Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Understanding Stakeholders’ Knowledge, Awareness, And Perception Of Conservation Programs In South Carolina, J. Carl Ureta, Marzieh Motallebi, Lori Dickes, Lucas Clay, Joan Ureta, Robert Baldwin

Journal of South Carolina Water Resources

The increasing population and economic growth of South Carolina make it attractive for landowners to convert their land to commercial and urbanized zones. However, since ecosystems are directly affected by land use, changes in these land uses directly impact the ecosystem services (ES). Therefore, efforts to conserve ecosystems are paramount and are often supported through conservation-incentive programs. One approach for conservation programs is to provide economic incentives for landowners to retain their land as forest or agricultural land. The success of these programs eventually affects the ES recipients or “end-users,” particularly the residents. Therefore, it is important to understand the …

A Multi-Reservoir Study Of The Impact Of Uncertainty In Pool Evaporation Estimates On Water-Availability Models, R. C. Phillips, Nigel Kaye, John Saylor

Journal of South Carolina Water Resources

Quantifying evaporative loss from reservoirs plays a critical role in sound water-availability management plans and in reservoir management. Various methods are used to quantify reservoir evaporation; however, each method carries a degree of uncertainty that propagates to model predictions of available water within a reservoir or a reservoir network. Herein, we explore the impact of uncertainty in reservoir evaporation on model outputs of historical and future water availability throughout the five major reservoirs in the Savannah River Basin in South Carolina, USA, using four different evaporation methods. Variability in the total available water is evaluated using the United States Army …

Mapping Center Pivot Irrigation Fields In South Carolina With Google Earth Engine And The National Agricultural Imagery Program, C. Alex Pellett

Journal of South Carolina Water Resources

Aerial images taken during the growing seasons of 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, and 2017 were visually inspected for evidence of irrigation. Center pivot irrigation was identified by the characteristic shape of the spans and the curved tracks left by the wheels. The author manually delineated a polygon over each agricultural area where signs of irrigation infrastructure were observed. The result is a map of 2,689 polygons covering 146,662 acres in South Carolina. Compared with the United States Department of Agriculture 2017 Census of Agriculture, the sampling results account for over 69% of total irrigated area and over 98% of area …

Modeling Tidal Characteristics In A Creek-Marsh Drainage System: Implications For Stormwater Management, C. E. Brown, T. J. Callahan

Journal of South Carolina Water Resources

The traditional goal of stormwater management is to reduce the threat of flooding to life and property, and so most landscapes are engineered to maximize the speed at which the unwanted water leaves the watershed. This has been effective in landscapes with some topographic gradient. This often involves the installation of drainage ditches that disperse runoff from urban areas to receiving water bodies; in coastal areas this means a tidal creek, estuary, bay, sounds, or the coastal ocean. This practice reduces flood hazards in some cases but results in unintended effects on the natural hydrology in the watershed and downstream …

Heat Flow In The Core Of Ganymede: High Pressure-Temperature Electrical Resistivity Measurements Of Solid And Liquid Ag And Fe-S Alloys, Joshua A.H. Littleton

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Experimental investigations of materials at high pressures (P) and temperatures (T) provide insight into the properties and behaviours expected within the inaccessible interiors of planetary bodies. Using a four-wire electrical resistance technique, the electrical resistivity (ρ) of 4d transition metal (Ag) and 3d transition metal alloys (Fe-S) were measured in the solid and molten states at high P. The thermal conductivity (κ) of these materials is inversely proportional to ρ, as described by the Wiedemann-Franz Law. When applied to planetary cores, κ is an important parameter that regulates heat transport mechanisms and magnetic field production.

A hypothesis of ‘resistivity invariance’ …

Leveraging Machine Learning Techniques Towards Intelligent Networking Automation, Cesar A. Gomez

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

In this thesis, we address some of the challenges that the Intelligent Networking Automation (INA) paradigm poses. Our goal is to design schemes leveraging Machine Learning (ML) techniques to cope with situations that involve hard decision-making actions. The proposed solutions are data-driven and consist of an agent that operates at network elements such as routers, switches, or network servers. The data are gathered from realistic scenarios, either actual network deployments or emulated environments. To evaluate the enhancements that the designed schemes provide, we compare our solutions to non-intelligent ones. Additionally, we assess the trade-off between the obtained improvements and the …

On \Delta^(K)-Colouring Of Powers Of Paths And Cycles, Merlin Thomas Ellumkalayil Ms, Sudev Naduvath

Theory and Applications of Graphs

In an improper vertex colouring of a graph, adjacent vertices are permitted to receive same colours. An edge of an improperly coloured graph is said to be a bad edge if its end vertices have the same colour. A near-proper colouring of a graph is a colouring which minimises the number of bad edges by restricting the number of colour classes that can have adjacency among their own elements. The δ (k) - colouring is a near-proper colouring of G consisting of k given colours, where 1 ≤ k ≤ χ(G) – 1, which minimises the number of bad …

Grassland Resources In Liaoning Province Of China: Problems And Management Strategies, Guijuan Du, Jiaming Zheng

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

No abstract provided.

Dividing The Ecological Environmental Area For The Northwest Dry Grassland Of China, Genzhu Chang, Xuehui Zhou, Hongshan Yang

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

No abstract provided.

Slope Aspect Has Effects On Belowground Biomass And Root Length Of Semi‐Arid Hilly Steppe, Xiaoying Gong, Shan Lin, Qingmin Pan, Holger Brueck, Klaus Dittert, Friedhelm Taube

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

No abstract provided.

Water Resources Development And Utilization In The Pastoral Area Of China And Grassland Ecological Protection, Jiao Yong

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

No abstract provided.

Livestock Diversity And Climate Change In Rangelands, Irene Hoffmann, Beate Scherf, David Boerma

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

No abstract provided.

Matching Up The Complexity Of Grassland Of Inner Mongolia — On The Methodology Issues, Yisheng Zheng

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

No abstract provided.

Modeling Covid-19 Spread In Small Colleges, Riti Bahl, Nicole Eikmeier, Alexandra Fraser, Matthew Junge, Felicia Keesing, Kukai Nakahata, Lily Reeves

Publications and Research

We develop an agent-based model on a network meant to capture features unique to COVID-19 spread through a small residential college. We find that a safe reopening requires strong policy from administrators combined with cautious behavior from students. Strong policy includes weekly screening tests with quick turnaround and halving the campus population. Cautious behavior from students means wearing facemasks, socializing less, and showing up for COVID-19 testing. We also find that comprehensive testing and facemasks are the most effective single interventions, building closures can lead to infection spikes in other areas depending on student behavior, and faster return of test …

Indicators Of Senescence And Their Relationship With The Antioxidant Response Element In Ovarian Cancer Cells—Toward A More Encompassing View Of Enzyme Activity Levels In Cells, Shaniqua Analycia Hayes

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Enzymes and other related proteins are promising targets as biomarkers for cancer diagnostics, and it is therefore important to be able to quantify intracellular enzyme activity levels, not just presence of enzyme. Thus, there is a great need for the development of methods that offer spatiotemporal quantification of intracellular enzyme activity levels in respiring 2- and 3-dimensional cultures or their sample-processed variants. Previous studies have demonstrated that ß-gal is upregulated in senescence and in select ovarian cancers, and its expression/activity is upregulated when cells are under oxidative stress conditions. To that end, the primary goal of this work was to …

Learning To Interpret Fluid Type Phenomena Via Images, Simron Thapa

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Learning to interpret fluid-type phenomena via images is a long-standing challenging problem in computer vision. The problem becomes even more challenging when the fluid medium is highly dynamic and refractive due to its transparent nature. Here, we consider imaging through such refractive fluid media like water and air. For water, we design novel supervised learning-based algorithms to recover its 3D surface as well as the highly distorted underground patterns. For air, we design a state-of-the-art unsupervised learning algorithm to predict the distortion-free image given a short sequence of turbulent images. Specifically, we design a deep neural network that estimates the …

Heteroacene-Based Amphiphile As A Molecular Scaffold For Bioimaging Probes, Tharindu A. Ranathunge, Mahesh Loku Yaddehige, Jordan H. Varma, Cameron Smith, Jay Nguyen, Iyanuoluwani Owolabi, Wojciech Kolodziejczyk, Nathan I. Hammer, Glake Hill, Alex Flynt, Davita L. Watkins

Faculty Publications

The challenges faced with current fluorescence imaging agents have motivated us to study two nanostructures based on a hydrophobic dye, 6H-pyrrolo[3,2-b:4,5-b’]bis [1,4]benzothiazine (TRPZ). TRPZ is a heteroacene with a rigid, pi-conjugated structure, multiple reactive sites, and unique spectroscopic properties. Here we coupled TRPZ to a tert-butyl carbamate (BOC) protected 2,2-bis(hydroxymethyl)propanoic acid (bisMPA) dendron via azide-alkyne Huisgen cycloaddition. Deprotection of the protected amine groups on the dendron afforded a cationic terminated amphiphile, TRPZ-bisMPA. TRPZ-bisMPA was nanoprecipitated into water to obtain nanoparticles (NPs) with a hydrodynamic radius that was <150 nm. For comparison, TRPZ-PG was encapsulated in pluronic-F127 (Mw …

Client Access Feature Engineering For The Homeless Community Of The City Of Portland, Oswaldo Ceballos Jr

altREU Projects

Given the severity of homeless in many cities across the country, the project at hand attempts to assist a service provider organization called Central City Concern (CCC) with their mission of providing services to the community of Portland. These services include housing, recovery, health care, and jobs. With many different types of services available through the works of CCC, there exists an abundance of information and data pertaining to the individuals that interact with the CCC service system. The goal of this project is to perform an exploratory analysis and feature engineer the existing datasets CCC has collected over the …

On The Application Of Principal Component Analysis To Classification Problems, Jianwei Zheng, Cyril Rakovski

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Principal Component Analysis (PCA) is a commonly used technique that uses the correlation structure of the original variables to reduce the dimensionality of the data. This reduction is achieved by considering only the first few principal components for a subsequent analysis. The usual inclusion criterion is defined by the proportion of the total variance of the principal components exceeding a predetermined threshold. We show that in certain classification problems, even extremely high inclusion threshold can negatively impact the classification accuracy. The omission of small variance principal components can severely diminish the performance of the models. We noticed this phenomenon in …

Social Constructivism In Chemistry Peer Leaders And Organic Chemistry Students, Aaron M. Clark

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Social constructivist learning is a goal in many STEM programs. The goal of this dissertation is to shed light on what that pedagogy looks like in the context of organic chemistry courses and by peer leaders whose job is to implement this pedagogy with general chemistry and organic chemistry students. Learning is complex; the social constructivist ideas presented in this dissertation, however, are a straightforward means for promoting learning. Qualitative and quantitative methods used to explore social constructivist learning are outlined.

Three investigations were conducted: First, approaches to learning by students completing the first semester of a yearlong organic chemistry …

Evaluation Of Geohazards In The Cape Girardeau Area Using Lidar And Gis, Southeast Missouri, Usa, Olufeyisayo B. Ilesanmi, J. David Rogers, Francisca Oboh-Ikuenobe

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The New Madrid Seismic Zone (NMSZ) has historically recorded some of the largest intensity earthquakes in North America, including significant earth movements that resulted in about 2000 felt earthquakes during 1811-1812. The region continues to experience mass wasting due to earth movements. The aim of this study is to understand the influence of geologic variables on mass wasting processes in the greater Cape Girardeau area, which forms the commercial center of Missouri's fertile "Bootheel" region. Earth movement susceptibility was evaluated in Cape Girardeau and Bollinger counties and portions of Stoddard and Scott counties by mapping potential landslide features on topographic …

Butte Priority Soils Operable Unit (Bpsou) Unreclaimed Sites – Final Field Sampling Plan (Fsp) #3: Ur-06, Ur-07, Ur-20, Ur-22, Ur-35, And Ur-36, Mike Mcanulty

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Butte Priority Soils Operable Unit (Bpsou) Unreclaimed Sites Final Field Sampling Plan (Fsp) #2: Unreclaimed Sites Ur-24, Ur-26, And Ur-40, Mike Mcanulty

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Butte Priority Soils Operable Unit (Bpsou) Unreclaimed Sites – Final Field Sampling Plan (Fsp) #2; Unreclaimed Sites Ur-24, Ur-26, And Ur-40., Mike Mcanulty

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Butte Priority Soils Operable Unit (Bpsou) Unreclaimed Sites - Final Field Sampling Plan (Fsp) #3: Ur-06, Ur-07, Ur-20, Ur-22, Ur-35, And Ur-36, Mike Mcanulty

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Odu Highlights Climate Resilience Leadership During Legislators’ Visit To Campus, Amber Kennedy

News Items

No abstract provided.

Teaching Machine Learning For The Physical Sciences: A Summary Of Lessons Learned And Challenges, Viviana Acquaviva

Publications and Research

This paper summarizes some challenges encountered and best practices established in several years of teaching Machine Learning for the Physical Sciences at the undergraduate and graduate level. I discuss motivations for teaching ML to physicists, desirable properties of pedagogical materials, such as accessibility, relevance, and likeness to real-world research problems, and give examples of components of teaching units.

Recognising Local Innovation In The Framework Of Range Co‐Management On The Tibetan Plateau, Ann Waters‐Bayer, Zhaoli Yan

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

No abstract provided.

The Theory And Practice Study Of Settled Pastoralists In Xinjiang: Contrast Analysis The Different Production Method And Herdsman's Income, Tursunay Reyim, Shazhou An, Yongli Gang, Yimamu Aibibula, Peng Xu

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

No abstract provided.

Integration Of On‐Station And Farmer Participatory Evaluation Of Multipurpose Legumes — A Case From Cauca, Colombia, Michael Peters, Rainer Schultze-Kraft, N. Vivas, L. A. Hernández, M. C. Tabares, K. Zöfel

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

No abstract provided.