Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Trop Belles Pour La Science: A Brief Account Of French Female Scientists, Ramsey Steiner

Honors Theses

France has a unique history of French women scientists dating all the way back to the antiquity. This account of French women scientists focuses on celebrated individuals and their impact on French culture and the Western world. The contributions of Madame du Châtelet, Madame Lavoisier, Marie Curie and Irène Joliot-Curie will be discussed by beginning with femmes savantes of the Enlightenment and finishing with France’s most famous scientific family, the Curie. This account will conclude with a discussion of French women scientists today and the struggles they continue to face.

The Calculus Of Variations, Erin Whitney

Honors Theses

The Calculus of Variations is a highly applicable and advancing field. My thesis has only scraped the top of the applications and theoretical work that is possible within this branch of mathematics. To summarize, we began by exploring a general problem common to this field, finding the geodesic be-tween two given points. We then went on to define and explore terms and concepts needed to further delve into the subject matter. In Chapter 2, we examined a special set of smooth functions, inspired by the Calabi extremal metric, and used some general theory of convex functions in order to de-termine …

Anti-Nuclear Activism And The Past, Present And Future Of United States Nuclear Energy Policy, Isabel C. Zellweger

Honors Theses

Nuclear power has had a long and controversial history leading people to have many different views on the topic. Even though nuclear power does provide the nation with a significant portion of its electricity, many still fear its risks, especially after the events at Fukushima last spring. This thesis explores how public opinion, current events, and anti-nuclear activism have shaped nuclear power in America today. After reviewing the literature on nuclear energy in the United States, I discuss the past and current state of United States nuclear energy policy, and then describe changing American attitudes toward nuclear power over time. …

Gaming Classics: The Bard, Thomas Defina

Honors Theses

Technological advancement is a driving influence in the development of today’s culture. Upon the creation of electronic videogames, gaming has allowed players to not only experience new ideas previously unheard of in a gaming medium, but gaming is easily accessible to people throughout the world. Academia has begun studying games, checking the positive and negative effects videogames have on people. Might one of these positive effects be educational? If it was, college professors might use the game to help supplement their classes. The question this paper will be focused on is as follows: using the classics as our field of …

The History Of Mining In Cerro De Pasco And Heavy Metal Deposition In Lake Junin Peru, Erin M. Delman

Honors Theses

Lake Junín covers 530-km2 and is located at 4,430-m in an intermontane basin between the eastern and western cordillera of the central Peruvian Andes. The lake sits between the large sulfide mining districts of La Oroya and Cerro de Pasco. Designated a National Reserve in 1974, Lake Junín drains northward to the Río San Juan, which joins the Río Mantaro within several kilometers of the lake. Dam construction by the Cerro de Pasco Copper Corporation on the Río Mantaro in 1932 caused the Río San Juan, the principal river draining Cerro de Pasco, to back up into the lake. Using …

Code . Art: Code With An Art File Extension, Cole Wiley

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Evolution Of Flow In Games, Paul J. Tunison

Honors Theses

Every one wants to play a fun game, but ”fun” is a subjective quality. Flow, a psychological theory to define what ”fun” is, states that, for an activity to be considered fun, the chal-lenge it presents must correlate with that participant’s abilities such that the activity is neither too easy or too difficult. One of the biggest problems for game designers is balancing the difficulty of its content in such a way that it appeals to the largest audience possible. In order to broaden audiences, de-velopers need to invest effort into creating numerous, discrete balances that are aligned to varying …

Euler E271 : A Link Between Mathematics Of Yesterday, Today, And Tomorrow, Sarah Ann Nelson

Honors Theses

The major focus of this departmental thesis was to complete t he first English translation of E271 Arithmetic Theorems Proven by a New Method, a mathematical treatise published by Leonhard Euler in Latin in 1761. Most importantly, E271 contains Euler's generalization of Fermat's Litt le Theorem and an exploration of the properties of (n). Altogether, this paper includes an Abstract, Introduction, Note to the Readers, Translation of Arithmetic Theorems Proven by a New Method, Epilogue, and References. More specifically, the Introduction is about the historical background of the mathematics and applications leading up to E271 and the key corresponding mathematicians. …

Masterpiece: Computer-Generated Music Through Fractals And Genetic Theory, Amanda Broyles

Honors Theses

A wide variety of computer-generated music exists. I have writ.ten a program which will generate music by using genetic theory and fractals. The genetic theory is used to mold input pieces into a musical motif. The motif is then elaborated by the fractal formula into a composition. A brief introduction to the world of genetic theory and fractals is given. Analysis of a musical work produced in this manner shows coherent patterns and also emotion.

Modern Art Through Geometric Eyes, Janice M. West

Honors Theses

When tourists--even homefolks--go through a modern art museum, many opinions are accumulated. Some people may have chills when they see a certain painting, while others get a sick feeling of dizziness when they see the same one. In fact, if there were an opinion box at the exit of an art show, I imagine you could almost accurately count the different opinions by counting the total number of people who viewed the show. Yet, there is one opinion that most 'ole foggies' (and I use the term loosely) would agree upon, and that is this: "Why that's nothing but a …

The History Of The Stream Preservation Movement In Arkansas, Rex Moreland Terry

Honors Theses

The history of Arkansas' Stream Preservation movement is not a long one, because only in the recent past have Arkansans taken a serious look at the long term effects of such things as damming streams and clearing land.

The core of the movement for stream preservation centers around the Buffalo River, in the Northwest Arkansas Ozarks. Because of this, the bulk of this paper will be devoted to the Buffalo.

Mathematical Philosophy, Janie Ferguson

Honors Theses

The purpose of Mathematical Philosophy by Cassius J. Keyser is to delve into some of the more essential and significant relations between mathematics and philosophy. To see this relation, one must gain insight into the nature of mathematics as a distinctive type of thought. The standard of excellence in the quality of thinking to which mathematicians are accustomed is called "logical rigor;" clarity and precision are essentials. The demands of logic, however, cannot be fully satisfied even in mathematics, but it meets the requirements much more nearly than any other discipline. Thus, the amount of mathematical training essential to education …