Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Mesopredator Frugivory Has No Effect On Seed Viability And Emergence Under Experimental Conditions, John P. Draper, Trisha B. Atwood, Noelle G. Beckman, Karin M. Kettenring, Julie K. Young

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Members of the order Carnivora are a unique and important seed disperser who consume and deposit undamaged seeds while providing regular long-distance seed dispersal opportunities. Some members of Carnivora, such as coyotes (Canis latrans), are undergoing range expansions which may help the plant species they consume colonize new locations or replace dispersal services provided by recently extirpated species. In this study, we evaluated aspects of the seed dispersal effectiveness of coyotes and gut passage time to determine the potential dispersal distances for three commonly consumed and commonly occurring plant species (Amelanchier alnifolia, Celtis ehrenbergiana, and Juniperus osteosperma). We also investigated …

Nicarbazin As An Oral Contraceptive In Eared Doves, Lourdes Olivera, Silvia Pereyra, Georgget Banchero, Guillermo Tellechea, Jorge Sawchik, Michael L. Avery, Ethel Rodríguez

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Eared doves (Zenaida auriculata) are responsible for substantial losses in cereal and oil crops as well as in dairy and feedlot production in the southern cone of South America. Various strategies have been shown to be effective in reducing damage at the farm scale, but in some scenarios, it is necessary to also incorporate population control methods due to excessive bird population size. An alternative approach to reduce pest bird populations is the use of contraceptive methods, minimizing the impact on the environment and non-target populations. Nicarbazin is registered in the United States as a contraceptive for Branta …

An Exploration Of Passive Seismology: Applying Seismic Methods For Traditional And Exotic Source Characterization, David Lewis Guenaga

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

As seismology continues to develop both theoretical and observational, so does its ability to be used in various applications. In this Dissertation, I develop and apply new approaches to five distinct projects (chapters 2-6), leveraging large and small high-quality targeted datasets to decipher fundamental and applied processes utilizing the full seismic wavefield. The first chapter introduces this Dissertation by providing broad context, continuity, and technical information about each of the five projects. Specifically, chapter 2 explores a seismic sensorâ??s ability to detect opera in Oak Ridge National Laboratory, TN, using a misfit power spectral density detector. Chapter 3 outlines work …

Studies Of The Planetary Boundary Layer And Their Impact On Air Pollution In A Semi-Arid Region With Complex Terrain, Nakul Nitin Karle

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The adjacent cities of El Paso-Juárez, located in the Rio Grande Rift Valley and surrounded by complex mountainous terrain, have undergone rapid urbanization and industrial growth in the last few decades, accompanied by increasing substandard air quality episodes. Although numerous air quality studies were conducted in this semi-arid region in the past, none focused extensively on the Planetary Boundary Layer (PBL) contribution and impact on air pollutant concentrations. In this work, both the high and low ozone episodes from 2015 to 2020 were examined. Both modeling and experimental data of the PBL height (PBLH) were obtained and related to atmospheric …

Simultaneous Forecasting Of Yield Curves For Multiple Zero-Coupon Bonds Using The Heath-Jarrow-Morton Model, Ebenezer Nkum

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Market diversification is a strategy according to which a company seeks growth by addingproducts and markets that are in a certain sense "uncorrelated" to its existing products and markets. Bonds play a major role in a well-balanced diversified portfolio because of their low correlation to other asset classes. While the correlations vary widely over time, bonds are not highly correlated with any other asset classes. Even in the simplest diversified portfolio, bonds can reduce volatility due to their low or negative correlation with stocks. Because companies can create robust diversified portfolios with bonds it is imperative that different bonds are …

"Not In My Town": A Community's Response To Water And Soil Pollution, Karolina Staros

Dissertations

At the core of this dissertation is the acknowledgment that social movements are complex networks of people who face many obstacles in their efforts to achieve social change. One critique of social movements is that their goals and mission are limited to short term ideas and not long-term, systemic transformation. The lack of long term, systemic change can be observed when social movement groups mobilize for the same cause over and over again with what appears to be little progress over a period of time. The exact blueprint for a social movement’s success does not exist, but it is posited …

Transitioning From Vue 2 To Vue 3, Adele Kanley

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

Frontend development is a field that is constantly changing because of the vast amounts of tools that are made available each year. One of the most popular frameworks being utilized to create fluid user experience is the Vue framework. Branching from the well-known Angular.js, Vue.js is an independent open-source project that is making its mark in the user interface community.

Regardless of the popularity of a framework, updates are inevitable to keep up with the innovations required by the IT Field. To ensure that UNO IS&T students are being offered opportunities to learn and develop in the most update to …

Climate Adaptation And Water Conservation Decision-Making In Paso Robles, California Vineyards, Christopher R. Klier

Master's Theses

This paper examines vineyard perceptions and adoption of climate change adaptation and water conservation measures in the Paso Robles American Viticultural Area (AVA). A survey was distributed to all 220 vineyards and vineyard management companies that operate in the AVA, with a 53.64% response rate. The objective of the survey was to determine vineyard manager and owner attitudes towards climate change and adaptation, as well as their perceptions of how these threats would impact their operation. A second objective was to document the current level of water conservation and climate adaptation while identifying the barriers and opportunities for further adoption …

Gravitational Wave Timing Residual Models For Pulsar Timing Experiments, Casey Mcgrath

Theses and Dissertations

The ability to detect gravitational waves now gives scientists and astronomers a new way in which they can study the universe. So far, the scientific collaboration LIGO has been successful in detecting binary black hole and binary neutron star mergers. These types of sources produce gravitational waves with frequencies of the order hertz to millihertz. But there do exist other theoretical sources which would produce gravitational waves in different parts of the frequency spectrum. Of these are the theoretical mergers of supermassive black hole binaries (SMBHBs), which could occur upon the merging of two galaxies with supermassive black holes at …

Essays On Fake Review Detection, Managerial Response, And Consumer Perceptions, Long Chen

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation investigates how online reviews and managerial responses jointly affect consumer perceptions. I first examine and compare the outcomes of multiple fake review classifiers using various algorithms, including traditional machine learning methods and recently developed deep learning methods (essay I). Then, based on the findings of the first essay, I examine the interrelationship between fake review detection, managerial response, and hotel ratings and ratings’ growths (essay II).The first essay is a comparative study on the methodology of identifying fake reviews. Although online reviews have attracted much attention from academia and industry for over fifteen years, how to identify fake …

Incorporating The 10th Edition Institute Of Traffic Engineers (Ite) Trip Generation Rates Into Virginia Department Of Transportation Guidelines, Kun Xie, Mecit Cetin, Hong Yang, Xiaomeng Dong

Civil & Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

The Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) released the Trip Generation (TG) 10th edition in 2017, which significantly updated its database, and some of its trip generation rates were substantially lower than those of earlier editions. This study aims to investigate the applicability of the TG 10th edition in various Virginia contexts and to recommend how to incorporate the TG 10th edition into state guidelines. The research team surveyed 31 state transportation agencies to obtain a clear understanding of current practices in the adoption of trip rates and trip estimation approaches. We systematically compared trip rates of TG 9th and 10th …

A Survey On Ml4vis: Applying Machine Learning Advances To Data Visualization, Qianwen Wang, Zhutian Chen, Yong Wang, Huamin Qu

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Inspired by the great success of machine learning (ML), researchers have applied ML techniques to visualizations to achieve a better design, development, and evaluation of visualizations. This branch of studies, known as ML4VIS, is gaining increasing research attention in recent years. To successfully adapt ML techniques for visualizations, a structured understanding of the integration of ML4VIS is needed. In this article, we systematically survey 88 ML4VIS studies, aiming to answer two motivating questions: “what visualization processes can be assisted by ML?” and “how ML techniques can be used to solve visualization problems? ” This survey reveals seven main processes where …

Learning And Exploiting Shaped Reward Models For Large Scale Multiagent Rl, Arambam James Singh, Akshat Kumar, Hoong Chuin Lau

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Many real world systems involve interaction among large number of agents to achieve a common goal, for example, air traffic control. Several model-free RL algorithms have been proposed for such settings. A key limitation is that the empirical reward signal in model-free case is not very effective in addressing the multiagent credit assignment problem, which determines an agent's contribution to the team's success. This results in lower solution quality and high sample complexity. To address this, we contribute (a) an approach to learn a differentiable reward model for both continuous and discrete action setting by exploiting the collective nature of …

Wildland Fire Risk Perceptions And Mitigation Actions In The Western United States: A Systematic Literature Review And Two Empirical Case Studies, Lauren Nicole-Dupéy Larsen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Individuals are continuing to move into previously uninhabited, wildlands in the Western United States where fire danger is often high. This continued movement of people is a two-fold problem. First, individuals are moving into areas that have dense forestland and other flammable vegetation types where wildfires can easily ignite and spread. Second, individuals are starting more wildfires in these previously uninhabited areas (over 90% of wildfires across the country are caused by humans). Although wildfire is a complex topic, one thing is simple: As individuals continue to move into these wild, forested, and often mountainous areas, the risk of these …

Housing Variables And Immigration: An Exploratory And Predictive Data Analysis In New York City, Jhonatan Medri Cobos

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The relationship between housing and immigration has become relevant in the U.S., especially in a highly populated metropolis such as New York City (NYC). Determining whether immigration status affects home ownership percentage, household rent, or housing cost percentage could help understand the quality of life of NYC residents. Graphical exploration, spatial dependence tests, and spatial autoregressive models of housing and immigration variables provide some insights about their relationships. Our exploration takes place at some geographic subareas of NYC.

Our results first indicate that the housing and immigration data reports spatial dependence; values of a geographic subarea are related to values …

Development Of Catalysts For The Ring-Opening Polymerization Of Cyclic Esters And The Coordination-Insertion Polymerization Of Olefins, Alicia Doerr

Doctoral Dissertations

Over the past few decades, interest in the design and synthesis of tailorable polymeric materials has grown due to the well documented correlation between structure, property, and function. However, in order to obtain polymers with desired microstructures, well controlled synthetic methods are needed. Therefore, the continued investigation of homogeneous, single-site polymerization catalysts is important to gain a deeper understanding of how systematic modifications of polymerization conditions, ligand scaffold, metal center identity, cocatalyst or activator identity, etc. affect the catalytic activity, selectivity, and/or polymer topology obtained when using these catalysts for the polymerization of a variety of monomers. This dissertation will …

In Situ Cosmogenic Backgrounds In The Majorana Demonstrator, Andrew Lopez

Doctoral Dissertations

Neutrino-less double-beta decay is a proposed type of radioactive decay that, if observed, could answer several outstanding physics questions, such as "Is the neutrino its own antiparticle otherwise known as a Majorana particle?", "What is the mass of the neutrino?", and "What is the neutrino mass hierarchy?" As technology and experimental techniques improve, the sensitivity of experiments looking for rare events becomes more dependent on the backgrounds. Some of these backgrounds can be reduced using shielding techniques such as implementing a veto system, selecting radiopure components, and conducting the experiment deep underground. However some amount of cosmogenically induced backgrounds remain …

The Affect Of Globalization On Terrorism, Philip R. Passante

Master's Theses

This thesis proposal will dive into the concept of terrorism and how it is an act of force and has proven to be detrimental to the modern world. In addition, this thesis will analyze the concept of terrorism as well as the rationale behind it. It is important to understand and study this as terrorism is a complex entity made up of different themes. The concentration of this thesis will highlight how globalization has affected the phenomena of terrorism in the past, present, and ultimately the future. Globalization and terrorism have a relationship that many scholars and researchers have noticed. …

Synthesis Of Flagellin 22 As A Probe For Plant Signaling And Molecular Trafficking Towards Improved Crops, Edward Offei

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Plant signaling involves the transport of information within and between plant cells from receptors to effectors. Plants are affected by biotic and abiotic stress conditions like insect attack and extreme temperatures, respectively, which cause disease, the induction of senescence and the reduction of crop yield. To improve plant traits for feed, fiber, and energy applications, it is critical to understand the short- and long-range signaling mechanisms plants use to control growth, biomass composition, senescence and responses to environmental stresses. It is known that many plant signaling molecules have profound effects on plants, through mechanisms that remain largely obscure. A key …

Isotopic Analysis And Mobility Mapping Of Mammuthus Columbi From The Mammoth Site In South Dakota, Matthew Harrington

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Mammoth Site in Hot Springs, South Dakota preserves a unique death assemblage of sub-adult and adult male Columbian mammoths (Mammuthus columbi). Extensive work on the site has led to a detailed understanding of the taphonomy of the assemblage; yet the life histories and ecology of these mammoths remain relatively unknown. Tooth enamel from four Mammoth Site mammoth individuals were bulk sampled with one of the individuals (MSL 742) also serially micro-sampled for 𝛿¹³C, 𝛿¹⁸O, and ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr. Isotopic results indicate that MSL 742 remained within the southern and western Black Hills …

Optimizing The Demand And Distribution Of Power In Smart Grids, Saifullah Khalid

Computer Science and Engineering Dissertations

The electricity is generated in bulk power plants and transported to the end-user through the transmission and distribution networks. The process incurs heavy losses adding to the operational costs. Secondly, fossil fuels dominate energy generation and are a major source of greenhouse gases. Thirdly, the power grid is vulnerable to natural disasters. The smart grid addresses these challenges by integrating distributed energy resources (DERs) in the distribution system closer to the load and with greater penetration of renewable energy. Renewable energy is key to cutting carbon emissions due to fossil fuel-based electricity generation and reducing operating costs. It can also …

Advancement Of A 3d Computational Phantom And Its Age Scaling Methodologies For Retrospective Dose Reconstruction Studies, Aashish Gupta

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

We have used a 3D age-scalable computational phantom for over two decades for retrospective dose reconstruction studies of childhood cancer survivors (CCS) treated with 2D historic radiotherapy (RT). However, our phantom and its age scaling functions (ASF) must be updated so that it can be used in studies that include survivors treated with contemporary RT. We aimed to implement our phantom and its age scaling functions in DICOM format and determine the feasibility of applying our ASFs to accurately scale the whole-body CT-based anatomies.

In the implementation study, we developed Python scripts that model the phantom and ASFs in a …

Preparation And Characterization Of Silver And Copper Vanadates, Abbas Vali

Chemistry & Biochemistry Dissertations

Combining two or more binary compounds to generate a multinary compound is a viable strategy to improve the performance and properties of the parent binary compounds. In this vein, multinary compound semiconductors have recently come under the spotlight for a variety of practical device applications. In particular, the low band gaps of the Ag-V-O ternary family (Ag3VO4, Ag4V2O7, AgVO3, Ag2V4O11, and AgV7O18) and Cu(II)-V-O ternary family (CuV2O6, Cu2V2O7, Cu3V2O8, Cu11V6O26, and Cu5V2O10) have recently garnered interest. These visible light active semiconductors may be used for photovoltaic solar cells, solar water splitting, CO2 photoreduction, and photocatalytic remediation applications. In particular, AgVO3 …

Mechanistic Studies Of F420-Dependent Enzymes By Kinetic Analysis, Lindsay A. Davis

Chemistry & Biochemistry Dissertations

The focus of this research is to elucidate the catalytic mechanism of F420-dependent enzymes using F420-dependent glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (FGD) from Mycobacteria tuberculosis (Mtb) and F420H2:NADP+ Oxidoreductase (Fno) from Archaeoglobus fulgidis (A. fulgidis) as models. To investigate the mechanism of these enzymes, our group primarily utilizes UV-vis spectrophotometric techniques, in order to conduct steady-state and pre steady-state kinetic experiments. We also use fluorescence binding, and kinetic isotope effects methods in order to provide an in-depth understanding of these enzymes. This conglomeration of work will help to serve as model systems to enzymes who exhibit similar behavior, especially the understudied F420-dependent enzymes. …

Supercritial Fluid Extraction - Supercritical Fluid Chromatography - Mass Spectrometry (Sfe-Sfc-Ms) Method Development For Online Extraction Of Complex Biological And Environmental Matrices, Blair Kristen Berger

Chemistry & Biochemistry Dissertations

A systematic approach to the rapid development of hyphenated online methods for supercritical fluid extraction-supercritical fluid chromatography-mass spectrometry (SFE-SFC-MS) was established for the analysis of complex biological and environmental samples with limited sample sizes. Extensive sample preparation and cleanup is incompatible with small sample sizes. Hyphenated online extractions offer major advantages desirable where sample quantity is limited. By minimizing sample preparation and handling, online extractions provide higher throughput, and minimizes the opportunity for sample contamination or loss. However, hyphenated methods have been difficult to develop since each step has its own requirements, which has slowed penetration into many areas which …

Determination Of The Kinetic Roles Of The Membrane In The Catalysis Of Rasgefs By Using An Engineered Model Protein, Hanh My Hoang

Chemistry & Biochemistry Dissertations

Ras guanine nucleotide exchange factors (RasGEFs), which include Son of Sevenless (SOS), Ras Guanine Nucleotide Releasing Protein (RasGRP), and Ras Guanine Nucleotide Releasing Factor (RasGRF), catalyze nucleotide exchange of Ras upon activating signals. Crystal structure analyses suggest that catalytic cavities of RasGEFs are not deep enough to uphold their substrates. Given that RasGEFs are all membrane binding proteins, a novel “membrane supplement hypothesis” is proposed that RasGEFs in cytoplasm are catalytically unformed; and RasGEFs on membrane are catalytically competent. The reason RasGEFs are catalytically unformed without the support of membrane is because the catalytic sites of RasGEFs are not sufficiently …

Targeted And Untargeted Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry Methods For Alcoholic Beverage Analysis, Hailee Elizabeth Ratcliffe

Chemistry & Biochemistry Dissertations

There has been an increased interest in the “craft” alcohol industry in recent years. Contrary to larger corporations that focus on standardizing their recipes for mass production, these small, independent businesses can experiment with ingredients and procedures to create unique and flavorful products. Beer and whiskey in particular have seen a surge in popularity, indicating the public may be interested in a deeper understanding of these beverages and their flavors on the chemical level. Brewing and distilling rely heavily on chemistry to perform the proper procedures to obtain the desired product, and to understand the interactions of the various ingredients. …

New Flexible Moldable Ion-Exchange Polymers And Their Analytical Applications, Fereshteh Maleki

Chemistry & Biochemistry Dissertations

This dissertation aims to improve the functionality of open tubular capillary ion chromatography (OTIC) in terms of the lower limit of detection (LOD) and higher sensitivity by fabricating a microchannel suppressor and integrating it into an OTIC system. To reach the goal, an ion-exchange membrane (IEM) was formulated and developed using aqueous solutions environmentally friendly chemicals. The PVA-SS polymer is made from poly vinyl alcohol (PVA) as the polymer matrix and styrene sulfonate sodium salt (SS) as the ionic functional group (the salt-form polymer is eventually converted to acidic form), referred to here mostly as PVA-SS polymers. The new IEM …

Improved Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis By Thermal Management Of The Catalyst, Seyed Amir Jafari Ghoreshi

Chemistry & Biochemistry Dissertations

The research in this dissertation consists of a novel catalyst design which is aimed at helping manage the temperature instabilities and heat-transfer within a catalyst particle and maintaining an isothermal temperature distribution throughout the catalyst bed, with the goal of improving control on the rate of reactions and tuning the chain propagation that leads to having high yields of desired products (liquid alkanes C5-C22) while suppressing undesirable competitive reactions (WGS, Boudouard) and consecutive byproduct formation (alpha-Olefin, Oxygenates, and tail gas C1-C4) during the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (FTS). Comparing FTS performance of the thermally modified catalysts and core-shell (CS) composite structure catalyst …

Continuously Renewed Copper Electrode For Amperometric Measurement Of Carbohydrates, Shane R. Wilson

Chemistry & Biochemistry Theses

Currently the benchmark method for carbohydrate analysis in a variety of application areas involves anion exchange chromatography followed by electrochemical detection at a gold electrode. The gold electrode surfaces foul from deposition of oxidation products over time; pulsed waveforms with oxidative cleaning and surface reduction are used to improve electrode longevity. After fouling, the electrode needs polishing, or, if using disposable gold electrodes, replacement; both remedies require subsequent recalibration. I describe here a novel electrochemical amperometric detector using a copper electrode that is consumed during the measurement process and a new surface is continuously generated without a change in the …