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Nuclear Deterrence and Nuclear Modernization: A Strategic Analysis of Global Nuclear Threats and U.S. Policy
No full textThe nuclear imperative comes from the idea that all three legs of the Triad must be retained to ensure a viable deterrent posture, provide flexibility in a response, and give decision makers options to create uncertainty in an adversary’s decision calculus. The nuclear imperative is the need to fund suggested shortfalls in the nuclear enterprise and modernize the U.S. Triad, not just one or two legs, but all three, due to the ever-increasing nuclear risk. To understand the current state in which the United States finds itself and the need for the nuclear modernization program, this thesis will review nuclear threats from China, Russia, and North Korea. The thesis will also address the evolution of the United States’ nuclear doctrine from the Cold War to the present day to include a discussion of the current nuclear Triad, nuclear command, control, and communication, and dual-capable aircraft. This analysis will conclude by reviewing the Triad of air, missile, and submarine systems and modernization efforts underway to show how the United States can meet current and future threats. Ultimately, this study seeks to contribute to the existing literature on the United States’ nuclear forces and show the importance and necessity of nuclear modernization, stemming from the current and future threat nuclear adversaries pose to the U.S. and its allies
Applied Machine Learning in Mineral Prospectivity Mapping in the South Pass-Granite Mountains of Wyoming
No full textThe South Pass-Granite Mountains, comprised of Archean to Tertiary rocks embedded with an Archean greenstone belt in Central Wyoming, have historically been mined for gold, iron, steel, and silver. Rare earth elements have been of increasing interest in the region and thus, several datasets have become available. Knowledge driven and data driven models are used in mineral prospectivity mapping with input data including geological mapping, geochemical data, geophysical (USGS Critical Mineral magnetic and gravity data), radiometric (U, Th, K) data and multispectral remote sensing data. Mineral prospectivity has seen a rapid improvement in recent years using advancements in machine learning for processing large and complex datasets to identify new potential deposit locations. The magnetic and gravity data are utilized to create lineaments that may act as conduits for ore fluids and for fault density evidential maps for input into the machine learning algorithms. This study utilizes and compares algorithms such as Random Forest, XgBoost, support vector machine, and convolutional neural networks on evidential maps to identify potential new gold and rare earth elements deposits within the South Pass region. The combination of the multiple algorithms identified many locations within the underexplored placer deposits of the Wasatch formation as well as key locations surrounding the Bradley Peak location within the Seminoe Mountains
Spatial and Temporal Shifts in Bacterial Communities and Nutrient Removal in Two Springfield Wastewater Facilities
No full textBacterial communities play a central role in the biological nutrient removal and overall performance of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). However, very few is known about the spatial and seasonal dynamics of these communities. This study explores the spatial and seasonal variations in bacterial community composition across multiple treatment stages in two municipal WWTPs—Southwest (SWTP) and Northwest (NWTP)—in Springfield, Missouri. Using 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing, I analyzed 87 samples collected during summer and winter of 2024 from influent, sludge, aeration basins, clarifiers, and final effluent stages. I retrieved 16.4 million (summer) and 3.2 million (winter) sequences. Proteobacteria dominated both seasons (42 % summer; 49 % winter), followed by Firmicutes, Bacteroidota, Actinobacteria, Planctomycetes. Non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) and Bray-Curtis similarity analyses revealed distinct microbial community transitions across treatment processes and seasons. Seasonal shifts were evident, with summer and winter samples forming distinct clusters, suggesting that temperature and water chemistry significantly influence bacterial community structure. Physicochemical parameters (e.g. DO, COD, NO₂⁻, NO₃⁻, metals), revealed clear stage-specific bacterial community shifts. Family-level taxonomic analysis highlighted functional groups like Comamonadaceae, Moraxellaceae, and Lachnospiraceae, which varied significantly across both spatial and temporal gradients, reflecting their roles in organic degradation, nutrient cycling, and resistance to disinfection. Overall, this study underscores the dynamic interplay between operational parameters, environmental conditions, and bacterial community structure in WWTPs, offering valuable insights for improving treatment efficacy and potential bacterial pathogen risk management
Modeling the Impact of Climate Change on Plant Hardiness Zones Across the Contiguous United States Using Empirical Bayesian Kriging Regression Prediction
No full textMapping plant hardiness zones is crucial to understanding and predicting the spatial distribution of plants in response to climatic conditions. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) developed the plant hardiness zones based on the average of annual extreme minimum temperatures using the Parameter elevation Regression on Independent Slope Model (PRISM). While the USDA’s 2012 and 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone maps remain standard references, they offer limited geostatistical transparency that causes more complications in replicating. This study applies Empirical Bayesian Kriging Regression Prediction (EBKRP) method to generate Plant Hardiness Zone maps, analyze spatial and temporal shifts in the plant hardiness zone boundaries from 1930 to 2023 for the contiguous United States, with the aim of assessing the impact of climate change on plant distribution and survivability. The Empirical Bayesian Kriging Regression Prediction derived Plant Hardiness Zone maps were evaluated against the USDA maps using a confusion matrix, Quantity and Allocation Disagreement Index, and multiple geostatistical accuracy metrics. The results demonstrated EBKRP’s high predictive capacities. The model has high R-square values (\u3e0.96), explaining over 96% of the variance in PHZ predictions. The confusion matrices showed high overall accuracies (\u3e0.85) and the QADI values of 0.11 and 0.13 reflect high confidence and a low level of disagreement with the USDA plant hardiness zone maps. The research further reveals a clear and northward shift in minimum temperature thresholds that define these zones. Early decades, such as 1930 and 1970, have shown relatively minor spatial changes, reflecting slower climate warming. In contrast, the period from 1990 onward exhibits accelerated shifts in PHZ boundaries. These findings demonstrate that the Empirical Bayesian Kriging Regression Prediction (EBKRP) method provides a statistically rigorous and spatially detailed approach to mapping plant hardiness zones. The findings are crucial not only for advancing scientific understanding but also for practical applications, thus enabling farmers, horticulturists, and land managers to make more informed decisions when selecting climate-resilient crops and plant varieties that are best suited to specific regions amid changing climate condition
The Mythic Seeds of Human Rights
No full textIn this thesis, I propose a causal relationship between ancient societies’ mythic corpuses and their law codes. I begin by presenting the histories and historiographies of ancient Israel and Mesopotamia to highlight important themes in their development. Then, I place their creation and flood myths side-by-side for comparison, yielding key differences in the way each group conceptualizes human form, value, and purpose. Once these key differences have been established, I compare each group’s set of slave laws to demonstrate how each law code remains philosophically consistent with its respective set of myths and diametrically opposed to the set from the other group
Gravity and Magnetic Analysis of the Amu Darya Basin of Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan
No full textThe Jurassic-Tertiary Amu Darya Basin is mainly located within Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan with a small portion extending into Afghanistan and Iran. The basin is one of the largest petroleum systems in central Asia. The basin is located in the southeast corner of the Turan platform, where both the Middle Paleozoic Turkestan and Early Mesozoic Tethys oceans were closed during different orogenies. The southern boundary of the basin is along the Bande Turkestan fold belt, the Afghan-Tajik basin to the east, Paleozoic metamorphic terranes to the north, and the Karakum high (Paleozoic basement rocks) to the west. Several blocks and terranes were accreted during the late Paleozoic Hercynian orogeny in the late Permian and make up the basement of the basin. The makeup is relatively unknown due to the lack of drill holes and deep geophysical studies. Tectonism occurred initially from the late Permian through to the Middle Jurassic, during this time, a complex of faults and folds were created during this orogeny. During this time the basement was broken into a series of grabens that may be 6 km deep or deeper. Between the Jurassic to Eocene times, passive margin sedimentation occurred that increased in thickness toward the south. In the Eocene, the final tectonism created the basin as is known today following the collision of the Indian plate with the Asian plate and the subsequent Alpine-Himalayan orogeny. This final round of tectonism reactivated relict structures incongruently within the basin, however, not all structures were activated at the same rates, if at all. The present study uses available magnetic and gravity data to determine and location of these structures and to create a model that will show how the basin formed. The gravity and magnetic data were analyzed via residual, derivative and isostatic anomalies, 2-D forward modeling, upward continuation, and bandpass anomalies through areas of interest. Complete Bouguer gravity and magnetic maps revealed a large maximum in the south-central portion of the basin, near the Tajikistan-Uzbekistan border. 2-D gravity and magnetic forward modeling revealed the shape, orientation and extent of faults, folds, and other structures within the basin. Additionally, the 2-D forward modelling reveals that the basement of the basin may be deeper than previously assumed
Exploration and Synthesis of Tin Intermetallic Single Crystals
No full textThis thesis presents the synthesis and characterization of two tin-based intermetallic compounds: Mn₄.₁₂Sn and Ni₆Sn₈Ge₀.₄₇. Single crystals were grown using a high-temperature self-flux method, allowing for the formation of phase-pure samples suitable for structural and physical property analysis. The crystalline phases were identified and refined using powder and single-crystal X-ray diffraction (XRD), while scanning electron microscopy combined with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM/EDS) was employed to verify stoichiometry and homogeneity. Magnetization measurements performed using a superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) magnetometer revealed distinct magnetic behavior in the manganese-rich compound, while the nickel-based compound was explored for potential magnetic features arising from partial germanium substitution. The results contribute to a deeper understanding of structure-property relationships in Sn-based intermetallics and offer insights into the design of functional materials with tunable magnetic characteristics
Foraging, Form, and Function in the Northern Giant Musk Turtle (Staurotypus Triporcatus)
No full textThe Northern Giant Musk Turtle inhabits a wide range of habitat types in southern Mexico, eastern Guatemala, and throughout Belize. Their diet primarily consists of mollusks and various seeds; however, they do prey on various vertebrates. Additionally, they are frequently preyed upon by crocodilians and are known to generate a strong bite force. This thesis investigates the diet and lunge kinematics of the Northern Giant Musk Turtle throughout Belize. To assess variability in these traits I collected individuals from six populations, throughout a wide size range, and across each demographic group. To characterize diet, I collected fecal samples from each individual and identified each prey item to lowest taxonomic ranking. I quantified bite force using a force transducer connected to a charge amplifier and lunge speed by digitizing points from high-speed videography in the Vicon Motus software. My results indicate that although diet and head morphology differ among populations, bite force does not. This indicates that diet nor head size are the predominate drivers of bite force in the Northern Giant Musk Turtle. Additionally, lunge speed was independent of body size indicating that smaller turtles may compensate for lack of other predator deterrents by lunging at similar speeds as larger turtles. However, a large percentage of individuals did not perform a lunge, meaning this behavior may act as a last-resort defensive mechanism. These data shed light on the trophic position and protection capabilities of the Northern Giant Musk Turtle
Multipronged Practices to Diversify Faculty Ranks and the Academic Leadership Pipeline
No full textThis poster describes three programs that we implemented across the university to diversify faculty and leadership ranks at our university. One programs provides opportunities for faculty develop into senior leaders in academic affairs. A second program focuses on best practices to hire a diverse faculty workforce and has demonstrable impactful results. A third program helps nontraditional doctoral students develop strong credentials to move into academic positions other roles in academia
Empowering U.S. Allies in the Indo-Pacific: An America First Approach to Great Power Competition
No full textThe Indo-Pacific is the primary area for Great Power Competition between the United States and China. China’s rapid but cautious rise has allowed it to achieve a position that threatens to upset the norms and rules of the U.S.-led system in the region. The second Trump Administration has pursued an “America First” policy since taking office in January 2025, but pushing U.S. allies to take on more responsibility for their own defense will not be enough. U.S. allies are major regional players and should be trusted to uphold the principles of the current international system; therefore the U.S. must limit its engagements in the region and support a greater role for its allies