Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Determining Vulnerability Using Attack Graphs: An Expansion Of The Current Fair Model, Beth M. Anderson

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

Factor Analysis of Information Risk (FAIR) provides a framework for measuring and understanding factors that contribute to information risk. One such factor is FAIR Vulnerability; the probability that an event involving a threat will result in a loss. An asset is vulnerable if a threat actor’s Threat Capability is higher than the Resistance Strength of the asset. In FAIR scenarios, Resistance Strength is currently estimated for entire assets, oversimplifying assets containing individual systems and the surrounding environment. This research explores enhancing estimations of FAIR Vulnerability by modeling interactions between threat actors and assets through attack graphs. By breaking down the …

The Application Of Gpu To Molecular Communication Studies, Tobias J. Cain

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

This thesis applies the recent trends in parallel processing, via graphics processing unit (GPU), to the field of molecular communications (MC), an investigation into communication possibilities of futuristic in vivo nanomachines. Existing MC simulations have not fully accounted for structural boundaries and the associated simulation of a massive number of messenger molecule paths for stochastic evaluation. These molecules are influenced by a Brownian motion as well as the flow of the blood, which is modeled using numerical methods based on the Fokker-Planck stochastic differential equation. By using a GPU these paths can be calculated on a massive scale, both in …

Population Dynamics And Water Resource Consumption In Spokane, Wa, Daniel Jesus Castillo

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

No abstract provided.

Safe Drinking Water In The U.S.: A Prediction Of When The Entire U.S. Population Will Have Access To Safe Drinking Water, Blossom Hamika, Haley Merrill, Zoyla Orellana

Math 365 Class Projects

This research is to show when all of the U.S. will have access to safe drinking water.

Encryption And Decryption Using Matricies, Amit Etiel, James Parsons, Shawn Jenkins-Edwards

Math 365 Class Projects

Mathematician Lester Hill developed the Hill Cipher, the first mathematical encryption method ever developed, in 1929. This method was created in order to strengthen the level of security of previous methods and made it possible to encrypt more than three symbols at a time.

Rock Paper Scissors And Evolutionary Game Theory, Christian Cordova, Rudolf Jovero, Evan Thomas

Math 365 Class Projects

In Rock Paper Scissors (RPS), three different "species" compete, but no single species has a dominating strategy. In evolutionary game theory, replicator equations model population densities over time. When a mutation is introduced, they are called "replicator-mutator" equations. Using the replicator-mutator equation in [1] we have shown how population density of three species change.

Modeling Programming Language Trends Using Markov Processes, Cody Clymer, Adrian Alberto, Mike Merrill

Math 365 Class Projects

Which Languages Are Worth Investing In? One of the many issues in the computer science industry is knowing which technologies to invest in. Programming languages are a prime example of these technologies, so investors and innovators need to know which programming languages will grow in use over time so that new businesses can grow alongside them.

Collaborative Strategies For Sea Level Rise Adaptation In Hampton Roads, Virginia, Carol Considine, Emily Steinhilber

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

[Introduction] The Hampton Roads region is located in southeastern Virginia where the Chesapeake Bay meets the Atlantic Ocean. The region includes seventeen municipal governments and has a large federal government presence with 26 federal agencies represented (See Figure 1). The region has a population that exceeds 1.7 million and is home to the deepest water harbor on the U.S. East Coast. Hampton Roads' economy is dependent on the local waterways and houses the world's largest naval facility, the sixth largest containerized cargo complex and supports a thriving shipbuilding and repair industry as well as a tourism industry. However, the region's …

The Groundwater Atlas Of Red Willow County, Nebraska, Dana Divine, Duane Eversoll, Leslie M. Howard

Conservation and Survey Division

The purpose of this groundwater atlas is to synthesize a wealth of hydrogeologic data for Red Willow County that has not been published in readily accessible formats previously. Many of the maps presented here are based on geologic information from registered wells and test holes that is publically available on-line, which becomes more valuable when compiled, analyzed, and discussed as a whole.

In Red Willow County, the aquifers are alluvial sand and gravel in the river and stream valleys and the High Plains aquifer beneath the uplands. The High Plains aquifer in Red Willow County consists primarily of the Ogallala …

Combining Hydraulic Head Analysis With Airborne Electromagnetics To Detect And Map Impermeable Aquifer Boundaries, Jesse T. Korus

Conservation and Survey Division

Impermeable aquifer boundaries affect the flow of groundwater, transport of contaminants, and the drawdown of water levels in response to pumping. Hydraulic methods can detect the presence of such boundaries, but these methods are not suited for mapping complex, 3D geological bodies. Airborne electromagnetic (AEM) methods produce 3D geophysical images of the subsurface at depths relevant to most groundwater investigations. Interpreting a geophysical model requires supporting information, and hydraulic heads offer the most direct means of assessing the hydrostratigraphic function of interpreted geological units. This paper presents three examples of combined hydraulic and AEM analysis of impermeable boundaries in glacial …

Visible-To-Near-Infrared Spectral Variability Of Hydrated Sulfates And Candidate Mars Landing Sites: Implications For The Mastcam-Z Investigation On Nasa’S Mars-2020 Rover Mission, Darian Dixon

WWU Graduate School Collection

The Mars-2020 rover mission will explore an astrobiologically relevant ancient environment on Mars, establish geologic context of the region, assess past habitability, and cache rocks for a future sample return. The Mastcam-Z instrument is a stereoscopic, zoom-enabled multispectral imager that will be critical to these objectives. As one of the mission’s primary reconnaissance tools, Mastcam-Z’s two cameras will acquire red-green-blue (RGB) true-color images and visible-to-near-infrared (VNIR) images with 11 narrowband filters from ~400-1100 nm. Mastcam-Z’s new ~975 nm spectral filter will help characterize the ~950-1000 nm absorption band in hydrated minerals, which has not been resolvable by previous rover multispectral …

Modeling The Effects Of Climate Change On Stream Temperature In The Nooksack River Basin, Stephanie E. Truitt

WWU Graduate School Collection

Stream temperatures in mountain streams in the western Cascade Mountains are heavily influenced by factors such as discharge, air temperature, and as in the case of the Nooksack River Basin in northwest Washington State; snow and glacial melt. The Nooksack basin is sensitive to warming climates due to the regions moderate Pacific maritime climate. Previous modeling studies in the upper Nooksack basins indicate a reduction in snowpack and spring runoff, and a recession of glaciers into the 21^st century due to global climate change. How stream temperatures will respond to these changes is unknown. We use the Distributed Hydrology …

The Effectiveness Of Forested And Hedgerow Riparian Buffers For Buffering Water Temperature And Improving Fish Habitat In Agricultural Waterways In Western Washington, Jessica L. (Jessica Lynne) Shaw

WWU Graduate School Collection

Riparian restoration is a component of nearly every salmon recovery strategy. In the lowlands of the Nooksack River flood plain in Western Washington State, planted riparian buffers in agricultural landscapes must perform multiple functions to improve water quality and fish habitat while still allowing access to agricultural land use. Relatively narrow, 15 feet (4.6 meter) wide buffers, are a more palatable option for landowners than 35 feet (10.7 meters) which is required to be considered for cost incentive programs such as the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP). We wanted to discover whether these two relatively narrow buffer widths would result …

Environmental Interpretation Plan For The Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail, Rosalie Matsumoto

WWU Graduate School Collection

As lead researcher and developer of the Interpretation Plan for the Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail, this document will detail the background, research, and process involved to develop such a plan for the US Forest Service. I will first conceptualize Interpretation as a profession and its relation to and with Environmental Education with supporting research to help give context to the next section: an introduction to my project. After introducing the Interpretation Plan, I will detail my work and process to develop the Foundational Information, or the core of the Plan. Finally, I will conclude with my challenges, learnings, and …

Vertical Distribution Of Olympia Oyster (Ostrea Lurida) Larvae In Fidalgo Bay, Wa, Brooke A. Mcintyre

WWU Graduate School Collection

Restoring populations of native Olympia oyster (Ostrea lurida) in the Salish Sea is ecologically and socially valuable. Olympia oysters disperse as planktonic larvae that control their depth with swimming and sinking behaviors, which can affect the currents that carry them and ultimately determine dispersal. Understanding larval dispersal patterns can help prioritize restoration efforts and establish a self-sustaining network of oyster populations in the region. The purpose of this study was to determine which factors (temperature, chlorophyll-a, larval size, current speed, tidal stage) influence the vertical distribution of Olympia oyster larvae in Fidalgo Bay, which is a …

Testing ¹⁰Be Exposure Dating Of Holocene Cirque Moraines Using Glaciolacustrine Sediments In The Sierra Nevada, California, William Cary

WWU Graduate School Collection

An ongoing study attempting to date boulders from Neoglacial moraines across the Sierra Nevada mountain range, CA using high precision cosmogenic radionuclide (CRN) exposure dating has yielded ages that contradict historical records and prior research in the range. To test whether these CRN ages have glacial significance or are merely a function of geomorphic processes that promote inheritance, I collected glaciolacustrine sediment cores to document independent glacier chronologies for the Lyell and Maclure glaciers in Yosemite National Park and the Price glaciers in the Desolation Wilderness. The Lyell glaciolacustrine cores indicate glacial advances from ~1830-1230 cal yr BP and ~610-80 …

Driving Sortase-Mediated Ligations Using Metal-Coordinating Peptides, Sierra Reed

WWU Graduate School Collection

The versatility of sortase-mediated ligations as a protein modification technique has been well demonstrated, but the efficiency of these reactions suffers from inherent reversibility. Solutions to this issue have been reported, however these methods are accompanied by additional limitations of the sortase-mediated ligation (SML) strategy. A preferable methodology would include the smallest possible modification site without restricting the point of ligation. One promising solution to this issue is the expansion of the LPXTG SrtA recognition sequence to LPXTGGH, giving the excised fragment an N-terminal GGH motif. This minor alteration has been shown to allow complexation of the excised fragment with …

Lewis Acids In The Secondary Coordination Sphere For Kinetic Enhancement Toward Reduction Of Nitrite, Kyle T. Burns

WWU Graduate School Collection

Metal complexes utilizing the redox non-innocent pyridinediimine ligand scaffold have been shown to form ligand centered radicals. The reduction potential of the ligand-based redox sites is effectively uncoupled from the secondary coordination sphere, allowing for installation of bioinspired secondary sphere motifs to tune reactivity, without attenuating the reductive ability of the metal center. This thesis aims to explore the utility of this ligand design by installing various functionality, reminiscent of those found in Nature, into the secondary coordination sphere, such as Lewis acidic residues, polarized active sites, and allosteric docking sites. Installation of a pendant benzo-15-crown-5 ether moiety, capable of …

Development Of Regio- And Diastereoselective Samarium (Ii) Iodide Mediated Allylic Benzoate Reductions, Trevor Stockdale

WWU Graduate School Collection

Herein, we report a regio- and diastereoselective samarium mediated allylic benzoate reduction. The reaction can achieve high yields, regioselectivity, and diastereoselectivity, however there appear to be many factors influencing the outcome: proton sources, alkene geometry, chelating group length, relative stereocenter positioning, and stereocenter identity. These substrate parameters were looked at in-depth which ultimately led to several conclusions about optimized substrates. For instance, experiments indicate that the reaction proceeds through a bicyclic organosamarium species followed by intramolecular protonation from samarium bound water.

Daytime Summer Microclimate Influence Of Large Woody Debris On Dewatered Sediments In Lake Mills, Wa Following Dam Removal, Mariah J. Colton

WWU Graduate School Collection

In 2014, dam removal from the Elwha River, Washington state, exposed large areas of previously submerged sediment. The Olympic National Park placed ~100 large logs on 2 ha of exposed sediment to promote plant establishment. I quantified patterns of three microclimate variables near logs: wind speed at 10-cm height (u₁₀), sediment temperature (T_S), and evaporation rate (E); and their relationships to broader environmental factors. The northern-most log, exposed to northerly winds, was measured along 3-m perpendicular transects 14 times during August and September 2015. I determined nonlinear and multilevel regressions to investigate …

Metamorphic Evolution Of The Sierra De Maz: Implications For The Timing Of Terrane Accretion On The Western Margin Of Gondwana, Andrew Tholt

WWU Graduate School Collection

The Mesoproterozoic MARA terrane of South America has been interpreted to collide and subduct beneath the Gondwana margin of South America in the Cambrian. To test the proposed tectonic model, I combine metamorphic petrology and geochronology along with quantitative thermobarometry to constrain metamorphic events and peak conditions within the Sierra de Maz of the MARA terrane and the adjacent Sierra de Ramaditas. Foliations within the Sierra de Maz are steeply east dipping, with a major sinistral reverse shear zone separating the two major units (Zaino and Maz Complexes) of the northern range. Garnet Lu-Hf records a single metamorphic event in …

The Associations Of Epiphytic Macroinvertebrates And Aquatic Macrophytes In Canyon Lake, Wa, Jesse T. (Jesse Tyler) Klinger

WWU Graduate School Collection

Macroinvertebrate abundances on six dominant macrophytes taxa were compared in Canyon Lake, Washington to determine whether there were patterns of association with macrophyte type or among assemblages of macroinvertebrates. Macrophytes and associated epiphytic macroinvertebrates were collected during August 2016. The dominant macrophyte distribution and lakes bathymetry were mapped in July 2016. The dominant macrophytes included Equisetum fluviatile, Fontinalis antipyretica, Potamogeton natans, Potamogeton epihydrus, Ranunculus aquatilis, and Vallisneria americana. Other non-dominant macrophytes included: Sparganium angustifolium, Sphagnum mosses, Nuphar polysepala, Characeae (stonewort), Isoetes (quillwort) and Potamogeton pusillus. Macroinvertebrate taxa were identified to the …

A Chemoenzymatic Approach To The Synthesis Of Hemoglobin Oligomers, Johann Sigurjonsson

WWU Graduate School Collection

Polymerized hemoglobin (poly-Hb) molecules have been shown to have reduced toxicity compared to cell-free hemoglobins when transfused intravenously. Poly-Hbs are typically generated with non-specific crosslinking agents that yield a product that is polydisperse in molecular weight. We propose a chemoenzymatic approach to generate poly-Hb of defined molecular weight. The proposed method employs the site-specific ligation reaction of the sortase A enzyme from S. aureus. A Hb mutant previously developed in our lab has been “sortagged” – modified by adding either the sortase recognition sequence (LPXTG) to the C-terminus of the α-subunit or a tetraglycine motif (GGGG) to the N-terminus. …

A Search For Blue Carbon In Central Salish Sea Eelgrass Meadows, Mira D. (Mira Diana) Lutz

WWU Graduate School Collection

This study quantified eelgrass (Zostera marina) sediment organic carbon and carbon sequestration rates in Skagit County,Wa, in sites likely to support organic content and sediment accretion, the key components for carbon sequestration. These data may inform eelgrass-specific projects aimed at mitigating climate change through the protection and restoration of “blue carbon” ecosystems. Blue carbon is the carbon stored or emitted by coastal wetlands, which have the capacity to sequester more organic carbon (OC) than equivalent areas of mature forest. This study follows recent research from a single site within Padilla Bay, Wa. (Padilla transect), reporting OC stock approximately three times …

Diversity And Petrogenesis Of Rhyolites From An Intra-Oceanic Arc: Evidence From Iodp Site U1437, Izu Bonin Rear-Arc And Surrounding Area, Luan J. (Luan Jean) Heywood

WWU Graduate School Collection

Magmas from the Izu Bonin rear-arc show a geochemical signature (medium- to high-K and light rare-earth element [LREE] enriched) that resembles the average composition of the continental crust. I investigate that continent-like signature by examining a suite of rear-arc-derived mafic to felsic tephras from International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Site U1437, which was drilled as part of IODP Expedition 350. Volcaniclastic glasses from Site U1437 comprise a compositional series from basalt to rhyolite, aged 1.1-4.4 Ma.

Site U1437 tephras record the timespan when the Izu-Bonin arc began rifting and provide a well-dated record of changing magmatic compositions through the transition …

The Benefits Of A Therapeutic Nature Education Intervention For Children With Adhd, Madeline Dineen

WWU Graduate School Collection

ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) diagnoses have been on the rise in children in the United States for the last twenty years due to multiple possible reasons (NIMH, 2016). Recent work on the subject, however, notes a positive correlation between exposure of children to experience-based nature therapy and the reduction of ADHD symptoms (Taylor & Kuo 2011). I hypothesized that implementing an intervention that is in an outdoor nature environment, that is experience-based and contains a learning objective would be correlated with a reduction of ADHD behaviors in elementary aged children. This study is a probe into the possibility of …

Improved Thermal And Mechanical Properties And Increased Miscibility Of Polybenzoxazine In Blends With Functionalized Thermoplastics And Particles, Emily A. Brown

WWU Graduate School Collection

The solubility, polymerization, and the macromolecular characterization of cured blends of BPA-based benzoxazine (BA-a) in end group tosylated poly(ethylene glycol) (mPEGOTs), polysulfone (PSUOTs), and poly(D,L-lactic acid) (PDLLAOTs) are studied and compared to their hydroxyl terminated analogues. The cure temperature for BA-a blends with tosylated polymers was reduced by ~60 °C compared to that of the pure BA-a. This confirms that the tosylated polymer is an accelerant for BA-a ring opening polymerization (ROP). There are two proposed mechanism for the production of free tosylate and cationic BA-a based initiators as a cure catalyst for BA-a ROP – where the former was …

Surface Plasmon Resonance Biosensors Based On High-Index Dielectric Metal-Insulator-Metal Structures, Sarah Clark

WWU Graduate School Collection

Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) is the phenomenon in which an incident electromagnetic wave couples to charge density oscillations on a metal surface.The resulting excitation, known as a surface plasmon polariton (SPP), will propagate along the metal-dielectric interface. SPR biosensors monitor protein binding interactions in real time, which lead to changes in the refractive index, thereby altering the SPP excitation conditions. Recently, we have designed a structure that supports guided-wave plasmon polariton modes (GW-PPMs), a novel type of plasmonic excitation that demonstrates increased propagation lengths compared to those of traditional SPPs in certain regions of phase space. Because it has been …

The Effects Of Forecasted Climate Change On Mass Wasting Susceptibility In The Nooksack River Basin, Kevin Knapp

WWU Graduate School Collection

The Nooksack River in Whatcom County, Washington­ is an essential fresh water resource for industry, agriculture, municipalities and serves as vital fish habitat. Like many mountainous watersheds in the western Cascades, the Nooksack Basin is susceptible to shallow mass wasting and debris flows because of its steep slopes, young glaciated terrain, and storms with high intensity precipitation. Understanding how projected reductions in snowpack and increased winter rainfall will affect mass-wasting susceptibility in the Nooksack basin is important, because sediment produced mass wasting will jeopardize valuable aquatic and fish habitat, increase flooding risk in the Nooksack River, and affect estuarine and …

Characterization Of Particulate Matter Accumulated On Ramalina Farinacea In The Seattle Area Using Semi-Automated Electron Microscopy, Tor G. (Tor Gunnar) Guddal

WWU Graduate School Collection

Semi-automated scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) can be used to determine the size and composition of filtered particulate matter (PM). This information is valuable for determining the identity and contribution of overlapping air emissions. One limitation of this method is the cost of filtering PM at enough locations to give meaningful spatial data. To address this limitation, I developed an exploratory method to collect PM using Ramalina farinacea for semi-automated SEM analysis as a component of lichen biomonitoring studies. I applied this method as a proof of concept in the Seattle area to better understand trends …