Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

A Problem Approximation Surrogate Model (Pasm) For Fitness Approximation In Optimizing The Quantization Table For The Jpeg Baseline Algorithm, Vinoth Kumar Balasubramanian, Karpagam Manavalan

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

The quantization table in the baseline Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) algorithm plays an important role in compression/quality trade-off. Hence the detection of the optimal quantization table is viewed as an optimization problem. The genetic algorithm (GA) is an attractive optimization tool by many researchers for this application due to its ability in dealing with complex problems. In spite of its advantages, the GA requires more computation time to achieve an optimal solution if it has an expensive fitness evaluation. This paper proposes a problem approximation surrogate model (PASM) for fitness approximation to assist the GA in optimizing the quantization …

Effect Of Transverse Magnetic Field On Low Pressure Argon Discharge, Ehsan Hashemi, Kaveh Niayesh, Hossein Mohseni

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

A numerical simulation was performed to investigate the effect of transverse magnetic fields on low pressure argon plasma. Discovering the variations in electric field, electric potential, power consumption in plasma, and dominant physical mechanisms after application of magnetic fields is the main output of this analysis. A simulation was performed using the finite element method. A 2-fluid model equipped with chemical reaction equations in argon plasma, heat transfer equation, and Poisson's equation was used to describe the plasma behavior. Two disk-shaped electrodes separated by 12 mm from each other were considered as a plasma chamber and an external transverse magnetic …

A Comparison Of The Utility Of Craniometric And Dental Morphological Data For Assessing Biodistance And Sex-Differential Migration In The Pacific Islands, Brittney A. Eubank

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Genetic analysis of maternally-inherited mitochondrial DNA and the paternally-inherited Y-chromosome yield contrasting pictures of movement of peoples into the Pacific Islands. A possible explanation for this discrepancy is a matrilocal residency pattern practiced by early Pacific settlers, in which Melanesian men were brought into settler communities to intermarry with local women, yielding a higher intrapopulation variance and lower interpopulation variance exhibited in males compared to females. This research investigates the possibility of sex-differential migration in the Oceanic populations of Easter Island, Fiji, Guam, Mokapu, and New Britain through analysis of biodistance based on dental morphological trait frequencies and craniometric measures …

Aquatic Food Webs And Heavy Metal Contamination In The Upper Blackfoot River, Montana, Jack E. Landers

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Acid mine drainage (AMD), characterized by low pH and abundant heavy metals, is a widespread problem affecting water quality and fish habitat in Montana. Montana’s upper Blackfoot River exhibits impaired water quality from historic mining that has significantly degraded aquatic habitat and reduced fish and invertebrate abundance in impacted streams. The goal of this study is to investigate the direct and indirect effects of mine-related heavy metals contamination on aquatic ecosystems by examining changes in aquatic community composition, bioaccumulation, and toxicity risk of heavy metals along a contamination gradient in the upper Blackfoot River. Three primary research questions were addressed …

Understanding The Dependence Of Radiative Feedbacks And Clouds On The Spatial Structure Of Ocean Heat Uptake, Lance Rayborn

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Ocean heat uptake and radiative forcing are important for understanding transient climate change. Differences in efficacy of ocean heat uptake (suppression of surface warming per unit energy flux into the deep oceans relative to CO2 forcing) account for a substantial fraction of the spread in transient warming between models. Rose et al. (2014) studied the dependence of efficacy on the spatial pattern of ocean heat uptake in an ensemble of aquaplanet simulations with prescribed ocean heat uptake, and found large differences in model responses to high versus low latitude uptake. This study accurately quantifies these model responses through the use …

A Characteristic Averaging Property Of The Catenary, Vincent Coll, Jeff Dodd

Research, Publications & Creative Work

It is well-known that the catenary is characterized by an extremal centroidal condition: It is the shape of the curve whose centroid is the lowest among all curves having a prescribed length and specified endpoints. Here, we establish a broad characteristic averaging property of the centenary that yields two new centroidal characterizations.

Semiparametric Regression Analysis Of Panel Count Data And Interval-Censored Failure Time Data, Bin Yao

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation discusses three important research topics on semiparametric regression analysis of panel count data and interval-censored data. Both types of data arise commonly in real-life studies in many fields such as epidemiology, social science, and medical research. In these studies, subjects are usually examined multiple times at periodical or irregular follow-up examinations. For panel count data, the response variable is the counts of some recurrent events, whose exact occurrence times are usually unknown. For interval-censored data, the response variable is the time to some events of interest, often called survival time or failure time, and the exact response time …

Proceedings Of The 3rd Annual Cuny Games Festival, Robert O. Duncan, Joe Bisz, Julie Cassidy, Carlos Hernandez, Kathleen Offenholley, Maura A. Smale, Deborah Sturm, Cuny Games Network

Publications and Research

Proceedings of the CUNY Games Conference, held from January 22-23, 2016, at the CUNY Graduate Center and Borough of Manhattan Community College.

Literacy and Story - Anything Can be Attempted: In-Person Simulations and Role-Plays in Educations - Game Design - STEM - Design Research - Literature and Story - Awareness: Gender and Sex - Transformative Games Initiative: Game Design as a Classroom Laboratory for Any Discipline - Narrative and Rhetoric - Design Challenges - Information Literacy and Language - Game Design for All: What’s Your Game Plan? Turn Any Idea into a Game! - Ghosts in the Machine - Game …

Reducing Uncertainties In Managing In British Columbia Waters: Applying An Adaptive Management Mindset On The South, Central And North Coasts, Erica Olson, Carol Murray, Natascia Tamburello

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

British Columbia’s vast coastline is characterized by ecologically rich, rugged, and remote regions where there are many uncertainties about the way that ecosystems function. This translates into a challenge for environmental managers, as it creates considerable uncertainty about which management actions will be most effective for achieving management goals and objectives. Adaptive management can offer a way forward by providing systematic, rigorous approach for designing and implementing management actions to maximize learning about critical uncertainties affecting decisions on environmental management policy and practice. It typically follows a six-step cycle focusing on the implementation and monitoring of management actions that are …

Problem To Progress: Understanding And Improving Permitting For Shoreline Armoring In Kitsap County, Kathlene Barnhart

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Kitsap County partnered with San Juan County and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to objectively review and assess the effectiveness of existing marine shoreline stabilization permitting programs in achieving a balance between applicant needs and protection of nearshore resources. Utilizing a T.A.C.T. approach (Troubleshooting, Action planning, Course correction and Tracking & monitoring), the agencies worked together to identify gaps and overlap in the permit review and monitoring process, as well as the effectiveness of permit provisions (conditions) through field assessment of recent marine shoreline armoring projects. Actions to correct these internal deficiencies and …

Resources For Marine Shoreline Design, Theresa Mitchell

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Shoreline armoring and reducing the use of hard, structural approaches to protecting property is a hot topic across marine communities of North America. As we learn more about the importance of the marine and terrestrial interface (the nearshore zone), we also understand more about how our past practices of hard armoring shorelines can be problematic to the nearshore zone and the ecosystem goods and services it provides. Shifting property owners away from using common hard approaches to erosion protection is difficult to achieve without easy access to information on effective environmentally-friendly alternatives.

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and …

Synthesis Of Results From Twelve Puget Sound Regulatory Effectiveness And Incentive Investigations, Aimee Kinney, Tessa B. Francis, Jeff Rice

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Between 2011 and 2014, the Puget Sound Marine and Nearshore Grant Program funded twelve projects relating to shoreline regulatory and incentive programs. Here we provide an overview of overarching themes that emerged from a review of the projects in aggregate. Despite the different approaches to problem identification, data collection, and analysis in these investigations, the conclusions reached and recommendations made are remarkably similar. Key findings and implications of our analysis relate to: (1) armoring compliance rates; (2) compliance monitoring methodologies; (3) local Shoreline Master Program (SMP) capacity limitations; (4) SMP implementation improvements; and (5) incentive programs to encourage the use …

2015 Olympia Oyster, Ostrea Lurida, Brooding Results From Northern Puget Sound, Jackie E. Dexter, Sarah K. Grossman, Courtney M. Greiner, Julie S. Barber, James T. Mcardle

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

The Swinomish Indian Tribal Community recently began a restoration project to establish, expand, and research Olympia oyster, Ostrea lurida, populations on reservation tidelands. For our pilot project, we evenly distributed seeded cultch in two pocket estuaries in Similk and northern Skagit Bays during the summer of 2012 and spring of 2013. Subsequently, we initiated a long-term monitoring program that included measuring reproductive benchmarks to determine population expansion potential. While brooding data have been collected at one other site in northern Puget Sound (i.e. Fidalgo Bay), it is likely that oysters in pocket estuaries will be exposed to different environmental …

Relative Abundance Of Sixgill Sharks (Hexanchus Griseus) In Elliott Bay, Seattle, Washington, Denise Griffing, Shawn Larson, Jeff Christiansen, Joel Hollander, Tim Carpenter

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

The Sixgill Shark Research Project is designed to address gaps in the body of scientific knowledge on bluntnose sixgill sharks (Hexanchus griseus) in Puget Sound. This project utilizes three interwoven techniques: (1) genetics research, (2) visual marker tagging, and (3) video analysis. Seattle Aquarium biologists monitor sixgill shark sightings reported by local divers (since 1999) and study their relative abundance in Elliott Bay under the Aquarium’s pier (since 2003). Here we report on our findings of relative abundance.

Bluntnose sixgills are a species of conservation concern. Sixgills are listed as “near threatened” on the IUCN Red List. Living mainly at …

Simulating The Dispersal Of Invasive Clams In A Freshwater Lake Using A Three-Dimensional Hydrodynamic Model; A Prototype For Simulating Invasions In Marine Ecosystems, Elizabeth Kilanowski, Lambert Rubash

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

The discovery of several populations of an invasive Asian clam (corbicula fluminea) in Lake Whatcom, the drinking water source for approximately 100,000 people in Northern Washington State, created a need among elected officials, local government staff, and the public for a better understanding of lake hydrodynamics during the reproductive season for the Asian clam, and for times when Quagga and Zebra mussel invasions are likely. Seasonal vertical thermal stratification of the lake and a desire to predict likely locations of additional clam populations or of new populations of mussels led to the choice of a model that could be configured …

Creating A Culture Of Shoreline Stewardship In Puget Sound, Erica Bates, Robert C. Simmons

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

This poster will describe the results of the WSU Shore Stewards program over its 13 year history. The program recruits, educates, and engages shoreline property owners in home and landscape management activities that protect and improve shoreline functions and water quality. The program has regularly surveyed program participants to determine behavior changes as a result of the program, as well as undergone a comprehensive evaluation in 2014/2015, which will be highlighted in this poster. In 2015, WSU re-developed its peer reviewed program materials, which includes new website (shorestewards.wsu.edu), a revised “Guide for Shoreline Living,” and a DVD containing multiple videos …

Greening Real Estate Professionals: A Model For Landowner Engagement Through Effective Education For Brokers & Appraisers, Erica S. Guttman, Robert C. Simmons

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Real estate brokers, appraisers, and developers are an essential audience for bridging communication with new landowners throughout the Salish Sea watershed. The majority of these professionals share concerns about protecting water quality, ensuring the health of theSalishSeafor recreation and economic vitality, and preventing activities that lead to anthropogenic-caused landslides, flooding and other disasters.

Since 1998, WSU Extension has managed a real estate school focused on "green" topics to engage real estate professionals in these issues critical to their clients and our region's water resources. In recent years, our focus has centered on the topics of Green Stormwater Infrastructure and Understanding …

Cross-Border Citizen Action: Protecting The Salish Sea From The Risks Of Fossil Fuel Transport, Alexandra L. Woodsworth

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Currently, more than a dozen oil, coal and liquid natural gas projects are proposed on both sides of the border, threatening the health of the Salish Sea and its communities, as well as the global climate. Recent estimates suggest that if all the projects were to be approved, each year they would generate an extra 308 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions and an additional 1,200 ship journeys through the already-busy waters of the Salish Sea. Each fossil fuel project proposed in BC and Washington is currently being assessed in isolation from the others by the government agencies that are …

A Framework To Assess Vulnerability Of Biological Components To Ship-Source Oil Spills In The Marine Environment, Kate Thornborough, Candice St. Germain, Lucie Hannah, Miriam O

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

A structured approach to identify biological components most affected by a ship-source oil spill has been developed utilising a suite of criteria to assess vulnerability. Our approach divides criteria into three categories: exposure, sensitivity, and recovery, each encompassing a number of criteria which are envisaged to be consistent and broad enough to be usable in any region in Canada. In support of this, we are working with biologists from other Canadian regions who are currently developing ship-source oil spill response plans (i.e. Pacific, Quebec and Maritimes) to test the usability of this approach in multiple marine environments. For the Pacific …

Can Intimate Ecological Knowledge Evoke Spirituality?, Robin B. Clark

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

The Salish Sea Ecoregion lies within the Marine West Coast Forest Ecoregion (CEC) or the Pacific temperate rain forest (WWF) and others. The marine and upland forested ecosystems are some of the richest and most diverse on the planet. As a registered professional forester and ecologist, I use the biogeoclimatic ecosystem classifications of zones, subzones, site series and edaphic grids in my everyday work in the management of forested ecosystems. I see the forest is a mosaic of interconnectedness that displays with a variety of trees and plants the above and below ground moisture and nutrient regimes. My spirituality arises …

Skagit Climate Science Consortium: Using Local Polling To Provide Relevant Science, Carol B. Macilroy, Larry Wasserman

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

The Skagit Climate Science Consortium (SC²) and the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication partnered to conduct a public opinion poll in the spring of 2015 regarding Skagit County resident’s attitudes and perceptions regarding global warming. The effort, part of Yale’s renown 6 America’s Project, also is providing SC² critical information to help understand local concerns and beliefs about climate change in order to better provide relevant and timely climate science to a broader Skagit community. This presentation will provide an overview of SC²’s theory of change regarding the role of climate science in supporting …

Pumpage Reduction By Using Variable Rate Irrigation To Mine Undepleted Soil Water, Tsz Him Lo, Derek M. Heeren, Derrel Martin, Luciano Mateos, Joe D. Luck, Dean E. Eisenhauer

Department of Biological Systems Engineering: Papers and Publications

Conventional irrigation schedules are typically based on portions of the field where root zones hold the least available soil water. This leaves undepleted available water in areas with larger water holding capacities. The undepleted water could be used through variable-rate irrigation (VRI) management; however, the benefits of VRI without in-field mapping are unexamined. In this research, the field-averaged amount of undepleted available soil water in the root zone was calculated from the NRCS Soil Survey Geographic database for 49,224 center-pivot irrigated fields in Nebraska. Potential reductions in pumpage from mining undepleted available water were then estimated. Results of the analysis …

Blended Learning In Chemistry Laboratory Courses: Enhancing Learning Outcomes And Aligning Student Needs With Available Resources, Shayna Brianne Burchett

Doctoral Dissertations

"Freshman science courses are intended to prepare students for the rigor and expectations of subsequent college science. While secondary education aims to prepare students for the college curriculum, many incoming freshman lack the sense of responsibility for their own learning that is essential for success in a college-level course. The freshman general-chemistry laboratory course at Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T) was identified as a bottleneck course with a demand beyond accommodation capacity. To address the bottleneck and develop a sense of learner responsibility, a decision was made to investigate laboratory course delivery strategies. As a result of …

A Comparison Of Machine Learning Techniques And Logistic Regression Method For The Prediction Of Past-Due Amount, Jie Hao, Jennifer L. Priestley

Published and Grey Literature from PhD Candidates

The aim of this paper to predict a past-due amount using traditional and machine learning techniques: Logistic Analysis, k-Nearest Neighbor and Random Forest. The dataset to be analyzed is provided by Equifax, which contains 305 categories of financial information from more than 11,787,287 unique businesses from 2006 to 2014. The big challenge is how to handle with the big and noisy real world datasets. Among the three techniques, the results show that Logistic Regression Method is the best in terms of predictive accuracy and type I errors.

An Analysis Of Accuracy Using Logistic Regression And Time Series, Edwin Baidoo, Jennifer L. Priestley

Published and Grey Literature from PhD Candidates

This paper analyzes the accuracy rates for logistic regression and time series models. It also examines a relatively new performance index that takes into consideration the business assumptions of credit markets. Although prior research has focused on evaluation metrics, such as AUC and Gini index, this new measure has a more intuitive interpretation for various managers and decision makers and can be applied to both Logistic and Time Series models.

Application Of Isotonic Regression In Predicting Business Risk Scores, Linh T. Le, Jennifer L. Priestley

Published and Grey Literature from PhD Candidates

An isotonic regression model fits an isotonic function of the explanatory variables to estimate the expectation of the response variable. In other words, as the function increases, the estimated expectation of the response must be non-decreasing. With this characteristic, isotonic regression could be a suitable option to analyze and predict business risk scores. A current challenge of isotonic regression is the decrease of performance when the model is fitted in a large data set e.g. more than four or five dimensions. This paper attempts to apply isotonic regression models into prediction of business risk scores using a large data set …

Higher Order Z-Ideals In Commutative Rings, Themba Dube, Oghenetega Ighedo

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

We study ideals that resemble z-ideals in commutative rings with identity. For each positive integer n, we say an ideal of a commutative ring A is a zⁿ-ideal in case it has the property that if a and b belong to the same maximal ideals of A, and aⁿ ϵ I , then bⁿ is also in I. The set of all zⁿ-ideals of A is denoted by A --> ʒⁿ (A). This gives an ascending chain ʒ(A) < ʒ²(A) < ʒ³(A) <… of collections of ideals, starting with the collection of z-ideals. …

On-Road Remote Sensing Of Automobile Emissions In The Tulsa Area: Fall 2015, Gary A. Bishop, Donald H. Stedman

Fuel Efficiency Automobile Test Publications

No abstract provided.

Measuring Real-World Emissions From The On-Road Passenger Fleet, Gary A. Bishop, Donald H. Stedman

Fuel Efficiency Automobile Test Publications

No abstract provided.

Donald H. Stedman 50 Years Of Air Quality Instrument Inventions And Measurements (Presentation), Gary A. Bishop, Donald H. Stedman

Fuel Efficiency Automobile Test Publications

No abstract provided.