Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Screening For Peripheral Arterial Disease And Carotid Artery Disease In Patients With Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm, Cleona Gray, Patrick J. Goodman, Paul Cullen, Stephen Badger, Kevin O'Malley, Martin K. O'Donohoe, Ciarán O. Mcdonnell

Articles

Screening for concomitant atherosclerotic disease is important in cardiovascular risk reduction. This study assessed the prevalence of carotid artery disease (CAD) and peripheral arterial disease (PAD) in patients with known abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs). All patients with AAA attending the vascular laboratory between the January 1, 2007, and December 31, 2009, were eligible for a carotid ultrasound and measurement of ankle brachial indices. A total of 389 (305 males) patients were identified on the AAA surveillance program with a mean (±standard deviation) age of 76 (±8) years. The mean age of the males was 75.4 (±7.8) years, and the mean …

Worldwide Cutaneous Malignant Melanoma Incidences Analyzed By Sex, Age, And Skin Type Over Time (1955–2007): Is Hpv Infection Of Androgenic Hair Follicular Melanocytes A Risk Factor For Developing Melanoma Exclusively In People Of European-Ancestry?, Stephen Merrill, Madhan Subramanian, Dianne E. Godar

Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science Faculty Research and Publications

The cutaneous malignant melanoma (CMM) incidence has been increasing in an exponential manner in certain populations around the world for over 7 decades. To help illuminate the etiology, we performed worldwide temporal (1955–2007) CMM incidence analysis by sex, age (0–14, 15–29, 30–49, 50–69, 70–85+), and skin type on 6 continents using data from the International Agency for Research on Cancer. We observe an exponential increase in the CMM incidence over time and an increase of about 2 orders of magnitude between age groups 0–14 and 15–29 exclusively in European-ancestry populations around the world independent of skin type (I–III or III–IV). …

An Ensemble Model Of Qsar Tools For Regulatory Risk Assessment, Prachi Pradeep, Richard J. Povinelli, Shannon White, Stephen Merrill

Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science Faculty Research and Publications

Quantitative structure activity relationships (QSARs) are theoretical models that relate a quantitative measure of chemical structure to a physical property or a biological effect. QSAR predictions can be used for chemical risk assessment for protection of human and environmental health, which makes them interesting to regulators, especially in the absence of experimental data. For compatibility with regulatory use, QSAR models should be transparent, reproducible and optimized to minimize the number of false negatives. In silico QSAR tools are gaining wide acceptance as a faster alternative to otherwise time-consuming clinical and animal testing methods. However, different QSAR tools often make conflicting …

The Transmuted Weibull-Pareto Distribution, Ahmed Z. Afify, Haitham M. Yousof, Nadeem Shafique Butt, Gholamhossein G. Hamedani

Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science Faculty Research and Publications

A new generalization of the Weibull-Pareto distribution called the transmuted Weibull-Pareto distribution is proposed and studied. Various mathematical properties of this distribution including ordinary and incomplete moments, quantile and generating functions, Bonferroni and Lorenz curves and order statistics are derived. The method of maximum likelihood is used for estimating the model parameters. The flexibility of the new lifetime model is illustrated by means of an application to a real data set.

Investigating Coastal Erosion Variability And Framework Geology Influence Along The Grand Strand, South Carolina, Aundrea Marie Dolan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Increasing erosional pressures along coastal systems require a better understanding of the mechanisms of natural and human-induced alterations. This is especially important in sediment-starved coastal systems where the effects from geologic framework may exert a disproportionate influence on shoreline behavior. Existing studies into geologic framework and shoreline variability are comprehensive and well documented; yet analysis into the spatial relationships between shoreline variability, lower shoreface morphodynamics, and framework in South Carolina is limited. The Grand Strand region of South Carolina has an extensive set of geophysical data, such as CHIRP seismic, sidescan sonar, borehole logs, and inner shelf cores. In addition, …

Inferring Late-Holocene Climate In The Ecuadorian Andes Using A Chironomid-Based Temperature Inference Model, Frazer Matthews-Bird, Stephen J. Brooks, Philip B. Holden, Encarni Montoya, William D. Gosling

Ocean Engineering and Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Presented here is the first chironomid calibration data set for tropical South America. Surface sediments were collected from 59 lakes across Bolivia (15 lakes), Peru (32 lakes), and Ecuador (12 lakes) between 2004 and 2013 over an altitudinal gradient from 150 m above sea level (a.s.l) to 4655 m a.s.l, between 0–17° S and 64–78° W. The study sites cover a mean annual temperature (MAT) gradient of 25 °C. In total, 55 chironomid taxa were identified in the 59 calibration data set lakes. When used as a single explanatory variable, MAT explains 12.9 % of the variance (λ1/λ2 =  1.431). …

Environmental Controls On The Distribution And Diversity Of Lentic Chironomidae (Insecta: Diptera) Across An Altitudinal Gradient In Tropical South America, Frazer Matthews-Bird, William D. Gosling, Angela L. Coe, Mark Bush, Francis E. Mayle, Yarrow Axford, Stephen J. Brooks

Ocean Engineering and Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

To predict the response of aquatic ecosystems to future global climate change, data on the ecology and distribution of keystone groups in freshwater ecosystems are needed. In contrast to mid- and high-latitude zones, such data are scarce across tropical South America (Neotropics). We present the distribution and diversity of chironomid species using surface sediments of 59 lakes from the Andes to the Amazon (0.1–17°S and 64–78°W) within the Neotropics. We assess the spatial variation in community assemblages and identify the key variables influencing the distributional patterns. The relationships between environmental variables (pH, conductivity, depth, and sediment organic content), climatic data, …

Benthic Marine Calcifiers Coexist With Caco3-Undersaturated Seawater Worldwide, Mario Lebrato, Andreas J. Andersson, Justin Baker Ries, Richard B. Aronson, Miles D. Lamare, Wolfgang Koeve, Andreas Oschlies, Maria Débora Iglesias-Rodríguez, Sven Thatje, M. Amsler, Stephanie C. Vos, D. O. B. Jones, H. A. Ruhl, A. R. Gates, J. B. Mcclintock

Ocean Engineering and Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Ocean acidification and decreasing seawater saturation state with respect to calcium carbonate (CaCO3) minerals have raised concerns about the consequences to marine organisms that build CaCO3 structures. A large proportion of benthic marine calcifiers incorporate Mg2+ into their skeletons (Mg-calcite), which, in general, reduces mineral stability. The relative vulnerability of some marine calcifiers to ocean acidification appears linked to the relative solubility of their shell or skeletal mineralogy, although some organisms have sophisticated mechanisms for constructing and maintaining their CaCO3 structures causing deviation from this dependence. Nevertheless, few studies consider seawater saturation state with respect to the actual Mg-calcite mineralogy …

Gorenstein Projective (Pre)Covers, Michael J. Fox

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The existence of the Gorenstein projective precovers is one of the main open problems in Gorenstein Homological algebra. We give sufficient conditions in order for the class of Gorenstein projective complexes to be special precovering in the category of complexes of R-modules Ch(R). More precisely, we prove that if every complex in Ch(R) has a special Gorenstein flat cover, every Gorenstein projective complex is Gorenstein flat, and every Gorenstein flat complex has finite Goenstein projective dimension, then the class of Gorenstein projective complexes, GP(C), is special precovering in Ch(R).

Time-Based Ensembles For Prediction Of Rare Events In News Streams, Nuno Moniz, Luís Torgo, Magdalini Eirinaki

Faculty Publications

Thousands of news are published everyday reporting worldwide events. Most of these news obtain a low level of popularity and only a small set of events become highly popular in social media platforms. Predicting rare cases of highly popular news is not a trivial task due to shortcomings of standard learning approaches and evaluation metrics. So far, the standard task of predicting the popularity of news items has been tackled by either of two distinct strategies related to the publication time of news. The first strategy, a priori, is focused on predicting the popularity of news upon their publication when …

Pain Level Detection From Facial Image Captured By Smartphone, Md Kamrul Hasan, Golam Mushih Tanimul Ahsan, Sheikh Iqbal Ahamed, Rechard Love, Reza Salim

Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science Faculty Research and Publications

Accurate symptom of cancer patient in regular basis is highly concern to the medical service provider for clinical decision making such as adjustment of medication. Since patients have limitations to provide self-reported symptoms, we have investigated how mobile phone application can play the vital role to help the patients in this case. We have used facial images captured by smart phone to detect pain level accurately. In this pain detection process, existing algorithms and infrastructure are used for cancer patients to make cost low and user-friendly. The pain management solution is the first mobile-based study as far as we found …

Challenges In Developing Applications For Aging Populations, Drew Marie Williams, Md O. Gani, Ivor D. Addo, Akm Jahangir Alam Majumder, Chandana Tamma, Mong-Te Wang, Chih-Hung Chang, Sheikh Iqbal Ahamed, Cheng-Chung Chu

Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science Faculty Research and Publications

Elderly individuals can greatly benefit from the use of computer applications, which can assist in monitoring health conditions, staying in contact with friends and family, and even learning new things. However, developing accessible applications for an elderly user can be a daunting task for developers. Since the advent of the personal computer, the benefits and challenges of developing applications for older adults have been a hot topic of discussion. In this chapter, the authors discuss the various challenges developers who wish to create applications for the elderly computer user face, including age-related impairments, generational differences in computer use, and the …

A Generalized Gamma-Weibull Distribution: Model, Properties And Applications, R. S. Meshkat, H. Torabi, Gholamhossein G. Hamedani

Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science Faculty Research and Publications

We prepare a new method to generate family of distributions. Then, a family of univariate distributions generated by the Gamma random variable is defined. The generalized gamma-Weibull (GGW) distribution is studied as a special case of this family. Certain mathematical properties of moments are provided. To estimate the model parameters, the maximum likelihood estimators and the asymptotic distribution of the estimators are discussed. Certain characterizations of GGW distribution are presented. Finally, the usefulness of the new distribution, as well as its effectiveness in comparison with other distributions, are shown via an application of a real data set.

Almost Perfect Restriction Semigroups, Peter R. Jones

Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science Faculty Research and Publications

We call a restriction semigroup almost perfect if it is proper and the least congruence that identifies all its projections is perfect. We show that any such semigroup is isomorphic to a ‘W -product’ W(T,Y)W(T,Y), where T is a monoid, Y is a semilattice and there is a homomorphism from T into the inverse semigroup TI_YTIY of isomorphisms between ideals of Y. Conversely, all such W-products are almost perfect. Since we also show that every restriction semigroup has an easily computed cover of this type, the combination yields a ‘McAlister-type’ theorem for all restriction semigroups. …

In God’S Land: Cinematic Affect, Animation And The Perceptual Dilemmas Of Slow Violence, Salma Monani

Environmental Studies Faculty Publications

In this paper, I argue that Indian independent filmmaker Pankaj Rishi Kumar's documentary In God’s Land (2012) blends animation and live-action to illuminate the destructive nuances of postcolonial literary scholar, Rob Nixon's notion of slow violence. In turning to cinema, I also suggest that In God’s Land’s “aesthetic strategies” further eco-film scholarship’s recent interests in animation, which have tended to highlight the mode's "feel good affect." I draw attention to In God's Land's hybrid of dark, discordant animation spectacle interspliced in the documentary live-action to articulate the potential of eco-animation outside of this affect. Ultimately, the film not only draws …

Simulating Behavioral Microcystin Impairment In Fish, Nicholas Richard Keeney

LSU Master's Theses

Fish experiencing blooms of the cyanobacteria genera Microcystis and Anabaena acquire microcystin and saxitoxin through ingestion of contaminated food and absorption of dissolved toxin. Even low chronic doses induce sensory and motor impairment—the impact of which is unquantified in wild populations. Here, I introduce Lagrangian particle models for cyanobacteria and fish which test the hypotheses that impairment symptoms suppress movement and growth. This is implemented within the Finite-Volume Coastal Ocean Model (FVCOM). Cyanobacteria particles move vertically according to mixing and buoyancy (a function of cellular reservoirs). Fish navigate the horizontal domain, foraging in high growth areas, and fleeing when toxin …

The Role Of Green Leafy Plants In Atmospheric Chemistry: Volatile Emissions And Secondary Organic Aerosol, Rebecca Harvey

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Aerosols play important roles in atmospheric and environmental processes. Not only do they impact human health, they also affect visibility and climate. Despite recent advances made to under their sources and fate, there remains a limited understanding of the mechanisms that lead to the formation of aerosols and their ultimate fate in the atmosphere. These knowledge gaps provide the crux of the research reported herein, which has focused on identifying novel sources of atmospheric aerosol, characterizing its physical and optical properties, and rationalizing these properties using an in-depth knowledge of the molecular level mechanisms that led to its formation.

Upon …

The Impacts Of Climate Change On Precipitation And Hydrology In The Northeastern United States, Justin Guilbert

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Shifting climatic regimes can increase or decrease the frequency of extreme hydrologic events (e.g., high and low streamflows) causing large societal and environmental impacts. The impacts are numerous and include human health and safety, the destruction of infrastructure, water resources, nutrient and sediment transport, and within stream ecological health. It is unclear how the hydrology of a given region will shift in response to climate change. This is especially the case in areas that are seasonally snow covered as the interplay of changing temperature, precipitation, and resulting snowpack can lead to an increased risk of flood or drought.

This research …

Oxygen-Sensitive Luminophores: A Survey Of The Literature And Efforts Toward A Novel Porphyrin-Pillared Zirconium Phosphonate, Joseph Wright

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Measurement and mapping of the pressure distribution across the surface of a suitably scaled model is an integral step in the design of any aircraft or automobile. For this purpose, the traditional workhorses of the aeronautic and automotive industries have been pressure taps--small orifices that contain electronic pressure transducers. Unfortunately, in addition to the limited spatial resolution achievable with such devices, their technical complexity and cost constitute serious disadvantages. For more than 35 years, researchers have pursued a fundamentally different alternative: indirect measurement of pressure via oxygen-induced quenching of the luminescence emitted by certain chemical species. Porphyrin complexes of dipositive …

Real-Time Characterisation Of Dynamic Laser Fields, Thomas Butler

Theses

Many modern technologies rely on laser devices, in areas such as communications, sensing, and imaging. Examination and research into the fundamental operational dynamics of lasers, and characterisation of laser performance, are a crucial tool in ensuring the quality and effectiveness of laser-based applications. The development of characterisation tools is an important part of improving upon existing technologies and advancing the next generation of devices.

In this work, a real-time multiheterodyne detection technique is developed which allows for the study of dynamically varying pulse trains formed by optical frequency combs.

Optimizing Vehicle Usage Using Csp, Sat And Max-Sat, Raheem T. Al Rammahi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Most of the companies in Iraq spend significant amounts of time and money when transferring employees between home and work. In this thesis, we model the problem of the Dhi Qar Oil company (DQOC) transportations using three modeling languages from AI: Constraint Programing (CP), Boolean Satisfiability (SAT), and Maximum Satisfiability (MAX-SAT). We then use solvers to find optimal solutions to this problem.

We show which of these solvers is more efficient when finding optimal solutions. For this purpose, we create a test suite of 360 problems to test these solvers. All solvers are applied to these problems and the final …

Implementation Of An Air Supply Unit Control Scheme For The Uc2av (Unmanned Circulation Control Aerial Vehicle), Cameron Rosen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The expanded prevalence of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in recent years has created many opportunities to research novel applications for their use, enabled by the reduced cost, mission flexibility, and reduced risk that small-scale unmanned platforms provide in comparison to larger aircraft. Despite the versatility of unmanned aviation, limitations on payload size and weight, fuel and power capacity, and takeoff and landing infrastructure can restrict UAV applications, and have created a need for lift augmenting technologies that can reduce the impact of these limitations. Circulation Control (CC) is an active flow technique that has been proven as a method for …

Molecular Mechanisms Of Protein Thermal Stability, Lucas Sawle

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Organisms that thrive under extreme conditions, such as high salt concentration, low pH, or high temperature, provide an opportunity to investigate the molecular and cellular strategies these organisms have adapted to survive in their harsh environments. Thermophilic proteins, those extracted from organisms that live at high temperature, maintain their structure and function at much higher temperatures compared to their mesophilic counterparts, found in organisms that live near room temperature. Thermophilic and mesophilic homolog protein pairs have identical functionality, and show a high degree of structural and sequential similarity, but differ significantly in their response to high temperature. Addressing the principles …

The Dynamics Of Flat Surface Internal Geophysical Waves With Currents, Alan Compelli, Rossen Ivanov

Articles

A two-dimensional water wave system is examined consisting of two discrete incompressible fluid domains separated by a free common interface. In a geophysical context this is a model of an internal wave, formed at a pycnocline or thermocline in the ocean. The system is considered as being bounded at the bottom and top by a flatbed and wave-free surface respectively. A current profile with depth-dependent currents in each domain is considered. The Hamiltonian of the system is determined and expressed in terms of canonical wave-related variables. Limiting behavior is examined and compared to that of other known models. The linearised …

Unique Characterization Of Materials With Memory, John Murrough Golden

Articles

In general, materials with linear memory constitutive relations are characterized by a relaxation function. This leads to a situation where the free energy for most materials with memory is not unique. There is a convex set of free energy functionals with a minimum and a maximum element. An alternative procedure is proposed which characterizes a material by the kernel of the rate of dissipation functional. Using some recent results, we find that a unique free energy and relaxation function may then be deduced. An example is given for discrete spectrum materials. Also, the new results are used to show that …

Peccit: An Omniscient Debugger For Web Development, Zachary Ryan Azar

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Debugging can be an extremely expensive and time-consuming task for a software developer. To find a bug, the developer typically needs to navigate backwards through infected states and symptoms of the bug to find the initial defect. Modern debugging tools are not designed for navigating back-in-time and typically require the user to jump through hoops by setting breakpoints, re-executing, and guessing where errors occur. Omniscient debuggers offer back-in-time debugging capabilities to make this task easier. These debuggers trace the program allowing the user to navigate forwards and backwards through the execution, examine variable histories, and visualize program data and control …

Real-Time Translation Of American Sign Language Using Wearable Technology, Jackson Taylor

Honors Theses

The goal of this work is to implement a real-time system using wearable technology for translating American Sign Language (ASL) gestures into audible form. This system could be used to facilitate conversations between individuals who do and do not communicate using ASL. We use as our source of input the Myo armband, an affordable commercially-available wearable technology equipped with on-board accelerometer, gyroscope, and electromyography sensors. We investigate the performance of two different classification algorithms in this context: linear discriminant analysis and k-Nearest Neighbors (k-NN) using various distance metrics. Using the k-NN classifier and windowed dynamic time …

Nonexistence Of Nonquadratic Kerdock Sets In Six Variables, John Clikeman

Honors Theses

Kerdock sets are maximally sized sets of boolean functions such that the sum of any two functions in the set is bent. This paper modifies the methodology of a paper by Phelps (2015) to the problem of finding Kerdock sets in six variables containing non-quadratic elements. Using a computer search, we demonstrate that no Kerdock sets exist containing non-quadratic six- variable bent functions, and that the largest bent set containing such functions has size 8.

Remobilization Of Cobalt, Copper, Nickel, Lead, And Zinc In A Riparian Wetland Model, Richard Glenn Dolly

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The mobility of chemically persistent metals in riparian wetland systems that could have a detrimental impact on the environment is an area of active research. This study utilized a physical model consisting of open water and wetland cells designed to simulate a natural riparian wetland to examine the mobility of five metals. The objective of the study was to determine if riparian wetlands have the potential to serve as permanent sinks for metals, or if they only serve as temporary sinks and with time metals could be remobilized and released. Specifically, this study examined the long-term behavior of Co, Cu, …

On Variable Bandwidth Kernel Density And Regression Estimation, Janet Nakarmi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

We study the ideal variable bandwidth kernel density estimator introduced by McKay (1993) and the plug-in practical version of the variable bandwidth kernel density estimator with two sequences of bandwidths as in Ginè and Sang (2013).We estimate the variance of the variable bandwidth kernel density estimator. Based on the exact formula of the bias and the variance of the variable bandwidth kernel density estimator, we develop the optimal bandwidth selection of the true variable bandwidth kernel density estimator. Furthermore, we present the central limit theorem of the true variable bandwidth kernel density estimator. We also propose a new variable bandwidth …