Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Sediment Influence On Escherichia Coli Variability In The Rio Grande During The Dry Season In The South Valley, Albuquerque, New Mexico, Kate Wilkins

Water Resources Professional Project Reports

With Escherichia coli (E. coli) being a widely used indicator of pathogen contamination, concentrations need to be fully understood to create effective best management practices for water quality managers. While management and impairment standards are focused on concentrations in the water column, there is research showing that E. coli attaches to sediment in the river and acts as a reservoir for E. coli. The Middle Rio Grande in the South Valley, New Mexico is classified as an impaired reach because it exceeds the E. coli water quality standard. Exceedances are commonly seen during the wet season in high flows, but …

Modelling Spherical Aberration Detection In An Analog Holographic Wavefront Sensor, Emma Branigan, Suzanne Martin, Matthew Sheehan, Kevin Murphy

Conference Papers

The analog holographic wavefront sensor (AHWFS) is a simple and robust solution to wavefront sensing in turbulent environments. Here, the ability of a photopolymer based AHWFS to detect refractively generated spherical aberration is modelled and verified.

Computer-Aided Response-To-Intervention For Reading Comprehension Based On Recommender System, Ming-Chi Liu, Wei-Yang Lin, Chia-Ling Tsai

Publications and Research

In 2019, New York State Education Department announced 54.6% of all students in grades 3 to 8 not meeting the standard of reading proficiency. Motivated by the need for a more efficient intervention model, we propose a recommender system to leverage the technology in machine learning to recommend suitable reading materials for effective intervention. The recommendation is based on the student's prior reading comprehension assessments and also assessments of other students at the same grade level using collaborative filtering. No other prior academic or demographic information of students is available. Two main challenges are lack of explicit ratings of reading …

Climatology Of Deep O+ Dropouts In The Night-Time F-Region In Solar Minimum Measured By A Langmuir Probe Onboard The International Space Station, Shantanab Debchoudhury, Aroh Barjatya, Joseh I. Minow, Victoria N. Coffey, Linda N. Parker

Publications

The Floating Potential Measurement Unit (FPMU) onboard the International Space Station includes a Wide sweeping Langmuir Probe (WLP) that has been operating in the F-region of the ionosphere at ∼400 km since 2006. While traditional Langmuir probe estimates include critical plasma parameters like electron density and temperature, we have also extracted the O+ percentage from the total ion constituents. This O+ composition dataset from the recent minimum in the Solar Cycle 24 reveals orbits with dropouts in O+ to below 80% of the total background ion density at ISS orbital altitudes. The observed O+ percentages during these dropouts are much …

Quality And Transparency, Christopher J. Smiley Dds

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

In a recent JDR Clinical & Translational Research report, the American Dental Association's clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) were determined to offer high-quality guidance for the dental profession. The study employed the AGREE II tool to validate the ADA's guidelines’ methodological rigor and transparency, ensuring their quality. This external review is promising for the profession, as it indicates that the ADA has developed reliable CPGs that support advocacy and implementation. However, the article raises questions about consumer-targeted quality scores for dentist providers, such as DentaQual by P&R Dental Strategies LLC. It suggests that for such scoring systems to be credible, they …

Molecular Level Characterization Of Dissolved Organic Matter Integrating Trapped Ion Mobility Spectrometry And Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance Mass Spectrometry, Dennys Leyva Bombuse

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Dissolved organic matter (DOM) is an extremely complex mixture of organic molecules ubiquitous in aquatic systems and a critical component of the global carbon cycle. Little is known about DOM structural composition at the molecular level. The work presented in this dissertation summarizes the development of a novel analytical toolbox based on trapped ion mobility spectrometry and Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (TIMS-FT-ICR MS) that has significantly contributed to expand our knowledge of DOM molecular complexity and diversity. The TIMS-FT-ICR MS/MS analysis provided for the first-time lower and upper estimation of the molecular isomeric diversity. The TIMS-FT-ICR MS/MS …

A Numerical Investigation Of Tornado Production And Intensification In Tropical Cyclones, Marco Paredes

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The environmental conditions required for tornado formation and development in tropical cyclones (TCs) and the mechanisms underlying the intensification of TC tornadoes remain poorly understood. Previous research has suggested that low and mid-level dry air intrusion in TCs may enhance convective instability and influence the production of tornadoes. However, observations have their limitations in answering some of the key questions regarding the relationship among thermodynamic instability, dry air, and TC tornado genesis, development, and dissipation. In this study, a multiple nested Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model in a hindcasting mode is used to simulate Hurricane Ivan (2004) by resolving …

Predicting Contaminant Transfer Following Re-Established Connectivity In The Boardman River, Ross A. Gay

All NMU Master's Theses

Anthropogenic alteration of the environment began as soon as people settled the Great Lakes (GL) region with hydrologic alteration (dams) and discharges of man-made chemicals into the air and water as populations and industry expanded. Consequently, the GL became a reservoir of anthropogenic contaminants such as mercury (Hg), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethylene (DDT), and organochloride compounds. Migratory fish accumulate and magnify contaminants within their tissues and transport them across ecosystem boundaries. Re-established connectivity in the form of dam removal has the potential to allow contaminant laden migrants access to ecosystems previously inaccessible. Here I assess the contaminant burden of a …

Can Diatom Motility Indices Reflect Excess Fine Sediment Condition In Streams?, Christine L. Weilhoefer, Yangdong Pan

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

The diatom motility trait is widely used in bioassessment studies, however, there is no strong consensus as to what environmental conditions diatom motility reflects. We used random forest models to explore the behavior of several diatom-based motility indices and examined whether stronger diatom motility-environmental relationships could be developed by controlling for environmental factors that influence natural sediment loads and factors that co-occur with anthropogenic sediment loading. Across the study area, median values of most stressors were low; streambed fine sediments ranged from 0 to 100% (median: 6.7%) and total phosphorus concentrations ranged from 0 to 2587 µg L−1 (median: 17 …

On Incorporating The Stochasticity Of Quantum Machine Learning Into Classical Models, Joseph Lindsay

Theses and Dissertations

While many of the most exciting quantum computing algorithms are currently impossible to be implemented until fault-tolerant quantum error correction is achieved, noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) devices allow for smaller scale applications that leverage the paradigm for speed-ups to be researched and realized. A currently popular application for these devices is quantum machine learning (QML). Recent works over the past few years indicate that QML algorithms can function just as well as their classical counterparts, and even outperform them in some cases. Many current QML models take advantage of variational quantum algorithm (VQA) circuits, given that their scale is typically …

Beyond The Petermann Limit: Prospect Of Increasing Sensor Precision Near Exceptional Points, David D. Smith, Hongrok Chang, Eugeniy E. Mikhailov, Selim M. Shahriar

Arts & Sciences Articles

Experiments near the lock-in region in maximally dissipative non-Hermitian systems, e.g., conventional laser gyroscopes near the deadband, have run up against the Petermann limit, where excess noise exactly cancels any scale-factor enhancement resulting in no overall enhancement in precision. As a result, one might be tempted to conclude that exceptional points (EPs) generally cannot be used to increase the precision of laser sensors. Indeed, using a linear eigenmode analysis we show that the Petermann limit applies not just to maximally dissipative systems, but for any type of EP, owing to the fact that EPs are rotationally invariant. It turns out, …

Probing The Stability And Solution Processability Of Metal Chalcogenide Semiconducting Materials, Mengwen Yan

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Metal chalcogenide (MCh) semiconductors have long research history due to their earth abundance, easy synthesizability, and accessible band gap tunability. People have realized their functionality as p-type semiconductors that provide good hole mobility and conductivity within the materials. However, MChs have easier reaction pathway with gas molecules (H2O and O2) compared to other semiconductors such as metal oxides. Also, poor solution processability of all MChs make low-cost thin film fabrication methods hard to achieve. In this thesis, we target to understand both the chemical stability and solution processability of MCh materials. ZnSe based inorganic organic layered hybrids (LHs) were exfoliated …

Tissue Decay Tested In Modern Metasequoia Leaves: Implications For Early Diagenesis Of Leaves In Fossil Lagerstätten, Caitlyn R. Witkowski, Qin Leng, Christopher W. Reid, Liang Feng, Hong Yang

Science and Technology Department Faculty Journal Articles

Sedimentary deposits yielding extraordinarily-preserved fossils (known as Lagerstätten) may provide significant insights into the physiology and environments of ancient plants, particularly when the fossils represent their original characteristics with limited diagenetic modifications. To better understand molecular, isotopic, and morphological changes during the early stages of diagenesis, degradation experiments were conducted in two time series: 1) a laboratory decay series using fungi on leaves over the course of a month and 2) a natural decay series with leaves collected from different stages of leaf senescence and early diagenesis. Both experiments used modern leaves of the dawn redwood Metasequoia glyptostroboides …

Frustration-Induced Diffusive Scattering Anomaly And Dimension Change In Fege₂, Y. Su, Hillary L. Smith, M. B. Stone, D. L. Abernathy, M. D. Lumsden, C. P. Adams, C. Li

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Works

Magnetic frustration, arising from the competition of exchange interactions, has received great attention because of its relevance to exotic quantum phenomena in materials. In the current work, we report an unusual checkerboard-shaped scattering anomaly in FeGe₂, far from the known incommensurate magnetic satellite peaks, by inelastic neutron scattering. More surprisingly, such phenomenon appears as spin dynamics at low temperature, but it becomes prominent above Néel transition as elastic scattering. A model Hamiltonian that includes an intraplane next-nearest neighbor was proposed and such anomaly is attributed to the near-perfect magnetic frustration and the emergence of unexpected two-dimensional magnetic order in the …

Properties And Behavior Of Tricarbonyl Manganese Scorpionate Complexes, Billy Shone

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Manganese tricarbonyl complexes have widely been studied for their ability to release carbon monoxide (CO) in the presence of light for potential applications in cancer therapy and in catalysis. Most studies focus on the kinetics and quantity of CO release and the overall impact on cell death. Far fewer studies identify the manganese intermediates and final products after decarbonylation. Identification of such products would be critical to improving reactivity and understanding potential (undesirable) side effects in future applications employing these CO releasing molecules (CORMs). Recently, nitrogen confused C-scorpionate ligands were introduced by the Gardinier group where a pyrazolyl ring is …

Photocrosslinking Probes Proximity Of Thymine Modifiers Tethering Excitonically Coupled Dye Aggregates To Dna Holliday Junction, Shibani Basu, Keitel Cervantes-Salguero, Bernard Yurke, William B. Knowlton, Jeunghoon Lee, Olga A. Mass

Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Publications and Presentations

A DNA Holliday junction (HJ) has been used as a versatile scaffold to create a variety of covalently templated molecular dye aggregates exhibiting strong excitonic coupling. In these dye-DNA constructs, one way to attach dyes to DNA is to tether them via single long linkers to thymine modifiers incorporated in the core of the HJ. Here, using photoinduced [2 + 2] cycloaddition (photocrosslinking) between thymines, we investigated the relative positions of squaraine-labeled thymine modifiers in the core of the HJ, and whether the proximity of thymine modifiers correlated with the excitonic coupling strength in squaraine dimers. Photocrosslinking between squaraine-labeled thymine …

Adjacency And Connectivity Matrices To Airline Connections Among Airports, Alejandra Munoz

Theses and Dissertations

We study how powers of adjacency and connectivity matrices can be used to investigate airline connections among airports. For this study, only matrices with all diagonal elements of “0” are considered (i.e., an airport is not connected to itself) and each matrix must contain at least one entry of “1” in each row and column (i.e., each airport contains at least one inbound and one outbound route). Sets of 3, 4, and 5 airports are discussed in this study, comparing cases with up to 3, 4, and 5 round routes, respectively, in an effort to find the amount of paths …

Effects Of Nutrient Enrichment On Mangrove And Saltmarsh Habitats, Elena A. Flores

Theses and Dissertations

Nutrient over-enrichment is a global threat to coastal and marine environments. Yet, system-specific attributes of estuarine and coastal ecosystems may result in large differences in their sensitivity and susceptibility to such threat. In tropical latitudes, plant species adapted to low-nutrient habitats generally have nutrient-conservation mechanisms that acquire, use, and internally recycle nutrients efficiently. Thus, a major challenge for managers and decision makers is to develop a predictive and holistic understanding of how nutrient loading alters ecosystem functions and therefore ecosystem services. The objective of the present research is to document short and long-term effects of persistent nutrient …

Uncertainties Of The Pulsed Electroacoustic Method: Peak Positions Of Embedded Charge Distributions, Zachary Gibson, J. R. Dennison

Physics Student Research

The pulsed electroacoustic (PEA) method allows for nondestructive measurements of internal charge distributions in dielectric materials. These measurements have been paramount in understanding and mitigating charge accumulation, aging, and electrostatic discharge in materials for various applications. This study aims to examine more closely the uncertainties of pulsed electroacoustic measurements. The first few moments of a charge distribution are directly related to the magnitude, peak position, full-width-at-half-maximum, and skewness. The uncertainty in the magnitude of the charge distribution is often quite large, but the peak position can be determined with a precision of <1 μm. This has been demonstrated in our lab with repeated PEA measurements of polyether-etherketone (PEEK) with internal charge present. This precision is further validated with measurements of PEEK irradiated with differing doses of 50 keV incident electrons, resulting in peak positions that differ by only a few μm. A final test is given by measurements monitoring the slow migration of the charge distributions in these irradiated samples over several months. The measured shifts in the peak position of the charge distributions are ≤1 μm. Though the spatial resolutions of PEA measurements are typically ~10 μm, as defined by the full- width-at-half-maximum of the leading interfacial peak, the precision of the peak position can be more than an order of magnitude greater. The statistical analysis of the repeated measurements to determine uncertainties, as well as the validation measurements, demonstrate the high precision determination of the peak position of embedded charge distributions.

Finding Top-M Leading Records In Temporal Data, Yiyi Wang

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

A traditional top-k query retrieves the records that stand out at a certain point in time. On the other hand, a durable top-k query considers how long the records retain their supremacy, i.e., it reports those records that are consistently among the top-k in a given time interval. In this thesis, we introduce a new query to the family of durable top-k formulations. It finds the top-m leading records, i.e., those that rank among the top-k for the longest duration within the query interval. Practically, this query assesses the records based on how long …

Deepcause: Verifying Neural Networks With Abstraction Refinement, Nguyen Hua Gia Phuc

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Neural networks have been becoming essential parts in many safety-critical systems (such
as self-driving cars and medical diagnosis). Due to that, it is desirable that neural networks
not only have high accuracy (which traditionally can be validated using a test set) but also
satisfy some safety properties (such as robustness, fairness, or free of backdoor). To verify
neural networks against desired safety properties, there are many approaches developed
based on classical abstract interpretation. However, like in program verification, these
approaches suffer from false alarms, which may hinder the deployment of the networks.

One natural remedy to tackle the problem adopted …

Biometrics And An Ai Bill Of Rights, Margaret Hu

Faculty Publications

This Article contends that an informed discussion on an AI Bill of Rights requires grappling with biometric data collection and its integration into emerging AI systems. Biometric AI systems serve a wide range of governmental purposes, including policing, border security and immigration enforcement, and biometric cyberintelligence and biometric-enabled warfare. These systems are increasingly categorized as "high-risk" when deployed in ways that may impact fundamental constitutional rights and human rights. There is growing recognition that high-risk biometric AI systems, such as facial recognition identification, can pose unprecedented challenges to criminal procedure rights. This Article concludes that a failure to recognize these …

Defining Critical Or Hydrologic Conditions As Sampled During The Joint Study, Brian E. Haggard, Erin Grantz, J. T. Scott

Technical Reports

The “Joint Study” was conducted to fulfill the obligations of the second “Statement of Joint Principles and Actions” agreed to by the states of Arkansas and Oklahoma. The “Joint Study” affirmed the magnitude of Oklahoma’s Scenic River total phosphorus (TP) criteria (i.e., 0.037 mg/L), but it added the new caveat of applying the criteria to “critical conditions.” The primary purpose of this paper was to define “critical conditions” based on the range in base flow proportions (BFP) of total streamflow on days that were sampled in the “Joint Study,” where BFP is base flow discharge divided by total stream flow …

The Efficacy Of Research-Based "Mathematics For All" Professional, Kathleen Melhuish, Eva P. Thanheiser, Alexander White, Brenda Rosencrans, J. Michael Shaughnessy, Linda Foreman, Andrew Riffel, Layla Guyot

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Publications and Presentations

This article contributes to the larger narrative around what makes a mathematics professional development (PD) successful and in what ways. We share a research-based PD model that was implemented in elementary schools in an urban school district for 3 years. The model uses a pseudo lesson study approach and emphasizes standards-based instruction. We found that teachers made gains in knowledge and instruction quality. However, whereas some students saw gains on standardized assessments, this was the case only for students who were not members of historically minoritized groups (Black/Latino), countering our assumptions that the PD would lead to equitable achievement results. …

Digital Intimacy In Real Time: Live Streaming Gender And Sexuality, Bo Ruberg, Johanna Brewer

Computer Science: Faculty Publications

This article serves as the guest editors’ introduction to the Television and New Media special issue dedicated to gender and sexuality in live streaming. Live streaming is a key part of the contemporary digital media landscape; it sits at the center of wide-reaching shifts in how culture, entertainment, and labor are expressed and experienced online today. Gender and sexuality are crucial elements of live streaming. Across live streaming’s many forms, these elements manifest in myriad ways: from gendered performances to gender-based harassment, from LGBTQ community building to real-time sex work. This special issue models an interdisciplinary approach to studying gender …

Are You Really Muted?: A Privacy Analysis Of Mute Buttons In Video Conferencing Apps, Yucheng Yang, Jack West, George K. Thiruvathukal, Neil Klingensmith, Kassem Fawaz

Computer Science: Faculty Publications and Other Works

In the post-pandemic era, video conferencing apps (VCAs) have converted previously private spaces — bedrooms, living rooms, and kitchens — into semi-public extensions of the office. And for the most part, users have accepted these apps in their personal space, without much thought about the permission models that govern the use of their personal data during meetings. While access to a device’s video camera is carefully controlled, little has been done to ensure the same level of privacy for accessing the microphone. In this work, we ask the question: what happens to the microphone data when a user clicks the …

Why Time Seems To Pass Slowly For Unpleasant Experiences And Quickly For Pleasant Experiences: An Explanation Based On Decision Theory, Laxman Bokati, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

It is known that our perception of time depends on our level of happiness: time seems to pass slower when we have unpleasant experiences and faster if our experiences are pleasant. Several explanations have been proposed for this effect. However, these explanations are based on specific features of human memory and/or human perception, features that, in turn, need explaining. In this paper, we show that this effect can be explained on a much more basic level of decision theory, without utilizing any specific features of human memory or perception.

Everyone Is Above Average: Is It Possible? Is It Good?, Vladik Kreinovich, Olga Kosheleva

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

Starting with the 1980s, a popular US satirical radio show described a fictitious town Lake Wobegon where ``all children are above average'' -- parodying the way parents like to talk about their children. This everyone-above-average situation was part of the fiction since, if we interpret the average in the precise mathematical sense, as average over all the town's children, then such a situation is clearly impossible. However, usually, when parents make this claim, they do not mean town-wise average, they mean average over all the kids with whom their child directly interacts. Somewhat surprisingly, it turns out that if we …

A Protein-Based Therapeutic Combination For The Treatment Of Hard-To-Heal Wounds, Graham L. Strauss

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Chronic wounds present many clinical challenges in relation to the successful treatment and closure of the damaged tissue. Most current treatment methods focused on one or two aspects to drive wound closure, while most chronic wounds are multifactorial environments with many of those dependencies relying on the termination of one another to effectively gain tissue construction, closure, and full skin thickness and composition. Natural wound healing processes allude to potential biologics that can impede the chronic breakdown of tissue, while restoring deposition of new tissue, and effectively leading to a healed wound. Proteases secreted by the body’s immune system lay …

Zooplankton Biodiversity In The Northeast Gulf Of Mexico And On The West Florida Shelf From 2005 - 2014, Megan Ferguson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Zooplankton abundance and biodiversity was measured in the northeast Gulf of Mexico (NEGoM) and on the West Florida Shelf. Bongo net samples were collected between May 2005 to September 2009 through the SEAMAP program, and between July 2010 to August 2014 through the C-IMAGE program. Calanoid copepods were the most abundant zooplankton group in most of the samples collected, but ostracods, larvaceans, and chaetognaths were also abundant. Shannon and Inverse Simpson indices were calculated for all zooplankton samples and generally showed similar trends, but only Shannon indices were used for statistical analyses. In the winter and spring there were significant …