Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Robust Latent Ability Estimation Based On Item Response Information And Model Fit, Hotaka Maeda

Theses and Dissertations

Aberrant testing behaviors may result in inaccurate person trait estimation. To counter its effects, a new robust ability estimation procedure called downweighting of aberrant responses estimation (DARE) is developed. This procedure downweights both uninformative items and model-misfitting response patterns. The purpose of this study is to present DARE and to evaluate its performance against other robust methods, including biweight (Mislevy & Bock, 1982) and biweight-MAP (BMAP; Maeda & Zhang, 2017b). The traditional maximum likelihood (MLE) and maximum a-posteriori (MAP) methods are also included as baseline methods. A Monte Carlo simulation is conducted with the design variables being test length, type …

A Global Biogeographic Classification Of The Mesopelagic Zone, Tracey Sutton, Malcolm R. Clark, Daniel C. Dunn, Patrick N. Halpin, Alex D. Rogers, John Guinotte, Steven J. Bograd, Martin V. Angel, Jose Angel A. Perez, Karen Wishner, Richard L. Haedrich, Dhugal Lindsay, Jeffrey C. Drazen, Alexander Vereshchaka, Uwe Piatkowski, Telmo Morato, Katarzyna Blachowiak-Samolyk, Bruce H. Robison, Kristina Gjerde, Annelies Pierrot-Bults, Patricio Bernal, Gabriel Reygondeau, Mikko Heino

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

We have developed a global biogeographic classification of the mesopelagic zone to reflect the regional scales over which the ocean interior varies in terms of biodiversity and function. An integrated approach was necessary, as global gaps in information and variable sampling methods preclude strictly statistical approaches. A panel combining expertise in oceanography, geospatial mapping, and deep-sea biology convened to collate expert opinion on the distributional patterns of pelagic fauna relative to environmental proxies (temperature, salinity, and dissolved oxygen at mesopelagic depths). An iterative Delphi Method integrating additional biological and physical data was used to classify biogeographic ecoregions and to identify …

Dna Analysis Of Traded Shark Fins And Mobulid Gill Plates Reveals A High Proportion Of Species Of Conservation Concern, Dirk Steinke, Andrea Bernard, Rebekah L. Horn, Paul Hilton, Robert H. Hanner, Mahmood S. Shivji

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Continuously increasing demand for plant and animal products causes unsustainable depletion of biological resources. It is estimated that one-quarter of sharks and rays are threatened worldwide and although the global fin trade is widely recognized as a major driver, demand for meat, liver oil, and gill plates also represents a significant threat. This study used DNA barcoding and 16 S rRNA sequencing as a method to identify shark and ray species from dried fins and gill plates, obtained in Canada, China, and Sri Lanka. 129 fins and gill plates were analysed and searches on BOLD produced matches to 20 species …

The Trophic Role Of A Large Marine Predator, The Tiger Shark Galeocerdo Cuvier, Luciana C. Ferreira, Michele Thums, Michael R. Heithaus, Adam Barnett, Katya G. Abrantes, Bonnie J. Holmes, Lara M. Zamora, Ashley J. Frisch, Julian G. Pepperell, Derek Burkholder, Jeremy Vaudo, Robert Nowicki, Jessica Meeuwig, Mark G. Meekan

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Tiger sharks were sampled off the western (Ningaloo Reef, Shark Bay) and eastern (the Great Barrier Reef; GBR, Queensland and New South Wales; NSW) coastlines of Australia. Multiple tissues were collected from each shark to investigate the effects of location, size and sex of sharks on δ13C and δ15N stable isotopes among these locations. Isotopic composition of sharks sampled in reef and seagrass habitats (Shark Bay, GBR) reflected seagrass-based food-webs, whereas at Ningaloo Reef analysis revealed a dietary transition between pelagic and seagrass food-webs. In temperate habitats off southern Queensland and NSW coasts, shark diets relied on pelagic food-webs. Tiger …

Regional Sensitivities Of Seasonal Snowpack To Elevation, Aspect, And Vegetation Cover In Western North America, Nancy F. Glenn

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

In mountains with seasonal snow cover, the effects of climate change on snowpack will be constrained by landscape-vegetation interactions with the atmosphere. Airborne lidar surveys used to estimate snow depth, topography, and vegetation were coupled with reanalysis climate products to quantify these interactions and to highlight potential snowpack sensitivities to climate and vegetation change across the western U.S. at Rocky Mountain (RM), Northern Basin and Range (NBR), and Sierra Nevada (SNV) sites. In forest and shrub areas, elevation captured the greatest amount of variability in snow depth (16–79%) but aspect explained more variability (11–40%) in alpine areas. Aspect was most …

Investigating Genetic Algorithm Optimization Techniques In Video Games, Nathan Ambuehl

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Immersion is essential for player experience in video games. Artificial Intelligence serves as an agent that can generate human-like responses and intelligence to reinforce a player’s immersion into their environment. The most common strategy involved in video game AI is using decision trees to guide chosen actions. However, decision trees result in repetitive and robotic actions that reflect an unrealistic interaction. This experiment applies a genetic algorithm that explores selection, crossover, and mutation functions for genetic algorithm implementation in an isolated Super Mario Bros. pathfinding environment. An optimized pathfinding AI can be created by combining an elitist selection strategy with …

Stratigraphy Of The Middle Cambrian Lincoln Peak Formation And Evolution Of The House Range Embayment, Eastern Nevada, Ibrahim Zallum

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This study examined the Middle Cambrian (c. 500 MA) Lincoln Peak Formation and Patterson Pass Shale. The initial goal was to create a stratigraphic model for these units. This model was then compared to those from already studied units in western Utah, which combined with the Nevada units form the rock record of an ancient feature known as the House Range Embayment, which was an area of greater water depth superimposed on the continental shelf. This study found that the Nevada units exhibit a series of depositional sequences similar to those in western Utah, but at a lower resolution. This …

Measurement Of Branching Fraction And Direct Cp Asymmetry In Charmless B+ → K+K−Π + Decays At Belle, C.-L. Hsu Et Al., D. Joffe, Ratnappuli L. Kulasiri

Faculty Articles

We report a study of the charmless hadronic decay of the charged B meson to the three-body final state K+K−π+. The results are based on a data sample that contains 772×106  B¯B pairs collected at the Υ(4S) resonance with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric-energy e+e− collider. The measured inclusive branching fraction and direct CP asymmetry are (5.38±0.40±0.35)×10−6 and −0.170±0.073±0.017, respectively, where the first uncertainties are statistical and the second are systematic. The K+K− invariant mass distribution of the signal candidates shows an excess in the region below 1.5  GeV/c2, which is consistent with the previous studies from BABAR …

Measurement Of The Branching Fraction And Cp Asymmetry In B 0 → Π 0Π 0 Decays, And An Improved Constraint On Φ2, T. Julius Et Al., D. Joffe, Ratnappuli L. Kulasiri

Faculty Articles

We measure the branching fraction and CP violation asymmetry in the decay B0→π0π0, using a data sample of 752×106 B¯B pairs collected at the Υ(4S) resonance with the Belle detector at the KEKB e+e− collider. The obtained branching fraction and direct CP asymmetry are B(B→π0π0)=[1.31±0.19(stat)±0.19(syst)]×10−6 and ACP=+0.14±0.36(stat)±0.10(syst), respectively. The signal significance, including the systematic uncertainty, is 6.4 standard deviations. We combine these results with Belle’s earlier measurements of B0→π+π− and B±→π±π0 to exclude the CP-violating parameter ϕ2 from the range 15.5°<ϕ2

Invariant-Mass And Fractional-Energy Dependence Of Inclusive Production Of Dihadrons In E + E − Annihilation At √ S = 10.58 Gev, R. Seidl Et Al., D. Joffe, Ratnappuli L. Kulasiri

Faculty Articles

The inclusive cross sections for dihadrons of charged pions and kaons (e+e−→hhX) in electron-positron annihilation are reported. They are obtained as a function of the total fractional energy and invariant mass for any di-hadron combination in the same hemisphere as defined by the thrust event-shape variable and its axis. Since same-hemisphere dihadrons can be assumed to originate predominantly from the same initial parton, di-hadron fragmentation functions are probed. These di-hadron fragmentation functions are needed as an unpolarized baseline in order to quantitatively understand related spin-dependent measurements in other processes and to apply them to the extraction of quark transversity distribution …

A Mathematical Model And Numerical Simulations Of Redox Electrochemical Systems With Mhd And Natural Convection, Kakkattukuzhy M. Isaac, Fangping Yuan

Collaborative Research: Actively Controllable Microfluidics with Film-Confined Redox-Magnetohydrodynamics -- Video and Data

A comprehensive mathematical model for redox electrochemical systems with magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) and natural convection are presented. The model is based on density changes in isothermal systems that accompany redox reaction at the electrode due to supporting electrolyte ions migrating into and out of the diffusion layer to satisfy electroneutrality. Numerical simulations have been performed for an axisymmetric, milli-electrode electrochemical cell with gravity directed along the axis in both directions to investigate the effect of the electrode orientation with respect to gravity. Results show that natural convection is significant in both cases, with the maximum velocity being an order of magnitude …

The Role Of The Receptive Field Structure In Neuronal Compressive Sensing Signal Processing, Victor J. Barranca, George Zhu , '17

Mathematics & Statistics Faculty Works

The receptive field structure ubiquitous in the visual system is believed to play a crucial role in encoding stimulus characteristics, such as contrast and spectral composition. However, receptive field architecture may also result in unforeseen difficulties in processing particular classes of images. We explore the potential functional benefits and shortcomings of localization and center-surround paradigms in the context of an integrate-and-fire neuronal network model. Utilizing the sparsity of natural scenes, we derive a compressive-sensing based theoretical framework for network input reconstructions based on neuronal firing rate dynamics [1, 2]. This formalism underlines a potential mechanism for efficiently transmitting sparse stimulus …

Regularized Solutions For Terminal Problems Of Parabolic Equations., Sujeewa Indika Hapuarachchi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The heat equation with a terminal condition problem is not well-posed in the sense of Hadamard so regularization is needed. In general, partial differential equations (PDE) with terminal conditions are those in which the solution depends uniquely but not continuously on the given condition. In this dissertation, we explore how to find an approximation problem for a nonlinear heat equation which is well-posed. By using a small parameter, we construct an approximation problem and use a modified quasi-boundary value method to regularize a time dependent thermal conductivity heat equation and a quasi-boundary value method to regularize a space dependent thermal …

Erratum: "The Sluggs Survey: A Catalog Of Globular Cluster Radial Velocities" (2017, Aj, 153, 114), Duncan Forbes, Adebusola Alabi, Jean Brodie, Aaron Romanowsky, Jay Strader, Caroline Foster, Christopher Usher, Lee Spitler, Sabine Bellstedt, Nicola Pastorello, Sreeja Kartha, Zach Jennings, Alexa Villaume, Asher Wasserman, Vincenzo Pota

Faculty Publications

This is an erratum for the article 2017 AJ 153 114.

Stable Cohomology Of Local Rings And Castelnuovo-Mumford Regularity Of Graded Modules, Luigi Ferraro

Department of Mathematics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This thesis consists of two parts:

1) A bimodule structure on the bounded cohomology of a local ring (Chapter 1),

2) Modules of infinite regularity over graded commutative rings (Chapter 2).

Chapter 1 deals with the structure of stable cohomology and bounded cohomology. Stable cohomology is a $\mathbb{Z}$-graded algebra generalizing Tate cohomology and first defined by Pierre Vogel. It is connected to absolute cohomology and bounded cohomology. We investigate the structure of the bounded cohomology as a graded bimodule. We use the information on the bimodule structure of bounded cohomology to study the stable cohomology algebra as a trivial extension …

Sequence Aware Functional Encryption And Its Application In Searchable Encryption, Tran Viet Xuan Phuong, Guomin Yang, Willy Susilo, Fuchun Guo, Qiong Huang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

As a new broad vision of public-key encryption systems, functional encryption provides a promising solution for many challenging security problems such as expressive access control and searching on encrypted data. In this paper, we present two Sequence Aware Function Encryption (SAFE) schemes. Such a scheme is very useful in many forensics applications where the order (or pattern) of the attributes forms an important characteristic of an attribute sequence. Our first scheme supports the matching of two bit strings, while the second scheme can support the matching of general characters. These two schemes are constructed based on the standard Decision Linear …

Object Detection Meets Knowledge Graphs, Yuan Fang, Kingsley Kuan, Jie Lin, Cheston Tan, Vijay Chandrasekhar

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Object detection in images is a crucial task in computer vision, with important applications ranging from security surveillance to autonomous vehicles. Existing state-of-the-art algorithms, including deep neural networks, only focus on utilizing features within an image itself, largely neglecting the vast amount of background knowledge about the real world. In this paper, we propose a novel framework of knowledge-aware object detection, which enables the integration of external knowledge such as knowledge graphs into any object detection algorithm. The framework employs the notion of semantic consistency to quantify and generalize knowledge, which improves object detection through a re-optimization process to achieve …

Managing Sensor Systems For Early Detection Of Mild Cognitive Impairment In Community Elderly: Lessons Learned And Future Work, Boon Thai Ng, Hwee-Pink Tan, Hwee Xian Tan

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

The aging population is a pertinent issue faced by governments globally. One of the most common and costly health issues associated with the aging population is cognitive decline, leading up to dementia. In this paper, we describe a non-intrusive, continuous and scalable system for early detection of Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) in the elderly, which enables early medical interventions to be provided. We focus on the system design and feature extraction of the sensor system, to validate our hypothesis of the use of sensor systems for early detection of MCI. Lessons learned from deploying the sensor system is presented, together …

Finite Element Maximum Entropy Method For Approximating Absolutely Continuous Invariant Measures, Tulsi Upadhyay

Dissertations

In a chaotic dynamical system, the eventual behavior of iterates of initial points of a map is unpredictable even though the map is deterministic. A system which is chaotic in a deterministic point of view may be regular in a statistical viewpoint. The statistical viewpoint requires the study of absolutely continuous invariant measure (ACIM) of a map with respect to the Lebesgue measure. An invariant density of the Frobenius-Perron (F-P) operator associated with a nonsingular map is employed to evaluate an ACIM of the map. The ACIM is a key factor for studying the eventual behavior of iterates of almost …

Electrogenerated Chemiluminescent Studies Of 9,10-Diphenylanthracene, Rubrene, Tris(2,2'-Bipyridine)Ruthenium(Ii) Species, And Their Derivatives For Sensitive Detection Of Biomolecules, Pradip Bastola

Dissertations

This dissertation explored and investigated the coreactant electrogenerated chemiluminescent (ECL) properties of unmixed and mixed systems of highly efficient ECL emitters, such as 9,10-diphenylanthracene (DPA), rubrene (RUB), and tris(2,2′-bipyridine)ruthenium(II) [(Ru(bpy)₃²⁺)] species as well as their water-soluble derivatives, which can serve as ECL labels for sensitive bioanalysis of single or multiple analytes. The screening of most favorable common ECL coreactants, their concentration effects along with the effect of working electrode materials on ECL behavior, and energy transfer related interactions between ECL emitters were systematically investigated. In addition, a strategy for improvement of ECL signals with the use of …

A Characterization Of A Value Added Model And A New Multi-Stage Model For Estimating Teacher Effects Within Small School Systems, Julie M. Garai

Department of Statistics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Work

At both the national and state level there is increasing pressure to develop metrics to determine if school systems are meeting educational objectives. All states mandate some form of assessment by standardized tests. One method currently used to model student test scores is Value Added Modeling (VAM), which models student scores as a product of classroom and school environments. One VAM approach is the Tennessee Value Added Assessment System (TVAAS) which models student gains from year to year. Teacher effects are included in this layered model, which estimates the teacher’s added value to a student score through best linear unbiased …

Natural & Unnatural-Parity Contributions In Electron-Impact Ionization Of Laser-Aligned Atoms, Andrew James Murray, James Colgan, Don H. Madison, Matthew Harvey, Ahmad Sakaamini, James Pursehouse, Kate Nixon, Al Stauffer

Physics Faculty Research & Creative Works

Differential cross section measurements from laser-aligned Mg atoms are compared to theoretical calculations using both time dependent and time-independent formalisms. It is found that both natural and unnatural parity contributions to the calculated cross sections are required to emulate the data when the state is aligned out of the scattering plane.

A Reliable And Efficient Wireless Sensor Network System For Water Quality Monitoring, Dung Nguyen, Phu Huu Phung

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are strongly useful to monitor physical and environmental conditions to provide realtime information for improving environment quality. However, deploying a WSN in a physical environment faces several critical challenges such as high energy consumption, and data loss.In this work, we have proposed a reliable and efficient environmental monitoring system in ponds using wireless sensor network and cellular communication technologies. We have designed a hardware and software ecosystem that can limit the data loss yet save the energy consumption of nodes. A lightweight protocol acknowledges data transmission among the nodes. Data are transmitted to the cloud using …

Accelerator Based Fusion Reactor, Keh-Fei Liu, Alexander Wu Chao

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

A feasibility study of fusion reactors based on accelerators is carried out. We consider a novel scheme where a beam from the accelerator hits the target plasma on the resonance of the fusion reaction and establish characteristic criteria for a workable reactor. We consider the reactions d+t→n+α, d+³H_e→p+α and p+¹¹B→3α in this study. The critical temperature of the plasma is determined from overcoming the stopping power of the beam with the fusion energy gain. The needed plasma lifetime is determined …

On Laser-Induced Plasma Containing Hydrogen, Ghaneshwar Gautam

Doctoral Dissertations

Laser-induced micro-plasma dynamics are investigated in laboratory air, ultra-high-pure hydrogen gas, and hydrogen-nitrogen gas mixtures. The dissertation focuses on atomic spectroscopy of hydrogen in the visible region.

Line-of-sight measurements are analyzed to obtain spatial distributions of electron densities and excitation temperatures. The studies include evaluation of self-absorption phenomena. The plasma dynamics occur initially well above re-entry speeds and diminish to hypersonic and then supersonic expansions. Expansion velocities are measured that are above three hundred times the speed of sound in standard atmosphere. Optical breakdown is induced by using pulsed laser radiation. Emission spectra are collected by employing a spectrometer equipped …

Part – I: Development Of A Two-Step Regiospecific Synthetic Route For Multigram Scale Synthesis Of Β-Carboline Analogs For Studies In Primates As Anti-Alcohol Agents,Part – Ii: Design And Synthesis Of Novel Antimicrobials For The Treatment Of Drug Resistant Bacterial Infections Part – Iii: A Novel Synthetic Method For The Synthesis Of The Key Quinine Metabolite (3s)-3-Hydroxyquinine, Veera Venkata Naga Phani Babu Tiruveedhula

Theses and Dissertations

PART – I

Development of a Two-Step Regiospecifc Synthetic Route for Multigram-Scale Synthesis of β-Carboline Analogs for Studies in Primates as Anti-Alcohol Agents

β-Carboline and their derivatives are important structural motifs in synthetic organic and medicinal chemistry because of their novel biological activity, especially in regard to the reduction of alcohol self-administration [binge drinking (BD)], a major problem increasing day by day in modern society. This anti-alcohol effect is proposed to be due to the activity of ligands at the benzodiazepine site of the GABAA receptor in the central nervous system acting as antagonists at the α1 subunit. The past …

Unsupervised Biomedical Named Entity Recognition, Omid Ghiasvand

Theses and Dissertations

Named entity recognition (NER) from text is an important task for several applications, including in the biomedical domain. Supervised machine learning based systems have been the most successful on NER task, however, they require correct annotations in large quantities for training. Annotating text manually is very labor intensive and also needs domain expertise. The purpose of this research is to reduce human annotation effort and to decrease cost of annotation for building NER systems in the biomedical domain. The method developed in this work is based on leveraging the availability of resources like UMLS (Unified Medical Language System), that contain …

Nutrient Leaching From Compost: Implications For Bioretention And Other Green Stormwater Infrastructure, Stephanie Hurley, Paliza Shrestha, Amanda Cording

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Faculty Publications

This work is made available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license,. Compost is often used as a soil amendment in gardens, agricultural fields, and other landscaped systems to alter soil biophysical characteristics and increase availability of valuable nutrients including nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and carbon (C). However, leaching of soluble nutrients from compost is of concern, particularly in wet settings, such as within green stormwater infrastructure, riparian areas, and floodplains. This research highlights the importance of saturation as an influencing factor on the nutrient leaching potential of different composts and compost-amended bioretention soils. Nutrient leaching …

Molecular Dynamics Simulations Of Dna Duplex Stretching, Ramin Salimi

Theses and Dissertations

Single-molecule DNA stretching experiments is a an extremely rigorous method to investigate mechanical properties of DNA and how DNA molecule binding to proteins, and other small molecules works. In these experiments, double-stranded DNA molecules are stretched by a force applied to opposite ends of the DNA, e.g., in an atomic force microscope or an optical tweezers instrument. Here we study the stretching behavior of the DNA duplex d(CGCAAAAAAGCG) 2 by molecular dynamics simulations. In particular, we calculate the change in free energy ∆F = ∆U − T ∆S as the DNA duplex is stretched. We seek to show that employing …

Hankel Partial Contraction, Contractive Completion, Moore-Penrose Inverse, Extremal Case, Manuel A. Villarreal Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

In this article we find concrete necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of contractive completions of Hankel partial contractions of size 3x3 non-extremal case.