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Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons

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Articles 1 - 22 of 22

Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Pallet Physics, Lauren Woodbridge Jan 2011

Pallet Physics, Lauren Woodbridge

Undergraduate Journal of Mathematical Modeling: One + Two

This project explores whether it is safe to unload a 907kg pallet from a supply truck with a bed 1.5m off the ground by sliding it down a metal ramp. First we calculated the critical angle for which the pallet would overcome the friction of the wood on the metal and begin to slide. Next we calculated velocity of the pallet as it reaches the bottom of the ramp. Finally we calculate the distance the pallet travels on the concrete after leaving the ramp. Based on these calculations of acceleration, velocity, and displacement, we conclude that it would not be …


Study Of Consciousness, Samuel Lee Jan 2011

Study Of Consciousness, Samuel Lee

Undergraduate Journal of Mathematical Modeling: One + Two

The human brain is a powerful organ that controls most of the body. Researchers around the world have long tried to uncover how the brain operates, how memories are formed and stored. Our understanding of neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease has been rapidly improving, yet much remains to be done. In this work, we attempt to study changes in intracranial pressure (ICP) for a 12-hour period and discuss whether the resulting estimates could be used as a measure of consciousness.


Optimization Of A Pressure-Treating Process, Josean Velez Jan 2011

Optimization Of A Pressure-Treating Process, Josean Velez

Undergraduate Journal of Mathematical Modeling: One + Two

A company that pressure-treats wood wants to minimize its annual cost without using more than 250 days of operation per year. In addition, they want to find the corresponding value of time, batches and cost for each category. We develop an expression in terms of boards per batch to model the total cost of the treatment process. We then take the derivative and use Newton's Method to find the number of boards per batch that minimizes total cost.


Length Of A Hanging Cable, Eric Costello Jan 2011

Length Of A Hanging Cable, Eric Costello

Undergraduate Journal of Mathematical Modeling: One + Two

The shape of a cable hanging under its own weight and uniform horizontal tension between two power poles is a catenary. The catenary is a curve which has an equation defined by a hyperbolic cosine function and a scaling factor. The scaling factor for power cables hanging under their own weight is equal to the horizontal tension on the cable divided by the weight of the cable. Both of these values are unknown for this problem. Newton's method was used to approximate the scaling factor and the arc length function to determine the length of the cable. A script was …


Optimal Operation Of A Concentrator, Katrina Stine Jan 2011

Optimal Operation Of A Concentrator, Katrina Stine

Undergraduate Journal of Mathematical Modeling: One + Two

Concentrators are used in the industrial world to remove water from a chemical or substance by heating the liquid until the water evaporates thereby concentrating the remaining substance. The goal of this project is to find the optimum cycle time, number of cycles per year, and the heating element area that would minimize the total annual cost and hours of operation of an industrial concentrator. It was found that the specified concentrator would achieve a minimum total cost of $48,720.50 per year and take 993.8 hours to meet the production goal of evaporating one million kilograms of water.


Blood Alcohol Content, Chris Ludwin Jan 2011

Blood Alcohol Content, Chris Ludwin

Undergraduate Journal of Mathematical Modeling: One + Two

Given a set of differential equations describing blood alcohol content as a function time, we integrated the equations to obtain a general solution. The general solution equation depends on three free parameters: the initial concentration of alcohol in the stomach after ingestion, the rate of alcohol absorption into the blood stream and the rate at which the alcohol is metabolized by the liver. We fitted our solution to experimental data to determine the unknown parameters for a particular subject.


Correlation Among Different Variables And Life Expectancy, June Liu Jan 2011

Correlation Among Different Variables And Life Expectancy, June Liu

Undergraduate Journal of Mathematical Modeling: One + Two

The purpose of this project is to show how heart rate, blood pressure, and weight of different species correlate with their life expectancy. We perform graphical analysis and compute Pearson's Product-Moment Correlation Coefficient to show that the heart rate has the highest degree of correlation with life expectancy.


Travelling Distance Of A Skimboard, Michael Rzonca Jan 2011

Travelling Distance Of A Skimboard, Michael Rzonca

Undergraduate Journal of Mathematical Modeling: One + Two

The purpose of this project was to determine the optimum conditions to maximize the distance travelled on a skimboard. Given the differential equation that governs the changes in velocity of the skimboard, we were able to integrate and find an expression for the distance travelled by the skimboard. Using this expression we substitute different values for variables, such as angle of attack and resistance caused by the surface area of the rider, to explore the effect on the total distance travelled by the skimboard.


Retroactive Interference And Forgetting, Vinishaa Ankala Jan 2011

Retroactive Interference And Forgetting, Vinishaa Ankala

Undergraduate Journal of Mathematical Modeling: One + Two

Retroactive interference is the amount of information that can be forgotten by a person over time due to newly learned material. In this paper we establish a relationship between the amount of information forgotten by college students while they read and watch television and the time taken to forget it. We equate these numerical equations to solve for the unknown constants. By doing so, we can find the exact equation and also the amount of forgetting information due to retroactive interference.


Roller Coasters Need Calculus Too!, Christina Marshall Jan 2011

Roller Coasters Need Calculus Too!, Christina Marshall

Undergraduate Journal of Mathematical Modeling: One + Two

Using the specifications of the given launch roller coaster, we were able to determine the position vector of the roller coaster as a function of time. After determining the position function, we took the derivative of this function to calculate the velocity of the coaster as a function of time. From this calculated velocity vector, we were able to determine the time required for the coaster to reach its maximum height. We substitute this time value back into the position function to determine the maximum height the launch roller coaster can obtain.


Adiabatic Flame Temperature For Combustion Of Methane, Rebeca Pupo Jan 2011

Adiabatic Flame Temperature For Combustion Of Methane, Rebeca Pupo

Undergraduate Journal of Mathematical Modeling: One + Two

This project calculated the adiabatic flame temperature of a combustion reaction of pure methane and oxygen, assuming that all of the heat liberated by the combustion reaction goes into heating the resulting mixture. Mole fractions of methane to oxygen were computed from 0.05 to 0.95, in increments of 0.05, and then an integral was computed was computed with respect to temperature using the moles of product produced or leftover moles of reactants from the starting mole fraction times the specific heat of each respective gas. The highest adiabatic flame temperature evaluated, occurred at a mole fraction of 0.35.


Mathematical Analysis Of Genomic Evolution, Cedric Green Jan 2011

Mathematical Analysis Of Genomic Evolution, Cedric Green

Undergraduate Journal of Mathematical Modeling: One + Two

Changes in nucleotide sequences, or mutations, accumulate from generation to generation in the genomes of all living organisms. The mutations can be advantageous, deleterious, or neutral. The goal of this project is to determine the amount of advantageous mutations it takes to get human (Homo sapiens) DNA from the DNA of genetically distinct organisms. We do this by collecting the genomic data of such organisms, and estimating the amount of mutations it takes to transform yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) DNA to the DNA of a human. We calculate the typical number of mutations occurring annually through the organism's average life span …


Optimization Of A Wall Built On A Slope, John Hanna Jan 2011

Optimization Of A Wall Built On A Slope, John Hanna

Undergraduate Journal of Mathematical Modeling: One + Two

This project focuses on optimizing the construction of a wall with identical segments built on a slope. Faced with certain variable and fixed cost limitations, one can find the width of a segment that will minimize the total production cost. In this case, the lowest total cost comes from using 10 segments of width 3m.


Sizing Of An Ammonia Discharge Tank, Tuliagenda Beckfords Jan 2011

Sizing Of An Ammonia Discharge Tank, Tuliagenda Beckfords

Undergraduate Journal of Mathematical Modeling: One + Two

Phosphate companies use well-stirred tanks to regulate the concentration of ammonia they discharge via their wastewater, preventing ammonia spikes from exceeding the cap set by the Environmental Protection Agency. This report discusses the methods used to determine the minimum possible volume of the tank required to regulate wastewater discharge. With this information, it was determined that the use of a stirring tank is an efficient and cost effective way to regulate ammonia discharge. Based on these results many other companies may use this method to decrease the negative effects of ammonia on the environment.


Arc Length Of A Pipe Needed For A Directional Drill, Kenneth Cabana Jan 2011

Arc Length Of A Pipe Needed For A Directional Drill, Kenneth Cabana

Undergraduate Journal of Mathematical Modeling: One + Two

Underground contracting has come a long way in recent years. As communities and buildings are being built, services like water, sewer, and gas are needed to allow people to perform their day to day activities. This research has led to the idea and design of a way to find the arc length of the pipe put into the ground at given points. The pipe length was estimated using the formulas for distance and arc length together with two different modeling methods: Lagrange interpolation and polynomial regression. Both techniques yielded similar results; however this may be situational and in other circumstances …


Blood Glucose Levels, Carlos Estela Jan 2011

Blood Glucose Levels, Carlos Estela

Undergraduate Journal of Mathematical Modeling: One + Two

The purpose of this study was to establish a mathematical model which can be used to estimate glucose levels in the blood over time. The equations governing this process were manipulated with the use of techniques such as separation of variables and integration of first order differential equations, which resulted in a function that described the glucose concentration in terms of time. This function was then plotted, which allowed us to find when glucose concentration was at its highest. The model was then used to analyze two cases where the maximum glucose level could not exceed a certain level while …


Comparison Of First Gear Performance For Manual And Automatic Transmissions, Kyle Stottlemyer Jan 2011

Comparison Of First Gear Performance For Manual And Automatic Transmissions, Kyle Stottlemyer

Undergraduate Journal of Mathematical Modeling: One + Two

The purpose of this project is to compare the first gear performance of an automobile for both its manual and automatic transmission options. Each transmission type has a different gear ratio, which yields a different acceleration curve for each transmission throughout the torque-rpm curve of the engine. The method of integral calculus was used to find an equation which could be used to solve for time at any point in the car's acceleration. The automobile velocity versus time was then graphed to compare each transmissions acceleration trend. This process is similar to that which automotive companies may use when determining …


The Effects Of Age On Short-Term Memory Loss Due To Proactive Interference, Alisha Berkauzer Jan 2011

The Effects Of Age On Short-Term Memory Loss Due To Proactive Interference, Alisha Berkauzer

Undergraduate Journal of Mathematical Modeling: One + Two

This project focused on how proactive interference affects the short-term memory of people based on their age. The goal was to find the prime age for learning information and storing it in one's memory. Seven people from ages fifteen to forty were tested individually, using a set color pattern, in order to see how well each individual could remember the different color patterns as difficulty of the pattern increased. The obtained data was fitted by the polynomial regression. The “fitted” curve shows that as age increases, the individual's performance in memorizing the more difficult patterns decreases. Also, the peaked level …


Going Ballistic: Bullet Trajectories, Amanda Wade Jan 2011

Going Ballistic: Bullet Trajectories, Amanda Wade

Undergraduate Journal of Mathematical Modeling: One + Two

This project seeks to answer at what angle does a gun marksman have to aim in order to hit the center of a target one meter off the ground and 1000 meters away? We begin by modeling the bullet's trajectory using Euler's method with the help of a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet solver, and then systematically search for the angle corresponding to the center of the target. It was found that a marksman shooting a target 1000 meters away and 1 meter off the ground has to aim the rifle 0.436° above horizontal to hit the center.


Design Of A Rainwater Catchment System, Neil Cammardella Jan 2011

Design Of A Rainwater Catchment System, Neil Cammardella

Undergraduate Journal of Mathematical Modeling: One + Two

Certain dimensions of a rainwater catchment and storage system were optimized using climatological and sociological data. Using only daily demand and average daily rain fall data, the following dimensions were optimized: 1) The horizontal roof area needed to collect the daily demand of water, 2) The tank size needed to store all the water collected during a heavy rain event, 3) When full, how long the tank will be able to provide water without rain, and 4) The diameter of the outlet flow orifice. With these calculations, we can design a rainwater catchment system that can capture the daily demand …


Model For Facial Cooling, Jacalyn Sampson Jan 2011

Model For Facial Cooling, Jacalyn Sampson

Undergraduate Journal of Mathematical Modeling: One + Two

The goal of this project is to estimate the ambient temperature and the wind speed that cause painful sensation in a cheek. Our findings confirm that the higher the wind speed, the less cold air is required to cause cheek pain.


Average Light Intensity Inside A Photobioreactor, Herby Jean Jan 2011

Average Light Intensity Inside A Photobioreactor, Herby Jean

Undergraduate Journal of Mathematical Modeling: One + Two

For energy production, microalgae are one of the few alternatives with high potential. Similar to plants, algae require energy acquired from light sources to grow. This project uses calculus to determine the light intensity inside of a photobioreactor filled with algae. Under preset conditions along with estimated values, we applied Lambert-Beer's law to formulate an equation to calculate how much light intensity escapes a photobioreactor and determine the average light intensity that was present inside the reactor.