Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Planning For Closure Of The Logan City/Cache County Landfill And Surrounding Landscape, Kristofor Lee Kvarfordt

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Planning for closure requires in depth analysis into many operational, environmental, and social factors. Ideally, the planning process should resolve as many of the technical, social, and aesthetic requirements as possible by systematically addressing the various elements that influence the final design. This research identified the significant issues related to planning for the end use of the current Logan landfill after it reaches capacity in 18-20 years and the associated lagoons and wetlands. The current closure plan calls for simply recontouring the landfill to stabilize the slopes, then revegetating. The location of the site has serious implications for environmental impact …

Investigating Small-Scale Dynamical Features In The Mesopause Region, Deepak B. Simkhada

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Utilizing analyses of observational data, we performed a detailed study to investigate short-period atmospheric gravity waves and ripples, and instabilities in the mesopause region. Recent coordinated measurements from Haleakala Observatory, Maui, HI via airglow wave imaging, meteor wind radar, and Na wind temperature lidar have provided a unique dataset for this study. Gravity waves generated in the lower atmosphere propagate energy upwards into the mesosphere and lower thermosphere region where they modulate the airglow emissions, and later break and deposit their momentum, causing significant perturbations in winds and temperatures. Ripples, on the other hand, are likely generated by localized shear …

Random Forests Applied As A Soil Spatial Predictive Model In Arid Utah, Alexander Knell Stum

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Initial soil surveys are incomplete for large tracts of public land in the western USA. Digital soil mapping offers a quantitative approach as an alternative to traditional soil mapping. I sought to predict soil classes across an arid to semiarid watershed of western Utah by applying random forests (RF) and using environmental covariates derived from Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) and digital elevation models (DEM). Random forests are similar to classification and regression trees (CART). However, RF is doubly random. Many (e.g., 500) weak trees are grown (trained) independently because each tree is trained with a new randomly …

Evapotranspiration Of Kentucky Bluegrass, Lynda L. Fenton

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Rapid population growth in arid regions of the western US is placing increased demand on water resources. Variability in precipitation and common occurrence of drought have promoted scrutiny of water use in urban lawns and gardens. However, few reliable measurements of water use of these landscapes exist. Quantifying the amount of water used vs. required by landscapes such as turfgrass would allow significant water conservation. Evapotranspiration (ET) is affected by biophysical factors such as: available energy, turbulent mixing, saturation deficit, soil water, and stomatal conductance. In order to simulate the water use by turfgrass, the relative importance of these processes …

Electron-Induced Electron Yields Of Uncharged Insulating Materials, Ryan Carl Hoffmann

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Presented here are electron-induced electron yield measurements from high-resistivity, high-yield materials to support a model for the yield of uncharged insulators. These measurements are made using a low-fluence, pulsed electron beam and charge neutralization to minimize charge accumulation. They show charging induced changes in the total yield, as much as 75%, even for incident electron fluences of <3 fC/mm², when compared to an uncharged yield. The evolution of the yield as charge accumulates in the material is described in terms of electron recapture, based on the extended Chung and Everhart model of the electron emission spectrum and the dual dynamic …

Range Adaptive Proton Therapy For Prostate Cancer, Adam D. Melancon

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

Purpose: The rapid distal falloff of a proton beam allows for sparing of normal tissues distal to the target. However proton beams that aim directly towards critical structures are avoided due to concerns of range uncertainties, such as CT number conversion and anatomy variations. We propose to eliminate range uncertainty and enable prostate treatment with a single anterior beam by detecting the proton’s range at the prostate-rectal interface and adaptively adjusting the range in vivo and in real-time.

Materials and Methods: A prototype device, consisting of an endorectal liquid scintillation detector and dual-inverted Lucite wedges for range compensation, was designed …

Solar Radiation Investigations; A Foundation Study, Alanna Maguire

Doctoral

Skin cancer is a global epidemic that is increasing annually. However, our knowledge of the mechanisms involved in skin carcinogenesis is relatively poor. Investigative studies to date have predominantly employed fluorescent UV A and I or UVB lamps. The information gained from such studies has pioneered this area of research effectively, however, the typical unimodal Gaussian distribution of such irradiators do not reflect that of solar radiation nor do they account for potential waveband interactions. Advancing technologies in solar simulation have opened up this field to more environmentally and biologically relevant exposures, not only in terms of distribution but also …

Indiana Wildlife Disease News, Vol 5, Issue 2 -- May 2010, Joe N. Caudill, Dean Zimmerman

Indiana Wildlife Disease News

Botulism in wildlife

White-nose syndrome (WNS) Spreads into Midwestern United States

Publication on Tularemia Now Available from the USGS National Wildlife Health Center

BOAH in New Location and New Contact Information

Midwest Wildlife Disease Update: No TB Found in Indiana Deer Sampled; New BOAH Contact Information; Indiana Cervid Testing; Indiana Man Dies of Rabies; Missouri Has CWD Positive in Captive Herd; A bat from a cave in northwest Oklahoma has tested positive for the fun-gus associated with WNS; Indiana Continues To Be CWD Free; Illinois CWD Positives in Decline

Fire Effects On Wildlife In Tallgrass Prairie, Maria Gaetani, Kayla Cook, Sherry Leis

United States National Park Service: Publications

Abstract

In the tallgrass prairie region of North America, grasslands are often burned on a rotational schedule to prevent the encroachment of woody species and maintain the vigor of plant communities. Although prescribed fire practitioners often consider the effects of fire on plant communities, the effects of fire on wildlife are also important. Practitioners as well as park visitors inquire about the effects of fire on birds, deer, and other animals of interest. Many wildlife species focus on vegetation structure in choosing suitable habitats, and fire can temporarily alter that structure. Wildlife species have varying habitat needs, and therefore, a …

Late Spring And Summer Phytoplankton Community Dynamics On Georges Bank With Emphasis On Diatoms, Alexandrium Spp., And Other Dinoflagellates, Rachel Gettings

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Georges Bank is a highly productive continental shelf system in the Northwest Atlantic that has historically supported a rich fishery. Part of that productivity stems from annual spring diatom bloom, which is followed by post-bloom populations of flagellates, including the toxic dinoflagellate Alexandrium spp., responsible for paralytic shellfish poisoning. While the general oceanography of Georges Bank has been well studied, far less is known about phytoplankton community dynamics or even basic species distributions and abundance. This thesis is driven in part by the possible competitive interactions among species of phytoplankton which are thought to influence Alexandrium blooms on the Bank. …

Linked Sensor Data, Harshal Kamlesh Patni, Cory Andrew Henson, Amit P. Sheth

Kno.e.sis Publications

A number of government, corporate, and academic organizations are collecting enormous amounts of data provided by environmental sensors. However, this data is too often locked within organizations and underutilized by the greater community. In this paper, we present a framework to make this sensor data openly accessible by publishing it on the Linked Open Data (LOD) Cloud. This is accomplished by converting raw sensor observations to RDF and linking with other datasets on LOD. With such a framework, organizations can make large amounts of sensor data openly accessible, thus allowing greater opportunity for utilization and analysis.

Numerical Gram-Schmidt Orthonormalization, Charles M. Werneth, Mallika Dhar, Khin Maung Maung, Christopher J. Sirola, John W. Norbury

Faculty Publications

A numerical Gram-Schmidt orthonormalization procedure is presented for constructing an orthonormal basis function set from a non-orthonormal set, when the number of basis functions is large. This method will provide a pedagogical illustration of the Gram-Schmidt procedure and can be presented in classes on numerical methods or computational physics.

Synthesis Of Functional Copolymers Via Aqueous Raft Polymerization For Bioconjugation And Targeted Delivery Of Small Interfering Rna, Adam Wesley York

Dissertations

The versatility of reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization has moved this controlled radical technique to the forefront of copolymer construction for bioapplications including polymeric drug/gene delivery vehicles. Strengths of the RAFT process include the capacity to control the polymerization of a wide variety of vinyl monomers under mild conditions, its tolerance to numerous chemical groups that allow the preparation of functional copolymers for facile modification, and the range of copolymer architectures with predetermined end group functionalities which may be synthesized. Given these strengths, RAFT polymerization was utilized in this research to synthesize functional/reactive copolymers for bioconjugation and targeted delivery …

Polyisobutylene Chain End Transformations: Block Copolymer Synthesis And Click Chemistry Functionalizations, Andrew Jackson David Magenau

Dissertations

The primary objectives of this research were twofold: (1) development of synthetic procedures for combining quasiliving carbocationic polymerization (QLCCP) of isobutylene (IB) and reversible addition fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization for block copolymer synthesis; (2) utilization of efficient, robust, and modular chemistries for facile functionalization of polyisobutylene (PIB). Two site transformation strategies were employed to create block copolymers effectively linking PIB with either poly(methylmethacrylate) (PMMA), polystyrene (PS), and poly(Nisopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) block segments. Functionalization of PIB was accomplished by utilizing two click chemistries, the azide-alkyne 1,3-dipolar cyclo addition and the thiol-ene hydrothiolation reaction, and by efficient transformation of the thiol functional …

The Lipid Acyl-Chain Dynamics In Giant Liposomes And Characterization Of Domain 4 Of The Wilson Disease Protein, Wilson Okumu

Dissertations

Steady-state and nanosecond time-resolved fluorescence of the nitro-2, 1, 3- benzoxadiazol-4-yl (NBD) probe and line tension force were determined in phospholipids acyl-chain dynamics in giant liposomes made from a homologous series of phosphatidylcholines (PC). The fluorescence spectroscopy of a NBD probe attached to the headgroup (NBD PE) or the tail (NBD PC) of the phospholipid were used to determine the rate of dithionite quenching in a homologous series of phospholipids. Similar experiments were performed in the gel and the fluid phases of the l,2-dimyristoyl-s«-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DMPC ). Nanosecond time scale lifetimes and anisotropy measurements were obtained by a 470 nm LED …

On Robustification Of Some Procedures Used In Analysis Of Covariance, Kuanwong Watcharotone

Dissertations

This study discusses robust procedures for the analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) models. These methods are based on rank-based (R) fitting procedures, which are quite analogous to the traditional ANCOVA methods based on least squares fits. Our initial empirical results show that the validity of R procedures is similar to the least squares procedures. In terms of power, there is a small loss in efficiency to least squares methods when the random errors have a normal distribution but the rank-based procedures are much more powerful for the heavy-tailed error distributions in our study.

Rank-based analogs are also developed for pick-a-point, adjusted …

Designing Molecular And Nanoscale Materials For Environmental Chemistry Processes, Wen Guo

Dissertations

This dissertation focuses on fundamental studies to identify materials that detect and degrade common organic environmental pollutants. Chapter 1 represents the overview of two widespread ground water contaminants: organohalides and organophosphorous compounds. Due to continuous usage of these compounds as well as their toxicity, reliable and sensitive methods for their detection and degradation are urgently needed. In Chapter 2 a description of molecular sensors designed with high sensitivity and selectivity to detect and distinguish between three organophosphorus (OP) pesticides are described. These sensors provide dual optical and electrochemical signals for detection, which minimizes false-positives. The signal transduction occurs in real …

Characterization Of The N-Terminal Domains And Disease-Causing Mutations Of The Human Wilson Protein, Joshua Mutambuki Muia

Dissertations

The Wilson protein (ATP7B) is a copper transporting ATPase that is involved in copper trafficking and homeostasis. Unlike the other known P-type ATPases, it possesses six homologous metal binding domains at the N-terminal end. Several mutations in the gene coding for this protein lead to Wilson disease, a hepatic disorder characterized by impaired excretion of copper in the bile, and accumulation of copper in body organs such as the liver, brain, kidney, and eye cornea. Characterization of various regions of expressed and purified ATP7B has been hampered by its low stability, aggregation and degradation.

In this research, novel methods were …

Design Of Electronics For A High-Energy Photon Tagger For The Gluex Experiment, Mitchell "Woody" Underwood

Honors Scholar Theses

In quantum chromodynamics (QCD), quarks and antiquarks are held together inside hadrons by the nuclear strong force, which is mediated by exchange particles known as gluons. The simplest type of hadron, the meson, consists of a single quark and a single antiquark bound by a gluonic field. The flux-tube model of QCD says that this gluonic field forms a tube of color-electric field lines between the quark and the antiquark which can under the right conditions be made to vibrate. Such mesons with excited glue are called hybrid mesons.

GlueX is a high-energy nuclear physics experiment which will study hybrid …

Idaho Bird Observatory: Research, Education, Conservation - 24/7, Elise Faike

Jay D. Carlisle

The Idaho Bird Observatory’s Lucky Peak bird monitoring station atop the foothills overlooking Boise is unique. During fall migration, it’s the only place in western North America that hosts some form of songbird or raptor research all day and all night—for downright fun 24/7!

Creating A Game Plan For The Transition To A Sustainable U.S. Economy, Jeffrey Hollender, Robert Costanza, Gar Alperovitz, Christina Asquith, Bill Becker, Elliot Hoffman, Ellen Kahler, David Levine, L. Hunter Lovins, David Rapaport

Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations

The article focuses on the plan for the transition to a sustainable U.S. economy. It states that the economic crisis is viewed as an opportunity to reprioritize goals to emphasize sustainable design and healthy living over economic growth in the U.S. It discusses the five broad concepts and actions of the plan that includes cost estimation, getting off fossil fuels, and changing the ownership and purpose of the corporation.

Schubert Polynomials And Classes Of Hessenberg Varieties, Dave Anderson, Julianna Tymoczko

Mathematics Sciences: Faculty Publications

Regular semisimple Hessenberg varieties are a family of subvarieties of the flag variety that arise in number theory, numerical analysis, representation theory, algebraic geometry, and combinatorics. We give a " Giambelli formula" expressing the classes of regular semisimple Hessenberg varieties in terms of Chern classes. In fact, we show that the cohomology class of each regular semisimple Hessenberg variety is the specialization of a certain double Schubert polynomial, giving a natural geometric interpretation to such specializations. We also decompose such classes in terms of the Schubert basis for the cohomology ring of the flag variety. The coefficients obtained are nonnegative, …

Exponential Enhancement Of Field-Induced Pair Creation From The Bosonic Vacuum, R E. Wagner, M R. Ware, Q Su, Rainer Grobe

Faculty publications – Physics

Using numerical solutions to quantum field theory, the creation of boson-antiboson pairs from the vacuum under a very strong localized external electric field is explored. The simulations reveal that the initial linear increase of the number of particles turns into an exponential growth. This self-amplification can be understood as the result of the interaction of the previously generated particles with the creation process. While the number of particles keeps increasing, the spatial shape of the (normalized) charge density of the created particles reaches a universal form that can be related to the bound states of the supercritical potential well. We …

Researchraven: Its Value To Librarians, Hope Leman

Sci-Tech News

Description of a new free tool available from the Samaritan Health Services to support health research and quality of health care.

Thoracic Radiotherapy Treatment Planning With Cine Pet/Ct, Adam C. Riegel

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

Purpose: Respiratory motion causes substantial uncertainty in radiotherapy treatment planning. Four-dimensional computed tomography (4D-CT) is a useful tool to image tumor motion during normal respiration. Treatment margins can be reduced by targeting the motion path of the tumor. The expense and complexity of 4D-CT, however, may be cost-prohibitive at some facilities. We developed an image processing technique to produce images from cine CT that contain significant motion information without 4D-CT. The purpose of this work was to compare cine CT and 4D-CT for the purposes of target delineation and dose calculation, and to explore the role of PET in target …

Citrate Synthase And The Visual Interactions Hypothesis, Kristina Camarena

Senior Honors Projects

It has been shown that the metabolic rates of deep-living species of particular pelagic groups are significantly lower than those that live closer to the surface in the water column. Various theories as to why have been presented, including the visual interactions hypothesis, which states that because there is a greatly minimized ability to visually interact in the light-limited deep, predators have a reduced need for high metabolic rates because they do not actively go after their prey. Citrate synthase is a mitochondrial enzyme found at the beginning of the citric acid cycle, which plays an integral role in cellular …

A South County Almanac, Nevan Richard

Senior Honors Projects

Since its publication in 1949, “A Sand County Almanac: With Sketches Here and There” has served as the benchmark for writing about the environment and nature. “Sand County” was written by famed environmentalist Aldo Leopold, who for most of his lifetime worked towards the conservation of wildlife, forests, and other natural resources. In “Sand County,” Aldo Leopold recounts his experiences and observations in various essays and journal entries from his many years of living in Wisconsin, as well his travels across the North American continent. With its publication following Mr. Leopold’s death, it changed the face of conservation, later inspiring …

Hurricane Katrina And The Haitian Earthquake: Appeals For Social Responsibility In Governmental Emergency Management, Shawn Lin

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Implementing The Intelligent Mail Barcode In The N-Tiered Service Library Of A Print Mail Enterprise, Christopher E. Bunch

Theses and Dissertations

Starting in autumn, 2009, the Intelligent Mail Barcode fully replaced the PostNet barcode for the United States Postal Service. This barcode enables a sender of a mailpiece to track the mailpiece through the entire mail stream, as well as track any remit mail returned to the sender. This thesis explains how the Intelligent Mail Barcode was implemented in the n- tiered Windows Communication Foundation service architecture of the Emdeon, Inc. print-mail engine. To help provide a full understanding of the environment, this document, also, explains the operation of the print mail engine at Emdeon.

Using Ant Colonization Optimization To Control Difficulty In Video Game Ai., Joshua Courtney

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Ant colony optimization (ACO) is an algorithm which simulates ant foraging behavior. When ants search for food they leave pheromone trails to tell other ants which paths to take to find food. ACO has been adapted to many different problems in computer science: mainly variations on shortest path algorithms for graphs and networks.

ACO can be adapted to work as a form of communication between separate agents in a video game AI. By controlling the effectiveness of this communication, the difficulty of the game should be able to be controlled. Experimentation has shown that ACO works effectively as a form …