Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Project Renew Worcester, Danni Yue, Amy Zhang, Jing Han, Omid Ashrafi, Yiming Xu

School of Professional Studies

n The client for this capstone project is RENEW Worcester which is a fledgling solar power project whose main goals are to bring renewable energy in the form of solar power into local, primarily low-income communities and are committed to the mission of making the transition off of fossil fuels to clean, renewable power. Based in Worcester, Massachusetts, they are a local chapter of Co-op Power which is a consumer-owned sustainable energy cooperative (co-op) made up of numerous different local chapters all over the New England area as well as the state of New York. The problem that we will ...

The Contribution Of Local And Transport Processes To Phytoplankton Biomass Variability Over Different Timescales In The Upper James River, Virginia, Qubin Qin, Jian Shen

Articles

Although both local processes (photosynthesis, respiration, grazing, and settling), and transport processes (advective transport and diffusive transport) significantly affect local phytoplankton dynamics, it is difficult to separate their contributions and to investigate the relative importance of each process to the local variability of phytoplankton biomass over different timescales. A method of using the transport rate is introduced to quantify the contribution of transport processes. By combining the time-varying transport rate and high-frequency observed chlorophyll a data, we can explicitly examine the impact of local and transport processes on phytoplankton biomass over a range of timescales from hourly to annually. For ...

Evaluation Of Blight Resistance In Chestnut F2 Half-Sibling And Full-Sibling Families Via Small Stem Assay, Kevin Gentner

Honors Theses

In 1904, Cryphonectria parasitica, the causal agent for chestnut blight, was imported into North America on chestnut nursery stock from China. Fifty-five years later, nearly all full-grown wild American chestnut trees (Castanea dentata) were dead. A century of work has been put into restoring the American chestnut to its rightful place among the forest canopy. Since the 1980s, The American Chestnut Foundation has pursued backcross breeding to introgress blight resistance into C. dentata from the resistant Chinese species (C. mollissima), and has used progeny testing to make predictions about parental resistance in B3F2 chestnuts. We performed a small stem assay ...

Second-Order Know-How Strategies, Pavel Naumov, Jia Tao

Faculty Research and Reports

The fact that a coalition has a strategy does not mean that the coalition knows what the strategy is. If the coalition knows the strategy, then such a strategy is called a know-how strategy of the coalition. The paper proposes the notion of a second-order know-how strategy for the case when one coalition knows what the strategy of another coalition is. The main technical result is a sound and complete logical system describing the interplay between the distributed knowledge modality and the second-order coalition know-how modality.

Smt-Based Answer Set Solver Cmodels-Diff (System Description), Da Shen, Yuliya Lierler

Yuliya Lierler

Initial Limnological Observations At Five Small Lakes In Southern Pacific Costa Rica, Sally P Horn, Erik N. Johanson, Kurt A. Haberyan, Mathew S. Boehm, Jessie L. Johanson, Maureen Sánchez P., Mario Hernández V.

Geography Publications and Other Works

Costa Rica has hundreds of lakes, many of which have never been described or sampled by limnologists. Here we summarize initial observations of five small (0.2–1.7ha) lakes located at low elevation (365–490m) in the cantón of Buenos Aries. We collected basic limnological data and samples during visits in 2013 and 2014, and compiled environmental and archaeological data for their surroundings as a contribution to the documentation of lake diversity in Costa Rica, and to support parallel investigations of indicators of environmental history preserved in the sediments of the lakes. Lagunas Carse, Los Mangos, Danta, and Ojo ...

Evaluation Of Annagnps For Simulating The Inundation Of Drained And Farmed Potholes In The Prairie Pothole Region Of Iowa, Pawan Upadhyaya, L. O. S. Pruski, Amy Kaleita, Michelle L. Soupir

Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Publications

Closed surface depressions, also known as “potholes” play an important role in the hydrologic cycle and provide multiple environmental services including flood mitigation, water quality improvements and wildlife habitat. In the Prairie Pothole Region, which covers approximately 715,000 km2, including parts of three Canadian provinces (Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Alberta) and five states in the U.S. (Minnesota, Iowa, North and South Dakota, and Montana), these potholes are typically farmed and are a dominant feature in the landscape. In this study, we evaluate the Annualized Agriculture Non-Point Source (AnnAGNPS) model for simulating the inundation behavior of two farmed potholes, termed ...

What’S At Steak? The Political Discourse Of Emissions Intensity And Implications Of Animal Agriculture, Kalyn Simon

Master's Theses

This thesis analyzes the international discourse of greenhouse gas emissions in relation to livestock production. Specific government ministries, research institutes, and multilateral organizations are framing a new strategy to mitigate emissions by using emissions intensity metrics. Emissions intensity is a ratio comparing emissions produced per unit of animal product as oppose to measuring absolute emissions. This research is acknowledged as a win-win scenario which allows for a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions while continuing production more efficiently. This thesis outlines the emergence of this metric in international discourse and the implications this shift has on the livestock sector globally. Ultimately ...

Localization And Compactness Of Operators On Fock Spaces, Zhangjian Hu, Xiaofen Lv, Brett D. Wick

Mathematics Faculty Publications

For 0<p≤∞, let Fpφ be the Fock space induced by a weight function φ satisfying ddcφ≃ω0. In this paper, given p∈(0,1] we introduce the concept of weakly localized operators on Fpφ, we characterize the compact operators in the algebra generated by weakly localized operators. As an application, for 0<p<∞ we prove that an operator T in the algebra generated by bounded Toeplitz operators with BMO symbols is compact on Fpφ if and only if its Berezin transform satisfies certain vanishing property at ∞. In the classical Fock space, we extend the Axler-Zheng condition on linear ...

Detection And Assay Of Isoniazid Utilizing Isocratic High-Performance Liquid Chromatography, Cassandra Nguyen

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

To demonstrate an analysis for isoniazid from aqueous mixtures and solid tablets, utilizing isocratic conditions, with high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and UV detection. Isoniazid in solid and liquid samples is assayed utilizing HPLC. Isoniazid is a tuberculostat, that is assayed by high performance liquid chromatography that utilizes a reversed-phase C-18 column. The eluent solvent is 5.3% ethanol, 93.7% water, and 1% acetic acid. Aqueous samples are prepared in distilled water as the solvent. The ultraviolet-visible detection of isoniazid is accomplished at 265 nm, which is the wavelength having the highest sensitivity for isoniazid. Having a column pump ...

Understanding The Effects Of Taxi Ride-Sharing: A Case Study Of Singapore, Yazhe Wang, Baihua Zheng, Ee-Peng Lim

Research Collection School Of Information Systems

This paper studies the effects of ride-sharing among those calling on taxis in Singapore for similar origin and destination pairs at nearly the same time of day. It proposes a simple yet practical framework for taxi ride-sharing and scheduling, to reduce waiting times and travel times during peak demand periods. The solution method helps taxi users save money while helping taxi drivers serve multiple requests per day, thus increasing their earnings. A comprehensive simulation study is conducted, based on real taxi booking data for the city of Singapore, to evaluate the effect of various factors of the ride-sharing practice, e ...

Estimation Of Porosity And Water Saturation In Dual-Porosity Pyroclastic Deposits From Joint Analysis Of Compression, Shear, And Electromagnetic Velocities, Andrew C. Gase, John H. Bradford, Brittany D. Brand

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

In situ measurements of porosity and water saturation of pyroclastic deposits have the potential to improve interpretations of geology and hydrology in volcanic regions, and to provide more accurate estimates of dense rock equivalent for volcanic eruptions. However, rock-property models must consider the dual-porosity structure of pyroclastic deposits (i.e., vesicles within pumices and intergranular pores). Vesicularity, intergranular porosity, and water saturation all affect the density, elasticity, and dielectric properties of pyroclastic materials, which control seismic and electromagnetic velocities. The data from active seismic and ground-penetrating radar (GPR) techniques may improve porosity and water saturation estimation if the responses of ...

Pleiotropic Activity Of Systemically Delivered Angiogenin In The Sod1, Martin Crivello, Saidhbhe L. O'Riordan, Ina Woods, Sarah Cannon, Luise Halang, Karen S. Coughlan, Marion C. Hogg, Sebastian A. Lewandowski, Jochen Hm Prehn

Physiology and Medical Physics Articles

Loss-of-function mutations in the angiogenin (ANG) gene have been identified in familial and sporadic ALS patients. Previous work from our group identified human ANG (huANG) to protect motoneuronsin vitro, and provided proof-of-concept that daily intraperitoneal (i.p.) huANG injections post-symptom onset increased lifespan and delayed disease progression in SOD1G93A mice. huANG's mechanism of action remains less well understood. Here, we implemented a preclinical in vivo design to validate our previous results, provide pharmacokinetic and protein distribution data after systemic administration, and explore potential pleiotropic activities of huANG in vivo. SOD1G93A mice (n = 45) and non-transgenic controls (n = 31 ...

Statistical Analysis And Comparison Of Optical Classification Of Atmospheric Aerosol Lidar Data, Kwasi Gyening Afrifa

Electrical & Computer Engineering Projects for D. Eng. Degree

This dissertation presents a new study for the analysis and classification of atmospheric aerosols in remote sensing LIDAR data. Information on particle size and associated properties are extracted from these remote sensing atmospheric data which are collected by a ground-based LIDAR system. This study first considers optical LIDAR parameter-based classification methods for clustering and classification of different types of harmful aerosol particles in the atmosphere. Since accurate methods for aerosol prediction behaviors are based upon observed data, computational approaches must overcome design limitations, and also consider appropriate calibration and estimation accuracy. Consequently, two statistical methods based on generalized linear models ...

Multimodal Depression Detection: An Investigation Of Features And Fusion Techniques For Automated Systems, Michelle Renee Morales

All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Depression is a serious illness that affects a large portion of the world’s population. Given the large effect it has on society, it is evident that depression is a serious health issue. This thesis evaluates, at length, how technology may aid in assessing depression. We present an in-depth investigation of features and fusion techniques for depression detection systems. We also present OpenMM: a novel tool for multimodal feature extraction. Lastly, we present novel techniques for multimodal fusion. The contributions of this work add considerably to our knowledge of depression detection systems and have the potential to improve future systems ...

Learning Logic: A Mixed Methods Study To Examine The Effects Of Context Ordering On Reasoning About Conditionals, Christina W. Lommatsch

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Logical statements are prevalent in mathematics, the sciences, law, and many areas of everyday life. The most common logical statements are conditionals, which have the form “If H..., then C...,” where “H” is a hypothesis (or condition) to be satisfied and “C” is a conclusion to follow. Reasoning about conditionals is a skill that is only superficially understood by most individuals and depends on four main conditional contexts (e.g., intuitive, abstract, symbolic, or counterintuitive). The purpose of this study was to test a theory about the effects of context ordering on reasoning about conditionals. To test the theory, the ...

Seabird Distribution And Oil & Gas Potential Along The Northern Sea Route, Russia: An Arctic Marine Conservation Case Study, Meghan Kelly

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

Seabirds are indicator species for the marine environment. Their populations are simultaneously affected by access to food resources and anthropogenic pressures including direct disturbance and habitat degradation associated with industrial development (Parsons et al. 2007). Therefore, using seabird distribution as a policy-relevant indicator for the Arctic marine environment supports an ecosystem based management approach aimed at protecting sensitive habitats from increased offshore oil and gas development.

This research identifies seabird habitat in the Russian Arctic utilizing in situ seabird observations from the Northern Sea Route to create a species distribution model. The spatial location of these areas will be compared ...

Modelling The Influence Of Crop Density And Weather Conditions On Field Drying Characteristics Of Switchgrass And Maize Stover Using Random Forest, Amit Khanchi, Stuart J. Birrell, Robert B. Mitchell

Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Publications

Field drying trials were conducted using both field baskets as well as grab sampling techniques to study drying behaviour of switchgrass and maize (corn) stover (CS). Environmental conditions such as hourly solar radiation, vapour pressure deficit (VPD), average wind speed, rainfall amount, harvesting method, and field operations such as swath density were used as variables for model development. A powerful classification-based algorithm, which uses a collection of decision trees called random forest (RF) was utilised to predict moisture content (MC) of switchgrass and CS on wet basis. RF predicted the MC of switchgrass and CS with a coefficient of determination ...

Vector Partitions, Jennifer French

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Integer partitions have been studied by many mathematicians over hundreds of years. Many identities exist between integer partitions, such as Euler’s discovery that every number has the same amount of partitions into distinct parts as into odd parts. These identities can be proven using methods such as conjugation or generating functions. Over the years, mathematicians have worked to expand partition identities to vectors. In 1963, M. S. Cheema proved that every vector has the same number of partitions into distinct vectors as into vectors with at least one component odd. This parallels Euler’s result for integer partitions. The ...

A Study Of Topological Invariants In The Braid Group B2, Andrew Sweeney

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Jones polynomial is a special topological invariant in the field of Knot Theory. Created by Vaughn Jones, in the year 1984, it is used to study when links in space are topologically different and when they are topologically equivalent. This thesis discusses the Jones polynomial in depth as well as determines a general form for the closure of any braid in the braid group B2 where the closure is a knot. This derivation is facilitated by the help of the Temperley-Lieb algebra as well as with tools from the field of Abstract Algebra. In general, the Artin braid group ...