Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

The Influence Of Volcano Edifice Resonance On The Seismic Triggering Of Thermal Activity At Active Volcanoes, Morgana M. Wilke

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

There is an established correlation between large earthquakes and volcanic unrest, however the mechanisms between this connection are not well understood. Relatively small changes in stress within a volcanic system could be enough to initiate a response. One aspect that could serve to amplify small dynamic stress changes is volcanic edifice resonance triggered by surface waves at resonant frequency. In this paper, we investigate the relationship between thermal activity of volcanoes and various minimum thresholds of Love wave amplitudes at resonance caused by teleseismic earthquakes above a 7.0 M. Satellite-derived thermal data from 25 volcanoes are modeled in relation to …

Integration Of 3d Structural Modelling And Well Logging Analysis In The Evaluation Of October Oil Field, Gulf Of Suez, Egypt, Lamiaa Yahia, Mostafa Toni, Farouk I. Metwalli, M. H. Mansour, Amir Ismail

Trends in advanced sciences and technology

An extensive study of the NUBIA and MAT reservoirs, incorporating numerous data sources, enhances the accuracy of production forecasts for hydrocarbon exploration and development. This study aims to integrate seismic and well data for re-assessment and to delineate the geological and petrophysical characteristics of the October oil field which is one of the most productive in the central Gulf of Suez, but it has recently witnessed a drop in output in some regions, and some wells have begun to depletion. While facies modeling enabled the spatial distribution of lithologic facies inside the constructed 3D structural model, which reflected two types …

Learn From The Past: Using Peer Data To Improve Course Recommendations In Personalized Education, Colton Walker

Masters Theses

"This work describes a recommendation approach designed to enhance student success by identifying semester schedules and graduation paths. The primary objective is to provide personalized graduation path recommendations rooted in individual student performance and draw insights from the academic journeys of similar students who successfully graduated. The original research contribution of this work lies in the development of a graduation path recommender system that leverages a combination of Markov Decision Process, Q-Learning, and collaborative filtering techniques to pinpoint graduation paths with a higher likelihood of leading students to success based on their academic progress thus far. The effectiveness of the …

Advanced Mass Spectrometry Method Development And Applications For Assessment Of Traumatic Brain Injury And Legionella Pneumophila Dissinfection With Copper, Austin Chase Sigler

Doctoral Dissertations

"Pathological processes often involve complex biochemical changes which can be assessed using advanced mass spectrometry. In this present dissertation, two fields were studied: traumatic brain injury (TBI), and water contamination by L. pneumophilia. TBI is a pressing public health concern for which current clinical tools remain inadequate. We present newly developed mass spectrometric methods to access metabolites associated with blast induced TBI. We applied these methods to the biofluids of soldiers conducting explosives training. Significant changes in several metabolites were observed between pre- and post-blast specimens, including changes that increased with repeated exposure. These changes point to the possibility of …

Analytical Methods For Monitoring Traumatic Brain Injury Biomarkers/Treatment And Pharmaceutical Residual Solvents, Olajide Philip Adetunji

Doctoral Dissertations

"The development of highly sensitive and efficient analytical methods utilizing advanced instrumentation is necessary to help improve disease diagnosis and therapeutics. A major neuro-consequence of traumatic brain injury (TBI) is oxidative stress from the generation of reactive oxygen species and the depletion of antioxidant defenses. Alteration in concentrations of certain small molecules also occurs with the disease progression and can help understand TBI pathophysiology. Two analytical methods employing liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) were developed and validated to monitor the potential small-molecule TBI biomarkers at sub-ppb levels. Subsequently, the neuroprotective effect of an antioxidant prodrug, N-acetylcysteine amide (NACA), …

Catalytic Control Of The Nanomorphology And Mechanical Properties Of Aliphatic Shape-Memory Aerogels, A B M Shaheen Ud Doulah

Doctoral Dissertations

"Shape-memory poly(isocyanurate-urethane) (PIR-PUR) aerogels are nanoporous solids that can return to their original shape after being compressed, through a heating actuation step. This thesis compares the effectiveness of various metal ions as catalysts in the formation of PIR-PUR aerogels, and explores the correlation between catalytic activity, nanomorphology, and mechanical properties of the resulting aerogels. The gelation rate was found to increase from Fe to Cu and then decline from Cu to Ga in the periodic table. CuCl₂ was found to be the fastest catalyst, and FeCl₃ the slowest. The morphology of the aerogels changed from bicontinuous to spheroidal …

Secure And Privacy-Preserving Federated Learning With Rapid Convergence In Leo Satellite Networks, Mohamed Elmahallawy

Doctoral Dissertations

"The advancement of satellite technology has enabled the launch of small satellites equipped with high-resolution cameras into low Earth orbit (LEO), enabling the collection of extensive Earth data for training AI models. However, the conventional approach of downloading satellite-related data to a ground station (GS) for training a centralized machine learning (ML) model faces significant challenges. Firstly, the transmission of raw data raises security and privacy concerns, especially in military applications. Secondly, the download bandwidth is limited, which puts a stringent limit on image transmissions to the GS. Lastly, LEO satellites have sporadic visibility with the GS, and orbit the …

A Multiple-Case Study On The Impact Of An Introductory Real Analysis Course On Undergraduate Students' Understanding Of Function Continuity, Ryan Joseph Rogers

Theses and Dissertations--Mathematics

Undergraduate students' understanding of function continuity has not been explored broadly in previous research. The relevant findings in the literature are predominantly concerned with calculus students' understanding and misconceptions of continuity. Many of these misunderstandings are tied to the relationships which continuity has with limits and differentiability. This multiple-case study explores how, if at all, an introductory real analysis course impacts undergraduate students' understanding of function continuity and its connections to the notions of limits and differentiability. We embed our findings within the theoretical framework of Tall's three worlds of mathematics, namely, the embodied, symbolic, and formal worlds.

The cases …

Assessing Interatomic Potentials For Molecular Dynamics Simulation Of Soybean Oil Pyrolysis, Tanner Garrett Rust

MSU Graduate Theses

The world today relies on hydrocarbon combustion for many reasons, including its high energy density that provides ease of transportation. However, hydrocarbons sourced from fossil fuels are not expected to last forever. Biodiesel, a renewable alternative, has many attractive benefits but comes with other downsides. Biodiesel can gel in cold environments and may leave residue in an engine. Pyrolysis of biodiesel has shown promise in addressing these common detriments. Inducing pyrolysis on biodiesel feedstock (commonly soybean oil in the USA) would be an attractive option presuming it continues to produce fossil fuel analogs similar to biodiesel pyrolysis. Herein, Langevin molecular …

Geology Of The Bishop 7.5-Minute Quadrangle And Geophysical Modeling To Constrain Syndepositional Deformation Of The Black Warrior Foreland Basin, Joseph Edward Lane

MSU Graduate Theses

The Black Warrior basin is a foreland basin formed by the Ouachita–Appalachian orogeny during the late Paleozoic Era. Mississippian strata record the transition from the carbonate platform within the Tuscumbia Limestone to the clastic-rich units within the overlying Pride Mountain Formation and Hartselle Sandstone. The western and southern-most fringes of the Black Warrior basin are covered by thin, post orogenic Cretaceous sediments of the East Gulf Coastal Plain. Geological mapping of the Bishop 7.5-Minute quadrangle revealed subtle deformation in Mississippian strata in the form of gentle folds (

Development Of Functional Plasmonic Nanoceria For The Ultrasensitive Detection Of Ebola Glycoprotein, Carissa A. Sutton

MSU Graduate Theses

Infectious diseases have been increasing in both severity and prevalence, leading to increasing economic burdens and health concerns. Ebola hemorrhagic fever is an infectious disease that is both highly communicable and highly fatal. Current detection methods for the virus have high specificity and sensitivity but have long and/or complicated procedures that do not allow for early virus detection in highly affected areas. Compared to the lengthy procedure of reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), real-time RT-PCR is more time-efficient; however, specificity and sensitivity are reduced. Since early detection of the virus is the only way to increase survival rates, sensitive detection …

Inorganic Chemical Reasoning Skills: An Exploratory Study Into Understanding Students’ Choices And Thought Processes, Hannah P. Thompson

MSU Graduate Theses

Predicting the products of reactions is a fundamental skill for practicing inorganic chemists. However, the current knowledge of the strategies that students use to solve them is limited. Presumably, instructors of inorganic chemistry courses give complete-the-reaction assessment items hoping that students will use their knowledge of inorganic concepts to solve them; but it is conceivable that a successful student could use heuristics or domain general problem-solving methods. I proposed this study to determine which strategies were used by students when solving complete-the-reaction tasks in inorganic chemistry, and also to make qualitative connections between strategy and accuracy. This was done in …

Bank Erosion Dynamics In Response To Anthropogenic Disturbances In The Cuivre River Watershed Of Missouri, Usa, Nathan Douglas Sines

MSU Graduate Theses

Riverbank erosion is increasingly recognized as a pressing issue exacerbated by human activities. The Cuivre River, a tributary of the Mississippi River, located in northeast Missouri, has limited documentation on bank erosion, with the most recent study conducted in the early 1990s. This research aims to fill this gap by exploring the stream bank erosion dynamics from 1816 to 2015. The objectives are to: (i) understand the channel width dynamics for 1816 to 1994 ii) determine the sediment erosion and deposition volume along the riverbank in the period of 1994 to 2015. iii) identify the anthropogenic disturbances particularly land use …

Applications Of Ai/Ml In Maritime Cyber Supply Chains, Rafael Diaz, Ricardo Ungo, Katie Smith, Lida Haghnegahdar, Bikash Singh, Tran Phuong

School of Cybersecurity Faculty Publications

Digital transformation is a new trend that describes enterprise efforts in transitioning manual and likely outdated processes and activities to digital formats dominated by the extensive use of Industry 4.0 elements, including the pervasive use of cyber-physical systems to increase efficiency, reduce waste, and increase responsiveness. A new domain that intersects supply chain management and cybersecurity emerges as many processes as possible of the enterprise require the convergence and synchronizing of resources and information flows in data-driven environments to support planning and execution activities. Protecting the information becomes imperative as big data flows must be parsed and translated into actions …

Dark Side Of Genai: A Blackbox Analysis Of X, Ahmed El Noshokaty, Tareq Nasralah, Omar El-Gayar, Mohammad A. Al-Ramahi, Abdullah Wahbeh

All Faculty Scholarship

Recent advancements in generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) have raised many fears, risks, and concerns (Kim 2023; Okey et al. 2023). To shed light on the dark side of GenAI, we collected 55,916 posts from X (formerly Twitter). Based on the content of these posts, we manually labeled a sample set with the corresponding dark side, then identified a short, comprehensive list of GenAI dark sides. Using this list, we trained the ReadMe classifier, a supervised learning algorithm on Brandwatch (“Crimson Hexagon and Brandwatch” 2020), to classify the remaining posts. Further analysis, including emotion analysis and analysis of professions and interests …

Quantifying The Influence Of The Madden-Julian Oscillation On Rainfall Extremes During The Northeast Monsoon Season Of The Philippines, Lyndon Mark P. Olaguera, John A. Manalo, Alwin Bathan, Jun Matsumoto

Physics Faculty Publications

This study investigates the impact of the Madden–Julian Oscillation (MJO) on the extreme rainfall events across 11 eastern coastal stations during the northeast monsoon season (November to March) over the Philippines from 1979 to 2019. The contribution of synoptic systems to these extreme rainfall events such as tropical cyclones (TCs), low-pressure systems (LPS), cold surges (CS), and other disturbances as they coincide with a strong and active MJO were quantified. The results show that the probability of extreme rainfall occurrence increases first to as much as 20% in the southernmost stations in Phase 4. Then, it increases to more than …

Dynamic Rates Of Freshwater Drum Near The Northern Extent Of Their Range: Evidence Of Environment-Recruitment Relationships, M. Stuart, N. Kludt, M. A. Pegg, F. Montesanto, C. Lyon, C. J. Chance-Ossowski

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Estimating Soil Texture By Hand, Department Of Primary Industries And Regional Development, Western Australia

Natural resources factsheets

Estimating or measuring soil texture provides valuable information about soil properties affecting crop and pasture growth. Soil texture affects the movement and availability of air, nutrients, and water in soil. A simple and quick measure of soil texture is the way a soil feels when manipulated by hand.

The department recommends laboratory testing of soil texture (and other factors) for all critical soil uses, including farm dam construction and claying.

Enhancedbert: A Feature-Rich Ensemble Model For Arabic Word Sense Disambiguation With Statistical Analysis And Optimized Data Collection, Sanaa Kaddoura, Reem Nassar

All Works

Accurate assignment of meaning to a word based on its context, known as Word Sense Disambiguation (WSD), remains challenging across languages. Extensive research aims to develop automated methods for determining word senses in different contexts. However, the literature lacks the presence of datasets generated for the Arabic language WSD. This paper presents a dataset comprising a hundred polysemous Arabic words. Each word in the dataset encompasses 3–8 distinct senses, with ten example sentences per sense. Some statistical operations are conducted to gain insights into the dataset, enlightening its characteristics and properties. Subsequently, a novel WSD approach is proposed to utilize …

Estimated Glomerular Filtration Rate Slope And Risk Of Primary And Secondary Major Adverse Cardiovascular Events And Heart Failure Hospitalization In People With Type 2 Diabetes: An Analysis Of The Exscel Trial, Abderrahim Oulhaj, Faisal Aziz, Abubaker Suliman, Kathrin Eller, Rachid Bentoumi, John B. Buse, Wael Al Mahmeed, Dirk Von Lewinski, Ruth L. Coleman, Rury R. Holman, Harald Sourij

All Works

Aim: The decline in estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), a significant predictor of cardiovascular disease (CVD), occurs heterogeneously in people with diabetes because of various risk factors. We investigated the role of eGFR decline in predicting CVD events in people with type 2 diabetes in both primary and secondary CVD prevention settings. Materials and Methods: Bayesian joint modelling of repeated measures of eGFR and time to CVD event was applied to the Exenatide Study of Cardiovascular Event Lowering (EXSCEL) trial to examine the association between the eGFR slope and the incidence of major adverse CV event/hospitalization for heart failure (MACE/hHF) …

Zeckendorf Representation Analysis On Third Order Fibonacci Sequences That Do Not Satisfy The Uniqueness Property, Samuel A. Aguilar

Honors College Theses

Zeckendorf's Theorem states that every natural number can be expressed uniquely as the sum of distinct non-consecutive terms of the shifted Fibonacci sequence (i.e. 1, 2, 3, 5, ...). This theorem has motivated the study of representation of integers by the sum of non-adjacent terms of Nth order Fibonacci sequences, including the characterization of the uniqueness of Zeckendorf representation based on the initial terms of the sequence. Moreover, when this uniqueness property is satisfied for third order Fibonacci sequences, the ratio of integers less than a given number X that have a Zeckendorf representation has been estimated by Dr. Sungkon …

Compton Scattering Of Mammographic Soft X-Ray Beams By Alkali And Transition Metal Salt Filters Produce X-Ray Interference Zones That May Have Treatment Potential For Localized Cancer Lesions, Subhendra N. Sarkar, Eric Lobel, Sabina Rakhmatova, Derbie Desir, Somdat Kissoon, Daler Djuraev, Katie Tam

Publications and Research

In breast x-ray imaging scattered radiation adds 50% of harmful radiation dose from anisotropic Compton scattering mechanism. We have been working with double layered inorganic salt materials that can induce Compton scattering to the incident mammographic x ray beams (in 20-30 kVp range) with adequate isotropy (angular control). Typically metal nitrates and alkali halide salt layers are shown here to cause low energy radiation interference zones with high and low photon intensities and local flux heterogeneity in terms of flux covariance. Spatial variation of low energy photon flux creates concentrated and sparse radiation zones that may be used to induce …

Momentech - Modern Explorations Of The Impulse-Momentum Theorem, Todd Gelbord

Publications and Research

Herein we outline the design and construction of an instructional laboratory demonstration of the conservation of linear momentum, by way of the Impulse-Momentum Theorem, utilizing small, commercially available accelerometers attached to microcontrollers. The set-up is equipped with small, OLED screens which are able to display real-time acceleration graphs. Furthermore, a template for an experiment involving this set-up is provided. We also explore various data analysis options for different levels of student sophistication.

Computer-Aided Craniofacial Superimposition Validation Study: The Identification Of The Leaders And Participants Of The Polish-Lithuanian January Uprising (1863–1864), Rubén Martos, Rosario Guerra, Fernando Navarro, Michela Peruch, Kevin Neuwirth, Andrea Valsecchi, Rimantas Jankauskas, Oscar Ibáñez

Student and Faculty Publications

In 2017, a series of human remains corresponding to the executed leaders of the "January Uprising" of 1863-1864 were uncovered at the Upper Castle of Vilnius (Lithuania). During the archeological excavations, 14 inhumation pits with the human remains of 21 individuals were found at the site. The subsequent identification process was carried out, including the analysis and cross-comparison of post-mortem data obtained in situ and in the lab with ante-mortem data obtained from historical archives. In parallel, three anthropologists with diverse backgrounds in craniofacial identification and two students without previous experience attempted to identify 11 of these 21 individuals using …

Recent Beak Evolution In North American Starlings After Invasion, Julia M. Zichello, Shelagh T. Deliberto, Paul Shrewsbury, Agnieszka A. Pierwola, Scott J. Werner

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

European starlings are one of the most abundant and problematic avian invaders in the world. From their native range across Eurasia and North Africa, they have been introduced to every continent except Antarctica. In 160 years, starlings have expanded into different environments throughout the world, making them a powerful model for understanding rapid evolutionary change and adaptive plasticity. Here, we investigate their spatiotemporal morphological variation in North America and the native range. Our dataset includes 1,217 specimens; a combination of historical museum skins and modern birds. Beak length in the native range has remained unchanged during the past 206 years, …

Oral Rabies Vaccination Of Raccoons (Procyon Lotor) Across A Development Intensity Gradient In Burlington, Vermont, Usa, 2015–2017, Emily M. Beasley, Kathleen M. Nelson, Dennis Slate, Amy T. Gilbert, Frederick E. Pogmore, Richard B. Chipman, Amy J. Davis

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Management of the raccoon rabies virus variant in North America is conducted primarily using oral rabies vaccination (ORV). When a sufficient proportion of the population is vaccinated (60%), rabies transmission can be eliminated. To date, ORV programs have successfully controlled and eliminated raccoon rabies in rural areas, but there has been less success in urban areas. We studied the proportions of rabies virus neutralizing antibodies (RVNA) in a raccoon (Procyon lotor) population during a 3-year ORV trial in developed areas of Burlington, Vermont, United States. We used a modified N-mixture model to estimate raccoon abundance, RVNA seroprevalence, and …

Assessing The Efficiency Of Local Rabies Vaccination Strategies For Raccoons (Procyon Lotor) In An Urban Setting, Guillaume Bastille-Rousseau, Nicole T. Gorman, Katherine M. Mcclure, Larissa Nituch, Tore Buchanan, Richard B. Chipman, Amy T. Gilbert, Kim M. Pepin

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Raccoon rabies virus (RRV) has been managed using multiple vaccination strategies, including oral rabies vaccination and trap-vaccinate-release (TVR). Identifying a rabies vaccination strategy for an area is a nontrivial task. Vaccination strategies differ in the amount of effort and monetary costs required to achieve a particular level of vaccine seroprevalence (efficiency). Simulating host movement relative to different vaccination strategies in silico can provide a useful tool for exploring the efficiency of different vaccination strategies. We refined a previously developed individual-based model of raccoon movement to evaluate vaccination strategies for urban Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. We combined different oral rabies vaccination baiting …

Site-Specific Space Use And Resource Selection By Black Vultures (Coragyps Atratus) In The Southeastern Usa, Betsy Evans, John S. Humphrey, Eric A. Tillman, Michael L. Avery, Bryan M. Kluever

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

North American populations of Black Vultures Coragyps atratus have increased and expanded their distribution in the southern and eastern USA. In conjunction with these patterns has been a rise in human–vulture conflicts. To improve our understanding of space use patterns and better inform management, we evaluated the movements of Black Vultures (n = 23) in the southeastern USA using a long-term GPS tracking database. Our specific objectives were to: (1) quantify home-range sizes in relation to season and geographical study location and (2) examine within-home-range resource selection to identify landscape and anthropogenic factors influencing roost and diurnal space use. …

Limitations Of Invasive Snake Control Tools In The Context Of A New Invasion On An Island With Abundant Prey, Shane R. Siers, Melia G. Nafus, Jereid E. Calaor, Rachel M. Volsteadt, Matthew S. Grassi, Megan Volsteadt, Aaron F. Collins, Patrick D. Barnhart, Logan T. Huse, Amy A. Yackel Adams, Diane L. Vice

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

In October 2020, a new population of invasive brown treesnakes (Boiga irregularis) was discovered on the 33-ha Cocos Island, 2.5 km off the south coast of Guam, United States. Cocos Island is a unique conservation resource, providing refuge for many lizards and birds, including endangered species, which were extirpated from mainland Guam by invasive predators including brown treesnakes. We sought to evaluate the usefulness of toxic baiting with acetaminophen-treated carrion baits and cage trapping, common tools for the control of brown treesnakes on mainland Guam, as potential eradication tools on Cocos Island. We evaluated multiple bait types and …

Treatment With The Immunocontraceptive Vaccine, Gonacon, Induces Temporary Fertility Control In Free-Ranging Prairie Dog Populations In Colorado, Usa, Aaron B. Shiels, Jackson Runte, Emily W. Ruell, Douglas C. Eckery, Gary W. Witmer, Daniel J. Salkeld

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Context

Prairie dogs (Cynomys spp.) are rodents enjoyed by some humans; yet, they cause crop and property damage, and carry zoonotic disease. Non-lethal control of prairie dogs is of interest in urban/suburban settings. The injectable immunocontraceptive vaccine GonaCon (active ingredient is gonadotropin-releasing hormone [GnRH]) has been shown to be effective at reducing fertility in equine and deer, and is a US EPA-registered vaccine for use in these ungulate species.

Aims

To conduct a replicated field study to test efficacy of GonaCon in black-tailed prairie dogs (C. ludovicianus), and if found to be efficacious, to help facilitate …