Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Bringing Biodiversity To Development: Perceptions Of Integrating Eucalyptus And Forest-Corridors Around The Serra Do Brigadeiro, Brazil, Maggie R Stevens

Masters Theses

The Atlantic Forest of south-eastern Brazil is a hot-spot for biodiversity and should be conserved. It is also at the center of the largest municipalities in Brazil and therefore has a severely fragmented landscape. Iracambi, a working farm near the Serra do Brigadeiro state park in Minas Gerais, is working for conservation in an area of intense agricultural production and expanding forestry industry. Most households in this rural area have some amount of eucalyptus on their property and consequently the director of Iracambi is developing the preliminary foundation for a forest corridor program comprised of primarily eucalyptus with the goal …

Evaluating Substrate Metrics For Monitoring Sediment Impairment Of East Tennessee Streams., James Hunter Terrell

Masters Theses

Section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act (CWA) requires states to assess and list all streams that do not meet water quality criteria for their designated use classes. In Tennessee, the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) uses macroinvertebrate surveys to assess the condition of streams designated for “fish and aquatic life” and the progress of targeted waterbodies toward meeting established standards for sediment. As of yet, no substrate metric has been established to monitor water quality or to document progress toward water quality improvement with respect to fish and aquatic life in Tennessee. A substrate metric that could …

Positron Emission Tomography (Pet) For Flow Measurement, Bi Yao Zhang

Masters Theses

Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is frequently used for medical imaging. Maturity and flexibility of PET as an imaging technique has expanded its utility beyond the medical domain. It can be used as a tool for fluid flow studies in opaque fluids and for flow within complex geometry where conventional optical flow measurement approaches fail. This study explores the capabilities of PET as flow measurement tool suited to validation of computational fluid dynamic (CFD) predictions.

The MicroPET P4 scanner was used to image the diffusion process in flow around a rod bundle geometry similar to that found in a nuclear reactor …

A Study Of Missing Data Imputation And Predictive Modeling Of Strength Properties Of Wood Composites, Yan Zeng

Masters Theses

Problem: Real-time process and destructive test data were collected from a wood composite manufacturer in the U.S. to develop real-time predictive models of two key strength properties (Modulus of Rupture (MOR) and Internal Bound (IB)) of a wood composite manufacturing process. Sensor malfunction and data “send/retrieval” problems lead to null fields in the company’s data warehouse which resulted in information loss. Many manufacturers attempt to build accurate predictive models excluding entire records with null fields or using summary statistics such as mean or median in place of the null field. However, predictive model errors in validation may be higher …

Exploring The Effectiveness Of Environmentally Sustainable Practices In Municipal Government: A Case Study Of The City Of Knoxville’S Department Of Parks And Recreation, Anthony Michael Brown

Masters Theses

Sustainability practices produce programs and services that meet current needs while preserving the environment and natural resources for the future. City parks and recreation departments are facing budget shortfalls and increasing expectations from customers. Governments are now embracing sustainability practices to create financial savings while also fostering relations with customers.

The purpose of this single case study was twofold: (1) to examine the effectiveness of one city department’s strategies in outsourcing its environmental sustainability program through a performance contract with Ameresco; and (2) to examine the perceptions of key department employees about the effectiveness of the sustainability initiative. A …

Mixture Model Cluster Analysis Under Different Covariance Structures Using Information Complexity, Bahar Erar

Masters Theses

In this thesis, a mixture-model cluster analysis technique under different covariance structures of the component densities is developed and presented, to capture the compactness, orientation, shape, and the volume of component clusters in one expert system to handle Gaussian high dimensional heterogeneous data sets to achieve flexibility in currently practiced cluster analysis techniques. Two approaches to parameter estimation are considered and compared; one using the Expectation-Maximization (EM) algorithm and another following a Bayesian framework using the Gibbs sampler. We develop and score several forms of the ICOMP criterion of Bozdogan (1994, 2004) as our fitness function; to choose the number …

Estimates Of Linear Energy Transfer From Solar Energetic Particles In Earth's Upper Atmosphere To Human Tissue In Aluminium Aircraft, Michael Ian Hall

Masters Theses

Radiation from extraterrestrial sources is a concern for the safety of passengers and crew in high altitude aircraft. Cosmic radiation and solar particles constantly bombard the atmosphere with energy. Radiation levels from these sources can vary considerably depending on solar activity cycles and energetic particle events such as solar flares. In order to predict the effects of such events the nature of the radiation spectrum must be characterized, and the individual effects of each radiation type understood. The background radiation spectrum is known to good accuracy and prediction of radiation levels due to specific solar events is currently under investigation. …

An Investigation Of Atmospheric Turbulence Probes With Ground Test Comparisons Of Probe Head Designs And Evaluation Of Suitability To Instrumented Aircraft, Charles F Lams

Masters Theses

A comparison of methods to determine the flow angle components of atmospheric velocity vectors is presented. The atmospheric turbulence probes used to measure behavior of the atmosphere use different methods to obtain this information and there is some confusion as to which method is best. Although the methods are all based upon potential flow theory, the details about how the atmospheric and flight parameters are measured makes a difference to the design of an atmospheric turbulence probe and carrier research aircraft. This paper presents the mathematical theory behind five methods of obtaining atmospheric flow angle measurements from a moving aircraft. …

Sedimentologic And Stratigraphic Analysis Of Units Defining The Basal Sauk Supersequence Across The Craton Margin Hinge Zone, Southeastern California, Eric Gordon Hogan

Masters Theses

In the Death Valley and Mojave Desert regions of southeastern California, the contact separating the lower and middle members of the Wood Canyon Formation (WCF) is currently interpreted as a regional scale unconformity coincident with the base of the Sauk Sequence. Regional mapping of this surface, however, reveals a nonconformable contact with underlying crystalline basement in cratonic settings, and a relatively conformable contact atop a northwest thickening wedge of miogeoclinal strata that is capped by the lower member of the WCF. Consistent with an unconformity, the progressive loss of three carbonate units within the lower member of the WCF has …

Development And Analysis Of Onboard Translunar Injection Targeting Algorithms, Phillippe Lyles Winters Reed

Masters Theses

Several targeting algorithms are developed and analyzed for possible future use onboard a spacecraft. Each targeter is designed to determine the appropriate propulsive burn for translunar injection to obtain desired orbital parameters upon arrival at the moon. Primary design objectives are to minimize the computational requirements for each algorithm but also to ensure reasonable accuracy, so that the algorithm’s errors do not force the craft to conduct large mid-course corrections. Several levels of accuracy for dynamical models are explored, the convergence range and speed of each algorithm are compared, and the possible benefits of the Broyden and trust-region targeters are …

On The Behavior Of The Asymptotics Of Robertson-Walker Cosmologies As A Function Of The Cosmological Constant, Noah Thomas Schaefferkoetter

Masters Theses

An analysis of the Einstein Field Equations within a Robertson-Walker Cosmology. More specifically, what values of the cosmological constant will result in a Big Bang.

An Investigation Of Stratigraphic Evidence For An Abrupt Climatic Event 8200 Yr Bp In Valle De Las Morrenas, Costa Rica, Brian Thomas Watson

Masters Theses

Lago de las Morrenas 4 (9.498056° [degrees] N, 83.486111° [degrees] W, 3466 m elev.) is the lowest lake in a chain of glacial lakes located in the Valle de las Morrenas, a valley facing almost due north from Cerro Chirripó, the highest peak in the Cordillera de Talamanca in Costa Rica. Coarse resolution analyses of pollen, microscopic charcoal, and loss-on-ignition of a ca. 10,000 year sediment record from Lago de las Morrenas 4 was carried out to complement and extend previous research on the environmental history of the Chirripó highlands and to provide context for high-resolution sampling and analysis of …

The Effects Of Land-Use Change On The Hydrological Properties Of Andisols In The Ecuadorian Paramo, James Joseph Hartsig

Masters Theses

The Ecuadorian páramo is characterized by unique soil properties that allow the ground to hold large amounts of water. These páramo grasslands support Andean cities and communities as a source of water for municipal, industrial, and agricultural use. Although recent research has suggested that changes in land use can decrease the amount of water and affect the water-holding capabilities of the soil, the hydrologic effects of different land uses, including burning for livestock grazing and pine planting for carbon credits, are currently under debate.

This research tested hypotheses about moisture-related properties of páramo soils under different land uses at two …

Constraining Martian Sedimentation Via Analysis Of Stratal Packaging, Intracrater Layered Deposits, Arabia Terra, Mars, Sarah Beth Cadieux

Masters Theses

Craters within Arabia Terra, Mars, contain hundreds of meters of layered strata

showing systematic alternation between slope- and cliff-forming units, suggesting either

rhythmic deposition of distinct lithologies or lithologies that experienced differential

cementation. Hypothesized origins of these intercrater layered deposits include

lacustrine, aeolian, volcanic airfall, and impact surge deposition. On Earth, rhythmically

deposited strata can be examined in terms of stratal packaging, wherein the interplay of

tectonics, sediment deposition, and change in base level results in predictable patterns

with respect to changes in the amount of space available for sediment accumulation.

Fundamental differences between tectonic regimes of Earth and Mars …

Phosphorus Distribution In Channel-Bed Sediments In Beaver Creek, Knox County, Tennessee, Angela Nicole Danovi

Masters Theses

Beaver Creek, located in North Knox County, Tennessee, is on the Tennessee 303(d) list as an impaired stream that fails to meet its designated uses. Phosphorus (P) is one of the major pollutants of the stream. High P levels within surface water can lead to water quality problems including low dissolved oxygen, overgrowth of algae, and eutrophication. Two sources, pasture grazing areas and major municipal point sources, have been identified as important contributors of P to Beaver Creek. The objective of this study was to analyze the total P and Mehlich III extractable P concentrations of sediments in Beaver Creek …

A Study Of The Release Properties Of Sn And Sns From An Isol-Type Target/Ion Source System, Ronald Earl Goans

Masters Theses

Radioactive ion beams (RIBs) provide a method for studying the properties of increasingly exotic nuclei. For many nuclei, the intensity of the RIB available in the isotope separation on-line (ISOL) technique is limited by the relatively long delay time in the target/ion source system (TISS). New techniques are needed to decrease this delay time, thereby increasing the intensity of the RIBs available for study.

The sulfide molecular sideband was discovered in 2001 as a way to greatly enhance the quality of Sn beams. Holdup measurements were performed at the Holifield Radioactive Ion Beam Facility (HRIBF) to determine the extent to …

Kinematic Evolution Of The Homestake And Slide Lake Shear Zones, Central Colorado: Implications For Mid-Crustal Deformation During The Mesoproterozoic, Patricia Elizabeth Lee

Masters Theses

Kinematic analysis and field mapping of the Homestake shear zone (HSZ) and Slide Lake shear zone (SLSZ) in central Colorado provide new evidence for strain partitioning in the mid-crust at ~1.4 Ga. The northeast-striking, steeply dipping HSZ comprises a ~10-km-wide set of anastomosing ductile shear zones and pseudotachylyte-bearing faults. Approximately 3-km south of the HSZ, the north-northeast-striking, shallowly dipping mylonites of the SLSZ form three 1-10-m-thick shear zone splays. Both top-up-to-the-northwest and top-down-to-the-southeast shear sense are recorded in the SLSZ and HSZ. Oblique stretching lineations in both shear zones show vertical (top-down-to-the-southeast and top-up-to-the-northwest) and dextral movement occurred during mylonite …

Geological Controls On Reservoir Quality And Geologic Carbon Sequestration Potential In The Upper Cambrian Mount Simon Sandstone, Kyle Patterson

Masters Theses

The Upper (?) Cambrian Mount Simon Sandstone is an important deep saline geological carbon sequestration (GCS) target throughout the Midwest, USA. The distribution of sedimentary facies, primary mineralogy, and diagenetic alterations and the relationship to wireline log response and reservoir quality throughout the Michigan basin are not well known. This study uses rock core, thin section point counts, x-ray diffraction, inferred spectroscopy, conventional core plug porosity and permeability and pressure fall-off test data to constrain wireline log interpretations of regional geology and reservoir quality.

Prior to the permitting of a CO₂ sequestration project, documentation of a robust transient injection …

High Resolution Depositional Analysis Of The Black River Group (Ordovician), Michigan Basin, Jennifer Elaine Schulz

Masters Theses

The Ordovician Trenton and Black River carbonates of the Michigan Basin are significant hydrocarbon reservoirs that are characterized by hydrothermal dolomitization. Production has exceeded 132 million barrels of oil with forty new discoveries made in the past three years. The giant Albion-Scipio Trend is often used as a model for other prolific hydrothermal dolomite reservoirs around the world with current models focused on the structural control of reservoir quality dolomite.

Previous studies of the Black River Group have not delimited a well-constrained depositional model. This study integrates high-resolution core interpretations, whole core analysis, and thin section evaluation to determine how …

Investigation Of Carbon Sequestration Potential Of The Middle Devonian Sylvania Sandstone, Michigan Basin, U.S.A, Farsheed Rock

Masters Theses

The Sylvania Sandstone is an important brine reservoir in Michigan. This study investigates the geological carbon sequestration potential of this reservoir through integrated reservoir characterization using cores, thin sections, core analysis data and modern wireline log data.

Core-to-wireline-log correlation can be used to subdivide the Sylvania Sandstone into conventional reservoir sandstone, and mixed dolostone, low permeability reservoir tripolitic chert and low permeability limestone lithologies. Isolith maps and cross sections indicate that the reservoir sandstone lithology dominates in southeast Michigan and is transitional to a mixture of sandstone, dolostone, tripolitic chert and limestone lithologies toward the northwest that in turn are …

Prediction Of Petrophysical Properties Of Trenton-Black River (Ordovician) Reservoirs By Comparing Pore Architecture And Permeability To Sonic Velocity, John E. Thornton

Masters Theses

Reservoir characterization of carbonate rocks is complicated by heterogeneous pore architecture related to primary depositional facies and subsequent diagenesis; this is especially true in diagenetically-altered and structurually-influenced Trenton-Black River reservoirs of the Michigan Basin. Accurate and reliable prediction of reservoir properties within hydrothermal dolomite reservoirs through the use of acoustic properties would aid exploration and characterization both within and outside of the Michigan Basin.

Results indicate that measures of pore architecture when integrated with measures of physical properties into multiple variable linear regression can accurately predict permeability of core plugs. However, due to the highly-heterogeneous distribution of pore architecture and …

Social Network Analysis Of The Video Bloggers' Community In Youtube, Anusha Mogallapu

Masters Theses

"This research studied the structure of the social network of the video blogger community on YouTube. It analyzed the social network structure of friends and subscribers of the 187 video bloggers on YouTube and calculated the social network measures. This thesis compares the results to the structure described by Warmbrodt et al. in 2007 and explains the reasons for the distinctions. The number of video bloggers has increased enormously, and the form of their interactions has changed. As a result, the video blogger social network has evolved from a core/periphery structure to one that is centralized. This indicates that the …

Method Developments To Analyze Caffeine And Acesulfame-K Concentrations In Natural Waters In And Around Charleston, Il, Usa, Laleen Bodhipaksha

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

Geological And Geomorphological Evolution Of The Egyptian Nile Between Aswan And Kom Ombo: A Remote Sensing And Field Study Approach, Leslie Lansbery

Masters Theses

"This work uses field and remote sensing studies to examine structural controls of the Egyptian Nile between Aswan and Kom Ombo (referred here to as AKN). This segment of the Egyptian Nile incises through Cretaceous Nubian sandstone and Precambrian crystalline rocks separated by a shallowly-dipping to theN unconformity. It was only 0.8 Ma that the Egyptian Nile connected to the rest of the sub-Sahara Africa drainage system. Prior to this time, the Egyptian Nile evolved independently through 8 phases: Pre-Eonile (Ma), Eonile (6.0-5. 4 Ma), Gulf Phase (5.4-3.3 Ma), Paleonile Phase (3.3-1.8 Ma), Desert Phase (1.8-0.8 Ma), Prenile Phase (0.8-0.4 …

Exploring Join Caching In Programming Codes To Reduce Runtime Execution, Swetha Surapaneni

Masters Theses

"This thesis describes an approach to reduce the runtime of a large program by exploring object querying and query caching in programming codes. Some object-oriented languages allow the programmers to express queries explicitly in the code, which are optimized using the query optimization techniques from the database domain. In this regard, Java Query Language (JQL) has been developed that allows object querying and performs the query optimization and query caching at runtime. The problem that has been addressed in this thesis is how to reduce the runtime of a large program during the single execution by employing an efficient cache …

Improving Student Learning Outcomes Through Personal Response Systems (Clickers), Ran Cai

Masters Theses

"The main purpose of this research was to examine the impact of Personal Response Systems (PRS) or clickers, (as they are commonly called), on student learning outcome. Student learning outcomes as measured by course grades were compared between traditional lecture format and clicker use lecture format. Student perceptions on clicker use were observed in the mean time. Statistical analysis indicated that although student conveyed positive attitude on clicker adoption, there were no significant differences in course scores between students who used clickers and students who did not.

This study also considered the influence of other factors, such as gender, student …

Comprehensive Evaluation Of A Computer Based Learning System, Arun Sharma Chintalapati

Masters Theses

"This thesis presents the results of a comprehensive multi-method evaluation that was conducted on the Rapid Development System (RDS), a computer-based learning environment. The development of the project was funded by a National Science Foundation grant. Prior to this evaluation, the RDS had gone through two iterations.

A pre/post evaluation was conducted using questionnaires and eye tracking. Multi-method evaluation was employed to help triangulate the results and to provide additional insights. Data from the eye tracking was used to study the influence of the RDS interface on the attention and the cognitive workload of students with respect to the learning …

A Social Network Of Service Providers For Trust And Identity Management In The Cloud, Makarand Bhonsle

Masters Theses

"With the advent of a new paradigm in computing known as Cloud Computing which offers computing as a service, the inflow of a variety of service vendors is increasing constantly. One of the main challenges in this distributed network of service provisioning and deprovisioning system is the end user's privacy. Enforcing authentication and authorization protocols customized to the needs of every service provider evolves to a very intricate Identity Management System with respect to both the collaborating service providers as well as the user. This problem was addressed by the Federated Identity Management systems, where the user information is stored …

Seismic Interpretation And Reservoir Characterization Of The Middle Eocene Gialo Formation, Assamoud Field, Sirte Basin, Libya, Abdalla Abdelnabi

Masters Theses

"The Gialo Formation is a major gas producing reservoir in the Assamoud Field, Sirte Basin, Libya. It is called Gialo limestone because it consists of shallow marine limestone. Seismic and well data in conjunction with the results of a previous study were used to delineate the hydrocarbon reservoir of Middle Eocene Gialo Formation of Assamoud Field area located in Eastern part of concession 6, Sirte Basin, Libya. The data include three-dimensional seismic data acquired by Sirte Company in 2009. It covers approximately an area of 150 km² and with more than 10 wells penetrating the reservoir. Seismic data were used …

A Time Series Approach To Electric Load Modelling, Matthias Benjamin Noller

Masters Theses

"With resources becoming more and more scarse [sic] as well as increasing competition caused by the liberalisation of the energy markets electric load modelling becomes ever more important for proper resource allocation.

This work tries to bridge the gap between long-term modelling done mainly via econometric approaches and short-term modelling in which time series models are more commonplace by focussing [sic] on pure time series modelling [sic] and exploring its limits in the process. Due to various seasonalities present in the data the approach chosen starts with a subdivision of the time axis in different time frames: A model for …