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The Effects Of Premarital Education Promotion Policies On U.S. Divorce Rates, Tiffany Lura Clyde Jul 2019

The Effects Of Premarital Education Promotion Policies On U.S. Divorce Rates, Tiffany Lura Clyde

Theses and Dissertations

Previous research has documented the effects of divorce on children, families, communities, taxpayers, and society. Accordingly, local, state, and national governments have enacted policies aimed at strengthening marriages and reducing divorce. Currently, ten states have enacted some form of premarital education promotion policy. However, no research has documented whether the implementation of premarital education promotion policies has actually decreased the divorce rate in implementing states. Accordingly, the purpose of this study was to investigate empirically the effectiveness of premarital education policy implementation on reducing early divorce rates. Prior to running any empirical analyses, an implementation study was conducted to understand …

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A Shared-Memory Coupled Architecture To Leverage Big Data Frameworks In Prototyping And In-Situ Analytics For Data Intensive Scientific Workflows, Alexander Michael Lemon Jul 2019

A Shared-Memory Coupled Architecture To Leverage Big Data Frameworks In Prototyping And In-Situ Analytics For Data Intensive Scientific Workflows, Alexander Michael Lemon

Theses and Dissertations

There is a pressing need for creative new data analysis methods whichcan sift through scientific simulation data and produce meaningfulresults. The types of analyses and the amount of data handled by currentmethods are still quite restricted, and new methods could providescientists with a large productivity boost. New methods could be simpleto develop in big data processing systems such as Apache Spark, which isdesigned to process many input files in parallel while treating themlogically as one large dataset. This distributed model, combined withthe large number of analysis libraries created for the platform, makesSpark ideal for processing simulation output.Unfortunately, the filesystem becomes …

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Correlating Pressure, Fluidization Gas Velocities, Andsolids Mass Flowrates In A High-Pressurefluidized Bed Coal Feed System, Jacob Talailetalalelei Tuia Jul 2019

Correlating Pressure, Fluidization Gas Velocities, Andsolids Mass Flowrates In A High-Pressurefluidized Bed Coal Feed System, Jacob Talailetalalelei Tuia

Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this thesis was to understand what parameters would be most impactful when delivering dry, pulverized coal in a dilute-phase, with a high-pressure feed-system to a pressurized oxy-combustion (POC) reactor. Many studies have conveyed materials in dense-phase plugs at high-pressure or in dilute-phase flows at atmospheric pressure. Very few studies have fluidized and conveyed materials in dilute-phase flows at high pressure, as we needed to. Additionally, studies which might have been applicable based upon system -pressure and -phase delivered findings that were empirically based and therefore not specifically applicable to non-similar systems. 220 different tests were ran using …

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Cannibalization Processes In Hotspot Rhyolites As Deduced From The Kimberly Rhyolite, Central Snake River Plain, Idaho, Usa, Danielle Jeannette Spencer Jul 2019

Cannibalization Processes In Hotspot Rhyolites As Deduced From The Kimberly Rhyolite, Central Snake River Plain, Idaho, Usa, Danielle Jeannette Spencer

Theses and Dissertations

The 7.7 Ma Kimberly Member of the Cassia Formation is part of a succession of A-type rhyolites associated with the Yellowstone hotspot track. It was sampled by the Kimberly core that was drilled on the Snake River Plain as part of Project HOTSPOT (Shervais, et al., 2013). The Kimberly Member is a 170 m thick high-silica rhyolite lava flow containing quartz, plagioclase, anorthoclase, sanidine, augite, pigeonite, magnetite, ilmenite, zircon, and apatite. δ 18O of zircon ranges from 0 to 4.9‰ (Colón et al., 2018), typical low values for the Snake River Plain. Quartz is intensely embayed. Exsolved and resorbed pigeonite …

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Joint Analysis Of And Applications For Devices With Expanding Motions, Kendall Hal Seymour Jul 2019

Joint Analysis Of And Applications For Devices With Expanding Motions, Kendall Hal Seymour

Theses and Dissertations

Origami has been extensively studied by engineers for its unique motions and ability to collapse to small volumes. Techniques have been studied for replicating origami-like folding motion in thick materials, but limited practical applications of these techniques have been demonstrated. Developable mechanisms are a new mechanism type that has a similar ability to collapse to a low profile. The cylindrical developable mechanism has the ability to emerge from and conform to a cylindrical surface. In this work, a few practical applications of devices with novel expanding motions are presented. The design and testing of an origami-inspired deployable ballistic barrier, which …

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Sequential Survival Analysis With Deep Learning, Seth William Glazier Jul 2019

Sequential Survival Analysis With Deep Learning, Seth William Glazier

Theses and Dissertations

Survival Analysis is the collection of statistical techniques used to model the time of occurrence, i.e. survival time, of an event of interest such as death, marriage, the lifespan of a consumer product or the onset of a disease. Traditional survival analysis methods rely on assumptions that make it difficult, if not impossible to learn complex non-linear relationships between the covariates and survival time that is inherent in many real world applications. We first demonstrate that a recurrent neural network (RNN) is better suited to model problems with non-linear dependencies in synthetic time-dependent and non-time-dependent experiments.

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Design And Synthesis Of Tlr2 And Tlr6 Heterodimer Ligands, A Triply Functionalized Α-Galcer Derivative For Identifying Proteins Involved In Glycolipid Trafficking, And The Disaccharide Of Staphylococcus Aureus Cp8 Towards A Self-Adjuvanting Vaccine, Sara Mayeth Mata Jul 2019

Design And Synthesis Of Tlr2 And Tlr6 Heterodimer Ligands, A Triply Functionalized Α-Galcer Derivative For Identifying Proteins Involved In Glycolipid Trafficking, And The Disaccharide Of Staphylococcus Aureus Cp8 Towards A Self-Adjuvanting Vaccine, Sara Mayeth Mata

Theses and Dissertations

Toll like receptors (TLRs) are found on B cells, macrophages, monocytes, and dendritic cells, and these cells belong to the innate immune system that recognizes antigens and induces multiple cell responses through the release of cytokines. TLR1, TLR2 and TLR6 function as heterodimers, either as TLR1/TLR2 or TLR2/TLR6 to recognize lipopeptides. TLR1/2 dimer activation releases inflammatory cytokines, while TLR2/TLR6 dimer activation releases immunomodulatory cytokines. Based on the size of the binding pocket between TLR2 and TLR6, it was hypothesized that lipopeptides, such as FSL1, could be simplified while keeping overall activity. FSL1 is a lipopeptide first isolated from Mycoplasma salivarum …

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Ultra Low Latency Visual Servoing For High Speed Object Tracking Using Multi Focal Length Camera Arrays, Alexander Steven Mccown Jul 2019

Ultra Low Latency Visual Servoing For High Speed Object Tracking Using Multi Focal Length Camera Arrays, Alexander Steven Mccown

Theses and Dissertations

In high speed applications of visual servoing, latency from the recognition algorithm can cause significant degradation of in response time. Hardware acceleration allows for recognition algorithms to be applied directly during the raster scan from the image sensor, thereby removing virtually all video processing latency. This paper examines one such method, along with an analysis of design decisions made to optimize for use during high speed airborne object tracking tests for the US military. Designing test equipment for defense use involves working around unique challenges that arise from having many details being deemed classified or highly sensitive information. Designing tracking …

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The Relationship Between Vascular Endothelial Function Andpeak Exercise Blood Flow, Brady Edward Hanson Jul 2019

The Relationship Between Vascular Endothelial Function Andpeak Exercise Blood Flow, Brady Edward Hanson

Theses and Dissertations

Purpose The vascular endothelium is an influential contributor to vasodilation at rest, yet its role during peak exercise is relatively unknown. The purpose of this study is to determine if exercise leg blood flow during dynamic submaximal and maximal exercise is related to resting vascular endothelial function. Methods Nineteen subjects (aged 23 ± 0.57 yr) completed multiple assessments of vascular endothelial function including passive leg movement (PLM), rapid onset vasodilation, (ROV) and flow-mediated dilation (FMD). Peak muscle blood flow was assessed during single leg knee extension (KE) exercise. Doppler ultrasound of the femoral artery was utilized to assess muscle blood …

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Adversarial Deep Neural Networks Effectively Remove Nonlinear Batch Effects From Gene-Expression Data, Jonathan Bryan Dayton Jul 2019

Adversarial Deep Neural Networks Effectively Remove Nonlinear Batch Effects From Gene-Expression Data, Jonathan Bryan Dayton

Theses and Dissertations

Gene-expression profiling enables researchers to quantify transcription levels in cells, thus providing insight into functional mechanisms of diseases and other biological processes. However, because of the high dimensionality of these data and the sensitivity of measuring equipment, expression data often contains unwanted confounding effects that can skew analysis. For example, collecting data in multiple runs causes nontrivial differences in the data (known as batch effects), known covariates that are not of interest to the study may have strong effects, and there may be large systemic effects when integrating multiple expression datasets. Additionally, many of these confounding effects represent higher-order interactions …

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Fluvial Architecture And Reservoir Modeling Along The Strike Direction Of The Trail Member Of The Ericson Sandstone, Mesaverde Group In Southwest Wyoming, April Anahi Trevino Jul 2019

Fluvial Architecture And Reservoir Modeling Along The Strike Direction Of The Trail Member Of The Ericson Sandstone, Mesaverde Group In Southwest Wyoming, April Anahi Trevino

Theses and Dissertations

The Trail Member of the upper Cretaceous Ericson Sandstone, part of the Mesaverde Group, is exposed along hundreds of square kilometers through Wyoming along the flanks of several Laramide structural uplifts. This presents a unique opportunity to study the detailed architecture based on bed-scale heterogeneity and better assess the reservoir potential of these strata in outcrop exposure on a regional-scale, and to then relate these observations to producing fields nearby. The fluvial-dominated Trail Member formed as sediments traveled from the active Sevier thrust belt to the Cretaceous Interior Seaway, forming a basinward progradational clastic wedge along a relatively high gradient. …

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Implications Of Academic Pathway To Teaching In Utah: Does Alternative Certification Alleviate Teacher Shortages?, Laura Michelle Wilde Jul 2019

Implications Of Academic Pathway To Teaching In Utah: Does Alternative Certification Alleviate Teacher Shortages?, Laura Michelle Wilde

Theses and Dissertations

The Academic Pathway to Teaching (APT) licensure was introduced in 2016 to expand the supply of teachers in Utah. Since then, there has been no formal evaluation of the licensure or the teachers teaching with an APT license. The goals of this study were to explore the effects of the APT licensure on teacher turnover in Utah and to analyze how mentoring experience and teacher self-efficacy were related to the attrition of this population of teachers. This mixed-methods study used data from the Utah State Board of Education to calculate rates of teacher turnover of APT candidates (N=456) for each …

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Developing Understanding Of The Chain Rule, Implicit Differentiation, And Related Rates: Towards A Hypothetical Learning Trajectory Rooted In Nested Multivariation, Haley Paige Jeppson Jul 2019

Developing Understanding Of The Chain Rule, Implicit Differentiation, And Related Rates: Towards A Hypothetical Learning Trajectory Rooted In Nested Multivariation, Haley Paige Jeppson

Theses and Dissertations

There is an overemphasis on procedures and manipulation of symbols in calculus and not enough emphasis on conceptual understanding of the subject. Specifically, students struggle to understand and correctly apply concepts in calculus such as the chain rule, implicit differentiation, and related rates. Students can learn mathematics more deeply when they make connections between different mathematical ideas. I have hypothesized that students can make powerful connections between the chain rule, implicit differentiation, and related rates through the mathematical concept of nested multivariation. Based on this hypothesis, I created a hypothetical learning trajectory (HLT) rooted in nested multivariation for students to …

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Sequence Biostratigraphy Of Carboniferous-Permian Boundary Strata In Western Utah: Deciphering Eustatic And Tectonic Controls On Sedimentation In The Antler-Sonoma Distal Foreland Basin, Joshua Kerst Meibos Jul 2019

Sequence Biostratigraphy Of Carboniferous-Permian Boundary Strata In Western Utah: Deciphering Eustatic And Tectonic Controls On Sedimentation In The Antler-Sonoma Distal Foreland Basin, Joshua Kerst Meibos

Theses and Dissertations

The stratal architecture of the upper Ely Limestone and Mormon Gap Formation (Pennsylvanian-early Permian) in western Utah reflects the interaction of icehouse sea-level change and tectonic activity in the distal Antler-Sonoma foreland basin. Eighteen physically and biostratigraphically corelated stratigraphic sections provide a database for tracing Permo-Carboniferous boundary strata over a north-south distance of 60 km. These formations comprise 14 unconformity-bounded depositional sequence: three in the upper Ely (UE1-UE3) and 11 in the Mormon Gap Formation (MG1-MG11). Conodont and fusulinid faunas provide precise biostratigraphic information for a number of parasequences in the upper Ely and Mormon Gap formations. This paleontological information …

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Proactive Energy Optimization In Residential Buildings With Weather And Market Forecasts, Cody Ryan Simmons Jul 2019

Proactive Energy Optimization In Residential Buildings With Weather And Market Forecasts, Cody Ryan Simmons

Theses and Dissertations

This work explores the development of a home energy management system (HEMS) that uses weather and market forecasts to optimize the usage of home appliances and to manage battery usage and solar power production. A Moving Horizon Estimation (MHE) application is used to find the unknown home model parameters. These parameters are then updated in a Model Predictive Controller (MPC) which optimizes and balances competing comfort and economic objectives. Combining MHE and MPC applications alleviates model complexity commonly seen in HEMS by using a lumped parameter model that is adapted to fit a high-fidelity model. HVAC on/off behaviors are simulated …

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Application And Evaluation Of Full-Field Surrogate Models In Engineering Design Space Exploration, Christopher Murray Thelin Jul 2019

Application And Evaluation Of Full-Field Surrogate Models In Engineering Design Space Exploration, Christopher Murray Thelin

Theses and Dissertations

When designing an engineering part, better decisions are made by exploring the entire space of design variations. This design space exploration (DSE) may be accomplished manually or via optimization. In engineering, evaluating a design during DSE often consists of running expensive simulations, such as finite element analysis (FEA) in order to understand the structural response to design changes. The computational cost of these simulations can make thorough DSE infeasible, and only a relatively small subset of the designs are explored. Surrogate models have been used to make cheap predictions of certain simulation results. Commonly, these models only predict single values …

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Hyperparameters For Dense Neural Networks, Christopher James Hettinger Jul 2019

Hyperparameters For Dense Neural Networks, Christopher James Hettinger

Theses and Dissertations

Neural networks can perform an incredible array of complex tasks, but successfully training a network is difficult because it requires us to minimize a function about which we know very little. In practice, developing a good model requires both intuition and a lot of guess-and-check. In this dissertation, we study a type of fully-connected neural network that improves on standard rectifier networks while retaining their useful properties. We then examine this type of network and its loss function from a probabilistic perspective. This analysis leads to a new rule for parameter initialization and a new method for predicting effective learning …

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Multi-Stage Construction Of The Little Cottonwood Stock, Utah: Origin, Intrusion, Venting,Mineralization, And Mass Movement, Collin G. Jensen Jul 2019

Multi-Stage Construction Of The Little Cottonwood Stock, Utah: Origin, Intrusion, Venting,Mineralization, And Mass Movement, Collin G. Jensen

Theses and Dissertations

The Little Cottonwood stock in central Utah, USA, is a composite granitic pluton that hosts the White Pine porphyry Mo-W deposit towards its northeast margin. The deposit is centered on the smaller White Pine intrusion, and associated igneous units include the Red Pine porphyry, phreatomagmatic pebble dikes, and rhyolite dikes. Twelve new U-Pb zircon LA-ICP-MS ages, for samples from this deposit and in pebble dikes from the nearby East Traverse Mountains, give peak ages of about 30 Ma and 27 Ma for the Little Cottonwood stock and White Pine intrusion, respectively, which correlate well with ages from previous studies. Ages …

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Understanding The Wind-Dominated Landforms Of Saturn’S Moon Titan Through Earth Analogues, Jani Radebaugh, Eric Christiansen, Shannon Tass Jun 2019

Understanding The Wind-Dominated Landforms Of Saturn’S Moon Titan Through Earth Analogues, Jani Radebaugh, Eric Christiansen, Shannon Tass

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The largest moon of Saturn, Titan, has a thick atmosphere of nitrogen and a pressure similar to that of Earth at the surface. There are winds, strong enough to have produced two wind-dominated landforms similar to those on Earth – vast fields of sand dunes and smaller collections of wind-carved ridges, or yardangs. We seek to understand the relationships between the observed landforms and the winds and surface materials required to form them, both on Earth and Titan. This study of the shapes of winddominated landforms, dunes and yardangs, will help answer key questions about the surface of Titan at …

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Mentoring Astronomy Students Through Extensive Research (Master), Dr. Michael Joner Jun 2019

Mentoring Astronomy Students Through Extensive Research (Master), Dr. Michael Joner

Journal of Undergraduate Research

This Mentoring Environment Grant (MEG) proposed using the Brigham Young University West Mountain Observatory as a mentoring environment where students would experience what it is like to do research at a fully operational observatory by doing a wide variety of observations at regularly scheduled times over the course of several months during the spring and summer terms. The primary project in 2017 involved making nightly monitoring observations of the active Seyfert 1 galaxy Mrk 509 in support of a worldwide campaign involving more than a dozen ground–based and space–based observatories. In 2018, the primary monitoring campaign for extragalactic objects was …

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Applying Acoustic Beamforming In Sub-Arrays To Jet Engine Noise, David Van Komen, Kent Gee, Tracianne Nielson Jun 2019

Applying Acoustic Beamforming In Sub-Arrays To Jet Engine Noise, David Van Komen, Kent Gee, Tracianne Nielson

Journal of Undergraduate Research

In Jet engine noise is a large and complex area of research due to the intricacies of the variety of different mechanisms that produce noise traveling in different directions. The dominate noise source is called turbulent mixing noise (TMN) which is created by the interaction of the column of air mixing with the ambient air. Two types of TMN exist: large-scale TMN, the dominant noise source that travels away from the aircraft in the aft quadrant and fine-scale TMN that travels in all directions1. The second type of noise is known as broadband shock-associated noise (BBSAN), which is generated by …

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Identifying Unknown Satellites, Nicholas Van Alfen, Joseph Moody Jun 2019

Identifying Unknown Satellites, Nicholas Van Alfen, Joseph Moody

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Satellites are used for a wide range of purposes and by a wide range of organizations from private companies to governments. Specifically, what was of interest to us and the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) with whom we collaborated was the need to identify different satellites using telescopes and determine their purpose. Finding a cheap way to determine the design of a satellite and its use would be of great interest to national security in determining whether a previously unknown satellite is potentially harmful to our own country’s satellites in orbit around the Earth.

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Computational Number Theory: Modular Forms, Paul Jenkins Jun 2019

Computational Number Theory: Modular Forms, Paul Jenkins

Journal of Undergraduate Research

In 2017 and 2018, the following students participated in the BYU Computational Number Theory research group under my direction and produced the following deliverables.

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Magnetron Sputtering For The Production Of Stable P-Type Zno Thin Films, Colter Stewart, Dr. John Colton Jun 2019

Magnetron Sputtering For The Production Of Stable P-Type Zno Thin Films, Colter Stewart, Dr. John Colton

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The principal purpose of my research is to produce stable, long-lasting, reproducible p-type zinc oxide for experimental and commercial use. Semiconductor devices made with zinc oxide (ZnO) have the potential to be a cheaper alternative to those made with gallium nitride (GaN). In addition, ZnO devices could also have superior physical and optical properties [1]. Because of ZnO’s wide band gap and high radiation tolerance, it could potentially be used for UV lasers and LEDs, and thin-film transistors (TFTs) [2]. However, because of natural defects in the ZnO lattice, p-type ZnO has historically been difficult to produce [3]. Our group’s …

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The Development Of Individualized Anemia Treatments Using Point Of Care Diagnostics To Distinguish Anemia Caused By Infection Or Chronic Inflammation, Dr. Richard Watt Jun 2019

The Development Of Individualized Anemia Treatments Using Point Of Care Diagnostics To Distinguish Anemia Caused By Infection Or Chronic Inflammation, Dr. Richard Watt

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Background: Anemia that accompanies inflammation is associated with negative outcomes for patients. Early intervention to treat anemia is an important step in improving the quality of life for anemic patients. Our lab proposed to develop simple diagnostic tests using a Lateral Flow Immunoassays (LFIs) to measure the presence of a hormone called hepcidin because hepcidin is the master regulator of iron homeostasis in the body and elevated hepcidin levels lead to anemia.

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Rational Design Of Multifunctional Enzyme-Like Catalysts For Assembly-Line Chemical Synthesis, David Michaelis Jun 2019

Rational Design Of Multifunctional Enzyme-Like Catalysts For Assembly-Line Chemical Synthesis, David Michaelis

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The main objectives of this proposal was to publish our preliminary findings in peptide catalysis and then submit applications for external funding. Both of these objectives were accomplished during the grant period. In the Fall of 2017, we published our first paper on the development of our new enzyme-like catalysts (ACS Catal. 2017, 7, 7704–7708). This publication should serve as a springboard for additional publications in the area (on which we are currently working) and help ensure external funding for this project. During 2017-2018, we submitted 3 grant applications to the NIH to help support this project. These submissions have …

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Inclusion Of Women In Computer Science, Naomi Johnson, Dr. Kevin Seppi Jun 2019

Inclusion Of Women In Computer Science, Naomi Johnson, Dr. Kevin Seppi

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Since the 1980’s, the percentage of computer science degrees awarded to women in the United States has fallen dramatically. There are growing numbers of men earning bachelor’s degrees in CS, and the numbers of women are increasing very slowly. For decades, researchers have been studying recruitment and retention of women and other minorities in CS, yet it is still not apparent what departments, professors, or students can do in order to get the numbers of women earning degrees in CS up again.

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Heterogenity Of Private School Effects In Sub-Saharan Africa, Isaac Riley, Donald Baum Jun 2019

Heterogenity Of Private School Effects In Sub-Saharan Africa, Isaac Riley, Donald Baum

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The “private school effect” or “private school advantage” is often treated in the literature as monolithic and constant across countries (Srivastava and Walford 2007), and much of the debate is between two camps arguing whether private education helps or harms, with special emphasis on the poor (Tooley and Dixon 2006; Walford and Robertson 2014). The impression of a monolithic “private school effect” in Sub-Saharan Africa is harmful if results from one country may prove misleading when applied directly to another. If private schooling in makes pupils significantly better off in Country A and worse off in Country B, officials in …

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Microbes And Metals: Purifying The Water Of Lake Titicaca, Sara Ludlow, Dr. Gregory T. Carling Jun 2019

Microbes And Metals: Purifying The Water Of Lake Titicaca, Sara Ludlow, Dr. Gregory T. Carling

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Pollution of Lake Titicaca has become a major threat to the health and lifestyle of the Uru people who use the lake water for their daily needs. Cities along the coast dump untreated sewage directly into the lake introducing dangerous microbial levels of Escherichia coli. Runoff from nearby mines increases the risk of toxic levels of lead, arsenic, and other heavy metals. Previous members of the ongoing Global Engineering Outreach (GEO) program identified biosand filtration as a viable option for mitigating these risks. As such, they implemented single stage biosand filters in the community, but they were never able to …

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Random Polynomial Interpolation From Known Roots In The Multivariate Case, Catherine Sawyer, Tyler Jarvis Jun 2019

Random Polynomial Interpolation From Known Roots In The Multivariate Case, Catherine Sawyer, Tyler Jarvis

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The purpose of this project was to develop a method by which sets of multivariate polynomials with known roots could be rapidly generated. Generating such polynomials would be of great use in testing root finding algorithms, yet remains an open problem

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