Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Book Review: How To Bake Pi: An Edible Exploration Of The Mathematics Of Mathematics, Darren B. Glass

Math Faculty Publications

If you think about it, mathematics is really just one big analogy. For one example, the very concept of the number three is an drawing an analogy between a pile with three rocks, a collection of three books, and a plate with three carrots on it. For another, the idea of a group is drawing an analogy between adding real numbers, multiplying matrices, and many other mathematical structures. So much of what we do as mathematicians involves abstracting concrete things, and what is abstraction other than a big analogy? [excerpt]

Novel Polyurethane Foams Derived From Bio-Based Materials, Nelson Elbers

Electronic Theses & Dissertations

The bio-based materials α-phellandrene and β-caryophyllene were used in this research as starting materials for the synthesis of novel bio-based polyurethane foams. The purpose was to assess the properties of the novel bio-based polyurethane foams and to determine whether they could serve as viable options for the commercial application of thermal insulation of buildings, freezers, pipes and storage tanks. The bio-based polyols using α-phellandrene and β-caryophyllene were synthesized. The polyols were synthesized using a photochemical thiol-ene coupling reaction. The hydroxyl groups were attached to the bio-based materials using different mol ratio of 1-thioglycerol and 2-mercaptoethanol. The synthesized bio-based polyols were …

Novel Spectroscopic Tools To Differentiate Molecule-Dna Binding Interactions, Sense Dna And Track Dna Melting, Saad Hmoud Alotaibi

Dissertations

The discovery of DNA as a genetic material and its double helical structure led to numerous studies directed at understanding molecule-DNA interactions. These studies have played an integral role in medical diagnostics, forensics, imaging and therapeutics. Typically, molecule-DNA interactions have two prominent modes: intercalation and minor groove binding. Several optical techniques are available that can monitor molecule-DNA binding interactions, but they cannot differentiate between intercalation and minor-groove binding. The major goals of the research are to develop novel optical spectroscopic tools that can differentiate molecule-DNA binding interactions, selectively and sensitively detect one form of DNA over another, and track DNA …

High-Precision Time-Series Photometry For The Discovery And Characterization Of Transiting Exoplanets., Karen Alicia Collins 1962-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The discovery of more than a thousand planets orbiting stars other than the Sun (i.e. exoplanets) over the past 20 years has shown that planetary systems are commonplace in the Milky Way galaxy. However, these discoveries are only a starting point in the quest to answer one of the most compelling questions posed by mankind for centuries – "are we alone in the universe?". This research aims to help build the foundation needed to search for that answer by optimizing data reduction techniques, determining and refining fundamental properties of known exoplanets, and searching for new exoplanets. Many exoplanets have been …

Optcluster : An R Package For Determining The Optimal Clustering Algorithm And Optimal Number Of Clusters., Michael N. Sekula

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Determining the best clustering algorithm and ideal number of clusters for a particular dataset is a fundamental difficulty in unsupervised clustering analysis. In biological research, data generated from Next Generation Sequencing technology and microarray gene expression data are becoming more and more common, so new tools and resources are needed to group such high dimensional data using clustering analysis. Different clustering algorithms can group data very differently. Therefore, there is a need to determine the best groupings in a given dataset using the most suitable clustering algorithm for that data. This paper presents the R package optCluster as an efficient …

Summary Of Survival Analysis With Sas Procedures., Derek Duane Childers 1990-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The research conducted for this thesis was performed to summarize some of the most commonly used survival analysis techniques as well as to create one macro that will provide the solutions for these techniques. Some of the techniques that this thesis focuses on are survival and hazard functions, mean and median survival times, life table, log rank test, proportional hazards/model building, and competing risk. To further analyze these survival analysis techniques I will use the Bone Marrow Transplantation for Leukemia dataset. This trial consists of either acute myelocytic leukemia (AML 99 patients) or acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL 38 patients). There …

The Apprentices' Tower Of Hanoi, Cory Bh Ball

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Apprentices' Tower of Hanoi is introduced in this thesis. Several bounds are found in regards to optimal algorithms which solve the puzzle. Graph theoretic properties of the associated state graphs are explored. A brief summary of other Tower of Hanoi variants is also presented.

Partial Differential Equations Resource, Joseph Richard Dorris, Wilson Parker, Joey Allen, Alex Kotzman

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Loewner Space-Filling Curves, Hannah Marie Clark

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Cpas - Campus Parking Availability System, Jacob Lambert

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Campus Parking Availability System, David Lu

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Investigating The Effects That Dipole Moments, Atomic Partial Charges, Vibrational Coupling, And The Potential Energy Function Have On The Hno Molecule (Nitroxyl), James Roger Smith

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

So(8) Fermion Dynamical Symmetry In Graphene, Matthew Murphy

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Reaping The Benefits Of Conservation Tillage: Implications Of Increased Soil Organic Matter And Aggregation In Surface Soils, Kenna Elizabeth Rewcastle

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Tweetement: Pseudo-Relevance Feedback For Twitter Search, Kanatbay Bektemirov

Computer Science and Computer Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Microblogging platforms such as Twitter let users communicate with short messages. Due to the messages’ short content and the users’ tendency to type short queries while searching, it is particularly challenging to locate useful tweets that match user queries. The fundamental problems of word mismatch due to ambiguity are especially acute. To solve this problem, this thesis explores and compares multiple automatic query expansion methods that involve the most frequent hashtags and keywords. We built a Web service that provides real-time Twitter Search results incorporating automatic query expansion. Six pseudo-relevance feedback methods were studied and the numbers indicate that results …

Ogden College Of Science & Engineering Newsletter (Summer 2015), Cheryl Stevens, Dean

Ogden College of Science & Engineering Publications

No abstract provided.

The Happy Secret To Better Work: Ted Talk Annotated Resource List, Logan Secrest

Undergraduate Research Award

No abstract provided.

Integrating Formative Assessment Into Physics Instruction: The Effect Of Formative Vs. Summative Assessment On Student Physics Learning And Attitudes, Chaiphat Plybour

Dissertations

Of many instructional strategies used to improve teaching and learning in science, formative assessment is potentially one of the most effective. A central feature is timely feedback during learning, giving students the opportunity to benefit and improve while also enabling teachers to adjust instruction to learner needs. By contrast, conventional assessment tends to be mostly summative, assigning point scores, grading and ranking students, and providing extrinsic motivation. For maximum effectiveness in enhancing learning, formative assessment should be designed into instruction from the start rather than being an add-on. This project comprised development, teaching, and research aspects. Two physics topic modules, …

Revised Model For Antibiotic Resistance In A Hospital, Ruhang Pei

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis we modify an existing model for the spread of resistant bacteria in a hospital. The existing model does not account for some of the trends seen in the data found in literature. The new model takes some of these trends into account. For the new model, we examine issues relating to identifiability, sensitivity analysis, parameter estimation, uncertainty analysis, and equilibrium stability.

Analysis Of Anacardic Acid On The Surface Of Pelargonium × Hortorum Using Matrix Assisted Laser Desorptoin Ionization Mass Spectrometry Imaging., Bryan Edward Wessel 1989-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The biosynthetic pathway leading to the production of anacardic acids (AnAcs) in glandular trichomes on the surface of geranium plants remains unclear. Anacardic acids are salicylic acid derivatives known to possess various medicinal benefits. Gene silencing techniques, such as RNA interference, could be useful in determining specific enzymes involved in the synthesis of AnAcs. However, it is first necessary to develop methodologies to image AnAcs. In this project, both fluorescence (FL) and mass spectral imaging (MSI) were tested. Our results indicate that cellular imaging of AnAcs, via FL, is not suitable because the spectral ranges of absorption and emission of …

An Information Privacy Examination Of The Practices Of Pharmaceutical Companies Regarding Use Of Information Collected Through Their Websites, Shonda Dellena Brown

CCE Theses and Dissertations

Consumers have begun to take a more proactive approach to their healthcare by accessing pharmaceutical companies Websites to obtain health and drug information, support groups, rebates, coupons, as well as free drug trials. In exchange for these benefits, companies require consumers to voluntarily disclose information. However, research has shown that consumers continue to be concerned about how their information is managed, used, and distributed by companies, especially if accessed via the Web. To date, there has been limited empirical research to examine the actual online practices of companies when it comes to privacy, especially those of pharmaceutical companies. Using Delphi …

Investigating Roles Of Information Security Strategy, Roger V. Seeholzer

CCE Theses and Dissertations

A fundamental understanding of the complexities comprising an information security strategy (ISS) in an organization is lacking. Most ISS implementations in government organizations equate anti-virus or installing a firewall to that of an ISS. While use of hardware and software forms a good defense; neither comprises the essence of an ISS. The ISS best integrates with business and information system strategies from the start, forming and shaping the direction of overall strategy synergistically within large government organizations. The researcher used grounded theory and investigated what a large government organization’s choices were with the differing roles an information security professional (ISP) …

A New Correlation For Predicting Aeration Efficiency For Air Diffused Systems, Hasan Baker Mohammad Al Ba'ba'a

Theses and Dissertations

Aeration efficiency is defined as the ratio of the oxygen transfer to the power consumed. It provides the best evaluation of the effectiveness of any aeration system. Most recent studies in oxygenation process focused on investigating the vital parameters affecting the oxygenation process without paying attention to the power consumption. The goal of this study is to establish an empirical correlation that describes aeration efficiency behavior with different orifice diameters.

This work has two main parts: studying bubble hydrodynamics and aeration efficiency investigation. The first goal of examining bubble hydrodynamics was to calculate some necessary parameters that have a known …

Do Footprint-Based Cafe Standards Make Car Models Bigger?, Brianna Marie Jean

Economics

Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards have historically been set equal across all manufacturer fleets of the same type. Concerns about varying costs across firms and safety implications of standards that are set homogeneously across firms and models resulted in a policy shift towards footprint-based standards. Under this type of standard, individual car models face targets based on the size of the area between the wheelbase and wheel track, so that larger models face less stringent standards, and manufacturers who make, on average, larger cars will face a lighter fleet standard. Theoretical models have shown that this type of policy …

Assessing And Mapping Vulnerability And Risk Perceptions To Groundwater Arsenic Contamination : Towards Developing Sustainable Arsenic Mitigation Models, Sushant Kumar Singh

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

This study focuses on the arsenic-affected rural communities in Bihar located within the mid-Gangetic Plain in India. A random stratified sampling method is applied to survey 340 households in three villages (Suarmarwa, Rampur Diara, and Bhawani Tola), through a structured questionnaire. A reliable arsenic field testing kit is used to analyze the drinking water sources in the field, followed by a confirmatory test of a subset of water samples through Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry. The study has two major goals: 1) Develop sustainable arsenic-mitigation models; and 2) Create a “composite vulnerability index,” and present the information as a map for use …

Assessing The Flood Mitigation Potential Of Water Resource Reservoirs, Matthew M. Del Ciello

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

The ability of drinking water reservoirs to retain a large amount of runoff during a storm event may allow them to be used as flood mitigation infrastructure. These types of reservoirs are not typically considered for flood mitigation because they are primarily thought of as a resource for drinking water, irrigation, or recreation. Flood mitigation is a secondary or tertiary use. But conscripting them for flood mitigation creates a flexible water resource system and may provide a simpler and more inexpensive solution to flooding than alternative methods since nothing new would need to be constructed.

The process of determining the …

An Integrated Approach To Assessing Spread Of Commercial Horticulture And Related Environmental Impacts On Watersheds : Cases In Central Highlands Of Kenya, Faith Karegi Muriithi

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Intensive horticulture production has broad environmental implications due to the high dependency on natural resources. Numerous reports indicate positive socio-economic gains associated with the Kenyan horticulture sub-sector. Even so, few highlight the extent of the negative environmental impacts. We adopt a holistic approach that integrates deskwork, Geographical Information Systems (GIS), field study and remote sensing tools to evaluate the spread and growth of commercial horticulture, and the effects on: i) surface water quality, and ii) vegetation condition, in watersheds experiencing increased production within the central highlands. The desk research utilized Google Earth archives and GIS data, to map greenhouse distribution, …

Novel Fluorescent Sensors For Cations With Additional Pet Pathways To Suppress Signals From Protons, Lesly C. Gomez

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

A large number of fluorescent sensors for cations that use a photoinduced electron transfer (PET) process to signal cation binding have been developed over the past three decades.1 The PET process of some of these sensors depends on having a tertiary nitrogen atom as a part of the receptor for cations. While these sensors work well as cation sensors, they also generate a fluorescent signal due to protonation of these receptors. The goal of this project is to design a fluorescent sensor that uses the same cation receptors but would not generate a signal for protons. Our new sensor has …

Computational And Experimental Study On Innovative Horizontal-Axis Wind Turbine Blade Designs, Abdulrahman A. Alsultan

Theses and Dissertations

This study was made to explore three novel blade geometries with intent to increase power production of a horizontal axes, three blade arrangement wind turbine. This was done by designing the blades using computer aided design (CAD) modeling software, followed by a rigorous testing phase, utilizing a computational fluid dynamics software (CFD). The blades then went into a cycle of iterative design to achieve the best parameters that will positively impact the overall power generation efficiency. These steps were followed by printing the blades utilizing 3D Printing technology, testing them for the power generation, and finally, tabulating these findings to …

Semiparametric Estimation Of The Survival Function In The Presence Of Covariates, Madlen Gebauer

Theses and Dissertations

The main interest of survival analysis is to estimate the distribution function of the survival time based on observations of a random sample. In this thesis, a semiparametric estimator is used not only to estimate the survival probability, but also to consider the influence of explanatory variables within the estimation. Therefore, the weighted maximum likelihood estimator of the conditional survival function is derived and a corresponding pointwise likelihood ratio confidence band is developed. Subsequently, the established estimator is compared to a similar estimator which was proposed by Iglesias-Pérez and de Ũna-Álvarez (2008). Since the idea of this paper arose in …