we will explore the distribution when one person has won the first …


Paleoecology And Land-Use Of Quaternary Megafauna From Saltville, Virginia, Emily Simpson May 2019

Paleoecology And Land-Use Of Quaternary Megafauna From Saltville, Virginia, Emily Simpson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Land-use, feeding habits, and response to seasonality by Quaternary megaherbivores in Saltville, Virginia, is poorly understood. Stable isotope analyses of serially sampled Bootherium and Equus enamel from Saltville were used to explore seasonally calibrated (δ18O) patterns in megaherbivore diet (δ13C) and land-use (87Sr/86Sr). Overall, this dataset suggests an open forest with relatively constant temperatures year round that were similar to modern conditions. Neither Bootherium or Equus individuals spent a significant amount of time at higher elevations in the nearby Blue Ridge geologic province. These analyses provide a unique perspective on long-term response …


A Systematic Assessment Of Socio-Economic Impacts Of Prolonged Episodic Volcano Crises, Justin Peers May 2019

A Systematic Assessment Of Socio-Economic Impacts Of Prolonged Episodic Volcano Crises, Justin Peers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Uncertainty surrounding volcanic activity can lead to socio-economic crises with or without an eruption as demonstrated by the post-1978 response to unrest of Long Valley Caldera (LVC), CA. Extensive research in physical sciences provides a foundation on which to assess direct impacts of hazards, but fewer resources have been dedicated towards understanding human responses to volcanic risk. To evaluate natural hazard risk issues at LVC, a multi-hazard, mail-based, household survey was conducted to compare perceptions of volcanic, seismic, and wildfire hazards. Impacts of volcanic activity on housing prices and businesses were examined at the county-level for three volcanoes with a …


Comparison Of Imputation Methods For Mixed Data Missing At Random, Kaitlyn Heidt May 2019

Comparison Of Imputation Methods For Mixed Data Missing At Random, Kaitlyn Heidt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A statistician's job is to produce statistical models. When these models are precise and unbiased, we can relate them to new data appropriately. However, when data sets have missing values, assumptions to statistical methods are violated and produce biased results. The statistician's objective is to implement methods that produce unbiased and accurate results. Research in missing data is becoming popular as modern methods that produce unbiased and accurate results are emerging, such as MICE in R, a statistical software. Using real data, we compare four common imputation methods, in the MICE package in R, at different levels of missingness. The …


Miami-Dade Task Force: A Content Analysis Of How Coastal Communities View Sea Level Rise As A Threat, Francisco Alvaro May 2019

Miami-Dade Task Force: A Content Analysis Of How Coastal Communities View Sea Level Rise As A Threat, Francisco Alvaro

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Sea level rise (SLR) has become a serious threat for coastal communities in recent years. Many communities, including South Florida, are already having the security of their daily lives impacted as climate change causes SLR and other environmental impacts to worsen. This study reviews the Miami-Dade Sea Level Rise Task Force Report to determine how this coastal county government views SLR as a threat. Using mixed content analysis to analyze the report qualitatively and quantitatively, the Task Force's recommendations are categorized based on their focus on security, infrastructure, economics, and the environment. One finds the concerns of the people to …


Synthetic Methods And Biological Applications Of Nitrogen Heterocycles To Compounds Of Biological Interest., Jarrid Ronnebaum May 2019

Synthetic Methods And Biological Applications Of Nitrogen Heterocycles To Compounds Of Biological Interest., Jarrid Ronnebaum

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Thalidomide analogues were synthesized utilizing optimized click conditions from 3-azidoglutarimide and an array of arylacetylenes or N-ethynyl/N-propargyl phthalimide derivatives. The intermediate, 3-azidoglutarimde, was pivotal and yielded a new and scalable synthesis. The reaction conditions utilized a copper sulfate/sodium ascorbate system in aqueous tetrahydrofuran to propagate the dipolar cycloaddition reactions between the azidoglutarimide and the alkynyl coupling partners. The first explored substrates were substituted arylalkynes to optimize the click reaction. Arylalkynes selected were to exhibit similar electron deficient rings to mimic phthalimide. Along with the synthesis of click thalidomide analogues, click analogue of the antiangiogenic and more potent …


Clustering Of Multiple Instance Data., Andrew D. Karem May 2019

Clustering Of Multiple Instance Data., Andrew D. Karem

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

An emergent area of research in machine learning that aims to develop tools to analyze data where objects have multiple representations is Multiple Instance Learning (MIL). In MIL, each object is represented by a bag that includes a collection of feature vectors called instances. A bag is positive if it contains at least one positive instance, and negative if no instances are positive. One of the main objectives in MIL is to identify a region in the instance feature space with high correlation to instances from positive bags and low correlation to instances from negative bags -- this region is …


Describing Images By Semantic Modeling Using Attributes And Tags, Mahdi Mahmoudkalayeh May 2019

Describing Images By Semantic Modeling Using Attributes And Tags, Mahdi Mahmoudkalayeh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation addresses the problem of describing images using visual attributes and textual tags, a fundamental task that narrows down the semantic gap between the visual reasoning of humans and machines. Automatic image annotation assigns relevant textual tags to the images. In this dissertation, we propose a query-specific formulation based on Weighted Multi-view Non-negative Matrix Factorization to perform automatic image annotation. Our proposed technique seamlessly adapt to the changes in training data, naturally solves the problem of feature fusion and handles the challenge of the rare tags. Unlike tags, attributes are category-agnostic, hence their combination models an exponential number of …


Perfect Double Roman Domination Of Trees, Ayotunde Egunjobi May 2019

Perfect Double Roman Domination Of Trees, Ayotunde Egunjobi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

See supplemental content for abstract


A Comparison Of Standard Denoising Methods For Peptide Identification, Skylar Carpenter May 2019

A Comparison Of Standard Denoising Methods For Peptide Identification, Skylar Carpenter

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Peptide identification using tandem mass spectrometry depends on matching the observed spectrum with the theoretical spectrum. The raw data from tandem mass spectrometry, however, is often not optimal because it may contain noise or measurement errors. Denoising this data can improve alignment between observed and theoretical spectra and reduce the number of peaks. The method used by Lewis et. al (2018) uses a combined constant and moving threshold to denoise spectra. We compare the effects of using the standard preprocessing methods baseline removal, wavelet smoothing, and binning on spectra with Lewis et. al’s threshold method. We consider individual methods and …


Synthesis And Evaluation Of 1,2,4-Oxadiazolidinones: The Search For A Potential Non-Β-Lactam Β-Lactamase Inhibitors., Chimdi Eke Kalu May 2019

Synthesis And Evaluation Of 1,2,4-Oxadiazolidinones: The Search For A Potential Non-Β-Lactam Β-Lactamase Inhibitors., Chimdi Eke Kalu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

β-lactam antibiotics have been the most widely used drug of choice to combat infectious disease caused by bacteria. Unfortunately, their effectiveness is drastically threatened by bacterial β-lactamases. β-lactamases is responsible for the resistance to most antibiotic drugs. For decades, β-lactam β-lactamases inhibitors have been used to reduce bacterial resistance; however, in this study 1,2,4-oxadiazolidinone derivatives as a non-β-lactam β-lactamases inhibitor against TEM-1 and P99 β-lactamases. The significance of oxadiazolidinone is the prominent five-membered ring scaffold in its structure, which is configurationally stable and present in other biologically active compounds such as linezolid and avibactam. Oxadiazolidinones were synthesized by treating nitrones …


Taking Notes: Generating Twelve-Tone Music With Mathematics, Nathan Molder May 2019

Taking Notes: Generating Twelve-Tone Music With Mathematics, Nathan Molder

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

There has often been a connection between music and mathematics. The world of musical composition is full of combinations of orderings of different musical notes, each of which has different sound quality, length, and em phasis. One of the more intricate composition styles is twelve-tone music, where twelve unique notes (up to octave isomorphism) must be used before they can be repeated. In this thesis, we aim to show multiple ways in which mathematics can be used directly to compose twelve-tone musical scores.


Facies And Diagenesis Analyses Of The Fort Terrett Formation Of The Lower Cretaceous Edwards Group, Near Junction, Texas, Richard Alden Urwin Jr. May 2019

Facies And Diagenesis Analyses Of The Fort Terrett Formation Of The Lower Cretaceous Edwards Group, Near Junction, Texas, Richard Alden Urwin Jr.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Fort Terrett Formation was deposited on the western edge of the Comanche Shelf in central Texas. The predominate lithology of the Fort Terrett Formation is limestone which caps the hills that surround Junction, Texas. Deposition of the Fort Terrett Formation occurred within shallow, quiet waters during the Lower Cretaceous. Rose (1974) developed a general stratigraphic correlation and lithostratigraphic framework for the Cretaceous Shelf and established a regional correlation. Four stratigraphic divisions have been recognized in the Fort Terrett Formation. These are: a basal nodular unit, a burrowed unit, a dolomitic unit, and the Kirschberg evaporites. Wilkerson (2018) provided the …


A Multi-Plot Assessment Of Vegetation Structure Using A Micro-Unmanned Aerial System (Uas) In A Semi-Arid Savanna Environment., Nicholas E Kolarik May 2019

A Multi-Plot Assessment Of Vegetation Structure Using A Micro-Unmanned Aerial System (Uas) In A Semi-Arid Savanna Environment., Nicholas E Kolarik

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) have emerged as a capable platform for measuring vegetation health, structure and productivity. Products derived from UAS imagery typically have much finer spatial resolutions than traditional satellite or aircraft imagery, allowing the spectral and structural heterogeneity of vegetation to be mapped and monitored with more detail. This study uses UAS-captured imagery from the Chobe Enclave of northern Botswana. Flights were conducted across a gradient of savanna sites classified as grass-, shrub-, or tree-dominated. We compare multiple approaches for extracting woody vegetation structure from UAS imagery and assess correlations between in situ field measurements and UAS estimates. …


Past, Present, And Future Arctic Climate And National/Community Risk Assessment, Jeff Auger May 2019

Past, Present, And Future Arctic Climate And National/Community Risk Assessment, Jeff Auger

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Arctic is warming at a rate nearly double that of the global average. The enhanced rate of warming impacts weather and climate across the Northern Hemisphere. As the meridional (south to north) thermal gradient weakens, the middle-latitude westerlies are expected to slow and become “wavier” increasing heat and moisture advection to higher latitudes. A quasi-stationary ridge-trough system of the jet stream increases chances for droughts, floods, heatwaves, and cold spells. These impacts have already been observed as North American forest fires and early or extended Great Lake ice out. It is more important than ever to understand how the …


Studying And Handling Iterated Algorithmic Biases In Human And Machine Learning Interaction., Wenlong Sun May 2019

Studying And Handling Iterated Algorithmic Biases In Human And Machine Learning Interaction., Wenlong Sun

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Algorithmic bias consists of biased predictions born from ingesting unchecked information, such as biased samples and biased labels. Furthermore, the interaction between people and algorithms can exacerbate bias such that neither the human nor the algorithms receive unbiased data. Thus, algorithmic bias can be introduced not only before and after the machine learning process but sometimes also in the middle of the learning process. With a handful of exceptions, only a few categories of bias have been studied in Machine Learning, and there are few, if any, studies of the impact of bias on both human behavior and algorithm performance. …


An Explainable Sequence-Based Deep Learning Predictor With Applications To Song Recommendation And Text Classification., Khalil Damak May 2019

An Explainable Sequence-Based Deep Learning Predictor With Applications To Song Recommendation And Text Classification., Khalil Damak

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Streaming applications are now the predominant tools for listening to music. What makes the success of such software is the availability of songs and especially their ability to provide users with relevant personalized recommendations. State of the art music recommender systems mainly rely on either Matrix factorization-based collaborative filtering approaches or deep learning architectures. Deep learning models usually use metadata for content-based filtering or predict the next user interaction (listening to a song) using a memory-based deep learning structure that learns from temporal sequences of user actions. Despite advances in deep learning models for song recommendation systems, none has taken …


Use Of Anodic Stripping Voltammetry To Study The Size-Selective Electrophoretic Deposition And Aggregation-Dependent Oxidation Of Metal Nanoparticles., Stacy L. Allen May 2019

Use Of Anodic Stripping Voltammetry To Study The Size-Selective Electrophoretic Deposition And Aggregation-Dependent Oxidation Of Metal Nanoparticles., Stacy L. Allen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation describes how anodic stripping voltammetry (ASV) was used to study size-controlled electrophoretic deposition (EPD) and the aggregation-dependent oxidation properties of citrate-stabilized Au nanoparticles (NPs). EPD of citrate-coated Au NPs occurs in the presence of hydroquinone (HQ) onto indium-tin-oxide-coated glass electrodes (glass/ITO) at potentials positive of the HQ oxidation potential. HQ oxidation produces protons at the electrode surface, which serve to neutralize the citrate molecules that electrostatically stabilize the Au NPs. Neutralization leads to the loss of stabilization and deposition onto the electrode. EPD in the presence of ferrocyanide, a non-proton-producing molecule, at oxidation potentials resulted in no deposition …


A Study On Radiative Pion Capture As A Source Of Background In The Search For Muon To Electron Conversion At The Mu2e Experiment., Joseph Leibson May 2019

A Study On Radiative Pion Capture As A Source Of Background In The Search For Muon To Electron Conversion At The Mu2e Experiment., Joseph Leibson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The following thesis will cover the process of radiative pion capture in the Mu2e experiment at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. Radiative pion capture (RPC) is a process that is able to mimic the signal of an electron spawned from the neutrino-less conversion of a muon. In this paper we will discuss the current Standard Model accepted by physicists, and discuss charged lepton flavor violation, which is the motivation behind Mu2e. This paper will cover the theory behind Mu2e and RPC, as well as the apparatus involved in the Mu2e experiment. Next, software and simulations used to carry out the RPC …


2d Materials Based Heterostructures : A Lithography Free Method., Adel Alruqi May 2019

2d Materials Based Heterostructures : A Lithography Free Method., Adel Alruqi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Many properties of Two-dimensional (2D) materials are vastly different from those of their 3D counterparts. A large family of 2D materials ranging from gapless graphene to metallic NbSe2 (also superconducting), semiconducting MoS2, and insulating hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) possessing a broad range of exciting new properties have emerged in recent years. Moreover, 2D materials provide the perfect platform to create laterally and vertically stacked heterostructures with intriguing properties. The physics of 2D materials based heterostructures is extremely interesting and novel 2D-heterostructured devices including tunneling diodes, tunneling transistors, photovoltaic cells, and light-emitting diodes have started to emerge. In this work, we …


Lithium Molybdate-Sulfur Battery., Ruchira Ravinath Dharmasena May 2019

Lithium Molybdate-Sulfur Battery., Ruchira Ravinath Dharmasena

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Rechargeable energy storage systems play a vital role in today’s automobile industry with the emergence of electric vehicles (EVs). In order to meet the targets set by the department of energy (DOE), there is an immediate need of new battery chemistries with higher energy density than the current Li- ion technology. Lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries have attracted enormous attention in the energy-storage, due to their high specific energy density of 2600 Wh kg-1 and operational voltage of 2.0 V. Despite the promising electrochemical characteristics, Li-S batteries suffer from serious technical challenges such as dissolution of polysulfides Li2Sx …


Mediated Physicality: Inducing Illusory Physicality Of Virtual Humans Via Their Interactions With Physical Objects, Myungho Lee May 2019

Mediated Physicality: Inducing Illusory Physicality Of Virtual Humans Via Their Interactions With Physical Objects, Myungho Lee

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The term virtual human (VH) generally refers to a human-like entity comprised of computer graphics and/or physical body. In the associated research literature, a VH can be further classified as an avatar - a human-controlled VH, or an agent - a computer-controlled VH. Because of the resemblance with humans, people naturally distinguish them from non-human objects, and often treat them in ways similar to real humans. Sometimes people develop a sense of co-presence or social presence with the VH - a phenomenon that is often exploited for training simulations where the VH assumes the role of a human. Prior research …


Machine Learning From Casual Conversation, Awrad Mohammed Ali May 2019

Machine Learning From Casual Conversation, Awrad Mohammed Ali

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Human social learning is an effective process that has inspired many existing machine learning techniques, such as learning from observation and learning by demonstration. In this dissertation, we introduce another form of social learning, Learning from a Casual Conversation (LCC). LCC is an open-ended machine learning system in which an artificially intelligent agent learns from an extended dialog with a human. Our system enables the agent to incorporate changes into its knowledge base, based on the human's conversational text input. This system emulates how humans learn from each other through a dialog. LCC closes the gap in the current research …


Decision-Making For Vehicle Path Planning, Jun Xu May 2019

Decision-Making For Vehicle Path Planning, Jun Xu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation presents novel algorithms for vehicle path planning in scenarios where the environment changes. In these dynamic scenarios the path of the vehicle needs to adapt to changes in the real world. In these scenarios, higher performance paths can be achieved if we are able to predict the future state of the world, by learning the way it evolves from historical data. We are relying on recent advances in the field of deep learning and reinforcement learning to learn appropriate world models and path planning behaviors. There are many different practical applications that map to this model. In this …


A Photometric Study Of The Eclipsing Binary V574 Lyrae, Abigail L.J. Rickards May 2019

A Photometric Study Of The Eclipsing Binary V574 Lyrae, Abigail L.J. Rickards

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Variable stars provide unparalleled insight into stellar evolution and eclipsing binary variables are particularly excellent laboratories for determining stellar physical parameters and behavior. These parameters, when taken with those of other stars, can be used to evaluate current theories on stellar evolution and stellar structure. With the view of contributing useful data to this cause, a photometric study of the eclipsing binary system V574 Lyrae (Lyr) was undertaken to determine the system's physical parameters and to create a model of the system. Data were collected with a 0.36 m Ritchey-Chr'etien telescope and the Sloan g', r', and i' filters and …


Improving Conservation Of Declining Young Forest Birds Through Adaptive Management, Anna Buckardt Thomas Apr 2019

Improving Conservation Of Declining Young Forest Birds Through Adaptive Management, Anna Buckardt Thomas

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Early successional forest and shrubland habitats are collectively called young forest. Changes in disturbance regimes and land use conversion resulted in declines of young forest and associated wildlife across eastern North America. Conservation of declining young forest birds relies on the maintenance and creation of young forest habitats used for breeding. American Woodcock (AMWO; Scolopax minor) and Golden-winged Warbler (GWWA; Vermivora chrysoptera) are two declining young forest species. Conservation plans for both species use an adaptive management framework, which is an iterative process of planning, management actions, and monitoring and evaluation, in the context of species conservation goals. Adaptive management …


Root Biomass And Other Soil Properties Affecting The Co2 Flush From Laboratory Dried And Rewetted Soils, Audrey E. Laffely Jan 2019

Root Biomass And Other Soil Properties Affecting The Co2 Flush From Laboratory Dried And Rewetted Soils, Audrey E. Laffely

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Soil that has been dried and rewetted has been observed to release a ‘burst’ or ‘flush’ of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) upon rewetting. This CO 2 flush has been proposed as an indicator of soil health. This may be a valuable indicator of soil health, however the CO 2 flush has yet to be fully evaluated. Roots and root exudates influence the soil in a variety of ways that may impact the CO 2 flush, such as increasing aggregation, organic carbon (C), and microbial biomass. We conducted both field and greenhouse experiments to elucidate the relationship of root biomass …


High Performance Liquid Crystal Devices For Augmented Reality And Virtual Reality, Md Javed Rouf Talukder Jan 2019

High Performance Liquid Crystal Devices For Augmented Reality And Virtual Reality, Md Javed Rouf Talukder

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

See-through augmented reality and virtual reality displays are emerging due to their widespread applications in education, engineering design, medical, retail, transportation, automotive, aerospace, gaming, and entertainment. For augmented reality and virtual reality displays, high-resolution density, high luminance, fast response time and high ambient contrast ratio are critically needed. High-resolution density helps eliminate the screen-door effect, high luminance and fast response time enable low duty ratio operation, which plays a key role for suppressing image blurs. A dimmer placed in front of AR display helps to control the incident background light, which in turn improves the image contrast. In this dissertation, …