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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Quantifying The Role Of Water Quality On Nitrogen Cycling In A Trophic Estuary, Kayla Gonzalez-Boy Nov 2023

Quantifying The Role Of Water Quality On Nitrogen Cycling In A Trophic Estuary, Kayla Gonzalez-Boy

Symposium of Student Scholars

Jobos Bay Estuary is an intertidal, tropical estuary located in southern Puerto Rico. The estuary covers about 12 km2 and has a variety of habitats, such as seagrass beds, mangroves, mud flats, and coral reefs, which play important roles in sediment trapping and water quality maintenance. Seagrasses also serve as nursery and feeding grounds and provide shelter for macrofauna. Currently, the role of seagrasses and water quality on nitrogen (N) cycling in trophic estuaries is not well constrained. Understanding variations in sediment-based effects on N cycling rates and transformations, and how they are associated with water quality, is an …


Reducing Uncertainty In Sea-Level Rise Prediction: A Spatial-Variability-Aware Approach, Subhankar Ghosh, Shuai An, Arun Sharma, Jayant Gupta, Shashi Shekhar, Aneesh Subramanian Oct 2023

Reducing Uncertainty In Sea-Level Rise Prediction: A Spatial-Variability-Aware Approach, Subhankar Ghosh, Shuai An, Arun Sharma, Jayant Gupta, Shashi Shekhar, Aneesh Subramanian

I-GUIDE Forum

Given multi-model ensemble climate projections, the goal is to accurately and reliably predict future sea-level rise while lowering the uncertainty. This problem is important because sea-level rise affects millions of people in coastal communities and beyond due to climate change's impacts on polar ice sheets and the ocean. This problem is challenging due to spatial variability and unknowns such as possible tipping points (e.g., collapse of Greenland or West Antarctic ice-shelf), climate feedback loops (e.g., clouds, permafrost thawing), future policy decisions, and human actions. Most existing climate modeling approaches use the same set of weights globally, during either regression or …


Estimating Blue Carbon Stocks In Native And Non-Native Seagrass Beds Of Jobos Bay, Pr, Michael Chapman, Raven Winant, Kayla Gonzalez-Boy, Mark Mccarthy, Ángel Dieppa-Ayala Apr 2023

Estimating Blue Carbon Stocks In Native And Non-Native Seagrass Beds Of Jobos Bay, Pr, Michael Chapman, Raven Winant, Kayla Gonzalez-Boy, Mark Mccarthy, Ángel Dieppa-Ayala

Symposium of Student Scholars

Seagrasses are keystone species that support coastal biodiversity, but not all species of seagrasses provide the same ecosystem services. Although seagrasses occupy a small area of marine habitat, they provide many ecosystem services. They stabilize sediments, remove nutrients, provide habitat and food for diverse marine life, and promote carbon storage in sediments. Jobos Bay is the second largest estuary in Puerto Rico and contains salt marshes, mangroves, and seagrass beds. The native seagrass, Thalassia testudinum, is the most abundant seagrass in the bay; however, a seagrass species from the Indian Ocean, Halophila stipulacea, began invading in recent years. The impacts …


Review Of Nighttime Temperature Effects On Long-Term Health Condition Through Sleep Studies, Sydnie Matkins Apr 2023

Review Of Nighttime Temperature Effects On Long-Term Health Condition Through Sleep Studies, Sydnie Matkins

Modeling, Simulation and Visualization Student Capstone Conference

Over the past 40 years, there has been increasing interest in human sleep quality and duration. This nonsystematic review looked at over 80 peer-reviewed papers on the association among sleep, temperature, and long-term health conditions. Generally, warmer temperatures lend to poorer sleep quality, and poor sleep quality lend to mental illness and a higher risk of coronary heart disease and mortality. Future research should be to conduct a study that relies more on health records rather than questionnaires to accurately map current and future health quality.


The Linkage Between The Climate Change And The Cybercrimes, Min Kim Apr 2023

The Linkage Between The Climate Change And The Cybercrimes, Min Kim

Cybersecurity Undergraduate Research Showcase

At the beginning of the new era, the rise of the Fourth Industrial Revolution has been rapidly transforming society into a new form that has never been experienced before. While previous industrial revolutions have also contributed to societal growth through phenomenal inventions and discoveries, the Fourth Industrial Revolution has the potential to break the most conventional rule, and one that has dominated social and economic activities: physical interaction. In the near future, sitting at the office, having an in-person meeting, or going on a business trip may no longer be needed as physical barriers are destroyed by cyberspace. However, two …


The Importance Of Processing And Understanding Bacteriophages, Alexandra Greco, Emily Bishop, Emma Hofseth, Kelsi Phelps Apr 2023

The Importance Of Processing And Understanding Bacteriophages, Alexandra Greco, Emily Bishop, Emma Hofseth, Kelsi Phelps

Undergraduate Research Competition

There are many bacteria that are increasingly becoming antibiotic resistant resulting in a new prevalent medical issue. Bacteriophages are evolutionary virus weapons that infect and fight against these infectious bacteria that give rise to Bacteriophages the most abundant biological entity found in nature, outnumbering all life combined, with a total estimated population of 1031. As part of BIOL 302L - Phage Discovery, we focused on identifying phages from individually collected soil samples found regionally in South Carolina. Through a series of experiments, we were able to identify and amplify two newly discovered phages that infect Mycobacterium Smegmatis following the protocols …


Telling Their Story: Identifying Stranded Bottlenose Dolphins Using Dorsal Fin Photo-Identification To Match Known Individuals, Grace Richa Apr 2023

Telling Their Story: Identifying Stranded Bottlenose Dolphins Using Dorsal Fin Photo-Identification To Match Known Individuals, Grace Richa

Undergraduate Research Competition

Bottlenose dolphins are protected and managed under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. When dolphins die (strand), researchers investigate the cause of death, but additional information regarding past experience and distribution can help to identify long-term exposure to pathogens and threats. The objective of this study is to use dorsal fin photo-identification to identify stranded bottlenose dolphins by matching them to known individuals from historical CCU research survey data. Photos from vessel-based surveys in Cape Romain, Murrells Inlet, Winyah Bay, and North Inlet, SC were sorted, cropped, and compared to existing fins in the CCU catalog using finFindR, a photo processing …


Identifying Overwash Layers In Marsh Sediment, Charles Mina Apr 2023

Identifying Overwash Layers In Marsh Sediment, Charles Mina

Undergraduate Research Competition

Hurricanes have become one of the most researched topics in recent years, due to their damage costs and their uncertain correlations with climate change. Much of the research for this topic has come from direct interaction with storms, such as damage reports and land surveys. However, there is a gap in the historical record of hurricanes, as most historical record is only written. These records can be biased and are too short of a record to identify a pattern of climate change. Grain size analysis, where sizes of sediment grains are measured, can be used to identify the storm events …


Comparative Analysis Of Implementing Solar Energy In South Carolina, Paige Huntzberry, Jo Whitney Apr 2023

Comparative Analysis Of Implementing Solar Energy In South Carolina, Paige Huntzberry, Jo Whitney

Undergraduate Research Competition

Solar energy is becoming an increasingly popular method of providing energy to homes and businesses all over the world. Converting to solar energy is a huge step in reducing our carbon footprint, a driving force of global climate change. While this type of energy production provides an eco-friendly approach to power, requiring minimal maintenance and virtually no additional infrastructure, many are still opposed to the implementation due to financial reservations. The aim of this project is to design a solar array for installation on a building at the Medical University of South Carolina, providing a cost effective and practical approach …


The Impact Of Prc Language Policies On Minority Languages Of China, Margaret Shoop Apr 2023

The Impact Of Prc Language Policies On Minority Languages Of China, Margaret Shoop

Undergraduate Research Competition

While language is often used as a tool to bring people together and celebrate differences, language can also be weaponized and used to suppress minority groups of people. There are over three hundred unique languages and dialects spoken in Mainland China, with Mandarin Chinese being the most widely spoken of the languages. Mandarin is the official state language of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), and it is also the primary language taught in schools across the country. Despite official Chinese policy of teaching Mandarin Chinese alongside local dialects, Mandarin is favored over minority languages. The unequal emphasis on Mandarin …


Seasonal Fluctuation Of Nutrients That Lead To Microcystis Bloom Development In Wall Pond, Coastal Carolina University, Alyssa Antolak Apr 2023

Seasonal Fluctuation Of Nutrients That Lead To Microcystis Bloom Development In Wall Pond, Coastal Carolina University, Alyssa Antolak

Undergraduate Research Competition

The harmful cyanobacteria Microcystis globally dominates eutrophic freshwater systems. Eutrophication leading to nitrogen and phosphorus loading into aquatic systems is increasing bloom propagation and shifting diatom/dinoflagellate dominated systems to cyanobacteria dominated systems. Understanding seasonal variability and environmental parameters combined with nutrient loading will allow for better understanding of what factors are influencing Microcystis blooms. Biweekly plankton samples, environmental parameters, and nutrients were collected from Wall Pond from spring 2022-spring 2023. Nitrogen and phosphate limitation was examined by performing seasonal nutrient limitation experiments. Early results show that yearly plankton samples shifted from diatom dominated in the late summer-early fall to Microcystis …


Silver Carp Hypophthalmichthys Molitrix Movements In The Lower Cumberland And Lower Tennessee River, Miranda Belanger Apr 2023

Silver Carp Hypophthalmichthys Molitrix Movements In The Lower Cumberland And Lower Tennessee River, Miranda Belanger

Scholars Week

Silver Carp Hypophthalmichthys molitrix are an invasive species making up a large portion of the fish biomass in the lower portions of the Tennessee River and the Cumberland River. This species is expanding its range throughout the upper portions of these rivers, beginning with Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley. Silver Carp rarely spawn in Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley, but they can enter these reservoirs through the lock chamber. Thus, the bottleneck created by lock chambers can be used to control expansion of invasive Silver Carp. Although Silver Carp movement patterns have been studied in other portions of the Tennessee …


Margalefidinium Polykrikoides Cyst Resuspension In The Lafayette River, A Sub-Tributary Of The Chesapeake Bay, Gabrielle Greaney, Eduardo Perez Vega, Katherine Crider, Dreux Chappell, Kimberly Powell, Richard Hale, Peter Bernhardt, Margaret Mulholland Mar 2023

Margalefidinium Polykrikoides Cyst Resuspension In The Lafayette River, A Sub-Tributary Of The Chesapeake Bay, Gabrielle Greaney, Eduardo Perez Vega, Katherine Crider, Dreux Chappell, Kimberly Powell, Richard Hale, Peter Bernhardt, Margaret Mulholland

Undergraduate Research Symposium

Harmful Algal Blooms are a collection of algae in a body of water that can cause serious environmental issues and health problems in both people and aquatic organisms. Dinoflagellates are microscopic, unicellular, and eukaryotic organisms that are well known for forming harmful algal blooms because of eutrophication. Coastal Virginia suffers from HABs in the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. A common species of dinoflagellate, known as Margalefidinium polykrikoides exists in the Chesapeake Bay. The purpose of this study is to determine if sediment resuspension produced by wind generated surface gravity waves cause cysts (dinoflagellate resting stages) to be suspended into …


Models For Predicting Maximum Potential Intensity Of Tropical Cyclones, Iftekhar Chowdhury, Gemechis Djira Feb 2023

Models For Predicting Maximum Potential Intensity Of Tropical Cyclones, Iftekhar Chowdhury, Gemechis Djira

SDSU Data Science Symposium

Tropical cyclones (TCs) are considered as extreme weather events, which has a low-pressure center, namely an eye, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produces heavy rain, storm surges, and can cause severe destruction in coastal areas worldwide. Therefore, reliable forecasts of the maximum potential intensity (MPI) of TCs are critical to estimate the damages to properties, lives, and risk assessment. In this study, we explore and propose various regression models, to predict the potential intensity of TCs in the North Atlantic at 12, 24, 36, 48, 60, and 72- hour forecasting lead time. In addition, a popular …