Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

An Study Of Sentiment Analysis Methods For Mandarin Chinese, Thalia Celeste Chai-Zhang

Senior Projects Spring 2020

Sentiment analysis is the study of automated methods of emotion detection in language and speech. It is an area of much active study, and has seen significant progress in improving accuracy over recent years. Many studies however are conducted on datasets of English and other Indo-European languages. We apply well studied methods for sentiment analysis to a Mandarin Chinese data set and compare the accuracies achieved against eachother and other studies. Our findings indicate that methods for improving sentiment analysis accuracy for English may not be as applicable to Mandarin Chinese.

Production Of Entangled Photons Via Spontaneous Parametric Down-Conversion, Logan P. Kaelbling

Senior Projects Spring 2020

Quantum entanglement, a phenomenon in which the behavior of one particle is somehow immediately correlated with and informed by what is happening to a partner particle a long distance away, has been a pivotal part of the formulation of quantum theory as we know it today and is currently generating many promising avenues of research. As such, finding ways to reliably and inexpensively generate systems of entangled particles for research purposes has become crucial. For my project, I attempt to set up a system that generates energy- and polarization-entangled photons via a technique called spontaneous parametric down conversion. This method …

Testing And Improving An Optimization-Based Digital Colorblindness Corrective Filter, Zachary Kenneth Mcintyre

Senior Projects Fall 2020

Computers often communicate essential information via color which is lost to colorblind users. In order to address this information loss, designers and computer scientists have created a variety of different correction methods to improve computer accessibility. One such method was created by Luke Jefferson and Richard Harvey in their 2006 paper, “Accommodating Color Blind Computer Users” which consists of a difference histogram, differences of key colors, optimization and interpolation to adjust images for specific types of congenital colorblindness. I have recreated their algorithm as well as their original test images. I then conducted extensive tests on challenging images to examine …

The Spiral Model For Generative Harmony, Jackson Guy Spargur

Senior Projects Spring 2020

Generative music is a broad and well-explored field, in which researchers have attempted various approaches at creating algorithmic models for the creation of music. Researchers may attempt to model the composition of melody, or of musical phrase structure, or, as is the focus of this paper, the harmonization of multiple voices. I use as the core of my model Elaine Chew’s “Spiral Array”, outlined in her 2000 thesis “Towards a Mathematical Model Of Tonality”. Chew’s applications for this model were all analytical, gaining insights about human-composed pieces of music by running them through her model. My project is comprised of …

N-Cycle Splines Over Sexy Rings, Jacob Tilden Cummings

Senior Projects Spring 2020

In this project we abstract the work of previous bard students by introducing the concept of splines over non-integers, non-euclidean domains, and even non-PIDs. We focus on n-cycles for some natural number n. We show that the concept of flow up class bases exist in PID splines the same way they do in integer splines, remarking the complications and intricacies that arise when abstracting from the integers to PIDs. We also start from scratch by finding a flow up class basis for n-cycle splines over the real numbers adjoin two indeterminates, denoted R[x,y] which necessitate more original techniques.

Exploring The Precursors Of Disinfection Byproducts And Cdom Fluorescence Monitoring, Victoria Choy

Senior Projects Spring 2020

Disinfection byproducts (DBPs) are formed when chlorine, or any other disinfectant, is added to drinking water and reacts to a small fraction of natural organic matter (NOM) present in the water supply. DBPs may be carcinogenic when exposed to for a long term at high concentrations. However, the usage of chlorine or other disinfectants on the water supply must not be compromised. The precursors of DBPs are studied in the Saw Kill by acquiring data from 2017 to 2019 from the Saw Kill Monitoring Program. This includes colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM), chlorophyll a, and turbidity, which are indicative of …

Relating Sentiment Expressed By Financial Twitter Accounts And Financial Index Price Movement, Jacob Edelstein Lester

Senior Projects Spring 2020

We apply sentiment analysis to correlate price movement for two financial indices with sentiment expressed on Twitter by a select group of 93 influential financial users. We gathered close prices for the VIX and SPX indices for one month from March through April 2020 during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S. as schools and businesses shut down. Tweets were also gathered during this period, although there is a large gap in collected tweets of about two weeks. We examine correlations based on five temporal resolutions from 60 minutes to 1440, which is equivalently one day.. We …

Carbon Footprint Of Machine Learning Algorithms, Gigi Hsueh

Senior Projects Spring 2020

With the rapid development of machine learning, deep learning has demonstrated superior performance over other types of learning. Research made possible by big data and high-end GPU's enabled those research advances at the expense of computation and environmental costs. This will not only slow down the advancement of deep learning research because not all researchers have access to such expensive hardware, but it also accelerates climate change with increasing carbon emissions. It is essential for machine learning research to obtain high levels of accuracy and efficiency without contributing to global warming. This paper discusses some of current approaches in estimating …

A Computational Method For The Image Segmentation Of Pigmented Skin Lesions, Kaila M. Piscitelli

Senior Projects Spring 2020

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

From Rural To Urban: Understanding America Through The Census, R. Owen Hartman

Senior Projects Spring 2020

The first ever Senior Project to combine Historical Studies and Computer Science. Examining United States Census data from 1870 to 1930, "From Rural to Urban" explores the changes in American life that occurred during the industrial revolution at the turn of the 20th century.

Connectedness In Cayley Graphs And P/Np Dichotomy For Quay Algebras, Thuy Trang Nguyen

Senior Projects Spring 2020

This senior thesis attempts to determine the extent to which the P/NP dichotomy of finite algebras (as proven by Bulatov, et.al in 2017) can be cast in terms of connectedness in Cayley graphs. This research is motivated by Prof. Robert McGrail's work ``CSPs and Connectedness: P/NP-Complete Dichotomy for Idempotent, Right Quasigroups" published in 2014 in which he demonstrates the strong correspondence between tractability and total path-connectivity in Cayley graphs for right, idempotent quasigroups. In particular, we will introduce the notion of total V-connectedness and show how it could be potentially used to phrase the dichotomy in terms of connectivity for …

Chase-Escape On Sparse Networks, Emma Sylvie Bernstein

Senior Projects Spring 2020

Chase-escape is a competitive growth process in which prey spread through an environment while being chased and consumed by predators. The environment is typically modeled by a graph—such as a lattice, tree, or clique—and the species by particles competing to occupy sites. It is arguably more natural to study these dynamics in heterogeneous environments. To this end, we consider chase-escape on a canonical sparse random graph called the Erdo ̋s-R ́enyi graph. We show that if prey spreads too slowly then both species quickly die out. On the other hand, if prey spreads fast enough, then coexistence occurs. Concrete bounds …

A Multi Centerpoint Theorem Via Fourier Analysis On The Torus, Yan Chen

Senior Projects Spring 2020

The Centerpoint Theorem states that for any set $S$ of points in $\mathbb{R}^d$, there exists a point $c$ such that any hyperplane goes through that point divides the set. For any half-space containing the point $c$, the amount of points in that half-space is no bigger than $\frac{1}{d+1}$ of the whole set. This can be related to how close can any hyperplane containing the point $c$ comes to equipartitioning for a given shape $S$. For a function from unit circle to real number, it has a Fourier interpretation. Using Fourier analysis on the Torus, I will try to find a …

Automated Exercise Generation In Mobile Language Learning, Rayo Verweij

Senior Projects Spring 2020

The Language Lion is an Android application that teaches basic Dutch to English speakers. While mobile language learning has increased exponentially in popularity, course creation is still labor-intensive. By contrast, the Language Lion uses a map of Dutch to English lexemes, a context-free grammar, and a modified version of the SimpleNLG sentence realizer to automatically generate semi-random translation exercises for the student. Each component is evaluated individually to find and analyze the particular roadblocks in automated exercise generation for mobile language learning.

Determining Tone Of A Body Of Text, Cole G. Hollant

Senior Projects Spring 2020

We will be looking into emotion detection and manipulation within a body of text based off of Robert Plutchik’s basic emotions. This project encompasses building probabilistic and lexical models, full-stack web development, and dataset creation and application. We will build our models off of Latent Dirichlet Allocation—a grouping model common in natural language processing (nlp) and lexicons compiled through crowdsourcing. User testing is undergone as a means of measuring the effectiveness of our models. We discuss the application of concepts and technologies including MongoDB, REST APIs, containerization, IaaS, and web frontends.

A Machine Learning Approach To The Perception Of Phrase Boundaries In Music, Evan Matthew Petratos

Senior Projects Fall 2020

Segmentation is a well-studied area of research for speech, but the segmentation of music has typically been treated as a separate domain, even though the same acoustic cues that constitute information in speech (e.g., intensity, timbre, and rhythm) are present in music. This study aims to sew the gap in research of speech and music segmentation. Musicians can discern where musical phrases are segmented. In this study, these boundaries are predicted using an algorithmic, machine learning approach to audio processing of acoustic features. The acoustic features of musical sounds have localized patterns within sections of the music that create aurally …

The Use Of Virtual Manipulatives In Teaching Sorting Algorithms, Olivia Witanowska

Senior Projects Fall 2020

This project builds an online tool for users to practice tracing sorting algorithms on a virtual set of cards. Sorting algorithms are crucial to computer science. Visualization of such algorithms can aid in cementing the concepts. The purpose of a virtual manipulative is to create a similar effect of a physical manipulative but on a digital platform so that it is more accessible than its physical alternative. This project is motivated by the educational adjustments needed to be made during the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic. By building off of a previous Deck of Cards project, an algorithm to check a user’s …

Square Peg Problem In 2-Dimensional Lattice, Nathan M. Matsubara

Senior Projects Fall 2020

The Square Peg Problem, also known as the inscribed square problem poses a question: Does every simple closed curve contain all four points of a square? This project introduces a new approach in proving the square peg problem in 2-dimensional lattice.

To accomplish the result, this research first defines the simple closed curve on 2-dimensional lattice. Then we identify the existence of inscribed half-squares, which are the set of three points of a square, in a lattice simple closed curve. Then we finally add a last point to form a half-square into a square to examine whether all four points …

An Echo Of Light, Anaka Marie Wetch

Senior Projects Spring 2020

My senior project film an Echo of Light is an experimental 16mm film exploring light as both a metaphysical and physical process. I became interested in light during my studies in holography, which is a medium revolving around the interference of light. I studied holography independently and with the guidance of professionals in the field. My holographic work is oriented around the natural world and its micro-constituents. I examined and photographed substances, such as salt, pyrite, and quartz with the scanning electron microscope at Bard. These materials have striking crystalline geometry which I intend to explore through the light dependent …

The Impact Of Live Coding Within An Educational And Performance Setting, Alexus Renee Foster

Senior Projects Spring 2020

For the past three semesters at Bard, live coding has become my newest form of creative expression and performance. This method of coding involves either creating on the spot from scratch or editing pre-existing code in a real time manner. There is no real set structure or steps that must be followed, however, one rule must always be followed: show your code. In the classroom, live coding occurs when the professor demonstrates some algorithm by displaying the program on a projector for the entire class to observe. During musical performances, the same improvisational nature of live coding is also present, …

Sealed For Your Protection, Olive Dunham Werby

Senior Projects Spring 2020

In this project, I ruminate on the shiny, shape shifting polymer saturated world we are continuously creating. Oil, plastic, and fossil fuels are all very convenient for turning a profit, for consuming more and more, for the structures in place today. Concurrently, it is becoming increasingly inconvenient for our future generations to avoid extinction.