Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

A Quantitative Analysis On Bitmex Perpetual Inverse Futures Xbtusd Contract, Yue Wu

Undergraduate Economic Review

The perpetual inverse futures contract is a recent and most popularly traded cryptocurrency derivative over crypto derivatives exchanges. Exchanges implement a liquidation mechanism that terminates positions which no longer satisfy maintenance requirements. In this study, we use regression, stochastic calculus, and simulation methods to provide a quantitative description of the wealth/return process for holding an XBTUSD contract on BitMEX, examine the funding rate and index price properties, and relate liquidation to leverage as a stopping time problem. The results will help investors understand liquidation to optimize their trading strategy and researchers in studying the design of crypto derivatives.

Experimental Implementation Of Wavefront Sensorless Real-Time Adaptive Optics Aberration Correction Control Loop With A Neural Network, Minhzao Liu, David N. Lopez, Gabriel C. Spalding

Scholarship

Recently, deep neural network (DNN) based adaptive optics systems were proposed to address the issue of latency in existing wavefront sensorless (WFS-less) aberration correction techniques. Intensity images alone are sufficient for the DNN model to compute the necessary wavefront correction, removing the need for iterative processes and allowing practical real-time aberration correction to be implemented. Specifically, we generate the desired aberration correction phase profiles utilizing a DNN based system that outputs a set of coefficients for 27 terms of Zernike polynomials. We present an experimental realization of this technique using a spatial light modulator (SLM) on real physical turbulence-induced aberration. …

Text Anomaly Detection With Arae-Anogan, Tec Yan Yap

Honors Projects

Generative adversarial networks (GANs) are now one of the key techniques for detecting anomalies in images, yielding remarkable results. Applying similar methods to discrete structures, such as text sequences, is still largely an unknown. In this work, we introduce a new GAN-based text anomaly detection method, called ARAE-AnoGAN, that trains an adversarially regularized autoencoder (ARAE) to reconstruct normal sentences and detects anomalies via a combined anomaly score based on the building blocks of ARAE. Finally, we present experimental results demonstrating the effectiveness of ARAE-AnoGAN and other deep learning methods in text anomaly detection.

Decompositions Of Complete Uniform Multipartite Hypergraphs, Patrick Ward

Honors Projects

In recent years, researchers have studied the existence of complete uniform hypergraphs into small-order hypergraphs. In particular, results on small 3-uniform graphs including loose 3, 4, and 5 cycles have been studied, as well as 4-uniform loose cycles of length 3. As part of these studies, decompositions of multipartite hypergraphs were constructed. In this paper, we extend this work to higher uniformity and order as well as expand the class of hypergraphs.

A Data Analysis Of The World Happiness Index And Its Relation To The North-South Divide, Charles Alba

Undergraduate Economic Review

In this document, we perform a detailed data analysis on the World Happiness Report with its relation to the socio-economic North-South Divide. In order to do so, we perform some extensive data cleaning and analysis before querying on the World Happiness Report. Our results based on Hypothesis Testing determines the happiness of the Global North is greater than that of the Global South. Furthermore, our queries show that the mean happiness score for the Global North significantly outweighing that of the South. Likewise, the 10 'Happiest' nations all belong to the Global North whereas the 10 'least happy' nations belong …

The Role Of Citizenship Status And Its Impact On Latinos’ Civic Engagement In The United States, Veronica Torres Luna

CrissCross

This paper discusses the way in which U.S. citizenship status and legal permanent resident status impacts the likelihood of involvement in civic engagement activities among Latinos in the United States. Past research has looked into various variables such as group consciousness, Spanish-media language, and importance of issues; however, specific research on citizenship status is limited. This paper analyzes data from the Pew Research Center and data obtained from individual interviews in the Midwest. The results show that citizens are more likely than residents to be involved in the community and politics. These findings have important implications in how policies are …

Rebecca Roesner And Advancing Diversity In The Chemical Sciences, Ryan Denham

Interviews for WGLT

Rebecca Roesner, chair and professor of chemistry at Illinois Wesleyan University, has earned the Stanley C. Israel Regional Award for Advancing Diversity in the Chemical Sciences for her work furthering diversity and inclusivity. Professor Roesner spoke about the award, and her part in helping to promote diversity in the sciences with Ryan Denham from WGLT Radio.

Terahertz Absorption Spectra Of Silicate Cosmic Analog Dusts Using A Novel Spectrometer, Binh Phan

Honors Projects

Metal-containing amorphous silicate grains are expected to be a major component of interstellar dust. Amorphous silicate grains containing magnesium, iron, and calcium have been synthesized in the IWU chemistry department. I have contributed to the construction and testing of an instrument that will be used to measure terahertz absorption spectra of cold samples at astronomically interesting temperatures.

To study cosmic dust analogs, we installed dust samples, embedded in low-density polyethylene (LDPE) pellets, in a sample-exchanger and cooled it down within a cryostat to 3.0 Kelvin. Using a blackbody radiation source, we measured the transmission of terahertz light through those samples …

Manori Perera And Problems For Automobiles During Sub-Zero Temperatures, Eric Stock

Interviews for WGLT

Eric Stock,WGLT Radio, spoke to Professor of Chemistry Manori Perera about the hazards that sub-zero temperatures create for automobiles.

You Can Judge A Bearer By Its Bark: Dogs Use Sound To Size Up Conspecifics, Zachary Silver

CrissCross

A variety of mammalian species use vocalizations to perceive the size of conspecifics. This ability may be an evolutionary adaptation shared by many mammalian species allowing them to detect the presence of a threat when visual resources are scarce or unavailable. Specifically, some mammals demonstrate prolonged attention to manipulated calls that suggest a larger conspecific compared to those suggesting a smaller conspecific. In humans this behavioral effect depends on the observer’s size—perceptions of ‘big’ or ‘small’ may differ between individuals. We explored whether this generalizes to other species by manipulating formant dispersion of dogs’ own barks to create synthetic barks …

In Pursuit Of A Good Night’S Rest. Steps Towards Improving Electroencephalogram (Eeg) Accessibility And Affordability, Niyant Vora

John Wesley Powell Student Research Conference

The Electroencephalogram (EEG), which is used to effectively record brain waves, has long been a key pillar of sleep research. However, sleep research has an important problem–the natural environment in which people sleep (their bedrooms), is not where sleep research is conducted. Several companies have released EEG headsets to try and address this problem, however, there are still many obstacles to home use. Such headsets are too expensive to be used by everyone and are still not effective enough to be utilized by physicians performing sleep studies. The goal of our research is to find affordable and innovative ways to …

Pricing Asian Options: Volatility Forecasting As A Source Of Downside Risk, Adam T. Diehl

Undergraduate Economic Review

Asian options are a class of derivative securities whose payoffs average movements in the underlying asset as a means of hedging exposure to unexpected market behavior. We find that despite their volatility smoothing properties, the price of an Asian option is sensitive to the choice of volatility model employed to price them from market data. We estimate the errors induced by two common schemes of forecasting volatility and their potential impact upon trading.

The Value Of Green Certification On Single-Family Houses In The Chicagoland Area, Raymond Bolton

Honors Projects

In the United States, residential buildings alone account for 33% of energy consumption. Rising concerns about environmental impacts due to human consumption, as well as health concerns related to pollution have caused a higher demand for environmentally conscious houses. Homebuilders have responded by providing green certifications for houses, attesting to a building’s efficiency in various aspects, such as site design and energy and water consumption. Using Multiple Listing Services real estate data on zero- to five-year-old houses sold between 2010 and 2017 in the Chicagoland area, this study examines whether there is a price premium associated with qualifying for green …

Encoding Lexicographical Ordering Constraints In Sat, Wenting Zhao

Honors Projects

Symmetry occurs in many constraint satisfaction problems, and it is important to deal with it efficiently and effectively, as it often leads to an exponential number of isomorphic assignments. Symmetric rows and columns in matrices are an important class of symmetries in constraint programming. In this work, we develop a new SAT encoding for partial lexicographical ordering constraints to break symmetries in such places. We also survey all the previous complete lex-leader encodings in literature and translate them into SAT encodings. We perform experimental analysis on how these lex-leader constraints impact the solving of Balanced Incomplete Block Design (BIBD) instances. …

New Implementations For Tabulating Pseudoprimes And Liars, Wuyang Liu

Honors Projects

Whether it is applied to primality test or cryptography, pseudoprimes are one of the most important topics in number theory. Regarding the study of strong pseudoprimes, there are two problems which mathematicians have been working on:
1. Given a, b, find all a-spsp up to b.
2. Given an odd composite n, find all a -n such that n is an a-spsp.
where n = a-spsp means n is a strong pseudoprime to base a, and a is a strong liar of n.

The two problems are respectively referred to as …

Movement I From Lamentationes, Timothy W. Mcdunn

CrissCross

This piece is a setting of the first poem in the book of ʼêḵāh from the Hebrew Bible (the book of Lamentations in the Christian Old Testament). Setting the text in its original language has had two primary advantages: (1) it preserved euphony and other poetic subtleties and (2) it left the poetry's original cultural context intact.

I use harmonic rhetoric to imitate several features of the text. One of them is the so-called "tragic reversal," a device illustrated by the lines cited above, where a reversal of fortune is expressed through the contrast between the first colon and the …

Industrial Education, Community Outreach, And Progressivism In Boston’S North End 1880-1920, Meg Stanley

CrissCross

At the turn of the 20th century, America’s Northeastern cities were expanding, diversifying and industrially progressing at an unprecedented rate. Immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe were flocking to ethnic neighborhoods in search of familiarity in a new land. Boston’s historic North End became an epicenter of ethnic collisions with a growing population of unskilled immigrants and a declining quality of life. Through the chaos, the North Bennet Street Industrial School (NBSIS) emerged as a leading educational institution. The school provided opportunities for education and community involvement, responding to the needs of the struggling neighborhood.

Writing As A Spatiotemporal Concept: Ekphrasis Of Place And The Spatial Turn, Maggie Kennelly

CrissCross

Ever since Lessing wrote his Laocoön many critics have classified painting as a solely spatial art and writing as a solely temporal one. However, in recent years the idea of the spatial turn, of space not fitting into only one category, has sparked new critiques as to what defines art. In this paper, I prove that, by using ekphrasis of place, writing is a spatiotemporal art, meaning it depicts both space and time. This argument is supported by evidence from literary critics, notably Joseph Frank, and pieces of poetry and prose in which ekphrasis of place is used. Through this …

Studies In Mesoscopics And Quantum Microscopies, Zhenghao Ding, Gabriel C. Spalding

Honors Projects

This thesis begins with a foundational section on quantum optics. The single-photon detectors used in the first chapter were obtained through the Advanced Laboratory Physics Association (ALPhA), which brokered reduced cost for educational use, and the aim of the single-photon work presented in Chapter 1 is to develop modules for use in Illinois Wesleyan's instructional labs beyond the first year of university. Along with the American Association of Physics Teachers, ALPhA encourages capstone-level work, such as Chapter 1 of this honors thesis, which is explicitly designed to play the role of passing on, to a next generation of physics majors, …

Rebecca Roesner, 2017 Dougan Award Presentation, Brian Brennan, Iwu Chapter Of The Aaup, Illinois Wesleyan University

Dougan Award Winners

No abstract provided.

Effects Of Lewis Acids On The Baeyer-Villiger Oxidation Reaction, Suchana Chaulagain, Samridh Gupta, Ram Mohan, Faculty Advisor

John Wesley Powell Student Research Conference

No abstract provided.

Lewis Acid Catalyzed 1,4 Hosomi-Sakurai Addition Of Allyl Groups To Chalcones And Other A, B-Unsaturated Compounds, Jack Roireau, Brian Worby, Ram Mohan, Faculty Advisor

John Wesley Powell Student Research Conference

No abstract provided.

2-(51, 6, 1) Block Designs, Wenting Zhao, Mark Liffiton. Faculty Advisor

John Wesley Powell Student Research Conference

No abstract provided.

Permanents Of Tridiagonal And Hessenberg Matrices Representing Recursive Number And Polynomial Sequences, Ximing Dong, Tian-Xiao He, Faculty Advisor

John Wesley Powell Student Research Conference

No abstract provided.

Exploring Multigraph Pairs Of Ikn, William O'Conner, Daniel Roberts, Faculty Advisor

John Wesley Powell Student Research Conference

No abstract provided.

Tabulation Of Strong Pseudoprimes, Tony Liu, Andrew Shallue, Faculty Advisor

John Wesley Powell Student Research Conference

No abstract provided.

Studies Into Addiction Of Grignard Reagents To Conjugated Aldehydes And Ketones, Zachary Kinney, Ram Mohan, Faculty Advisor

John Wesley Powell Student Research Conference

No abstract provided.

Lewis Acid Catalyzed Synthesis Of Dihydrobenzopyrans, Ian Taylor, Ram Mohan, Faculty Advisor

John Wesley Powell Student Research Conference

No abstract provided.

The Evolution Of Zero-Tolerance Policies, Stephanie D. Stahl

CrissCross

Most Americans today have a largely negative image of zero-tolerance policies (ZTP) enacted to stop and prevent violence in the United States school system. According to the U.S. Department of Education Office of Educational Research and Improvement, zero-tolerance procedures are policies that mandate predetermined consequences or punishments for specific offenses (Walker). These policies specifically targeted actions considered violent and threatening, such as possession of a firearm or weapon. The concept of zero-tolerance policies was introduced into the education system during the 1980s as part of the failed War on Drugs as an attack on drug usage and violence in schools. …

The Labyrinth Of The Mind: The Psychology Of War Stories In Tim O’Brien’S Going After Cacciato, Rebekah Smith

CrissCross

This paper explores and analyzes the psychological reasons for storytelling by soldiers and veterans both during and after their deployments in war. It brings in multiple works by author-veterans as well as critical writing about these books with a specific focus on Going After Cacciato by Tim O'Brien. Paul Berlin, the novel's protagonist, imagines a fictional quest leaving Vietnam and going all the way to Paris following the desertion of a fellow soldier gone AWOL. He creates this journey to create order, find meaning, generate understanding, and focus on the good rather than the bad. This paper also explores the …