Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons™

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Colby College

Honors Theses

2017

Articles 1 - 9 of 9

Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Tying The Knot: Applications Of Topology To Chemistry, Tarini S. Hardikar Jan 2017

Tying The Knot: Applications Of Topology To Chemistry, Tarini S. Hardikar

Honors Theses

Chirality (or handedness) is the property that a structure is “different” from its mirror image. Topology can be used to provide a rigorous framework for the notion of chirality. This project examines various types of chirality and discusses tools to detect chirality in graphs and knots. Notable theorems that are discussed in this work include ones that identify chirality using properties of link polynomials (HOMFLY polynomials), rigid vertex graphs, and knot linking numbers. Various other issues of chirality are explored, and some specially unique structures are discussed. This paper is borne out of reading Dr. Erica Flapan’s book, When Topology …

Go to article

Some Examples Of The Interplay Between Algebra And Topology, Joseph D. Malionek Jan 2017

Some Examples Of The Interplay Between Algebra And Topology, Joseph D. Malionek

Honors Theses

This thesis presents several undergraduate and graduate level concepts in the fields of algebraic topology and topological group theory in a manner which requires very little mathematical background of the reader. It uses non-rigorous interpretations of concepts while introducing the reader to the rigorous ideas with which they are associated. In order to give the reader an idea of how the fields of algebra and topology are closely affiliated, the paper goes over five main concepts, the fundamental group, homology, cohomology, Eilenberg-Maclane spaces, and group dimension.

Go to article

Correcting Pedestrian Dead Reckoning With Monte Carlo Localization Boxed For Indoor Navigation, Akira T. Murphy Jan 2017

Correcting Pedestrian Dead Reckoning With Monte Carlo Localization Boxed For Indoor Navigation, Akira T. Murphy

Honors Theses

Localization of phones is a ubiquitous part of the modern mobile electronics landscape. However, there are many situations where the current method of networked localization fails. A Pedestrian Dead Reckoning System where the location of the user is calculated by counting the steps and direction of the user was implemented as an iOS app with python for data analysis. A novel algorithm for wireless sensor localization using Ad-Hoc Bluetooth networks was proposed. A small experiment was performed proving that the system is nearly equal to state of the art algorithms.

Go to article

America's National Parks And The Anthropocene: Addressing The Present To Accommodate The Future In Acadia National Park, Sophie A. Swetz Jan 2017

America's National Parks And The Anthropocene: Addressing The Present To Accommodate The Future In Acadia National Park, Sophie A. Swetz

Honors Theses

In 2000, atmospheric chemist, Paul J. Crutzen, and limnologist, Eugene Stoermer, formally proposed the idea of “the Anthropocene,” a new geologic epoch in which humans are the dominant force shaping the Earth. To claim the Anthropocene's existence is to declare that human actions have altered the Earth in such a way that geologic indicators render it a distinct epoch in the stratification of geologic time. This new epoch emerges as a consequence of increased technological development employed to accommodate an anthropocentric human existence. That is, rapid advancements in technology have driven the transformation from a primarily naturally controlled planet to …

Go to article

I Remember It Like This: Essays, Robin C. Lewis Jan 2017

I Remember It Like This: Essays, Robin C. Lewis

Honors Theses

This thesis is composed of eleven personal essays. As an Environmental Policy senior, I wanted to write down some of my formative stories—not just any stories, but those that may reveal the environmental thread in my life, which, I believe, was somehow instilled in me by my parents. This thread has followed me from Texas to Maine, from childhood to almost twenty-three. It has been supported and tested by various characters along the way, sometimes growing faint, other times stronger. As I prepare for something new, I’ve found it valuable to look back on the people and landscapes and stories …

Go to article

Photochemical Generation Of Carbenes And Ketenes From Phenanthrene-Based Precursors Part I: Dimethylalkylidene Part Ii: Diphenylketene, Tarini S. Hardikar, Tarini Hardikar Jan 2017

Photochemical Generation Of Carbenes And Ketenes From Phenanthrene-Based Precursors Part I: Dimethylalkylidene Part Ii: Diphenylketene, Tarini S. Hardikar, Tarini Hardikar

Honors Theses

Previous studies have shown that the photolysis of phenanthrene-based cyclopropyl precursors can generate carbenes. In this work, a novel phenanthrene precursor was synthesized and photolyzed to generate the dimethylalkylidene carbene, which was subsequently trapped by cyclohexene. The car- bene was not prone to an internal rearrangement as some other carbenes are, and instead favored the intermolecular addition reaction. The precursor also underwent a rearrangement via pericyclic processes. A theoretical analysis of the potential energy surface of the system is presented using coupled cluster and density functional methods. Preliminary analysis for the precursor via time-resolved laser flash photolysis (LFP) was performed. …

Go to article

Normal Surfaces And 3-Manifold Algorithms, Josh D. Hews Jan 2017

Normal Surfaces And 3-Manifold Algorithms, Josh D. Hews

Honors Theses

This survey will develop the theory of normal surfaces as they apply to the S3 recognition algorithm. Sections 2 and 3 provide necessary background on manifold theory. Section 4 presents the theory of normal surfaces in triangulations of 3-manifolds. Section 6 discusses issues related to implementing algorithms based on normal surfaces, as well as an overview of the Regina, a program that implements many 3-manifold algorithms. Finally section 7 presents the proof of the 3-sphere recognition algorithm and discusses how Regina implements the algorithm.

Go to article

A Novel Method For Determination Of Ammonium Isotope Ratios With Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry, Rebecca J. Chmiel Jan 2017

A Novel Method For Determination Of Ammonium Isotope Ratios With Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry, Rebecca J. Chmiel

Honors Theses

Nitrogen (15N) isotope tracer studies are an invaluable tool for understanding the rate of N transformations in the environment. A mechanistic understanding of N cycling is critical to management of excess N availability in freshwater and marine ecosystems. Conventional methods for measuring 15N:14N of dissolved inorganic nitrogen species are time consuming and require large sample volumes. Here, we present a technique for measuring 15N:14N in ammonium (NH4+) using electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS). NH4+ present in small volumes of sample (3 ml) is complexed with phenol via …

Go to article

An Alternative Approach To Training Sequence-To-Sequence Model For Machine Translation, Vivek Sah Jan 2017

An Alternative Approach To Training Sequence-To-Sequence Model For Machine Translation, Vivek Sah

Honors Theses

Machine translation is a widely researched topic in the field of Natural Language Processing and most recently, neural network models have been shown to be very effective at this task. The model, called sequence-to-sequence model, learns to map an input sequence in one language to a vector of fixed dimensionality and then map that vector to an output sequence in another language without any human intervention provided that there is enough training data. Focusing on English-French translation, in this paper, I present a way to simplify the learning process by replacing English input sentences by word-by-word translation of those sentences. …

Go to article