Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Spiral Patterns In Liquid Crystals, Gavin Hartnett

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Abstract not Included

Fluvial-Estuarine Reinterpretation Of Large, Isolated Sandstone Bodies In Epicontinental Cyclothems, Upper Pennsylvanian, Northern Midcontinent, Usa, And Their Significance For Understanding Late Paleozoic Sea-Level Fluctuations, Steven A. Fischbein, R. Matthew Joeckel, Christopher R. Fielding

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

The Upper Pennsylvanian Indian Cave Sandstone (ICS) in southeastern Nebraska is herein reinterpreted as three multistory incised valley fills and one single-storey channel fill, altogether representing at least two different intervals of time. ICS lithosomes are linear bodies, as much as 2000 m wide and 30 m thick, incised into pre-existing cyclothems, and have relatively steep sides and flat bases. They include crudely fining-upwards successions of trough cross-bedded sandstones, interpreted as tidally-influenced fluvial deposits, overlain by upper estuarine heterolithic facies, with local coals, and a restricted trace fossil assemblage. The vertical facies succession suggests sediment accumulation in a regime of …

Ensuring Dual Security Modes In Rfid-Enabled Supply Chain Systems, Shaoying Cai, Tieyan Li, Yingjiu Li, Robert H. Deng

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

While RFID technology has greatly facilitated the supply chain management, designing a secure, visible, and efficient RFID- enabled supply chain system is still a challenge since the three equally important requirements (i.e., security, visibility, and efficiency) may conflict to each other. Few research works have been conducted to address these issues simultaneously. In this paper, we observe the different security requirements in RFID-enabled supply chain environments and differentiate the simplified model into two security levels. Accordingly, dual security modes are properly defined in our RFID setting. In the relatively secure environment, our system is set to the weak security mode, …

Efficient Mining Of Closed Repetitive Gapped Subsequences From A Sequence Database, Bolin Ding, David Lo, Jiawei Han, Siau-Cheng Khoo

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

There is a huge wealth of sequence data available, for example, customer purchase histories, program execution traces, DNA, and protein sequences. Analyzing this wealth of data to mine important knowledge is certainly a worthwhile goal. In this paper, as a step forward to analyzing patterns in sequences, we introduce the problem of mining closed repetitive gapped subsequences and propose efficient solutions. Given a database of sequences where each sequence is an ordered list of events, the pattern we would like to mine is called repetitive gapped subsequence, which is a subsequence (possibly with gaps between two successive events within it) …

Efficient Evaluation Of Multiple Preference Queries, Hou U Leong, Nikos Mamaoulis, Kyriakos Mouratidis

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Consider multiple users searching for a hotel room, based on size, cost, distance to the beach, etc. Users may have variable preferences expressed by different weights on the attributes of the searched objects. Although individual preference queries can be evaluated by selecting the object in the database with the highest aggregate score, in the case of multiple requests at the same time, a single object cannot be assigned to more than one users. The challenge is to compute a fair 1-1 matching between the queries and a subset of the objects. We model this as a stable-marriage problem and propose …

Achieving Better Privacy Protection In Wireless Sensor Networks Using Trusted Computing, Yanjiang Yang, Robert H. Deng, Jianying Zhou, Ying Qiu

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

A wireless sensor network (WSN) is an ad-hoc wireless network composed of small sensor nodes deployed in large numbers. Sensor nodes are usually severely resource limited and power constrained. Security enforcement in WSNs is thus a challenging task. In this paper we propose a clustered heterogeneous architecture for WSNs, where high-end cluster heads are incorporated, and they are further equipped with trusted computing technology (TC). As such, the cluster heads act as trusted parties, and are expected to help effectively address privacy issues in WSNs. As concrete examples, we discuss in details how user query privacy and source location privacy …

Interagency Science And Research: Final Project Report, Jennell M. Miller, Craig J. Palmer, Margaret N. Rees

Interagency Science and Research Strategy

The major accomplishment of this project was the development of the SNAP Science and Research Strategy: an 11-chapter document designed to integrate and coordinate scientific research programs in Southern Nevada and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of these programs. The Strategy is intended to inform and guide SNAP agencies in identifying and articulating highest priority science and research needs, sharing resources and funds from other sources, and eliminating redundancy between research programs within their focus areas. The major focus areas of the Strategy are Fire, Invasive Species, Watersheds and Landscapes, Biodiversity, Cultural Resources, Historic Content, Recreation, Land Use, and Education. …

Limnological Assistance For The Lake Mead National Recreation Area In Meeting The Challenge Of The Water 2025 Initiative: Quarterly Report, Period Ending April 1, 2009, Margaret N. Rees

Limnological Studies

Project 1: Technical input has been provided at two advisory team meetings attended this quarter.

Project 2: Surface Water Monitoring for Indicator Bacteria in High-use Sites of the Lake Mead National Recreation Area (poster) was presented at the Lake Mead Science Symposium; a journal article is in preparation.

Project 3: A draft document titled “Interagency Monitoring Action Plan (I-MAP): Quagga Mussels in Lakes Mead and Mohave” has been subdivided into four major sections and corresponding sub-groups have been formed to provide review and input. Six oral presentations related to quagga mussels were presented at the Lake Mead Science Symposium. Two …

Mojave Applied Ecology Notes Spring 2009, Russell Scofield, Michele Slaton Ph.D, Alexis Suazo, Donovan J. Craig

Mojave Applied Ecology Notes

California desert managers group, vegetation monitoring in Death Valley, undergraduate research symposium at UNLV, response of Sahara mustard to water and disturbance, JFS update

Unlv Magazine, Michelle Mouton, Tony Allen, Afsha Bawany, Shane Bevell, Phil Hagen, Greg Lacour, Erin O'Donnell, Karyn S. Hollingsworth

UNLV Magazine

No abstract provided.

Colorado College State Of The Rockies Report Card, Walter E. Hecox, Elizabeth L. Kolbe, Matthew K. Reuer

Publications (SD)

This year’s Report Card content is largely focused upon wildlife, one of the key natural treasures of the Rockies and a distinguishing aspect to the wildness and beauty we cherish. A related section evaluates the Wild and Scenic River system in the Rockies and how this federal act has protected certain reaches in the West compared to other federal designations and unprotected streams. A key variable for the Rockies’ future is a growing population affecting our natural resources, and in this Report Card we consider the concentration of population growth within large metropolitan areas, a demographic trend known as a …

Thermal Stability And Flammability Characteristics Of Ethylene Vinyl Acetate (Eva) Composites Blended With A Phenyl Phosphonate-Intercalated Layered Double Hydroxide (Ldh), Melamine Polyphosphate And/Or Boric Acid, Calistor Nyambo, Everson Kandare, Charles A. Wilkie

Chemistry Faculty Research and Publications

A phenyl phosphonate-intercalated MgAl–LDH (MgAl–PPh), melamine polyphosphate (MP), and boric acid (BA) were independently and concomitantly added to neat ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) copolymer at loading fractions of 10% (w/w). The structural morphology of MgAl–PPh was established via powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) while the presence of phenyl phosphonate in the galleries was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR). Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and cone calorimetry were used to evaluate the thermal stability and flammability behavior of EVA and its composites. While time-to-ignition is greatly reduced for EVA composites compared to the virgin polymer, there are remarkable …

First Observation Of An Undular Mesospheric Bore In A Doppler Duct, J. Fechine, C. M. Wrasse, H. Takahashi, A. F. Medeiros, P. P. Batista, B. R. Clemesha, L. M. Lima, D. C. Fritts, B. Laughman, Michael J. Taylor, Pierre-Dominique Pautet, M. G. Mlynczak, J. M. Russell

All Physics Faculty Publications

On 1 October 2005, during the SpreadFEx campaign, a distinct mesospheric bore was observed over S˜ao Jo˜ao do Cariri (7.4 S, 36.5 W), Brazil by using airglow allsky imagers. The event appeared both in the OI5577 and OH emissions, forming a well extended wave front which was followed by short waves from behind. Simultaneous wind and temperature data obtained by the meteor radar and the TIMED/SABER satellite instrument revealed that the bore event occurred during the Doppler ducting condition in the emission layers.

Core-Level Spectroscopy Of The Pd/W(110) Interface: Evidence Of Long-Range Pd-Island—Winteractions At Submonolayer Coverages, D. Mark Riffe, N. D. Shinn, B. Kim, K. J. Kim, T. H. Kang

All Physics Faculty Publications

We have measured W 4f_7/2 core-level photoemission spectra from W(1 1 0) in the presence of Pd overlayers for coverages up to ∼1 pseudomorphic monolayer (ML). At coverages close to 0.05 ML a striking change in the W core-level spectrum is observed, which we interpret as indicating a long-range lateral effect of 2D Pd islands upon the W electronic structure in both the first and second W layers. As the coverage increases the long-range effect weakens and finally vanishes near 0.85 ML. Above this coverage the W spectra are typical for a W-based bimetallic interface, with the first-layer …

Simultaneous Observation Of Ionospheric Plasma Bubbles And Mesospheric Gravity Waves During The Spreadfex Campaign, H. Takahashi, Michael J. Taylor, Pierre-Dominique Pautet, A. F. Medeiros, D. Gobbi, C. M. Wrasse, J. Fechine, M. A. Abdu, I. S. Batista, E. R. De Paula, J. A.H. Sobral, D. Aruda, D. C. Fritts

All Physics Faculty Publications

During the Spread F Experiment campaign, under NASA Living with a Star (LWS) program, carried out in the South American Magnetic Equator region from 22 September to 8 November 2005, two airglow CCD imagers, located at Cariri (7.4° S, 36.5° W, geomag. 11° S) and near Brasilia (14.8° S, 47.6° W, geomag. 10° S) were operated simultaneously and measured the equatorial ionospheric bubbles and their time evolution by monitoring the airglow OI 6300 intensity depletions. Simultaneous observation of the mesospheric OH wave structures made it possible to investigate the relationship between the bubble formation in the ionosphere and the gravity …

Environmental Citizenship And Carbon Intensity; Evaluating The Carbon Masters Educational Program, Andrea Jean Thomas

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

This honors senior project is composed of two separate, but integrated documents which, taken together, act as the foundation for a formal, systematic program evaluation model for the climate change education group Carbon Masters. The first section is comprised of a “policy analysis" proposal which outlines a policy problem, two solutions by which to address it, and a method by which to analyze the solutions for their effectiveness, efficacy, and community-building. The policy problem is defined as the fact that there are too little educational programs available to the public that offer valid, proactive, constructive and informational tools to empower …

Information Leakage As A Model For Quality Of Anonymity Networks, Ye Zhu, Riccardo Bettati

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Measures for anonymity in systems must be on one hand simple and concise, and on the other hand reflect the realities of real systems. Such systems are heterogeneous, as are the ways they are used, the deployed anonymity measures, and finally the possible attack methods. Implementation quality and topologies of the anonymity measures must be considered as well. We therefore propose a new measure for the anonymity degree, that takes into account these various. We model the effectiveness of single mixes or of mix networks in terms of information leakage, and we measure it in terms of covert channel capacity. …

Using Pedotransfer Functions In Vadose Zone Models For Estimating Groundwater Recharge In Semiarid Regions, Tiejun Wang, Vitaly A. Zlotnik, Jirka Šimunek, Marcel G. Schaap

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Process-based vadose zone models are becoming common tools for evaluating spatial distributions of groundwater recharge (GR), but their applications are restricted by complicated parameterizations, especially because of the need for highly nonlinear and spatially variable soil hydraulic characteristics (SHCs). In an attempt to address the scarcity of field SHC data, pedotransfer functions (PTF) were introduced in earlier attempts to estimate SHCs. However, the accuracy of this method is rarely questioned in spite of significant uncertainties of PTF-estimated SHCs. In this study, we investigated the applicability of coupling vadose zone models and PTFs for evaluating GR in sand and loamy sand …

Inquiry-Based Introductory Earth Science Laboratory Using Survey Equipment, Tamie J. Jovanelly

Georgia Educational Researcher

A laboratory assignment entitled was developed to give high-school students an opportunity to collect, analyze, and interpret data after they have been introduced to topographic maps and associated terminology. Survey equipment (automatic level, graduated staff, and tripod) is used to collect data with the goal of creating a topographic profile along a linear transect on campus. This assignment sets itself apart from traditional introductory earth science labs because the students are using instrumentation to collect data, rather than having a data set provided for them. The benefits of this assignment include: 1) further understanding of topographic maps, 2) practice with …

Gently Modified Operations: How Environmental Concerns Addressed Through Customs Procedures Can Successfully Resolve The Us-Eu Gmo Dispute, David E. Sella-Villa

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

Beyond Output Voting: Detecting Compromised Replicas Using Hmm-Based Behavioral Distance, Debin Gao, Michael K. Reiter, Dawn Song

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Many host-based anomaly detection techniques have been proposed to detect code-injection attacks on servers. The vast majority, however, are susceptible to "mimicry" attacks in which the injected code masquerades as the original server software, including returning the correct service responses, while conducting its attack. "Behavioral distance," by which two diverse replicas processing the same inputs are continually monitored to detect divergence in their low-level (system-call) behaviors and hence potentially the compromise of one of them, has been proposed for detecting mimicry attacks. In this paper, we present a novel approach to behavioral distance measurement using a new type of hidden …

Opaque: Protecting Path Privacy In Directions Search, Ken C. K. Lee, Wang-Chien Lee, Hong Va Leong, Baihua Zheng

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Directions search returns the shortest path from a source to a destination on a road network. However, the search interests of users may be exposed to the service providers, thus raising privacy concerns. For instance, a path query that finds a path from a resident address to a clinic may lead to a deduction about "who is related to what disease". To protect user privacy from accessing directions search services, we introduce the OPAQUE system, which consists of two major components: (1) an obfuscator that formulates obfuscated path queries by mixing true and fake sources/destinations; and (2) an obfuscated path …

An Incremental Threshold Method For Continuous Text Search Queries, Kyriakos Mouratidis, Hwee Hwa Pang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

A text filtering system monitors a stream of incoming documents, to identify those that match the interest profiles of its users. The user interests are registered at a server as continuous text search queries. The server constantly maintains for each query a ranked result list, comprising the recent documents (drawn from a sliding window) with the highest similarity to the query. Such a system underlies many text monitoring applications that need to cope with heavy document traffic, such as news and email monitoring. In this paper, we propose the first solution for processing continuous text queries efficiently. Our objective is …

Rsa-Based Certificateless Public Key Encryption, Junzuo Lai, Robert H. Deng, Shengli Liu, Weidong Kou

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Certificateless Public Key Cryptography was first introduced by Al-Riyami and Paterson in order to eliminate the inherent key-escrow problem of Identity-Based Cryptography. In this paper, we present a new practical construction of certificateless public key encryption scheme without paring. Our scheme is, in the random oracle model, provably secure under the assumption that the RSA problem is intractable.

Exploring Hierarchically Organized Georeferenced Multimedia Annotations In The Mobitop System, Thi Nhu Quynh Kim, Khasfariyati Razikin, Dion Hoe-Lian Goh, Yin Leng Theng, Quang Minh Nguyen, Ee-Peng Lim, Aixin Sun, Chew Hung Chang, Kalyani Chatterjea

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

We introduce MobiTOP, a map-based interface for accessing hierarchically organized georeferenced annotations. Each annotation contains multimedia content associated with a location, and users are able to annotate existing annotations, in effect creating a hierarchy. MobiTOPs interface was designed using a participatory design methodology to ensure that the user interface meets the needs of potential users. A pilot study to compare the MobiTOP interface with a space-filling thumbnail (SFT) interface suggested that participants preferred the MobiTOP design for accessing annotations even though the SFT interface was conceptually easier to understand resources.

The Digital Wallet: Opportunities And Prototypes, Rajesh Krishna Balan, Narayanasamy Ramasubbu

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Example digital wallet applications support secure P2P mobile cash transactions and alleviate point-of-sale confusion for consumers using multiple payment, discount, and loyalty cards.

The Role Of The Local Community In Integrated Conservation With Development Projects: A Case Study Of The Phu My Lepironia Conservation Project, Marion Boulicault

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Recognizing the connection between local communities and conservation areas, Integrated Conservation with Development Projects (ICDPs) are being developed across the world to simultaneously address conservation and local development goals. Through a case study of the Phu My Lepironia Conservation Project (an ICDP) in Kien Giang Province, Vietnam, this study aimed to examine the nature of the role of the local community in ICDPs, the factors affecting this role and the impact this role is having on the conservation project. Participant observation and open-ended interview techniques were used to achieve this aim.

The study found that, despite the goal of the …

The Cost Of Progress: Failed Development And Community Response On Pulau Serangan, Julia Nakad

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Introduction - extract

No place on Bali illustrates the promise and heartbreak of development more clearly than the failed development project on Serangan Island, the location of a halted (if not completely aborted) development project in the 1990s that drastically changed the landscapes and livelihoods on the island in a relatively short span of time. Prior to the development project, most Serangan people made a living from fishing in the ocean surrounding the island, as well as from extracting coral and engaging in the turtle trade. These same people were promised jobs in the resorts that were to be built …

Iowa Academy Of Science: The New Bulletin, V05n1, Spring 2009, Iowa Academy Of Science

New Bulletin

Inside This Issue:

--Message from the Executive Director

--Corrections

--Keep in touch with the IAS Members Only Website

--Lakeside Laboratory Reunion is looking for Alumni

--The Iowa Academy of Science welcomes new Institutional Member

--Candidates for President-Elect

--Candidates for Board of Directors

--Election 2009

--Iowa Science Teachers’ Section Election Candidates

--2008 Donations

Optical Properties Of Multilayer-Polyelectrolyte Films With Incorporated Gold Nanomaterials (Solid Nanoparticles And Hollow Nanoshells), Robert Watson Day

Honors Theses

The growth of various multilayer‐polymer multilayer‐nanoparticle films was successfully achieved. Multilayer‐polymer multilayer‐nanoparticle films with 1, 3, and 5 polymer layers between nanoparticle layers exhibit significantly different optical properties due to the differences in magnitude of particle plasmon coupling. These film systems were also successfully extended to hollow gold nanoshells, which have significantly enhanced optical properties in comparison to solid gold nanoparticles of similar sizes. A proposal for utilizing this increased sensitivity of the gold nanoshells to explore the ‘microenvironments’ for optimizing potential sensing applications is also presented.