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Union College

Honors Theses

2018

Articles 1 - 13 of 13

Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Synthesis And Characterization Of Organically Modified Hectorites For Sequestration Of Pfaas From Contaminated Drinking Water, Alexandra Pagano Jun 2018

Synthesis And Characterization Of Organically Modified Hectorites For Sequestration Of Pfaas From Contaminated Drinking Water, Alexandra Pagano

Honors Theses

Perfluoroalkyl Acids (PFAAs), a family of industrial chemicals, are found in household products such as pizza boxes, microwave popcorn bags, and non-stick pans. PFAAs of different carbon chain lengths and ionic head groups exist, such as PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid) and PFOS (perfluorooctane sulfonic acid). Used without regulation in industry for decades, PFAAs only recently became recognized as contaminants of emerging concern, since they are bioaccumulative in organisms, persistent in the environment, and toxic. PFAAs are known to accumulate in the blood, liver and kidneys, and drinking water contaminated with PFAAs has been linked to certain types of cancer. Therefore, it …

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Optimization Of Superhydrophobic Surface Production Using Ambient-Dried Silica-Based Aerogels, Elizabeth Donlon Jun 2018

Optimization Of Superhydrophobic Surface Production Using Ambient-Dried Silica-Based Aerogels, Elizabeth Donlon

Honors Theses

Superhydrophobic surfaces exhibit particular properties that make them functional in various anti-sticking, anti-contamination, self-cleaning and drag reduction applications. Though such surfaces are found in nature - most notably the lotus leaf - they are difficult to produce. There are numerous methods and techniques for fabricating superhydrophobic surfaces. One such method is the sol-gel method, in which aerogel, a highly porous and lightweight material that can be made hydrophobic or superhydrophobic, is coated onto a surface. The purpose of this project is to devise a simple and repeatable procedure for making hydrophobic silica aerogel coatings that can be used for drag …

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Petrology And Thermodynamic Modeling Of Amphibolite Facies Rocks Of The Blåhø Nappe Of The Middle Allochthon, Scandinavian Caledonides In Norway, Maria Van Nostrand Jun 2018

Petrology And Thermodynamic Modeling Of Amphibolite Facies Rocks Of The Blåhø Nappe Of The Middle Allochthon, Scandinavian Caledonides In Norway, Maria Van Nostrand

Honors Theses

The Scandinavian Caledonides are an orogenic belt formed when Baltica collided with Laurentia during the late Silurian to early Devonian (Scandian, ~426–390 Ma, Gee et al., 2008). The thrust sheets forming the belt are divided into the Lower, Middle, Upper, and Uppermost Allochthons derived, respectively, from the Baltican margin and regions progressively farther outboard. This study focuses on the Blåhø Nappe, part of the Middle Allochthon, which is generally presumed to have been from an Early Paleozoic volcanic arc off the Baltican margin. The Blåhø Nappe contains abundant igneous and sedimentary rocks, metamorphosed almost entirely at amphibolite facies, but contains …

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Environmental Clearinghouse Of Schenectady, Kate Van Patten Jun 2018

Environmental Clearinghouse Of Schenectady, Kate Van Patten

Honors Theses

This paper analyses Environmental Clearinghouse of Schenectady, a local nonprofit environmental organization. The paper investigates the history of the organization as well as the effectiveness of its organizational and funding habits. A literary review was conducted to analyze the success of ECOS mission as well as the positive effects ECOS has on society using elements such as environmental education, the importance of early environmental education, how well the organization connects urban residents with the outdoors and the effectiveness of environmental programs. This research promotes the importance of early environmental education on our future generations health and environmental conditions. Additionally, through …

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Iterated Local Search Algorithms For Bike Route Generation, Aidan Pieper Jun 2018

Iterated Local Search Algorithms For Bike Route Generation, Aidan Pieper

Honors Theses

Planning routes for recreational cyclists is challenging because they prefer longer more scenic routes, not the shortest one. This problem can be modeled as an instance of the Arc Orienteering Problem (AOP), a known NP-Hard optimization problem. Because no known algorithms exist to solve this optimization problem efficiently, we solve the AOP using heuristic algorithms which trade accuracy for speed. We implement and evaluate two different Iterated Local Search (ILS) heuristic algorithms using an open source routing engine called GraphHopper and the OpenStreetMap data set. We propose ILS variants which our experimental results show can produce better routes at the …

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2018 Ieee Signal Processing Cup: Forensic Camera Model Identification Challenge, Michael Geiger Jun 2018

2018 Ieee Signal Processing Cup: Forensic Camera Model Identification Challenge, Michael Geiger

Honors Theses

The goal of this Senior Capstone Project was to lead Union College’s first ever Signal Processing Cup Team to compete in IEEE’s 2018 Signal Processing Cup Competition. This year’s competition was a forensic camera model identification challenge and was divided into two separate stages of competition: Open Competition and Final Competition. Participation in the Open Competition was open to any teams of undergraduate students, but the Final Competition was only open to the three finalists from Open Competition and is scheduled to be held at ICASSP 2018 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Teams that make it to the Final Competition will …

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Optimizing Tensegrity Gaits Using Bayesian Optimization, James Boggs Jun 2018

Optimizing Tensegrity Gaits Using Bayesian Optimization, James Boggs

Honors Theses

We design and implement a new, modular, more complex tensegrity robot featuring data collection and wireless communication and operation as well as necessary accompanying research infrastructure. We then utilize this new tensegrity to assess previous research on using Bayesian optimization to generate effective forward gaits for tensegrity robots. Ultimately, we affirm the conclusions of previous researchers, demonstrating that Bayesian optimization is statistically significantly (p < 0:05) more effective at discovering useful gaits than random search. We also identify several flaws in our new system and identify means of addressing them, paving the way for more effective future research.

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Galois Theory And The Quintic Equation, Yunye Jiang Jun 2018

Galois Theory And The Quintic Equation, Yunye Jiang

Honors Theses

Most students know the quadratic formula for the solution of the general quadratic polynomial in terms of its coefficients. There are also similar formulas for solutions of the general cubic and quartic polynomials. In these three cases, the roots can be expressed in terms of the coefficients using only basic algebra and radicals. We then say that the general quadratic, cubic, and quartic polynomials are solvable by radicals. The question then becomes: Is the general quintic polynomial solvable by radicals? Abel was the first to prove that it is not. In turn, Galois provided a general method of determining when …

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Characterization Of Glacial Sediments From A 700,000-Year-Old Lake Junín Drill Core, Tshering Lama Sherpa Jun 2018

Characterization Of Glacial Sediments From A 700,000-Year-Old Lake Junín Drill Core, Tshering Lama Sherpa

Honors Theses

Lake Junín (11.0°S, 76.2°W) is an intermontane lake at an elevation of 4085 masl in Junín, Peru. The lake spans ~300 km2 and has a water depth of ~12m. It is dammed at its northern and southern ends by glacial alluvial fans that have been dated >250 ka, indicating that the lake is at least this old. Lake Junín has never been overridden by ice in the past 1 million years making it one of the few lakes in the tropical Andes that predates the last maximum extent of glaciation and has a continuous record of waxing and waning of …

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Elementary Computational Fluid Dynamics Using Finite-Difference Methods, Jason Turner, Scott Labrake Jun 2018

Elementary Computational Fluid Dynamics Using Finite-Difference Methods, Jason Turner, Scott Labrake

Honors Theses

Fluids permeate all of human existence, and fluid dynamics serves as a rich field of research for many physicists. Although the mathematics involved in studying fluids tends to get complicated, the physical intuition gained through daily exposure to such systems bridges the gap between abstract calculations and their physical meaning. We discuss the mathematical treatment and simulations of fluid flows found in everyday life, such as flow in a cavity and through a pipe. Our discussions follow the example set by several notable texts, referenced in the document.

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An Empirical Analysis Of Climatic, Geographic, And Cultural Determinants Of International Tourism, Ethan Straus Jun 2018

An Empirical Analysis Of Climatic, Geographic, And Cultural Determinants Of International Tourism, Ethan Straus

Honors Theses

Each year, billions of people visit different countries all around the world. For many of those countries, tourism is their primary industry, leading to millions of jobs and dollars in revenue. It is expected that by 2020 total International Tourism Receipts will reach 2 trillion US dollars annually. Currently, tourism employs an estimated 200 million people around the world. With the continued progression of climate change, the tourism industry is facing a newfound threat. Global temperatures and the seal level are both expected to rise significantly by the end of the century. Additionally, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has …

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Introduction To Computational Topology Using Simplicial Persistent Homology, Jason Turner, Brenda Johnson, Ellen Gasparovic Mar 2018

Introduction To Computational Topology Using Simplicial Persistent Homology, Jason Turner, Brenda Johnson, Ellen Gasparovic

Honors Theses

The human mind has a natural talent for finding patterns and shapes in nature where there are none, such as constellations among the stars. Persistent homology serves as a mathematical tool for accomplishing the same task in a more formal setting, taking in a cloud of individual points and assembling them into a coherent continuous image. We present an introduction to computational topology as well as persistent homology, and use them to analyze configurations of BuckyBalls®, small magnetic balls commonly used as desk toys.

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A Better Way To Construct Tensegrities: Planar Embeddings Inform Tensegrity Assembly, Elizabeth Anne Ricci Mar 2018

A Better Way To Construct Tensegrities: Planar Embeddings Inform Tensegrity Assembly, Elizabeth Anne Ricci

Honors Theses

Although seemingly simple, tensegrity structures are complex in nature which makes them both ideal for use in robotics and difficult to construct. We work to develop a protocol for constructing tensegrities more easily. We consider attaching a tensegrity's springs to the appropriate locations on some planar arrangement of attached struts. Once all of the elements of the structure are connected, we release the struts and allow the tensegrity to find its equilibrium position. This will allow for more rapid tensegrity construction. We develop a black-box that given some tensegrity returns a flat-pack, or the information needed to perform this physical …

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