Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Applying Machine Learning To Categorize Distinct Categories Of Network Traffic, Isaac M. Dunham

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

The recent rapid growth of the field of data science has made available to all fields opportunities to leverage machine learning. Computer network traffic classification has traditionally been performed using static, pre-written rules that are easily made ineffective if changes, legitimate or not, are made to the applications or protocols underlying a particular category of network traffic. This paper explores the problem of network traffic classification and analyzes the viability of having the process performed using a multitude of classical machine learning techniques against significant statistical similarities between classes of network traffic as opposed to traditional static traffic identifiers.

To …

A Literary Analysis Of The Oort Cloud: Summarising Its History And Proposing A Mission To Image Oort Cloud Objects, Avital Keeley

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

The Oort Cloud was hypothesised in 1950 but has lost popularity as a research topic. This literary research summarises the most notable articles and simulations on the Oort Cloud with an analysis on the outdated simulations and assumptions. Finally, this research conflates the hypothesised values of Oort Cloud parameters to calculate the required specifications of instrumentation needed to image an Oort Cloud Object, and a rough budget is proposed of $5 million to launch a 35 km interferometer.

How Reliable Are Shap Values When Trying To Explain Machine Learning Models, Jason Lawless

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

With the rapid growth and application of machine learning and artificial intelligence models that can not be understood by humans, there is a growing movement calling for an increase in interpretability. There are numerous methods that attempt to explain these models that vary drastically in the process of evaluating models. In this paper, we investigate a local post-hoc method called SHAP. SHAP utilizes Shapley values from game theory to attribute an importance value to each input in a model at each datapoint. Shapley values can require significant computation time, especially as the number of inputs increases. In order to shorten …

Soil And Compost Tea: A New Restoration Technique?, Carol E. Day

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Historically, prairie restorations have lacked the plant diversity seen in remnant prairies. Most restoration practices focus on reestablishing the plant community but overlook the soil microbial community even though microbes are critical to habitat functioning. Developing techniques that increase soil microbes in prairie restorations is critical to ensuring diverse restored habitats. We compared how microbial communities differed between remnant and restored prairie sites. We also investigated if soil and compost teas could be used to reintroduce microbes to restored prairie soil and if the teas affected native plant establishment. We found significant differences in the levels of bacterial taxa between …

Introducing An H113a Mutation Into Atg10 Y73q To Reduce Autophagic Activity And Understand The Effect Of Atg On Autophagosome Size And Number, Konrad L. Lautenschlager

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

Autophagy is an essential recycling process that occurs within eukaryotic cells, however, the individual functions of the current thirty-two known autophagic proteins are not yet entirely understood. At this time, it is known that the autophagic protein Atg7 works upstream of both Atg3 and Atg10. Atg3 is affected by Atg7 and allows for the attachment of Atg8 and the lipid PE which is part of the autophagosome membrane. The Atg10 pathway is also affected by Atg7 but attaches Atg12 to Atg5 which upregulates the function of Atg3 and ultimately Atg8 lipidation. These protein interactions are necessary for forming autophagosomes, large …

Irradiance Source For Exoplanet Atmospheric Spectra, Savannah Lyons

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The quantity and diversity of the known exoplanets have grown in recent years. This has brought about a need for more efficient methods of narrowing down the list to those exoplanets most likely to sustain life. The Atmosphere in a Test Tube project, which began at the University of Padova, Italy, is accomplishing this in a laboratory setting through examination of exoplanet atmospheric responses to photosynthetic bacteria under simulations of the irradiance conditions of a planet’s host star. The goal of this project was to design and construct a second-generation apparatus at Eastern Michigan University. The team focused on an …

Planning And Effects Of Equitable Teaching Practices In Emu Math 120 Class, Kyle Yapp

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

The purpose of this project is to evaluate the effects of implementing Equitable Teaching practices in Math 120 Calculus 1. We used the EQUIP instrument in order to measure the amount of participation from each student. We used the X-PIPS-M instrument in order to get the students' responses to the class as well as have Dr. Ross reflect as a teacher. We used the MCOPP+ in order for Dr. Ross to reflect as a teacher. We also used the Calculus 1 Concept Inventory assessment in order to evaluate students' content knowledge growth during the course. We found that students responded …

The Effect Of Autophagy Related Protein 10 And Its Mutants On Autophagic Activity, Sk Nadia Rahman Silvia

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

Autophagy is the cellular degradation process in which cellular contents are encapsulated by double-membrane vesicles, autophagosomes, and delivered to the vacuole to be degraded and recycled. This process is important for cell health and homeostasis. There are approximately 32 different autophagy-related proteins involved. Atg10 is an enzyme that may affect overall autophagic activity by changing autophagosome size and/or number. Our goal is to find mutants that cause a significant, partial loss in Atg10’s activity by mutating some residues near the active site and testing the functionality of these mutants by performing western blots and enzymatic assays. Here we show that …

A Historical And Practical Survey Of Quantum Computing Using Qiskit, Kenneth Paul Cook

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

Quantum Computing has been a part of computer science literature since the 1960s, but the call for quantum mechanical-based computation came when renowned theoretical physicist Richard Feynman said, “… nature isn't classical, dammit, and if you want to make a simulation of nature, you'd better make it quantum mechanical, and by golly it's a wonderful problem, because it doesn't look so easy.” (Feynman, 486) His words inspired people to begin work on the project immediately. Although the best ideas have not yet been found, there is much active research and experimentation going on to learn how best to use these …

Building A Secure Web Application For Gamified Technical Labs, Kevin Higman

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

In order to improve upon existing online lab platforms, in an attempt to increase student motivation, gamification has been used to create a new gamified web application. Departmental research has shown gamification to provide significant improvement to student’s self-efficacy and motivation. Neuralabs, a web application created by two Eastern Michigan Honors Students, uses techniques often found in popular video games in order to create a more appealing learning experience. Building a public web application designed towards Cybersecurity students creates many technical security challenges. Neuralabs goal is to create a secure competitive learning experience where students can create and take labs …

The Implementation Of A Novel Graphical Python Editor (Stremecoder) In A Rodent Discrimination Apparatus, Supraja Kalva

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

As the interest in neuroscience and the desire to perform behavioral tasks in a higher level of specificity and accuracy increases, the need to have tools and techniques to conduct experimentations in a low-cost automated manner is essential. Although such methods have been proposed previously by other researchers, they have presented their data and tools in a manner that would have been difficult to comprehend for non-programmers. In labs that do not have the accessibility to individuals who can understand the published procedures, it is very difficult for them to get started and manipulate the published procedures to their interests. …

Building A Competitive Platform For Cyber Security And Computer Science Technical Challenges, Zachariah Pelletier

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

To answer the question of whether creating a competitive environment drives students’ engagement while completing class objectives, two EMU Honors students designed and built a web application that creates such an environment. This system allows students to complete assignments that are weighted on a point system and compare scores on an anonymous “Leaderboard”. This system attempts to emulate a competition environment for objective-based learning and is designed to be used for Information Security lab assignments similar to a Security competition environment. Although the primary proof-of-concept labs for this project for this project are in the Computer Science and Information Security …

Analysis Of The Role Of Sgs1p In Repair Of Double-Strand Dna Breaks In Saccharomyces Cerevisiae, Beth Wasserman

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

Mis-repair of DNA double-stranded breaks (DSB) can result in genomic rearrangements and cancer. Sgs1p is a helicase that unwinds DNA for DSB repair. To better understand its role in break repair, I analyzed the frequency of various types of DSB repairs in yeast cells with the mutation sgs1-FD. Given this mutation disrupts an interaction between Sgs1p and a critical protein, Rad51p, I hypothesized mutant cells would have more error-prone repair than high fidelity canonical BIR repair. Genome sequence and chromosome size were examined in sgs1-FD yeast cells that underwent DSB repair. No difference was found in the frequency of …

Facilitating Cross-Chain Cryptocurrency Exchanges: An Inquiry Into Blockchain Technology And Interoperability With An Emphasis On Cryptocurrency Arbitrage, Samuel Grone

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

Since the introduction and proliferation of the blockchain-based cryptocurrency Bitcoin, alternative cryptocurrencies also based on blockchain technology have exploded in number. It was once believed that one, or very few, cryptocurrencies would eventually dominate the market and drive out competitors. This assumption, however, was incorrect. Thousands of cryptocurrencies exist concurrently. The vast number of cryptocurrencies leads to a problem—what if the cryptocurrency that an individual possesses does not meet their current needs as well as another cryptocurrency might? The attempt to solve this problem has led to the rise of many cryptocurrency exchanges and exchange schemes. In this paper, we …

Polymer Chemistry Education To Increase Student Awareness Of Plastic Pervasiveness And Environmental Impact, Victoria Hill

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

A polymer-pollution-focused laboratory sequence was written to teach general chemistry concepts in a course for pre-service elementary teachers. Students experienced the difficulties related to polymer pollution clean-up and made bio-based materials to see possible alternatives. In order to determine whether this laboratory sequence changed student understanding of the importance of polymers and their environmental impact, student opinions were gathered with pre/post-course sequence surveys, observations, post-laboratory surveys, and focus group interviews. These same data collection methods were also used to determine the likelihood that the pre-service elementary teachers would teach these polymer and environmental laboratories or their concepts in the future. …

The Effects Of Low-Level Pharmaceuticals On Stream Biofilm Structure And Function Across A Land-Use Gradient In Streams Of The Huron River Watershed, Elizabeth Mae Stover

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) are a contaminant class of worldwide concern. Their environmental omnipresence indicates they may be a potential source of global change, and ecosystem-scale impacts at non-lethal levels have not been fully explored. We used stream biofilms to assess ecosystem responses to PPCPs. Biofilms were cultivated in streams draining areas of different land use and then exposed to triclosan, diphenhydramine, and sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim treatments. We found evidence that low levels of these PPCPs affected some, but not all, aspects of biofilm processes and bacterial community composition. Bacterial carbon uptake was reduced (p = 0.06) and we found …

Climate Change Instruction In Higher Education: Pre-Service Teachers’ Engagement In An Interdisciplinary Pop-Up Learning Community, Mary Charlotte Bautistia

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

An interdisciplinary pop-up learning community (PLC) allowed students from various disciplines with different levels of content knowledge to discuss their perspectives and beliefs on climate change. The impact of this event on students was gauged by a survey from the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication. Furthermore, this project focuses on pre-service teachers who participated in the PLC. In order to investigate how pre-service teachers understand climate change and how they may or may not integrate these issues into their own instruction, individual interviews were conducted prior to and after the PLC to determine if the event had an impact …

An Analysis Of Restoration Practices: A Look Into The Future, Brynn Ritchey

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

No abstract provided.

Old And Deer: A Study Of Neoarchean Peridotites In Michigan’S Upper Peninsula, Rachel Merz

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

The Deer Lake Peridotite and the Presque Isle Periodotite are two ultramafic formations of Neoarchean age within the Ishpeming Greenstone Belt of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, and are found only fifteen miles apart. The Deer Lake Peridotite was deformed in processes indicative of the broader, regional-scale tectonics of the region, but little study has been done on the mineralogy and extent and style of alteration. This research aims to better classify the mineralogy of the formation, with particular focus on textural variations observed in thin-section, as well as chemical analysis of samples taken from the formation. In addition, this research seeks …

An Investigation Of The Nature Of Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor Type-I (Pai-I) To Improve Upon Known Small Molecule Inhibitors, Justin A. Powers

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

Plasminogen activator inhibitor type-I (PAI-I ) is a serpin superfamily member protein that acts as the major inhibitor of tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA) and urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA). At physiological levels, PAI-I plays an active role in regulating fibrinolysis, the process of normal blood clot degradation. Pathological levels of PAI-I have been linked to multiple health ailments: fibrosis, heart disease, cancer, and obesity. In recent years, PAI-1 has been the subject of targeted drug design. In this study, we identified a class of polyphenol compounds as the most capable of maintaining its inhibitory efficiency against vitronectin bound PAI-I in buffer …

Uv-Curable Organic-Inorganic Hybrid Polyurethane Coating, Shiyin Yu

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This thesis explored a series of organic-inorganic hybrid polyurethane oligomers with varying molecular weights and functional groups (acrylate and/or silane) that were cured with a single ultraviolet (UV) trigger but two photo-initiators. Upon UV irradiation, the free-radical initiator initiated a free-radical reaction for acrylate cross-linking, and the photo-latent base initiated a sol-gel reaction for condensation of the silanes. This study explored the cure extent of both reactions by FTIR for acrylates and silanes and a weight-loss method for silanes as a function of functional group concentration and time. The general film properties were also studied. The results showed that the …

Understanding The Role Of Atg7 And Atg14 In Autophagy, Ronith Chakraborty

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

Autophagy is the process by which cytosolic components are trafficked to and degraded by the vacuole or lysosome. It plays a critical role in cellular health, aging, cancer, and neurodegenerative diseases. Atg7 and Atgl4 are enzymes required for the autophagic process in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. In this study, we hypothesized that Atg7 controls the size while Atg 14 controls the number of autophagosomes. Using western blotting, Pho8D.60 assay and transmission electron microscopy analysis, we found that Atg7 affects both the size and number of autophagosomes. In addition, we have created cells expressing various levels of Atgl4 using non-native promoters. In addition, …

Polymerization Of Bromoundecylacrylate And Alkylating Methylimidazole, Shuziao Li

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Polymerized ionic liquids (PIL) generally are solids, but a few examples have been reported that also exhibit liquidity in the neighborhood of room temperature called liquid polymerized ionic liquids (LPIL). The development of a platform suitable for exploring LPIL properties based on the monomer 11-bromoundecylacrylate (AcC11Br) was reported. Poly(AcC11Br) is itself a liquid polymer and can be easily used to alkylate 1-methylimidazole to produce poly(AcC11C1ImBr-co- AcC11Br). Various reaction conditions were explored to examine how extensively 1- methylimidazole can be attached to this polymer, and the extent of alkylation is determined quantitatively by silver ion potentiometry. These polymers retain liquidity at …

The Effect Of Neonicotinoids On Apis Mellifera: A Revisit, Qingchen Liang

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Colony collapse disorder (CCD), which has caused high colony mortality rates in the European honeybee (Apis mellifera), is a pressing economical and ecological problem. I revisited Woodcock et al.'s (2017a) paper, "Country-specic Effects of Neonicotinoid Pesticides on Honey Bees and Wild Bees", in light of unsound statistical methods used in the original study. In the first part of this paper, I attempted to replicate the analysis underlying key findings in the original paper. In the second part, I reanalyzed the data using mostly non-parametric methods in order to obtain robust results. I did not find any evidence for a harmful …

Pre-Service Teachers’ Emerging Views On Educational Equity, Melody Wilson

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

An equity-based Statistics course for pre-service mathematics teachers could play a role in the development of pre-service teachers’ equity literacy, encouraging conversations about equity in education and illuminating structural factors that contribute to the educational opportunity gap in the U.S. In the Winter 2019 semester, a faculty team at the author’s university piloted such a course. The course included data explorations dealing with structural inequities by race – one of the most difficult topics to address productively in a teacher preparation course. For the present study, a survey of pre-service teachers’ views on educational equity was administered in a required …

Designing A Modified Zeeman Slower For The Paschen-Back Magnetic Regime, Leo Michael Nofs

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Controlled study of high-density plasmas, such as those found in fusion reactions and stars, is difficult due to their highly-magnetized environments. A specialized high magnetic field (High-B) trap was developed at the University of Michigan in Georg Raithel's research group to study such highly magnetized, high density plasmas using rubidium atoms. By replacing the atom source with a Zeeman slower, a well-studied device to slow and cool atoms, the atom flux could be increased by a factor more than 1000, leading to higher High-B plasma densities. The goal of this project is to design a Zeeman slower that differs from …

Writing And Evaluating The Effectiveness Of A Modern Physics Laboratory Manual, Brendan Jacob Pickard

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Undergraduate physics laboratory activities are the main way that students get to apply physics concepts and develop experimental skills. Consequently, the presentation of experimental techniques is exceedingly important, and a poorly constructed guide could hinder student success. I have created a lab manual for use in PHY 372 Modern Physics Laboratory at Eastern Michigan University (EMU). This lab manual helps students develop experimental skills valuable in their future careers in a variety of fields. I evaluated the teaching effectiveness of the lab manual using a survey at the end of the Fall 2017 semester, revised the lab manual, and evaluated …

Synthesis And Study Of The Micellization Behavior Of A Dual Temperature- And Ph-Responsive Paa-B-Pnipam Block Copolymer, Ehsan Zarshenas Moghadam

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Amphiphilic diblock copolymers are composed of hydrophilic and hydrophobic regions. When they are exposed to water, the hydrophobic blocks aggregate to form a hydrophobic core surrounded by hydrophilic regions outside to give a core-shell micelle. These micelles have many potential applications, such as a drug delivery system, surfactants, or nanoreactor. Many studies have been done to optimize the performance of these copolymers. In this thesis work, nine dual temperature- and pH-responsive poly(acrylic acid-block-N-isopropylacrylamide) (PAA-b-PNIPAM) diblock copolymers with different relative chain lengths of the hydrophobic and hydrophilic blocks were synthesized by reversible addition fragmentation chain transfer polymerization. The preliminary results showed …

Polymerized Ionic Liquids By Condensation Polymerization: Stimuli Responsive Polyurethane Gels And Dispersions, Harshit Gupta

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Ionic liquids have been used in free radical polymerizations to make polymerized ionic liquid (PIL) materials of various types. PIL gels based on imidazolium cations have been found to exhibit an anion-exchange induced stimuli responsiveness. This thesis explores incorporation of ionic liquids in polyurethane (PU) polymers to make PIL PU gels and dispersions through condensation polymerization. PIL gels are synthesized through a single-pot approach that show stimuli response to solvents. This approach allows one to make these gels rapidly and cheaply on-site. These gels can reversibly porate in different solvents and are found to be porous when analyzed by scanning …

Design,Formulation And Synthesis Of Uv/Thermal Dual Cure, Bio-Based Polyurethane Coatings, Ozlem Kubra Akdogan

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

In the present work, polyurethane resins have been synthesized using soybean oil based polyols (> 80% bio-renewable content) as a primary component. To overcome some of the limitations associated with soft and flexible structure of soy-based polyols, the resin has been designed with two unique set of functional groups –OH and acrylate, as a means of crosslinking sites. Such resin system can be cured by two independent cure mechanisms – (a) thermal (or ambient) curing of –OH groups by use of isocyanate cross-linkers, and (b) by UV-curing of acrylate functional groups using appropriate photoinitiators. Thus, this dual-curable system can provide …