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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Depaul Digest Oct 2023

Depaul Digest

DePaul Magazine

College of Education Professor Jason Goulah fosters hope, happiness and global citizenship through DePaul’s Institute for Daisaku Ikeda Studies in Education. Associate Journalism Professor Jill Hopke shares how to talk about climate change. News briefs from DePaul’s 10 colleges and schools: Occupational Therapy Standardized Patient Program, Financial Planning Certificate program, Business Education in Technology and Analytics Hub, Racial Justice Initiative, Teacher Quality Partnership grant, Intimate Partner Violence and Brain Injury collaboration, School of Music Career Closet, Sports Photojournalism course, DePaul Migration Collaborative’s Solutions Lab, Inclusive Screenwriting courses. New appointments: School of Music Dean John Milbauer, College of Education Dean Jennifer …


Instrument Building For Detection Of Triplet Signal From Quinolinone Molecules, Brooke Weitzel Jun 2023

Instrument Building For Detection Of Triplet Signal From Quinolinone Molecules, Brooke Weitzel

DePaul Discoveries

Conjugated organic molecules such as the 2-quinolinone family can be used as energy-donor molecules in photocatalysis because of their light absorbing and energy transmitting qualities. Good donor molecules have triplet excited states that are useful for photocatalysis due to their long lifetimes. The goal of this research was to build a near-infrared emission spectroscopy instrument to observe a triplet signal in a set of five previously synthesized 2-quinolinone molecules. A near-infrared absorbance instrument was built successfully with accurate measurements; however, there was no detection of the desired triplet emission signal.


The Influence Of Vehicular Traffic And Land Use Typology On The Spatial Patterns And Concentrations Of Soil Lead (Pb) In The Uptown Community Area Of Chicago, Andreas 'Dre' Harris Jun 2023

The Influence Of Vehicular Traffic And Land Use Typology On The Spatial Patterns And Concentrations Of Soil Lead (Pb) In The Uptown Community Area Of Chicago, Andreas 'Dre' Harris

DePaul Discoveries

Lead (Pb) is a harmful element whose presence threatens the well-being of living organisms and their environments. There are higher concentrations and an increased risk of Pb exposure in areas that provide fewer natural pathways for Pb to accumulate into. In urban areas, the soil is one of the most common and available environmental sinks for Pb accumulation. This study examines the total soil Pb concentrations in relation to land-use types and average daily traffic volumes (cars/day) in each census tract in the Uptown Community Area of Chicago. This study provides insight into how land use and traffic volume may …


Depaul Discoveries Volume 12 Cover Art, Katherine Petralia Jun 2023

Depaul Discoveries Volume 12 Cover Art, Katherine Petralia

DePaul Discoveries

No abstract provided.


Monitoring Personal Exposure To Air Quality Gradients While Biking On An Elevated Urban Trail, Gavin D. Salas Jun 2023

Monitoring Personal Exposure To Air Quality Gradients While Biking On An Elevated Urban Trail, Gavin D. Salas

DePaul Discoveries

Air pollution is a major global health concern, specifically as it relates to the human exposome. The EPA criteria pollutants, including particulate matter (PM), carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), and NOx can have severe impacts on respiratory and cardiovascular health, particularly in populations with chronic illnesses such as asthma, those facing economic hardships and individuals who frequently spend time outdoors, such as bicyclists and runners. To understand the impact of air pollution on human health, it is essential to assess personal exposure. This study aimed to investigate personal exposure to air pollution levels while biking along …


Towards Generalizable Machine Learning Models For Computer-Aided Diagnosis In Medicine, Yiyang Wang May 2023

Towards Generalizable Machine Learning Models For Computer-Aided Diagnosis In Medicine, Yiyang Wang

College of Computing and Digital Media Dissertations

Hidden stratification represents a phenomenon in which a training dataset contains unlabeled (hidden) subsets of cases that may affect machine learning model performance. Machine learning models that ignore the hidden stratification phenomenon--despite promising overall performance measured as accuracy and sensitivity--often fail at predicting the low prevalence cases, but those cases remain important. In the medical domain, patients with diseases are often less common than healthy patients, and a misdiagnosis of a patient with a disease can have significant clinical impacts. Therefore, to build a robust and trustworthy CAD system and a reliable treatment effect prediction model, we cannot only pursue …


Stratospheric Effects On Uv, Speed Of Sound, Pressure, And Temperature, Joshua V. Chis, Joana Diaz, Brianna E. Ortiz, Imani G. Robertson, Jelani A. Shadd Jul 2022

Stratospheric Effects On Uv, Speed Of Sound, Pressure, And Temperature, Joshua V. Chis, Joana Diaz, Brianna E. Ortiz, Imani G. Robertson, Jelani A. Shadd

DePaul Discoveries

The atmosphere is composed of several layers, each with its own distinct environment varying in temperature, pressure, and levels of UV radiation. Quantifying these varying parameters proves to be useful in understanding atmospheric composition in greater detail. Variance in the composition of the atmosphere allows for the study of the evolution of physical phenomena at different altitudes. Our group quantified this variance using a high-altitude weather balloon and designed an experimental method to observe the nature of sound propagation through varying altitudes. The goal was to develop an altitude-dependent model of the speed of sound by using an open-air, microcontroller-based …


What's In Your Soil? A Comparative Assessment Of Total Lead In Soils In Southwest Side And North Side Chicago Communities, Jennifer Garcia Jul 2022

What's In Your Soil? A Comparative Assessment Of Total Lead In Soils In Southwest Side And North Side Chicago Communities, Jennifer Garcia

DePaul Discoveries

In Chicago, city officials continue to locate polluting industries in predominately Black and Hispanic/Latinx neighborhoods. Lower income families are disproportionately exposed to greater amounts of toxic chemicals such as lead (Pb). While the City of Chicago focuses its effort in removing industrial sites from the North Side, a predominately white community area, sources of industrial pollution are more likely to be found in communities of color. Due to the prevalent sources of Pb on the Southwest side, residential soil is often highly disturbed and contaminated. Pb is a serious neurotoxin, and ingestion or inhalation of Pb contaminated soil and dust …


Atmospheric Phosphorus Deposition Into A Fresh Water Wetland: Prairie Wolf Slough Restored Wetland, Isaac B. Daitzchman Jul 2022

Atmospheric Phosphorus Deposition Into A Fresh Water Wetland: Prairie Wolf Slough Restored Wetland, Isaac B. Daitzchman

DePaul Discoveries

Phosphorus is a major element needed for plant growth. Excess phosphorus from agricultural runoff and urban stormwater can enter waterways, resulting in growth of toxic algal blooms that are deleterious to local fauna. One way to remove phosphorus is by diverting agricultural and urban runoff into wetlands. One such wetland is Prairie Wolf Slough (PWS), located in north suburban Chicago, IL. Stormwater enters PWS through an inlet channel and exits through an outlet pipe into the Chicago River. A 16-year study documented that a significantly greater mass of phosphorus leaves PWS than enters through the inlet. This study accounted for …


Optimization Of Dye Molecules For Use In Studying Inflammatory Caspase Enzymes, Josiah D. Stewart, Phasu Sirinit Jul 2022

Optimization Of Dye Molecules For Use In Studying Inflammatory Caspase Enzymes, Josiah D. Stewart, Phasu Sirinit

DePaul Discoveries

Inflammatory caspases are important enzymes in the initial immune response to pathogens. A common method of studying caspase activity is through the use of fluorogenic assays, in which the cleavage of a substrate by an enzyme results in the emission of fluorescence. Fluorogenic assays require the use of fluorophores: molecules that will fluoresce upon the cleavage of a substrate. Different fluorophores have different characteristics, and these characteristics can be analyzed in order to determine which fluorophores will be most suitable for activity assays. Two commercially available fluorophores were compared for use in fluorogenic assays of inflammatory caspases: MCA and EDANS. …


Depaul Discoveries Volume 11 Cover Art, Dina Khdair Jul 2022

Depaul Discoveries Volume 11 Cover Art, Dina Khdair

DePaul Discoveries

No abstract provided.


Triangulation And Finite Element Method For A Variational Problem Inspired By Medical Imaging, Tim Komperda, Enrico Au-Yeung Aug 2021

Triangulation And Finite Element Method For A Variational Problem Inspired By Medical Imaging, Tim Komperda, Enrico Au-Yeung

DePaul Discoveries

We implement the finite element method to solve a variational problem that is inspired by medical imaging. In our application, the domain of the image does not need to be a rectangle and can contain a cavity in the middle. The standard approach to solve a variational problem involves formulating the problem as a partial differential equation. Instead, we solve the variational problem directly, using only techniques available to anyone familiar with vector calculus. As part of the computation, we also explore how triangulation is a useful tool in the process.


Correlation Effects On Intramolecular C-H...Oh And O-H...O Hydrogen Bond Interactions In Azelaic Acid: An Ab Initio Study, Sabina Kalata, Alina Huang, Ruben Parra Aug 2021

Correlation Effects On Intramolecular C-H...Oh And O-H...O Hydrogen Bond Interactions In Azelaic Acid: An Ab Initio Study, Sabina Kalata, Alina Huang, Ruben Parra

DePaul Discoveries

Electron correlation effects on both conventional, O-H…O, and nonconventional, C-H…O, intramolecular hydrogen bonds present in a selected azelaic acid folded conformation were evaluated ab initio using HF and MP2 methodologies. The relative strength of the hydrogen bonds was examined through different indicators derived from geometry, vibrational frequencies, and electron density along the hydrogen bond path. The HF method results in weaker O-H…O and C-H…O hydrogen bonds when compared with the corresponding results using the MP2 method. Additionally, the stability of the folded azelaic conformation is found to depend on the level of theory used. Accordingly, the zero-point corrected energies of …


Insignificant Impacts Of Covid-19 Stay-At-Home Orders On Chicago Air Quality, Adam W.T. Steffeck Aug 2021

Insignificant Impacts Of Covid-19 Stay-At-Home Orders On Chicago Air Quality, Adam W.T. Steffeck

DePaul Discoveries

With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, reports of air quality improvements around the world resulting from the stay-at-home orders were widespread. However, for Chicago, no significant air quality improvements occurred despite large reductions in private vehicle transportation due to the lack of commuters. The city of Chicago is a nexus for long-haul transportation by trucks and trains, which did not decrease during the pandemic. These transportation sources use mostly diesel fuel engines and emit NOX, a precursor to tropospheric ozone, and PM2.5, both of which are harmful air pollutants. Using open access EPA air quality …


Depaul Discoveries Volume 10 Cover Art, Nicolette Listenbee Aug 2021

Depaul Discoveries Volume 10 Cover Art, Nicolette Listenbee

DePaul Discoveries

No abstract provided.


Research Focus: Pattern Recognition May 2021

Research Focus: Pattern Recognition

In The Loop

A CDM health informatics team joins a global race to advance COVID-19 diagnostics through X-ray insights.


Depaul Discoveries Volume 9 Cover, Steven Reese Jul 2020

Depaul Discoveries Volume 9 Cover, Steven Reese

DePaul Discoveries

No abstract provided.


Fall 2019 Oct 2019

Fall 2019

Scientia

Education Taking Flight; The Vincentian Question and the Chemistry Teacher; Science Goes Global; Minister of Hope: Neurosurgeon and cancer researcher Alfredo Quinones-Hinojosa, MD, believes hope is more powerful than fear; What's New: The college introduced four new programs and tracks in its offerings for the 2019-20 academic year; Lab Notes; A Teacher Who Really Counts: Golden Apple Recipient Candice Cortese (CSH MA '10) Reflects on her Love of Teaching Math; One Smart Cookie: Chemistry Student Lucienna Wolf Says, "If You Really Apply Yourself, the Teachers Are More Than Happy to Help You."


A Life Cycle Assessment Of Jewelry, Jessica Fernandez, Christie Klimas Jun 2019

A Life Cycle Assessment Of Jewelry, Jessica Fernandez, Christie Klimas

DePaul Discoveries

Jewelry is unique in that it is not a necessity, yet it holds sentimental and material value to the owner. Jewelry sales in the US have increased throughout time, meaning the demand for gold has almost always been increasing, as well. With more than half of the gold mined going towards the production of jewelry, it is the product with the highest demand of the resource. However, mining for the metals to produce a piece of jewelry, specifically gold, has negative consequences on both the environment and the people working in or living near mines. This study is a life …


Depaul Discoveries Volume 8 Cover, Jessica Hughes Jun 2019

Depaul Discoveries Volume 8 Cover, Jessica Hughes

DePaul Discoveries

No abstract provided.


Scientia: Fall 2018 Nov 2018

Scientia: Fall 2018

Scientia

Gerald Koocher Steps Down as Dean; Calculus, Conquered; Math Magic; New Programs: We've Got a Degree in That; Lab Notes; To Croatia, With Curiosity; Human Nature Inextricable from Scientific Advances; The Scientists of Summer


United States Population Future Estimates And Long-Term Distribution, Sean P. Brogan May 2018

United States Population Future Estimates And Long-Term Distribution, Sean P. Brogan

DePaul Discoveries

The population of the United States has always increased year over year. Even now with decreasing birth rates, the overall population continues to grow when looking at conventional models. The present study specifically examines what would happen to the U.S. population if we were to maintain the current birth and survival rates into the future. By 2050, our research shows that the U.S. population will become much older and cease to grow at all.


Risk Factors Associated With Missed Medical Appointments Among Hiv-Positive Young Men Who Have Sex With Men, Willie Love, Douglas Bruce May 2018

Risk Factors Associated With Missed Medical Appointments Among Hiv-Positive Young Men Who Have Sex With Men, Willie Love, Douglas Bruce

DePaul Discoveries

Young men who have sex with men (YMSM) are overrepresented in the HIV epidemic in America. Retaining HIV positive YMSM in HIV care is very critical to reduce the overall burden of the HIV epidemic in America. Our study focused on identifying significant risk factors that affects retention in care for YMSM. Missing two or more medical appointments was how we measured retention in care. Using data gathered from ATN 086-106 study. This ATN cross-sectional study provided HIV positive males and females between the ages of 12 and 24 with an extensive questionnaire. The goal of this study was to …


Correlates Of Adherence To Antiretroviral Therapy Among Hiv-Positive Young Men Who Have Sex With Men, Janelle Flores, Douglas Bruce May 2018

Correlates Of Adherence To Antiretroviral Therapy Among Hiv-Positive Young Men Who Have Sex With Men, Janelle Flores, Douglas Bruce

DePaul Discoveries

Adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) is important in HIV management. The objective of this study was to analyze the risk factors for non-adherence to ART in HIV-positive young men who have sex with men (YMSM). Data pertaining to possible risk factors for non-adherence was collected from ATN086-106, a study protocol within the Adolescent Trials Network of HIV/AIDS Interventions (ATN). Variables that were significantly associated with non-adherence to ART in bivariate analyses were entered into multivariate logistic regression models to identify correlates of non-adherence to ART. The results indicate that YMSM who used marijuana and methamphetamine and missed medical appointments were …


Depaul Discoveries Volume 7 Cover, Martha Lazarski May 2018

Depaul Discoveries Volume 7 Cover, Martha Lazarski

DePaul Discoveries

No abstract provided.


Depaul Discoveries Volume 6 Cover, Amanda Copeland Jul 2017

Depaul Discoveries Volume 6 Cover, Amanda Copeland

DePaul Discoveries

No abstract provided.


How To Impress: Coordinating A Large Video Data Set For A Collaborative Project, Noah-Kee Marks, Rita Dawod Jul 2016

How To Impress: Coordinating A Large Video Data Set For A Collaborative Project, Noah-Kee Marks, Rita Dawod

DePaul Discoveries

Though many different research methods involve mass quantities of video/audio data, there is little discussion of best practices for organization, especially when the research is collaborative. The guidelines we provide here were created while conducting educational research on the IMPRESS project, an integrated metacognitive program for at risk STEM majors at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). Our hope is to encourage large-scale, collaborative research of qualitative video data by using our project as an example and providing enough information for readers to make a judgment on the efficacy of this process for their own projects.


Better Together Apr 2016

Better Together

DePaul Magazine

Faculty have taken full advantage of the university's innovative intercollegiate grant program, and the resulting research is as interesting and diverse as the collaborators themselves. What is resulting is research on "Patient and Primary Care Provider Perspectives on Recreational and Therapeutic Cannabis Use Within a Changing Socioculltural and Political Context;" a new minor in climate change science and policy; a new class, Communication, Coding and Entrepreneurship; brain inflammation research; and the project "Cosmology Meets Continental Philosophy: Natural Laws and Why There Is Something Rather Than Nothing"


Spring 2016 Mar 2016

Spring 2016

Scientia

Stress busters: intervention study combats stress in African-American youth; Peer-to-peer health power; Research roundup; Notes from the field; Program accelerates health care careers; Deep dive: Alumnus researches underwater volcanoes; Lab notes


Fall 2015 Sep 2015

Fall 2015

Scientia

Prairie prep; Chicago Wildsounds listens for ecosystem health; Up, up and away; Fulbright Travelogue: Health care in Fortaleza, Brazil; New course explores the Pope's encyclical on the environment; A "scent-sational" career in the flavor and fragrance industry; Lab notes; Paying tribute