Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Assessing The Spatial Variability Of Soil Physical Properties Under A Corn Field In Kentucky, Usa, Sai Neela Kesumala

Scholars Week

Analyzing soil physical properties is crucial for advancing sustainable and precision agricultural practices in today's world. Sustainable agriculture emphasizes responsible resource utilization and preservation. Precision agriculture utilizes technology, data, and targeted decision-making to optimize resource usage and minimize environmental impacts. Assessing soil property variability aids in efficient input application, irrigation adjustment, nutrient runoff reduction, and fertilizer management. This approach prioritizes soil conservation, boosts sustainability, and supports long-term agricultural productivity. This study aimed to evaluate the spatial distribution of specific soil physical properties across the four border rows, central corn field area, and sod area. Seventy-two soil samples were collected from …

Swelling Studies Of Poly(Ionic Liquids) In Different Solvents And Salt Solutions, Pierson Perdue, Ali Alshaikh, Creighton Baltier, Jason E. Bara, Sourav Chatterjee

Scholars Week

Poly(ionic liquid)s (PILs) represented a special class of polymers, which comprised of a polymeric backbone and ionic liquids (ILs) species in each monomeric repeating units. PILs has properties that combined the properties of ionic liquids (ILs) (i.e., high conductivity, better thermal and chemical stability, and tailor-made functionality) with the intrinsic properties of polymer (i.e., mechanical stability). This synergistic property makes PILs a good candidate for various applications such as stable-ion conductors, membranes for gas separations and sorbents. In the past, it was shown that PILs are capable of swelling when dissolved in different ILs but there are few literature reported …

Synthesis And Characterization Of Semi-Interpenetrating And Double Networks Of Sulfonimide- And Imidazolium-Containing Poly(Ionic Liquids), Jeremiah Coughlon, Seth Taylor, Jason Bara, Kevin Miller, Sourav Chatterjee

Scholars Week

In recent years, there has been increased research interest in creating electrically conductive polymer membranes with materials that are widely available and environmentally safe. Herein, we report how polymeric membranes comprised of unique combinations of ionenes and poly(ionic liquids), including a recently developed sulfonimide- and imidazolium-containing methacryloxy-based monomer, were produced via UV photopolymerization. These membranes were specifically tailored to exhibit both ionic conductivity and an affinity for carbon dioxide, which are both crucial characteristics in such applications as electron transport in lithium-ion batteries and gas sorbency in separation techniques. Monomers, such as the aforementioned methacryloxy-based ionic liquid (IL) and C4VIm, …

Synthesis And Properties Of Bio-Based 3d Printable Resins, Cameron Woods, Seth Taylor, Jeremiah Coughlon, Turner Perdue, Sourav Chatterjee, Jason E. Bara

Scholars Week

A photopolymer resin is a monomer that, when introduced to light of a certain wavelength, starts to polymerize into a solid. This has become a growing part of the 3D printing industry. There have been many advancements in the field of 3D printing, however, a lot of these resins are not environmentally friendly and even harmful if not handled in the correct manner. Plant based resins are becoming more and more popular because of their biodegradability and for the possibility of using renewable resources. Glycerol is a plant-based compound that is produced in excess in industry. Glycerol obtained from bioethanol …

One-Dimensional And Two-Dimensional Simulations Of Helical Homopolymers: A Comparative Analysis Of Energy Stabilization And Efficiency​, Nathan Roberts, Matthew Hooks

Scholars Week

The purpose of our work is to analyze the results of a two-dimensional parallel tempering Monte Carlo simulation of a coarse-grained helical homopolymer. The two-dimensional simulation allows Hamiltonian exchanges across both temperature and torsion values, while the one-dimensional simulation exclusively exchanges across temperature values. The genesis of each simulation is defined by a randomly configured polymer; as time progresses, randomly generated movements of monomers decrease the structure’s energy until equilibrium is reached. Equilibrium is determined by finding the absolute minimum of the data series, computing the mean of all remaining data, and finding the intersection between the rolling average and …

Soil Properties Associated With Land Management Practices In Western Kentucky, Ava Isaacs, Gracey Moffitt

Scholars Week

Soil Properties Associated with Land Management Practices in Western Kentucky

1. A. Isaacs, G. Moffitt, W. Sides, and Corey Hale

Mentor: Dr. I.P. Handayani

Hutson School of Agriculture, Murray State University, Kentucky, USA

Abstract

One of the most important factors regarding soil and plant health is nutrient availability and fertility. Of these two factors that were mentioned available potassium is a key component. With that being said we decided that it would be beneficial to see how potassium can be traced within the soil in various locations after fertilizer is applied. There were two parts to this experiment. Part one was …

Spatial Variations Of Soil Properties Under Corn Field In Kentucky, Usa, Sai Neela Kesumala, Dr. Iin Handayani

Scholars Week

Precision farming involves modifying the rate of fertilizer, herbicides, and irrigation in response to crops’ requirements. For precision management, a better understanding of spatial variability of soil properties within a field is important. To fully utilize cultivation and site-specific crop production technology, it is crucial to understand the dynamics of soil properties spatially. Several factors, such as unequal fertilizer and manure application, erosion, tillage, and inborn variances formed during soil development, can contribute to spatial variation. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the spatial distribution of selected soil properties in the four border rows, the plot's center, and …

Silver Carp Hypophthalmichthys Molitrix Movements In The Lower Cumberland And Lower Tennessee River, Miranda Belanger

Scholars Week

Silver Carp Hypophthalmichthys molitrix are an invasive species making up a large portion of the fish biomass in the lower portions of the Tennessee River and the Cumberland River. This species is expanding its range throughout the upper portions of these rivers, beginning with Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley. Silver Carp rarely spawn in Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley, but they can enter these reservoirs through the lock chamber. Thus, the bottleneck created by lock chambers can be used to control expansion of invasive Silver Carp. Although Silver Carp movement patterns have been studied in other portions of the Tennessee …

Mapping Cover Crop Usage In Calloway County, Kentucky, Kyle Klass

Scholars Week

Mapping Cover Crop Usage in Calloway County, Kentucky

Ever since man made the change from hunters and gatherers to an agrarian lifestyle, erosion has slowly removed hectares of once fertile soils from crop land worldwide. As populations increase so does the demand for food, which ultimately increases the amount of erosion caused by agricultural activities. Previous farming practices once deemed revolutionary such as monocropping, synthetic fertilizers, and conventional tilling have only expedited the erosion process by destroying the soil’s microbiome. Eroded soil eventually can make its way into rivers and lakes, decreasing the water quality with abnormally high levels of …

Physiochemical Properties Of Urethane-Containing Ionic Liquids And Ionenes From A Non-Isocyanate Synthetic Approach, George Timmermann

Scholars Week

Ionic polymers that are designed to contain ionic liquids (ILs) in their backbones have been shown to exhibit a high degree of variability through changing the type of ionic character and the location of the ionic region within the molecule. This large amount of variability in both the structure and characteristics of ILs allows researchers to design task-specific ionic polymers and ILs for a variety of applications including gas separation membranes and solid polymer electrolytes. The synthesis of a specific class of ILs and ionenes through the incorporation of urethane groups with imidazolium rings by reacting carbonyl diimidazole with various …

Evaluating Gizzard Shad Dorosoma Cepedianum Populations In Two Kentucky Reservoirs Recently Invaded With Silver Carp Hypopthalmichthys Molitrix, Nathan Klein

Scholars Week

Gizzard Shad Dorosoma cepedianum are an ecologically important fish species found in many reservoirs throughout the southeastern United States such as Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley. One current challenge that Gizzard Shad may face in these two reservoirs is competition with the invasive Silver Carp Hypophthalmichthys molitrix. However, quantifying the impacts of this competition may be difficult because of limited baseline population data for Gizzard Shad in these two reservoirs. The objective of this study is to describe size structure, condition, age, growth, mortality, and spawning potential of these two populations. Gizzard Shad were collected by boat electrofishing and …

Temporal Changes And Possible Sources Of Dissolved Calcium Levels In Stream, River, And Lake Waters In Western Kentucky, Kelsie Meystedt

Scholars Week

ABSTRACT

Zebra Mussels (Dreissena polymorpha) are an exotic and invasive mollusk that spread extensively over various rivers and lakes in the United States. These mussels are known for being notorious in their “biofouling” capabilities, costing the U.S. government billions of dollars in removal operations. Recently, zebra mussel colonies were found in Kentucky Lake possibly due to human activities increasing the salinity of today’s freshwater resources. The increase in salinity from human activities may have adversely affected the ecosystems and water supplies. The Specific aim of this study was to determine the temporal trend of dissolved calcium in Kentucky Lake …

Mathematical Model Of Devil Facial Tumor Disease (Dftd) Spread In Tasmanian Devils, Abigail Collins

Scholars Week

Applications of disease models can lead to insight on spread of diseases, population movements, and wildlife health safety. This exploration of mathematical models sought to determine the spread of wildlife disease, specifically devil facial tumor disease (DFTD). Tasmanian devil populations have been negatively affected by DFTD. The basic SIR disease model was modified to better fit the spread of DFTD, along with a network model to inspect the rate of infectivity. It was found that the population of Tasmanian devils will continue to decrease in size and multiple populations are connected to each other. Models of wildlife disease have the …

Revisiting The Cretaceous-Paleogene Boundary In Western Kentucky, Usa, Jarred Asselta

Scholars Week

This study revisits a Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) sedimentary section in western Kentucky to determine the nature of this boundary and the depositional environments. Although previous pollen work identified the boundary over four decades ago, to our knowledge no work has been carried out at this important K-Pg boundary site. A combination of stratigraphy and sedimentology were used to characterize the section in detail. Bulk and oriented samples were collected for grain-size, geochemical, and petrographic analysis. We relocated the site and measured 1.5m of section that includes the K-Pg boundary. Four distinct units were identified and from base to top of section …

Mapping Of Non-Native Invasive Plant Species Using Remote Sensing And Gis: Assessment Of Human Impact On Kudzu (Pueraria Montana) Spread, Harshitkumar Godhasara

Scholars Week

Remote sensing methods provide tools to identify and map non-native plants. Biophysical characteristics of plants can be utilized to recognize and distinguish non-native invasive plants from other native plant species. Kudzu is an invasive plant, which causes economic loss and decreases biodiversity. Moreover, kudzu doubles emission of nitric oxide and increases ozone pollution. The impact of human activities on the spread of noxious plant species like kudzu can be assessed utilizing remote sensing and geographic information systems (GIS) tools. Kudzu spread in the USA was mapped using in situ data including the actual coordinates of kudzu sites. Geographic distribution of …

Exploring The Geometric And Electronic Properties Of Palladium Doped Silicon Clusters, Madison Winkeler, Ciara N. Richardson

Scholars Week

Transition metal-doped silicon clusters have unique properties and have been studied as building blocks for nanomaterials and microelectronics. Here, the structure and properties of candidate palladium doped silicon clusters (SinPd2: n=1-17) were determined using global optimization techniques on a high performance computing cluster at the San Diego Supercomputing Center. Then geometric structures were further optimized utilizing the B3LYP method with 6-311+G(d) basis sets for silicon and lanl2dz pseudopotential for palladium, followed by the larger DSDPBEP86 method with 6-311+G(2d) basis sets for silicon and SDD pseudopotential for palladium, as implemented in the Gaussian 16 program package. The energetics for each cluster …

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

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 …

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 …

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 …

Near Real-Time Determination Of The Prevalence Of Cannabinoids, Cathinones, And Synthetic Opioids, Catherine O'Rourke, Bikram Subedi

Scholars Week

Unregulated new psychoactive substances (NPS) in “pure” or “preparation” forms are designed to mimic the effects of controlled substances, and are introduced and reintroduced in the market as a cheap substitute of established regulated drugs in quick succession to loophole the law enforcement efforts on combating drugs. For example, carfentanil, a synthetic opioid activates the opioid receptors similar to morphine but it is astoundingly potent compared to a typical drug of abuse (100 times more potent than fentanyl and 10,000 times more powerful than morphine). Based on the cost- and time-intensive forensic analysis, National Drug Early Warning System reported the …

Studying The Glacial Melt Of Mount Baker Using Remote Sensing (1999 - 2019), Cole Fletcher

Scholars Week

With rising temperatures glaciers around the globe are beginning to melt. Melting of large glaciers should be concerning as they can raise the present sea-level which could potentially put near sea-level urban areas underwater. We must observe the rate at which glaciers are retreating. Mountain glaciers are a good resource to observe as they do give a clear visual of how fast glaciers are retreating. This project hopes to give a good visual representation and quantitative measurement of how much glacial melt is occurring at Mt Baker in Washington, United States, in the last 20 years. This project will use …

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 …