Digital Commons Network^™

Sea Level Change In The Gulf Islands National Park Reserve, Southern British Columbia: Implications For The Interpretation Of Nearshore Archaeological Features, Glenda J. Wyatt

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Sea level along the B.C. coastline has changed dramatically over the past 10,000 years due to isostatic rebound following deglaciation from the Fra ser Glaciation (Clague & James, 2002). In the future, sea levels globally are also predicted to rise according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (2014), due to climate change. Lemmen et al. (2008), suggest that in the near future some B.C. coastal communities will have to deal with changes in shorelines due to rising sea levels, and hence erosional patterns, modifications to ecosystems and habitats, and potentially an altered marine food supply. This thesis examines …

Pacific Great Blue Heron Population Monitoring On Vancouver Island And The Surrounding Gulf Islands, Trudy A. Chatwin, Travis Heckford

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

The Pacific or Great Blue Heron fannini subspecies winters and breeds on Vancouver Island in locations within 5 km of the marine shoreline. Its visibility and close connection to the Salish Sea make it an important flagship species. Due to population concerns and threats associated with urban development, the Province of BC has coordinated monitoring of Great Blue Heron colonies on Vancouver Island and the adjacent Gulf Islands from 1997 through 2015. Starting in 2005, I trained volunteer stewards and technicians to use a standardized methodology to locate and assess heron colonies, count active nests, determine nest success and follow …

Science & Policy Issues Surrounding The Project, Emily Tucker, Patrick Harner

Virginia Coastal Policy Center Annual Conference

No abstract provided.

Sustainable Water Initiative For Tomorrow (Swift) Wastewater Injection Project, Ted Henifin, Charles Bott

Virginia Coastal Policy Center Annual Conference

No abstract provided.

Mathematical Relativity And The Nature Of The Universe, Priscila Reyes

Mathematics Colloquium Series

In this talk, I will be discussing certain space-times, which can be used to model celestial objects and events in the universe. These are solutions to Einstein's field equations, which roughly describe the relation between matter, energy and the geometry of the universe. The concept of time in relation to an observer will be demonstrated. I will also include some interesting phenomena that arise out of the unusual mathematical structure of space-times , such as Lorentz contraction, reverse Cauchy-Schwarz, and the twin paradox.

Mathematical Optimization And Applications, Teodora Suciu

Mathematics Colloquium Series

This talk centers on mathematical optimization in the context of Calculus of Variations. Optimization involves choosing the best element from a set of choices, usually through mathematical approaches. Solving these kinds of problems is considered an essential tool in many areas of science and engineering. Additionally, various mathematics and business applications are discussed. Also explored is a real-life example with a detailed algorithm that is closely related to the Traveling Salesman problem.

A Gis Analysis Of Waulsortian-Like Mounds In The Mississippian Of Kentucky And Tennessee, Philip Roberson

Scholars Week

Following a mass extinction nearly 365 million years ago, bryozoans and crinoids replaced corals and stromatoporoids as the dominant framework organisms in reefs and, during the very earliest part of the Carboniferous period, they built reef-like structures that are known from Europe, North America and Africa. They are characterized by large size, a matrix of carbonate mud, and their major framework organisms.

Waulsortian-like mounds occur in geographically isolated patches in outcrop and in the subsurface of central Tennessee and Kentucky where they are associated with hydrocarbon production. These mounds have the same characteristic organisms as the European mounds and do …

Commercial Space Situational Awareness (Ssa) Capabilities And Their Benefits For Civilian Space Traffic Management (Stm), Mark A. Skinner

Space Traffic Management Conference

Paralleling (but lagging) satellite development, SSA, long the sole domain of sophisticated militaries, now includes commercial providers. These commercial capabilities, identified as beneficial to the sustainable use of outer space[1], have demonstrated technical sophistication sufficient to positively contribute to the mitigation of satellite interference and provide actionable SSA information. Utilizing small optical telescopes, these entities are able to determine the orbits of objects in the geosynchronous orbit (GSO) to sizes as small as 1 m², with measured positional uncertainties of 10s of meters, on the order of the size of a modern communications satellite. These techniques …

Tracking Earthquake Frequency And Intensity In Oklahoma, Kristin Lorenzini

Scholars Week

The purpose of this project is to show the dramatic increase of earthquakes that have occurred in Oklahoma over the past eight years that have been correlated to fracking in the area. Starting in 2009, before fracking took place in Oklahoma, there were a total of 33 earthquakes throughout the whole year. In 2010, when fracking began in Oklahoma, the number of earthquakes spiked to over 100 in one year. The number of earthquakes grew over the years and in 2015 there were over 2,000. Data from 2016 were also used but only through the month of September, the year …

Vegetation Mapping Of Mammoth Cave National Park Using Multi-Date Landsat-8 Imagery And Lidar Data, Hongli Yang, Robin Q. Zhang

Scholars Week

Up-to-date and detailed vegetation map provides critical information for habitat management. In addition, a vegetation map is necessary for the Park’s Fire Management, for classification of fuel types, and for delineation of fire management units. There have been several attempts of vegetation mapping in 1934, 1975 and 1997. Recent advancements in mapping technology and the availability of high resolution Lidar data call for a new vegetation map for the Park’s management team.

In this study, Landsat-8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) imagery, Lidar and geology dataset were applied to vegetation mapping. Habitat types are determined by a combination of geology, aspect …

Change Detection Of Mount Nyiragongo Post Eruption, Molly E. Karnes

Scholars Week

Because of the dangerous nature of volcanic eruptions, it makes them very difficult to study, however this makes them even more important for us to study because of how much destruction they can cause in such a short amount of time. We need to study all parts of an eruption to gain more insight into the specifics of how a volcano works. Having a better understanding of how large of an area is effected by an eruption will allow governments to decide on evacuation procedures. The goal of my project is to answer a very simple question, “How can we …

Landform Mapping Of The Clarks River Alluvial System Using Lidar Dems, Benedict W. Ferguson

Scholars Week

The Clarks River is located in western Kentucky near the city of Benton. It travels through and weathers lacustrine or lake deposits as well as fluvial or river deposits. These deposits are also overlain by loess deposited from the last glacial maximum. Historically, people have taken advantage of these rich deposits for agriculture which has led to increased settlement. With increased settlement, the river has experienced alteration. The west fork of the Clarks River has been channelized while the east fork of the Clarks River has managed to remain un-channelized and has since been allowed to run relatively freely.

Detailed …

Integration Of Lidar And Imagery To Delineated Water Bodies For Change Detection, Ashley E. Casselberry, Cetin Haluk

Scholars Week

Through integration of Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data and high spatial imagery, it is plausible to delineate the bodies of water in order to monitor their changes in size. The purpose of this study is to integrate two different sets of LiDAR data, several multi-date high spatial resolution National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP) images, and multi-dateLandsat-8 satellite images of Ballard County, Kentucky for the delineation of the water bodies in the County. Accuracy and precision of the datasets in terms of spatial and spectral resolutions will be examined. The hypothesis is that an integration of such datasets would provide …

Mapping The Variability Of Soil Quality Indicators In Natural Versus Agricultural Ecosystems, Mary G. Derting Miss

Scholars Week

Traditionally, Kentucky agriculture has focused on crop production and soil fertility while overlooking soil quality and its dependence on land management type. This research attempted to reveal the importance of land management types and their individual effects on physical soil quality indicators. The second objective of this study was to show the variance of physical soil quality indicators across different land managements by using layered maps. Such visual representation of the data along with statistical analysis also showed which soil quality parameters are more sensitive to change in land management type. Land management types included three undisturbed grassland and undisturbed …

Graphene Quantum Dots Electrochemistry And Development Of Sensitive Electrochemical Biosensor [Hybrid Poster 1-B], Tyler Smith, Alexander Banaszak

Posters-at-the-Capitol

Graphene quantum dots (GQDs) are zero-dimensional material derived from graphene derivatives with characteristics from the structure of graphene with quantum confinement and edge effects possessing unique properties. Intense research activity in GQDs is attributed to their novel physical-chemical phenomena arising from the sp²-bonded carbon core surrounded with edge functional moieties. In this work, GQDs of optimal 5-7 nm size are investigated for their fundamental electrochemical properties and use in electrochemical sensing including enzyme-based glucose biosensor. Glucose oxidase (GO_x) was immobilized on GQDs modified glassy carbon (GC) and the UV-Vis absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy, electron microscopy, cyclic …

Molecular Sensitivity And Selectivity Of Metal Nanoparticles Decorated Graphene As ‘Smart’ Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering (Sers) Platforms [Hybrid Poster 1-A], Alexander Banaszak, Tyler Smith

Posters-at-the-Capitol

Raman scattering signal enhancement that uses graphene as support, graphene-enhanced Raman scattering (GERS), is a recent phenomenon. It can produce clean and reproducible Raman signals of chemical molecules with significantly enhanced signal intensity in contrast to traditional surface- (SERS) and tip- enhanced Raman scattering (TERS) techniques. While enhancement in SERS and TERS arise due to the electromagnetic mechanism, GERS also relies on a chemical mechanism and therefore shows unique molecular sensitivity and selectivity. In this work, we developed graphene materials decorated with noble metal (silver and gold) nanoparticles for detection of different chemical molecules e.g. methylene blue (MB) and rhodamine …

Space Traffic Management Concepts Leveraging Existing Frameworks, Stephen K. Hunter

Space Traffic Management Conference

Leveraging existing U.S. regulatory frameworks, as well as international organizations, will dramatically shorten the time needed to develop an effective Space Traffic Management concept. Both the Department of Defense and the Department of Transportation have been working with the U.S. Congress to define and develop a Space Traffic Management concept that will allow the Office of Commercial Space Launch to begin a new mission that will help to ensure the safety and resilience of the space domain. Outside observers can easily see forward progress toward this, still, undeveloped concept. This paper explores potential final U.S. Space Traffic Management concepts that …

Minimum Number Of Distinct Eigenvalues Of Graphs, Shahla Nasserasr

Mathematics Colloquium Series

For a simple graph G on n vertices, a real symmetric nxn matrix A is said to be compatible with G, if for different i and j, the (i; j) entry of A is nonzero whenever there is an edge between the vertices i and j, it is zero otherwise. The minimum number of distinct eigenvalues, when minimum is taken over all compatible matrices with G, is denoted by q(G). In this talk, a survey of some known and new results about q(G) is presented.

Near-Space Conditions And Their Effects On Physiology, Jennifer Jo Burden, Sarah E. Bell

Posters-at-the-Capitol

Abstract 1:

Jennifer Jo Burden

UVA and UVB

The NASA Balloon Satellite, which is a balloon that is sent 100,000 feet into the upper atmosphere to collect data, and stream that data live to NASA webpage, will carry experiments that are part of a payload. My experiment will be a Neulog Sensor Logger that will collect data on the UVA and UVB exposure rate of light from the upper stratosphere and on the ground. Data measuring the exposure rate of the light will also be collected from robot welding cells or sections in which one robot will be measured in …

An Analysis Of Archival Observations Made Of Galactic Supernova Remnants By The Chandra X-Ray Observatory, Daniel M. Rush, Haley E. West

Posters-at-the-Capitol

Since its launch in 1999, the Chandra X-ray Observatory has spurred explosive growth in the study of Galactic supernova remnants (SNRs) due to its unsurpassed angular resolution (1 arcsecond at 1 keV) and its moderate sensitivity. We are currently analyzing archival observations made by Chandra of two particular classes of SNRs: mixed-morphology SNRs (which feature contrasting center-filled thermal X-ray morphologies with shell-like radio morphologies) and synchrotron X-ray SNRs (which feature X-ray spectra dominated by synchrotron emission). To illustrate some of our initial results, we present spatially resolved spectroscopic analyses of the mixed-morphology SNR 3C 397 and the synchrotron X-ray dominated …

Using Fundamental Chemistry To Make Functional Materials For Solar Energy Conversion Applications, Kylie N. Heupel, Haley M. Sizemore, Judith L. Jenkins

Posters-at-the-Capitol

Population growth and rapidly increasing energy consumption necessitate innovative materials for energy conversion and storage. Gains in solar electricity and battery technologies are evidenced by the availability of commercial products. However viable solar fuel platforms—where the energy in sunlight is used to form storable fuels such as hydrogen gas—have not yet been realized, motivating the work presented here. In order to produce hydrogen gas from sunlight and water, a photocatalyst is required. The ideal photocatalyst for hydrogen gas generation absorbs solar photons (sunlight), producing high-energy electrons necessary for the reduction of hydrogen ions in water. The host nanocrystal studied here, …

P-26 Detection Of Counterfeit Antimalarial Drugs By Sers, Getahun Merga, P. Shepard, M. Trujillo, J. Camden

Celebration of Research and Creative Scholarship

Substandard antimalarial drugs are a major problem to the health of citizens in developing countries, and it is likely that the problem persists due to the lack of means to detect substandard drugs. Various colorimetric techniques have been implemented to determine if a drug contains the stated active ingredient or not, but vibrational spectroscopies such as NIR and Raman can be used to more reliably quantify the amount of active ingredient. The use of Raman, however, has been limited by the presence of significant sample fluorescence that interferes with detection of the SERS signals of the active ingredients. Thus, we …

Continuous Dependence And Differentiating Solutions Of A Second Order Boundary Value Problem With Average Value Condition, Samantha A. Major

Mathematics Colloquium Series

Using a few conditions, continuous dependence, and a result regarding smoothness of initial conditions, we show that derivatives, with respect to each of the boundary data, of solutions to a second order boundary value problem with an average value integral condition solve the associated variational equation with interesting boundary conditions.

Smartsignplay: Lily Learns American Sign Language, Jeremiah Doody

DHI Digital Projects Showcase

Many children are born either wholly or partially deaf, leaving parents to wonder how they can communicate with, and teach their child. For a hearing parent, unfamiliar with American Sign Language (ASL), traditional methods can be exasperating. Additional methods are helpful to reinforce this learning process. The teaching method needs to be effective, yet easy enough for a 2 year old to pick up. Likewise, the premise needs to actually hold the child’s attention. SmartSignPlay was proposed as an interactive smartphone, or tablet, game designed to make teaching ASL easier and fun. The game was to be point and click, …

Threats To Information Protection - Industry And Academic Perspectives: An Annotated Bibliography, Michael E. Whitman, Herbert J. Mattord

KSU Proceedings on Cybersecurity Education, Research and Practice

Threats to information assets have always been a concern to those responsible for making information useful and defending its value. The concepts of threat, threat agent, threat events and threat sources have evolved in recent years have very precise definitions. The article includes a summary of threat classification models used in academic research is provided along with a summary of recent industry threat assessment reports. Finally, the article shares results from a recent study, 2015 SEC/CISE Threats to Information Protection Report Including a Current Snapshot of the State of the Industry, are given.

Improving Business Networking Through The Effective Utilisation Of Information Systems, Ylber Limani

UBT International Conference

This Research addresses topics concerned with the enterprise models and information systems. The research is divided into two parts, in the first part is conducted the examination of business information systems in general, while in the second part the main factors of business networking are investigated.

The existing operational business practices and Information Technology infrastructure are not sufficiently used of efficiently sustain the effective business networking. A methodical analysis of the operational systems is performed in order to cover the main elements of the Information Systems and their utilisation for business needs. The implementation of a most important information business …

Models For Reducing Power Consumption In Cpld And Fpga Devices, Marsida Ibro, Luan Karçanaj

UBT International Conference

Usage of programmable logic devices PLD has increased in the latest years because of the ability to quickly implement complex types of electronic systems while reducing cost and time of synthesis. This technology enables dynamic reconfiguration of different applications according to specific requirements. Also, power consumption and its loss is becoming an increasingly important requirement in the design of systems for portable applications fed by batteries.

Other factors to be taken into account in the consumption of power are elements that are used for manufacturing, packaging, and cooling systems. Power consumption must be taken into consideration especially for wireless applications …

The Neutralization Of Water Polution, Afrim Osmani

UBT International Conference

One of the biggest sources of pollution land and water are industrial waste waters. At section of zinc industry in complex Trepca during the process of zink production acquire(are gained or obtained) wastewater where their negative impact is wider extent of contamination of land with which it comes in contact and in this case comes to the accumulation ions of heavy metals, surface water and then mixing with groundwater and pollution. Directly with vulnerable is Sitnica river, in which contaminated water flows from the industrial unit for the production of Zn, which flows into the Ibar river, which still flows …

Introduction To Ships Satellite Tracking Systems, Dimov Stojce Ilcev

UBT International Conference

This paper introduces the current and new Satellite solutions for local and global tracking of ships for enhanced Ship Traffic Control (STC) and Ship Traffic Management (STM) at sea, in sea passages, approaching to the anchorages and inside of seaports. All transportation systems and especially for maritime applications require far more sophisticated technology solutions and equipment for modern Satellite ship tracking than current standalone the US GPS or Russian GLONAS positioning systems. The existing and forthcoming Global Ship Tracking (GST), Satellite Data Link (SDL) and Local Ship Tracking (LST) systems with Space and Ground Segment infrastructures for all three systems …

Cloud Computing And Enterprise Data Reliability, Luan Gashi

UBT International Conference

Cloud services offer many benefits from information and communication technology that to be credible must first be secured. To use the potential of cloud computing, data is transferred, processed and stored in the infrastructures of these service providers. This indicates that the owners of data, particularly enterprises, have puzzled when storing their data is done outside the scope of their control.

Research conducted on this topic show how this should be addressed unequivocally. The provided information on the organization of cloud computing models, services and standards, with a focus on security aspects in protecting enterprise data where emphasis shows how …