Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Vehicular Crowdsourcing For Congestion Support In Smart Cities, Stephan Olariu

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Under present-day practices, the vehicles on our roadways and city streets are mere spectators that witness traffic-related events without being able to participate in the mitigation of their effect. This paper lays the theoretical foundations of a framework for harnessing the on-board computational resources in vehicles stuck in urban congestion in order to assist transportation agencies with preventing or dissipating congestion through large-scale signal re-timing. Our framework is called VACCS: Vehicular Crowdsourcing for Congestion Support in Smart Cities. What makes this framework unique is that we suggest that in such situations the vehicles have the potential to cooperate with various …

Large Scale Subject Category Classification Of Scholarly Papers With Deep Attentive Neural Networks, Bharath Kandimalla, Shaurya Rohatgi, Jian Wu, C. Lee Giles

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Subject categories of scholarly papers generally refer to the knowledge domain(s) to which the papers belong, examples being computer science or physics. Subject category classification is a prerequisite for bibliometric studies, organizing scientific publications for domain knowledge extraction, and facilitating faceted searches for digital library search engines. Unfortunately, many academic papers do not have such information as part of their metadata. Most existing methods for solving this task focus on unsupervised learning that often relies on citation networks. However, a complete list of papers citing the current paper may not be readily available. In particular, new papers that have few …

Understanding The Impact Of Encrypted Dns On Internet Censorship, Lin Jin, Shuai Hao, Haining Wang, Chase Cotton

Computer Science Faculty Publications

DNS traffic is transmitted in plaintext, resulting in privacy leakage. To combat this problem, secure protocols have been used to encrypt DNS messages. Existing studies have investigated the performance overhead and privacy benefits of encrypted DNS communications, yet little has been done from the perspective of censorship. In this paper, we study the impact of the encrypted DNS on Internet censorship in two aspects. On one hand, we explore the severity of DNS manipulation, which could be leveraged for Internet censorship, given the use of encrypted DNS resolvers. In particular, we perform 7.4 million DNS lookup measurements on 3,813 DoT …

Ranked List Fusion And Re-Ranking With Pre-Trained Transformers For Arqmath Lab, Shaurya Rohatgi, Jian Wu, C. Lee Giles

Computer Science Faculty Publications

This paper elaborates on our submission to the ARQMath track at CLEF 2021. For our submission this year we use a collection of methods to retrieve and re-rank the answers in Math Stack Exchange in addition to our two-stage model which was comparable to the best model last year in terms of NDCG’. We also provide a detailed analysis of what the transformers are learning and why is it hard to train a math language model using transformers. This year’s submission to Task-1 includes summarizing long question-answer pairs to augment and index documents, using byte-pair encoding to tokenize formula and …

Adaptive Physics-Based Non-Rigid Registration For Immersive Image-Guided Neuronavigation Systems, Fotis Drakopoulos, Christos Tsolakis, Angelos Angelopoulos, Yixun Liu, Chengjun Yao, Kyriaki Rafailia Kavazidi, Nikolaos Foroglou, Andrey Fedorov, Sarah Frisken, Ron Kikinis, Alexandra Golby, Nikos Chrisochoides

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Objective: In image-guided neurosurgery, co-registered preoperative anatomical, functional, and diffusion tensor imaging can be used to facilitate a safe resection of brain tumors in eloquent areas of the brain. However, the brain deforms during surgery, particularly in the presence of tumor resection. Non-Rigid Registration (NRR) of the preoperative image data can be used to create a registered image that captures the deformation in the intraoperative image while maintaining the quality of the preoperative image. Using clinical data, this paper reports the results of a comparison of the accuracy and performance among several non-rigid registration methods for handling brain deformation. A …

A Tool For Segmentation Of Secondary Structures In 3d Cryo-Em Density Map Components Using Deep Convolutional Neural Networks, Yongcheng Mu, Salim Sazzed, Maytha Alshammari, Jiangwen Sun, Jing He

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Although cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) has been successfully used to derive atomic structures for many proteins, it is still challenging to derive atomic structures when the resolution of cryo-EM density maps is in the medium resolution range, such as 5–10 Å. Detection of protein secondary structures, such as helices and β-sheets, from cryo-EM density maps provides constraints for deriving atomic structures from such maps. As more deep learning methodologies are being developed for solving various molecular problems, effective tools are needed for users to access them. We have developed an effective software bundle, DeepSSETracer, for the detection of protein secondary structure …

Ssentiaa: A Self-Supervised Sentiment Analyzer For Classification From Unlabeled Data, Salim Sazzed, Sampath Jayarathna

Computer Science Faculty Publications

In recent years, supervised machine learning (ML) methods have realized remarkable performance gains for sentiment classification utilizing labeled data. However, labeled data are usually expensive to obtain, thus, not always achievable. When annotated data are unavailable, the unsupervised tools are exercised, which still lag behind the performance of supervised ML methods by a large margin. Therefore, in this work, we focus on improving the performance of sentiment classification from unlabeled data. We present a self-supervised hybrid methodology SSentiA (Self-supervised Sentiment Analyzer) that couples an ML classifier with a lexicon-based method for sentiment classification from unlabeled data. We first introduce LRSentiA …

Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (Adcp) Data 2017: Ayeyarwady Delta, Myanmar, Courtney K. Harris, Jacob T. Wacht

Data

During December 2017, a 2-week research cruise was conducted on the vessel the Sea Princess by scientists from the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, North Carolina State University, Mawlamyine University, and University of Yangon. Kuehl et al. (2019) and Liu et al. (2020) present some of the sediment core, and seabed mapping data from that cruise. The cruise also provided a unique opportunity to obtain Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) data along several transects from the Gulf of Martaban and adjacent continental shelf offshore of Myanmar. During the cruise, an ADCP was mounted from the boat facing vertically downward toward …

Endangered Species Act: Quantifying Threats Impacting Listing, Delaney Costante

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

With species increasingly becoming imperiled due to anthropogenic activities, conservation practitioners are tasked with determining conservation priorities in order to make the best use of limited resources. The United States’ Endangered Species Act (ESA) has two listing statuses into which imperiled species are placed to receive protections: Threatened or Endangered. In the first chapter, our objective was to identify differences between Threatened and Endangered species beyond what is outlined in their ESA definitions. To our knowledge, this is the first study to compare listing status for species protected by the ESA on the basis of types and number of threats …

Recruitment And Post-Settlement Mortality Of The Soft-Shell Clam, Mya Arenaria, Shantelle Landry

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

The soft-shell clam, Mya arenaria, is a benthic, filter-feeding, infaunal clam typically found in intertidal and shallow subtidal waters. Chesapeake Bay stocks of M. arenaria have been depleted since the 1960s due to various factors including predation, temperature, low recruitment, habitat loss, disease mortalities, and commercial harvest. As an important prey item for many commercial species, low abundances of these clams are mostly the result of the voracious appetite of the blue crab, Callinectes sapidus. In addition to predation, summer water temperatures in the Chesapeake Bay are likely driving the low abundances of M. arenaria, as water temperatures commonly surpass …

On Supporting Android Software Developers And Testers, Carlos Eduardo Bernal Cardenas

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Users entrust mobile applications (apps) to help them with different tasks in their daily lives. However, for each app that helps to finish a given task, there are a plethora of other apps in popular marketplaces that offer similar or nearly identical functionality. This makes for a competitive market where users will tend to favor the highest quality apps in most cases. Given that users can easily get frustrated by apps which repeatedly exhibit bugs, failures, and crashes, it is imperative that developers promptly fix problems both before and after the release. However, implementing and maintaining high quality apps is …

Light-Matter Interactions In Quasi-Two-Dimensional Geometries, David James Lahneman

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Emergent phenomena that occur at length scales smaller than approximately half the wavelength of light cannot be resolved by conventional optical techniques due to the Abbe diffraction limit. Scattering-type scanning near-field infrared microscopy (S-SNIM) can circumvent this diffraction limit allowing infrared spectroscopy at nano-scale dimensions independent of the wavelength. Additionally, there is enhanced surface sensitivity resulting from this nanoconfinement of infrared light. S-SNIM is uniquely suitable to study a diverse range of material properties inaccessible by far-field optics in the infrared such as the optical properties of ultrathin films as well as hybrid light matter surface waves called polaritons. Initially, …

Dealing With Many Species: Improving Methodology For Forming And Assessing Species Complexes, Kristen Omori

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

In the United States, the Magnuson-Stevens Reauthorization Act mandates that all federally fished species must have catch limits, which can be challenging for data-limited species. One approach is to assess and manage a group of species with similar life history characteristics, vulnerability to the fishery, and overlapping geographic distributions in a single management unit, or a complex (i.e., stock or species complex). Using the Gulf of Alaska (GOA) Other Rockfish complex as a case study, the main goals of this dissertation are five-fold: 1) review species complexes in the United States; 2) compare multivariate techniques for assigning species to complexes; …

Improving Observation, Assessment, And Management Of Atlantic Coastal Sharks, Cassidy Dawn Peterson

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Coastal sharks represent a group of stocks for which observation, assessment, and management are particularly challenging. Large distributional ranges, complex migratory behavior, low economic value, and relatively few observations in fishery independent surveys hinder relative abundance estimation. Assessing stock status of coastal sharks is encumbered by limited data availability, data quality, and knowledge of life history strategy. Further, coastal sharks are challenging to manage due to their slow intrinsic population growth rates, competing stakeholder interests, history of overexploitation, and in some cases, subjection to international exploitation. This dissertation aimed to improve the capacity to observe relative abundance of coastal sharks. …

Uncovering Information Operations On Twitter Using Natural Language Processing And The Dynamic Wavelet Fingerprint, Spencer Lee Kirn

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Information Operations (IO) are campaigns waged by covert, powerful entities to distort public discourse in a direction that is advantageous for them. It is the behaviors of the underlying networks that signal these campaigns in action, not the specific content they are posting. In this dissertation we introduce a social media analysis system that uncovers these behaviors by analyzing the specific post timings of underlying accounts and networks. The presented method first clusters tweets based on content using Natural Language Processing (NLP). Each of these clusters - referred to as topics - are plotted in time using the attached metadata …

Gis Data: Dorchester County, Maryland - Shoreline Inventory Data 2020, Karinna Nunez, Marcia Berman, Sharon Killeen, Jessica Hendricks, Tamia Rudnicky, Catherine Riscassi

Data

The shoreline inventory files have been generated to support the application of the Maryland Shoreline Stabilization Model (SSM), developed by the Center for Coastal Resources Management (CCRM), Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS), to enhance and streamline regulatory decision making in Maryland. This shoreline inventory includes the features needed as inputs to run the SSM.

The data developed for the Shoreline Inventory is based on a three-tiered shoreline assessment approach. This assessment characterizes conditions by using observations made remotely at the desktop using high resolution imagery. The three-tiered shoreline assessment approach divides the shorezone into three regions:

1) the immediate …

Ware River Intensive Watershed Study Data Files: Part 1. Nonpoint Source Contributions, Gary F. Anderson

Data

The Ware River is a small coastal estuary draining into the Chesapeake Bay estuary. VIMS monitored the Ware watershed for rain events, runoff, and impacts to the estuary from April 1979 through July 1981.

This entry contains the runoff volume, rainfall and water quality monitoring data files for the portion of the study known as Part 1 – Nonpoint source contributions. Streams and small catchments representing suburban, agricultural and forested small basins were monitored regularly and during large rainfall events to estimate pollution loading to the estuary from the watershed. Methods and results are documented in the related literature. Data …

Molecular Spectroscopy For Innovative Physics: Alcl & Baf, Alex Preston

Pomona Senior Theses

This thesis is inspired by recent developments in the realm of fundamental physics. Spectroscopic studies on diatomic molecules are at the forefront of such endeavors. High-precision microwave spectroscopy probing the rotational energy level transitions of the molecules AlCl and BaF are analyzed at length in this work. The frequency data for these molecules are evaluated using the programs SPFIT and SPCAT in order to develop a “global fit” numerical model of the rotational, vibrational, nuclear, and hyperfine parameters characterizing the systems. Born-Oppenheimer breakdown terms used to amend inconsistencies in the spectral coefficients are determined for both systems. Previously published data …

Characterizing Community-Level Size Spectra In Piedmont Streams Of Virginia (Usa), Giancarlo Racanelli

Theses and Dissertations

Many aquatic communities demonstrate an inverse scaling relationship between average body mass and density. Using quantitative samples of macroinvertebrates and fishes, we modeled this relationship in three Piedmont streams where little empirical research has been conducted. The size spectra (SS) method, in which individuals are identified by size, not taxonomic identity, was used with linear regression to model density as a function of mass. Fish and benthic invertebrate samples were collected on simultaneous days during September, then used to develop community-level SS models (combined fish and invertebrate data) for each stream. Invertebrate samples were also collected from each stream in …

Applied Machine Learning In Extrusion-Based Bioprinting, Shuyu Tian

Theses and Dissertations

Optimization of extrusion-based bioprinting (EBB) parameters have been systematically conducted through experimentation. However, the process is time and resource-intensive and not easily translatable across different laboratories. A machine learning (ML) approach to EBB parameter optimization can accelerate this process for laboratories across the field through training using data collected from published literature. In this work, regression-based and classification-based ML models were investigated for their abilities to predict printing outcomes of cell viability and filament diameter for cell-containing alginate and gelatin composite hydrogels. Regression-based models were investigated for their ability to predict suitable extrusion pressure given desired cell viability when keeping …

Live Cell Biomass Tracking For Basic, Translational, And Clinical Research, Graeme Murray

Theses and Dissertations

Single cell mass is tightly regulated throughout generations and the cell cycle, making it an important marker of cell health. Abnormal changes in cell size can be the first indication of dysfunction in response to environmental stimuli such as cytotoxic drugs. Described here is the further development of high-speed live cell interferometry (HSLCI) to concurrently measure the changes in single cell mass of thousands of cells over time. Critically, the high-throughput nature of HSLCI provides realistic pictures of tumor heterogeneity. This throughput enabled HSLCI to correctly predict in vivo carboplatin sensitivity of three triple negative breast cancer patient derived xenografts, …

Radiofrequency Ac Zeeman Trapping For Neutral Atoms, Andrew Peter Rotunno

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

This thesis presents the first experimental demonstration of a two-wire AC Zeeman trap on an atom chip. The AC Zeeman energy is a resonant, bipolar, state-dependent atomic energy shift produced by alternating magnetic fields with frequencies near hyperfine transitions. We demonstrate that high gradients in this energy, as near an atom chip, can produce a spin-state selective force greater than gravity for ultracold rubidium atoms. Our novel trap is generated by a local minimum in AC Zeeman energy. Using less than one watt of power, we demonstrate trap frequency on the order of a few hundred Hz, trap depth about …

Forward & Off-Forward Parton Distributions From Lattice Qcd, Colin Paul Egerer

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

The interpretation of (semi-)inclusive and certain exclusive scattering processes relies on the factorization of hard parton level cross sections from long-range and non-perturbative parton correlations. The familiar Parton Distribution Functions (PDFs) and Generalized Parton Distributions quantify the non-perturbative dynamics in these situations and address a number of key questions surrounding the structure of hadrons. A certain class of matrix elements accessible in lattice QCD, so called Lattice Cross Sections, have been shown to factorize into these collinear distributions in a manner akin to the factorization of hadronic cross sections. In the short-distance regime, matrix elements of space-like separated two-current operators …

Ac & Dc Zeeman Interferometric Sensing With Ultracold Trapped Atoms On A Chip, Shuangli Du

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

This thesis presents progress in developing a trapped atom interferometer on a chip, based on AC Zeeman potentials. An atom interferometer is a high-precision measuring tool that can detect various types of forces and potentials. The trapped atom interferometer introduced in this thesis targets the shortcomings of traditional ballistic atom interferometers, which are typically meter-scale in height. Notably, a trapped atom interferometer has a localized atomic sample, a potentially longer interferometric phase accumulation time, and the prospect of being the basis for a more compact instrument. This thesis presents multiple projects in the development of a trapped atom interferometer based …

Calculation Of Gluon Pdf In The Nucleon Using Pseudo-Pdf Formalism With Wilson Flow Technique In Lqcd, Md Tanjib Atique Khan

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

A comprehensive study of the gluonic content in the nucleon from a first principles lattice quantum chromodynamics calculation is presented. The unpolarized gluonic distribution in the nucleon is calculated using the pseudo-PDF framework on the lattice. First, the spectral analyses of the low-lying states in the nucleon, as well as in the delta are performed on the lattice, identifying baryons states with hybrid characteristics, in which the gluons play a manifestly structural role, and determining a set of operators which have significant overlaps onto the ground state of the nucleon. Techniques such as distillation for smearing the quark fields, momentum …

Imputation, Modelling And Optimal Sampling Design For Digital Camera Data In Recreational Fisheries Monitoring, Ebenezer Afrifa-Yamoah

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Digital camera monitoring has evolved as an active application-oriented scheme to help address questions in areas such as fisheries, ecology, computer vision, artificial intelligence, and criminology. In recreational fisheries research, digital camera monitoring has become a viable option for probability-based survey methods, and is also used for corroborative and validation purposes. In comparison to onsite surveys (e.g. boat ramp surveys), digital cameras provide a cost-effective method of monitoring boating activity and fishing effort, including night-time fishing activities. However, there are challenges in the use of digital camera monitoring that need to be resolved. Notably, missing data problems and the cost …

An Investigation Into The Efficacy Of Url Content Filtering Systems, Brett Ronald Turner

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Content filters are used to restrict to restrict minors from accessing to online content deemed inappropriate. While much research and evaluation has been done on the efficiency of content filters, there is little in the way of empirical research as to their efficacy. The accessing of inappropriate material by minors, and the role content filtering systems can play in preventing the accessing of inappropriate material, is largely assumed with little or no evidence. This thesis investigates if a content filter implemented with the stated aim of restricting specific Internet content from high school students achieved the goal of stopping students …

Evaluating The Relative Importance Of Stormwater For Nutrient And Metal Contamination To The Urban, Groundwater Dependent Yellagonga Wetlands, Through Wetland Budgeting, Jonas Polifka

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Wetlands provide numerous ecosystem services and can be utilised as pollutant sinks, however excessive contamination of wetlands can induce adverse effects to wetland ecology and lead to degradation of its values. Runoff from precipitation mobilizes contaminants from impervious surfaces which are, in some case, transported directly to wetlands through stormwater drainage. Urban stormwater can be a significant source of contaminants to wetlands, although its overall importance needs to be assessed for each wetland individually. Wetland budgeting is a management tool used to evaluate the relative importance of contaminant sources to wetlands, by comparing contaminant loads. Environmental management of the Yellagonga …

Full Interpretable Machine Learning Method With In-Line Coordinates, Hoang Phan

All Master's Theses

This thesis explores a new approach for machine learning classification task in 2-dimensional space (2-D ML) with In-line Coordinates. This is a full machine learning approach that does not require to deal with n-dimensional data in n-dimensional space. In-line coordinates method allows discovering n-D patterns in 2-D space without loss of n-D information using graph representation of n-D data in 2-D. Specifically, this thesis shows that it can be done with In-line Based Coordinates in different modifications, which are defined, including static and dynamic ones. Some classification and regression algorithms based on these In-line Coordinates were explored. Two successful cases …

Geologic Mapping Along The Benton Spring Fault, Nevada: Dextrally-Offset Tuff-Filled Paleovalleys In The Central Walker Lane, Peter Dubyoski

All Master's Theses

Documenting the spatiotemporal evolution of fault systems along the western margin of North America is a prerequisite for characterizing the forces which drive faulting across the U.S. Cordillera. Within the Cordillera, the Walker Lane, characterized by active intracontinental faults, straddles the western edge of the Basin and Range Province and the eastern edge of the Sierra Nevada. In the Gabbs Valley Range, central Nevada, eastern Central Walker Lane, I combine new mapping, geochronology, and structural studies to document the geometry and timing of dextral fault slip along the Benton Spring fault, an active intracontinental fault. The Benton Spring fault is …