Digital Commons Network^™

Volume Cxxxiii, Number 21, April 29, 2016, Lawrence University

The Lawrentian

No abstract provided.

The Murray Ledger And Times, April 29, 2016, The Murray Ledger An Times

The Murray Ledger & Times

No abstract provided.

University Honors Program News, Georgia Southern University

Honors College: News & Publications (2008-2020)

• From Classroom to Conference
• Head-Scratching Research

Inflationary Gravitational Waves And B-Mode Polarization Of The Cosmic Microwave Background, Kiley Todd Heflin

Honors Capstone Projects and Theses

No abstract provided.

Six Brothers Spend Two Decades At Uab, Youngest To Graduate Saturday, Staff

Browse All News

No abstract provided.

Usage Comparison Of Print And Electronic Theses And Dissertations At The University Of Southern Mississippi, Sarah R. Mangrum, Elizabeth La Beaud

Institutional Repository Day

The University of Southern Mississippi houses many theses and dissertations generated throughout USM's history. The launch of our institutional repository offered an opportunity to increase exposure by incorporating an ETD publishing process and platform. This poster analyzes the circulation statistics of printed theses and dissertations compared with the increased usage of ETDs in Aquila, the institutional repository, and showcases the remarkable exposure ETDs can achieve through an IR.

Artificial Intelligence: Prospects, Pathways, Realities, Timur Javid '17, Tara Parkman '17, Nathaniel Smith '17

IMSAloquium Student Investigation Showcase

The specter of Artificial Intelligence (AI) looms before us, continuously growing in power, soon to match, and then exceed human capabilities. To explore this, we read and discussed books by experts, and learned about the exponential nature of technological progress and the difficulties of halting or even slowing it. Technological improvements trend towards an autonomous AI capable of replicating, if not exceeding human thought and interaction, a complex adaptive system with an input stream, isomorphic model of reality and output mechanism, fully capable of passing the Turing Test. How a system is organized is a key determinant of the processes …

Effects Of Instruction In Advanced Planning On Computational Problem Solving In A Group Environment, Adam Grobman

IMSAloquium Student Investigation Showcase

An increase in computer science careers will require workers to solve problems with advanced technology; even jobs outside this domain will depend on basic understanding of computer power. However, teaching the skills needed for proficiency has proved difficult. To combat this, we designed and implemented a Scratch-based computational thinking program that culminated in a group problem solving activity. We then added a lesson into the program that focused on planning methods—goal setting, action planning, and division of labor. Students (N = 54) completed surveys before and after the learning experience to measure whether explicitly teaching planning strategies assists in …

Inferences Of Subglacial Processes Under The West Antarctic Ice Sheet From Grain Surface Textures, Aspen Wheeler '16

IMSAloquium Student Investigation Showcase

Subglacial sediment transport under Whillans Ice Stream in West Antarctica is inferred using samples collected from Subglacial Lake Whillans (SLW) and two sites at a location called “UpB”. The surface features on quartz grains between 125 and 1000 micrometers were described using a Scanning Electron Microscope. Mahaney’s Atlas of Sand Grain Surface Textures and Applications (2002) was used to uniformly and unbiasedly categorize surface features from SLW and UpB, for different grain sizes and depths in cores collected from subglacial till. Data showed three groups that can be used to delineate phases of the subglacial sediment. Phase one is shown …

Comparing Biodiversity Of Silurian Reefs In Illinois And Wisconsin Using Museum Collections And Unbiased Bulk Samples, Walker Weyland '17

IMSAloquium Student Investigation Showcase

Silurian (Wenlock) fossil reefs from the Racine Formation in Illinois measure over 100 meters tall and draping flanks beds extend over a mile. Biodiversity studies of reefs in Southeastern Wisconsin reveal complex, diverse communities with over 191 species. We hypothesized that the larger reefs reflect a more optimal environment and may have had higher diversity than reefs in Wisconsin. We compared diversity between the reefs using, identified fossils from the Field Museum, which were collected in Herscer, Romeo, Thornton, Bridgeport, and Hawthorn. Then we compared the results with those from Watkin’s (1997) counts, collected from Horlick, Ives, Franklin, and Francy …

The Effect Of Antibiotics On Gastrointestinal Motility And Gut Microbiota, Catherine Chen

IMSAloquium Student Investigation Showcase

Antibiotics are widely used to treat infectious diseases caused by pathogenic bacteria in many disease states. While eliminating pathogens, antibiotics also affect gut commensal bacteria composition, leading to long-lasting gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms associated with GI motility problems. In this study, the mechanism by which the broad-spectrum antibiotic cefoperazone, gram-positive specific antibiotic vancomycin, and gram-negative specific antibiotic neomycin affect GI motility and gut microbial composition was examined. To assess alterations in the host after antibiotic treatment, whole gut transit time was measured by gavaging and tracing charcoal dye. Significantly delayed GI transit time in antibiotic-treated mice was observed, especially in the …

The Rise And Fall Of Human Dissection In Hellenistic Alexandria, Ellie H. Barany

Young Historians Conference

Classical and Hellenistic Greece were known to be a hub of scientific research. However, the potential for scientific discovery was limited by dominating religious beliefs. Advancements in the study of human anatomy were inhibited by religious taboos that prevented the practice of human dissection. These taboos took hold of Greek society, with a consequence of exile to anyone who violated them. The exception however, is in Hellenistic Alexandria under the rule of the Ptolemaic Kings, Soter and Philadelphus. This paper examines the factors under which the Greek scientist Herophilus was allowed to practice systematic human dissection, as well as the …

Field-Programmable-Gate-Array Implemented On Time-To-Digital Converter: Improving Its Resolution, Soomin Park '17

IMSAloquium Student Investigation Showcase

The purpose of this investigation is to discover critical experimental factors that could lead to the variation of time measurement by a time-to-digital converter (TDC) implemented on field-programmablegate- array (FPGA). Two pulses were generated by a pulse generator, and the second pulse was given a 20 nanoseconds delay. In an ideal experiment, the mean of the entry data would have been 20 nanoseconds since the two channels (8,c) obtained pulses that were given the same delay. However, due to device errors and quantization errors, which is produced during analog-to-digital conversion, time difference between hits varied from 22.1 to 22.7 nanoseconds. …

Factors Affecting The Transformation Of 76r Variety Rio-Grande Tomatoes To Induce Expression Of Hopz3 Effector Protein, Vadini Agrawal '17

IMSAloquium Student Investigation Showcase

In order to study the plant immune system for benefits in crop production, a protocol was developed to effectively transform the 76R variety Rio-Grande tomato to express the HopZ3 effector protein which is found in Pseudomonas syringae, a bacteria which is pathogenic to plants. Cotyledons from the 76R variety were infected with Agrobacteria to insert HopZ3 bacterial genes into plant cells, and these cotyledons were placed in media with a selection agent and hormones to induce callous growth, plantlet growth, shoot growth, and root growth until only transformed cells remain. In the most successful test thus far, cotyledons have …

Measurements And Comparisons Of Diffuse Interstellar Bands Around The Mbm12 Interstellar Cloud, Melanie Hess '17

IMSAloquium Student Investigation Showcase

The interstellar medium is full of cool clouds, around 100°K, made of atoms, molecules, and dust particles. Mysterious components of these clouds are carriers of diffuse, unidentified interstellar bands (DIBs). Because they are too broad to be caused by atoms, they are thought to consist of over 400 nonterrestrial molecules. I tried to observe the behavior of DIBs around the isolated cloud, MBM12, using absorption lines in spectra of background stars. Suitable stars were picked from a database accumulated at the University of Chicago. Spectra were examined using a piece of analysis software, arcexam, written by Dan Welty, that compares …

Neural Networks And Machine Learning Applied To Classification Of Cancer, Sachin Govind '16

IMSAloquium Student Investigation Showcase

Using genome data to predict cancer type is an increasingly relevant practice as it provides a direct, noninvasive strategy to analyze genetic predisposition to malignant cancer types. More specifically, analysis of gene expression data across the genome can provide insight into the underlying gene interactions that propel the progression of tumors. A database containing expression levels for 16,063 genes was split into disjoint training and testing sets; these were subjected to a variety of machine learning methods and statistical analyses, including multinomial logistic regression across cancer phenotypes, k-means clustering analysis, optimization of a predictive support vector machine, and rooted random …

Crisis In Education -- The Effect Of The Cold War On The American Education System, Spencer C.J. Gregg

Young Historians Conference

The Cold War era had a dramatic impact on the American educational system. Striving to demonstrate superiority over Soviet counterparts, new curriculum were developed to prepare the American youth intellectually, emotionally, and technologically to position the U.S. as a world power. With the American public polarized whether schools were a venue for the dissemination of national ideologies or institutions for the development of critical thinking; world events including nuclear warfare, space exploration, and military preparedness served as catalysts for the development of future citizens that would effectively contribute to the intellectual and technological growth of the nation.

To What Extent Did British Advancements In Cryptanalysis During World War Ii Influence The Development Of Computer Technology?, Hayley A. Leblanc

Young Historians Conference

This investigation will focus on the advancements made in the field of computing by British codebreakers working on German ciphers during World War II (1939­1945). Along with examining the state of code­breaking technology before the war, it will discuss the nature of computing after the war up until the present to determine the impact of the war on computers. It will consider being electronic (rather than electromechanical) as the defining characteristic of modern computers. This investigation will not discuss the cryptanalysis effort by any other country during the war, nor will it consider cryptography ­related advancements after the war. However, …

The Entangling Properties Of Knots And Links, Eshan Mehrotra '17

IMSAloquium Student Investigation Showcase

It has been conjectured that quantum entanglement operators can be lifted to braiding operators by the way of the topological quantum field theory axioms set forth by Witten and Atiyah. Moreover, it can be readily shown that quantum link invariants need entanglement to construct topological invariants. Given these results and the already dense mathematical framework underlying topology and quantum field theory, we propose that, through the usage of quantum algebra and bracket models, we can identify a significant area of overlap where entangling R-matrix solutions to the Yang-Baxter equation can be used to construct invariants of knots and links. Such …

Optimal Concentrations Of Ethanol And Isopropanol For The Dissolution Of Pmma, Maya Costales '16

IMSAloquium Student Investigation Showcase

Last year we studied the effectiveness of Alcohol/Water mixtures in dissolving PMMA. PMMA is a commonly used resist in electron beam lithography. Ethanol/Water mixtures in a 4:1 volume ratio developed PMMA such that they could replace mixtures of Methyl(isobutylketone) and Isopropanol. Raman spectroscopy revealed that Ethanol/Water mixtures in a 4:1 ratio and IPA/Water mixtures in a 3:1 ratio have different vibrations than those of pure Ethanol, IPA, and water. Our study this year will discuss the characteristics of Ethanol/Water and Isopropanol/Water solutions with dissolved Poly(methylmethracrylate). A fixed amount of 12,000 molecular weight PMMA was dissolved into a series of these …

Essays In Environmental Economics, Luke Fitzpatrick

Open Access Dissertations

Efficiently addressing climate change and waning our dependence on fossil fuels will prove central to ensuring a viable habitat for humanity in the coming centuries. Chapter 1 analyzes stabilization targets - widely employed and well-intentioned environmental policies that ultimately reduce global welfare. Chapter 2 quantifies a healthcare externality stemming from surface mining of coal. Chapter 3 uses a new, novel approach to estimating how the coal mining industry affects markets for residential real estate in three Appalachian counties.

The Firece Green Fire: Vol. 6 Issue 24, Wofford College Environmental Studies Program

The Fierce Green Fire

No abstract provided.

2016 Science Seminar Program

Science Seminar

No abstract provided.

University Of Northern Iowa Elementary Teacher Education Senate Meeting Minutes, April 28, 2016, University Of Northern Iowa. Elementary Teacher Education Senate.

Documents - Elementary Senate

Meeting minutes from the Elementary Teacher Education Senate of the University of Northern Iowa.

Ellsberg Re-Revisited: An Experiment Disentangling Model Uncertainty And Risk Aversion, Loïc Berger, Valentina Bosetti

Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei Working Papers

The results of an experiment extending Ellsberg’s setup demonstrate that attitudes towards ambiguity and compound uncertainty are closely related. However, this association is much stronger when the second layer of uncertainty is subjective than when it is objective. Provided that the compound probabilities are simple enough, we find that most subjects, consisting of both students and policy makers, (1) reduce compound objective probabilities, (2) do not reduce compound subjective probabilities, and (3) are ambiguity non-neutral. By decomposing ambiguity into risk and model uncertainty, and jointly eliciting the attitudes individuals manifest towards these two types of uncertainty, we characterize individuals’ de- …

Annual Graduate Faculty Meeting [Program], April 28, 2016, University Of Northern Iowa. Graduate College.

Annual Graduate Faculty Meeting & Awards Ceremony Programs

No abstract provided.

Spartan Daily, April 28, 2016, San Jose State University, School Of Journalism And Mass Communications

Spartan Daily, 2016

Volume 146, Issue 36

The Setonian, April 28, 2016, Seton Hall University

2016

No abstract provided.

Computations In Symplectic Geometry, Luis Diogo

Dynamical Systems Seminar

Symplectic manifolds are a generalization of the notion of phase space in classical mechanics. Their study has received a lot of attention in recent years, and they relate to many other areas in mathematics, including dynamics, algebraic geometry and mathematical physics. We will discuss a central tool in symplectic geometry, called Hamiltonian Floer homology. It is quite useful, but also hard to compute, and we will explain how to calculate it in a relevant class of examples. This is joint work with Sam Lisi.

Joint Committee On Academic Planning Minutes April 28, 2016, University Of Rhode Island Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Committee Reports and Appendices

No abstract provided.