Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons™
Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
- Discipline
- Keyword
-
- Biology (2)
- Chemistry (2)
- Energy (2)
- Exponential Distribution (2)
- Geology (2)
-
- Glaciers (2)
- Kolomogorov-Smirnov Test (2)
- Microplastics (2)
- Modeling Distances (2)
- Nooksack River (2)
- Optimization (2)
- Physics (2)
- Sortase (2)
- Spatial Poisson Process (2)
- Spectroscopy (2)
- Watersheds (2)
- AI (1)
- APOGEE-2 (1)
- ARIMA (1)
- Activated carbon (1)
- Active Learning (1)
- Agriculture (1)
- Alcohol (1)
- Algae (1)
- Alkaloid (1)
- Alpine ecosystem (1)
- Alternative route (1)
- American Chestnut (1)
- Amorphous silica (1)
- Ancestral Sequence Reconstruction (1)
- File Type
Articles 1 - 30 of 56
Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Investigating Transfer Of Energy Concepts Learned In Physics To Biology Contexts, Brittany Mureno, Eric Mckenzie
Investigating Transfer Of Energy Concepts Learned In Physics To Biology Contexts, Brittany Mureno, Eric Mckenzie
Scholars Week
Problem solving interviews were used to investigate student understanding of energy concepts in a biology course for preservice K-8 teachers. Interview subjects constructed an energy-based explanation for a biology scenario. Subjects had previously taken a physics course in which an energy-based model for interactions had been developed. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed to identify common themes in student reasoning. These themes describe discipline-specific understanding, but also cut across disciplines, providing insight into how learners make sense of energy as a unifying concept.
Uniform Dispersion Of Nanoparticles In Pmma Waveguides For Luminescent Solar Concentrators, Daniel Korus
Uniform Dispersion Of Nanoparticles In Pmma Waveguides For Luminescent Solar Concentrators, Daniel Korus
Scholars Week
With the rise of emissions-related climate change, novel renewable energy sources must be realized. At the same time, evolution of the electric distribution grid away from traditionally large, centralized producers toward smaller, decentralized sources drives the need for next generation technologies that can be more readily integrated into the built environment. Nanocrystal (NC)-doped luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs) are waveguides that absorb diffuse and direct broadband sunlight across their surface and direct narrow-bandwidth, high-brightness light to their edges, for conversion into electricity by coupled, bandgap-matched, photovoltaic (PV) cells. LSCs are insensitive to incident light orientation, partial shading, and can be integrated …
The Past Is The Key To The Present: Reconstructing Changes In Seasonal Precipitation Triggered By Ancient Climate Change, William Ward
The Past Is The Key To The Present: Reconstructing Changes In Seasonal Precipitation Triggered By Ancient Climate Change, William Ward
Scholars Week
Plant biomarkers have grown in use for defining paleoclimates in the geologic record, especially during major climate change events. Research utilizing these biomarkers often looks at leaf waxes within preserved organic matter in the rock record. These waxes are resilient to decomposition and thus are invaluable to paleoclimate reconstruction. Specifically, changes in the composition of hydrogen isotopes (D/H) in leaf wax lipids (n-alkanes and fatty acids) reflect changes in precipitation and can be used to model variability in the hydrologic cycle during major climate change events, such as abrupt global warming events (e.g. hyperthermals). The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), about …
Modeling Park Visitation Using Transformations Of Distance-Type Predictor Variables With Lasso, Ashley Hall
Modeling Park Visitation Using Transformations Of Distance-Type Predictor Variables With Lasso, Ashley Hall
Scholars Week
We examine three common transformations (identity, fourth-root, and log) to determine the most suitable transformation for evaluating the importance of certain common features surrounding the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area (TCMA) city parks on park visitation. The distances between these features and city parks are approximately exponentially distributed by noting that their relative locations closely follow the spatial Poisson process. Because a fourth-root transformation improves the normality of exponential random variables, we verify that the fourth-root transformation is considered best by comparing correlation coefficients of the fourth-rooted data to the untransformed and log-transformed data via simulation. Using the TCMA city parks …
Calibration Optimization Of A Stream Temperature Model Applied To The Nooksack River, Ian Edgar
Calibration Optimization Of A Stream Temperature Model Applied To The Nooksack River, Ian Edgar
Scholars Week
The River Basin Model (RBM) is used to assess how stream temperatures will change in the Nooksack River due to warming climates by tracking heat exchanges along stream segments. Before modeling forecasted climate scenarios, I first calibrated the model to observed historical stream temperatures. The calibration of the RBM to a stream network involves the adjustment of eleven different variables until the simulated temperatures match observed historical stream temperatures. Because the manual process of calibrating the model is extremely time consuming, I developed a Python script to converge on the optimal variables required for the RBM calibration. The script adjusts …
Microplastic Monitoring In Richardsonius Balteatus From Ross Lake, Wa, Sarah Vanlandingham, Anne Fuenzalida
Microplastic Monitoring In Richardsonius Balteatus From Ross Lake, Wa, Sarah Vanlandingham, Anne Fuenzalida
Scholars Week
Recent work has shown that microplastics are present in glaciers. This is a concern for water bodies such as Ross Lake (WA) where glacier runoff may transport the microplastics into the watershed and be available to aquatic organisms. Currently there is no evaluation of how organism storage methods may impact microplastic recovery. In this study microplastic type and color in whole body Richardsonius balteatus (redside shiners) from Ross Lake were counted. Fish were collected from Ross Lake on July 6th, 2019. Approximately half of the samples were stored in ethanol and the remainder on ice. Characteristics including color and type …
Submonolayer Nucleation In Ultrathin Liquid Films: Scaling Properties And The Effects Of The Critical Nucleus Size, Haley Doran
Submonolayer Nucleation In Ultrathin Liquid Films: Scaling Properties And The Effects Of The Critical Nucleus Size, Haley Doran
Scholars Week
Scaling phenomena during submonolayer thin-film formation and growth has been a subject of interest for several decades, motivated in part by its relevance to understanding deposition and growth of technologically-important electrode and semiconductor materials. There are several models that effectively describe various scaling behaviors in regimes where the critical island size i* is very small (typically i* < 4 monomers). These models capture many essential properties of of submonolayer nucleation and growth in vacuum-deposited films quite well, however systems with large i* values such as those that occur during solution-phase nucleation remain unexplored due to the high computational cost of traditional approaches. Such systems are of particular interest for the fundamental understanding of the physics behind the growth of large, low-defect organic crystals via organic-vapor-liquid-solid deposition, which have novel semiconductor applications. Here we discuss a multiscale model that combines traditional mean field and classical nucleation theory approaches with a self-consistent treatment of i*, stochastic treatment of nucleation, and analytically calculated monomer diffusion via the 2D diffusion equation. This approach allows us to model large i* systems and compare scaling patterns to those of small i* systems.
Modeling Adsorption Of Molecular Semiconductors On An Ionic Substrate: Ptcda And Cupc On Nacl, Julia Thorpe
Modeling Adsorption Of Molecular Semiconductors On An Ionic Substrate: Ptcda And Cupc On Nacl, Julia Thorpe
Scholars Week
Molecular adsorption can be accurately studied using computational chemistry methods. Experimental results suggest that molecular geometry and energies can be influenced by the presence of thin film substrates as well as surrounding molecules. In our study, Density Functional Theory (DFT) and Molecular Mechanics (MM) are used to model the configurations of the organic semiconducting materials, Perylene Tetracarboxylic Dianhydride, C24H8O6 (PTCDA), and Copper Phthalocyanine, C34H16CuN8 (CuPc), as adsorbed on single and double layer NaCl substrates of various dimensions and charge settings. After geometry and charge optimization of the molecules using DFT, the molecular geometries are optimized under different environments using computational …
Quantifying Extinction Risk In Commercial Marine Species, Rondi Nordal
Quantifying Extinction Risk In Commercial Marine Species, Rondi Nordal
Scholars Week
The sustainability of some species is at risk as a result of anthropogenic influences such as climate change and harvest. This study focused on the combined role of economic and ecological factors that can lead to overharvesting of commercial marine species and aimed to understand the relationship between ecological extinction risk, biological productivity, and economic value. We used existing economic, ecological, and extinction risk data and compiled it for use in the analysis. We focused on maximum sustainable yield as an indicator of productivity, economic data that indicated the landed value of a species, and International Union for the Conservation …
Presence Of Microplastics In Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, And Trichoptera Of North Cascades National Park, Madison Pongon, Amy Owen
Presence Of Microplastics In Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, And Trichoptera Of North Cascades National Park, Madison Pongon, Amy Owen
Scholars Week
The presence of microplastics in glaciers has led to concern for freshwater systems connected to the glaciers. In areas such as the North Cascades (WA), glacier runoff could transport these microplastics into the watershed and into organisms in the streams. Benthic macroinvertebrates are good indicators of water quality because they may be sensitive to pollution. Their relatively low status on the freshwater food chain suggests the possibility for accumulated microplastics in macroinvertebrates to be a source of microplastics to predators, proving a hazard to the health of freshwater ecosystems. Samples analyzed in this study were Emphemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Tricoptera collected …
Vikingbot: The Starcraft Artificial Intelligence, Tyler Barger, Daniel Peterson
Vikingbot: The Starcraft Artificial Intelligence, Tyler Barger, Daniel Peterson
Scholars Week
VikingBot is an automated AI that plays StarCraft by using a combination of machine learning and artificial intelligence. High level strategies are planned using the Brown-UMBC Reinforcement Learning and Planning (BURLAP), library which implements planning algorithms and provides interfaces for defining a domain and models of that domain for planning. For the planning, we used the BURLAP implementation of the sparse sampling algorithm because the time complexity is independent of the size of the state space, and we have to plan quickly in real time. SARSA reinforcement learning is used for a machine learning model that controls combat units. Various …
Modeling Distances Between Various Attractions And Nearest City Parks Using Exponential Distribution, Ashley Hall
Modeling Distances Between Various Attractions And Nearest City Parks Using Exponential Distribution, Ashley Hall
Scholars Week
We examine the park data in Twin Cities Metropolitan Area (TCMA) to understand the distances between various attractions (water features, transit stops, bike paths, sport fields, etc.) and nearest city parks. We verify our research hypothesis that these distance variables are exponentially distributed using histograms and chi-squared goodness-of-fit test. Our findings suggest that most of the distance variables are indeed exponentially distributed except the one that measures the distance between the metropolitan area and the nearest city parks. Based on that, we further hypothesize that the locations of the various attractions relative to the nearest city parks follow the spatial …
Polycarbodiimides And Polyguanidines : Their Reactivity And Applications In Covalent Adaptable Networks, Alberto Melchor Bañales
Polycarbodiimides And Polyguanidines : Their Reactivity And Applications In Covalent Adaptable Networks, Alberto Melchor Bañales
Scholars Week
We have recently discovered a new chemical transformation in which N,N’,N’’ tri-substituted guanidines undergo a thermal exchange reaction. Kinetic investigations indicate that the transformation is first order with respect to the guanidine, indicating a dissociative mechanism in which a carbodiimide and amine are formed as intermediates. This new reaction has been applied to polymer systems. Polycarbodiimides were shown to undergo postpolymerization modification with amines to form polyguanidines at room temperature under an hour. Polyguanidines undergo the newly found chemical transformation to form different substituted polyguanidines. This exchange reaction will be applied to the preparation of a covalent adaptable network by …
Smart Home Simulation In The Virtual World, Thomas Jones-Moore, David Son
Smart Home Simulation In The Virtual World, Thomas Jones-Moore, David Son
Scholars Week
The goal of this project is to produce a 'smart home' by using IoT and RFID like things in the virtual world to help solve problems. Some of these problems can be CPR training, etc. Used as an evaluation platform of suggested hardware to get a desired (or best fit) set of smart objects, or combinations with computer vision. Cost model to determine best fit based on: accuracy, lowest cost, easiest deployment, etc.
Vibrations On Networks, Zachary Pontrantolfi
Vibrations On Networks, Zachary Pontrantolfi
Scholars Week
Studying vibrations on networks helps inform our understanding of random processes on other networks with similar geometry. We discuss two physical models to build up intuition about their eigenvectors. We conclude with a hidden connection between the rate of convergence of random walks, and the ground state energies of molecules.
Performance Annotation Framework, Quentin Jensen, Chloe Dawson
Performance Annotation Framework, Quentin Jensen, Chloe Dawson
Scholars Week
Large scale applications developers have many tools at their disposal to optimize and verify their software. One of which is Caliper, an annotation-based performance measurement tool. Caliper is very powerful and versatile, however, can be cumbersome to apply to complex applications. To solve this problem, we have created a framework to automatically prepare an application for performance measurement. This framework provides a layer of abstraction between the user and the source-code annotations and library linking. As a result, the process of measuring the performance of an application can be fully automated away – a huge step towards automatic software optimization.
Resources For Interdisciplinary Understanding Of Energy, Alessandra Hughes, Jessica Trottier
Resources For Interdisciplinary Understanding Of Energy, Alessandra Hughes, Jessica Trottier
Scholars Week
In most undergraduate curricula, students are expected to have the ability to apply, or transfer, a learned concept to new coursework. In the sciences, students are often introduced to energy ideas with discipline-specific vocabulary and tasks which encourage compartmentalized, surface-level understandings of energy concepts. Our research investigates student transfer of energy ideas within a coherent science course series, where physics is the foundational course. Similar modeling tools and vocabulary are used in the classes to help students see energy as a unifying framework. We seek to identify and describe what transfer “looks like” in this idealized context by interviewing students …
Spectral Analysis Of Stratigraphy At Eberswalde Crater, Mars, Cory Hughes
Spectral Analysis Of Stratigraphy At Eberswalde Crater, Mars, Cory Hughes
Scholars Week
We will analyze spectral characteristics of stratigraphy in the catchment and deposit at Eberswalde Crater, Mars. This crater is a frequent contender for the preferred destination of future Mars rover and human science missions in the search for evidence of life on the Red Planet.
Strategy Flexibility: Choosing Different Systems To Apply The Work Energy Principle, Grace Baker, Thanh Le
Strategy Flexibility: Choosing Different Systems To Apply The Work Energy Principle, Grace Baker, Thanh Le
Scholars Week
An important goal of physics instruction is to help students become adaptive problem solvers so that they can approach a wide range of situations. One aspect of adaptive problem solving is strategy flexibility — knowing multiple ways to approach a problem and choosing the most appropriate approach. In this study, we examine the role of meta strategic judgements in students’ application of strategy flexibility. Specifically, we study students’ meta-strategic judgements when choosing a system with which to apply the work-energy principle to various scenarios. College students enrolled in an introductory mechanics course were interviewed about their rationales for their system …
Engineering Sortase; Activity And Selectivity Of New Hybrid And Ancestral Variants Of Sortase A, Sarah Struyvenberg
Engineering Sortase; Activity And Selectivity Of New Hybrid And Ancestral Variants Of Sortase A, Sarah Struyvenberg
Scholars Week
Bacterial sortase enzymes are a beneficial tool in innovative mechanisms of protein engineering. However, important limitations to utilization of sortases for engineered purposes exist; namely, that sortase A (SrtA) is a relatively poor enzyme and very specific for the substrate containing LPATXG motif. Exciting previous work from our collaborators reveals that sortases from different species recognize different sequences and that activity can vary. Therefore, we wanted to create and investigate hybrid sortase enzymes between SrtA from S. aureus and Streptococcus pneumoniae, wherein we swapped a substrate-interacting loop between the beta-E and beta-F strands. Our hypothesis is that these residues are …
A Quantitative Assessment Of The Diabetes Self-Management Education Program, Grace Mcfarlane
A Quantitative Assessment Of The Diabetes Self-Management Education Program, Grace Mcfarlane
Scholars Week
A Diabetes Self-Management Education (DSME) program offered in an inner-city health center run by the Cincinnati Health Department, which started in 2014, was created to help those in an underserved population learn how to manage their diabetes. Two key measurements, A1C (glycated hemoglobin) and BMI (body mass index), were taken over time to monitor their progress. In this study, we analyzed quantitatively whether or not there was a significant improvement in their BMI and A1C values over the course of two years since they joined DSME program as any improvement would imply a potentially healthier lifestyle in regards to their …
A Simulation Platform For Generation Of Synthetic Videos For Human Activity Recognition, Gary Plunkett
A Simulation Platform For Generation Of Synthetic Videos For Human Activity Recognition, Gary Plunkett
Scholars Week
The field of human activity recognition from video data has recently made great strides. However, the large amount of labelled data needed to train activity recognition models remains a common bottleneck. We introduce a simulation platform to procedurally generate synthetic videos of household activities, which randomizes portions of the virtual scene like camera position, human model, and interaction motion to introduce video variation.
An Automated Spectrogoniometer System With Planetary Science Applications, Kathleen Hoza
An Automated Spectrogoniometer System With Planetary Science Applications, Kathleen Hoza
Scholars Week
Reflectance spectroscopy is a major technique for characterizing the composition of planetary surfaces, and has led to key findings such as the characterization of alteration minerals indicative of an aqueous, neutral-pH environment in Mars’ past. When a reflectance spectrometer collects data, it does so at some viewing geometry, which is defined by the angular relationships between the light source illuminating the surface, the target material, and the detector. In the lab, this is usually at a standard viewing geometry (e.g. incidence=0, emission=30). In situ measurements taken by spacecraft, however, may be taken at a wide range of viewing geometries. This …
A Day In The Life Of A Supercomputer, William Clem, Sean Mcculloch
A Day In The Life Of A Supercomputer, William Clem, Sean Mcculloch
Scholars Week
We are developing an interactive dashboard for visualizing the statistics of how users interact with nodes of a supercomputer. The intended purpose of the dashboard is to periodically provide with the overview of the load and bandwidth utilization of the nodes of a large supercomputer and details of each node and job as selected by the user. The dashboard will be interactive which will enable users to zoom in on interesting parts of the visualizations to investigate in details.
Bottom-Up Shape Engineering Of Organic Molecular Single-Crystals, Griffin Reed
Bottom-Up Shape Engineering Of Organic Molecular Single-Crystals, Griffin Reed
Scholars Week
The ability to fabricate complex submicron-scale components from inorganic crystalline semiconductor materials such as c-Si enables countless modern technologies, from microelectromechanical systems to integrated circuits. For single-crystal molecular materials on the other hand, comparable approaches to defining micron- and submicron-scale structure are much less well developed, in part because weak intermolecular binding forces make molecular crystals vulnerable to damage by conventional techniques such as reactive ion etching, wet etching, and energetic beam milling. Here we show how the same weak forces that are problematic for top-down patterning of molecular crystals can be exploited to enable controlled bottom-up growth, by leveraging …
Enhancing Student Ability To Transfer Energy Concepts In Postsecondary Science Education Through Explicit Instruction Of Concepts, Student Self-Reflection, And Guided Practice In Knowledge Transfer, Jim Harmon, Lauren Gray
Enhancing Student Ability To Transfer Energy Concepts In Postsecondary Science Education Through Explicit Instruction Of Concepts, Student Self-Reflection, And Guided Practice In Knowledge Transfer, Jim Harmon, Lauren Gray
Scholars Week
While concepts of energy and matter apply across science disciplines, students have difficulty transferring their knowledge of energy concepts from one science discipline to another. Traditionally, instruction of physical sciences, chemistry, and life sciences are presented independently of one another; with energy concepts introduced in isolated contexts and with differing emphases. Two instructional strategies have been shown to improve student transfer of knowledge: metacognitive student reflection, and explicit framing of concepts. This study integrates these instructional strategies into an introductory physics course for non-science majors as a series of instructional interventions, measuring student ability to transfer knowledge of energy concepts …
Locate And Mitigate The State Of Nitrate: Assessing Potential Sources Of Nutrients In Tributaries To The Nooksack River, Alyssa Peter, Melanie Roy
Locate And Mitigate The State Of Nitrate: Assessing Potential Sources Of Nutrients In Tributaries To The Nooksack River, Alyssa Peter, Melanie Roy
Scholars Week
Anthropogenic activities greatly increase the amount of nitrogen entering our environment. While this allows for increased agriculture production, excess nitrogen raises health concerns for humans and ecosystems. Understanding the sources of excess nutrients is necessary for effective efforts to reduce them. We aimed to understand nutrient fluxes through tributaries to the Nooksack River, in particular, to what extent are excess nutrients arriving to northern Whatcom County from Canada via both surface and ground water. We collected water samples from three creeks fed by the central portion of the Sumas-Blaine aquifer (Kamm, Fishtrap, and Bertrand), two situated at the southern edge …
Modeling And Forecasting Crime Patterns In Bellingham, Washington, Zachary Domingo, Eric Shoner
Modeling And Forecasting Crime Patterns In Bellingham, Washington, Zachary Domingo, Eric Shoner
Scholars Week
Our purpose is to use time series analysis to model and forecast the underlying dynamics behind crime in Bellingham, Washington. Using recent monthly data from the Bellingham Police Department, we considered singular spectrum analysis and autoregressive moving average modelling techniques to estimate significant deterministic patterns in the data. After examining the multitude of data provided, we narrowed down to two categories of crime: alcohol offenses and domestic violence. We created two time series models for each category and compared them to each other. The better performing model was used to forecast the number of crime incidents for ten months and …
Short-Term Volatility Curve Predictions Using Singular Spectrum Analysis, Nick Odell
Short-Term Volatility Curve Predictions Using Singular Spectrum Analysis, Nick Odell
Scholars Week
This project aims to produce accurate volatility forecasts, using high-frequency financial time series data. The primary mathematical methods used are Functional Data Analysis, time series analysis techniques such as Autoregressive Models and a comparison between Multi-variate and Uni-variate Singular Spectrum Analysis. These results aim to be useful for financial risk quantification.
Connection: An Autism-Focused Dating App, Cyrena Johnson
Connection: An Autism-Focused Dating App, Cyrena Johnson
Scholars Week
30% of US internet users 18-29 use dating apps to find partners. Meanwhile, only 9% of adults with autism are married—and there are no popular dating apps designed for ASDs. We propose the app Connection, a dating app designed for the autistic community. Using queries and informal analysis, we created possible features and prototype displays for Connection to show its future application.