Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

The C-Equivalence Principle And Its Implications For Physics, Max Tran

Publications and Research

The c-equivalence principle, commonly accepted as true by most physicists, is the unstated assumption that (1/sqrt(ε₀μ₀)) equals the kinematic speed of light. Should someone prove the principle false, it would render the composition of two Lorentz transformations meaningless. The second hypothesis of the Special Theory of Relativity in its strong form would also be invalidated. This paper examined some of the consequences for physics, should this principle be proven false and outline some experiments to determine light speed, which could falsify the principle and provide evidence for the ether.

Logic, Co-Ordination And The Envelope Of Our Beliefs, Rohit J. Parikh

Publications and Research

Each of us has a story which we can think of as a set of beliefs, hopefully consistent. We make our decisions in view of our beliefs which may be probabilistic, in the general case, but simple yes or no as in this paper. Our beliefs are our envelope just as the shell of a tortoise is its envelope.

Decision theory - or single agent game theory tells us when to make the best choice in a game of us against nature. But nature has no desire to further or frustrate our efforts. Nature is mysterious but not malign.

Things …

Synthetic Pseudo-Spin-Hall Effect In Acoustic Metamaterials, Matthew Weiner, Xiang Ni, Andrea Alù, Alexander B. Khanikaev

Advanced Science Research Center

While vector fields naturally offer additional degrees of freedom for emulating spin, acoustic pressure field is scalar in nature, and it requires engineering of synthetic degrees of freedom by material design. Here we experimentally demonstrate the control of sound waves by using two types of engineered acoustic systems, where synthetic pseudo-spin emerges either as a consequence of the evanescent nature of the field or due to lattice symmetry. First, we show that evanescent sound waves in perforated films possess transverse angular momentum locked to their propagation direction which enables their directional excitation. Second, we demonstrate that lattice symmetries of an …

Algorithmic Rationality, Rohit J. Parikh

Publications and Research

The notion of rationality is much discussed by both Economists and Philosophers. Perhaps you are rational if you accept certain axioms of rationality. If you prefer A to B and B to C then you must prefer A to C. Or you can define rationality in terms of the net results of your behavior. We examine a notion of algorithmic rationality. Even animals upwards from the humble tick carry out algorithms. Are they rational? And can we use this theory to define the IQ of animals?

Ocean Currents Break Up A Tabular Iceberg, Alex Huth, Alistair Adcroft, Olga Sergienko, Nuzhat Khan

Publications and Research

In December 2020, giant tabular iceberg A68a (surface area 3900 km 2 ) broke up in open ocean much deeper than its keel, indicating that the breakage was not immediately caused by collision with the seafloor. Giant icebergs with lengths exceeding 18.5 km account for most of the calved ice mass from the Antarctic Ice Sheet. Upon calv - ing, they drift away and transport freshwater into the Southern Ocean, modifying ocean circulation, disrupting sea ice and the marine biosphere, and potentially triggering changes in climate. Here, we demonstrate that the A68a breakup event may have been triggered by ocean-current …

Sign Patterns Of The Liouville Function And Mobius Function Over The Integers, Nelson Carella

Open Educational Resources

Let $x\geq1$ be a large number, and let $0\leq a_0

Assessing Vegetation Pattern Using Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (Modis) Images Along The Western Coastal Area Of Bangladesh, Nazrul I. Khandaker

Publications and Research

ASSESSING VEGETATION PATTERN USING MODERATE RESOLUTION IMAGING SPECTRORADIOMETER (MODIS) IMAGES ALONG THE WESTERN COASTAL AREA OF BANGLADESH

AKHI, Atika Rahman, AHMED, Asib, HASSAN, Muhammad Qumrul, and KHANDAKER, Nazrul

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, Vol 54, No. 5, https://doi.org/10.1130/abs/2022AM-379769

AKHI, Atika Rahman, Department of Environmental Science, Bangladesh University of Professionals, Dhaka, 1000, Bangladesh, AHMED, Asib, Department of Geography and Environment, Dhaka University, Agargaon, Dhaka, 1000, Bangladesh, HASSAN, Muhammad Qumrul, Department of Geology, University of Dhaka, Dhaka, 1000, Bangladesh and KHANDAKER, Nazrul, Geology Discipline, York College of CUNY, 9420 Guy R Brewer Blvd, AC-2F09, Jamaica, NY 11451-0001

The …

Preliminary Geochemical And Mineralogical Assessment Of The Beach Sand, Vieques, Puerto Rico, Nazrul I. Khandaker

Publications and Research

PRELIMINARY GEOCHEMICAL AND MINERALOGICAL ASSESSMENT OF THE BEACH SAND, VIEQUES, PUERTO RICO

ROBBINS, Kathy H., KHANDAKER, Nazrul, SINGH, Andrew, and MUNRO, Toralv, Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, Vol 54, No. 5, https://doi.org/10.1130/abs/2022AM-379886

ROBBINS, Kathy H., Bronx Early College Academy for Teaching and Learning, 250E 164 STREET, Bronx, NY 10456, KHANDAKER, Nazrul, Geology Discipline, York College of CUNY, 9420 Guy R Brewer Blvd, AC-2F09, Jamaica, NY 11451-0001, SINGH, Andrew, Earth and Physical Sciences, York College of CUNY, 9420 Guy R Brewer Blvd, AC-2F09, Jamaica, NY 11451-0001 and MUNRO, Toralv, 10911 164th St Apt 1, Jamaica, NY 11433-2921 …

Geochemical Analysis Of Recent Volcanic Ash Blanketing Barbados And Constraints On Magma Composition (V32e-0112), Nazrul I. Khandaker, Krishna Mahabir, Surendranauth Mahabir, Lloyd Kiefer, Juan C. Campo, Andrew M. Singh

Publications and Research

Preliminary field and geochemical investigations were conducted on ash samples from Barbados to chemically characterize and decipher magma chemistry associated with a recent volcanic event. A thick plume of volcanic ash from the La Soufriere Volcano in St Vincent, which erupted on April 9, 2021, caused lower visibility due to ash clouds which engulfed the region for some time. Three authors from the research team visited Barbados during the summer subsequent and completed a reconnaissance investigation on recent ashfall. St Vincent is a small volcanic island in the Eastern Caribbean and lies in the southern part of the Lesser Antilles …

Comparing Geosciences-Related Engagement Generated During And After The Use Of Multiple Pedagogical Approaches: Animated Videos, Youtube, Interactive Educational Games, Group Discussion And Powerpoint Presentations, Andrew M. Singh, Nazrul I. Khandaker, Ality Aghedo, Jasmin Budhan, Belal A. Sayeed, B'Jorn K. Forde, Krishna Mahabir

Publications and Research

The COVID-19 pandemic has increased educators’ reliance on online learning tools such as Blackboard Collaborate Ultra and Zoom meetings to deliver geoscience-related lessons in real-time. Assessments were conducted using introduction to geology, environmental geology, and oceanography - part of the City University of New York's (CUNY) newly implemented pathways curriculum. These general education courses belong to scientific world and life and physical sciences category and are intended for seamless transfer between CUNY campuses. Students, however, have the option to disengage from participation. Students are able to disable microphones and cameras, as well as rely entirely on text-chat if they choose. …

Changing Behavior Of Cyclone In Bangladesh And Its Risk Assessment For Adaptation, Sareea Rahman Heea, Muhammad Qumrul Hassan, Abdul Mannan, Nazrul I. Khandaker

Publications and Research

Tropical cyclone (TC) is one of the most crucial topics not only for the natural loss but also for physical and economical loss of any country. The Bay of Bengal (BoB) generates number of tropical cyclones in each year. Bangladesh also experiences a number of cyclones. The surface temperature of the sea and air temperature is observed from NOAA high resolution satellite image. The Sea Surface Temperature (SST) of about 27°C and its higher is one of the prerequisite conditions for formation of a TC. But SST has increased by 1.2°C since last 40 years. It can be settled that …

Integrating Remote Digital Tools Into Post-Pandemic Geologic Fieldwork To Effectively Disseminate Content Delivery And Assist In Overall Understanding Of Various Geologic Phenomena: Summer 2022 Field Mapping Exercises, Nazrul I. Khandaker

Publications and Research

INTEGRATING REMOTE DIGITAL TOOLS INTO POST-PANDEMIC GEOLOGIC FIELDWORK TO EFFECTIVELY DISSEMINATE CONTENT DELIVERY AND ASSIST IN OVERALL UNDERSTANDING OF VARIOUS GEOLOGIC PHENOMENA: SUMMER 2022 FIELD MAPPING EXERCISES

SHAMI, Malek, BETHEL, Cherise, NUNEZ, Eddy, RAYHAN, Salam, KHANDAKER, Nazrul and CABAROY, Charren C.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol 54, No. 5, https://doi.org/10.1130/abs/2022AM-379779

SHAMI, Malek¹, BETHEL, Cherise², NUNEZ, Eddy³, RAYHAN, Salam³, KHANDAKER, Nazrul² and CABAROY, Charren C.¹, (1)Geology Discipline, AC-2F09, York College of CUNY, 9420 Guy R. Brewer Blvd., Jamaica, NY 11451, (2)Geology Discipline, York College of CUNY, …

Assessing Student Performance And Interest From The Start Of The Covid-19 Pandemic To Present Using Engagement, Attendance, And Grades As Indicators, Nazrul I. Khandaker

Publications and Research

ASSESSING STUDENT PERFORMANCE AND INTEREST FROM THE START OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC TO PRESENT USING ENGAGEMENT, ATTENDANCE, AND GRADES AS INDICATORS

SINGH, Andrew, KHANDAKER, Nazrul, ZARINE, Ali, ROBBINS, Kathy H., JACKSON, Shirley and AHMED, Masud,

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol 54, No. 5, https://doi.org/10.1130/abs/2022AM-379409

SINGH, Andrew¹, KHANDAKER, Nazrul², ZARINE, Ali³, ROBBINS, Kathy H.⁴, JACKSON, Shirley³ and AHMED, Masud⁵, (1)Earth and Physical Sciences, York College of CUNY, 9420 Guy R Brewer Blvd, AC-2F09, Jamaica, NY 11451-0001, (2)Geology Discipline, York College of CUNY, 9420 Guy R Brewer …

Artificial Intelligence And The Situational Rationality Of Diagnosis: Human Problem-Solving And The Artifacts Of Health And Medicine, Michael W. Raphael

Publications and Research

What is the problem-solving capacity of artificial intelligence (AI) for health and medicine? This paper draws out the cognitive sociological context of diagnostic problem-solving for medical sociology regarding the limits of automation for decision-based medical tasks. Specifically, it presents a practical way of evaluating the artificiality of symptoms and signs in medical encounters, with an emphasis on the visualization of the problem-solving process in doctor-patient relationships. In doing so, the paper details the logical differences underlying diagnostic task performance between man and machine problem-solving: its principle of rationality, the priorities of its means of adaptation to abstraction, and the effects …

Understanding The Vulnerability Of Staten Island's Eastern Coastline From A Beach Morphology Perspective, Jane L. Alexander, Amaury Acevedo, Jacklyn Reiszel

Publications and Research

Staten Island’s beaches were shown to be vulnerable to storm surge during Hurricane Sandy, with severe inundation into neighborhoods along the eastern shoreline; the area chosen for this study, and the area in which the Army Corps of Engineers plan to start constructing a seawall. A preliminary survey in summer 2018 suggested that this shoreline is reflective - i.e., one that changes little over the course of a year, but which is vulnerable to erosion during major storm events. The current work is designed to test the hypothesis that this is a reflective shoreline by completing regular field surveys over …

Conflict Dynamics In Scale-Free Networks With Degree Correlations And Hierarchical Structure, Eduardo Jacobo-Villegas, Bibiana Obregón-Quintana, Lev Guzmán-Vargas, Larry S. Liebovitch

Publications and Research

We present a study of the dynamic interactions between actors located on complex networks with scale-free and hierarchical scale-free topologies with assortative mixing, that is, correlations between the degree distributions of the actors. The actor’s state evolves according to a model that considers its previous state, the inertia to change, and the influence of its neighborhood. We show that the time evolution of the system depends on the percentage of cooperative or competitive
interactions. For scale-free networks, we find that the dispersion between actors is higher when all interactions are either cooperative or competitive, while a balanced presence of interactions …

Microstructural Origin Of The High-Energy Storage Performance In Epitaxial Lead-Free Ba(Zr 0.2 Ti 0.8 )O 3 Thick Films, Jun Ouyang, Xianke Wang, Changtao Shao, Hongbo Cheng, Hanfei Zhu, Yuhang Ren

Publications and Research

In our previous work, epitaxial Ba(Zr 0.2 Ti 0.8 )O 3 thick films (~1–2 μ m) showed an excellent energy storage performance with a large recyclable energy density (~58 J/cc) and a high energy efficiency (~92%), which was attributed to a nanoscale entangled heterophase polydomain structure. Here, we propose a detailed analysis of the structure–property relationship in these film materials, using an annealing process to illustrate the effect of nanodomain entanglement on the energy storage performance. It is revealed that an annealing-induced stress relaxation led to the segregation of the nanodomains (via detailed XRD analyses), and a degraded energy storage …

Small Molecule Modulation Of Microbiota: A Systems Pharmacology Perspective, Qiao Liu, Bohyun Lee, Lei Xie

Publications and Research

Background

Microbes are associated with many human diseases and influence drug efficacy. Small-molecule drugs may revolutionize biomedicine by fine-tuning the microbiota on the basis of individual patient microbiome signatures. However, emerging endeavors in small-molecule microbiome drug discovery continue to follow a conventional “one-drug-one-target-one-disease” process. A systematic pharmacology approach that would suppress multiple interacting pathogenic species in the microbiome, could offer an attractive alternative solution.

Results

We construct a disease-centric signed microbe–microbe interaction network using curated microbe metabolite information and their effects on host. We develop a Signed Random Walk with Restart algorithm for the accurate prediction of effect of microbes …

Web Design, Kwame A. Baffour

Open Educational Resources

No abstract provided.

Toward Informatics-Enabled Preparedness For Natural Hazards To Minimize Health Impacts Of Climate Change, Jimmy Phuong, Naomi O. Riches, Luca Calzoni, Gora Datta, Deborah Duran, Asiyah Yu Lin, Ramesh P. Singh, Anthony E. Solomonides, Noreen Y. Whysel, Ramakanth Kavuluru

Publications and Research

Natural hazards (NHs) associated with climate change have been increasing in frequency and intensity. These acute events impact humans both directly and through their effects on social and environmental determinants of health. Rather than relying on a fully reactive incident response disposition, it is crucial to ramp up preparedness initiatives for worsening case scenarios. In this perspective, we review the landscape of NH effects for human health and explore the potential of health informatics to address associated challenges, specifically from a preparedness angle. We outline important components in a health informatics agenda for hazard preparedness involving hazard-disease associations, social determinants …

Markovnikov Alcohols Via Epoxide Hydroboration By Molecular Alkali Metal Catalysts, Guoqi Zhang, Haisu Zeng, Shengping Zheng, Michelle C. Neary, Los Alamos National Laboratory

Publications and Research

Summary

Growth, Optimization, And Characterization Of Topological Insulator Nanostructures By Molecular Beam Epitaxy, Ido Levy

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Topological insulators (TIs) have been the subject of much research since their discovery in 2009. The unique band structure of the TIs makes them attractive in research of exotic physical phenomena, such as the realization of the quantum anomalous Hall effect, as well as novel applications, including quantum computing, spintronics, and more. From a crystal growth perspective, their van-der-Waals structure also provides new opportunities, for example, by enabling the growth on a large selection of substrates. This thesis presents the growth of three-dimensional TI layers, heterostructures and magnetic TIs by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). First, we show the improvement of …

Finite Gaussian Neurons: Defending Against Adversarial Attacks By Making Neural Networks Say "I Don’T Know", Felix Grezes

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In this work, I introduce the Finite Gaussian Neuron (FGN), a novel neuron architecture for artificial neural networks aimed at protecting against adversarial attacks.
Since 2014, artificial neural networks have been known to be vulnerable to adversarial attacks, which can fool the network into producing wrong or nonsensical outputs by making humanly imperceptible alterations to inputs. While defenses against adversarial attacks have been proposed, they usually involve retraining a new neural network from scratch, a costly task.

My works aims to:
- easily convert existing models to Finite Gaussian Neuron architecture,
- while preserving the existing model's behavior on real …

How Many Mutex Bugs Can A Simple Analysis Find In Go Programs?, Fumi Takeuchi, Hidehiko Masuhara, Raffi Khatchadourian, Youyou Cong, Keisuke Ishibashi

Publications and Research

In open-source software, it is known that there are many concurrency bugs. A previous study in Go revealed that a considerable number of such bugs are simple (for example, 9% of the bugs are the ones that forget to unlock a mutex,) through a manual program investigation. This paper tries to detect such bugs by applying a simple analysis to see how far such a tool can match the manual analysis. We built a simple intraprocedural control flow analysis in Go, and evaluated its performance concerning the open source programs with concurrency bugs reported in the previous study. Consequently, as …

Towards Explaining Variation In Entrainment, Andreas Weise

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Entrainment refers to the tendency of human speakers to adapt to their interlocutors to become more similar to them. This affects various dimensions and occurs in many contexts, allowing for rich applications in human-computer interaction. However, it is not exhibited by every speaker in every conversation but varies widely across features, speakers, and contexts, hindering broad application. This variation, whose guiding principles are poorly understood even after decades of entrainment research, is the subject of this thesis. We begin with a comprehensive literature review that serves as the foundation of our own work and provides a reference to guide future …

Generalization Of Bi-Canonical Degrees, Joseph Brennan, Laura Ghezzi, Jooyoun Hong, Wolmer Vasconcelos

Publications and Research

We discuss invariants of Cohen-Macaulay local rings that admit a canonical module ω. Attached to each such ring R, when ω is an ideal, there are integers–the type of R, the reduction number of ω–that provide valuable metrics to express the deviation of R from being a Gorenstein ring. In (Ghezzi et al. in JMS 589:506–528, 2017) and (Ghezzi et al. in JMS 571:55–74, 2021) we enlarged this list with the canonical degree and the bi-canonical degree. In this work we extend the bi-canonical degree to rings where ω is not necessarily an ideal. We also discuss generalizations to rings …

Influence Level Prediction On Social Media Through Multi-Task And Sociolinguistic User Characteristics Modeling, Denys Katerenchuk

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Prediction of a user’s influence level on social networks has attracted a lot of attention as human interactions move online. Influential users have the ability to influence others’ behavior to achieve their own agenda. As a result, predicting users’ level of influence online can help to understand social networks, forecast trends, prevent misinformation, etc. The research on user influence in social networks has attracted much attention across multiple disciplines, from social sciences to mathematics, yet it is still not well understood. One of the difficulties is that the definition of influence is specific to a particular problem or a domain, …

High Water-Responsiveness Of Peptidoglycan And Its Water-Responsive Mechanism, Haozhen Wang

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Water-responsive materials that reversibly deform in response to humidity changes show great potential for developing muscle-like actuators for miniature and biomimetic robotics. This thesis demonstrates that peptidoglycan exhibits ultrahigh water-responsive actuation energy and power densities, which are orders of magnitude higher than those of frequently used actuators, such as piezoelectric actuators and dielectric elastomers. Surprisingly, peptidoglycan exhibits an energy conversion efficiency of ~66.8%, which could be attributed to its super-viscous nanoconfined water that efficiently translates water’s movement to peptidoglycan’s mechanical deformation. The systematic water-responsive characterizations of peptidoglycan from different microorganisms and peptide crystals indicate that enhanced H-bonding interactions in water-responsive …

Nmr Characterization Of Novel Materials For Battery Electrolyte Applications, Sahana Bhattacharyya

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The extensive application of renewable and non-renewable energy storage devices in commercial products and services and the global warming have created significant motivations to accelerate research in battery technology. In addition, the risk factors generated by the high heat generation and flammability of the batteries are being addressed by inventing new renewable or non-renewable energy resources that do not release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. This thesis discusses the applications of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Spectroscopy in characterizing and understanding novel battery materials as potential battery electrolytes. Works discussed include: the variable temperature characterization of water-based solid polymer electrolyte for …

Grammar Competition Explored In Two Case Studies: The Null Subject Stage In English-Speaking Children And The Variation Observed In Old English, Soumik Dey

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Grammar competition theory postulates that variation in a speaker is the result of different grammars competing against each other. This study performs an analysis of two case studies of empirical observations attributed to possible grammar competition — subject drop in English-speaking children and variation observed in Old English.

Children in an English-speaking environment drop subjects early on during acquisition. Orfitelli and Hyams (2012) find that young English-speaking children mistakenly interpret imperative null subject utterances as declaratives. They suggest that this misinterpretation can be attributed to performance factors, which leads to grammar competition and subsequently subject drop in English children. We …