Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Solution-Processed Flexible Broadband Zno Photodetector Modified By Ag Nanoparticles, N. P. Klochko, K. S. Klepikova, I. V. Khrypunova, V. R. Kopach, I. I. Tyukhov, S. I. Petrushenko, S. V. Dukarov, V. M. Sukhov, M. V. Kirichenko, A. L. Khrypunova

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

In this work, we present flexible broadband photodetectors (PDs) fabricated by a deposition of nanostructured zinc oxide (ZnO) films on polyimide (PI) substrates by using cheap and scalable aqueous method Successive Ionic Layer Adsorption and Reaction (SILAR). In order to increase the long-wavelength absorption of the nanostructured ZnO layer, we created its intrinsic defects, including oxygen vacancies by post-treatment at 300 °C in vacuum and thus the light-sensitive material ZnO/PI was obtained. Then we applied silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) from a silver sol onto a nanostructured ZnO film, which were visualized using SEM in the form of spheres up to …

Proquest Tdm Studio: A Text And Data Mining Solution, Anamika Megwalu, Anne Marie Engelsen

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

TDM Studio is an integrated platform offered by ProQuest for data and text mining. TDM stands for text and data mining. This cloud-based, all-in-one innovative product is designed to offer researchers a clean interface with rights-cleared content, Jupyter notebook, and data visualization tools. As a result, researchers can now search Pro-Quest databases, create large datasets, import data to Jupyter notebook for analysis, and download results within a day.

Mechanics Of Ascension Through Genshin Impact, Megan Chao

ART 108: Introduction to Games Studies

Genshin Impact, or Genshin for short, is a free roleplaying, open-world, adventure video game released for Playstation 4, Microsoft Windows, iOS, and Android on September 28th, 2020. Since its initial release, the game has gained considerable recognition for its storytelling ability, in-depth lore, and amazing character and world-building design. They were awarded Apple’s “Game of the Year” in 2020 and have grossed over $100 million from in-app iOS purchases alone.

Difficulty In Video Games, Jason Bechdolt

ART 108: Introduction to Games Studies

Throughout time games have been utilized for a great variety of purposes: relaxing leisure, competitive activity, intellectual exercise, and many other sources of enjoyment. The element of difficulty has existed in various degrees throughout all of those game styles, usually found through the skill of an opponent, but lately many games have been designed to have a digital opponent to provide that difficulty. With access to more information than ever before, people have gotten the chance to witness lives and worlds that they can never physically enjoy, and this has led to a considerable market for games that can provide …

Informing Wetland Management With Waterfowl Movement And Sanctuary Use Responses To Human-Induced Disturbance, Fiona Mcduie, Austen A. Lorenz, Robert C. Klinger, Cory T. Overton, Cliff L. Feldheim, Joshua T. Ackerman, Michael L. Casazza

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Long-term environmental management to prevent waterfowl population declines is informed by ecology, movement behavior and habitat use patterns. Extrinsic factors, such as human-induced disturbance, can cause behavioral changes which may influence movement and resource needs, driving variation that affects management efficacy. To better understand the relationship between human-based disturbance and animal movement and habitat use, and their potential effects on management, we GPS tracked 15 dabbling ducks in California over ~4-weeks before, during and after the start of a recreational hunting season in October/November 2018. We recorded locations at 2-min intervals across three separate 24-h tracking phases: Phase 1) two …

Analytical Models For Traffic Congestion And Accident Analysis, Hongrui Liu, Rahul Ramachandra Shetty

Mineta Transportation Institute

In the US, over 38,000 people die in road crashes each year, and 2.35 million are injured or disabled, according to the statistics report from the Association for Safe International Road Travel (ASIRT) in 2020. In addition, traffic congestion keeping Americans stuck on the road wastes millions of hours and billions of dollars each year. Using statistical techniques and machine learning algorithms, this research developed accurate predictive models for traffic congestion and road accidents to increase understanding of the complex causes of these challenging issues. The research used US Accidents data consisting of 49 variables describing 4.2 million accident records …

Mapping E-Commerce Locally And Beyond: Citt K12 Special Investigation Project, Thomas O’Brien, Deanna Matsumoto

Mineta Transportation Institute

As all aspects of the American workplace become automated or digitally enhanced to some degree, K12 educators have an increasing responsibility to help their students acquire the technical skills necessary to organize and interpret information. Increasingly, this is done through Geographic Information Systems (GIS), especially in careers related to transportation and logistics. The Center for International Trade & Transportation (CITT) at CSU Long Beach has developed this K12 Special Investigation Project to introduce ArcGIS StoryMaps, an engaging, accessible and sophisticated web-based GIS application. The lessons center on e-commerce and its accompanying environmental and economic impact. Still, the activities can be …

Characterization Of Cdom In The Elkhorn Slough Estuary Using Eem Spectroscopy And Its Potential For Macrophyte Monitoring, María Vila Duplá

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

The Elkhorn Slough estuary is an upwelling-influenced system located in Monterey Bay, California. It is of great ecological importance, as it provides essential habitat to over 750 species, and is one of the largest estuaries in California. The sources and distribution of chromophoric dissolved organic matter (cDOM) in Elkhorn Slough are strongly influenced by geochemical processes linked to the transition between sea and continent, and to anthropogenic activity from adjacent lands. In 2016, water samples were collected from across the Elkhorn Slough estuary to assess the sources and spatial dynamics of cDOM and its components throughout the system. Using EEM …

Statistical Potentials For Rna-Protein Interactions Optimized By Cma-Es, Takayuki Kimura, Nobuaki Yasuo, Masakazu Sekijima, Brooke Lustig

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Characterizing RNA-protein interactions remains an important endeavor, complicated by the difficulty in obtaining the relevant structures. Evaluating model structures via statistical potentials is in principle straight-forward and effective. However, given the relatively small size of the existing learning set of RNA-protein complexes optimization of such potentials continues to be problematic. Notably, interaction-based statistical potentials have problems in addressing large RNA-protein complexes. In this study, we adopted a novel strategy with covariance matrix adaptation (CMA-ES) to calculate statistical potentials, successfully identifying native docking poses.

Exploring The Relationship Between Mandatory Helmet Use Regulations And Adult Cyclists’ Behavior In California Using Hybrid Machine Learning Models, Fatemeh Davoudi Kakhki, Maria Chierichetti

Mineta Transportation Institute

In California, bike fatalities increased by 8.1% from 2015 to 2016. Even though the benefits of wearing helmets in protecting cyclists against trauma in cycling crash has been determined, the use of helmets is still limited, and there is opposition against mandatory helmet use, particularly for adults. Therefore, exploring perceptions of adult cyclists regarding mandatory helmet use is a key element in understanding cyclists’ behavior, and determining the impact of mandatory helmet use on their cycling rate. The goal of this research is to identify sociodemographic characteristics and cycling behaviors that are associated with the use and non-use of bicycle …

Computer-Aided Diagnosis Of Low Grade Endometrial Stromal Sarcoma (Lgess), Xinxin Yang, Mark Stamp

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Low grade endometrial stromal sarcoma (LGESS) accounts for about 0.2% of all uterine cancer cases. Approximately 75% of LGESS patients are initially misdiagnosed with leiomyoma, which is a type of benign tumor, also known as fibroids. In this research, uterine tissue biopsy images of potential LGESS patients are preprocessed using segmentation and stain normalization algorithms. We then apply a variety of classic machine learning and advanced deep learning models to classify tissue images as either benign or cancerous. For the classic techniques considered, the highest classification accuracy we attain is about 0.85, while our best deep learning model achieves an …

Traveling Wave Solutions For Two Species Competitive Chemotaxis Systems, T. B. Issa, R. B. Salako, W. Shen

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

In this paper, we consider two species chemotaxis systems with Lotka–Volterra competition reaction terms. Under appropriate conditions on the parameters in such a system, we establish the existence of traveling wave solutions of the system connecting two spatially homogeneous equilibrium solutions with wave speed greater than some critical number c∗. We also show the non-existence of such traveling waves with speed less than some critical number c∗0 , which is independent of the chemotaxis. Moreover, under suitable hypotheses on the coefficients of the reaction terms, we obtain explicit range for the chemotaxis sensitivity coefficients ensuring c∗ = c∗0 , which …

Developing An Effective Targeted Mobile Application To Enhance Transportation Safety And Use Of Active Transportation Modes In Fresno County: The Role Of Application Design & Content, Samer Sarofim

Mineta Transportation Institute

Do pedestrians and cyclists need their own app? Pedestrians and cyclists in Fresno county think so, and this research examined this need and how it relates to the importance of app design. Survey participants (all who regularly use active transportation modes) along with a variety of transportation stakeholders, including the Fresno Council of Government, the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) District 6, and the City of Fresno — Public Works Department, indicated the importance of designing effective communication tools to enhance the utilization of active transportation modes and to ensure the safety of vulnerable road users. In this study, over …

Tolkien: Scholar And Modern Game Pioneer, Alicia Breinke

ART 108: Introduction to Games Studies

History can be a necessity, or necessary evil for some people when we want to comprehend real-time issues or trends. Gaming is a trend that applies to this since we often seem to be drawn in by the excitement of the graphics, music, and storylines, yet it seems like people seldomly try to uncover their origins. At the same time, though, a game’s historic foundation is essential to understand since it can help us gain a greater appreciation for these experiences. Role play games are an exceptional example of this since many renowned ones have external influences. J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The …

Has Excessive Violence In Video Games Gone Too Far?, Kyra Sycip

ART 108: Introduction to Games Studies

Numerous case studies and published research have led many gamers and non-gamers to wonder whether the excessive loads of violence found in video games is truly necessary for “fun” gameplay and entertainment. Controversies have been arising within famous video games such as the Grand Theft Auto series, Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, and Six Days in Fallujah. These three games have been the subject of numerous present day debates and have sparked many arguments within the gaming community. As well as the debate of whether these games are indeed harmful to the player’s psychology and nature has yet to …

Sound In Video Games: How Sound Is An Important Aspect Of The Virtual Experience, James Boen

ART 108: Introduction to Games Studies

This paper will take the form of an analysis, with video games as the medium/text that will be analysed. Although analysis is typically reserved for poems, books, short stories, or plays, video games are simply a form of conveying ideas and a form of text that is representative of the 21st century. Video games is a rare medium that has an interactive element, which can alter/enhance the experience an audience member can have, even if there were the same audio/visual components in a film or play. In most forms of media with an audio component, the analysis is done by …

How This War Of Mine Creates Empathy For Virtual Characters, Cole Pergerson

ART 108: Introduction to Games Studies

Is it possible to empathize with virtual characters? Are game characters just a means for game and story progress or can we develop a strong emotional connection with them? In this research essay, I analysis This War of Mine, a game about surviving a worn torn city where food is limited, and the player must make difficult moral decisions survive. The player controls a small group of characters who all need to be feed, get enough sleep, may need medical care, and other human needs. To look how This War of Mine creates empathy for the virtual characters, I will …

Human/Artificial Intelligence Coordination In Video Games, Michael Rodriguez

ART 108: Introduction to Games Studies

The emergence of video games has led to widespread inventions to enhance the reality of the experience. As a result, Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) was developed to create virtual experiences and attract a variety of players of video games. This paper will discuss video games in the context of Human-A.I. interaction and the importance of human coordination in video games. Unprecedented errors have been a common challenge in this relationship. An excellent example of these algorithms include population-based training and self-play, which have gained a lot of interest in video games. A.I. technology has surpassed human ability because they are simply …

Multifidelity Prediction In Wildfire Spread Simulation: Modeling, Uncertainty Quantification And Sensitivity Analysis, Mario Miguel Valero, Lluís Jofre, Ricardo Torres

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Wildfire behavior predictions typically suffer from significant uncertainty. However, wildfire modeling uncertainties remain largely unquantified in the literature, mainly due to computing constraints. New multifidelity techniques provide a promising opportunity to overcome these limitations. Therefore, this paper explores the applicability of multifidelity approaches to wildland fire spread prediction problems. Using a canonical simulation scenario, we assessed the performance of control variates Monte-Carlo (MC) and multilevel MC strategies, achieving speedups of up to 100x in comparison to a standard MC method. This improvement was leveraged to quantify aleatoric uncertainties and analyze the sensitivity of the fire rate of spread (RoS) to …

Predicting Bus Travel Times In Washington, Dc Using Artificial Neural Networks (Anns), Stephen Arhin, Babin Manandhar, Hamdiat Baba Adam, Adam Gatiba

Mineta Transportation Institute

Washington, DC is ranked second among cities in terms of highest public transit commuters in the United States, with approximately 9% of the working population using the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) Metrobuses to commute. Deducing accurate travel times of these metrobuses is an important task for transit authorities to provide reliable service to its patrons. This study, using Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), developed prediction models for transit buses to assist decision-makers to improve service quality and patronage. For this study, we used six months of Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) and Automatic Passenger Counting (APC) data for six Washington …

Peer Motivation: Getting Through Math Together, Jessica Mean, Wes Maciejewski

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Students have a complex relationship with mathematics. Some love it, but more often than not, the feelings are less favorable. These feelings can lead to decreased motivation which makes it difficult for students to engage with the subject as the semester progresses. Instructors also have difficulty addressing this waning motivation. In this paper, we claim peers are better able to connect with the students and this can be leveraged to better motivate students. We present an approach to having peers motivate their students. These peer interactions integrated with a mandatory mathematics course might improve students’ motivation.

Using Beam Software To Simulate The Introduction Of On-Demand, Automated, And Electric Shuttles For Last Mile Connectivity In Santa Clara County, Gary Hsueh, David Czerwinski, Cristian Poliziani, Terris Becker, Alexandre Hughes, Peter Chen, Melissa Benn

Mineta Transportation Institute

Despite growing interest in low-speed automated shuttles, pilot deployments have only just begun in a few places in the U.S., and there is a lack of studies that estimate the impacts of a widespread deployment of automated shuttles designed to supplement existing transit networks. This project estimated the potential impacts of automated shuttles based on a deployment scenario generated for a sample geographic area: Santa Clara County, California. The project identified sample deployment markets within Santa Clara County using a GIS screening exercise; tested the mode share changes of an automated shuttle deployment scenario using BEAM, an open-source beta software …

Local Climate Action Planning As A Tool To Harness The Greenhouse Gas Emissions Mitigation And Equity Potential Of Autonomous Vehicles And On-Demand Mobility, Serena Alexander, Asha Weinstein Agrawal, Benjamin Y. Clark

Mineta Transportation Institute

This report focuses on how cities can use climate action plans (CAPs) to ensure that on-demand mobility and autonomous vehicles (AVs) help reduce, rather than increase, green-house gas (GHG) emissions and inequitable impacts from the transportation system. We employed a three-pronged research strategy involving: (1) an analysis of the current literature on on-demand mobility and AVs; (2) a systematic content analysis of 23 CAPs and general plans developed by municipalities in California; and (3) a comparison of findings from the literature and content analysis of plans to identify opportunities for GHG emissions reduction and mobility equity.

Findings indicate that maximizing …