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Wave Excitation And Dynamics In Disordered Systems, Yiming Huang

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis presents studies of the field and energy excited in disordered systems as well as the dynamics of scattering.

Dynamic and steady state aspects of wave propagation are deeply connected in lossless open systems in which the scattering matrix is unitary. There is then an equivalence among the energy excited within the medium through all channels, the Wigner time delay, which is the sum of dwell times in all channels coupled to the medium, and the density of states. But these equivalences fall away in the presence of material loss or gain. In this paper, we use microwave measurements, …

Nonlinear Optical Studies Of Interfacial Ferroelectricity And Strain Distribution In Perovskite Dielectric Films, Tony Le

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Dielectric and ferroelectric perovskite films have been model energy storage structures for their low-dielectric loss, extremely high charge-discharge speed, and good temperature stability, yet there is still much to understand about the material’s limitations. This dissertation presents a detailed understanding of the strain-induced ferroelectricity at the boundary between a strontium titanate (SrTiO₃) ultrathin film epitaxially grown on a germanium (Ge) substrate through optical second harmonic generation (SHG), and the polydomain distribution in the Zr-doped BaTiO₃ (BZT) films by time-resolved pump-probe spectroscopy.

First, SHG measurements were performed to reveal interfacial ferroelectricity in the epitaxial SrTiO₃/Ge (100) …

Quod Inane Vocamus: Lucretius’ Void In Seventeenth-Century Italy, Carlo Bottone

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

During the seventeenth century, the revival of atomic theories and the beginning of barometric experiments sparked a philosophical debate on the existence and the nature of void, which in turn generated new attention to the ancient disputes on void and prompted new interpretations of Lucretius’ examination of inane (De Rerum Natura, I.329-397). Commentators began to discuss the passage beyond the ancient philosophical tradition and in relation to modern ideas and recent discoveries, while Vacuists appealed to Lucretian arguments to prove or deny the existence of an absolute void interspersed among corpuscles.

My research contributes to the scholarship on …

Linear And Non Linear Properties Of Two-Dimensional Exciton-Polaritons, Mandeep Khatoniar

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Technology has been accelerating at breakneck speed since the first quantum revolution, an era that ushered transistors and lasers in the late 1940s and early 1960s. Both of these technologies relied on a matured understanding of quantum theories and since their inception has propelled innovation and development in various sectors like communications, metrology, and sensing. Optical technologies were thought to be the game changers in terms of logic and computing operations, with the elevator pitch being "computing at speed of light", a fundamental speed limit imposed by this universe’s legal system (a.k.a physics). However, it was soon realized that that …

Logics Of Resource And Justification, Hirohiko Kushida

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

It is a well-known result by G ̈odel in 1933 that the Intuitionistic Logic can be embedded into a system which is essentially equivalent to the modal logic S4. This can be considered to be an attempt to provide a provability semantics to the Intuitionistic Logic. This work had caused some problems: the exact arithmetical meaning of the Intuitionistic Logic and S4, the exact axiomatization of formal provability in formal arithmetic and the standard model of arithmetic. These days the arithmetical interpretation has been extended and generalized to epistemological interpretation for various modal logics, which resulted in various systems of …

Synthesis, Characterization And Applications Of Europium Based Perovskite Oxide Nanoparticles, Nasim Farahmand

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The synthesis and characterization of nanocrystalline transition and rare-earth metal oxides have been studied widely over the past years. These materials possess unique physical, chemical, magnetic and dielectric properties which make them potential candidates for a wide range of applications such as electronics, energy storage and photocatalysis. There are a number of synthesis methods for preparing these materials, where most of them require stringent conditions such as high pressure and high temperature. However, in this study, a modified sol-gel synthesis has been used with a lower calcination temperature to make uniform nanocrystals of the transition/rare-earth metal oxide family. The focus …

Development Of An Lcms Analytical Method With Applicability To Determination Of Trace Level Explosives In Environmental Waters, Cristina I. Veresmortean

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Traces of explosives and their degradation products present in explosives contaminated sites from military sources, such as training facilities, impose a great concern over the public health and our eco-system. This work is centered around finding an efficient way to extraction of these chemicals from water samples and their analysis using advanced separation technology: LC-MS/MS Shimadzu Prominence 8050 and AB Sciex Trap 4000 LC-MS/MS. Different extraction methods will be proposed, along with chromatographic and mass spectroscopy method development. Dependent on the target analyte polarity, thermal degradation, solubility and type of matrix, an appropriate method of analysis will be established. The …

Desire, Culture, And The Body, Zoey Lavallee

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

What is the nature of desire? In this dissertation I develop a theory of desire according to which desires are essentially enculturated states that play the role of presenting favorable outcomes that act as inputs to intention formation, and thereby intentional action. This analysis of desire debunks a common assumption shared by prominent accounts of desire in philosophy of mind, what can be called the dualist assumption: that bodily desires such as urges and appetites differ in kind from conceptual desires that are typically described as higher cognitive attitudes. I argue that the desires traditionally understood as bodily or appetitive …

Baccio Del Bianco At The Court Of Spain: Early Modern Scenic Design In Context, Pamela Thielman

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation examines the life and work of seventeenth-century artist and architect, Baccio del Bianco, to imagine alternative research strategies for histories of theatre. Traditional scholarship of theatre design is rooted in art historical practices, which has limited the consideration of influences beyond visual culture. It has also posited Italian theatre culture as the driver of innovations in Early Modern theatre design. In this project, I argue for and engage in a practice of scenic design historiography that replaces Italy as the dominant actor in the theatrical scene of this period with a more nuanced approach that places emphasis on …

Detecting Stance On Covid-19 Vaccine In A Polarized Media, Rodica Ceslov

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The growing polarization in the United States has been widely reported. Media coverage plays an important role in shaping public opinion and influences public debates on complex and unfamiliar topics. There are some benefits to individuals and society from political polarization and conflict between opposing viewpoints. However, recent research has primarily highlighted the negative consequences of polarization which reached an all-time high. One such topic is the Covid-19 vaccine which was developed in record time, and the public learned about its safety and possible risks through the media coverage.

In this capstone, we examine U.S. news media coverage on the …

Enhanced Platinum (Ii) Drug Delivery For Anti-Cancer Therapy, Marek T. Wlodarczyk

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Over the years, anti-cancer therapies have improved the overall survival rate of patients. Nevertheless, the traditional free drug therapies still suffer from side effects and systemic toxicity, resulting in low drug dosages in the clinic. This often leads to suboptimal drug concentrations reaching cancer cells, contributing to treatment failure and drug resistance. Among available anti-cancer therapies, metallodrugs are of great interest. Platinum (II)-based agents are highly potent and are used to treat many cancers, including ovarian cancer (OC). Cisplatin (cis-diaminedichloroplatinum (II)) is the first Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved metallodrug for treatment of solid tumors, and its mechanism …

Making Space For Unquantifiable Data: Hand-Drawn Data Visualization, Eva Sibinga

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This project makes space for personal “data” around labor and care, prompting users to consider the concrete and abstract (quantifiable and unquantifiable) forms labor and care take in their lives. The interactive, subjective data visualization uses hand-drawn visual elements to foreground that data about care and human interaction will always be ambiguous and complex, that they may never be satisfactorily or universally quantified, and that they will always be out of reach of perfect categorization.

The project provides an alternative to prescriptive truth-telling with data. Instead of using a dataset to provide data-driven answers and insights to users, the interactive …

Eds 709 Syllabus Fall 2021, Harriet Fayne

Open Educational Resources

This is a syllabus for EDS 709, a course focused on curriculum and instruction for candidates in Childhood Special Education. Of special note is the "renewable" assignment (write a contextually sensitive decodable or read-aloud children's book that can be used in your classroom).

Unit 1 - Virtual Machine Creation And Configuration, George A. Nossa

Open Educational Resources

The COVID pandemic has challenged us in continuing our instructional mission and provide high quality learning activities remotely. A key requirement for advanced technology courses is to duplicate the BMCC Computer Lab environment on the student's home computers.

This document provides detailed instructions for creating a "virtual machine" on the student's home computer. This document assumes the home computer is a PC desktop or laptop but this document will also work on computers running MacOS with an Intel X86 compatible chip,

Once the virtual machine is created, this document details the steps to install and configure an Ubuntu 20.04 Operating …

College Algebra Through Problem Solving (2021 Edition), Danielle Cifone, Karan Puri, Debra Maslanko, Ewa Stelmach

Open Educational Resources

This is a self-contained, open educational resource (OER) textbook for college algebra. Students can use the book to learn concepts and work in the book themselves. Instructors can adapt the book for use in any college algebra course to facilitate active learning through problem solving. Additional resources such as classroom assessments and online/printable homework is available from the authors.

Nonlocal Topological Insulators: Deterministic Aperiodic Arrays Supporting Localized Topological States Protected By Nonlocal Symmetries, Kai Chen, Matthew Weiner, Mengyao Li, Xiang Ni, Andrea Alù, Alexander B. Khanikaev

Advanced Science Research Center

The properties of topological systems are inherently tied to their dimensionality. Indeed, higher-dimensional periodic systems exhibit topological phases not shared by their lower-dimensional counterparts. On the other hand, aperiodic arrays in lower-dimensional systems (e.g., the Harper model) have been successfully employed to emulate higher-dimensional physics. This raises a general question on the possibility of extended topological classification in lower dimensions, and whether the topological invariants of higher-dimensional periodic systems may assume a different meaning in their lower-dimensional aperiodic counterparts. Here, we demonstrate that, indeed, for a topological system in higher dimensions one can construct a one-dimensional (1D) deterministic aperiodic counterpart …

Modeling Covid-19 Spread In Small Colleges, Riti Bahl, Nicole Eikmeier, Alexandra Fraser, Matthew Junge, Felicia Keesing, Kukai Nakahata, Lily Reeves

Publications and Research

We develop an agent-based model on a network meant to capture features unique to COVID-19 spread through a small residential college. We find that a safe reopening requires strong policy from administrators combined with cautious behavior from students. Strong policy includes weekly screening tests with quick turnaround and halving the campus population. Cautious behavior from students means wearing facemasks, socializing less, and showing up for COVID-19 testing. We also find that comprehensive testing and facemasks are the most effective single interventions, building closures can lead to infection spikes in other areas depending on student behavior, and faster return of test …

Teaching Machine Learning For The Physical Sciences: A Summary Of Lessons Learned And Challenges, Viviana Acquaviva

Publications and Research

This paper summarizes some challenges encountered and best practices established in several years of teaching Machine Learning for the Physical Sciences at the undergraduate and graduate level. I discuss motivations for teaching ML to physicists, desirable properties of pedagogical materials, such as accessibility, relevance, and likeness to real-world research problems, and give examples of components of teaching units.

An Adaptive Cryptosystem On A Finite Field, Awnon Bhowmik, Unnikrishnan Menon

Publications and Research

Owing to mathematical theory and computational power evolution, modern cryptosystems demand ingenious trapdoor functions as their foundation to extend the gap between an enthusiastic interceptor and sensitive information. This paper introduces an adaptive block encryption scheme. This system is based on product, exponent, and modulo operation on a finite field. At the heart of this algorithm lies an innovative and robust trapdoor function that operates in the Galois Field and is responsible for the superior speed and security offered by it. Prime number theorem plays a fundamental role in this system, to keep unwelcome adversaries at bay. This is a …

Oral Anticoagulants For Nonvalvular Atrial Fibrillation In Patients With High Risk Of Gastrointestinal Bleeding, Gregory Lip, Allison V. Keshishian, Yan Zhang, Amiee Kang, Amol Dhamane, Xuemei Luo, Christian Klem, Mauricio Ferri, Jenny Jiang, Huseyin Yuce, Steve Deitelzweig

Publications and Research

IMPORTANCE Many patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF) are at a high risk of gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding due to conditions including older age; stage III to V chronic kidney disease (CKD); HAS-BLED (hypertension, kidney or liver disease, stroke history, prior bleeding, unstable international normalized ratio, age >65, drug or alcohol use) score of 3 or greater; corticosteroid, antiplatelet or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) use; or GI conditions.

OBJECTIVE To compare the risk of stroke and/or systemic embolism (SE) and major bleeding (MB) among patients with NVAF and high risk of GI bleeding who received non–vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants (NOACs) …

You Are What You Eat — Exploring The Microbiome Through Inquiry-Based Labs. Microbiome Lesson Plans, Karla S. Fuller

Open Educational Resources

If these commonly used spices have the ability to inhibit pathogenic bacterial growth, could they also potentially inhibit the growth of normal, harmless bacteria that live in your body? In this lab, we will test common bacteria for resistance to food additives.

Case 3847 – Simopithecus Oswaldi Andrews, 1916 (Currently Theropithecus Oswaldi; Mammalia, Primates, Cercopithecidae), Proposed Conservation By Reversal Of Precedence With Cynocephalus Atlanticus Thomas, 1884., Eric Delson, David M. Alba, Stephen R. Frost, Dagmawit Abebe Getahun, Christopher C. Gilbert

Publications and Research

The purpose of this application, under Articles 23.9.3 and 81.1 of the Code, is to conserve the usage of the species-group name Simopithecus oswaldi Andrews, 1916 by giving it precedence over its senior subjective synonym Cynocephalus atlanticus Thomas, 1884. Theropithecus is a common to dominant member of the extinct primate community across Africa after 4 million years ago (Jablonski & Frost, 2010) and often co-occurred with extinct humans (Hominini); fossils are also known rarely across Eurasia (Roberts et al., 2014). Most fossil samples are currently included in Theropithecus oswaldi (Andrews, 1916), which is often divided into chrono-geographic subspecies. Cynocephalus atlanticus …

The Influence Of China/Asia On The West, Junli Diao

Publications and Research

This chapter provides a description of cultural communication between China and Europe before 20th century. It discusses the influence of Chinese materials to Western libraries, archives and museums.

Transmission Telescope Optical Dynamic Alignment, Viviana Vladutescu, Aaron J. Swank, Dzu K. Le, Calvin R. Robinson, O. Scott Sands

Publications and Research

The Integrated Radio Optical Communication System (iROC) is designed to transmit data between Mars and Earth by means of radio waves at 32.67 GHz (Ka band) and laser beam (LB) at 1550 nm, both transmitted via a combined telescope/antenna called a teletenna. The iROC terminal will provide “beaconless” operations to allow full function from the outer planets. In order to point without the aid of an uplink beacon, the proof of concept presented here is addressing the need for an accurate determination and control of the relative position of the LB with respect to a reference star.

The experiment presented …

Bullet Ricochet Of Polymer Coated Bullets, Stephen Daly

Student Theses

Polymer coated bullets were designed to limit a shooter’s exposure to lead. However, despite the advantages that these bullets give there are still difficulties which arise in a forensic firearms examination. Unlike in a typical metal coated bullet, individualizing striations will typically not be imparted to a polymer coated bullet making it unable to be linked to a specific firearm. Due to this difficulty any information that can be gained at the scene of the crime could be crucial. Some obtainable information includes the angle of ricochet and the angle of incidence of the discharged bullet as well as traces …

Cmce 2351 Fluid Mechanics Lab, Course Outline, Rosemary Brybag

Open Educational Resources

This course studies the fundamentals of fluid mechanics including: properties of fluids, fluid statics, manometers, center of pressure, buoyancy, stability, principles of fluid flow, flow measurements, frictional head losses, conservation of momentum and energy, pump power and efficient, and open channel flow.

Designing Atomic Edge Structures In 2d Transition Metal Dichalcogenides For Improved Catalytic Activity, Raymond R. Unocic, Xiahan Sang, Guoxiang Hu, Victor Fung, Jingsong Huang, Matthew G. Boebinger, Kai Xiao, Panchapakesan Ganesh

Publications and Research

Designing new materials for functional applications depends upon our ability to understand and correlate the materials structure and chemistry to functional material properties. This is even more important for two-dimensional (2D) materials where thicknesses are on the order of a single atom to a few-atomic layers; therefore, any structural or chemical modification at these length scales can have a profound effect on modifying physical and chemical properties. 2D transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) such as MoS2 have emerged as a promising catalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction with defects such as vacancies and edges being linked to high catalytic active sites …

Content Analysis Of Two-Year And Four-Year Data Science Programs In The United States, Elizabeth Milonas, Duo Li, Qiping Zhang

Publications and Research

Data has grown exponentially in the last decade, and this growth has resulted in vast challenges for both business and IT domains (Hassan & Liu, 2019). This growth has given rise to the Data Science field, which has also grown exponentially in the last few years (Hassan & Liu, 2019; Song & Zhu, 2016). The Data Science field has its origins in the statistics and mathematics domain (Cao, 2017b), but is now considered a multidisciplinary field (Aasheim et al., 2015). Data Science warrants knowledge of data analytics, programming, systems, applications, informatics, computing, communication, management, and sociology (Aasheim et al., 2015; …

Using Data Science To Create An Impact On A City Life And To Encourage Students From Underserved Communities To Get Into Stem, Elena Filatova, Deborah Hecht

Publications and Research

In this paper, we introduce a novel methodology for teaching Data Science. Our methodology relies on the outlook of the student body in our college. Our college is an urban, commuter, HSI (Hispanic Serving Institution) school with 34% Hispanic and 29% Black students. 61% of our students come from households with an income of less than $30,000+. Thus, many students in our college come from the communities that are underrepresented in the STEM fields and in the decision-making positions in the government (on the city level, state level, country level). However, in our methodology, we want to flip the situation …

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Engaging With Text: The Effectiveness Of Content Literacy And Active Learning Strategies In Online Introductory Accounting Courses, Rachel Raskin

Publications and Research

Language and literacy are innate to learning. The accounting language is technical and specific, and students must become literate in the discipline to be able to critically read and understand accounting text and apply their knowledge. Introductory accounting courses are typically difficult for students, who struggle to simply pass the course. Students memorize the concepts but cannot internalize the information. Lack of active reading and literacy skills hinders higher order thinking needed to solve problems. The study discussed in this paper involves two fully online introductory accounting courses where one of the courses is taught leveraging literacy strategies (experimental course) …