Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Application Of Single-Ion Conducting Polymer Electrolytes (Sicpes), Sheng Zhao

Doctoral Dissertations

Polymer electrolytes have been widely studied as a potential candidate for next generation batterie with improved safety and higher energy density. Especially, single-ion conducting polymer electrolytes (SICPEs) have attracted significant attention due to their almost unity lithium-ion transport number, which is believed to help suppress lithium dendrite growth and extend battery cycle life. However, there is still a long way to go before they can be practically applied in batteries, due to their relatively low ionic conductivity at ambient temperature. Therefore, the main goal of this work is to explore various methods that can improve the ionic conductivity of SICPEs …

A Connectivity Framework To Explore The Role Of Anthropogenic Activity And Climate On The Propagation Of Water And Sediment At The Catchment Scale, Christos Giannopoulos

Doctoral Dissertations

Anthropogenic disturbance in intensively managed landscapes (IMLs) has dramatically altered critical zone processes, resulting in fundamental changes in material fluxes. Mitigating the negative effects of anthropogenic disturbance and making informed decisions for optimal placement and assessment of best management practices (BMPs) requires fundamental understanding of how different practices affect the connectivity or lack thereof of governing transport processes and resulting material fluxes across different landscape compartments within the hillslope-channel continuum of IMLs. However, there are no models operating at the event timescale that can accurately predict material flux transport from the hillslope to the catchment scale capturing the spatial and …

Procedural Plant Generation With Floragen, Christopher Wesley Wright

Computer Engineering

A particularly challenging aspect of game design revolves around asset creation. Often new developers become lost in nuances and time investment required to learn 3d asset creation software. While many game development platforms provide an internal asset store, these assets are often expensive or limited. These assets restrict the flexibility for a creator to fully control the product they create. A critical asset type in many games is flora. Good looking trees and plants add environmental variation when added properly. In this project, I designed and implemented an add-on dubbed FloraGen to the 3D modeling software Blender in which users …

Search For Lensing Signatures In The Gravitational-Wave Observations From The First Half Of Ligo-Virgo's Third Observing Run, R. Abbott, T. D. Abbott

Faculty Publications

We search for signatures of gravitational lensing in the gravitational-wave signals from compact binary coalescences detected by Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) and Advanced Virgo during O3a, the first half of their third observing run. We study: (1) the expected rate of lensing at current detector sensitivity and the implications of a non-observation of strong lensing or a stochastic gravitational-wave background on the merger-rate density at high redshift; (2) how the interpretation of individual high-mass events would change if they were found to be lensed; (3) the possibility of multiple images due to strong lensing by galaxies or galaxy …

A Gravitational-Wave Measurement Of The Hubble Constant Following The Second Observing Run Of Advanced Ligo And Virgo (Vol 908, 218, 2021), B. P. Abbott, R. Abbott, T. D. Abbott

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Multi-Scale Feedback And Feeding In The Closest Radio Galaxy Centaurus A, B. Mckinley, S. J. Tingay, M. Gaspari, R. P. Kraft, C. Matherne, A. R. Offringa, M. Mcdonald, M. S. Calzadilla, S Veilleux, S. S. Shabala, S. D. J. Gwyn, J. Bland-Hawthorn, D. Crnojevic, B. M. Gaensler, M. Johnston-Hollitt

Faculty Publications

Supermassive black holes and supernova explosions at the centres of active galaxies power cycles of outflowing and inflowing gas that affect galactic evolution and the overall structure of the Universe(1,2). While simulations and observations show that this must be the case, the range of physical scales (over ten orders of magnitude) and paucity of available tracers make both the simulation and observation of these effects difficult(3,4). By serendipity, there lies an active galaxy, Centaurus A (NGC 5128)(5,6), at such a close proximity as to allow its observation over this entire range of scales and across the entire electromagnetic spectrum. In …

The Hashtag Project: The First Submillimeter Images Of The Andromeda Galaxy From The Ground, Matthew W.L. Smith, Stephen A. Eales, Thomas G. Williams, Bumhyun Lee, Zongnan Li, Pauline Barmby, Martin Bureau, Scott Chapman, Brian S. Cho, Aeree Chung, Eun Jung Chung, Hui Hsuan Chung, Christopher J.R. Clark, David L. Clements, Timothy A. Davis, Ilse De Looze, David J. Eden, Gayathri Athikkat-Eknath, George P. Ford, Yu Gao, Walter Gear, Haley L. Gomez, Richard De Grijs, Jinhua He, Luis C. Ho, Thomas M. Hughes, Sihan Jiao, Zhiyuan Li, Francisca Kemper

Physics and Astronomy Publications

Observing nearby galaxies with submillimeter telescopes on the ground has two major challenges. First, the brightness is significantly reduced at long submillimeter wavelengths compared to the brightness at the peak of the dust emission. Second, it is necessary to use a high-pass spatial filter to remove atmospheric noise on large angular scales, which has the unwelcome side effect of also removing the galaxy's large-scale structure. We have developed a technique for producing high-resolution submillimeter images of galaxies of large angular size by using the telescope on the ground to determine the small-scale structure (the large Fourier components) and a space …

Raman Spectroscopy For Forensic Identification Of Body Fluid Traces: Method Validation For Potential False Negatives Caused By Blood-Affecting Diseases, Niara Nichols

Chemistry

Two critical issues in forensic science are identifying body fluid traces found at crime scenes and preserving them for DNA analysis. However, the majority of current biochemical tests for body fluid identification, which are applicable at the crime scene, are presumptive and destructive to the sample. Raman Spectroscopy provides a suitable alternative to current methods as a nondestructive, confirmatory, and potentially in field method. Our laboratory has developed a chemometric model for the identification of five main body fluids using Raman spectroscopy. This model was developed using samples obtained from healthy donors. Thus, it is of most importance for the …

Constraints To Waterfowl Hunting By Hunters And Anglers In The Central United States, Matthew P. Hinrichs, Matthew P. Gruntorad, Julia A. Nawrocki, Mark P. Vrtiska, Mark A. Pegg, Christopher J. Chizinski

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Waterfowl hunting participation has been on the decline since the mid‐1980s. We used a web‐based survey to better understand waterfowl hunting constraints (i.e., factors that limit or prohibit participation and enjoyment in leisure activities) among hunters and anglers that hunted or did not hunt waterfowl in the central United States. Forty‐eight constraint items were condensed into 10 constraint factors: Rules and Regulations, Waterfowl Identification, Cost, Waterfowl Hunting Skills, Land Access and Permissions, Interference by Other Hunters, Travel, Social, Waterfowl Populations, and Views of Others. We observed significant effects of both state of residence and activity type (i.e., frequent waterfowl hunters, …

A Physiological Signal Derived From Sun-Induced Chlorophyll Fluorescence Quantifies Crop Physiological Response To Environmental Stresses In The U.S. Corn Belt, Hyungsuk Kimm, Kaiyu Guan, Chongya Jiang, Guofang Miao, Genghong Wu, Andrew Suyker, Elizabeth A. Ainsworth, Carl J. Bernacchi, Christopher M. Montes, Joseph A. Berry, Xi Yang, Christian Frankenberg, Min Chen, Philipp Köhler

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Sun-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) measurements have shown unique potential for quantifying plant physiological stress. However, recent investigations found canopy structure and radiation largely control SIF, and physiological relevance of SIF remains yet to be fully understood. This study aims to evaluate whether the SIF-derived physiological signal improves quantification of crop responses to environmental stresses, by analyzing data at three different spatial scales within the U.S. Corn Belt, i.e. experiment plot, field, and regional scales, where ground-based portable, stationary and space-borne hyperspectral sensing systems are used, respectively. We found that, when controlling for variations in incoming radiation and canopy structure, crop …

Identification Of Disease-Linked Hyperactivating Mutations In Ube3a Through Large-Scale Functional Variant Analysis, Kellan P. Weston, Xiaoyi Gao, Jinghan Zhao, Kwang Soo Kim, Susan E. Maloney, Jill Gotoff, Sumit Parikh, Yen Chen Leu, Kuen Phon Wu, Marwan Shinawi, Joshua P. Steimel, Joseph S. Harrison, Jason J. Yi

College of the Pacific Faculty Articles

The mechanisms that underlie the extensive phenotypic diversity in genetic disorders are poorly understood. Here, we develop a large-scale assay to characterize the functional valence (gain or loss-of-function) of missense variants identified in UBE3A, the gene whose loss-of-function causes the neurodevelopmental disorder Angelman syndrome. We identify numerous gain-of-function variants including a hyperactivating Q588E mutation that strikingly increases UBE3A activity above wild-type UBE3A levels. Mice carrying the Q588E mutation exhibit aberrant early-life motor and communication deficits, and individuals possessing hyperactivating UBE3A variants exhibit affected phenotypes that are distinguishable from Angelman syndrome. Additional structure-function analysis reveals that Q588 forms a regulatory site …

(R1239) A New Type Ii Half Logistic-G Family Of Distributions With Properties, Regression Models, System Reliability And Applications, Emrah Altun, Morad Alizadeh, Haitham M. Yousof, Mahdi Rasekhi, G. G. Hamedani

Applications and Applied Mathematics: An International Journal (AAM)

This study proposes a new family of distributions based on the half logistic distribution. With the new family, the baseline distributions gain flexibility through additional shape parameters. The important statistical properties of the proposed family are derived. A new generalization of the Weibull distribution is used to introduce a location-scale regression model for the censored response variable. The utility of the introduced models is demonstrated in survival analysis and estimation of the system reliability. Three data sets are analyzed. According to the empirical results, it is observed that the proposed family gives better results than other existing models.

(R1491) Numerical Solution Of The Time-Space Fractional Diffusion Equation With Caputo Derivative In Time By A-Polynomial Method, Saeid Abbasbandy, Jalal Hajishafieiha

Applications and Applied Mathematics: An International Journal (AAM)

In this paper, a novel type of polynomial is defined which is equipped with an auxiliary parameter a. These polynomials are a combination of the Chebyshev polynomials of the second kind. The approximate solution of each equation is assumed as the sum of these polynomials and then, with the help of the collocation points, the unknown coefficients of each polynomial, as well as auxiliary parameter, is obtained optimally. Now, by placing the optimal value of a in polynomials, the polynomials are obtained without auxiliary parameter, which is the restarted step of the present method. The time discretization is performed …

(R1514) Nano Continuous Mappings Via Nano M Open Sets, A. Vadivel, A. Padma, M. Saraswathi, G. Saravanakumar

Applications and Applied Mathematics: An International Journal (AAM)

Nano M open sets are a union of nano θ semi open sets and nano δ pre open sets. The properties of nano M open sets with their interior and closure operators are discussed in a previous paper. In this paper, we discuss about nano M-continuous and nano M-irresolute functions are introduced in a nano topological spaces along with their continuous and irresolute mappings. Also, nano M-open and nano M-closed functions are introduced and compare with their near open and closed mappings in a nano topological spaces. Further, nano M homeomorphism is also discussed in nano …

Determining The Psychosocial Needs Of The Nurses Of Covid-19 Patients, Allison Stevens

ATU Theses and Dissertations 2021 - Present

Nurses are a vital element of the COVID-19 healthcare crisis and have been since the beginning of the COVID-19 response. The professional strain put on nurses included, but is not limited to: changing professional roles, rapidly changing policies and procedures, an influx of patients—particularly of high acuity, and change in workplace morale. However, nurses also had to carry the burdens of living as a member of society, family member, friend, community member, and above all, simply as a person surviving a pandemic themselves. With all of the stressors nurses have endured, it stands to reason that their psychosocial needs have …

The Influences Of Sea-Surface Temperature Uncertainty On Cool-Season High-Shear, Low Cape Severe Weather Event Predictability In The Southeast United States, Michelle Rose Spencer

Theses and Dissertations

Environments conducive to severe weather and tornadoes occur throughout the southeastern United States, particularly during the cold-season. Throughout the cold-season, severe weather in this region predominantly occurs in environments characterized by high-shear, low-CAPE (HSLC). An important aspect to the production of severe weather in HSLC environments in the southeast United States is that air parcels that help contribute to the limited positive-buoyancy generation originate over areas such as the Gulf of Mexico, western Caribbean Sea, and western Atlantic Ocean. These relatively warm bodies of water, particularly outside of the cooler coastal shelf regions, allow the air parcels to warm and …

Diving Beneath The Sea Of Stellar Activity: Chromatic Radial Velocities Of The Young Au Mic Planetary System, Bryson Cale, Michael Reefe, Peter Plavchan, Angelle Tanner, Eric Gaidos, Jonathan Gagne, Peter Gao, Stephen R. Kane, Victor J. S. Bejar, Nicolas Lodieu, Guillem Anglada-Escude, Ignasi Ribas, Enric Palle, Andreas Quirrenbach, Pedro Amado, Ansgar Reiners, Jose A. Caballero, Maria Rosa Zapatero Osorio, Stefan Dreizler, Andrew W. Howard, Benjamin J. Fulton, Sharon Xuesong Wang, Kevin I. Collins, Mohammed El Mufti, Justin Wittrock, Emily A. Gilbert, Thomas Barclay, Baptiste Klein, Eder Martioli, Robert Wittenmyer, Duncan Wright, Brett Addison, Teruyuki Hirano, Motohide Tamura, Takayuki Kotani, Norio Narita, David Vermilion, Rena A. Lee, Claire Geneser, Johanna Teske, Samuel N. Quinn, David W. Latham, Gilbert A. Esquerdo, Michael L. Calkins, Perry Berlind, Farzaneh Zohrabi, Caitlin Stibbards, Srihan Kotnana, Jon Jenkins, Joseph D. Twicken, Christopher Henze, Richard Kidwell, Jr., Christopher Burke, Joel Villasenor, Patricia Boyd

Faculty Publications

We present updated radial-velocity (RV) analyses of the AU Mic system. AU Mic is a young (22 Myr) early-M dwarf known to host two transiting planets-P-b similar to 8.46 days, R-b = 4.381(-0.18)(+0.18) R-circle plus, P-c similar to 18.86 days, R-c = 3.5(-0.16)(+0.16) R-circle plus. With visible RVs from Calar Alto high-Resolution search for M dwarfs with Exo-earths with Near-infrared and optical echelle Spectrographs (CARMENES)-VIS, CHIRON, HARPS, HIRES, MINERVA-Australis, and Tillinghast Reflector Echelle Spectrograph, as well as near-infrared (NIR) RVs from CARMENES-NIR, CSHELL, IRD, iSHELL, NIRSPEC, and SPIRou, we provide a 5 sigma upper limit to the mass of AU …

Oscillation Of Nonlinear Third-Order Difference Equations With Mixed Neutral Terms, Jehad Alzabut, Martin Bohner, Said R. Grace

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this paper, new oscillation results for nonlinear third-order difference equations with mixed neutral terms are established. Unlike previously used techniques, which often were based on Riccati transformation and involve limsup or liminf conditions for the oscillation, the main results are obtained by means of a new approach, which is based on a comparison technique. Our new results extend, simplify, and improve existing results in the literature. Two examples with specific values of parameters are offered.

Fourth Derivative Singularly P-Stable Method For The Numerical Solution Of The Schrödinger Equation, Ali Shokri, Higinio Ramos, Mohammad Mehdizadeh Khalsaraei, Fikret A. Aliev, Martin Bohner

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this paper, we construct a method with eight steps that belongs to the family of Obrechkoff methods. Due to the explicit nature of the new method, not only does it not require another method as predictor, but it can also be considered as a suitable predictive technique to be used with implicit methods. Periodicity and error terms are studied when applied to solve the radial Schrödinger equation, considering different energy levels. We show its advantages in terms of accuracy, consistency, and convergence in comparison with other methods of the same order appearing in the literature.

South Dakota Farmers’ Perceived Extreme Weather Frequency And Adaptation Measures, Tong Wang, Jim Ristau

South Dakota Farm Survey

Researchers at South Dakota State University (SDSU) conducted surveys of eastern South Dakota (SD) commodity crop producers with the support of the South Dakota Corn Utilization Council. Using publicly available addresses of government program participants, a random sample of 3,000 producers were sent the survey in 2018. 650 were ineligible and 708 responded to the survey for a response rate of 30%. In 2021, the same producers who took the survey in 2018 were asked to take a follow up survey. 94 were ineligible, and 350 responded for a 59% response rate. Producers could take the survey online or via …

College Of Natural Sciences Newsletter, December 2021, College Of Natural Sciences

College of Natural Sciences Newsletters and Reports

Volume 2, Issue 12

Page 1 Dean's Message
Page 2 Awards & Recognition
Page 2 Media Coverage of CNS
Page 3 Media Coverage Cont.
Page 4 Science as Art Competition
Page 5 Open PRAIRIE Data
Page 5 Grants Awarded in CNS

Clmm: A Lsst-Desc Cluster Weak Lensing Mass Modeling Library For Cosmology, H. Wu

Physics Faculty Publications and Presentations

We present the v1.0 release of CLMM, an open source PYTHON library for the estimation of the weak lensing masses of clusters of galaxies. CLMM is designed as a stand-alone toolkit of building blocks to enable end-to-end analysis pipeline validation for upcoming cluster cosmology analyses such as the ones that will be performed by the Vera C. Rubin Legacy Survey of Space and Time-Dark Energy Science Collaboration (LSST-DESC). Its purpose is to serve as a flexible, easy-to-install, and easy-to-use interface for both weak lensing simulators and observers and can be applied to real and mock data to study the systematics …

Processing And Visualizing Satellite Data, Caleb Collier

Computer Science & Engineering Student Projects

Satellites are a useful way of gathering data at high altitudes. To be able to properly view the data, however, there are many important steps that one must take to ensure the data received is readable and usable. The data must be transmitted from the satellite to the ground, then must be decommuted and can then be used in various ways. This paper is an exploration of various ways of processing and visualizing data received from satellites, as well as various ways of using the data.

Psl-An Expert System To Evaluate Degree Plans, Robert Swanson

Computer Science & Engineering Student Projects

This paper describes a general-purpose expert system to evaluate degree plans according to the individual preferences of a college student. This system implements a preference specification language (PSL) on top of this expert system to allow for the textual expression of certain requirements and preferences that the system uses for evaluation. The PSL evaluator produces a single value to describe how well it meets the student’s preferences, which a plan generation system could use to create a degree plan optimized according to the specification.

How To Select Typical Objects, Mariana Benitez, Jeffrey Weidner, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

In many practical situations, we have a large number of objects, too many to be able to thoroughly analyze each of them. To get a general understanding, we need to select a representative sample. For us, this problem was motivated to analyze the possible effect of an earthquake on buildings in El Paso, Texas. In this paper, we provide a reasonable formalization of this problem, and provide a feasible algorithm for solving thus formalized problem.

Negations Of Probability Distributions: A Survey, Ildar Z. Baryrshin, Nailya I. Kubysheva, Venera R. Bayrasheva, Olga Kosheleva, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

In recent years many papers have been devoted to the analysis and applications of negations of finite probability distributions (PD), first considered by Ronald Yager. This paper gives a brief overview of some formal results on the definition and properties of negations of PD. Negations of PD are generated by negators of probability values transforming element-by-element PD into a negation of PD. Negators are non-increasing functions of probability values. There are two types of negators: PD-independent and PD-dependent negators. Yager's negator is fundamental in the characterization of linear PD-independent negators as a convex combination of Yager's negator and uniform negator. …

Comparison Of Different Analytical Strategies For Classifying Invasive Wetland Vegetation In Imagery From Unpiloted Aerial Systems (Uas), Louis Will Jochems, Jodi Brandt, Andrew Monks, Megan Cattau, Nicholas Kolarik, Jason Tallant, Shane Lishawa

Human-Environment Systems Research Center Faculty Publications and Presentations

Detecting newly established invasive plants is key to prevent further spread. Traditional field surveys are challenging and often insufficient to identify the presence and extent of invasions. This is particularly true for wetland ecosystems because of difficult access, and because floating and submergent plants may go undetected in the understory of emergent plants. Unpiloted aerial systems (UAS) have the potential to revolutionize how we monitor invasive vegetation in wetlands, but key components of the data collection and analysis workflow have not been defined. In this study, we conducted a rigorous comparison of different methodologies for mapping invasive Emergent (Typha …

Rational Design Of Multifunctional Nanocatalysts For Environmental Remediation And Energy Conversion Technologies, Md Ariful Ahsan

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The discovery of efficient and sustainable carbon-based nanotechnologies to solve both the scarcity of drinking water and global energy crisis has become a paramount task in the last decades. Owed to the fast population growth and industrialization of the modern society, access to potable water and clean energy technologies is becoming very hard around the globe. Water pollutants have become a serious threat to the environment and ecology because of their toxic nature. Parallelly, the current hydrocarbon-based fuel industries are generating high levels of contamination across the planet, making imperative the development of cleaner energy technologies. In this regard, the …

Effects Of Coated/Uncoated Copper-Based Nanoparticles And Compounds On Rice (Oryza Sativa) And Soybean (Glycine Max) Plants, Chaoyi Deng

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Engineering nanoparticles (ENPs) have been widely used in industry due to their promising chemical, physical, electrical, magnetic, optical, and electronic properties. Copper-based ENPs are used as gas sensors, catalysts, semiconductors and agricultural products, among others. Because of their antifungal and antibacterial properties, they are used in agriculture as insecticides, herbicides and antifungal agents. Due to their mass production and use, ENPs are likely to be ubiquitous in our in the environment in the near future. In addition, metal nanoparticles are usually coated with organic compounds to enhance the properties of the nanoparticles. Previous studies have shown that copper-based ENPs can …

Geophysical Studies Of The Characteristics Of Fluvial And Desert Soils In Rio Grande Valley Of West Texas And Southern New Mexico, Aimee V. Garcia

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Agriculture in arid lands, such as in the Rio Grande Valley in west Texas, relies on flood irrigation. However, flood irrigation can cause salt buildup and greenhouse gas emissions associated with pedogenic carbonate precipitation. The ability of irrigation to promote crop growth is influenced by geochemical and hydrological processes controlled, in part, by soil grain size, larger-scale soil structure, and mineralogy. This study investigated soils from 3 regions 1) A pecan orchard in the river valley of Tornillo, TX, with soil derived from fluvial deposits, undergoing flood irrigation every 2 to 3 weeks in spring through fall, 2) The El …