Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Fuor And Exor Variables: A Nir High-Resolution Spectroscopic Survey, Joseph Liskowsky

All Theses

To better understand the labyrinth of heating and cooling processes in YSOs (young stellar objects), we study systems where there exists a large variability in the heating of this gas due to accretion. This research project focuses on several classes of early young eruptable T-Tauri stars, namely the FUors, the EXors and the so-called FU Ori-like, which all have the property of large amplitude oscillations in accretion rate. Each of these categories may well represent specific stages in early low-mass stellar evolution. While these objects have specific spectroscopic and circumstellar diagnostics (as means of identification) our research suggests that there …

Home Range, Habitat Selection, And Migratory Pathways Of Canada Geese Wintering At The Santee National Wildlife Refuge, Molly Giles

All Theses

Information on local and flyway-scale space use is lacking for the cohort of migrant geese (Branta canadensis interior) that winter in and adjacent to the Santee National Wildlife Refuge in Summerton, South Carolina. I examined home range and habitat selection of Canada geese in this region. I deployed transmitters on 17 geese (9 VHF and 8 PTT) on wintering grounds at Santee NWR during the winter of 2009-2010. Estimates of fixed kernel home range size ranged from 214.2 to 263.6 ha for VHF-marked geese and 1190.2 to 1915.6 ha for PTT-marked geese. Home ranges of all birds were compact and …

Effect Of Spatial And Temporal Variability Of Antecedent Moisture Content On Model-Generated Runoff From An Arid Watershed, William J. Meyer

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Streams in the arid southwest are typically ephemeral, and stream gages are not commonly available. Consequently, runoff data from storm events is not available, and flood control facility design or other water resource related decisions are based on synthetic hydrographs. In the Mojave Desert region of Southern Nevada, the duration of storm used to develop these synthetic hydrographs is the 6 hour storm. The 6 hour storm is used to simulate high intensity summer storms. Additionally, soils information used in the calculations for these synthetic hydrographs is taken from maps that are generally developed for a broad range of issues …

Detention Basins For Phosphorus And Sediment Control In Clark County, Nevada, Amina Rashid Lodhi

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Nonpoint source urban stormwater runoff degrades aquatic ecosystems, and causes flooding. To mitigate its effects on natural and human environments best management practices (BMPs) became popular strategies to protect the integrity of water quality. Similarly, to mitigate the effects of stormwater quantity, detention basins (DBs) were put into place as flood control structures. Water quality control remains an unexplored and important aspect of DB utility, particularly, in arid regions. Since DBs are depressions in the earth and retain water over the course of several hours to days after a rain event, they can potentially act as BMPs. A key pollutant …

Sequence Alignment Based Analysis Of Player Behavior In Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (Mmorpgs), Kyong Jin Shim, Jaideep Srivastava

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

This study proposes a sequence alignment-based behavior analysis framework (SABAF) developed for predicting inactive game players that either leave the game permanently or stop playing the game for a long period of time. Sequence similarity scores and derived statistics form profile databases of inactive players and active players from the past. SABAF uses global and local sequence alignment algorithms and a unique scoring scheme to measure similarity between activity sequences. SABAF is tested on the game player activity data of Ever Quest II, a popular massively multiplayer online role-playing game developed by Sony Online Entertainment. SABAF consists of the following …

Evaluation Of Protein Backbone Alphabets : Using Predicted Local Structure For Fold Recognition, Kyong Jin Shim

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Optimally combining available information is one of the key challenges in knowledge-driven prediction techniques. In this study, we evaluate six Phi and Psi-based backbone alphabets. We show that the addition of predicted backbone conformations to SVM classifiers can improve fold recognition. Our experimental results show that the inclusion of predicted backbone conformations in our feature representation leads to higher overall accuracy compared to when using amino acid residues alone.

Doppler-Broadening Of Light Nuclei Gamma-Ray Spectra, Melinda D. Whitfield

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Non-destructive methods of material interrogation are used to locate hidden explosives and thwart terrorism attempts. In one such method materials are bombarded with neutrons which react with the nuclei of the atoms within causing a de-excitation process emitting a gamma-ray. The spectrum displayed by the collection of these gamma-rays gives valuable information regarding the material’s elemental make-up. It has been hypothesized that gamma-rays from neutron-induced gamma-ray reactions on light elements with atomic numbers less than 20, including most of the gamma-rays of interest in explosives detection, are Doppler-broadened. This thesis focuses on the gamma ray spectra from the 4438 keV …

Investigation Of Volatile Products From Wood Pyrolysis, Prabhavathi Gade

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

In this research we are following the thermo-chemical degradation of wood in the absence of oxygen. The objectives are to evaluate the influence of heating rates on pyrolysis products obtained from wood pyrolysis and to evaluate the influence of acid pre-treatment on pyrolysis products. Depending on the wood heating rates, pyrolysis can be categorized as Flash pyrolysis, Fast pyrolysis, and Slow pyrolysis. We have evaluated the volatile products obtained at different heating rates and the volatile products obtained from sulfuric acid pre-treatment by using gas chromatography- mass spectrometry (GC-MS). We have also performed thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA) of raw wood samples …

An Application And Refinement Of The Karst Disturbance Index Through Evaluating Variability In Island Karst Disturbance In Puerto Rico, Brandon Lee Porter

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Karst environments are unique landscapes that contain important resources, including freshwater aquifers and specialized ecosystems, which are easily disturbed due to the interconnected nature of the surface and subsurface. The anthropogenic impacts on karst are deleterious to the ecosystems that are dependent on the karst environment and also to groundwater supplies. The Karst Disturbance Index (KDI) is a holistic tool used to measure anthropogenic impacts associated with karst environments, which has been applied and refined through studies performed in Florida and Italy, yet still remains untested and susceptible to modification for other areas. Application of the KDI in Arecibo, Puerto …

Exploiting Intensity Inhomogeneity To Extract Textured Objects From Natural Scenes, Jundi Ding, Jialie Shen, Hwee Hwa Pang, Songcan Chen, Jingyu Yang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Extracting textured objects from natural scenes is a challenging task in computer vision. The main difficulties arise from the intrinsic randomness of natural textures and the high-semblance between the objects and the background. In this paper, we approach the extraction problem with a seeded region-growing framework that purely exploits the statistical properties of intensity inhomogeneity. The pixels in the interior of potential textured regions are first found as texture seeds in an unsupervised manner. The labels of the texture seeds are then propagated through their respective inhomogeneous neighborhoods, to eventually cover the different texture regions in the image. Extensive experiments …

An Online Versions Of Hyperlinked-Induced Topics Search (Hits) Algorithm, Amith Kollam Chandranna

Master's Projects

Generally, search engines perform the ranking of web pages in an offline mode, which is after the web pages have been retrieved and stored in the database. The existing HITS algorithm (Kleinberg, 1996) operates in an offline mode to perform page rank calculation. In this project, we have implemented an online mode of page ranking for this algorithm. This will improve the overall performance of the Search Engine. This report describes the approach used to implement and test this algorithm. Comparison results performed against other existing search engines are also presented in this report. This is helpful in describing the …

One Social, Sowmya Sampath

Master's Projects

Facebook streams and Twitter tweets represent user content in two common social media systems. Users often have accounts on both these systems and to keep their content current for both of them they must update each separately. It is thus difficult to manage and maintain both of these social networks together. The goal of this project is to build a social website called One Social, where users can view their Facebook streams and Twitter tweets in one single view and thereby easily organize and maintain their updates. In One Social, users can enter a status message and can share it …

Improved Worm Simulator And Simulations, Arnold Suvatne

Master's Projects

According to the latest Microsoft Security Intelligence Report (SIR), worms were the second most prevalent information security threat detected in the first half of 2010 – the top threat being Trojans. Given the prevalence and damaging effects of worms, research and development of worm counter strategies are garnering an increased level of attention. However, it is extremely risky to test and observe worm spread behavior on a public network. What is needed is a packet level worm simulator that would allow researchers to develop and test counter strategies against rapidly spreading worms in a controlled and isolated environment. Jyotsna Krishnaswamy, …

Extending Owl With Finite Automata Constraints, Jignesh Borisa

Master's Projects

The Web Ontology Language (OWL) is a markup language for sharing and publishing data using ontologies on the Internet. It belongs to a family of knowledge representation languages for writing ontologies. Answer Set Programming (ASP) is a declarative programming approach to knowledge representation. It is oriented towards difficult search problems. In this project, we developed an extension to OWL add support for collection class constraints. These constraints come in the form of membership checks for sets where these set are computed by finite automata. We developed an inference engine for the resulting language. This engine extends the Java-based Pellet library …

Automatic Execution Path Finding Tool, Fan Yang

Master's Projects

Today, there are many hackers trying to break software using reverse engineering tech- niques. To better protect software, we need to understand reverse engineering methods. This project presents a tool that automatically analyzes executable code in a manner simi- lar to the way an attack might analyze code.

Using reverse engineering techniques, executables can be disassembled to yield an as- sembly code representation of the program. Assembly code is much more human reada- ble than binary code. With assembly code, an attacker can attempt to modify the program to do something other than what was intended by the developer.

The …

Geochemical, Isotopic, And U-Pb Geochronologic Investigations Of Intrusive Basement Rocks From The Wallowa And Olds Ferry Arc Terranes, Blue Mountains Province, Oregon-Idaho, Gene Alan Kurz

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Late Paleozoic to Mesozoic arc terranes comprising the Blue Mountains Province of northeastern Oregon and western Idaho are poorly understood in terms of the timing and duration of recorded magmatism and deformation. Intrusive basement rocks of the Wallowa and Olds Ferry arc terranes are investigated using a combination of highprecision U-Pb geochronology, radiogenic isotope and trace element geochemistry, and structural geology to help constrain their tectonomagmatic evolution and to provide a better understanding for the accretionary history of the Blue Mountains Province.

The Cougar Creek Complex is a compositionally diverse intrusive complex interpreted as the mid-crustal portion of the Wallowa …

Structural And Stratigraphic Age Constraints Of The Inskip Formation, East Range, Nevada: Implications For Mesozoic Tectonics Of Western North America, Joshua David Wilkins

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Structural, stratigraphic, and U-Pb geochronologic studies of the Inskip Formation of the north-central East Range place new constraints on the depositional age of the Inskip Formation and the timing of contractional deformation in the East Range, including Golconda thrusting. The Inskip Formation was initially considered Permian in age and to rest unconformably on the Valmy (or Leach) Formation (Ferguson et al., 1951). Later mapping by Whitbread (1978, 1994) divided the formation into the Upper and Lower Inskip Formation, both of which were inferred to be Mississippian in age. Laterreinterpretation of Whitebread’s (1994) work and new paleontological data revised the age …

Spectral Reflectance As An Indicator Of Foliar Concentrations Of Arsenic In Common Sunflower (Helianthus Annuus), Yuridia Patricia Peralta De Gandy

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Studies were conducted to investigate the use of spectral reflectance by foliage of common sunflower as a potential indicator of arsenic contamination of soil. Germination method was developed for sunflower seeds, and cohorts of sunflower seedlings in hydroponic tanks were established. The cohorts were exposed to 0 ppm, 5 ppm, 7.5 ppm, and 10 ppm treatments of As (V) and reflectance measurements of foliage were collected using a spectroradiometer during two experiments.Results demonstrated the feasibility of using spectral reflectance by foliage of common sunflower as a potential indicator of arsenic contamination. In both experiments, arsenic concentrations in leaf tissues were …

A Survey Of Crayfish In The Pigeon River And Its Tributaries In Tennessee And North Carolina, David Casey B. Dunn

Masters Theses

The Pigeon River watershed has been the focus of a ¬¬major recovery project to reintroduce fish and other aquatic species into the river where they were historically present. A paper mill at Pigeon River Kilometer/Mile (PRKM 102.1/PRM 63.2) began operations in 1908 and discharged effluents which had a detrimental impact on the aquatic wildlife. Recent modifications to the mill have significantly improved effluent quality such that most aquatic organisms are recolonizing the river. The present study is a baseline survey of crayfish species in the Pigeon River and its tributaries; it also includes a comparison of the mean Catch Per …

Analytical Computation Of Proper Orthogonal Decomposition Modes And N-Width Approximations For The Heat Equation With Boundary Control, Tasha N. Fernandez

Masters Theses

Model reduction is a powerful and ubiquitous tool used to reduce the complexity of a dynamical system while preserving the input-output behavior. It has been applied throughout many different disciplines, including controls, fluid and structural dynamics. Model reduction via proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) is utilized for of control of partial differential equations. In this thesis, the analytical expressions of POD modes are derived for the heat equation. The autocorrelation function of the latter is viewed as the kernel of a self adjoint compact operator, and the POD modes and corresponding eigenvalues are computed by solving homogeneous integral equations of the …

Applied Ecosystem Services In Working Forests: A Direct Market Valuation, Darin Stuart Hale

Masters Theses

Ecosystem services, or the benefits humans obtain from natural ecosystems, have long been recognized as critical to human health. Efforts have been taken by many to determine the non-market values of these services but few have offered a direct market valuation. Increasing awareness, scarcity, and regulation have fostered transactions, and markets are emerging that can allow for direct valuation and could provide landowners the opportunity to merchandise this natural capital. This paper provides a valuation and comparison, as a case study, of a traditional management scheme, including the marketing of fiber and recreational leases, and an ecosystem services management scheme, …

Bayesian Logistic Regression Model For Siting Biomass-Using Facilities, Xia Huang

Masters Theses

Key sources of oil for western markets are located in complex geopolitical environments that increase economic and social risk. The amalgamation of economic, environmental, social and national security concerns for petroleum-based economies have created a renewed emphasis on alternative sources of energy which include biomass. The stability of sustainable biomass markets hinges on improved methods to predict and visualize business risk and cost to the supply chain.

This thesis develops Bayesian logistic regression models, with comparisons of classical maximum likelihood models, to quantify significant factors that influence the siting of biomass-using facilities and predict potential locations in the 13-state Southeastern …

Terrain Impacts From Vehicle Operations Across Multiple Passes, James Robert Kane

Masters Theses

This study, conducted on August 12th and 13th, 2008 at Fort Riley, Kansas on a clay loam soil, evaluated the terrain impacts of four commonly used tracked and wheeled military vehicles: the M1A1 Abrams Main Battle Tank, M998 High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle, M985 Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck, and M113 Armored Personnel Carrier. Disturbed width and impact severity were assessed along 14 spirals subjected to a maximum of eight consecutive passes for a total of 696 impact points. Data indicate that multiple passes produce increased vegetative impacts, with multipass coefficients ranging from 0.98 to 4.44 (compared to the commonly …

Transport Of Explosive Residue Surrogates In Saturated Porous Media, Bethsheba Lavoie

Masters Theses

Contamination of soils by munitions constituents is pervasive on Department of Defense operational ranges. Low-order detonations result in the heterogeneous distribution of explosives residues (ER) at shallow depths. At a limited number of ranges ER contamination of groundwater has been observed.

Previous studies have shown that the downward migration of colloid-sized contaminants can significantly impact groundwater quality. The goal of this study was to investigate if colloid transport plays a role in the migration of ER contaminants. Our primary objective was to determine the transport potential of fine (<5>um) ER particles under ideal conditions for colloid transport. A secondary …

Geophysical Study At Old Stone Fort State Archaeological Park, Manchester, Tennessee, Stephen Jay Yerka

Masters Theses

The Old Stone Fort State Archaeological Park covers over 800 acres within Manchester, Tennessee, and is owned and managed by the Tennessee Division of State Parks. The central archaeological site within the park boundary is The Old Stone Fort mounds that enclose about 50 acres on a plateau above the convergence of the Big Duck and the Little Duck Rivers. The hilltop enclosure dates to the Middle Woodland Period, and radiocarbon dates obtained at the site range from the first to the fifth century A. D. Because of its size and apparent complexity, previous investigations of the site have been …

The Impact Of Non-Covalent Interactions On The Dispersion Of Fullerenes And Graphene In Polymers, Say Lee Teh

Masters Theses

The work presented in this dissertation attempts to form an understanding of the importance of polymer connectivity and nanoparticle shape and curvature on the formation of non-covalent interactions between polymer and nanoparticles by monitoring the dispersion of nanoparticles in copolymers containing functionalities that can form non-covalent interactions with carbon nanoparticles.

The first portion of this study is to gain a fundamental understanding of the role of electron donating/withdrawing moieties on the dispersion of the fullerenes in copolymers. UV- Vis spectroscopy and x-ray diffraction were used to quantify the miscibility limit of C60 fullerene with the incorporation of electron donor-acceptor interactions …

The Interaction Of Rock And Water During Shock Decompression: A Hybrid Model For Fluidized Ejecta Formation, Audrey Hughes Rager

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Crater and ejecta morphology provide insight into the composition and structure of the target material. Martian rampart craters, with their unusual single-layered (SLE), double-layered (DLE), and multi-layered ejecta (MLE), are the subject of particular interest among planetary geologists because these morphologies are thought to result from the presence of water in the target. Also of interest are radial lines extending from the crater rim to the distal rampart of DLE craters. Exactly how these layered ejecta morphologies and radial lines form is not known, but they are generally thought to result from interaction of the ejecta with the atmosphere, subsurface …

Self-Stabilizing Leader Election In Dynamic Networks, Hema Piniganti

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The leader election problem is one of the fundamental problems in distributed computing. It has applications in almost every domain. In dynamic networks, topology is expected to change frequently. An algorithm A is self-stabilizing if, starting from a completely arbitrary configuration, the network will eventually reach a legitimate configuration.

Note that any self-stabilizing algorithm for the leader election problem is also an algorithm for the dynamic leader election problem, since when the topology of the network changes, we can consider that the algorithm is starting over again from an arbitrary state. There are a number of such algorithms in the …

Carbon Isotopic Fractionation Across A Late Cambrian Carbonate Platform: A Regional Response To The Spice Event As Recorded In The Great Basin, Jonathan Lloyd Baker

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Geochemical models have suggested that the late Cambrian was characterized by a greenhouse climate with high pCO2. Furthermore, stableisotope analyses within the Great Basin have documented a large carbonate isotope (δ13Ccarb) excursion, known as the Steptoean Positive Carbon Isotope Excursion (SPICE). This event has been documented globally, and is interpreted as having resulted from enhanced organic carbon burial. Unless the size of carbon reservoirs in the Cambrian ocean was significantly different from those of the Cenozoic, this forcing should have resulted in a comparable carbon-isotope excursion in organic matter (δ13Corg). It is also predicted that increased organic carbon burial would …

The Determinants Of Colorectal Cancer Survival Disparities In Nevada, Lucas N. Wassira

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Different population groups across Nevada and throughout the United States suffer disproportionately from colorectal cancer and its after-effects. Overcoming cancer health disparities is important for lessening the burden of cancer. There has been an overall decline in the incidence of and mortality from colorectal cancer (CRC). This is likely due, in part, to the increasing use of screening procedures such as Fecal Occult Blood Test (FOBT) and/or endoscopy, which can reduce the risk of CRC mortality by fifty percent. Nevertheless, screening procedures are routinely used by only fifty percent of Americans aged fifty years and older. Despite overall mortality decreasing …