Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Radical Recognition In Off-Line Handwritten Chinese Characters Using Non-Negative Matrix Factorization, Xiangying Shuai

Senior Projects Spring 2016

In the past decade, handwritten Chinese character recognition has received renewed interest with the emergence of touch screen devices. Other popular applications include on-line Chinese character dictionary look-up and visual translation in mobile phone applications. Due to the complex structure of Chinese characters, this classification task is not exactly an easy one, as it involves knowledge from mathematics, computer science, and linguistics.

Given a large image database of handwritten character data, the goal of my senior project is to use Non-Negative Matrix Factorization (NMF), a recent method for finding a suitable representation (parts-based representation) of image data, to detect specific …

The Facilitation Of Sound Waves Using Mathematical And Scientific Methods Of Digital Signal Processing, Benjamin Rocco Moss

Senior Projects Spring 2016

Mathematics and music have been lifelong partners since the beginning of time. Rhythm and time are two fundamental aspects of music which rely solely on counting, an under-appreciated skill in mathematics, yet recognized by all mathematically-minded people as the foundation of some of the most important mathematical findings; as John B. Fraleigh would say, “Never underestimate a theorem that counts something!” However, music recordings have evolved through the use of technology further than merely possessing the capabilities to quantify and archive the notes that were played in the recording. In the days before digital recordings, the only way to ensure …

Lose Big, Win Big, Sum Big: An Exploration Of Ranked Voting Systems, Erin Else Stuckenbruck

Senior Projects Spring 2016

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Science, Mathematics and Computing of Bard College.

Complex Semiclassics: Classical Models For Tunneling Using Complex Trajectories, Max Edward Meynig

Senior Projects Spring 2017

This project is inspired by the idea that black holes could explode due to a quantum process somewhat analogous to quantum mechanical tunneling. This idea was presented in recent research that also proposed that semiclassical physics could be used to investigate the so called black hole fireworks. Semiclassical physics connects quantum and classical physics and because of this it is a powerful tool for investigating gravity where the classical theory is known but there is no complete quantum theory. Unfortunately, the traditional tools in semiclassics that are needed fail to treat tunneling. However, if classical mechanics is extended to complex …

Photovoltaics: An Investigation Into The Origins Of Efficiency On All Scales, Jeremy Alexander Bannister

Senior Projects Spring 2016

This project is comprised of a set of parallel investigations, which share the common mo- tivation of increasing the efficiency of photovoltaics. First, the reader is introduced to core concepts of photovoltaic energy conversion via a semi-classical description of the phys- ical system. Second, a key player in photovoltaic efficiency calculations, the exciton, is discussed in greater quantum mechanical detail. The reader will be taken through a nu- merical derivation of the low-energy exciton states in various geometries, including a line segment, a circle and a sphere. These numerical calculations are done using Mathematica, a computer program which, due to …