Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Top-K With Diversity-M Data Retrieval In Wireless Sensor Networks, Kiran Kumar Puram

Masters Theses

"Wireless Sensor Network is a network of a few to several thousand sensors deployed over an area to sense data and report that data back to the base station. There are many applications of wireless sensor networks including environment monitoring, wildlife tracking, troop tracking etc. The deployed sensors have many constraints like limited battery, limited memory and very little processing capacity. These constraints show direct effect on the network life time.

In many applications of Wireless Sensor Networks, such as monitoring chemical leak, the user is not interested in all the data points from the entire region, but may want …

Investigations Of Laser-Based Repulsive Axonal Guidance And Other Novel Biophysical Applications Of Laser Microbeams, Bryan James Black

Physics Dissertations

Over the past 30 years, the properties of light have been increasingly exploited to probe and manipulate biological samples. The subsequent techniques and technologies, combined with the broadening optical characterization of biological samples (from cells to single molecules), have had a revolutionary impact on the fields of biophysics, bioengineering, chemistry, and molecular biology. Light is now known to be capable of manipulating biological samples with high spatial and temporal precision, and minimal invasiveness. Herein, we offer the findings of several novel, light-based studies as well as novel applications which exploit a laser microbeam as either a potential gradient, a cutting …

Geochemistry Of The Haynesville Formation Using The Carthage Core In Panola County, Texas, Lauren A. Woolston

Earth & Environmental Sciences Theses

The Haynesville Formation has been described as a fine grained, organic, homogeneous shale that was deposited during the warm upper Jurassic (Kimmeridgian) in the tectonically formed East Texas Basin (Mainali, 2011). The Late Jurassic is characterized by a world-wide transgression that flooded most of the Atlantic shelves, followed by a regression (Hammes and Frebourg, 2011). The Haynesville Formation was influenced by basement structures, local carbonate platforms (Sabine Island Complex), and salt movement that was associated with the opening of the Gulf of Mexico (Hammes, 2012). The focus of this proposed study is to provide more insight into the chemostratigraphy, lithology, …

The Effect Of Freshwater Input On Δ18o Distribution At The Younger Dryas, Anand Soni

Earth & Environmental Sciences Theses

The Younger Dryas cooling event (~12.9-11.5 δ18O ka BP) is a recognized example of an abrupt decline of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation and thus may serve as an analog for expected rapid future climate change. Prediction of the atmospheric and oceanic conditions at the onset of Younger Dryas presents various challenges and this study is aimed to contribute towards the better understanding of the changes in the oceanic tracer distribution. Here, output from a fully coupled coarse resolution model from the National Center of Atmospheric Research, the Community Climate System Model version 3 (CCSM3) have been utilized to predict …

Characterization Of Exogeous Particale Content: Of Canine Tissue Urban Vs. Rural Inhalation Exposures, Jamell Kennedy

Earth & Environmental Sciences Theses

Exogenous zinc (Zn) is emerging as a serious contaminant in the environment. Yearly deposition of zinc particles line heavily traveled inner city roadways and less traveled rural roadways. Particle size for zinc ranges from approximately PM10 to PM 2.5 µm or less. These fine particles contain microscopic solids or liquids that can cause serious health problems. PM10 are considered to be "thoracic" sized particles, with the mass fraction of inhaled particles penetrating beyond the larynx. Whereas, PM2.5 are considered to be "respirable" sized particles, with the mass fraction of inhaled particles penetrating to the unciliated airways. Exogenous zinc can be …

Tailored Analytical Methods For Surveying Groundwater Quality In Areas Of Unconventional Drilling, Doug Dewayne Carlton Jr.

Chemistry & Biochemistry Dissertations

Many questions have been raised over the environmental impact of unconventional drilling techniques, especially on the groundwater of the extraction area. Analytical approaches and methods specific to hydraulic fracturing had to be developed due to the lack of available research at the time. The analytical approaches chosen for the extensive survey of groundwater quality included general groundwater measurements, bulk water characterization, and organic, inorganic, and ionic speciation. Some of the chosen targets included volatile and semivolatile ingredients in hydraulic fracturing fluid, metals associated with drilling fluids or formation waters, and total carbon and nitrogen measurements. These methods were developed and …

A Twisted Dimer Model For Knots, Heather M. Russell, Moshe Cohen, Oliver Dasbach

Department of Math & Statistics Faculty Publications

We develop a dimer model for the Alexander polynomial of a knot. This recovers Kauffman's state sum model for the Alexander polynomial using the language of dimers. By providing some additional structure we are able to extend this model to give a state sum formula for the twisted Alexander polynomial of a knot depending on a representation of the knot group.

Promoting Reu Participation From Students In Underrepresented Groups, Heather M. Russell, Heather A. Dye

Department of Math & Statistics Faculty Publications

Research experiences for undergraduates (REUs) are an important component of undergraduate education. However, at the 2012 Trends in Undergraduate Research in the Mathematical Sciences conference, questions were raised about why many REU programs see few applications from students that are members of underrepresented groups. We examine the benefits of REUs and factors preventing or promoting participation in REUs.

A Reduced Set Of Moves On One-Vertex Ribbon Graphs Coming From Links, Heather M. Russell, Susan Abernathy, Cody Armond, Moshe Cohen, Oliver T. Dasbach, Hannah Manuel, Chris Penn, Neal W. Stoltzfus

Department of Math & Statistics Faculty Publications

Every link in R³ can be represented by a one-vertex ribbon graph. We prove a Markov type theorem on this subset of link diagrams.

Chemostratigraphy Of The Late Cretaceous Eagle Ford Group, South Texas, Robert Francis Nikirk

Earth & Environmental Sciences Theses

Strata of the Eagle Ford Group of South Texas, deposited during the Cenomanian and Turonian of the Late Cretaceous, are largely characterized as mixed siliciclastic and carbonate mudrocks rich in organic carbon. The Eagle Ford Group records deposition within the Maverick Basin, along the Comanche Shelf, at the southern margin of the Western Interior Seaway in present-day South Texas. In recent years, the Eagle Ford has emerged as one of the premiere petroleum plays, as it has been proven to be capable of producing significant volumes of dry gas, wet gas/condensates, and oil. It is believed the Eagle Ford represents …

C*-Algebras Generated By Truncated Toeplitz Operators, William T. Ross, Stephan Ramon Garcia, Warren R. Wogen

Department of Math & Statistics Faculty Publications

We obtain an analogue of Coburn’s description of the Toeplitz algebra in the setting of truncated Toeplitz operators. As a byproduct, we provide several examples of complex symmetric operators which are not unitarily equivalent to truncated Toeplitz operators having continuous symbols.

Petroleum Geology Of The Leonardian Age, Harkey Mills Sandstone: A New Horizontal Target In The Permian Bone Spring Formation, Eddy And Lea Counties, Southeast New Mexico, Marshall Dewayne Davis

Earth & Environmental Sciences Theses

Lowstand, siliciclastic turbidite and submarine fan deposits within the Leonardian Bone Spring Formation have proved to be prolific targets for horizontal drilling across the northern portion of the Delaware Basin. Reservoir sandstones in this area are very fine grained, with porosities of 8 - 12%, permeabilities of 1 - 2 md and water saturations between 40% and 60%. In Big Eddy, James Ranch and Poker Lake New Mexico Federal Units, a new target for horizontal drilling, the Harkey Mills Sandstone, is proposed, which may have production comparable to the Second Bone Spring Sandstone. There are currently four horizontal wells producing …

Using Spontaneous Imbibition And Mercury Intrusion Porosimetry To Investigate The Effect Of Pore Structure On Fluid Migration Within Porous Media, Zhiye Gao

Earth & Environmental Sciences Dissertations

Much research has been conducted to investigate the property of fluid (water/oil/gas) migration in different types of porous media, and the knowledge of pore structure (including pore geometry and pore connectivity) plays an important role in this research. This dissertation will characterize the pore structure of different porous media (including building materials and natural rocks) by using spontaneous imbibition and mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP). A new approach to deriving effective permeability of building materials using imbibition experiments is provided. Spontaneous imbibition is an important process in oil/gas production and its rate could affect oil/gas recovery rate significantly. As a result, …

A Structural Prediction Of Copper Sulfide And Study Of Its Electronic Properties And Vacancy Forming Trend Using Density Functional Theory, Prashant Khatri

Physics Theses

The focus of this research is on the material challenges in photovoltaic. Copper Sulfide (Cu2 S) has been regarded as a potential solar absorber materials in photovoltaic industry. Despite its simple composition, it is a complex material. Copper atoms are mobile in Cu2 S crystals facilitating copper vacancies; hence promote Cu-deficient non-stoichiometric Cux S. Majority of the present work is directed towards understanding the stability issue related with Cu2 S/Cux S. We used density functional theory systematically to predict acanthite like structure as ground state structure of Cu2 S. The crystal structure of acanthite Cu2 S is much simpler than …

Stable Isotopic And Geochemical Studies Of Late Quaternary Stalagmites, South-Central Appalachian Mountains, Eastern North America, Jessica Ann Buckles

Earth & Environmental Sciences Dissertations

A tripartite investigation was conducted utilizing speleothem geochemistry and modern cave environments: reconstruction of paleoclimate variability in southeastern West Virginia that spans the late Pleistocene to mid-Holocene, the development and optimization of Microbeam X-Ray Fluorescence analysis of speleothems, and high-frequency cave drip monitoring and cave environment study and implications for stalagmite paleoclimate studies. Paleoclimate interpretations of stable isotopic and geochemical results from three coeval 230Th-dated stalagmites provide insight into the timing, magnitude, and forcing mechanisms of past climate variability. Stable isotopic δ13C and δ18O and trace element (Sr) time series demonstrate variability between the coeval records, indicating different hydrologic histories …

Indoor Air Quality In Schools: An Investigation Of The Impact Of Outdoor Air Quality, School Layout, And Room Type, Sahar M. Mansour

Earth & Environmental Sciences Dissertations

Indoor air quality (IAQ) in educational facilities is a very important aspect of the educational process because it may affect the students and staff health and performance. This study was conducted during the 2012-2013 academic year in three high schools from two school districts in the North Texas region, to determine whether or not the IAQ in test schools meets Texas IAQ guidelines, investigate the impact of the outdoor quality, school layout, and room type on the IAQ of the test schools. Temperature, relative humidity, carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO₂), ozone (O₃), and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were monitored …

Effects Of Climate Change And Perturbation In Biogeochemical Cycles On Oxygen Distribution And Ocean Acidification, Teresa Marie Beaty-Sykes

Earth & Environmental Sciences Dissertations

Dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration in the ocean is an important component of the marine biogeochemical cycles. In this study a global oceanic carbon cycle model (HAMOCC 2.0) was used to address how oxygen minimum zones (OMZ) respond to changes due to CO₂ radiative forcing. Atmospheric pCO₂ was increased at a rate of 1% annually and the model is stabilized at 2 X, 4 X, 6 X, and 8 X preindustrial pCO₂ levels. With an increase in CO₂ radiative forcing, the OMZ in the Pacific Ocean was controlled largely by changes in particulate organic carbon (POC) export. In contrast, the vertical …

Numerical Les For Mvg Controlled Supersonic Ramp Flow, Xiao Wang

Mathematics Dissertations

An implicitly implemented large eddy simulation by using the fifth order bandwidth-optimized WENO scheme is applied to make comprehensive studies on ramp flows with micro-ramp vortex generators (MVG) at Mach 2.5 and Re=5760. Detailed mechanism and topology of flow structure after MVG was studied to make better understanding. A series of new findings are obtained about the MVG-ramp flow including the three-dimensional vortex structure generated by MVG. The mechanism about the formation of vortex ring structure and momentum deficit after MVG is deeply studied. Small scale vortical structures in the rear separation and wake near the trailing edge of MVG …

Characteristics Of High Energy Particle Interactions From The Study Of Irregular Air Showers, Amir Hosein Shadkam

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Since the discovery of cosmic rays about one century ago, there have been two main approaches in their experimental study. The first is analyzing their arrival directions, energies, and composition in order to determine the nature of their source or sources. The second is analysis of their interactions in the atmosphere to learn about the structure of elementary particles through the characteristics of their collisions at extremely high energy. The energy available in the collisions of cosmic ray protons with atmospheric nuclei exceeds greatly that achieved or achievable in any man-made accelerators. The study of these interactions may reveal the …

Carbon Farming In Relation To Western Australian Agriculture, Robert Sudmeyer, Jackson Parker, Tanmoy Nath, Ananda Ghose

Bulletins 4000 -

Carbon farming activities need to return multiple economic and environmental co-benefits to be attractive to land managers. This bulletin summarises concepts underlying carbon farming, how Australia accounts for greenhouse gas emissions and the potential for Western Australian land managers to participate in, and benefit from, carbon farming.

Spectroscopic Analyses Of Factors Affecting Formation And Stability Of I-Motif Dna, Samantha Michelle Reilly

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The four-stranded i-motif (iM) conformation of DNA has importance to a variety of biochemical systems that include nanomaterials and oncogene regulation. Fundamental studies to understand iM formation and its structure in solution still remain to be done. In this dissertation, we will discuss the use of the fluorescent base analog tC° to determine the structural state of DNA in solution. We will also demonstrate the use of tC° to determine both the hydrodynamic properties and the folding mechanism of an iM. We also determined the loop length dependence on iM formation and stability. Our hydrodynamic studies show that the iM …

Exploration Into The Performance Of Asymmetric D-Ary Heap-Based Algorithms For The Hsa Architecture, Stephen Adams

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Characterization Of Graphs With Small Bicycle Spectrum, Bette Catherine Putnam

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Matroids designs are defined to be matroids in which the hyperplanes all have the same size. The dual of a matroid design is a matroid with all circuits of the same size, called a dual matroid design. The connected bicircular dual matroid designs have been characterized previously. In addition, these results have been extended to connected bicircular matroids with circuits of two sizes in the case that the associated graph is a subdivision of a 3-connected graph. In this dissertation, we will use a graph theoretic approach to discuss the characterizations of bicircular matroids with circuits of two and three …

The Behavior Of A Macroscopic Granular Material In Vortex Flow, Asami Nishikawa

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A granular material is defined as a collection of discrete particles such as powder and grain. Granular materials display a large number of complex behaviors. In this project, the behavior of macroscopic granular materials under tornado-like vortex airflow, with varying airflow velocity, was observed and studied. The experimental system was composed of a 9.20-cm inner diameter acrylic pipe with a metal mesh bottom holding the particles, a PVC duct, and an airflow source controlled by a variable auto-transformer, and a power-meter. A fixed fan blade was attached to the duct's inner wall to create a tornado-like vortex airflow from straight …

Probing New Physics Through Third Generation Leptons, Preet Sharma

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is a study of beyond standard model physics or new physics. The third generation charged lepton -the τ -is an excellent probe of new physics (NP) because of it being the heaviest lepton. As the heaviest lepton, it has the largest coupling ( among the leptons) to the Higgs boson in the Standard Model (SM). New physics contributions to the tau-neutrino nucleon scattering were considered. Charged Higgs and W' effects to the deep inelastic scattering ντ ( [special character omitted]τ) + N → τ− (τ+) + X in the neutrino-nucleon interactions has been studied. The neutrino detection process …

Sedimentary Record Of Mid-Miocene Seismotectonic Activity In The Sinop Peninsula, North-Central Turkey, Ayhan Ilgar

Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences

The middle Miocene shallow-marine siliciclastic succession in the Sinop Peninsula, north-central Turkey, bears a well-preserved sedimentary record of syndepositional deformation associated with the buried escarpment of an oblique-slip dextral reverse fault and attributed to seismotectonic activity. The deposition occurred in a marginal trough at the edge of a tectonically inverted retroarc foreland basin of the Central Pontides. The synsedimentary deformation involved contemporaneous shoreface deposits and their consolidated, weakly cemented littoral substrate. Deformation features include neptunian dykes, convolute stratification, plumose transposition structure, injection dykes, diapirs, and large sandstone blocks dislodged from the fault escarpment. The genetic sequence of deformation structures deciphered …

Chemistry Of Magmatic And Alteration Minerals In The Chahfiruzeh Porphyry Copper Deposit, South Iran: Implications For The Evolution Of The Magmas And Physicochemical Conditions Of The Ore Fluids, Morteza Einali, Saeed Alirezaei, Federica Zaccarini

Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences

The Chahfiruzeh deposit is a newly discovered porphyry-style copper deposit in the southern part of the Cenozoic Urumieh-Dokhtar magmatic arc of Iran. Mineralization is associated with a Miocene quartz-diorite to quartz-monzodiorite porphyritic intrusion (Chahfiruzeh porphyry) intruded into older basaltic and andesitic lava flows and pyroclastic rocks. Alteration assemblages and alteration zoning, typical of porphyry copper deposits, are well developed. Mineralization occurs in quartz-sulfide stockworks and as sulfide disseminations in the porphyritic intrusion and the immediate wall rocks. Pyrite and chalcopyrite are the main hypogene sulfide minerals; bornite and molybdenite are rare. Representative magmatic and alteration minerals, including plagioclase, amphibole, biotite, …

Utilization Of Petrographic Analysis For Determination Of Petroleum Coke Mixtures, Selami̇ Toprak, Emi̇ne Sütcü, Fatma Jale Gülen

Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences

This study was carried out on mostly imported, processed petrocokes, which are also commercially known as “petcoke” or “petroleum coke”. Petrocoke is imported in great amounts and is occasionally consumed domestically without conscientious thought. It is not a well-known material, though there is an idea of its genesis. The samples, their analysis, and their images are essential to be kept in mind for further investigations, since it is not an environmentally friendly material. Petrographic and chemical analyses were conducted on all samples. Trace element and FT-IR analyses were made on a few representative samples. It is possible to distinguish petrocokes …

Analysis And Mapping Of Climate Change Risk And Vulnerability In Central Rift Valley Of Ethiopia, L. Gizachew, A. Shiferaw

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Mobile Device Vulnerabilities & Securities, Luke Rondeau

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

An investigation on current mobile vulnerabilities and research into security. Also, a proof of concept to show the ease of injecting an Android phone with a virus.