Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Optical Design Of Beam Shaping Optics For Camera Probe And Led Light Illumination Used For Minimally Invasive Abdominal Surgery, Weiyi He

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The optical design of a LED illuminator and camera imaging system were studied for potential use in a small medical "robotic type" probe to be used for minimally invasive abdominal surgery. Beam shaping optical reflectors were studied to increase the intensity distribution of the LED beam directed toward a close-by target surface. A CMOS/CCD camera and lens was used to image the targeted area. In addition, extensive optical ray tracing simulations were made to predict the intensity patterns. The experimental measurements and ray tracing simulations were in good agreement, and indicated that 20 degree cone reflectors for the LED sources …

Speckle Reducing Bilateral Filter For Cattle Follicle Segmentation, Jinshang Teng, Shengwen Guo, Qingling Sun, Youping Deng, Dongfeng Zhou

Faculty Publications

Background: Ultrasound imaging technology has wide applications in cattle reproduction and has been used to monitor individual follicles and determine the patterns of follicular development. However, the speckles in ultrasound images affect the post-processing, such as follicle segmentation and finally affect the measurement of the follicles. In order to reduce the effect of speckles, a bilateral filter is developed in this paper.

Results: We develop a new bilateral filter for speckle reduction in ultrasound images for follicle segmentation and measurement. Different from the previous bilateral filters, the proposed bilateral filter uses normalized difference in the computation of the …

Halo Ion Trap Mass Spectrometry: Design, Instrumentation, And Performance, Miao Wang

Theses and Dissertations

New ion trap mass spectrometry (ITMS) instrumentation, the toroidal IT and halo IT, were developed to meet the significant growth in on-site analysis applications. The miniature toroidal IT mass analyzer was operated with radio frequency (RF) trapping voltages of 3 kVp-p or less. Despite its reduced dimensions, it has roughly the same ion trapping capacity as conventional 3D quadrupole ITs. Unit-mass resolved spectra for n-butylbenzene, xenon, and naphthalene were obtained. The desired linear mass scale was obtained using conventional mass-selective instability scan combined with resonance ejection. The halo IT was also based on toroidal trapping geometry and microfabrication technology, consisting …

Is Necessity The Mother Of Innovation? The Adoption And Use Of Web Technologies Among Congressional Offices, Kevin Esterling, David Lazer, Michael Neblo

David Lazer

From first paragraph: Communication between legislator and constituents is fundamental to effective democratic representation, and devising the institutional means for citizen/legislator communication stands as one of the core and persistent problems in the practice of democracy. A legislator needs information about the preferences, ideals, norms, and beliefs of her constituents in order to do her job well. Similarly, citizens need information about the actions and decisions of their representative in order to maintain appropriate accountability. But as national problems become more complex, and as the political process grows more and more dominated by experts and organized groups, it is becoming …

Multi-Scale Perspectives On Paddlefish Populations: Implications For Species Conservation And Management, Brenda M. Pracheil

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The Order of fishes containing paddlefish and sturgeon has been named the most endangered group of organisms on the planet by the International Union of Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Population trajectories of paddlefish, whose native range is entirely encompassed within the United States of America, are currently unknown, although the IUCN has considered them to have a high extinction risk in the wild. The declaration of the vulnerability of paddlefish to extinction, coupled with the global plight of other sturgeon species create urgency to establish population and species-level population trajectories. Moreover, this declaration creates a great need for swift management …

Creation Of A Revised Site Specific Liquefaction Potential Map Utilizing Geographic Information Systems (Gis) Technology And Arcgis® Software, Michael S. Armstrong

Earth and Soil Sciences

No abstract provided.

Correspondences Of Hypersurfaces In Hyperbolic Poincaré Manifolds And Conformally Invariant Pdes, Vincent Bonini, José M. Espinar, Jie Qing

Mathematics

On a hyperbolic Poincaré manifold, we derive an explicit relationship between the eigenvalues of Weyl-Schouten tensor of a conformal representative of the conformal infinity and the principal curvatures of the level sets of the associated geodesic defining function. This considerably simplifies the arguments and generalizes the results of Gálvez, Mira and the second author. In particular, we obtain the equivalence between Christoffel-type problems for hypersurfaces in a hyperbolic Poincar´e manifold and scalar curvature problems on the conformal infinity.

A New Interpretation Of Total Column Bro During Arctic Spring, R J. Salawitch, T Canty, T P. Kurosu, K Chance, Q Liang, Arlindo Da Silva, S Pawson, J E. Neilsen, J. V. Rodriguez, P K. Bhartia, X Liu, L Gregory Huey, J Liao, R E. Stickel, D Tanner, Jack E. Dibb, W R. Simpson, D Donohue, Andrew Weinheimer, F Flocke, D Knapp, D Montzka, J A. Neuman, J Nowak, Thomas B. Ryerson, S J. Oltmans, D R. Blake, E L. Atlas, D Kinnison, S Tilmes, L L. Pan, F Hendrick, R Bradley Pierce, M Van Roozendael, K Kreher, P V. Johnston, R S. Gao, B Johnson, T P. Bui, G Chen, R B. Pierce, J H. Crawford, D J. Jacob

Earth Sciences

Emission of bromine from sea-salt aerosol, frost flowers, ice leads, and snow results in the nearly complete removal of surface ozone during Arctic spring. Regions of enhanced total column BrO observed by satellites have traditionally been associated with these emissions. However, airborne measurements of BrO and O₃ within the convective boundary layer (CBL) during the ARCTAS and ARCPAC field campaigns at times bear little relation to enhanced column BrO. We show that the locations of numerous satellite BrO “hotspots” during Arctic spring are consistent with observations of total column ozone and tropopause height, suggesting a stratospheric origin to these …

Enhancing Use Case Points Estimation Method Using Soft Computing Techniques, Ali Bou Nassif, Luiz Fernando Capretz, Nfa-Estimation

Electrical and Computer Engineering Publications

Software estimation is a crucial task in software engineering. Software estimation encompasses cost, effort, schedule, and size. The importance of software estimation becomes critical in the early stages of the software life cycle when the details of software have not been revealed yet. Several commercial and non-commercial tools exist to estimate software in the early stages. Most software effort estimation methods require software size as one of the important metric inputs and consequently, software size estimation in the early stages becomes essential. One of the approaches that has been used for about two decades in the early size and effort …

Tree-Based Algorithms For Computing K-Combinations And K-Compositions, Shant Karakashian, Berthe Y. Choueiry

CSE Technical Reports

In this document, we describe two tree-based algorithms for computing all k-combinations and k-compositions of a finite set.

We have developed two algorithms for solving the following combinatorial tasks:

• Given a finite set S and a natural number k, find all subsets of S of size k. In the literature, this problem is called k-subsets and k-combinations.

• Given two natural numbers k, n where k [less than or equal to] n, find all k-compositions of n where a k-composition is an ordered combination of k nonzero natural numbers whose sum is n. Note that in the literature, a …

How To Write A Good Paper In Computer Science And How Will It Be Measured By Isi Web Of Knowledge, Rǎzvan Andonie, Ioan Dzitac

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

The academic world has come to place enormous weight on bibliometric measures to assess the value of scientific publications. Our paper has two major goals. First, we discuss the limits of numerical assessment tools as applied to computer science publications. Second, we give guidelines on how to write a good paper, where to submit the manuscript, and how to deal with the reviewing process. We report our experience as editors of International Journal of Computers Communications & Control (IJCCC). We analyze two important aspects of publishing: plagiarism and peer reviewing. As an example, we discuss the promotion assessment criteria used …

The Cc-Bio Project: Studying The Effects Of Climate Change On Quebec Biodiversity, Dominique Berteaux, Sylvie Blois, Jean-François Angers, Joël Bonin, Nicolas Casajus, Marcel Darveau, François Fournier, Murray Humphries, Brian Mcgill, Jacques Larivée, Travis Logan, Patrick Nantel, Catherine Périé, Frédéric Poisson, David Rodrigue, Sébastien Rouleau, Rouleau Siron, Wilfred Thuiller, Luc Vescovi

Publications

Anticipating the effects of climate change on biodiversity is now critical for managing wild species and ecosystems. Climate change is a global driver and thus affects biodiversity globally. However, land-use planners and natural resource managers need regional or even local predictions. This provides scientists with formidable challenges given the poor documentation of biodiversity and its complex relationships with climate. We are approaching this problem in Quebec, Canada, through the CC-Bio Project (http://cc‑bio.uqar.ca/), using a boundary organization as a catalyst for team work involving climate modelers, biologists, naturalists, and biodiversity managers. In this paper we present the CC-Bio Project and its …

Home Ranges Of Rusty Blackbirds Breeding In Wetlands: How Much Would Buffers From Timber Harvest Protect Habitat?, Luke L. Powell, Thomas P. Hodgman, William E. Glanz

Biology and Ecology Faculty Scholarship

We calculated the home ranges and core areas of 13 adult Rusty Blackbirds (Euphagus carolinus) in Maine to determine (1) the area requirements of breeding adults, (2) whether area requirements of the sexes and of colonial and noncolonial individuals differ, and (3) the proportion of the home range and core area that would be protected by a buffer of no logging of 50–100 m around occupied wetlands. Mean home ranges (37.5 ± 12.6 ha) and core areas (11.1 ± 2.8 ha) were large in comparison to those of other breeding icterids, and adults often foraged in multiple unconnected wetlands. Rusty …

A Flexible Method For Testing Independence In Two-Way Contingency Tables, Peyman Jafari, Noori Akhtar-Danesh, Zahra Bagheri

Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods

A flexible approach for testing association in two-way contingency tables is presented. It is simple, does not assume a specific form for the association and is applicable to tables with nominal-by-nominal, nominal-by-ordinal, and ordinal-by-ordinal classifications.

Nutrient Enrichment Enhances Hidden Differences In Phenotype To Drive A Cryptic Plant Invasion, Christine Holdredge, Mark D. Bertness, Eric Von Wettberg, Brian R. Silliman

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Faculty Publications

Many mechanisms of invasive species success have been elucidated, but those driving cryptic invasions of non-native genotypes remain least understood. In one of the most successful cryptic plant invasions in North America, we investigate the mechanisms underlying the displacement of native Phragmites australis by its Eurasian counterpart. Since invasive Phragmites' populations have been especially prolific along eutrophic shorelines, we conducted a two-year field experiment involving native and invasive genotypes that manipulated nutrient level and competitor identity (inter- and intra-genotypic competition) to assess their relative importance in driving the loss of native Phragmites. Inter-genotypic competition suppressed aboveground biomass of both native …

Color Changes In Stochastic Light Fields Propagating In Non-Kolmogorov Turbulence, Olga Korotkova, Elena Shchepakina

Physics Articles and Papers

The dependence of spectral shifts and switches in optical stochastic beams propagating through nonclassic turbulent medium on the slope of the power spectrum of fluctuations in the refractive index is revealed.

A Hitchhiker's Guide To The Maritimes: Anthropogenic Transport Facilitates Long-Distance Dispersal Of An Invasive Marine Crab To Newfoundland, A. M.H. Blakeslee, C. H. Mckenzie, J. A. Darling, J. E. Byers, J. M. Pringle, J. Roman

Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources Faculty Publications

Aim To determine timing, source and vector for the recent introduction of the European green crab, Carcinus maenas (Linnaeus, 1758), to Newfoundland using multiple lines of evidence.Location Founding populations in Placentia Bay, Newfoundland, Canada and potential source populations in the north-west Atlantic (NWA) and Europe. Methods We analysed mitochondrial and microsatellite genetic data from European and NWA populations sampled during 1999-2002 to determine probable source locations and vectors for the Placentia Bay introduction discovered in 2007. We also analysed Placentia Bay demographic data and shipping records to look for congruent patterns with genetic analyses. Results Demographic data and surveys suggested …

Structure And Feedback In 30 Doradus. I. Observations, E. W. Pellegrini, J. A. Baldwin, Gary J. Ferland

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

We have completed a new optical imaging and spectrophotometric survey of a 140 × 80 pc² region of 30 Doradus centered on R136, covering key optical diagnostic emission lines including Hα, Hβ, Hγ, [O III] λλ4363, 4959, 5007, [N II] λλ6548, 6584, [SII] λλ6717, 6731 [S III] λ6312, and in some locations [S III] λ9069. We present maps of fluxes and intensity ratios for these lines, and catalogs of isolated ionizing stars, elephant-trunk pillars, and edge-on ionization fronts. The final science-quality spectroscopic data products are available to the public. Our analysis of the new data finds that, while stellar …

Diamond Detector Beam Tests, Stefan M Spanier

Physics and Astronomy Publications and Other Works

Photos of Application and Tests of diamond pixel detectors at UTK.

Diamond Particle Detectors, Stefan M Spanier, Matt Hollingsworth

Physics and Astronomy Publications and Other Works

Poster presented at the IEEE Conference 2010 in Knoxville. It shows results for charged particle tracking using single-crystalline diamond pixel detectors.

Influence Of Wall Vibrations On The Sound Of Brass Wind Instruments, Wilfried Kausel, Daniel W. Zietlow, Thomas R. Moore

Student-Faculty Collaborative Research Publications

The results of an experimental and theoretical investigation of the influence of wall vibrations on the sound of brass wind instruments are presented. Measurements of the transmission function and input impedance of a trumpet, with the bell both heavily damped and freely vibrating, are shown to be consistent with a theory that assumes that the internal pressure causes an oscillation of the diameter of the pipe enclosing the air column. These effects are shown to be most significant in sections where there are flaring walls, which explains why damping these vibrations in cylindrical pipes normally produces no measurable effects.

Geosciences Newsletter - 2010, Department Of Geosciences

Geological and Environmental Sciences News

Vol. 4, No. 1

• Faculty Updates
• Publications
• MGRRE
• Grants
• Graduate News
• Awards
• Field Trips
• Alumni
• Advisory Board

Development And Evaluation Of Methods For Surveying Fish Populations In Nearshore Waters, Philip Smith, Ian Burrett, David Bailey, Francis Neat, David Donnan, Katherine Dunlop, James Thorburn, Rosanna Milligan, Steve Bastiman, Jane Dodd

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Reports

1. Nearshore areas provide critical habitat for a range of fish species targeted by commercial and recreational fisheries, both of which make an important contribution to local economies in rural areas. However, established trawl survey methods are not suited to many nearshore areas, owing to shallow depths, obstructions on the sea bed or vulnerable habitats, so there is a lack of information on fish abundance in these areas.
2. The aim of the present project was to develop and test survey methods applicable to Scottish inshore waters, focussing on baited underwater cameras, fish traps, systematic rod-and-line surveys and observations of fish bycatch …

Differential Geometry Based Solvation Model I: Eulerian Formulation, Zhan Chen, Nathan A. Baker, Guo-Wei Wei

Zhan Chen

This paper presents a differential geometry based model for the analysis and computation of the equilibrium property of solvation. Differential geometry theory of surfaces is utilized to define and construct smooth interfaces with good stability and differentiability for use in characterizing the solvent–solute boundaries and in generating continuous dielectric functions across the computational domain. A total free energy functional is constructed to couple polar and nonpolar contributions to the solvation process. Geometric measure theory is employed to rigorously convert a Lagrangian formulation of the surface energy into an Eulerian formulation so as to bring all energy terms into an equal …

Sfa Weather Station-November 2010, Arthur Temple College Of Forestry And Agriculture, Stephen F. Austin State University

Weather Station Data

No abstract provided.

The Not-So-Quiet Revolution: Cautionary Comments On The Rejection Of Hypothesis Testing In Favor Of A “Causal” Modeling Alternative, Daniel H. Robinson, Joel R. Levin

Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods

Rodgers (2010) recently applauded a revolution involving the increased use of statistical modeling techniques. It is argued that such use may have a downside, citing empirical evidence in educational psychology that modeling techniques are often applied in cross-sectional, correlational studies to produce unjustified causal conclusions and prescriptive statements.

Statistical And Mathematical Modeling Versus Nhst? There’S No Competition!, Joseph Lee Rodgers

Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods

Some of Robinson & Levin’s critique of Rodgers (2010) is cogent, helpful, and insightful – although limiting. Recent methodology has advanced through the development of structural equation modeling, multi-level modeling, missing data methods, hierarchical linear modeling, categorical data analysis, as well as the development of many dedicated and specific behavioral models. These methodological approaches are based on a revised epistemological system, and have emerged naturally, without the need for task forces, or even much self-conscious discussion. The original goal was neither to develop nor promote a modeling revolution. That has occurred; I documented its development and its status. Two organizing …

Recommended Sample Size For Conducting Exploratory Factor Analysis On Dichotomous Data, Robert H. Pearson, Daniel J. Mundform

Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods

Minimum sample sizes are recommended for conducting exploratory factor analysis on dichotomous data. A Monte Carlo simulation was conducted, varying the level of communalities, number of factors, variable-to-factor ratio and dichotomization threshold. Sample sizes were identified based on congruence between rotated population and sample factor loadings.

Notes On Hypothesis Testing Under A Single-Stage Design In Phase Ii Trial, Kung-Jong Lui

Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods

A primary objective of a phase II trial is to determine future development is warranted for a new treatment based on whether it has sufficient activity against a specified type of tumor. Limitations exist in the commonly-used hypothesis setting and the standard test procedure for a phase II trial. This study reformats the hypothesis setting to mirror the clinical decision process in practice. Under the proposed hypothesis setting, the critical points and the minimum required sample size for a desired power of finding a superior treatment at a given α -level are presented. An example is provided to illustrate how …

Effect Of Measurement Errors On The Separate And Combined Ratio And Product Estimators In Stratified Random Sampling, Housila P. Singh, Namrata Karpe

Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods

Separate and combined ratio, product and difference estimators are introduced for population mean μ_Y of a study variable Y using auxiliary variable X in stratified sampling when the observations are contaminated with measurement errors. The bias and mean squared error of the proposed estimators have been derived under large sample approximation and their properties are analyzed. Generalized versions of these estimators are given along with their properties.