Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Integrating Remote Sensing And Machine Learning To Determine Past, Current And Future Crop Water Use From The Nubian Sandstone Aquifer System, Moaz Ishag

Department of Biological Systems Engineering: Dissertations and Theses

The agriculture sector is a significant consumer of water, and sustainable water use begins with monitoring irrigated land. Delineating irrigated land supports decision-makers and promotes the sustainable use of this crucial resource. This study focuses on the Nubian Sandstone Aquifer System (NSAS), the largest aquifers in the world, which spans Egypt, Sudan, Libya, and Chad. The study aims to: 1) quantify the increase in irrigated hectares (both pivot and non-pivot) from 2000-2001 to 2023-2024; 2) identify major irrigated crop types and their water requirements; and 3) quantify groundwater crop water use from the NSAS using remote sensing via the Google …

Essays On Artificial Intelligence (Ai) In Management, Bowen Zhou

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

This dissertation comprises three essays that investigate the transformative potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in business.

Chapter 1 investigates the fundamental issue of how integrating AI within R&D activities influences a firm’s market value. We developed an "AI Index" using patent data and textual analysis. Interestingly, empirical results indicate a negative correlation between AI integration and market value. However, this does not suggest that AI is an unviable avenue for exploration. Further analysis of the boundary conditions reveals that complementary assets are crucial for successful commercialisation, highlighting that while AI adoption is costly, these assets significantly enhance its market value. …

Cognitive Technologies, Tom Davenport

Asian Management Insights

AI and the revolution of work.

Professor Tom Davenport, the President’s Distinguished Professor of Information Technology and Management at Babson College, speaks about how companies can integrate generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) into their operations while ensuring workforce adaptation and skills development.

Water Current, Volume 56, No. 2, Summer 2024

Water Current Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Tribocorrosion And Metal Release From Austenitic Stainless Steels 304 And 201 In Simulated Cassava Food Contact, Robert Addai, Temitope E. Olowoyo, Thalia E. Standish, Jeffrey Daniel Henderson, Ubong Eduok, Yolanda Hedberg

Chemistry Publications

Cassava is the third most significant calorie source in the tropics. Its processing has changed from traditional methods to stainless steel processing machines. This study investigated the influence of cassava on metal release from two common stainless steels, ASTM 304 and 201, with and without friction, and on tribocorrosion (multianalytically) of 304. Cassava was relatively corrosive and hindered repassivation of the surface oxide of stainless steel, but it also acted as a lubricant against mechanical friction. The combined action of friction and cassava caused a significant increase in iron, chromium, nickel, and manganese release from the stainless steels (30–35- fold …

Compiler-Provenance Identification In Obfuscated Binaries Using Vision Transformers, Wasif Khan, Saed Alrabaee, Mousa Al-Kfairy, Jie Tang, Kim Kwang Raymond Choo

All Works

Extracting compiler-provenance-related information (e.g., the source of a compiler, its version, its optimization settings, and compiler-related functions) is crucial for binary-analysis tasks such as function fingerprinting, detecting code clones, and determining authorship attribution. However, the presence of obfuscation techniques has complicated the efforts to automate such extraction. In this paper, we propose an efficient and resilient approach to provenance identification in obfuscated binaries using advanced pre-trained computer-vision models. To achieve this, we transform the program binaries into images and apply a two-layer approach for compiler and optimization prediction. Extensive results from experiments performed on a large-scale dataset show that the …

New Insights On Hybridization In Potamogeton Floridanus (The Florida Pondweed)), Kaitlyn R. Sampson

<strong> Theses and Dissertations </strong>

Freshwater ecosystems are some of the most important and highest threatened habitats in the world, and aquatic plants play an important, but often-overlooked, role in maintaining them. Potamogeton is a diverse and ecologically important aquatic plant genus well known for taxonomic difficulty and rampant hybridization. lbis study aimed to 1) test the hypothesis that Potamogeton jloridanus (Florida pondweed) is a hybrid between P. oakesianus and P. pulcher, and 2) to investigate correlations in ecological conditions for the focal species. This study revealed the discovery of a new population of P. jloridanus in Big Coldwater Creek in Santa Rosa Co., FL, …

Torus Surgery, Fibrations, Multisections, And Spun 4-Manifolds, Nicholas Paul Meyer

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents from University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

A compact n-manifold X is fibered if it is a fiber bundle where the fiber F and base space B are manifolds. Fibered manifolds are particularly nice, as they are essentially classified by their monodromy maps. Two common examples of 4-dimensional fibered manifolds are surface bundles over surfaces and 3-manifold bundles over the circle.

The main focus of this dissertation is to investigate fibered 4-manifolds whose boundaries are the 3-torus and how these manifolds glue together to give new closed, fibered 4-manifolds. In particular, suppose W is diffeomorphic to S¹ × E_Y (K) where Y …

Nonlocal Frameworks For Nonlinear Conservation Laws And Advection-Diffusion Processes, Anh Thuong Vo

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents from University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

Conservation laws are fundamental principles that play an important role in modeling various phenomena in physics, chemistry, and biology. However, their limitations, such as the development of shocks despite smooth initial conditions, are well known. The nonlocal model framework can be used to overcome these challenges. Nonlocal frameworks utilize integral operators that mimic differential operators but also incorporate long-range interactions within a finite horizon. This approach not only allows for non-smooth solutions, but also provides flexibility in modeling different phenomena. This study investigates the convergence of nonlocal divergence operators, defined with a general flux density function, to their classical counterparts. …

Exploring Producers' Willingness To Pay For Ecosystem Services: Three Essays On Soil Health, Location Preferences, And Cover Crop Adoption, Kaouter Essakkat

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents from University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

This dissertation comprises three essays: one assessing Midwest producers' willingness-to-pay (WTP) for soil health-enhancing ecosystem services (ES), another examining the impact of policy implementation locations on WTP, and a third identifying factors influencing producers' adoption of cover crops (CC).

The first essay pioneers the understanding of agricultural producers’ valuation of soil health-associated ES amid growing concerns of soil degradation due to agricultural intensification. Using a discrete choice experiment, this study assesses producers’ WTP for a policy that incentivizes ES provision, specifically improved water quality, carbon sequestration, and enhanced crop yield. Surveying producers across Iowa, Kansas, and Nebraska, our results show …

A Study Of Electron- And Photon-Induced Dissociative Electron Attachment To Molecules And Within Anion-Molecule Clusters, Mahmudul Hasan

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents from University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

Dissociative electron attachment (DEA) is a resonant process in which a molecule captures a low-energy electron, forming a transient negative ion (TNI). Subsequently, this unstable TNI fragments into a stable anion and one or more neutral fragments. DEA is crucial in various phenomena, ranging from atmospheric and radiation chemistry to processes occurring in plasmas, and is particularly significant in the context of radiation-induced damage to biological molecules. This study uses different experimental methods to better understand the fragmentation in molecular anions forming through dissociative photoexcitation and electron attachment. We have developed an experimental apparatus for dissociative photoexcitation studies. This apparatus …

Letter To The Members Of Sge From Your New Editor, Scott R. Beason

The Compass: Earth Science Journal of Sigma Gamma Epsilon

No abstract provided.

Overview Of The Geology, Paleontology, And Geoscience Education Opportunities Of The University Of Tennessee At Martin Coon Creek Science Center For Visitors, Researchers, And Docents, Michael A. Gibson

The Compass: Earth Science Journal of Sigma Gamma Epsilon

The Coon Creek Formation is an internationally recognized Upper Cretaceous (Campanian, 76 million-years-old) marine clastic lagerstätten deposit with over 500 identified species of nearly perfectly preserved invertebrates, vertebrates, plants, and trace fossils with original shell geochemistry and paleoecological fidelity preserved. The type-locality and type-section, located in rural McNairy County, Tennessee, was preserved for research and education in 1988 when the Memphis Pink Palace Museum constructed a 232-acre geoscience education facility on the site, now run as the University of Tennessee at Martin Coon Creek Science Center. Visitors to the site participate in a wide variety of geoscience education programming and …

46th Biennial Convention Of Sigma Gamma Epsilon, University Of Tennessee At Martin, September 16-18, 2022, Richard L. Ford, Lee S. Potter

The Compass: Earth Science Journal of Sigma Gamma Epsilon

The Society of Sigma Gamma Epsilon (SGE), the national honorary society for the Earth sciences, held its 46th biennial convention (September 16-18, 2022) at satellite facilities of University of Tennessee at Martin (UT Martin) located in Selmer, Tennessee. The convention was hosted by SGE’s Eta Alpha Chapter and the Department of Agriculture, Geoscience, and Natural Resources at UT Martin. Ten (10) of SGE’s approximately 60 active chapters sent delegates to the convention. The traditional convention field trip, an outing to UT Martin’s Coon Creek Science Center, focused on collecting and preparing marine fossils from the Upper Cretaceous Coon Creek Formation. …

Sigma Gamma Epsilon Student Research Poster Session, Geological Society Of America Annual Meeting 2022, Denver, Colorado, Usa, Scott R. Beason

The Compass: Earth Science Journal of Sigma Gamma Epsilon

The Society of Sigma Gamma Epsilon sponsors an annual poster session at every Annual Meeting of the Geological Society of America. The 2022 Sigma Gamma Epsilon undergraduate research poster session took place during the 2022 Geological Society of America Annual Meeting in Denver, Colorado, USA, on Monday, October 10, 2022. Ten (10) posters were presented in Exhibit Hall F at the Colorado Convention Center between 2:00 PM and 6:00 PM at the poster session. Titles, authors (italics for the presenting author), affiliations, and abstracts for each poster are listed in this report.

Sigma Gamma Epsilon Chapter And Student Awards For Academic Year 2022-2023, Lee S. Potter

The Compass: Earth Science Journal of Sigma Gamma Epsilon

The Society of Sigma Gamma Epsilon (SGE) encourages efforts to broaden the education and impact of its members through community outreach. In academic year 2022-2023, four awards were given at the chapter level: The Chapter Service Award to the Gamma Chi Chapter; and the James C. Walters Quality Chapter Award to the Gamma Sigma, Gamma Chi, and Epsilon Omega Chapters. Individual merit was recognized through the W. A. Tarr awards given to twenty-two members by their respective chapters. Two awards, the Austin A. Sartin and Charles J. Mankin Outstanding Poster Awards, were given to four students for merit in scientific …

Stochastic Dominance: Cases Of Interval And P-Box Uncertainty, Kittawit Autchariyapanikul, Olga Kosheleva, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

Traditional decision theory recommendation about making a decision assume that we know both the probabilities of different outcomes of each possible decision, and we know the utility function -- that describes the decision maker's preferences. Sometimes, we can make a recommendation even when we only have partial information about utility. Such cases are known as cases of stochastic dominance. In other cases, in addition to not knowing the utility function, we also only have partial information about the probabilities of different outcomes. For example, we may only known bounds on the outcomes (case of interval uncertainty) or bounds on the …

If Subsequent Results Are Too Easy To Obtain, The Proof Most Probably Has Errors: Explanation Of The Empirical Observation, Olga Kosheleva, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

Many modern mathematical proofs are very complex, checking them is difficult; as a result, errors sneak into published proofs, even into proofs published in highly reputable journals. Sometimes, the errors are repairable, but sometimes, it turns out that the supposedly proven result is actually wrong. When the error is not noticed for some time, the published result is used to prove many other results -- and when the error is eventually found, all these new results are invalidated. This happened several times. Since it is not realistic to more thoroughly check all the proofs, and we want to minimize the …

For 2 X N Cases, Proportional Fitting Problem Reduces To A Single Equation, Olga Kosheleva, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

In many practical situations, for each of two classifications, we know the probabilities that a randomly selected object belong to different categories. For example, we know what proportion of people are below 20 years old, what proportion is between 20 and 30, etc., and we also know what proportion of people earns less than 10K, between 10K and 20K, etc. In such situations, we are often interested in proportion of people who are classified by two classifications into two given categories. For example, we are interested in the proportion of people whose age is between 20 and 30 and whose …

Is Alaska Negative-Tax Arrangement Fair? Almost: Mathematical Analysis, Chon Van Le, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

In the State of Alaska there is no state income tax. Instead, there is a negative tex: every year every resident gets some money from the state. At present, every resident -- from the poorest to the richest -- gets the exact same amount of money: in 2024, it is expected to be around $1500. A natural question is: Is this fair? Maybe poor people should get more since their needs are greater? Maybe the rich people should get proportionally more, since fairness means equal added happiness for all, and for rich people, extra $1500 is barely noticeable? There have …

Why Angles Between Galactic Center Filaments And Galactic Plane Follow A Bimodal Distribution: A Symmetry-Based Explanation, Julio C. Urenda, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

Recent observations have shown that the angles between the Galaxy Center filaments and the Galactic plane follow a bimodal distribution: a large number of filaments are approximately orthogonal to the Galactic plane, a large number of filaments are approximately parallel to the Galactic plane, and much fewer filaments have other orientations. In this paper, we show this bimodal distribution can be explained by natural geometric symmetries.

Why Seismicity In Ireland Is Low: A Possible Geometric Explanation, Julio C. Urenda, Aaron Velasco, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

For each geographic location, its seismicity level is usually determined by how close this location is to the boundaries of tectonic plates. However, there is one notable exception: while Ireland and Britain are at approximately the same distance from such boundaries, the seismicity level in Ireland is much lower than in Britain. A recent paper provided a partial explanation for this phenomenon: namely, it turns out that the lithosphere under Ireland is unusually thick, and this can potentially lead to lower seismicity. However, the current explanation of the relation between the lithosphere thickness and seismicity level strongly depends on the …

Green Finance Growth Prediction Model Based On Time-Series Conditional Generative Adversarial Networks, Aya Salama Abdelhady, Nadia Dahmani, Lobna M. Abouel-Magd, Ashraf Darwish, Aboul Ella Hassanien

All Works

Climate change mitigation necessitates increased investment in green sectors. This study proposes a methodology to predict green finance growth across various countries, aiming to encourage such investments. Our approach leverages time-series Conditional Generative Adversarial Networks (CT-GANs) for data augmentation and Nonlinear Autoregressive Neural Networks (NARNNs) for prediction. The green finance growth predicting model was applied to datasets collected from forty countries across five continents. The Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) test confirmed the non-stationary nature of the data, supporting the use of Nonlinear Autoregressive Neural Networks (NARNNs). CT-GANs were then employed to augment the data for improved prediction accuracy. Results demonstrate the …

Generalized Optimal Transport And Mean Field Control Problems For Reaction-Diffusion Systems With High-Order Finite Element Computation, Guosheng Fu, Stanley Osher, Will Pazner, Wuchen Li

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Publications and Presentations

We design and compute a class of optimal control problems for reaction-diffusion systems. They form mean field control problems related to multi-density reaction-diffusion systems. To solve proposed optimal control problems numerically, we first apply high-order finite element methods to discretize the space-time domain and then solve the optimal control problem using augmented Lagrangian methods (ALG2). Numerical examples, including generalized optimal transport and mean field control problems between Gaussian distributions and image densities, demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed modeling and computational methods for mean field control problems involving reaction-diffusion equations/systems.

Quasi – Monte Carlo Estimation For Functional Generalized Linear Mixed Models, Ruvini Jayamaha

Waldo Library Student Exhibits

Functional Data Analysis (FDA) is a topic of growing interest in the Statistics community. The data in FDA are smooth curves or surfaces in time or space which can be conceptualized as functions.

We propose a Functional Generalized Linear Mixed Model (FGLMM) to fit EEG data and estimate the parameters using Quasi-Monte Carlo Method.

This proposed model deals with non-Gaussian scalar response, functional predictor, and random effects. We relax the assumption of link and variance functions.

The Analysis Of Artificially Flavored Coffees, Hannah Knights

Longwood Senior Thesis Proposal

This project aims to determine the molecular components that give artificially flavored coffees their advertised flavor. Much work has been conducted to determine various characteristics such as antioxidant properties, phenolic compounds, flavors, and aromas found in natural coffees. In addition, there is ample literature on the results of sensory tests for a variety of commercial coffees. However, not much work has been conducted to determine the compounds found in artificially flavored coffees that give rise to their distinctive aroma and flavor. This is, perhaps, due to the proprietary nature of the flavoring process employed by commercial producers. The goal of …

Contextualizing Interpersonal Data Sharing In Smart Homes, Weijia He, Nathan Reitinger, Atheer Almogbil, Yi-Shyuan Chiang, Timothy J. Pierson, David Kotz

Dartmouth Scholarship

A key feature of smart home devices is monitoring the environment and recording data. These devices provide security via motion-detection video alerts, cost-savings via thermostat usage history, and peace of mind via functions like auto-locking doors or water leak detectors. At the same time, the sharing of this information in interpersonal relationships---though necessary---is currently accomplished on an all-or-nothing basis. This can easily lead to oversharing in a multi-user environment. Although prior work has studied people's perceptions of information sharing with vendors or ISPs, the sharing of household data among users who interact personally is less well understood. Interpersonal situations make …

Mega-Influencers And Brand Dynamics: Shaping Attitudes Toward Leading And Challenger Brandsthrough Electronic Word Of Mouth, Riccardo Rialto, Lamberto Zollo, Kacy Kim, Sukki Yoon

Mathematics and Economics Faculty Journal Articles

The aim of this paper is to explore how mega‐influencers' electronic word of mouth (eWOM) messages on social media influence consumers' brand attitudes in duopolistic markets. Through three experimental studies, we observe that when mega‐ influencers send positive (vs. negative) eWOM messages about a leading brand, followers form positive (vs. negative) brand attitudes, but these effects fail to occur when influencers back challenger brands. The findings are consistent across three duopolistic market rivals (Apple vs. Samsung; UPS vs. FedEx; Nike vs. Adidas), three social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, and X), and four mega‐influencers (Marques Brownlee, Gary Vaynerchuk, Kanye West, and …

Who Wrote The Scientific News? Improving The Discernibility Of Llms To Human-Written Scientific News, Dominik Soós

Computer Science Theses & Dissertations

Large Language Models (LLMs) have rapidly advanced the field of Natural Language Processing and become powerful tools for generating and evaluating scientific text. Although LLMs have demonstrated promising as evaluators for certain text generation tasks, there is still a gap until they are used as reliable text evaluators for general purposes. In this thesis project, I attempted to fill this gap by examining the discernibility of LLMs from human-written and LLM-generated scientific news. This research demonstrated that although it was relatively straightforward for humans to discern scientific news written by humans from scientific news generated by GPT-3.5 using basic prompts, …

Adopt: An Environmentally-Friendly System For Alerting Drivers To Occluded Pedestrians Traffic, Abrar Abdulrahman Alali

Computer Science Theses & Dissertations

The emergence of sensing technologies and vehicular communications has brought significant opportunities for enhancing pedestrian safety on city streets. However, existing solutions rely on costly technologies such as computer vision and trajectory prediction to detect crossing pedestrians, while they have limits in detecting pedestrians who are occluded by parked cars. Despite the presence of collaborative perception by surrounding vehicles and infrastructure, there is a notable absence of incorporating existing parked cars themselves due to their insufficiency in detecting pedestrians and communicating with other cars while they are turned off. Furthermore, accommodating pedestrians on streets has been linked to an additional …