Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Evaluating Alternative Technologies And Monitoring Methods For Water Quality In A Field Setting; Research On Effects On Phosphorous And Solids Removal From Cheese Factory Wash Water And Stormwater Runoff Treatment, Dana J. Allen

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Lake Champlain is a major economic driver for Vermont's tourism economy, as well as a primary source of drinking water for many of the state's residents but nutrient pollution represents a potential threat to ecosystem health and economic well-being. From December 2011 to December 2012 a field trial of an EAF steel slag filter was assessed for its feasibility in treating wastewater originating from Swan Valley Cheese (SVC), in Swanton, VT. The study focuses on a period of the filter's operation from May 4 to October 10, 2012. The plant generates approximately 20,000 gallons per day of high P concentration …

Sediment Mobilization From Streambank Failures: Model Development And Climate Impact Studies, Jody Juniper Stryker

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

This research incorporates streambank erosion and failure processes into a distributed watershed model and evaluates the impacts of climate change on the processes driving streambank sediment mobilization at a watershed scale. Excess sediment and nutrient loading are major water quality concerns for streams and receiving waters. Previous work has established that in addition to surface and road erosion, streambank erosion and failure are primary mechanisms that mobilize sediment and nutrients from the landscape. This mechanism and other hydrological processes driving sediment and nutrient transport are likely to be highly influenced by anticipated changes in climate, particularly extreme precipitation and flow …

Designing For Economic Success: A 50-State Analysis Of The Genuine Progress Indicator, Mairi-Jane Venesky Fox

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

The use of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as the primary measure of economic progress has arguably led to unintended consequences of environmental degradation and socially skewed outcomes. The Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) was designed to reveal the trade offs associated with conventional economic growth and to assess the broader impact of economic benefits and costs on sustainable human welfare. Although originally designed for use at the national scale, an interest has developed in the United States in a state-level uptake of the GPI to inform and guide policy. However, questions exist about the quality and legitimacy of the GPI as …

Investigation Of Pyrolysis Gas Chemistry In An Inductively Coupled Plasma Facility, Corey Tillson

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

The pyrolysis mechanics of Phenolic Impregnated Carbon Ablators (PICA) makes it a valued material for use in thermal protection systems for spacecraft atmospheric re-entry. The present study of the interaction of pyrolysis gases and char with plasma gases in the boundary layer over PICA and its substrate, FiberForm, extends previous work on this topic that has been done in the UVM 30 kW Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP) Torch Facility. Exposure of these material samples separately to argon, nitrogen, oxygen, air, and carbon dioxide plasmas, and combinations of said test gases provides insight into the evolution of the pyrolysis gases as …

Weighted Networks: Applications From Power Grid Construction To Crowd Control, Thomas Charles Mcandrew

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Since their discovery in the 1950's by Erdos and Renyi, network theory (the study of objects and their associations) has blossomed into a full-fledged branch of mathematics.

Due to the network's flexibility, diverse scientific problems can be reformulated as networks and studied using a common set of tools.

I define a network G = (V,E) composed of two parts: (i) the set of objects V, called nodes, and (ii) set of relationships (associations) E, called links, that connect objects in V.

We can extend the classic network of nodes and links by describing the intensity of these associations with weights. …

Using Multiple Methodologies To Understand Within Species Variability Of Adelges And Pineus (Hemiptera: Sternorrhyncha), Tav Aronowitz

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

The species of two genera in Insecta: Hemiptera: Adelgidae were investigated through the lenses of genetics, morphology, life cycle and host species. The systematics are unclear due to complex life cycles, including multigenerational polymorphism, host switching and cyclical parthenogenesis. I studied the hemlock adelgids, including the nonnative invasive hemlock woolly adelgid on the east coast of the United States, that are currently viewed as a single species. I used multivariate morphometric analyses to identify morphological differences among hemlock adelgid lineages. With principal component analyses and MANOVA, the six lineages that were used in this study were found to be significantly …

Disentangling Discourse: Networks, Entropy, And Social Movements, Ryan Gallagher

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Our daily online conversations with friends, family, colleagues, and strangers weave an intricate network of interactions. From these networked discussions emerge themes and topics that transcend the scope of any individual conversation. In turn, these themes direct the discourse of the network and continue to ebb and flow as the interactions between individuals shape the topics themselves. This rich loop between interpersonal conversations and overarching topics is a wonderful example of a complex system: the themes of a discussion are more than just the sum of its parts.

Some of the most socially relevant topics emerging from these online conversations …

Quantifying Tree Response To Alterations In Pollution Deposition And Climate Change In The Northeastern Us, Alexandra M. Kosiba

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Understanding tree physiological responses to climate change is critical for quantifying forest carbon, predicting species' range change, and forecasting growth trajectories. Continued increases in temperature could push trees into conditions to which they are ill adapted -- such as decreased depth of winter snow cover, altered water regimes, and a lengthened effective growing season. A complicating factor is that in the northeastern United States, climate change is occurring on a backdrop of acid deposition and land-use change. In this dissertation, I used three studies to investigate the spatiotemporal nuances of resultant tree and sapling physiology to environmental change.

First, I …

What’S In Your Body Of Water? Reducing The Psychological Distance Of Pharmaceutical Pollution Through Metaphor In Risk Communication, Alexandra Z. Millarhouse

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Aquatic pharmaceutical pollution poses ecotoxicological risks to the environment and human health. Consumer attitudes and behavior represent a significant source of pharmaceutical compounds found in water. Thus, understanding public perceptions of aquatic pharmaceutical pollution and developing effective risk communication techniques are critical to engaging society in the type of widespread change necessary for addressing the presence of pharmaceuticals in water. This mixed-methods study applies conceptual metaphor theory in conjunction with construal level theory of psychological distance to assess how metaphoric framing affects perceptions of aquatic pharmaceutical contamination across four principal dimensions of psychological distance (geographic, social and temporal distance and …

Quantification Of Trace Metals In Infant Formula Premixes Using Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy, Raquel Cama-Moncunill, Maria Piedad Casado-Gavalda, Xavier Cama-Moncunill, Maria Markiewicz-Keszycka, Yash Dixit, Patrick J. Cullen, Carl Sullivan

Articles

Infant formula is a human milk substitute generally based upon fortified cow milk components. In order to mimic the composition of breast milk, trace elements such as copper, iron and zinc are usually added in a single operation using a premix. The correct addition of premixes must be verified to ensure that the target levels in infant formulae are achieved. In this study, a laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) system was assessed as a fast validation tool for trace element premixes. LIBS is a promising emission spectroscopic technique for elemental analysis, which offers real-time analyses, little to no sample preparation and …

Quantification Of Rubidium As A Trace Element In Beef Using Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy, Yash Dixit, Maria Piedad Casado-Gavalda, Raquel Cama-Moncunill, Xavier Cama-Moncunill, Patrick J. Cullen, Carl Sullivan

Articles

This study evaluates the potential of laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) coupled with chemometrics to develop a quantification model for rubidium (Rb) in minced beef. A LIBSCAN 150 system was used to collect LIBS spectra of minced beef samples. Beef liver was used to spike the Rb levels in minced beef. All samples were dried, powdered and pelleted using a hydraulic press. Measurements were conducted by scanning 100 different locations with an automated XYZ sample chamber. Partial least squares regression (PLSR) was used to develop the calibration model, yielding a calibration coefficient of determination (Rc2) of 0.99 and a root …

Evaluation Of Chemical Immersion Treatments To Reduce Microbial Populations In Fresh Beef, Ahmed Kassem, Joseph Meade, James Gibbons, Kevina Mcgill, Ciara Walsh, James Lyng, Paul Whyte

Articles

The aim of the current study was to assess the ability of a number of chemicals (acetic Acid (AA), citric acid (CA) lactic acid (LA), sodium decanoate (SD) and trisodium phosphate (TSP)) to reduce microbial populations (total viable count, Campylobacter jejuni, Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhimurium and Listeria monocytogenes) on raw beef using an immersion system. The following concentrations of each chemical were used: 3 & 5% for AA, CA, LA, SD and 10 & 12% for TSP. Possible synergistic effects of using combinations of two chemicals sequentially (LA +CA and LA +AA) were also investigated. L*, a* and b* values …

The Potential Of Atmospheric Air Cold Plasma For Control Of Bacterial Contaminants Relevant To Cereal Grain Production, Agata Los, Dana Ziuzina, Daniela Boehm, Patrick J. Cullen, Paula Bourke

Articles

The aim of this work was to investigate the efficacy of dielectric barrier discharge atmospheric cold plasma (DBD ACP) against bacteria associated with grains quality and safety. ACP inactivation efficacy was tested against biofilms formed by different strains of E. coli, Bacillus and Lactobacillus in grain model media and against B. atrophaeus endospores either in grain media or attached on abiotic surfaces. Effects were dependent on bacterial strain, media composition and mode of ACP exposure. ACP treatment for 5min reduced E. coli spp., B. subtilis and Lactobacillus spp. biofilms by >3 log10, whereas insignificant reductions were achieved for B. atrophaeus. …

Impact Of Atmospheric Pressure Nonequilibrium Plasma Discharge On Polymer Surface Metrology, Laurence Scally, James Lalor, Patrick J. Cullen, Vladimir Milosavljevic

Articles

Due to the attraction of plasma technologies as a clean and efficient means of surface modification, significant research has gone into the physical and chemical aspects of polymer functionalization. In this study, it was shown that the use of an atmospheric plasma jet can efficiently modify the surface of polyethylene terephthalate samples and change their hydrophobic properties to more hydrophilic characteristics. The dependence on the changes with respect to time, distance, and atomic oxygen (O I) intensity were considered as factors. It was found that with closer proximity to the plasma source (without causing thermal degradation) and with increasing levels …

A Statistical Analytical Model For Hydrophilic Electropore Characterization: A Comparison Study, P. Marracino, M. Liberti, P.T. Vernier, F. Apollonio

Bioelectrics Publications

Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations have proved to be a useful tool for unveiling many aspects of pore formation in lipid membranes under the influence of external electric fields. In order to compare the size-related properties of pores in bilayers of various compositions, generated and maintained under different physical and chemical conditions, reference metrics are needed for characterizing pore geometry and its evolution over time. In the present paper three different methodologies for evaluating electropore geometrical behavior will be compared: (i) the first allows analysis of the dimensions of the pore through an algorithm that uses a Monte Carlo simulated annealing …

Infodemiology For Syndromic Surveillance Of Dengue And Typhoid Fever In The Philippines, Ma. Regina Justina E. Estuar, Kennedy E. Espina

Department of Information Systems & Computer Science Faculty Publications

Finding determinants of disease outbreaks before its occurrence is necessary in reducing its impact in populations. The supposed advantage of obtaining information brought by automated systems fall short because of the inability to access real-time data as well as interoperate fragmented systems, leading to longer transfer and processing of data. As such, this study presents the use of realtime latent data from social media, particularly from Twitter, to complement existing disease surveillance efforts. By being able to classify infodemiological (health-related) tweets, this study is able to produce a range of possible disease incidences of Dengue and Typhoid Fever within the …

Exploratory Analysis Of Discourses Between Students Engaged In A Debugging Task, Ma. Mercedes T. Rodrigo

Department of Information Systems & Computer Science Faculty Publications

This paper determined if and how high-performing and low-performing students differed in the language that they used as they collaborated on a debugging task. 180 students worked in pairs to debug 12 small programs with known errors. Students were segregated into high and low achievement levels based on the number of bugs they found. Chat transcripts from the pairs were analyzed using the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) software. We found that high- and low-performing students only varied in terms of their use of words that implied discrepancy and sadness.

Quantification Of Urban Atmospheric Boundary Layer Greenhouse Gas Dry Mole Fraction Enhancements In The Dormant Season: Results From The Indianapolis Flux Experiment (Influx), Natasha Miles, Scott Richardson, Thomas Lauvaux, Kenneth J. Davis, Nikolay V. Balashov, Aijun Deng, Jocelyn Turnbull, Colm Sweeney, Kevin R. Gurney, Risa Patarasuk, Igor Razlivanov, Maria Obiminda L. Cambaliza, Paul B. Shepson

Physics Faculty Publications

We assess the detectability of city emissions via a tower-based greenhouse gas (GHG) network, as part of the Indianapolis Flux (INFLUX) experiment. By examining afternoon-averaged results from a network of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and carbon monoxide (CO) mole fraction measurements in Indianapolis, Indiana for 2011–2013, we quantify spatial and temporal patterns in urban atmospheric GHG dry mole fractions. The platform for these measurements is twelve communications towers spread across the metropolitan region, ranging in height from 39 to 136 m above ground level, and instrumented with cavity ring-down spectrometers. Nine of the sites were deployed as of January …

Assessing The Optimized Precision Of The Aircraft Mass Balance Method For Measurement Of Urban Greenhouse Gas Emission Rates Through Averaging, Alexie M F Heimburger, Rebecca M. Harvey, Paul B. Shepson, Brian H. Stirm, Chloe Gore, Jocelyn Turnbull, Maria Obiminda L. Cambaliza, Olivia E. Salmon, Anna-Elodie M. Kerlo, Tegan Lavoie, Kenneth J. Davis, Thomas Lauvaux, Anna Karion, Colm Sweeney, W Alan Brewer, R Michael Hardesty, Kevin R. Gurney

Physics Faculty Publications

To effectively address climate change, aggressive mitigation policies need to be implemented to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Anthropogenic carbon emissions are mostly generated from urban environments, where human activities are spatially concentrated. Improvements in uncertainty determinations and precision of measurement techniques are critical to permit accurate and precise tracking of emissions changes relative to the reduction targets. As part of the INFLUX project, we quantified carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO) and methane (CH4) emission rates for the city of Indianapolis by averaging results from nine aircraft-based mass balance experiments performed in November-December 2014. Our goal was to assess the …

A Multi-Model Approach In Developing An Intelligent Assistant For Diagnosis Recommendation In Clinical Health Systems, Christian E. Pulmano, Ma. Regina Justina E. Estuar

Department of Information Systems & Computer Science Faculty Publications

Clinical health information systems capture massive amounts of unstructured data from various health and medical facilities. This study utilizes unstructured patient clinical text data to develop an intelligent assistant that can identify possible related diagnoses based on a given text input. The approach applies a one-vs-rest binary classification technique wherein given an input text data, it is identified whether it can be positively or negatively classified for a given diagnosis. Multi-layer Feed-Forward Neural Network models were developed for each individual diagnosis case. The task of the intelligent assistant is to iterate over all the different models and return those that …

Discovering Conversation Spaces In The Public Discourse Of Gender Violence: A Comparative Between Two Different Contexts, Meliza M. De La Paz, Ma. Regina Justina E. Estuar, John Noel C. Victorino

Department of Information Systems & Computer Science Faculty Publications

A huge factor in gender-based violence is perception and stigma, revealed by public discourse. Topic modelling is useful for discourse analysis and reveals prevalent topics and actors. This study aims to find and compare examples of collectivist and individualist conversation spaces of gendered violence by applying Principal Component Analysis, NGram analysis and word association in two gender violence cases which occured in the different contexts of the Philippines and the United States. The data from the Philippines consist of 2010-2011 articles on the 1991 Vizconde Massacre and the data from the United States consist of 2016-2017 articles from the 2015 …

Designing An Intervention For Novice Programmers Based On Meaningful Gamification: An Expert Evaluation, Jenilyn L. Agapito, Ma. Mercedes T. Rodrigo

Department of Information Systems & Computer Science Faculty Publications

Gamification is defined as the addition of game-like elements and mechanics to non-game contexts to encourage certain desired behaviors. It is becoming a popular classroom intervention used in computer science instruction, including CS1, the first course computer science students take. It is being operationalized to enhance students' learning experience and achievement. However, existing studies have mostly implemented reward-based game elements which have resulted to contrasting behaviors among the students. Meaningful gamification, characterized as the use of game design elements to encourage users build internal motivation to behave in a certain way, is contended to be a more effective approach. The …

Rock Glacier Hydrology In The San Juan Mountains, Colorado, Emilio Ian Mateo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Rock glaciers are unique geomorphological features located in alpine environments and are found in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado. There has been little research done on rock glaciers compared to their ice glacier counterparts. Most rock glaciers are located on the northern slope aspect in mountainous areas (Janke 2007), however, there are multiple in southwest Colorado with different aspects. This research project asks how slope aspect influences the hydrological processes of streams sourced from rock glaciers in the San Juan Mountains. This project focused on three basins that are adjacent to each other and share a common peak, Gilpin …

Science And Christian Hope: A Dialogue And Integration Of Their End-Time Narratives, Wilson Angelo G. Espiritu

Theology Department Faculty Publications

Ruminations about how the world will end continuously stir the curiosity and imagination of a lot of people. These thoughts mostly deal with the possible end-story of history. Science, on one hand, surmises history’s tragic end in its theories about cosmic death. On the other hand, Christianity believes in existence that transcends personal and cosmic death. On surface, the two seem to contradict each other. For some, this confirms the notion that science and Christianity cannot go hand and hand or, worse, that they are adversarial to each other. This paper argues that while the scientific and the Christian end-time …

Improved Composition Of Hawaiian Basalt Bhvo-1 From The Application Of Two New And Three Conventional Recursive Discordancy Tests, Surendra P. Verma, Mauricio Rosales-Rivera, Lorena Díaz-González, Alfredo Quiroz-Ruiz

Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences

In order to establish the best statistical procedure for estimating improved compositional data in geochemical reference materials for quality control purposes, we evaluated the test performance criterion (πD C) and swamping (πswamp) and masking (πmask) effects of 30 conventional and 32 new discordancy tests for normal distributions from central tendency slippage δ = 2-10, number of contaminants E = 1-4, and sample sizes n = 10, 20, 30, 40, 60, and 80. Critical values or percentage points required for 44 test variants were generated through precise and accurate Monte Carlo simulations for sample sizes nmin(1)100. The recursive tests showed overall …

Depositional Stages Of The Eğribucak Inner Basin (Terrestrial To Marine Evaporite And Carbonate) From The Sivas Basin (Central Anatolia, Turkey), Özgen Kangal, Nazi̇re Erdem, Baki̇ Erdoğan Varol

Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences

The Sivas Cenozoic Basin and coeval Central Anatolian basins such as Çankırı and Tuz Gölü are characterized by both marine and terrestrial sediments ranging in age from the Eocene to early Miocene. The evaporite regime here generally appeared during the late stage of Eocene transgression and persisted through the Oligocene time. However, marine-induced Oligocene evaporites are less known because of less paleontological evidence and regional tectonics and salt diapirism that mostly caused the destruction of their original stratigraphic positions. The Eğribucak area studied here, located about 25 km southeast of Sivas, provides a well-stratified key section to shed light on …

Terrestrial-Marine Sedimentary Cycles In The South Yellow Sea, China: Implications For Paleoenvironmental Reconstruction Since Mis 5, Liangtao Ye, Ge Yu, Mengna Liao, Shouyun Hu, Longsheng Wang, Lei Gao

Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences

Sedimentary records of the continental shelves since Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5 are valuable for paleoenvironmental reconstruction and decipherment of land-sea interactions. Since the 1990s, different perspectives on global glacioclimate magnitudes and the associated evolution of major sedimentary environments during the Late Pleistocene have caused a distinctive understanding of marine transgressions and coastal deposits during MIS 3 and MIS 5. Moreover, the chronology of sediment sequences from this region was primarily determined based on radiocarbon dating, which might be problematic for deposits of 40-50 ka BP or older. In this study, we used both a 150-m-long sedimentary core (YZ07) as …

Towards A Science Of Human Stories: Using Sentiment Analysis And Emotional Arcs To Understand The Building Blocks Of Complex Social Systems, Andrew James Reagan

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

We can leverage data and complex systems science to better understand society and human nature on a population scale through language --- utilizing tools that include sentiment analysis, machine learning, and data visualization.

Data-driven science and the sociotechnical systems that we use every day are enabling a transformation from hypothesis-driven, reductionist methodology to complex systems sciences.

Namely, the emergence and global adoption of social media has rendered possible the real-time estimation of population-scale sentiment, with profound implications for our understanding of human behavior.

Advances in computing power, natural language processing, and digitization of text now make it possible to study …

A Quantum Astrochemical Perspective On The C-C3h Radical With Application To The Interstellar Medium, Matthew Bassett

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The interstellar medium (ISM) has been an area of focus for astrochemists and quantum chemists for many years, with particular interest in the presence of interstellar molecules and the resulting chemical processes. The c-C3H radical has been detected in the ISM near the dark molecular cloud TMC-1. With the application of ab initio computational methods using coupled-cluster theory at the singles, doubles, and perturbative triples [CCSD(T)] level, highly accurate quartic force fields (QFFs) are constructed to define the electronic wavefunction for the inter nuclear Hamiltonian. The QFF is used to predict the equilibrium geometry and produce vibrational frequencies, rotational constants, …

Approaches Toward Novel 1,2,3-Triazole Sensors For The Detection Of Anions And Heavy Metal Cations, Richard D. Govan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Cations and anions play pivotal roles in biological and physiological processes, however an imbalance in concentration of any ion can be detrimental. Therefore, research into the selective recognition of anions and heavy metal cations has acquired much attention. One approach involves the use of chemosensors. Upon interaction with targeted analytes, chemosensors produce a distinct response, in some cases a fluorescent or colorimetric signal. The 1,2,3-triazole unit has much potential as a chemical sensor due to its unique photophysical properties. The specificity, selectivity, and signaling mechanism of triazole sensors can be tuned with conjugation in the motif and choice and placement …