Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Between-Day Reliability Activity Fluctuations In Young Adults At Baseline And 6-Months Follow-Up, Connor J. Wicks

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Human Daily Motor Activity (DMA) is characterized by complex temporal fluctuations and scale invariance. DMA is estimated from a time series composed of continuous amounts of activity recorded with the Actigraph GT9X monitor. The purpose of this study was to measure the complex temporal fluctuations in several young healthy adults over a 7-day period. After six months there was a follow-up of another 7-day period. Future collections will involve healthy older adults and adults with Parkinson’s disease. For the first phase of this study, 24 healthy young adults wore the monitor on their non-dominant hand for seven straight days. For …

Stronger Together: The Cross-Cultural Coalition To Stop Fossil Fuel Exports In The Salish Sea, Margaret Allen

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

A commonly observed paradox in conservation is that restriction of people’s access to nature and natural resources may protect ecosystem health, but sometimes decreases the wellbeing of local people and can invite conflict and reduce people’s willingness to protect resources. At a middle ground between complete protection and unrestricted commercial use is ecosystem-based management (EBM), which strives to maximize the overall wellbeing of both people and ecosystems. An important domain of human wellbeing to track for the purposes of EBM is resource access, or the ability to gain and maintain uses and benefits of the natural environment. Access does not …

Using Fundamental Chemistry To Make Functional Materials For Solar Energy Conversion Applications, Kylie N. Heupel, Haley M. Sizemore, Judith L. Jenkins

Posters-at-the-Capitol

Population growth and rapidly increasing energy consumption necessitate innovative materials for energy conversion and storage. Gains in solar electricity and battery technologies are evidenced by the availability of commercial products. However viable solar fuel platforms—where the energy in sunlight is used to form storable fuels such as hydrogen gas—have not yet been realized, motivating the work presented here. In order to produce hydrogen gas from sunlight and water, a photocatalyst is required. The ideal photocatalyst for hydrogen gas generation absorbs solar photons (sunlight), producing high-energy electrons necessary for the reduction of hydrogen ions in water. The host nanocrystal studied here, …

Securing Mobile Applications Based On Ntru, Hanqing Zhao, Vikram Hegde, Kefeng Shi, Yi Yang

ASA Multidisciplinary Research Symposium

Modern mobile devices have an urgent need for a new-generation public-key cryptographic system, which should provide sufficient security for mobile devices without degrading their performance due to limited resources. NTRU is an ideal model for this. We validate it through experimental studies. We apply NTRU to protect an Android mobile app.

Preliminary Results From A Ground Based Magnetometer Rotation Table, Rachel Newman, April Gross, Jolene Johnson, Kaye Smith, Erick Agrimson, James Flaten

2017 Academic High Altitude Conference

Understanding high altitude balloon rotation is important for many types of scientific measurements, therefore, balloon and payload rotation is a continuing area of interest and research. In this work, we present results obtained from an Arduino logged magnetometer rotated on a ground based rotation table. This table allowed us to precisely rotate and locate the Arduino logged magnetometer. We compare the Arduino logged results with “known magnetic field orientation” using an AIM rocketry altimeter. This comparison allowed us to test the accuracy of our Arduino logged results and the sampling capabilities of our magnetometer system using different rotational speeds.

High Altitude Cosmic Ray Detection, Jordan D. Van Nest

2017 Academic High Altitude Conference

Cosmic rays are high energy atomic nuclei travelling near the speed of light that collide with atoms and molecules in Earth’s upper atmosphere (primarily with nitrogen and oxygen), breaking down into a shower of particles of various energies in the stratosphere. As they travel earthward, these particles continue to break down and lose energy which results in relatively little ionizing radiation reaching the surface. Due to the scattering of cosmic rays, the angle at which the rays enter the atmosphere can affect the number and energies of ionizing particles detected at various altitudes. When using a standard Geiger counter on …

Low-Cost Hab Platform To Measure Particulate Matter In The Troposphere, Mark J. Potosnak, Bernhard Beck-Winchatz, Paul Ritter

2017 Academic High Altitude Conference

High-altitude balloons (HABs) are an engaging platform for formal and informal STEM education. However, the logistics of launching, chasing and recovering a payload on a 1200 g or 1500 g balloon can be daunting for many novice school groups and citizen scientists, and the cost can be prohibitive. In addition, there are many interesting scientific applications that do not require reaching the stratosphere. In this poster presentation we discuss a novel approach based on small (30 g) balloons that are cheap and easy to handle, and low-cost tracking devices (SPOT and 900 MHz spread spectrum) that do not require a …

Thermal Analysis Of Borosilicate Glass For Its Biological Applications, Gregory Humble

Symposium of Student Scholars

Borosilicate glass doped with varying wt% of cerium oxide is investigated for biological applications. Thermal studies of each formulation were conducted using an SDT Q600 differential scanning calorimeter. 30mg samples of 350 - 425 μm particle size of each type of glass were heated to 1200°C in order to obtain the glass transition, crystallization, and melting temperatures. Samples were then heated to 900°C at several heating rates, ranging from 2°C/min to 100°C/min, then compared against each other as well as against an undoped borosilicate glass.

Modulated Hydrothermal Synthesis And Optimization Of Hf/Zr-Fumarate Metal-Organic Frameworks, Ioannina Castano

Creative Activity and Research Day - CARD

Water-stable Hf/Zr-Fumarate (FMA) metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are highly promising for gas separation because of their postulated small pore size compared to other UiO-66-type MOFs and the low cost of fumaric acid. However, the efficient synthesis of these MOFs remains a big challenge. A mild, green, scalable modulated hydrothermal (MHT) method was applied for the synthesis of these MOFs. Specifically, acetic acid (AA), formic acid (FA), and trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) were used as the modulators. Various water to modulator solvent ratios were studied to investigate the effects of modulators on surface area and gas uptake properties. The MHT synthesized Hf/Zr-FMA MOFs …

The Effect Of Nitrate On The Release Of Glucose Into The Hemolymph Of Crayfish, Procambarus Clarkii, Alec R. Flores, Lee Kats, David Green, Gary Bucciarelli

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

Pollutants can change the behaviors of invertebrate stream animals. The level of one common pollutant, nitrate (NO3), has been rising in many local rivers and streams throughout the United States due to increases in anthropogenic sources. Nitrate, heavily regulated for its toxic effects to human health, namely the aiding in the development of cancer, also dangerously affects aquatic species by converting oxygen-carrying pigments to forms that are incapable of carrying oxygen. To understand the stress effects of ambient nitrate exposure on P. clarkii, we collected hemolymph samples from red swamp crayfish (Procambarus clarkii) over a 48-hour period after exposure to …

The Reliability Of Crowdsourcing: Latent Trait Modeling With Mechanical Turk, Matt Baucum, Steven Rouse Dr., Cindy Miller-Perrin, Elizabeth Mancuso Dr.

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

Mechanical Turk, an online crowdsourcing platform, has recently received increased attention in the social sciences as studies continue to suggest its viability as a source for reliable experimental data. Given the ease with which large samples can be quickly and inexpensively gathered, it is worth examining whether Mechanical Turk can provide accurate experimental data for methodologies requiring such large samples. One such methodology is Item Response Theory, a psychometric paradigm that defines test items by a mathematical relationship between a respondent’s ability and the probability of item endorsement. To test whether Mechanical Turk can serve as a reliable source of …

An Inventory Of Environmental Governance In The Salish Sea, Laurie D. Trautman

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

How is the natural environment of the Salish Sea governed? The fact that the Salish Sea is bifurcated by a national border has inhibited our ability to answer this question. Indeed, the Salish Sea involves not only two national governments, but also a multitude of both state and non-state actors, which exist across scales, and interact in different frameworks (i.e. First Nations/tribes often seek only to negotiate with federal, rather than state/provincial governments). Environmental governance in the Salish Sea also encompasses informal modes of interaction involving public and private interest groups, social movements and community stakeholders, in addition to traditional …

Variable Marsh Resilience To Stress Offers Clues To Climate Change Adaptive Management, Roger Nathan Fuller, Katrina L. Poppe, John M. Rybczyk, Eric Grossman, Chad Stellern

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

In Puget Sound’s Stillaguamish estuary, tidal marshes exhibit evidence of multiple stressors that affect their vulnerability and provide insight into adaptive management opportunities to enhance their resilience. Despite high accretion rates, some marsh areas have receded by 10m/yr since 1964. Sources of stress include overgrazing by snow geese, high soil salinities, insect attacks, and changes in flow and inundation patterns. These interact with winter vegetation structure, sediment composition, and wave exposure to result in spatially variable marsh resilience. Some marshes are receding quickly, some slowly, and others are minimally affected. In the context of climate change, with potentially substantial near-term …

Virtual Simulations Of Potential Vessel Discharges In Puget Sound And The Puget Sound No Discharge Zone, Teizeen Mohamedali, Mindy Roberts, Amy Jankowiak

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

The Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology) evaluated the potential transport, dispersion and dilution of potential vessel sewer discharges within the draft proposed Puget Sound No Discharge Zone (NDZ). These model simulations included potential vessel sewer discharges at six locations in Puget Sound along major shipping routes. Results are presented as virtual animations of surface concentrations, allowing us to visualize the transport, circulation, and dilution of these discharges over the course of several days.

Ecology and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory jointly developed a three-dimensional hydrodynamic FVCOM (Finite Volume Coastal Ocean Model) computer model of the Salish Sea. This model is …

Volunteer-Assisted Monitoring Of A Significant Private Bulkhead Removal, Jeffrey Adams, Brenda Padgham, Jason David Toft, Kyra O'Neil, Kate Litle

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Monitoring efforts to restore physical and biological functions along developed shorelines can take many forms and be influenced by monitoring goals, the scope and scale of the project, and available resources. The Powel project in Port Madison on Bainbridge Island, Washington, had regional significance because of its scale (removing 1544 lineal feet of armor), the diversity of types of armor and shoreline, and its private ownership, but it lacked the funding to support a broad, long-term monitoring program. Not willing to let the opportunity pass without some effort to gather as much appropriate information as possible about the impact and …

A Long-Term Phytoplankton Monitoring Program For Central Puget Sound Using Particle Imaging, Gabriela Hannach, Lyndsey M. Swanson

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Puget Sound is a large and highly productive estuarine system that is vulnerable to climate change and anthropogenic impacts from a growing population. King County operates an exceptionally comprehensive, long-running monitoring program designed to assess water quality in the Puget Sound Central Basin. Data are collected year-round for a suite of physical, chemical, and biological parameters. Phyoplankton monitoring using traditional methods was added to the program in 2008 to address a significant biological data gap at the lower trophic level. Since acquisition of a FlowCAM particle imaging system in 2014 the program is generating a more extensive and robust dataset …

Movements Of Sub-Adult Chinook Salmon (Oncorhynchus Tshawytscha) In Puget Sound, Washington, As Indicated By Hydroacoustic Tracking, Anna Kagley, Joseph Smith, Kurt L. Fresh, Kinsey Frick, Thomas P. (Thomas Peter) Quinn

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Alternative forms of migratory behavior can have substantial consequences for the growth, survival, and fitness of the individuals involved. Salmonids vary in the tendency of individuals to migrate to marine waters (anadromy) or remain in freshwater habitats. In addition, substantial variation in migratory patterns can exist among anadromous and resident species. This talk summarizes our use of hydroacoustic telemetry to investigate the movement patterns of anadromous Chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha remaining in the marine waters of Puget Sound after ocean entry rather than continuing out to the coastal waters of the North Pacific Ocean, as is typical of the species. …

Skagit Climate Science Consortium: Using Local Polling To Provide Relevant Science, Carol B. Macilroy, Larry Wasserman

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

The Skagit Climate Science Consortium (SC²) and the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication partnered to conduct a public opinion poll in the spring of 2015 regarding Skagit County resident’s attitudes and perceptions regarding global warming. The effort, part of Yale’s renown 6 America’s Project, also is providing SC² critical information to help understand local concerns and beliefs about climate change in order to better provide relevant and timely climate science to a broader Skagit community. This presentation will provide an overview of SC²’s theory of change regarding the role of climate science in supporting …

Eyes On The Rise, Jennifer Fu, Susan Jacobson

GIS Day

No abstract provided.

A Machine Learning Approach To Post-Market Surveillance Of Medical Devices, Jonathan Bates, Shu-Xia Li, Craig Parzynski, Ronald Coifman, Harlan Krumholz, Joseph Ross

Yale Day of Data

Post-market surveillance is a collection of processes and activities used by product manufacturers and regulators, such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to monitor the safety and effectiveness of medical devices once they are available for use “on the market”. These activities are designed to generate information to identify poorly performing devices and other safety problems, accurately characterize real-world device performance and clinical outcomes, and facilitate the development of new devices, or new uses for existing devices. Typically, a device is monitored by comparing adverse events in the exposed population to a matched unexposed population. This research considers …

A High-Altitude Balloon Platform For Determining Regional Uptake Of Carbon Dioxide Over Agricultural Landscapes, Angela M. Bouche

2017 Academic High Altitude Conference

Interactions between the biosphere and atmosphere are an important part of the global carbon cycle, and quantifying the carbon dioxide exchanges between them is helpful in predicting the uptake of carbon dioxide from anthropogenic sources by the biosphere in the future. In the Midwestern United States, agricultural systems cover a large part of the landscape, so understanding their role in influencing the global carbon budget is crucial as anthropogenic sources of carbon dioxide grow larger. Carbon dioxide exchanges can be measured by eddy covariance at the ecosystem level (bottom-up approach) or regionally by inversion techniques (top-down approach). Here we describe …

Building An Undergraduate Cohort In High Altitude Ballooning, Mike Davis

2017 Academic High Altitude Conference

City Colleges of Chicago (CCC), in partnership with DePaul University and the Illinois Space Grant Consortium, has recently been awarded a grant from NASA to develop a research and education program in high-altitude ballooning. The project builds on the Chicago Initiative for Research and Recruitment in the Undergraduate Sciences (CIRRUS) model of undergraduate research and community college/four year college collaborative projects, a successful NSF-funded collaboration between DePaul and CCC. The project has four goals: (1) initiate a year-round undergraduate research program to recruit promising community college students into the STEM disciplines, (2) provide tuition support and fellowships to support student …

Nasa Nebraska High Altitude Ballooning And The Fab Lab, Kendra Sibbernsen, Michael Sibbernsen

2017 Academic High Altitude Conference

The NASA Nebraska High Altitude Ballooning (N-NHAB) program has collaborated on projects with the Fab Lab at Metropolitan Community College (MCC) in Omaha, NE. Based on the MIT Center for Bits and Atoms, the Fab Lab contains 3D printers, laser cutters, CNC machines, and much more. In its trial phase, the Fab Lab encouraged projects from the sciences. In response to this request, one of these projects involved a HAB student who wanted to streamline custom circuitry for measuring the efficiency of solar cells. The circuit pathways were designed and precisely cut from a copper sheet and the laser cutter …

Who Are You? ...Honestly!, Zeinab Mahdavifar

TAC Talks

Online social media has made life easier in many ways. Stay in touch with old classmates (Facebook), find a way to connect to like-minded professionals all over the globe (LinkedIn), and even seek help from fellow humans we could never imagine otherwise to help us (Mechanical Turk)! Social network profiles are never complete. Ascertaining personality traits and accurate determination of age and gender can make such social networks safer and stronger instruments of true collaboration and human connection.

In my talk, I will discuss the predictive models we built with the Social Media group within the Center for Data Science …

Private Predictive Modeling Power, Stacey C. Newman

TAC Talks

The predictive potential of the many large datasets being held in healthcare, financial markets, social media, etc. by separate entities is locked behind privacy constraints. These separate entities either cannot share their data with one another or it is against their interests to do so. The ability to produce powerful predictive models that leverage knowledge from these different data sources is restrained by an inability to do so without revealing the data.

In my talk, I will outline our proposed protocol in which two different entities can build one of the most popular machine learning modules, a linear regression model …

Org Or Inorg? Atmospheric Carbon Controls That Initiated The Late Paleozoic Ice Age 326mya, Paco Defrancis

CLAS: Colby Liberal Arts Symposium

The Late Paleozoic Ice Age (LPIA) was a major global icehouse that initiated in the Mississippian (326 million years ago; ma) and lasted through the Early Permian (267ma). An ice sheet nucleated in southern Gondwana near the South Pole, which either paleogeography (positioning of paleocontinents) or atmospheric concentration of the greenhouse gas CO2 controlled. In this paper I accept recent findings that prove atmospheric pCO2 and not paleogeography forced global cooling that resulted in the nucleation of Gondwanan ice sheets that defined the LPIA. There remains no broad consensus of what caused pCO2 lowering in the Mississippian. Organic carbon found …

Exploring Computer Graphics: Photorealistic And Non-Photorealistic Rendering, Brittany Chin

CLAS: Colby Liberal Arts Symposium

Over the course of the year, the Advanced Computer Graphics course has explored a variety of image rendering techniques starting with the basic filling of polygons, and working all the way up to non-photorealistic rendering techniques. I have implemented a variety of these techniques in projects which demonstrate the growth and advancements of graphics over time. The implementations that are featured are an interactive tile game, a curve editor, a ray-tracer, and a non-photorealistic project. The capabilities of computer graphics are seemingly endless, and it is getting easier and easier to model the real world in synthetic systems. Where will …

Graphics, Beatrice Liang

CLAS: Colby Liberal Arts Symposium

Here I show images generating using computer graphics methods ranging from green screen images to 3D models

3d Model Generation From Flat Images And Other Pretty Pictures, Matthew Levine

CLAS: Colby Liberal Arts Symposium

We present a novel method of generating 3D models from 2D images using neural network techniques. We also show a custom implementation of a global illumination model natively integrated into Python's standard 2D image library (with a fast C backend).

Trees And Non-Photorealistic Images, Christopher Burnham

CLAS: Colby Liberal Arts Symposium

Showing of a graphics system with some trees and non-photorealistic images.