Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Geochemical And Geochronological Constraints On The Tectonothermal History Of The Central And Eastern Nepal Himalaya: Implications For Thermal-Mechanical Models, Stacey Lynn Corrie

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Syntheses of Himalayan tectonics imply an average shortening rate of ~2 cm/yr across the Himalaya over the last 20-25 Myr. However, despite decades of research, basic questions still remain about how strain was partitioned. Fluctuations in the timing and rate of thrusting could have significant implications for strain partitioning across the Himalaya, and for partitioning during collisional orogenesis as a whole.

Due to the observed chronology and thermobarometry of Greater Himalayan Sequence (GHS) rock units in the Annapurna region of central Nepal, we revise the original interpretation of the Bhanuwa Fault from a normal fault to a thrust, and identify …

Developmental Understanding Of The Equals Sign And Its Effects On Success In Algebra, Ryan W. Brown

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

For some students, the equals symbol is viewed as a directive to carry out a procedure, instead of a symbol expressing mathematical equivalence. The purpose of this study was to develop and to pilot a questionnaire to measure students’ understandings of relational equivalence as implied by their interpretations and use of the equals symbol. The results of this questionnaire were compared with student testing data with the goal of determining a correlation between understanding of symbolic equivalence and success in a typical algebra course. It was found that students who demonstrated an ability to define and articulate an appropriate meaning …

Stably Free Modules Over The Klein Bottle, Andrew Misseldine

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

This paper is concerned with constructing countably many, non-free stably free modules for the Klein bottle group. The work is based on the papers “Stably Free, Projective Right Ideals" by J.T. Stafford (1985) and “Projective, Nonfree Modules Over Group Rings of Solvable Groups" by V. A. Artamonov (1981). Stafford proves general results that guarantee the existence of non-free stably frees for the Klein bottle group but has not made the argument explicit. Artamonov allows us to construct infinitely many non-free stably free modules. This paper will also construct presentations and sets of generators for these modules. This paper concludes with …

Fire And Climate In A Lodgepole Forest Of Central Idaho: Annual, Decadal, Centennial, And Millennial Perspectives, Lar Osvard Svenson

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Fire history of the high-elevation forest of the Sawtooth Valley in central Idaho was reconstructed using tree rings (providing annual to decadal resolution over the past ~400 years) and radiocarbon dating of charcoal (providing centennial to millennial resolution over the past ~8000 years). Fourteen annually resolved fires were reconstructed between 1632 and 1933 AD from fire-scarred Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) and lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var latifolia). Stand ages of lodgepole pine indicate that at least five annually resolved fires in the ~28,000 ha study area were stand-replacing(SR). Multi-watershed SR fires burned in 1632 and 1842, and …

Using Soil Moisture Trends Across Topographic Gradients To Examine Controls On Semi-Arid Ecosystem Dynamics, Toni Jo Smith

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated controls on soil water storage and its effect on vegetation cover in a semi-arid, mountainous environment characterized by warm-dry summers and wet-cold winters. Soil moisture and soil temperature were monitored over 286 days at eight sites spanning four elevations (approx. 1100, 1300, 1500, and 1800 m asl), and paired north and south exposures. These sites span an ecological gradient from grass and shrub land to conifer forest. Measurements of soil texture, soil depth, vegetation cover (normalized difference vegetation index, NDVI), and soil carbon content were made at the same sites. Variables that strongly influence the soil water …

Characterization Of Englacial Voids Using Radar Velocity Anisotropy, Joshua D. Nichols

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Glacial hydrology plays an important role in the motion and melt of glaciers. The transport of water through glacial ice is still poorly understood. Previous studies show that much of the water is stored and routed through planar voids within the glacier. From borehole observations and previous radar surveys, the voids appear to have a preferential orientation. Transverse waves, including radar waves, and shear seismic waves, travel at different velocities when polarized at different orientations relative to aligned inclusions. I conducted two georadar surveys on Bench glacier, in the Chugach Mountains, AK. Bench glacier has been the field site of …

Trace Analysis Of Volatile Organic Compounds In The Water Of The Arroyo Colorado And The Lower Laguna Madre Utilizing E.P.A.Sw846 Method 8260, Humberto Valdez

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Volatile organic compounds (VOC) can cause a major environmental concern since they create a hazard to public health and the environment. This study focused on determining concentration of VOCs in Arroyo Colorado waters and the Lower Laguna Madre (LLM) utilizing GC/MS. Little is known on the concentration and composition of VOCs. Toluene was the most common VOC. Concentrations ranged from 0.0010 mg/L to 0.0039 mg/L. Analysis of a sediment pore water sample collected near the mouth of the Arroyo Colorado also detected toluene (0.0023 mg/L). This study showed that VOCs were concentrated near the county boat launch and somewhat downstream. …

A Proposal For The Mechanism Of The Iron-Ascorbate, Fenton, And Hydroxyl Radical-Quenching Series, Jonathan Velasco

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

The Fenton reaction between [Fe(II)] and [HOOH] is observed in the presence of ascorbic acid, [AscH-], during [Fe(III)] and HO• reduction; this is done as part of consecutive redox reactions between [Fe(III)] and [Fe(II)]. As a result, the rate orders with respect to [Fe(III)], ascorbic acid, and [HOOH] are of (approximately) 2nd, 1st, and 4 th order, respectively. However, the rate constants for each reaction in this study show patterns when measured against solution pH; empirically, reactions proceed faster at smaller pH and vice versa.

Parameterized Algorithm For 3-Sat, Yi Gao

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

The SAT problem is the classical NP-complete problem. In the past, many methods have been proposed for solving this problem. We investigated a new method for 3-SAT problem, which is a fixed parameterized algorithm proposed in this paper first. This method uses a fixed parameter k, where k is the number of true values in an assignment for checking whether the formula is satisfied or not. The complexity of our algorithm is O(3k ), which is exponentially independent of the number of variables. Theoretical analysis shows that when k is small, this method has smaller search space and higher speed.

A Synthetic Approach Toward Novel Β-Lactams, Mohamed Hashim

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

β-lactam antibiotics which is a class by itself, covers a wide range of antibiotics that includes penicillin, penicillin derivatives, cephalosporins, carbapenems, and any antibiotic agent that contains a 2-azetidinone ring.[2] In recent past research it has been established that β-lactams show therapeutic and anticancer activity with low toxicity. [2] It has also been reported by our lab that N-chrysenyl and N-phenanthrenyl 3-acetoxy-4-aryl-2- azetidinone can exhibit potent selective anticancer activity towards prostate, colon, pancreatic cancer and leukemia at low concentrations, all of this was revealed by means of a structure activity study. [2] The goal of our research is the synthesis …

Genotyping Of Tgif Polymorphisms Associated With Schizophrenia And Psychosis, George Vera Jr.

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Polymorphisms in Transforming Growth β-Induced Factor (TGIF) have been found to contribute to the risk of development of psychosis and related disorders. Identifying the genes responsible for causing schizophrenia and psychosis will allow for treatment at an earlier stage of development, saving the patient problems, time, and money. The purpose of this experiment is to determine the haplotype of DNA samples obtained from earlier experiments. The DNA samples were collected from people with schizophrenia in Costa Rica, Southern Texas, and Northern Mexico. The samples were tested using 5 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and amplified using polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Haplotypes …

Dna Staged Self-Assembly At Temperature 1, Nicholas H. Guiterrez

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

We introduce alternate temperature 1 self-assembly constructions of an n x n square by efficiently utilizing bins and stages to achieve desirable results. These bins are able to contain a variety of tiles or supertiles, which are then mixed together in a pre-determined sequence of distinct stages. The basic 2D tile assembly model at temperature 1 uses 2n-1 tile types to construct a square. The model only utilizes one bin and occurs all in one stage. We will demonstrate how the use of bins and stages will allow for the construction of these squares more efficiently.

Talus Slope Processes In The Appalachian : An Analysis Of Rock Size And Shape On The Shawangunk Ridge, Northwestern New Jersey, Muhammad Hamidul Haque

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Sphericity, hardness, roundness, and size of talus boulders were analyzed to understand the mass wasting process on the Shawangunk Ridge in northwestern New Jersey. Similar studies have been conducted in other localities (e.g., Lassen Peak, California and Spitsbergen, Sweden) but few works were carried out in the eastern United States, particularly in the Appalachian region. During the Pleistocene, ice sheets advanced in North America, and glacial and periglacial (soil and rock affected by ice) environments existed throughout the Appalachians. Although the periglacial climate is not present in this region right now, rock falls are still active where weak joints are …

On The Numerical Range And Spectrum Of The Weighted Shift Operator In [Iota]², Gina-Louise Santamaria

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

In this paper, we examine the weighted shift operator in l² as described in Yoo & Rho [15], which is an example of what is known as a hyponormal weighted shift. Using the methods of Tam [13], in conjuction with properties of the weighted shift, we determine the numerical range of Yoo &; Rho’s unilateral weighted shift operator.

It is well-established that the spectrum of a bounded linear operator is always included in the closure of the numerical range. In particular, for a bounded linear operator, the point and compression spectra are contained within the numerical range itself [7]. …

Characterization Of Contaminant And Biomass-Derived Organic Matter In Sediments From The Lower Passaic River, New Jersey, Usa, Nicole Michelle Bujalski

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

The lower Passaic River has been heavily contaminated during the twentieth century due to the industrial activity within its watershed. The geochemistry of four deep cores was explored using an environmental forensics approach. Pyrolysis gaschromatography/ mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS) and grain size analysis was performed in conjunction with radiometric analysis to understand the sediment and contaminant transport patterns. The distinctive molecular finger prints were identified by employing chromatogram fingerprints, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon distribution, principal component analysis, and chemostratigraphy. Radiometric analysis and observations of chlorinated contaminant patterns allowed for average sample depths to be correlated to approximate ages. Additionally three distinct zones …

Ice Sheet Dynamics Of The Past 17 Myr In Southern Mcmurdo Sound, Antarctica: A Heavy Mineral Analysis, Daniel William Hauptvogel

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

The ANtarctic Geologie DRILLing program (ANDRILL) drilled a sediment core from a sea ice platform in the Ross Sea in southern McMurdo Sound (SMS), Antarctica, in late 2007. The core site is located just to the east of the Transantarctic Mountains (TAM) along the western margin of a half graben and is a site of heavy sedimentation from the TAM, the East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS), the McMurdo Volcanic Group (MVG), and the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) and Ross Ice Shelf. The upper 650 m of the core were analyzed for heavy minerals in order to interpret ice sheet …

The Sitac Approach For Time-Aware Query Translation In Text Archives, Amal Kaluarachchi

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

With an exponential growth in archival of time-stamped documents such as newswire articles, blog posts and other web-pages, information retrieval (IR) has become a challenging task. The degree of complexity in this IR task increases when these archives cover long time-spans and the terminology in them has undergone significant changes. When users pose queries pertaining to historical information over such document collections, the queries need to be translated, incorporating temporal changes, to provide accurate responses. For example, a query on Sri Lanka should automatically retrieve documents with its former name Ceylon. We call such concepts SITACs i.e., Semantically Identical Temporally …

Conformational Motion Associated With Catalysis In Indole-3-Glycerol Phosphate Synthase From S. Solfataricus, Tomasz Kurcon

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Indole-3-glycerol phosphate synthase from Sulfolobus solfataricus (SsIGPS) belongs to a broad family of (βα)₈-barrel enzymes. It catalyzes the fifth step in tryptophan biosynthesis, converting l-(o-carboxylphenylamino)-l-deoxyribulose-5-phosphate (CdRP) to indole-3-glycerol phosphate (IGP). Site selective mutagenesis was used to introduce a single cysteine in two loops near the active site, generating two recombinant proteins, each containing a single cysteine handle. The two construct were labeled, each with two different thiol-reactive probes generating four labeled constructs that were used for this study. Steady-state kinetic parameters of the labeled mutants and the wild type SsIGPS were well characterized using fluorescence spectroscopy. Subsequent experiments …

Classification And Fertility Of Soils In The Big South Fork National River And Recreation Area Based On Landscape Position And Geology, Ryan H. Blair

Masters Theses

The Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area encompasses more than 50,585 hectares (125,000 acres) of the Cumberland Plateau along the border of Tennessee and Kentucky. Highly dissected and steep terrain have made accessibility to much of the park limited, thus little work has been done to investigate the formation of these soils. Seven native soil profiles were selected for chemical and physical analysis representing Pennsylvanian-aged acidic sandstone and shale geology and landforms. The objectives of this study included the characterization of selected native profiles by physical and chemical analysis, as well as classification using US Soil Taxonomy, to …

Tectonic Evolution Of The Southern Appalachian Inner Piedmont: Identification And Interpretation Of Crustal Features From Aeromagnetic Data And Detailed Geologic Mapping In Central Georgia, Brittany Allison Davis

Masters Theses

The Inner Piedmont (IP) is the Neoacadian migmatitic orogenic core of the southern Appalachians, exhibiting the widest area of high-grade metamorphism; regional upper amphibolite facies with isolated pods of granulite grade metamorphism. Peak P-T conditions in central GA reached 4.0-7.6 kbars and 630-715 ̊ C. The Brindle Creek fault (BCf) separates high-grade metasedimentary rocks of the eastern Tugaloo terrane (Tt) and Cat Square terrane (CSt). The Tt consists of the Neoproterozoic to early Paleozoic(?) Tallulah Falls Formation, Chauga River Formation, and the Mid-Ordovician Poor Mountain Formation, intruded by Early to Middle Ordovician granitoids. The CSt consists of Siluro-Devonian metasedimentary rocks, …

Fractions Of Numerical Semigroups, Harold Justin Smith

Doctoral Dissertations

Let S and T be numerical semigroups and let k be a positive integer. We say that S is the quotient of T by k if an integer x belongs to S if and only if kx belongs to T. Given any integer k larger than 1 (resp., larger than 2), every numerical semigroup S is the quotient T/k of infinitely many symmetric (resp., pseudo-symmetric) numerical semigroups T by k. Related examples, probabilistic results, and applications to ring theory are shown.

Given an arbitrary positive integer k, it is not true in general that every numerical semigroup S is the …

Guide To Stakeholder Groups For Great Basin Sagebrush Steppe Restoration, Scott Hoffmann, Mark W. Brunson, Summer Olsen

Environment and Society Faculty Publications

As efforts are made to restore the health and functioning of sagebrush ecosystems within the Great Basin, various stakeholder interest groups have the potential to offer partnerships as well as adversarial involvement with land managers tasked with restoration. Given that greater than 60% of the Great Basin is publicly owned and managed by the Bureau of Land Management and other federal agencies, it is critical for those working in restoration to understand the views held by key stakeholder groups that may enhance or impair such efforts (Brunson and Peterson 2007). Gaining knowledge about and familiarity with those interest groups active …

Discrete Fractional Calculus And Its Applications To Tumor Growth, Sevgi Sengul

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Almost every theory of mathematics has its discrete counterpart that makes it conceptually easier to understand and practically easier to use in the modeling process of real world problems. For instance, one can take the "difference" of any function, from 1st order up to the n-th order with discrete calculus. However, it is also possible to extend this theory by means of discrete fractional calculus and make n- any real number such that the ½-th order difference is well defined. This thesis is comprised of five chapters that demonstrate some basic definitions and properties of discrete fractional calculus …

Implementation Of An Anthropomorphic Phantom For The Evaluation Of Proton Therapy Treatment Procedures, Ryan L. Grant

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

With an increasing number of institutions offering proton therapy, the number of multi-institutional clinical trials involving proton therapy will also increase in the coming years. The Radiological Physics Center monitors sites involved in clinical trials through the use of site visits and remote auditing with thermoluminescent dosimeters (TLD) and mailable anthropomorphic phantoms. Currently, there are no heterogeneous phantoms that have been commissioned to evaluate proton therapy. It was hypothesized that an anthropomorphic pelvis phantom can be designed to audit treatment procedures (patient simulation, treatment planning and treatment delivery) at proton facilities to confirm agreement between the measured dose and calculated …

The In-Situ Removal Of Menthofuran From Peppermint Oil And Subsequent Reactions Of The Solid-Supported Adduct, Robert Joseph Justice Ii

Dissertations

Menthofuran is an aromatic heterocyclic compound found naturally in the essential oil of Mentha piperita L. or peppermint. Natural peppermint oil may contain between approximately 2 to 8% menthofuran.

Peppermint oil is a complex mixture of over 350 identified chemical compounds; market demands dictate the extent of processing the oil undergoes prior to being introduced into consumer goods. Menthofuran has long been known to readily autoxidize, either alone or within the peppermint oil matrix, leading to a discolored oil with negative organoleptic consequences that adversely affects its commercial viability. Therefore, a facile method for selective removal of menthofuran was developed …

Practical Implementation Of The Virtual Organization Cluster Model, Michael Fenn

All Theses

Virtualization has great potential in the realm of scientific computing because of its inherent advantages with regard to environment customization and isolation. Virtualization technology is not without it's downsides, most notably, increased computational overhead. This thesis introduces the operating mechanisms of grid technologies in general, and the Open Science Grid in particular, including a discussion of general organization and specific software implementation. A model for utilization of virtualization resources with separate administrative domains for the virtual machines (VMs) and the physical resources is then presented. Two well-known virtual machine monitors, Xen and the Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM), are introduced and …

A Study Of Coastal Headwater Stream Hydrology: Bannockburn Plantation, Georgetown County, Sc, Drake Rogers

All Theses

Coastal headwater streams in undeveloped forested landscapes function as a natural storage and conveyance mechanism for rainfall and groundwater. Stream flows are often driven by groundwater table depth, while soil saturation with a high water table may drive rainfall response. Evapotranspiration also plays a significant role in groundwater levels and influences stream flows both seasonally and diurnally. The dynamics of coastal forested watersheds are complex, and water budgets of these low gradient headwater streams are difficult to quantify.
Understanding these hydrologic dynamics is critical to water resources protection and flood prevention in coastal landscapes, especially as forested areas are converted …

Shrinkage Estimation In Partially Linear Models With Measurement Error, Yifang Li

All Theses

In practice, measurement error in the covariates is often encountered. Measurement error has several effects when using ordinary least squares for the regression problems. In this thesis, we introduce the basic idea of correcting the bias caused by different types of measurement error. We then focus on the variable selection for partially linear models when some of the covariates are measured with additive errors. The bias caused by the measurement error is corrected by subtracting a bias correction term in the squared loss function. Adaptive LASSO is used for the variable selection procedure. The rate of convergence and the asymptotic …

Analysis Of Egg-Lay Dates Of Bald Eagles As A Potential Indicator Of Global Climate Change, Jennifer Garrison

All Theses

The effects of climate change on many wildlife species is a new area of research. Long&ndashterm data sets on raptor populations may hold the key to documenting these impacts from local to ecosystem scales. The Michigan bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) population has been monitored continuously since 1961, and virtually all reproductive outcomes are known since 1963. The bald eagle population at Voyageurs National Park, Minnesota has been monitored continuously since 1973. Though these data sets are extensive, little is known about the effects of climate change on egg laying dates in sea eagles (Haliaeetus spp). Understanding these effects could ultimately …

Option Pricing And Stable Trading Strategies In The Presence Of Information Asymmetry, Anirban Dutta

Dissertations

Pricing derivatives is one of the central issues in mathematical finance. The seminal work of Black, Scholes and Merton has been the cornerstone of option pricing since their introduction in 1973. Their work influenced the pricing theory of other derivatives as well.

This derivative pricing theory has two primary shortcomings. Firstly, the theoretical pricing in such theories are not accompanied by a stable trading strategy. Secondly, they often assume that the market agents use a uniform model for the underlying instrument and that the market prices of the derivatives reveal all the information about the underlying instrument.

Theoreticians like Grossman …