Digital Commons Network^™

Air Quality And Environmental Justice: An Analysis Of County-Level Data In The United States, Alyssa Tittle

Honors Theses

This paper analyzes the relationship between air pollution and poverty and race/ethnicity at the county level in the United States. Using air pollution data from the Environmental Protection Agency and population characteristics data from the Census Bureau to model relationships in RStudio, results show that race/ethnicity, population, and median value of owner-occupied housing units are the most statistically significant variables associated with air quality.

Advanced Security Analysis For Emergent Software Platforms, Mohannad Alhanahnah

School of Computing: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Emergent software ecosystems, boomed by the advent of smartphones and the Internet of Things (IoT) platforms, are perpetually sophisticated, deployed into highly dynamic environments, and facilitating interactions across heterogeneous domains. Accordingly, assessing the security thereof is a pressing need, yet requires high levels of scalability and reliability to handle the dynamism involved in such volatile ecosystems.

This dissertation seeks to enhance conventional security detection methods to cope with the emergent features of contemporary software ecosystems. In particular, it analyzes the security of Android and IoT ecosystems by developing rigorous vulnerability detection methods. A critical aspect of this work is the …

Fall 2019 Student Scholar Symposium Abstract Volume, Chapman University Center For Undergraduate Excellence

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

No abstract provided.

Individual Based Model To Simulate The Evolution Of Insecticide Resistance, William B. Jamieson

Department of Mathematics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Insecticides play a critical role in agricultural productivity. However, insecticides impose selective pressures on insect populations, so the Darwinian principles of natural selection predict that resistance to the insecticide is likely to form in the insect populations. Insecticide resistance, in turn, severely reduces the utility of the insecticides being used. Thus there is a strong economic incentive to reduce the rate of resistance evolution. Moreover, resistance evolution represents an example of evolution under novel selective pressures, so its study contributes to the fundamental understanding of evolutionary theory.

Insecticide resistance often represents a complex interplay of multiple fitness trade-offs for individual …

Resonant Configurations In Scalar Field Theories: Can Some Oscillons Live Forever?, Marcelo Gleiser, Max Krackow

Dartmouth Scholarship

We investigate the longevity of oscillons numerically, paying particular attention to radially symmetric oscillons that have been conjectured to have an infinitely long lifetime. In two spatial dimensions, oscillons have not been seen to decay. In three spatial dimensions, specific initial Gaussian configurations seem to lead to oscillons with spikes in lifetime that have been conjectured to be infinite. We study such "resonant" oscillons in two and three spatial dimensions, applying two tests to study their longevity: Parametric resonance and virialization. Without offering a formal proof, our numerical results offer support for the conjecture that, in both dimensions, resonant oscillons …

Rain Gardens: The Return Of Ecosystem Services, Katie Dehaan

Honors Theses

In the modern world impervious surfaces, especially in urban areas, abound. These include roads, highways, sidewalks, parking lots, and roofs that have replaced permeable surfaces, mainly open land, forests, and wetlands. Rainwater runs off of these surfaces collecting pollutants on its way to permeable areas. Rain gardens collect and process rainwater. Native plants with deep root systems process large volumes of rainwater and the microorganisms living in the soils and roots can process pollutants. The purpose of my research was to find out what variables affect species presence or absence in rain gardens. Species presence or absence at the time …

Lightweight Racing Suspension, Colin Haynes

Honors Theses

The purpose of this senior design project is to design and optimize the new suspension system for Western Michigan University’s 2020 solar car. The current solar car was 43% heavier than the average solar car, and was the heaviest single occupant vehicle competing in the American Solar Challenge. The scope of the project is to reduce the weight as much as possible from the old 2016 suspension. The new suspension weighed 34.91 lbs less than the 2016 suspension system while maintaining a minimum factor of safety greater than 1.5, compliant with American Solar Challenge regulations. The design consists of a …

A Numerical Investigation On The Variation Of Sodium Ion And Observed Thermospheric Sodium Layer At Cerro Pachón, Chile During Equinox, Xuguang Cai, Tao Yuan, J. Vincent Eccles, N. M. Pedatella, Xiaoqi Xi, Chao Ban, Alan Z. Liu

Publications

The extension of the neutral sodium (Na) layer into the thermosphere (up to 170 km) has recently been observed at low and high latitudes using a Na lidar. However, the geophysical mechanisms and implications of its formation are currently unknown. In this study, we conduct an advanced two‐dimensional numerical simulation of the Na and Na+ variations in the E and F regions at low latitudes. The numerical simulations are used to investigate the contributions of the electromagnetic force, neutral wind, diffusion, and gravity. The simulations lead to three major findings. First, Na+ in the subtropical region of the geomagnetic equator …

The American Astronomical Society, Find Out More The Institute Of Physics, Find Out More Where Do Quasar Hosts Lie With Respect To The Size–Mass Relation Of Galaxies?, John D. Silverman, Tommaso Treu, Xuheng Ding, Knud Jahnke, Vardha N. Bennert, Simon Birrer, Malte Schramm, Andreas Schulze, Jeyhan S. Kartaltepe, David B. Sanders, Renyue Cen

Physics

The evolution of the galaxy size–mass relation has been a puzzle for over a decade. High-redshift galaxies are significantly more compact than galaxies observed today at an equivalent mass, but how much of this apparent growth is driven by progenitor bias, minor mergers, secular processes, or feedback from active galactic nuclei (AGNs) is unclear. To help disentangle the physical mechanisms at work by addressing the latter, we study the size–Mstellar relation of 32 carefully selected broad-line AGN hosts at 1.2 < z < 1.7 (7.5 < log MBH < 8.5; Lbol/LEdd ≳ 0.1). Using the Hubble Space Telescope with multiband photometry and …

Food Scan: A Yelp For Dietary Restrictions, Andrew M. Bauer, Charlie Story, Curren Taber

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Food restrictions pose a serious issue for Chapman students, with consequences as extreme as anaphylactic shock and death. Our team started the Food Scan project with a simple goal of streamlining how individuals with dietary restrictions find safe places to eat or buy food. The project name highlights our intention to clarify restaurant menu items for users by displaying important allergen and dietary information. Using Human-Computer Interaction methods, our team chose to develop a technology that is usable, effective, enjoyable, and inclusive by involving users during the entire design process. By integrating multimodal interfaces (including speech to text inputs), we …

The Trolley Problem In Virtual Reality, Jungsu Pak, Ariane Guirguis, Nicholas Mirchandani, Scott Cummings, Uri Maoz

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Would people react to the Trolley problem differently based on the medium? Immersive Virtual Reality Driving Simulator was used to examine participants respond to the trolley problem in a realistic and controlled simulated environment.

Evaluation Of Tumor Necrosis Factor Alpha In Sleep-Deprived Menopausal- Induced Rats And The Impact On Bone Health, Nicole Ellsworth, Dwight Curry Iii, Cj Deleon, Frank Frisch

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Post-menopausal osteoporosis as a consequence of estrogen depletion is a growing concern for women in the United States. As more women take on executive positions and experience sleep deprivation, there is the potential for up regulation of pro-inflammatory cytokines, such as tumor necrosis factor alpha. It follows that the homeostatic imbalance of osteoclastic and osteoblastic activity leads to a greater risk of disease. Bisphosphonates generally, and Zolendronate specifically works by decreasing the number of osteoclasts. This current study investigated the impact of Zolendronate on the concentrations of tumor necrosis factor alpha-type (TNFɑ) in 32 ovariectomized Wistar rats. Throughout a five …

December 4, 2019, The Daily Mississippian

Daily Mississippian (all digitized issues)

No abstract provided.

Infographic: Pisa 2018 – Australian Results By State And Territory, Jo Earp

Teacher infographics

The OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) measures how well 15-year-olds are prepared to use their skills and knowledge to meet real-life challenges. The 2018 data show Australian student performance in all three assessment domains is in long-term decline. This infographic looks at the low and high performers by jurisdiction.

Infographic: Pisa 2018 – Australian Trends And Comparison, Jo Earp

Teacher infographics

Results from the OECD's 2018 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) have been released. The data show Australian student performance is in long-term decline. This infographic looks at Australia’s PISA performance over time, and how the 2018 results compare internationally.

Determination Of Optimal Mild Organic Solvents Of Pdnps For Carbon-Carbon Coupling Reactions, Trina Biswas

Honors College Theses

The synthesis of nanoparticles is an increasingly popular field of interest. The application of nanoparticles is especially popular in the field of nanocatalysts. Metal nanoparticles (NPs) are favorable for catalysis because of the large surface area to volume ratio, which allows them to catalyze a variety of reactions using lesser amounts of active material. As the field of nanoparticle research expands, efforts are being made to create more sustainable approaches to the synthesis of these particles. This research sought to translate the benefits of peptide-based synthesis to organic solvents and use less toxic organic solvents for carbon-carbon coupling reactions, like …

The Investigation Of Noise, Vibrations And Emissions Of Aero-Gas Turbine Combustion With Synthetic Kerosene Fuels, Margaret Kilpatrick

Honors College Theses

Climatic changes from aviation emissions are complex and include effects of greenhouse gases such as: CO2, NOx, and aerosols. For that reason, the objectives of this study were to investigate the noise, vibrations and emissions characteristics of synthetic kerosene combustion in an aerospace gas turbine to reduce the engine’s environmental impact. Sustainably produced synthetic kerosene is known for having low soot emissions due to little to no aromatics (compounds that create particle pollutants), and for being a sustainable alternative fuel source to imported oil. The noise and sound levels were collected using Bruel & Kjaer microphones to measure various mid …

The Privacy Preserving Framework With Virtual Ring And Identity-Based Cryptography For Smart Grid, Leonard Sutanto

Publications and Research

One of the main challenges in the smart grid is how to efficiently manage the high-volume data from smart meters and sensors and preserve the privacy from the consumption data to avoid potential attacks (e.g., identity theft) for the involved prosumers, retail electricity providers and other clusters of distributed energy resources. This poster proposes a two-layer framework with the cloud computing infrastructure. The virtual ring and identity-based cryptography are utilized in each layer to preserve privacy efficiently. The methods of the virtual ring and identity-based cryptography are introduced. The purposes and needs are discussed at the end of this poster.

Passive Separation Of Binary Fluid Mixtures In Microchannels Using Lattice Boltzmann Method, Mohanad Kamil Radhi

Dissertations and Theses

Fluid mixtures in real life exist in two forms: miscible and immiscible. Separation of these mixtures using chemical agents or thermal energy has both environmental and economic disadvantages. The high cost and the environmental damage caused by the traditional separation techniques have stimulated both academia and industry to seek alternatives. The emergence of microfluidics offers robust solutions for a broad span of transport problems due to the high surface to volume ratio and reduced length scales. Particularly, the separation efficiency increases significantly due to the aforementioned feature. However, there is still a pressing need of passive separations for the sake …

Modeling The Effects Of Distribution System Topology On Water Quality, Chun-Ying Chao

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Inadequate treatment of drinking water causes the formation of disinfection by-products and the regrowth of harmful microbial species. Various studies have addressed the problem of water quality monitoring, but very few have employed topological analysis, a valuable mathematical tool widely applied in biological, business, and social research. This thesis examines the relationship between the topological properties of water distribution systems and water-quality models. In particular, the research proposes a novel framework for mapping network topological attributes to water-quality models. This research adopts topological metrics to assess the accuracy of the predictions of chlorine concentrations in dead ends. It examines four …

Analysis Of E-Cigarette Liquids And Aerosols By Nmr Spectroscopy: Compositions, Boiling Points, And Degradation Profiles, Anna Katherine Duell

Dissertations and Theses

Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) are an increasingly popular tobacco product used by ~3% of adults and 21% of 12th grade students (as reported for the prior 30-days in surveys) in the United States in 2018. As of 2019, this number went up to ~25% for 12th grade students. Due to how quickly e-cigarettes gained popularity and the rapid design changes that have ensued, there has not been enough time to accurately assess the effects of e-cigarettes, particularly for long-term use. The liquids used in e-cigarettes (e-liquids) can degrade when vaped in an e-cigarette, so understanding the variables that can modulate degradation …

Turning Disaster Data Into Knowledge: Field Reconnaissance, Damage Assessment, And Lessons Learned From Hurricane Sandy, Harvey, And Michael, Jie Gong

Sustainability Seminar Series

The recent hurricanes in 2012, 2017, and 2018, and efforts of researchers to capture vast quantities of perishable data through support of the National Science Foundation and other agencies, have created enormous databases of hurricane impacts to coastal structures that can be used to extract fundamental knowledge as to why these structures perform as they do during hurricanes. But exploration of these large data sets, untangling the complex factors contributing to various hurricane damages, and forming a holistic understanding of damage mechanisms are challenging tasks, requiring convergent approaches in system modeling, data science, and cyberinfrastructure design. In this presentation, Dr. …

Ignite: Seven Key Ingredients To Create A Thriving School Culture & Climate (Group 1), Creseda Hawk

Georgia Association for Positive Behavior Support Conference

During this session, participants will learn the 7 key ingredients to build a purpose-driven culture that aligns and supports the school's vision, mission, and strategic goals. Come hear one Principal's journey on leading her school from a 3-star CCRPI Climate, GA PBIS Operational school to a 5-star CCRPI Climate, GA PBIS Distinguished school.

A Data Analysis Of The World Happiness Index And Its Relation To The North-South Divide, Charles Alba

Undergraduate Economic Review

In this document, we perform a detailed data analysis on the World Happiness Report with its relation to the socio-economic North-South Divide. In order to do so, we perform some extensive data cleaning and analysis before querying on the World Happiness Report. Our results based on Hypothesis Testing determines the happiness of the Global North is greater than that of the Global South. Furthermore, our queries show that the mean happiness score for the Global North significantly outweighing that of the South. Likewise, the 10 'Happiest' nations all belong to the Global North whereas the 10 'least happy' nations belong …

A Review Of Ball Lightning Models, Hasitha Mahabaduge

Georgia Journal of Science

Ball lightning is a natural phenomenon that occurs in the atmosphere. However due to its brevity and rarity, its occurrence is not well understood. Three models based on electromagnetic properties are discussed in this paper to explain the rare phenomenon of ball lightning. The first model incorporates the idea of electron bunching, electrons moving with different velocities. This creates a plasma bubble by recombining electrons with ionized gas to form plasma that is stabilized by a standing microwave. The second model explains the idea of streamers being tangled and linked in a magnetic field while stabilized by the conservation of …

Jmu Thanksgiving Food Drive

Activities

JMU 2019 Food Drive You help sustain life, restore options, and provide hope when donating to the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank during the JMU Thanksgiving Drive now through November 22.

Please consider sharing a copy of our flyer in your office or on social media.

Sincerely, Aramark College of Science and Mathematics Office of Research & Scholarship [email protected]

A Review Of Public Transport Service In Jordan: Challenges And Opportunities, Lina Shbeeb

Al-Balqa Journal for Research and Studies البلقاء للبحوث والدراسات

Jordans public transport (PT) system is characterized by low quality. Jordanian Citizens are reluctant to use the PT unless they have no other option. This paper aims to examine legislative framework for transport system and its effect on the system. It also aims to analyze factors affecting the sector and make suggestion to develop it. All legislations governing the system since the founding of the Kingdom of Jordan were reviewed including points of weakness in those legislations. Data on PT were collected locally and globally for comparison and were analyzed statistically. Results showed that PT vehicles/1000people in Jordan is low …

Connect 240 - December 2019

Connect

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Clinical Evaluation Of Functional State Of Immune System Partucular Components In Patients With Opium Addiction, Sh. Kh. Sultanov, Z. Sh. Ashurov, N. I. Khodzhaeva, L. Sh. Shadmanova

Central Asian Journal of Medicine

In this study, a comprehensive research of the phagocytic activity of neutrophils in patients with heroin addiction was carried out. It was found that heroin addiction is accompanied by pronounced changes in the cellular-humoral defense system of the body. Opiate substances have a mainly suppressive effect on immunocompetent cells. The disorganization of the immune systems, which are closely interconnected with the central nervous system, leads to disruption of cellular and humoral homeostasis and aggravates the process of drug addiction. One of the existing hypotheses of the cause of this process is the theory of a decrease in the function of …

Clinical Evaluation Of Functional State Of Immune System Partucular Components In Patients With Opium Addiction, Sh. Kh. Sultanov, Z. Sh. Ashurov, N. I. Khodzhaeva, L. Sh. Shadmanova

Central Asian Journal of Medicine

In this study, a comprehensive research of the phagocytic activity of neutrophils in patients with heroin addiction was carried out. It was found that heroin addiction is accompanied by pronounced changes in the cellular-humoral defense system of the body. Opiate substances have a mainly suppressive effect on immunocompetent cells. The disorganization of the immune systems, which are closely interconnected with the central nervous system, leads to disruption of cellular and humoral homeostasis and aggravates the process of drug addiction. One of the existing hypotheses of the cause of this process is the theory of a decrease in the function of …