Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Dredging Implementation Prioritization And Management For Middle Peninsula Shallow Draft Channels, Donna A. Milligan, C. Scott Hardaway Jr., Christine A. Wilcox, Nicholas J. Dinapoli

Reports

To develop a regional dredging program for the localities of the Middle Peninsula, a database of 120 creeks and rivers was created of its waterbodies from Tappahannock to West Point. Generally, these waterbodies can be categorized into three basic types of shallow draft channels: federally-defined, non-federal with ATONs (aids to Navigation) and non-federal without ATONs. For the Middle Peninsula there are 13 federal channels, 12 non-federal channels in creeks with ATONs, and 94 in creeks without defined channels or ATONs.

Physical parameter data was collected or created for each of these creeks. This data included creek mouth morphology, amount of …

Assessing And Mapping The Spatial-Temporal Change In Forest Phenology Of Arabuko-Sokoke Forest Using Moderate Resolution Satellite, Bailey Ytterdahl

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study focuses on coastal forests in Kenya that have some of the highest variety of flora and fauna, specifically Arabuko Sokoke Forest. Arabuko Sokoke Forest is located 110 miles north of Mombasa and 18 kilometers south of Malindi. This forest is known to be a worldwide biodiversity hotspot that is home to endemic and rare plants and animals. Within the Arabuko Sokoke Forest ecosystem, there are two main issues that challenge the conservation of the area. First, there has been more competition for land, primarily for agriculture and development. Second, there is an increase demand for forest resources due …

A Broad, Distributed Active Fault Zone Lies Beneath Salt Lake City, Utah, Lee M. Liberty, James St. Clair, Adam P. Mckean

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Although the Wasatch fault is currently known to have a high‐seismic hazard from motion along range‐bounding faults, new seismic data reveal faulted and folded 13,000–30,000‐yr‐old Lake Bonneville strata beneath Salt Lake City (SLC). Coupled with previous excavation trench, borehole, and other geologic and geophysical observations, we conclude that a zone of latest Pleistocene and/or Holocene faulting and folding kinematically links the East Bench and Warm Springs faults through a 3 km wide relay structure and transfer zone. We characterize faults beneath downtown SLC as active, and these faults may displace or deform the ground surface during an earthquake. Through offset …

Collections As Data At Florida International University, Jamie Rogers

Works of the FIU Libraries

This presentation provides an overview of the concept of collections as data; shares information about our "dLOC as Data" grant initiative, a collaboration between the Digital Library of the Caribbean (dLOC), the Florida International University (FIU) Libraries Digital Collections Center, and the University of Florida Libraries, funded by the Mellon sub-award program, "Collections as Data: Part to Whole" ; as well as provides an opportunity to talk about how we can share more collections as data resources and undertake new and exciting projects at FIU.

Although the concept of collections as data isn't new, it is becoming more mainstream. As …

Accurate Determination Of The Neutron Skin Thickness Of ^208pb Through Parity-Violation In Electron Scattering, D. Adhikari, (...), David S. Armstrong, Et Al.

Arts & Sciences Articles

We report a precision measurement of the parity-violating asymmetry APV in the elastic scattering of longitudinally polarized electrons from 208Pb. We measure APV=550±16(stat)±8(syst) parts per billion, leading to an extraction of the neutral weak form factor FW(Q2=0.00616  GeV2)=0.368±0.013. Combined with our previous measurement, the extracted neutron skin thickness is Rn−Rp=0.283±0.071  fm. The result also yields the first significant direct measurement of the interior weak density of 208Pb: ρ0W=−0.0796±0.0036(exp)±0.0013(theo)  fm−3 leading to the interior baryon density ρ0b=0.1480±0.0036(exp)±0.0013(theo)  fm−3. The measurement accurately constrains the density dependence of the symmetry energy of nuclear matter near saturation density, with implications for the size and …

Deep Learning Based Sound Event Detection And Classification, Alireza Nasiri

Theses and Dissertations

Hearing sense has an important role in our daily lives. During the recent years, there has been many studies to transfer this capability to the computers. In this dissertation, we design and implement deep learning based algorithms to improve the ability of the computers in recognizing the different sound events.

In the first topic, we investigate sound event detection, which identifies the time boundaries of the sound events in addition to the type of the events. For sound event detection, we propose a new method, AudioMask, to benefit from the object-detection techniques in computer vision. In this method, we convert …

An Assessment Of Terrestrial Decapoda Diversity Across Three Ecological Zones In Mida Creek, Kenya, Reese Yount

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Mangroves make up one of the most effective natural remedies at combating climate change today. They represent great commercial interest worldwide and yet, are being degraded at an unsustainable rate. If successful mangrove conservation plans are to be implemented for our posterity, mangrove ecosystems need to be better understood at the community level. Mangrove crabs make up the most diverse and populace mangrove inhabitants. They are classified as ecosystem engineers and their potential for being used as bioindicators makes them integral to assessing mangrove health. Yet, their diversity and distribution patterns are not well understood. The aim of this study …

Modeling Covid-19 Infection Rates Using Sir And Arima Models, Janelle Domantay, Ilya Pivavaruk, Victor Taksheyev

Undergraduate Research Symposium Posters

With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, it has become of increasing interest to both monitor and predict the growth of its infection rates. In order to analyze the accuracy of epidemiological prediction, we consider two different models for prediction, the Susceptible Infected and Removed (SIR), and Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) models. Using a dataset of Clark County COVID-19 infections, we create various ARIMA and SIR models that attempt to predict the progression of COVID-19 infections whilst comparing these predictions to the dataset. We observed that the ARIMA model performed more accurately overall, having a much lower Root Mean …

Overcoming The Overgeneration Of Renewables, Joshua Kaze, Ryan Barnard

Undergraduate Research Symposium Posters

Many states are addressing the issues of climate change, by changing how they produce their energy. The effects of these policies are causing many renewable sources to be underutilized. This paper analyzes how the diversification of energy generation is leading to inefficiencies in the California energy market and the western US market as a whole. The change in curtailment of non-dispatchable renewables is positively correlated with the growth of renewables. Summary statistics and regression analysis show that an increasing portion of renewables is being wasted as the quantity of renewables is increasing. The Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) that California introduced …

Increasing Analysis Efficiency Through Automation Of Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (Icp-Ms) Data Reduction Process Using Python, Grace Abigail Martin

Undergraduate Research Symposium Posters

The Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) provides elemental analysis through ionization of samples. Numerous geochemistry laboratories utilize the ICP-MS and has become a community standard. The ICP-MS data reduction process is time intensive and involves correction for blank contribution and sensitivity drift during measurement, as well as construction of standard calibration lines based on measurements of standard solutions. We look to decrease turnaround time and increase efficiency through automation of the data reduction process using Python. The ICP-MS data reduction process was 3 hours or more, in our observations. Python packages such as Openpyxl and Pandas, allow us to …

Toward A Quantum Neural Network: Proposing The Qaoa Algorithm To Replace A Feed Forward Neural Network, Erick Serrano

Undergraduate Research Symposium Posters

With a surge in popularity of machine learning as a whole, many researchers have sought optimization methods to reduce the complexity of neural networks; however, only recent attempts have been made to optimize neural networks via quantum computing methods. In this paper, we describe the training process of a feed forward neural network (FFNN) and the time complexity of the training process. We highlight the inefficiencies of the FFNN training process, particularly when implemented with gradient descent, and introduce a call to action for optimization of a FFNN. Afterward, we discuss the strides made in quantum computing to improve the …

Evaluation Of Broadcast Steam Application With Mustard Seed Meal In Fruiting Strawberry, Dong Sub Kim, Steven Kim, Steven A. Fennimore

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Publications and Presentations

Soil disinfestation with steam has potential to partially replace fumigants such as methyl bromide, chloropicrin, and 1,3-dichloropropene because it is effective, safer to apply, and has less negative impact on the environment. Here, we compared the efficacy of steam and steam + mustard seed meal (MSM) to chloropicrin on soil disinfection, plant growth, and fruit yield in a strawberry (Fragaria ×ananassa) fruiting field. The MSM was applied at 3368 kg·ha−1 before the steam application. Steam was injected into a 3-m-wide reverse tiller that was set to till 30 to 40 cm deep. Soil temperatures at depths of …

Bézier Curves, Qing Chen, Ariane Masuda

Publications and Research

Drawing on a computer using a mouse is quite different than drawing by hand. It can be challenging to use a mouse to even simply trace a line. If the drawing involves several lines and curves, the task becomes more complicated. The goal of this project is to show how to design beautiful artworks using Bézier curves. A Bézier curve is a smooth parametric curve produced by the coordinates of certain points. To draw a specific curve, one needs to select multiple control points positioned in strategic places. By changing these positions, one can draw different curves to produce the …

The Beauty Of Bézier Curves, Qing Chen, Ariane Masuda

Publications and Research

It is very difficult for ordinary people to become excellent painters like Picasso. In contemporary society, everyone has a computer, but no one associates painting with computers. This project aims to show that one can use computer tools to connect mathematics with art. We use Krita, which is a professional free, and open-source painting program made by artists to create digital art. We demonstrate how the Bezier curve pen tool in Krita can help anyone to ́ draw paintings such as Picasso’s cubist oil paintings on a computer in a relatively short time.

Deepcip: Probing Compensated Isocurvature Perturbations In The Cmb Using Deep Neural Nets, Matiwos A. Mebratu , '21

Senior Theses, Projects, and Awards

No abstract provided.

On Problems With Weighted Elliptic Operator And General Growth Nonlinearities, John Villavert

School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

This article establishes existence, non-existence and Liouville-type theorems for nonlinear equations of the form −div(|x| aDu) = f(x, u), u > 0, in Ω, where N ≥ 3, Ω is an open domain in R N containing the origin, N−2+a > 0 and f satisfies structural conditions, including certain growth properties. The first main result is a non-existence theorem for boundary-value problems in bounded domains star-shaped with respect to the origin, provided f exhibits supercritical growth. A consequence of this is the existence of positive entire solutions to the equation for f exhibiting the same growth. A Liouville-type theorem is then established, …

Studies Of The Chemistry Of Pentaruthenium Carbido Carbonyl Cluster Complexes With Aldehydes, Azobenzene And Alkynes, Humaiara Akter

Theses and Dissertations

Polynuclear metal carbonyl complexes serve as the bridging model between heterogeneous catalysis and homogeneous catalysis for the activation of small molecules. Ru5(m5-C)(CO)15 has been found to exhibit superior reactivity due to its unusual polynuclear metal geometry. possibilities of interconversions of ligand bonding modes, and the formation of the electronically unsaturated metal species. C-H activation in aldehydes and azobenzene of pentaruthenium cluster complexes is described in chapters 2 and 3 respectively. The formation of new hydrocarbyl zwitterions and C – C coupling ethyne to the carbido carbon in the complex, and the alkyne insertion reactions with pentaruthenium cluster complexes are described …

Cationic Metallo-Polyelectrolytes: Synthesis And Application In Self-Assembly And Mechanochemistry, Yujin Cha

Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, cationic metallocene-containing polyelectrolytes were investigated for the construction of nano-objects by CDSA and the mechanical force-responsive polymer. The self-assembly behavior and mechanically induced polymer deformation were characterized and discussed.

In Chapter 1, the overall background and recent development of metallocene-containing polymers as well as their applications in self-assembly and polymer mechanochemistry were introduced. Primary research objectives were described.

The first section of the dissertation on the CDSA of cationic metallocene-containing block copolymers was provided in Chapter 2. The preparation of PCL-b-PCoAEMAs was achieved through ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of ε-caprolactone and reversible addition-fragmentation chain-transfer (RAFT) polymerization of cobaltocenium …

Bayesian Methods In Analyzing The Association Of Random Variables, Zichen Ma

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation focuses on studying the association between random variables or random vectors from the Bayesian perspective. In particular, it consists of two topics: (1) hypothesis testing for the independence among groups of random variables; and (2) modeling the dynamic association between two random variables given covariates.

In Chapter 2, a nonparametric approach for testing independence among groups of continuous random variables is proposed. Gaussian-centered multivariate finite Polya tree priors are used to model the underlying probability distributions. Integrating out the random probability measure, a tractable empirical Bayes factor is derived and used as the test statistic. The Bayes factor …

Measuring Strain-Mediated Magnetoelectric Effects In Magnetically Self-Assembled Multiferroic Janus Nanofiber Chains: A Quest For New Techniques To Study Multiferroic Nanomaterials, Bryan Lucas Chávez

Theses and Dissertations

Bi-phasic composite multiferroics couple piezoelectric and magnetostrictive proper- ties via an interfacial strain, allowing for control of their magnetic properties with electric fields and vice versa. Nanofibers have a larger area-to-volume ratio than thin films and are not affected by substrate clamping, leading to a predicted magnetoelec- tric coupling an order of magnitude higher than those found in thin-film multiferroics. Nanofibers have potential applications in photonics, nanoelectronics, biosensing, and optoelectronics. This work focuses on measuring magnetoelectric effects in electro- spun nanofibers made of barium titanate (BaTiO₃) and cobalt ferrite (CoFe₂O₄). To transform the disordered …

Automating And Implementing Complex, Multistep Sample Preparation Processes To Generate Reproducible Proteomic And Phosphoproteomic Data, Brian Todd Mullis

Theses and Dissertations

Phosphorylation is the most common post-translational modification that occurs within the cell and is intricately involved in many biological processes. It is important to understand the roles that protein kinases and phosphatases play by mapping protein phosphorylation as many disease states stem from aberrant signaling events. With the advent of modern mass spectrometry (MS), researchers are now provided with more complex phosphorylation patterns from thousands of proteins in each mass spectrometric analysis. Further developments in quantification techniques, such as stable isotope labeling with amino acids in cell culture (SILAC) and label-free quantitation, have allowed researchers to reliably quantify changes to …

Measurement Of N* Cross-Sections From Single-Pion Electroproduction At Low Q^2, Nicholas Scoville Tyler

Theses and Dissertations

Measurements of nucleon electroexcitation resonance cross-sections give unique insight into the dynamics of the strong interaction and our knowledge of Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD). The analysis of exclusive electroproduction data is an important tool in understanding the structure of the nucleon and its excited states. Exclusive channels give a clear way to extract the desired resonant contributions from non-resonant contributions. A gap in the helicity amplitudes extracted from single-pion cross-section data exists for virtual photon momentum transfers ($Q^2$) in the range of $1-2~\mathrm{GeV}^{2}$. Using data collected by the CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer (CLAS) detector with a beam energy of $4.8~\mathrm{GeV}$, the …

Raman Spectroscopy Using A Monolithic Spatial Heterodyne Raman Spectrometer For Planetary Exploration, Abigail M. Waldron

Theses and Dissertations

Raman spectroscopy is a vibrational technique that provides detailed molecular and structural information for organic and inorganic molecules and minerals, and is uniquely suited for spacecraft applications, in the search for chemical indicators of life. This is why NASA sent two Raman spectrometers to Mars on the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover, as part of the SuperCam and SHERLOC instruments. The Raman spectrometers on Perseverance are conventional dispersive instruments that have been engineered to survive the harsh conditions of spaceflight. Future missions could benefit from smaller, more robust designs, especially missions to the Jovian planets, Jupiter and Saturn, their moons, asteroids …

Widely Digitally Stable Numbers And Irreducibility Criteria For Polynomials With Prime Values, Jacob Juillerat

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation considers three different topics. In the first part of the dissertation, we show for an integer b > 2 that if a polynomial f(x) with non-negative integer coefficients is such that f(b) is prime, then there are explicit bounds M1(b), M2(b), and M3(b) such that if the coefficients of f(x) are each ≤ M1(b), then f(x) is irreducible; if the coefficients of f(x) are each ≤ M2(b) and f(x) is reducible, then it is divisible by the shifted cyclotomic polynomial Φ3(x−b) for 3 ≤ b ≤ 5, and divisible by Φ4(x − b) for b > 5; and if the …

Statistical Analysis Of A Joint Stochastic Model For Recurrent Competing Risks, Longitudinal Marker, And Health Status, Lili Tong

Theses and Dissertations

Joint modeling approach has been applied in many applications in biomedical, reliability, and social-economic research. For example, in clinical trials and medical research, different kinds of patient information are gathered over time, such as recurrent competing risk events (e.g., relapses of different types of tumor), longitudinal marker (e.g., tumor size), and health status (e.g., if a patient is dead or not). These data are usually correlated, joint models enable the analysis of these correlated data. This dissertation proposes a class of joint dynamic models for simultaneously modeling the three types of processes: a recurrent competing risk (RCR) process, a health …

Carbonatite Metasomatism And Water Systematics Of Peridotite Xenoliths From Lanzarote, Canaries, Sierra N. Patterson

Theses and Dissertations

Water in Earth’s mantle, present as structurally bound hydrogen in minerals, influences large scale processes like mantle deformation, plate tectonics, and melting. To better understand the processes controlling water concentrations in the Earth’s upper mantle, we analyzed hydrogen (calculated as ppm wt. H₂O), major, and trace element concentrations in minerals from peridotite mantle xenoliths of Lanzarote, Canaries. The Canaries Islands are thought to be the surface expression of a deep-seated mantle plume erupting through the Atlantic Ocean lithosphere. Carbonatite magmas have erupted in the Canaries and previous studies have shown evidence for carbonatite metasomatism in Lanzarote peridotites. Thus, …

Expanding The Frontiers Of Supernova Cosmology In Preparation For Next Generation Telescopes, Justin Roberts-Pierel

Theses and Dissertations

Supernova (SN) research has been the source of many astronomical discoveries over the past several decades, most prominently the accelerated expansion of the universe by so-called “dark energy” in 1998. Next generation surveys like the Vera C. Rubin Observatory and the Nancy G. Roman Space Telescope, in large part through traditional luminosity distance measurements with Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia), are set to reveal more about the nature of dark energy this decade than at any time in history. The enormous SN Ia samples from Roman and Rubin mean cosmological inferences will no longer be limited by statistical uncertainties, …

Bayesian Nonparametric Model For Functional Data Analysis, Tahmidul Islam

Theses and Dissertations

Functional data analysis (FDA) experienced a burst of growth after Ramsay and Silverman published their textbook in 1997. Functional data analysis interests researchers because of the challenges it adds to well-established multivariate analysis. Unlike finite dimensional random vectors, we visualize infinite dimensional random functions; for example, curves, images, brain scans, etc. A vast amount of literature have been dedicated to developing models for functional data. The ideas are mostly based on basis function representations and kernel-based nonparametric methods. In this dissertation, we propose a Bayesian treatment of nonparametric functional data analysis by introducing a Gaussian process (GP) over the space …

Concordance Of 2-Knots, Nathan Sunukjian

University Faculty Publications and Creative Works

In this paper we investigate the 0-concordance classes of 2-knots in S4, an equivalence relation that is related to understanding smooth structures on 4-manifolds. Using Rochlin’s invariant, and invariants arising from Heegaard–Floer homology, we will prove that there are infinitely many 0-concordance classes of 2-knots.

Meeting Potential New U.S. Climate Goals, Mei Yuan, Alexander R. Barron, Noelle Selin, Paul Picciano, Lucy E. Metz, John Reilly, Henry Jacoby

Environmental Science and Policy: Faculty Publications

We explore the performance of a potential addition to U.S. climate policy using authority under Section 115 of the Clean Air Act, with special attention to distributional effects among the states. This portion of the Act concerns trans-boundary air pollution, and under its provisions a national greenhouse target could be allocated among the states, with the details of state implementation optionally guided by a model rule as under other provisions of the Act. With trading allowed among the states, such a measure could lead to a national price on the covered gases. While we adopt features of a possible Section …