Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Proving Pairwise Intransitivity In Sets Of Dice, Erika Clary

Honors Projects

Prior research has been conducted regarding the intransitivity of a set of dice when a single die from a set is rolled against another die from that set and when two of the same dice are rolled against a different pair of two of the same dice. This project examines and proves that an intransitive cycle exists in every set of at least five dice when two different dice are rolled against two other different dice.

Exploring The Potential Of Defeasible Argumentation For Quantitative Inferences In Real-World Contexts: An Assessment Of Computational Trust, Lucas Rizzo, Pierpaolo Dondio, Luca Longo

Articles

Argumentation has recently shown appealing properties for inference under uncertainty and conflicting knowledge. However, there is a lack of studies focused on the examination of its capacity of exploiting real-world knowledge bases for performing quantitative, case-by-case inferences. This study performs an analysis of the inferential capacity of a set of argument-based models, designed by a human reasoner, for the problem of trust assessment. Precisely, these models are exploited using data from Wikipedia, and are aimed at inferring the trustworthiness of its editors. A comparison against non-deductive approaches revealed that these models were superior according to values inferred to recognised trustworthy …

Fish And Macroinvertebrate Response To Restoration And Conservation Efforts, Madison C. Cogar

MSU Graduate Theses

Fish and macroinvertebrate response to restoration and conservation efforts varies in regards to the size and structure of the system (e.g. headwater streams in WV versus large rivers such as the Mississippi River). This project reviews fish and macroinvertebrate rebound in treated acid mine drainage (AMD) streams in WV as well as macroinvertebrate drift patterns in the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. AMD is a product of a chemical reaction resulting in an acidic water outflow from mining sites, which may harm aquatic life. As a response, passive AMD treatment systems have been installed. I tested the effectiveness of remediation by …

Developing A Tourism Opportunity Index Regarding The Prospective Of Overtourism In Nepal, Susan Phuyal

MSU Graduate Theses

This research explores Nepal's overtourism scenario based on the capacity of a locality to manage sustainable tourism practices. Environmental degradation, local infrastructure degradation, negative tourist experience and local resident responses regarding visitors are the four main variables used in this study to analyze overtourism. In order to analyze the case study of overtourism, we select the three top touristic cities of Nepal, Kathmandu, Pokhara, and Chitwan based on the number of annual visitors. Nepal's case analysis of overtourism conditions reviews the overall threat of over-tourism and establishes a metric by which tourism can be viewed as potentially detrimental to sustainability. …

Generating Concept Based Api Element Comparison Using A Knowledge Graph, Yang Liu, Mingwei Liu, Xin Peng, Christoph Treude, Zhenchang Xing, Xiaoxin Zhang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Recommender systems are a valuable tool for software engineers. For example, they can provide developers with a ranked list of files likely to contain a bug, or multiple auto-complete suggestions for a given method stub. However, the way these recommender systems interact with developers is often rudimentary—a long list of recommendations only ranked by the model’s confidence. In this vision paper, we lay out our research agenda for re-imagining how recommender systems for software engineering communicate their insights to developers. When issuing recommendations, our aim is to recommend diverse rather than redundant solutions and present them in ways that highlight …

Design Of A Two-Echelon Freight Distribution System In An Urban Area Considering Third-Party Logistics And Loading-Unloading Zones, Vincent F. Yu, Winarno, Shih-Wei Lin, Aldy Gunawan

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

This research examines the problem of designing a two-echelon freight distribution system in a dense urban area that considers third-party logistics (TPL) and loading–unloading zones (LUZs). The proposed system takes advantage of outsourcing the last mile deliveries to a TPL provider and utilizing LUZs as temporary intermediate facilities instead of using permanent intermediate facilities to consolidate freight. A mathematical model and a simulated annealing (SA) algorithm are developed to solve the problem. The efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed SA heuristic are verified by testing it on existing benchmark instances. Computational results show that the performance of the proposed SA …

Photoelectrical And Photoelectrochemical Characterization Of The Materials Used In Dye-Sensitized And Perovskite Solar Cells., Pom Lal Kharel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Solar energy is one of the most important alternative renewable energy sources to fulfill the increasing demand of energy in the world. Third-generation solar cells like dye-sensitized solar cells, perovskite solar cells, quantum dot solar cells, and organic solar cells are extensively studied to increase their photoconversion efficiency, and ultimately for their large-scale implementation. A dye-sensitized solar cell consists of a photoanode of a mesoporous film of titania sensitized with dye sandwiched with a counter electrode, which is usually a platinum-coated transparent conducting oxide, and a redox couple injected between the photoanode and counter electrode. Doping titania with rare-earth metal …

Structural Characterization Of Two Large Icosahedral Dna Viruses And Their Capsid Assembly Mechanisms, Yuejiao Xian

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In the last three decades, many large DNA viruses were discovered and grouped into a loosely defined clade of Nucleocytoplasmic Large DNA Viruses (NCLDVs). NCLDVs infect a wide range of hosts from single cellular protists to large animals. Recently, these viruses were classified as a new phylum of Nucleocytoviricota under the kingdom of Bamfordvirae. The genomes of these Nucleocytoviricota viruses (NCVs) are remarkedly large and complicated, containing many cellular genes from all three domains of life, which raised intensive debates on their evolutionary origins. Despite being classified in the same phylum, their physical structures vary and can be roughly classified …

A Hydrologic Model Of The Northern Limb Of The San Luis Obispo Valley Aquifer By Use Of Comsol Multiphysics® Simulation Software, Claire Momberger

Master of Science in Environmental Sciences and Management Projects

The passage of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act in 2014 by the State of California was the first of its kind in the State’s history to legislate the management of groundwater resources. This legislation is state-governed but locally and regionally implemented. The Sustainable Groundwater Management Act requires local water management agencies to create their own sustainable management plans for groundwater resources that meet state-defined sustainability goals 20 years after implementation. Such plans require hydrologic conceptual models that describe flow within the groundwater basin setting, predict use, and anticipate demand. The high-level detail of the hydrologic conceptual models requires the power …

Asymptotic Expansion Of The L^2 Norms Of The Solutions To The Heat And Dissipative Wave Equations On The Heisenberg Group, Preston Walker

Theses and Dissertations

Motivated by the recent work on asymptotic expansions of heat and dissipative wave equations on the Euclidean space, and the resurgent interests in Heisenberg groups, this dissertation is devoted to the asymptotic expansions of heat and dissipative wave equations on Heisenberg groups. The Heisenberg group, $\mathbb{H}^{n}$, is the $\mathbb{R}^{2n+1}$ manifold endowed with the law $$(x,y,s)\cdot (x',y',s') = (x+x', y+y', s+ s' + \frac{1}{2} (xy' - x'y)),$$ where $x,y\in \mathbb{R}^{n}$ and $t\in \mathbb{R}$. Let $v(t,z)$ and $u(t,z)$ be solutions of the heat equation, $v_{t} - \mathcal{L} v=0$, and dissipative wave equation, $u_{tt}+u_{t} - \mathcal{L}u =0$, over the Heisenberg group respectively, where …

Extended Functionalities For Automating Comic Book Pull Files, Jackson Cunningham

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

This Honors Thesis project involves programming additional features for a Java application developed as a team for the UNO Computer Science Capstone Project. The purpose of this Capstone project was to develop an updated Pull File system for Dragon’s Lair Comics & Games, which has been running an outdated system in need of improvement. The pull file is an organizational system used by customers to reserve new issues of specific on-going comic book series as they are released. The comic book store can use a pull file system to maintain records of customers, store inventory, and order requests, gaining important …

Healthcare Regulation And Governance: Big Data Analytics And Healthcare Data Protection, Xuejuan Zhang

School of Continuing and Professional Studies Student Papers

No abstract provided.

Cost-Effective Gnss Hardware For High-Accuracy Surveys And Its Prospects For Post-Processed Kinematic (Ppk) And Precise Point Positioning (Ppp) Strategies, Johnson Olusegun Oguntuase

Dissertations

This dissertation determines for the first time the vertical accuracy achievable with low-cost mass-market multi-frequency, multi-GNSS (LM3GNSS) receivers, and antennas in the context of Ellipsoid Reference Survey (ERS), usually employed in bathymetric operations aboard survey platforms. LM3GNSS receivers are relatively new in the market, and their emergence is driven by the automobile industry and several mass-market applications requiring location-based solutions at high accuracies. It is foreseeable that emerging hydrographic survey platforms such as autonomous surface vehicles, small unmanned aircraft, crowd-sourced bathymetric platforms, and offshore GNSS buoy will find LM3GNSS receivers attractive since they are power- and cost-effective (often less than …

Why Was Nicholson's Theory So Successful: An Explanation Of A Mysterious Episode In 20 Century Atomic Physics, Olga Kosheleva, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

In the early 1910s, John Nicholson suggested that all atoms are formed by four basic elementary particles. This theory had a spectacular match with observations: it explained, with an unbelievable accuracy of 0.1, the atomic weights of all 92 elements known at that time. Specifically, it was shown that every atomic weight can be represented, with this accuracy, as an integer combination of four basic atomic weights. However, in a few years, this theory turned out to be completely wrong: atoms consist of protons, neutrons, and electrons, not of Nicholson's particles. This mysterious episode seems to contradict the usual development …

Monarch Science Observer, Volume 7, College Of Sciences, Old Dominion University

College of Sciences Newsletter

December-Fall 2020 issue of Monarch Science Observer, ODU College of Sciences Newsletter.

Causal Intervention For Weakly-Supervised Semantic Segmentation, Zhang Dong, Hanwang Zhang, Jinhui Tang, Xian-Sheng Hua, Qianru Sun

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

We present a causal inference framework to improve Weakly-Supervised Semantic Segmentation (WSSS). Specifically, we aim to generate better pixel-level pseudo-masks by using only image-level labels --- the most crucial step in WSSS. We attribute the cause of the ambiguous boundaries of pseudo-masks to the confounding context, e.g., the correct image-level classification of "horse'' and "person'' may be not only due to the recognition of each instance, but also their co-occurrence context, making the model inspection (e.g., CAM) hard to distinguish between the boundaries. Inspired by this, we propose a structural causal model to analyze the causalities among images, contexts, and …

A Bert-Based Dual Embedding Model For Chinese Idiom Prediction, Minghuan Tan, Jing Jiang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Chinese idioms are special fixed phrases usually derived from ancient stories, whose meanings are oftentimes highly idiomatic and non-compositional. The Chinese idiom prediction task is to select the correct idiom from a set of candidate idioms given a context with a blank. We propose a BERT-based dual embedding model to encode the contextual words as well as to learn dual embeddings of the idioms. Specifically, we first match the embedding of each candidate idiom with the hidden representation corresponding to the blank in the context. We then match the embedding of each candidate idiom with the hidden representations of all …

Optimal Collaborative Path Planning For Unmanned Surface Vehicles Carried By A Parent Boat Along A Planned Route, Ari Carisza Graha Prasetia, I-Lin Wang, Aldy Gunawan

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

In this paper, an effective mechanism using a fleet of unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) carried by a parent boat (PB) is proposed to complete search or scientific tasks over multiple target water areas within a shorter time . Specifically, multiple USVs can be launched from the PB to conduct such operations simultaneously, and each USV can return to the PB for battery recharging or swapping and data collection in order to continue missions in a more extended range. The PB itself follows a planned route with a flexible schedule taking into consideration locational constraints or collision avoidance in a real-world …

A Near-Optimal Change-Detection Based Algorithm For Piecewise-Stationary Combinatorial Semi-Bandits, Huozhi Zhou, Lingda Wang, Lav N. Varshney, Ee-Peng Lim

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

We investigate the piecewise-stationary combinatorial semi-bandit problem. Compared to the original combinatorial semi-bandit problem, our setting assumes the reward distributions of base arms may change in a piecewise-stationary manner at unknown time steps. We propose an algorithm, GLR-CUCB, which incorporates an efficient combinatorial semi-bandit algorithm, CUCB, with an almost parameter-free change-point detector, the Generalized Likelihood Ratio Test (GLRT). Our analysis shows that the regret of GLR-CUCB is upper bounded by O(√NKT logT), where N is the number of piecewise-stationary segments, K is the number of base arms, and T is the number of time steps. As a complement, we also …

How Do Monetary Incentives Influence Prosocial Fundraising? An Empirical Investigation Of Matching Subsidies On Crowdfunding, Zhiyuan Gao

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Monetary incentives, such as matching subsidies, are widely used in traditional fundraising and crowdfunding platforms to boost funding activities and improve funding outcomes. However, its effectiveness on prosocial fundraising is still unclear from both theoretical (Bénabou and Tirole, 2006; Frey, 1997; Meier, 2007a) and empirical studies (Ariely et al., 2009; Karlan and List, 2007; Rondeau and List, 2008). This dissertation aims to examine the effectiveness of matching subsidies on prosocial fundraising in the crowdfunding context. Specifically, I study how the presence of matching subsidies affects overall funding outcomes and funding dynamics in the online prosocial crowdfunding environment.

The first essay …

Global Conservation Status Of Croaker And Drum (Family: Sciaenidae) And Role Of The Maw Trade, Claire E. Gorman

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

Understanding threats and drivers of extinction risk is critical to conserving marine biodiversity. Although marine bony fishes are some of the most diverse and abundant vertebrates in the world, overexploitation is the major threat to these taxa. Species in the family Sciaenidae are important marine resources in many parts of the world, supporting small- and large-scale fisheries for consumption and the international maw (dried swimbladder) trade. Sciaenids exhibit a diverse array of life history characteristics, such as high fecundity, large body size, formation of spawning aggregations, and longevity. Some characteristics increase their susceptibility to anthropogenic stressors. Despite being ecologically and …

In The Margins: Reconsidering The Range And Contribution Of Diazotrophs In Nearshore Environments, Corday R. Selden

OES Theses and Dissertations

Dinitrogen (N₂) fixation enables primary production and, consequently, carbon dioxide drawdown in nitrogen (N) limited marine systems, exerting a powerful influence over the coupled carbon and N cycles. Our understanding of the environmental factors regulating its distribution and magnitude are largely based on the range and sensitivity of one genus, Trichodesmium. However, recent work suggests that the niche preferences of distinct diazotrophic (N₂ fixing) clades differ due to their metabolic and ecological diversity, hampering efforts to close the N budget and model N₂ fixation accurately. Here, I explore the range of N₂ fixation …

Sodium-Calcium Ratios In The Planktic Foraminifera Trilobatus Sacculifer As A Proxy For Sea Surface Salinity, Colton Steele Watkins

OES Theses and Dissertations

Recent culture and field studies have found a significant positive correlation between seawater salinity and the incorporation of sodium into foraminiferal calcite, suggesting a potential new proxy for reconstructing past changes in sea surface salinity (SSS) (Mezger et al., 2016 and Bertlich et al., 2018). In order to test the applicability of this new proxy in an open-ocean setting, Na/Ca ratios in the planktic foraminifera Trilobatus sacculifer (T. sacculifer Na/Ca) were measured from a suite of sediment core tops spanning a natural salinity gradient from the North Atlantic subtropical gyre to the South Atlantic subtropical gyre. Initial results from …

Assessment Of Factors Influencing Migratory Landbird Use Of Forested Stopover Sites Along The Delmarva Peninsula During Autumn Migration, J. Andrew Arnold

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

Autumn migration is a time when billions of birds move from breeding grounds in North America to wintering grounds in Central and South America, with many individuals relying on stopover habitats en route for resting and refueling purposes. These stopover sites are critical to the survival of the hundreds of species of migratory landbirds that migrate annually, and thus identifying important stopover sites is a high priority for conserving such taxa. The Delmarva Peninsula; a coastal region of Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia along the mid-Atlantic flyway; consists of forested habitats with ample food and shelter that likely serves as quality …

Enhanced Traffic Incident Analysis With Advanced Machine Learning Algorithms, Zhenyu Wang

Computational Modeling & Simulation Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Traffic incident analysis is a crucial task in traffic management centers (TMCs) that typically manage many highways with limited staff and resources. An effective automatic incident analysis approach that can report abnormal events timely and accurately will benefit TMCs in optimizing the use of limited incident response and management resources. During the past decades, significant efforts have been made by researchers towards the development of data-driven approaches for incident analysis. Nevertheless, many developed approaches have shown limited success in the field. This is largely attributed to the long detection time (i.e., waiting for overwhelmed upstream detection stations; meanwhile, downstream stations …

Synthesis, Characterization, Spectroscopic, And Mesomorphic Studies Of New Schiff Base Ligands And Titanium, Cobalt, Nickel And Copper Metal Centers, Raj K. Gurung

Chemistry & Biochemistry Theses & Dissertations

Transition metal complexes with Schiff base ligands offer a wide application in the field of development of catalysis and material. The straightforward synthesis allowed the structural modification and helped to optimize in various application of such complexes. Titanium-containing complexes have been reported to be important for their catalytic and material applications through the coordination of a tetradentate Schiff base ligand, viz. N, N’-ethylene bis(salicylideneiminate) dianion (salen). Studies reporting the characterization of achiral titanium(IV) salen complexes are scarce due to their intricate nature. Such complexes would be comparatively less expensive and easier to prepare synthetically and thus could represent an …

Synthesis And Characterization Of Carbohydrate Based Molecular Gelators And Macrocycles Through Cycloaddition Reactions, Dan Wang

Chemistry & Biochemistry Theses & Dissertations

Carbohydrate based low molecular weight gelators (LMWGs) are biocompatible and have many potential applications. They have been used for drug delivery, environmental clean-up, and for reaction catalysis. In recent years, copper catalyzed azide alkyne cycloaddition reactions (CuAACs) also termed “Click reactions” have shown great applications in the synthesis of various glycoconjugates and carbohydrate derivatives.

In this research, three diverse classes of glycoconjugates (I, II, III) have been designed and synthesized. The first class of compounds (I) in Chapter 2 are D-glucosamine based amide and triazole derivatives with different spacers between the amide and triazole (n=2-5) function groups. These compounds were …

Advances In The Understanding Of Sourcing And Fate Of Pyrogenic Organic Matter In The Environment, Aleksandar Ivaylov Goranov

Chemistry & Biochemistry Theses & Dissertations

With higher occurrences of forest fires worldwide, there has been an increase in scientific interest surrounding the chemistry of pyrogenic organic matter (pyOM). The main structural components of pyOM, the condensed aromatic compounds (ConAC), exhibit intriguing physico-chemical properties and have been one of the main focuses of biogeochemical research. The overwhelmingly large number of scientific articles regarding pyOM and ConAC are guided by the assumption that ConAC in the environment are exclusively of pyrogenic origin, even though some recent studies have suggested that some of these ConAC could also be derived from non-pyrogenic radical-driven processes. To evaluate this controversial proposition, …

Synthesis, Characterization, And Kinetics Studies Of New Cobalt Complexes For The Production Of H2 In Acidic Media, Michael John Celestine

Chemistry & Biochemistry Theses & Dissertations

The kinetics and mechanism of the oxidation of [Co(dmgBF₂)₂(OH₂)₂] (where dmgBF₂ = difluoroboryldimethylglyoximato) by sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl), sodium bromate (NaBrO₃), and bromine (Br₂₎ was investigated by stopped-flow spectrophotometry at 450 nm over a wide temperature range. The pK_a1 value for [Co(dmgBF₂)₂(OH₂)₂] was calculated as 5.27 ± 0.14 at I = 0.60 (NaCl). From the variation in pH studies, the activation parameters were derived from the proposed mechanisms for NaOCl, ΔH_1*, ΔH_2*, ΔS_1*, and …

Structure Analysis Of Natural Wangdaodeite—Linbo3-Type Fetio3, Oliver Tschauner, Chi Ma, Matthew G. Newville, Antonio Lanzirotti

Geoscience Faculty Research

© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This paper reports the first structure refinement of natural wangdaodeite, LiNbO3-type FeTiO3 from the Ries impact structure. Wangdaodeite occurs together with recrystallized ilmenite clasts in shock melt veins which have experienced peak shock pressures of between 17 and 22 GPa. Comparison of natural and synthetic wangdaodeite points toward a correlation between the distortion of ferrate-and titanate-polyhedra and the c/a ratio of the unit cell. The Raman spectrum of wangdaodeite is calculated based on the refined structure. Comparison to the reported spectrum of the type-material shows that the Raman peak at 738–740 …