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Introduction
Texas ScholarWorks was established to provide open, online access to the products of the University's research and scholarship, to preserve these works for future generations, to promote new models of scholarly communication, and to help deepen community understanding of the value of higher education.
UT Tower and campus image credit: Earl McGehee, CC-BY, https://www.flickr.com/photos/ejmc/7452145850
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Recent Submissions
Predicting college achievement from high-school scholastic records and quality of high-school instruction
(1935) Mason, Clinton Carmack; Not available
Imperialism and the liberation of Cuba (1868-1898)
(1935) Parker, Ralph Halstead, 1909-1990; Not available
Housing choice in an evolving remote work landscape
(2023-12) Robbennolt, Dale; Bhat, Chandra R. (Chandrasekhar R.), 1964-
We estimate a joint model of housing choice along several dimensions to account for changing valuations of housing outcomes due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We consider housing outcomes including housing type, tenure type, the presence of a patio or yard, the number of bedrooms, neighborhood population density, median housing cost, accessibility of amenities, school quality, crime rate, and commute distance. Data used for this analysis were collected in October and November of 2021 from 24 metropolitan areas across the United States. A Generalized Heterogeneous Data Model (GHDM) is used to estimate these housing outcomes as a function of exogenous household sociodemographic characteristics and latent lifestyle propensities. The GHDM also captures jointness caused by unobserved factors, allowing for the estimation of accurate causal effects between outcomes. The results reveal that lifestyle preferences have significant impacts on housing outcomes. Specifically, individuals with a preference for teleworking are more likely to reside in single-family homes in highly populated areas, experience longer commute distances, and exhibit a higher sensitivity to the presence of amenities in their neighborhoods. Additionally, the analysis of tradeoffs between housing outcomes reveals the relative valuations of various housing outcomes. An increased commute distance is found to lead to an increase in single-family homes, reductions in density, and an increased crime rate. Choosing an apartment in a high-density neighborhood is found to lead to reductions in school quality and significant increases in crime rates. Implications of the results for land-use planning, travel demand analysis, and equity considerations are identified and discussed.
Lattice based and isogeny based post-quantum cryptography
(2023-12) David, Rachelle H.; Garg, Vijay K. (Vijay Kumar), 1963-
Modern cryptography involving public-keys relies on mathematically difficult problems, such as factoring large numbers into prime factors and finding rational points on elliptic curves. A typical public-key scheme involves two communicators who each have a public and a private key. Each party publishes their public key so that others may use it to encrypt directed messages while only the individual party uses their private key to decrypt those messages. As computers advance, so too do the methods of breaking cryptographic systems. This drives the development of increasingly difficult cryptographic schemes. While these schemes are more difficult to break and are faster than historic encryption methods, quantum computers threaten the security of classical cryptography. These highly efficient computers will break existing classical ciphers, such as RSA (Rivest Shamir Adleman), ECC (elliptic curve cryptography) and others. It is therefore necessary and urgent to improve cryptographic algorithms to make them resistant to quantum computers. These modifications improve the security of cryptographic schemes and make it more challenging for adversaries to intercept, modify, or decrypt confidential messages. There are currently several areas of research for potential post-quantum cryptographic algorithms. Two such areas are isogeny based cryptography and lattice based cryptography. This kind of cryptography relies on isogenies of elliptic curves as well as lattices and works by each communicating party taking random walks on isogeny graphs. In this report we explain in detail how to find isogenies of elliptic curves, how we can compute isogeny graphs from isogenies of elliptic curves and practical applications of isogeny-based cryptography in the Diffie-Helman key exchange, and lastly analyze the security of the quantum-resistant cryptographic technique. Since this is a new area of research there is no available book which covers in detail all the tools used in isogeny based and lattice based cryptography, so this report is an initiative toward formalization. As quantum computers become more realistic threats to classical cryptography, there is a clear need to develop practical quantum-resistant algorithms. By better understanding and improving cryptographic schemes, our communications in public channels will be better protected from adversaries.
Sensor systems for the characterization of vent products from thermal runaway of lithium-ion batteries
(2023-12) Pinkerton, Katherine Ann; Ezekoye, Ofodike A.
With the increasing prevalence of lithium-ion batteries in residential and commercial applications, their failure, via thermal runaway, is also becoming increasingly common. Four primary hazards result from this self-heating phenomenon: flammability hazards, explosion hazards, toxicity hazards, and inhalation hazards. This thesis aims to explore sensor systems, both handheld and benchtop, that can be used to characterize these vented gases and particulates. The first chapter investigates the accuracy and time response of commercial multi-gas sensors commonly utilized by firefighters. Recommendations for interpretations of readings are provided, along with equations and correction factors to improve sensor accuracy. The second chapter describes the use of benchtop and commercially available PM2.5 sensors. Additionally, validation of these sensors via comparison with calibrated equipment is provided, along with recommendations for interpretations and adjustments that should be considered during use. The following chapter describes the use and results of these particle sizing sensors and handheld multi-gas sensors in near source and dilute battery thermal runaway environments. This data provides preliminary guidelines on the composition and concentrations of battery thermal runaway particulates released for varying cell chemistries and states of charge. The final chapter details an acquired structure test involving lithium-ion batteries of varying capacity and chemistry. The sensor systems described previously were utilized to characterize the resulting gaseous products, alongside additional sensors measuring temperature and heat fluxes. The summation of this work provides guidelines for the use of particulate and gas analysis sensor systems to characterize lithium-ion battery thermal runaway vent products for the improved safety of firefighters and the general public.