Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Multiple Shallow Crustal Origins For Spinel-Bearing Lithologies On The Moon: A Perspective From The Luna 20 Mission, Steven B. Simon, Charles K. Shearer, Stephen E. Haggerty, Daniel P. Moriarty Iii, Noah Petro, James J. Papike, Zoltan Vaci

Earth and Planetary Sciences Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Mafic Explosive Volcanism At Llaima Volcano: 3d X-Ray Microtomography Reconstruction Of Pyroclasts To Constrain Shallow Conduit Processes, Pedro Valdivia, Aaron A. Marshall, Brittany D. Brand, Michael Manga, Christian Huber

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Mafic volcanic activity is dominated by effusive to mildly explosive eruptions. Plinian and ignimbrite-forming mafic eruptions, while rare, are also possible; however, the conditions that promote such explosivity are still being explored. Eruption style is determined by the ability of gas to escape as magma ascends, which tends to be easier in low-viscosity, mafic magmas. If magma permeability is sufficiently high to reduce bubble overpressure during ascent, volatiles may escape from the magma, inhibiting violent explosive activity. In contrast, if the permeability is sufficiently low to retain the gas phase within the magma during ascent, bubble overpressure may drive magma …

Accuracy And Practical Considerations For Doubly Labeled Water Analysis In Nutrition Studies Using A Laser-Based Isotope Instrument (Off-Axis Integrated Cavity Output Spectroscopy), Linda M. Reynard, William W. Wong, Noreen Tuross

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background: Given the utility of the doubly labeled water (DLW) method for determination of energy expenditure, additional techniques for isotope analysis of the samples are welcome. Laser-based instruments are one such new analytical tool, but their accuracy and feasibility for DLW studies are grossly understudied.

Objectives: We assessed the accuracy of laser-based isotope ratio measurements as part of the DLW method for estimation of carbon dioxide production rate (rCO₂) and total energy expenditure (TEE), in between-group comparison study designs.

Methods: Urine samples from a previous study were analyzed with a laser-based instrument [off-axis integrated cavity output spectroscopy (OA-ICOS)]. …

Vortices And Dust Devils As Observed By The Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer Instruments On Board The Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover, Brian Jackson

Physics Faculty Publications and Presentations

An important and perhaps dominant source of dust in the Martian atmosphere, dust devils play a key role in Mars' climate. Data sets from previous landed missions have revealed dust devil activity, constrained their structures, and elucidated their dust-lifting capacities. However, each landing site and observational season exhibits unique meteorological properties that shape dust devil activity and illuminate their dependence on ambient conditions. The recent release of data from the Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer (MEDA) instrument suite on board the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover promises a new treasure trove for dust devil studies. In this study, we sift the time …

Dataset For: Mapping Fire History And Quantifying Burned Area Through 35 Years Of Prescribed Fire History At An Illinois Tallgrass Prairie Restoration Site Using Gis, Erin G. Rowland-Schaefer, Elizabeth M. Bach, Bill P. Kleiman, Holly P. Jones

Research Datasets

Fire was important to pre-colonization prairies. In today’s remnant and reconstructed prairies, managers frequently employ prescribed fire, a historical management practice that limits woody encroachment, suppresses non-native species, and promotes nutrient cycling. However, few long-term prescribed fire spatial datasets are available for study. We used archived images of prescribed fire maps and hand-drawn fire records to generate a geospatial record of the prescribed fire history at Nachusa Grasslands, a combination remnant and restored preserve in northern Illinois. This record contains maps of the prescribed fire history of the preserve across the entirety of its 35-year history. We used the maps …

Age And Chemostratigraphy Of The Finlayson Lake District, Yukon: Implications For Volcanogenic Massive Sulfide (Vms) Mineralization And Tectonics Along The Western Laurentian Continental Margin, Matthew J. Manor, Stephen J. Piercey, Donald C. Murphy, Corey J. Wall

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

The Yukon-Tanana terrane in the Finlayson Lake district, Yukon, represents one of the first arc–back-arc systems that formed adjacent to the Laurentian continental margin in the mid-Paleozoic. Back-arc rocks contain many large and high-grade volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS) deposits. This study integrates U-Pb zircon geochronology, lithogeochemistry, and Hf-Nd isotopes to establish precise controls on tectonomagmatic activity adjacent to the western Laurentian margin in the Late Devonian to Early Mississippian. High-precision chemical abrasion- (CA-) ID-TIMS U-Pb zircon geochronology defines coeval arc (ca. 363.1 to 348 Ma) and back-arc (ca. 363.3 to 355.0 Ma) magmatism in the Finlayson Lake district that intruded …

Perceived Social And Environmental Impacts Of The Maya Train Project On The Yucatan Peninsula Of Mexico: A Case Study Of Puerto Morelos, Emely Hernandez Yac

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The Maya Train Project (MTP) is a new national megaproject in Mexico, meant to connect the perimeter of the Yucatan Peninsula, and facilitate easier transportation for tourism, industry, and agriculture. Given the region’s dependence on tourism, the train will accelerate the growth, as well as the social and environmental impacts of tourism in the region. Globally, the tourism industry has resulted in inequitable social and environmental impacts for the local communities and there is concern that this new Maya Train Project will serve to accelerate uneven development in the region. This project focused on the coastal tourist city of Puerto …

Hitting It Out Of The Park: How Major League Baseball Changed The Game By Not Changing Anything At All, Kyle Sorgi

Honors Theses

In this paper, I will examine the integration of baseball into American culture and statistics’ involvement in that process. This paper will paint a clear picture of the emergence and acceptance of analytics in baseball through a gradual transformation of the style of play spanning the past few decades in the form of increased strikeouts, homeruns, and extra-base hits. Furthermore, this paper will explore the polarizing implications of analytical baseball on and off the field. One of the main questions that this paper will explore is whether or not MLB can go too far with its statistic-minded initiative (if it …

Morphometric Quantification Of Cockpit Karst In A Jamaican Bauxite Mining Concession, M Sean Chenoweth

Research, Publications & Creative Work

A digital surface model (DSM) is used to characterize the landscape and topical karst landforms within a bauxite mining lease in north central Jamaica. Five case study sites are selected for detailed geomorphic analysis and cartographic visualization using a GIS. In Jamaica, tropical cockpit karst landscapes are composed of several landforms: cockpits, glades, corridors, saddles, and talus slopes. Evidence for the existence and quantification of these landforms is provided in this paper. Study sites have a mean basin area of 96,514 m2 , an average highest elevation of 541 m, mean lowest point of 444 m, with an average enclosed …

Sediment Survey: Yr071205, Station 3949, Clay Bank, York River Virginia, Grace M. Massey, Patrick J. Dickhudt, Carl T. Friedrichs

Data

This dataset consists of sediment properties including grain size distribution, percent moisture, percent organic matter, sediment bed erodibility, as well as (in most cases) x-ray images of the sediment structure. Most samples were taken in support of an Acoustic Doppler Velocimeter (ADV) tripod deployed in nearby location.

Sediment Survey: Yr110603, Station S4919-S4923, Clay Bank, York River Virginia, Grace M. Massey, Kelsey A. Fall, Carl T. Friedrichs

Data

This dataset consists of sediment properties including grain size distribution, percent moisture, percent organic matter, sediment bed erodibility, as well as (in most cases) x-ray images of the sediment structure. Most samples were taken in support of an Acoustic Doppler Velocimeter (ADV) tripod deployed in nearby location.

Sediment Survey: Yr120821, Station S5026-S5031, Clay Bank, York River Virginia, Grace M. Massey, Kelsey A. Fall, Carl T. Friedrichs

Data

This dataset consists of sediment properties including grain size distribution, percent moisture, percent organic matter, sediment bed erodibility, as well as (in most cases) x-ray images of the sediment structure. Most samples were taken in support of an Acoustic Doppler Velocimeter (ADV) tripod deployed in nearby location.

Sediment Survey: Yr060418, Station 3905, Gloucester Point, York River Virginia, Grace M. Massey, Patrick J. Dickhudt, Carl T. Friedrichs

Data

This dataset consists of sediment properties including grain size distribution, percent moisture, percent organic matter, sediment bed erodibility, as well as (in most cases) x-ray images of the sediment structure. Most samples were taken in support of an Acoustic Doppler Velocimeter (ADV) tripod deployed in nearby location.

Functional Implications Of Dale's Law In Balanced Neuronal Network Dynamics And Decision Making, Victor J. Barranca, Asha Bhuiyan , '23, Max Sundgren , '22, Fangzhou Xing , '22

Mathematics & Statistics Faculty Works

The notion that a neuron transmits the same set of neurotransmitters at all of its post-synaptic connections, typically known as Dale's law, is well supported throughout the majority of the brain and is assumed in almost all theoretical studies investigating the mechanisms for computation in neuronal networks. Dale's law has numerous functional implications in fundamental sensory processing and decision-making tasks, and it plays a key role in the current understanding of the structure-function relationship in the brain. However, since exceptions to Dale's law have been discovered for certain neurons and because other biological systems with complex network structure incorporate individual …

An Affine Approach To Peterson Comparison, Linda Chen, E. Milićević, J. Morse

Mathematics & Statistics Faculty Works

The Peterson comparison formula proved by Woodward relates the three-pointed Gromov-Witten invariants for the quantum cohomology of partial flag varieties to those for the complete flag. Another such comparison can be obtained by composing a combinatorial version of the Peterson isomorphism with a result of Lapointe and Morse relating quantum Littlewood-Richardson coefficients for the Grassmannian to k-Schur analogs in the homology of the affine Grassmannian obtained by adding rim hooks. We show that these comparisons on quantum cohomology are equivalent, up to Postnikov’s strange duality isomorphism.

Topological Speedups Of ℤD-Actions, Aimee S.A. Johnson, D. M. Mcclendon

Mathematics & Statistics Faculty Works

We study minimal ℤ^d-Cantor systems and the relationship between their speedups, their collections of invariant Borel measures, their associated unital dimension groups, and their orbit equivalence classes. In the particular case of minimal ℤ^d-odometers, we show that their bounded speedups must again be odometers but, contrary to the 1-dimensional case, they need not be conjugate, or even isomorphic, to the original. Furthermore, we give examples of speedups of ℤ^d-odometers which show the significant role played by a choice of ‘cone’ associated to the speedup.

Think-Aloud Interviews: A Tool For Exploring Student Statistical Reasoning, A. Reinhart, C. Evans, Amanda Luby, J. Orellana, M. Meyer, J. Wieczorek, P. Elliott, P. Burckhardt, R. Nugent

Mathematics & Statistics Faculty Works

Think-aloud interviews have been a valuable but underused tool in statistics education research. Think-alouds, in which students narrate their reasoning in real time while solving problems, differ in important ways from other types of cognitive interviews and related education research methods. Beyond the uses already found in the statistics literature—mostly validating the wording of statistical concept inventory questions and studying student misconceptions—we suggest other possible use cases for think-alouds and summarize best-practice guidelines for designing think-aloud interview studies. Using examples from our own experiences studying the local student body for our introductory statistics courses, we illustrate how research goals should …

Maximal And Minimal Weak Solutions For Elliptic Problems With Nonlinearity On The Boundary, S. Bandyopadhyay, M. Chhetri, B. B. Delgado, Nsoki Mavinga, R. Pardo

Mathematics & Statistics Faculty Works

This paper deals with the existence of weak solutions for semilinear elliptic equation with nonlinearity on the boundary. We establish the existence of a maximal and a minimal weak solution between an ordered pair of sub- and supersolution for both monotone and nonmonotone nonlinearities. We use iteration argument when the nonlinearity is monotone. For the nonmonotone case, we utilize the surjectivity of a pseudomonotone and coercive operator, Zorn's lemma and a version of Kato's inequality.

Heterogeneity Of Recreationists In A Park And Protected Area, Olivia A. Darugna, Mark A. Kaemingk, Christopher J. Chizinski, Kevin L. Pope

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

Limited information and resources have caused many parks and protected areas (PPAs) to functionally manage recreationists as a single homogeneous group, despite potential negative social and ecological consequences. We aimed to evaluate the homogeneity of recreationists at the Valentine National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) by 1) quantifying frequencies of consumptive (i.e., hunting), intermediate-consumptive (i.e., fishing), and non-consumptive recreational-activity groups (e.g., wildlife viewing), and 2) evaluating sociodemographic differences among these groups. We used onsite surveys to determine that Valentine NWR supports heterogeneous groups of recreationists. The intermediate-consumptive group was most frequent (77% of all parties). All three recreational-activity groups varied in party …

Species-Specific Responses To Landscape Features Shaped Genomic Structure Within Alaska Galliformes, Sarah A. Sonsthagen, Robert E. Wilson, Sandra L. Talbot

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

Aim: Connectivity is vital to the resiliency of populations to environmental change and stochastic events, especially for cold-adapted species as Arctic and alpine tundra habitats retract as the climate warms. We examined the influence of past and current landscapes on genomic connectivity in cold-adapted galliformes as a critical first step to assess the vulnerability of Alaska ptarmigan and grouse to environmental change. We hypothesize that the mosaic of physical features and habitat within Alaska promoted the formation of genetic structure across species.

Location: Alaska, United States of America.

Taxa: Ptarmigan and Grouse (Galliformes: Tetraoninae).

Methods: We collected double digest restriction-site- …

Water Woes Worsen: Middle Rio Grande Reservoir Modeling Projects Declining Water Availability Under Climate Change Simulations, Robyn Holmes

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The Middle Rio Grande is a vital source of water for over 2M people. Climate change is impacting regional hydrology and is likely to put additional stress on a water supply that is already stretched thin. To gain insight on future water availability, a simple water balance model was used to simulate the Elephant Butte-Caballo reservoir system (Southern New Mexico, USA). The water balance model was run under 97 climate simulations derived from Global Climate Models (GCMs) developed under the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) 5^th generation Coupled Modeling Intercomparison Project (CMIP5). Results suggest that the percentage of …

Dynamic Restoration And The Impact Of Native Versus Invasive Vegetation On Coastal Foredune Morphodynamics, Lanphere Dunes, California, Usa, Zach Hilgendorf, Ian J. Walker, Andrea J. Pickart, Craig M. Turner

Local Reports and Publications

The Lanphere Dunes, part of the Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge, has been the focus of foredune restoration efforts since the 1980s. Efforts have centred around removal of an invasive European beach grass species, Ammophila arenaria, introduced in the early 1900s to stabilize the dunes to protect landward communities from coastal flooding and storm surges. Despite effectively stabilizing the foredune, A. arenaria forms monotypic vegetation stands, with highly dense roots, rhizomes, and above-ground biomass that can lead to pronounced scarping of the seaward slope, alongshore steering of wind and sediment, a lack of landward transfer of sand, and a …

A Survey On The Use Of Plastic Versus Biodegradable Bottles For Drinking Water Packaging In The United Arab Emirates, Himadri Rajput, Munjed A. Maraqa, Fatima Zraydi, Lina A. Al Khatib, Noor Ameen, Rime Ben Elkaid, Safia S. Al Jaberi, Noura A. Alharbi, Reka Howard, Ashraf Aly Hassan

Department of Statistics: Faculty Publications

Due to intensive utilization and extensive production, plastic waste is becoming a serious threat to the environment and human health. The situation is even worse in countries such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where single-use plastic water bottles add to the load of plastic pollution. The main objective of this survey was to assess the extent of bottled water utilization by the UAE residents and their awareness of the environmental concerns arising from single-use plastic bottles. The aim was also to evaluate their willingness to shift towards using biodegradable plastic bottles. This study involved the feedback of 2589 respondents …

Seasonal Variation In Terrestrial Invertebrate Subsidies To Tropical Streams And Implications For The Feeding Ecology Of Hart’S Rivulus (Anablepsoides Hartii), David C. Owens, Thomas N. Heatherly, Kent M. Eskridge, Colden V. Baxter, Steven A. Thomas

Department of Statistics: Faculty Publications

Terrestrial invertebrates are important subsidies to fish diets, though their seasonal dynamics and importance to tropical stream consumers are particularly understudied. In this year-round study of terrestrial invertebrate input to two Trinidadian headwater streams with different forest canopy densities, we sought to (a) measure the mass and composition of terrestrial inputs with fall-in traps to evaluate the influences of seasonality, canopy cover, and rainfall intensity, and; (b) compare terrestrial and benthic prey importance to Anablepsoides hartii(Hart’s Rivulus), the dominant invertivorous fish in these streams, by concurrently measuring benthic and drifting invertebrate standing stocks and the volume and composition of …

Cranberry Polyphenols In Esophageal Cancer Inhibition: New Insights, Katherine M. Weh, Yun Zhang, Connor L. Howard, Amy B. Howell, Jennifer L. Clarke, Laura A. Kresty

Department of Statistics: Faculty Publications

Esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) is a cancer characterized by rapidly rising incidence and poor survival, resulting in the need for new prevention and treatment options. We utilized two cranberry polyphenol extracts, one proanthocyanidin enriched (C-PAC) and a combination of anthocyanins, flavonoids, and glycosides (AFG) to assess inhibitory mechanisms utilizing premalignant Barrett’s esophagus (BE) and EAC derived cell lines. We employed reverse phase protein arrays (RPPA) and Western blots to examine cancer-associated pathways and specific signaling cascades modulated by C-PAC or AFG. Viability results show that C-PAC is more potent than AFG at inducing cell death in BE and EAC cell lines. …

Genome-Wide Association Study Of Disease Resilience Traits From A Natural Polymicrobial Disease Challenge Model In Pigs Identifies The Importance Of The Major Histocompatibility Complex Region, Jian Cheng, Rohan Fernando, Hao Cheng, Stephen D. Kachman, Kyusang Lim, John C.S. Harding, Michael K. Dyck, Frederic Fortin, Graham S. Plastow, Piggen Canada Research Consortium, Jack C.M. Dekkers

Department of Statistics: Faculty Publications

Infectious diseases cause tremendous financial losses in the pork industry, emphasizing the importance of disease resilience, which is the ability of an animal to maintain performance under disease. Previously, a natural polymicrobial disease challenge model was established, in which pigs were challenged in the late nursery phase by multiple pathogens to maximize expression of genetic differences in disease resilience. Genetic analysis found that performance traits in this model, including growth rate, feed and water intake, and carcass traits, as well as clinical disease phenotypes, were heritable and could be selected for to increase disease resilience of pigs. The objectives of …

Kryging: Geostatistical Analysis Of Large-Scale Datasets Using Krylov Subspace Methods, Suman Majumder, Yawen Guan, Brian J. Reich, Arvind K. Saibaba

Department of Statistics: Faculty Publications

Analyzing massive spatial datasets using a Gaussian process model poses computational challenges. This is a problem prevailing heavily in applications such as environmental modeling, ecology, forestry and environmental health. We present a novel approximate inference methodology that uses profile likelihood and Krylov subspace methods to estimate the spatial covariance parameters and makes spatial predictions with uncertainty quantification for point-referenced spatial data. The proposed method, Kryging, applies for both observations on regular grid and irregularly-spaced observations, and for any Gaussian process with a stationary isotropic (and certain geometrically anisotropic) covariance function, including the popular Matérn covariance family. We make use of …

The Effect Of Interfacial Morphology On The Magnetic And Magnetocaloricproperties Of Ferromagnetic Nanoparticles With Core-Shell Geometry: A Montecarlo Study, Yusuf Yüksel

Turkish Journal of Physics

Within the framework of Monte Carlo simulations, we investigate the magnetic and magnetocaloric properties of a nanocomposite particle composed of ferromagnetic core and shell layers. We found that isothermal magnetic entropy change may exhibit two peaks associated to two different phase transitions of the core and shell layers. We paid particular attention to the microscopic details of the core/shell interface. Our results suggest that for the large values of the interface exchange coupling, the full width at half maximum is expanded at the expense of the low temperature peak of isothermal entropy change $ \Delta S_{M} $ whereas the high …

Scattering Of Kinks In Noncanonical Sine-Gordon Model, Ishmael Takyi, Benedict Barnes, Hoese Michel Tornyeviadzi, Joseph Ackora-Prah

Turkish Journal of Physics

In this paper, we numerically study the scattering of kinks in the noncanonical sine-Gordon model using Fourier spectral methods. The model depends on two free parameters, which control the localized inner structure in the energy density and the characteristics of the scattering potential. It has been conjectured that the kink solutions in the noncanonical model possess inner structures in their energy density, and the presence of these yields bound states and resonance structures for some relative velocities between the kink and the antikink. In the numerical study, we observed that the classical kink mass decreases monotonically as the free parameters …

The Fine Spectral Tuning Of Plasmon Mode And Quantum Emitter Coupling And Itscomparison With The Dark-Hot Resonances, Hira Asif, Rasi̇m Volga Ovali, Ramazan Şahi̇n

Turkish Journal of Physics

Localization of incident fields into very small volumes (hot-spots) allows strong light-matter interactions at the hot spots. This makes path interference effects, Fano resonances, visible. Fano resonances can appear due to the coupling of a bright plasmon (i) to a longer lifetime dark plasmon mode or (ii) to a quantum object (QO) of a much longer lifetime. The second phenomenon provides a very important utility: the voltage tunability of the linear/nonlinear response. The level-spacing of the QO, such as defect-centers and quantum dots, are voltage-tunable which can make a sharp Fano resonance appear and disappear. Here, we compare the two …