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Tuning Random Forests For Interpretability, Kelvyn Bladen Apr 2023

Tuning Random Forests For Interpretability, Kelvyn Bladen

Student Research Symposium

Random Forests are a widely used predictive technique in the modern data analyst’s toolkit. As with other machine learning methods, Random Forests have hyper-parameters that should be tuned for getting the best predictive accuracy and for interpretation. Variable importance measures give users valuable insights regarding which features are most informative for prediction. The subject of my research is the commonly used permutation importance algorithm with Random Forests. Key results of my research are: 1. When predictive features are highly correlated, importance values can be misleading. 2. The best choice of the Random Forests hyper-parameter mtry for importances may be quite …

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Electric School Buses: Optimal Routing & Partial Charging, Megh Kc Apr 2023

Electric School Buses: Optimal Routing & Partial Charging, Megh Kc

Student Research Symposium

The transportation industry is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. The carbon footprint of diesel school buses in the United States is being overlooked despite their significant portion as public transportation. Sense of an urgent need for school bus electrification raises the importance of the effective and efficient operation of school electric buses. However, capital investment, battery range anxiety, charging strategy, and riding time remain significant obstacles to implementing this solution.To address these issues, we have developed a mathematical optimization model that considers the practical constraints of school bus operation and employs a weighted multi-objective function. The model is …

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Phragmites Australis Seeds From Great Salt Lake Have A Lower Salinity Tolerance Than Expected, Sandra Johnston Apr 2023

Phragmites Australis Seeds From Great Salt Lake Have A Lower Salinity Tolerance Than Expected, Sandra Johnston

Student Research Symposium

The Great Salt Lake is an important part of Utah’s natural resources. However, Great Salt lake wetlands are becoming overtaken by Phragmites australis, an invasive species originating from Eurasia. Introduced into North America, this plant has spread to create dense monocultures, quickly taking over native species and degrading avian habitat. Several P. australis populations have been found to survive in salinities up to 45-60 parts per thousand (ppt). However, there are multiple studies with conflicting results about the maximum salinity tolerance of P. australis (i.e., 23-60 ppt). This experiment will compare the salinity ranges of native species and non-native P. …

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United Properties Of Single-Origin Chocolates, Joseph Cooney Apr 2023

United Properties Of Single-Origin Chocolates, Joseph Cooney

Student Research Symposium

In small production facilities, such as those used to manufacture single origin chocolate, cocoa nibs are ground to reduce the particle size to levels below 20 microns. This is a very important step during chocolate production, since chocolates with particles greater than 20 microns will have a grainy texture and unacceptable mouthfeel. The objective of this research was to evaluate changes in viscosity during chocolate grinding as affected by chocolate formulation. Three different types of chocolates were evaluated: 70% dark, 50% milk, and a Swiss-style milk chocolate. Chocolates were processed in a stone grinder and samples were taken as a …

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Using Particle Swarm Optimization To Generate Optimal Experimental Designs With Replication Structures, Thomsen Bolton Apr 2023

Using Particle Swarm Optimization To Generate Optimal Experimental Designs With Replication Structures, Thomsen Bolton

Student Research Symposium

The modern dominant approach to planning experiments in industrial engineering and manufacturing is optimal design. This is a popular design paradigm because it 1) requires specification of an optimality criterion which incorporates practical objectives as definition of a design with high quality and 2) yields a design via high-dimensional optimization that gives the researcher ‘the most bang for the buck’ for a fixed sample/experimental run size. We aim to adapt the state-of-the-art meta-heuristic optimization algorithm, the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), to generating optimal designs with user-specified replication structure. Recently, PSO has been demonstrated to be highly effective at generating candidate …

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Effectiveness Of Multilayer Graded-Z Forms Of Radiation Shielding, Brinley Packer Apr 2023

Effectiveness Of Multilayer Graded-Z Forms Of Radiation Shielding, Brinley Packer

Student Research Symposium

This study explored how different forms of radiation shielding were more or less effective than standard single-layer shielding. Beta and gamma radiation sources were used and measured using a Geiger counter to determine how well the various forms of shielding protect against the radiation. The shielding effectiveness of standard homogeneous materials (e.g., graphite, carbon/epoxy composites, aluminum, and lead) of various thicknesses for different radiation sources was measured to provide standards for comparison. Once a basis of effective shielding was established, the study can go into greater depth into how to use shielding materials to be more effective, to better shield …

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Igneous Petrology Of Rumicolca Lavas From The Peruvian Altiplano: Controls On Compositional Variability And Source Characteristics, Jacob Ladner Apr 2023

Igneous Petrology Of Rumicolca Lavas From The Peruvian Altiplano: Controls On Compositional Variability And Source Characteristics, Jacob Ladner

Student Research Symposium

Lava flow samples from the Peruvian Altiplano plateau described petrologically, mineralogically, and geochemically for investigation of of genetic relation, compositional variability, and melt source characteristics. Reflective of a metasomatically altered mantle resulting from subduction of the Nazca plate under the western margin of South America.

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Radon In Utah Homes, Madison Mackay Apr 2023

Radon In Utah Homes, Madison Mackay

Student Research Symposium

Radon gas is a radioactive gas that is all around us. It can get trapped in homes, especially basements. It is potentially hazardous in high amounts, so it is important to know about. This project studied radon gas in several locations in Utah. The decay of radon samples was studied, and levels found were compared to expected high/low levels.

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Reduction Of Drag Force In Liquids, Nick Hill Apr 2023

Reduction Of Drag Force In Liquids, Nick Hill

Student Research Symposium

The purpose of this research is to determine the effectiveness of different strategies of reducing the drag experienced by an object falling through liquids like water and oil. Different methods include coating the object with a hydrophobic substance or heating the object. The tests will be conducted using objects of different materials, including a steel ball, a marble, and a dimpled ball similar to a golf ball. The drag force will be measured by using a high-speed camera to track the motion of the object. These results could be useful for many applications, specifically when attempting to create an object …

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Here Come The Floods: Classification Of Rain-On-Snow Induced Flooding In Nevada, Emma Watts Apr 2023

Here Come The Floods: Classification Of Rain-On-Snow Induced Flooding In Nevada, Emma Watts

Student Research Symposium

Given Nevada’s history of destructive flooding resulting from rain falling on mountainous snowpack, often called rain-on-snow (ROS) events, there is a great need to incorporate these events and their residual effects in infrastructure design methods. Examining relationships between USGS streamflow measurements and climate variables (specifically precipitation, temperature, and snowpack) obtained from neighboring SNOTEL stations provides means by which to classify ROS-induced floods from ROS events. Using both temperature and snowpack-based criterion to classify ROS events, this project differentiates between non-ROS and ROS-induced floods in a subset of USGS stations across the Sierra Nevada and reveals that ROS-induced floods produce, on …

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Electron Yield Analysis Of Highly Insulating Granular Particles, Heather Allen, Matthew Robertson, Tom Keaton, Jr Dennison Apr 2023

Electron Yield Analysis Of Highly Insulating Granular Particles, Heather Allen, Matthew Robertson, Tom Keaton, Jr Dennison

Student Research Symposium

This project investigates the charging properties and electron yields of highly insulating granular samples, and how these properties may differ from bulk surfaces of the same composition. Measurements were made on both smooth and granular surfaces of materials including aluminum oxide, silicon dioxide, sodium chloride, and magnesium oxide. The dramatic effects of surface roughness on electron yield values became evident after comparing the preliminary results of rougher granular samples to those of smooth bulk crystalline surface. In every case tested, the more complex surface morphology resulted in a greatly reduced maximum yield, without substantially affecting the curve shape or energy …

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Permittivity Of Thin Film Spacecraft Materials, Cameron Eggleston Apr 2023

Permittivity Of Thin Film Spacecraft Materials, Cameron Eggleston

Student Research Symposium

Permittivity is the ability of a material to store electrical potential energy under the influence of an electric field. This property is commonly used to determine the best insulating materials and to find the best materials for capacitors. Where my research, the permittivity of thin film space materials, is generally relevant is the realm of spacecraft charging and arcing. The permittivity of thin film space materials affects how charge builds up in the material. While taking permittivity measurements, we noticed that thinner samples were giving smaller values than they should, so we started to look closer. We developed an empirical …

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Microclimate Variability Between Coop Weather Station And Proposed Site For Relocation, Ashley Butikofer Apr 2023

Microclimate Variability Between Coop Weather Station And Proposed Site For Relocation, Ashley Butikofer

Student Research Symposium

The Utah Climate Center has contributed to the Cooperative Observer Program associated with the National Weather Service since 1893. This consistent 130-year climate record of precipitation and temperature is important for studying the changing climate in Logan as well as contributing to a national network of weather data used to verify weather forecasting models. The COOP station is currently located to the Northeast of the Nutrition and Food Science building on USU’s campus. In recent years, there has been concern of bias in the data due to the proximity of the station to highly impervious surfaces including campus buildings, parking …

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Differences In Magnetic Field Models Can Affect The Studies That Use Them, Tucker Anderson Apr 2023

Differences In Magnetic Field Models Can Affect The Studies That Use Them, Tucker Anderson

Student Research Symposium

The International Geomagnetic Reference Field and World Magnetic Model are used by many organizations for varying purposes. Differences in these models can affect the studies that employ them. Data from these models between the years 1972 and 2022 were compared to demonstrate this.

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High Frequency Radio Communication, Tyler Larsen Apr 2023

High Frequency Radio Communication, Tyler Larsen

Student Research Symposium

This research focuses on high frequency radio communication and its link to space weather. It examines a signal from beacon networks across the globe and analyzes that signal as it arrives to the antennae here at USU. By linking that data to space weather data we can more accurately see how the signal is being affected.

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Generating Optimal Space-Filling Designs With Particle Swarm Optimization, Rebekah Scott Apr 2023

Generating Optimal Space-Filling Designs With Particle Swarm Optimization, Rebekah Scott

Student Research Symposium

In 1935, Ronald Fisher published The Design of Experiments, establishing classical designs for various types of experiments. With the rise of computing power came optimal design, where statisticians can better customize designs according to the needs of the researchers running the experiment. This research focuses on generating optimal MaxMin space-filling designs with particle swarm optimization using various distance metrics (Manhattan, Euclidean, etc). Interestingly, changing the distance metric in the objective function had a minimal effect on the design, except for Aitchison geometry on the simplex. Space-filling designs are optimal for supporting high-order models with only a small sacrifice in prediction …

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All Purpose Flour Alternatives In Brownies, Georgia Johnson, Mckayl Black, Jouri Lacome Apr 2023

All Purpose Flour Alternatives In Brownies, Georgia Johnson, Mckayl Black, Jouri Lacome

Student Research Symposium

Brownies are a very popular dessert. Many people are not able to tolerate the gluten in their diets, while some people may just want to add different flours. You can get other nutritional benefits from switching the flour from the all purpose flour. The alternatives in our experiment, or independent variables, were oat flour, rice flour, and banana flour. Each flour was used to bake a batch of brownies. After the brownies were finished, twelve people participated in a blind taste test. These participants subjectively tested the appearance, texture, and taste. Overall, all-purpose flour was the most desirable among participants. …

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Testing Mixing Times For Gluten Formation In Liege Waffles, Alannah Darrington, Breckelle Cooper, Jasmyn Norton Apr 2023

Testing Mixing Times For Gluten Formation In Liege Waffles, Alannah Darrington, Breckelle Cooper, Jasmyn Norton

Student Research Symposium

There are many different ways to make waffles. They can be made sweet or savory and made as dough or batter. Waffles are great since they are a delicious food for any time of the day. The experiment was to test the mixing times of a Liege waffle recipe from the former Waffle Iron restaurant in Logan. The mixing times were measured to see how much gluten formed and which mixing time would create the most fluffy and delectable waffle. The mixing times are as follows: 5 minutes, 8 minutes, and 15 minutes. The control for the experiment was a …

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The Effect Of Different Juicing Methods On Fiber Content , Hannah Eddy, Kaylee West, Mj Wayment, Meg Chronister Apr 2023

The Effect Of Different Juicing Methods On Fiber Content , Hannah Eddy, Kaylee West, Mj Wayment, Meg Chronister

Student Research Symposium

Dietary fiber is an important component in the world of nutrition. Whole fruits and vegetables are great sources that can be added to add more fiber to one's diet. Many consumers prefer to drink juice rather than add whole fruits and vegetables to their diets. However, fiber is often lost during the juicing process. The purpose of this experiment was to find the best method of juicing for a good balance of dietary fiber and flavor for each fruit or vegetable. The first independent variable was the types of fruits and vegetables being juiced: apple, pomegranate, orange, and carrot. The …

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Alternatives To Yeast?: Examining Effects Of Leavening Agent On Density, Texture, And Acceptability Of French-Style Bread, Sofia Wombacher, Abby Harris, Torie Christensen Apr 2023

Alternatives To Yeast?: Examining Effects Of Leavening Agent On Density, Texture, And Acceptability Of French-Style Bread, Sofia Wombacher, Abby Harris, Torie Christensen

Student Research Symposium

This experiment explores potential substitutes for traditional bakers' yeast in French-style loaf bread. Might alternative leavening agents be sufficient to produce a leavened French-style bread in the standard home if yeast is unavailable? Baking powder & baking soda plus lemon juice served as variables compared to yeast. Comparison based on loaf density, texture, and sensory panel acceptability allowed a comprehensive analysis of substitutability for the leavening agents. A sensory panel of ten peer evaluators ranked the desirability, texture, flavor, and overall acceptability of examined variables. Volume and density readings of each variable helped determine the rising rate of the different …

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The Effect Of Whey Protein On Gluten-Free Rolls, Maeci Armstrong, Lindsay Jarman, Sara Marshall Apr 2023

The Effect Of Whey Protein On Gluten-Free Rolls, Maeci Armstrong, Lindsay Jarman, Sara Marshall

Student Research Symposium

Growing numbers of people developing celiac disease and gluten intolerances have increased the demand for gluten-free products in the United States. 1 Many gluten-free breads are low in protein and lack the desired texture, volume, and flavor that can be found in most standard wheat bread products. Whey protein has been shown to increase the protein content in bread and mimic gluten in creating a protein network within the dough to produce the desired texture. 1 This experiment aims to determine the effect on texture, moisture, flavor, volume, cell structure, and acceptability when whey protein isolate is added in 4 …

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A Taste Of Gluten-Free Italy: Substituting The Structural Agent In Fettuccine, Olivia Purles, Madison Cavender, Emeline Manser Apr 2023

A Taste Of Gluten-Free Italy: Substituting The Structural Agent In Fettuccine, Olivia Purles, Madison Cavender, Emeline Manser

Student Research Symposium

The structural ingredient of pasta was varied in an attempt to identify a suitable and desirable gluten-free fettuccine pasta option. The flours that were used were almond flour, Bob’s TM Red Mill Gluten Free 1 to 1 Baking Flour, cricket flour, potato flour, and cornstarch, with all-purpose flour serving as the control. The objective tests that were performed were a noodle density test, and a water absorption test. Once the various noodles were made, they were presented to a consumer panel and various sensory evaluations were performed to determine the acceptability of appearance, texture, and flavor in fettuccine noodles. Bob’s …

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Differences In Pathogenesis-Related Protein Expression And Polyphenolic Compound Accumulation Reveal Insights Into Tomato-Pythium Aphanidermatum Interaction, Seham A. Soliman, Abdulaziz A. Al-Askar, Sherien Sobhy, Marwa A. Samy, Esraa Hamdy, Omaima A. Sharaf, Yiming Su, Said I. Behiry, Ahmed Abdelkhalek Apr 2023

Differences In Pathogenesis-Related Protein Expression And Polyphenolic Compound Accumulation Reveal Insights Into Tomato-Pythium Aphanidermatum Interaction, Seham A. Soliman, Abdulaziz A. Al-Askar, Sherien Sobhy, Marwa A. Samy, Esraa Hamdy, Omaima A. Sharaf, Yiming Su, Said I. Behiry, Ahmed Abdelkhalek

Publications

Plant diseases significantly reduce crop yields, threatening food security and agricultural sustainability. Fungi are the most destructive type of phytopathogen, and they are responsible for major yield losses in some of the most crucial crops grown across the world. In this study, a fungus isolate was detected from infected tomato plants and molecularly identified as Pythium aphanidermatum (GenBank accession number MW725032). This fungus caused damping-off disease and was shown to be pathogenic. Moreover, the expression of five pathogenesis-related genes, namely PR-1, PR-2, PR-3, PR-4, and PR-5, was quantitatively evaluated under the inoculation of tomato with …

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Electromagnetism In Curved Spacetime, Kevin Rhine Apr 2023

Electromagnetism In Curved Spacetime, Kevin Rhine

Student Research Symposium

Electromagnetism is well-understood in the case of flat spacetimes through Maxwell's equations. However, these equations do not account for spacetime curvature, yet there exist environments in which the spacetime curves enough to affect electromagnetic fields. Such extreme conditions can be found in the early stages of the universe, as well as near dense objects such as neutron stars and charged black holes. In order to understand electromagnetic interactions in these environments, one must solve the coupled Einstein-Maxwell equations, which form a highly complicated non-linear system of second-order partial differential equations. Despite their immense complexity, we can solve these equations by …

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The Impact Of The Family Place Utah's Better Together Program On Parent/Caregiver Distress, Mitchell Adair Apr 2023

The Impact Of The Family Place Utah's Better Together Program On Parent/Caregiver Distress, Mitchell Adair

Student Research Symposium

Parenting challenges and overall stress have increased in recent years, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic (Adams et al., 2020). The Better Together program at The Family Place Utah was developed to provide children with positive childhood experiences (PCEs), improve family functioning, and increase nurturing and attachment between parents and their children. We explore the positive impact Better Together has on parent stress.A sample of 219 caregivers with children aged 0 to 18 years participated in a randomized experiment to evaluate the effectiveness of the Better Together program. Families were randomly assigned to a treatment or waitlist group. Treatment participants started …

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Telescope Restoration, Aidan Tueller Apr 2023

Telescope Restoration, Aidan Tueller

Student Research Symposium

In partnership with Dr. Jan Sojka, head of the Physics Department, a plan was created to make the telescope on top of the Engineering Lab building operational again for either staff, students, classes, or labs to use. The telescope was purchased through funds by Utah NASA Space Grant Consortium. This presentation will give a recap of how the restoration went and plans for future use of the telescope.

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Energy Modes Of Gravitons, Abhay Katyal Apr 2023

Energy Modes Of Gravitons, Abhay Katyal

Student Research Symposium

The Standard Model of particle physics is arguably the most accurate and successful theory humanity has created. However, it is unable to incorporate Einstein's theory of gravity, so we explored a theory named Supergravity, which can unify the two pillars of physics. This theory operates in 11 dimensions, where 6 of them are extremely small and curled up, undetectable by the current energy levels of particle detectors. We incorporate the energies of the compactified dimensions into the graviton, a usually massless particle. We are then able to calculate the effective mass spectrum of the graviton to probe into the additional …

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A Classification Of Spacetimes, Guillermo Frausto Apr 2023

A Classification Of Spacetimes, Guillermo Frausto

Student Research Symposium

Symmetry reduction is an important tool for simplifying physical problems. But in some cases, symmetry reducing the Lagrangian may lead to incorrect equations. When this issue occurs, a symmetry is said to violate the principle of symmetric criticality (PSC). It’s known that for PSC to hold in a local field theory, two conditions must be true (the Palais and Lie conditions), but for most spacetime symmetries, the validity of PSC has not been established. In this project, we provide a classification of spacetime symmetries based upon the validity of PSC for gravitational field theory. Using the DifferentialGeometry package in Maple, …

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Surface Roughness And Electron Yield: Finding The Optimum Parameters For Correlation, Anh Phan Apr 2023

Surface Roughness And Electron Yield: Finding The Optimum Parameters For Correlation, Anh Phan

Student Research Symposium

The surface conditions of a material, such as roughness and cleanliness, can significantly affect its electron yield, thereby influencing the amount of surface charging. This study aims to identify roughness parameters that correlate surface roughness to electron yield. Surface roughness and electron yield of aluminum samples were measured and compared. Four roughness parameters, namely Spc, Sdr, Sa, and Ra, were identified as effective in characterizing surface roughness. Understanding the correlation between surface roughness and electron yield is crucial for predicting the electron yield of a material with a specific roughness and developing effective mitigation approaches.

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Light Scattering From Periodic, Conducting Nanostructures, Wesley Mills Apr 2023

Light Scattering From Periodic, Conducting Nanostructures, Wesley Mills

Student Research Symposium

A material with broadband light absorbing capabilities has the potential for much usefulness in devices such as photovoltaics and thermoelectrics. By energy conservation, a non-transparent material with low reflectance will be highly absorbing. Thus, much research has been devoted to understanding what makes material having low reflectance across a wide wavelength spectrum. Here, mode matching at the boundaries is used to solve a plane wave of light scattering from an array of apertures in a perfectly conducting metal. This approach provides numerical solutions of Maxwell’s equations, instead of the commonly used finite-difference-time-domain simulations which provide solutions but can vary with …

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