Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Osiris-Rex Surface Imaging To Constrain Properties Of The Asteroid (101955) Bennu, Alicia Allen

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This study used images taken from the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft sample-return mission and projected onto a three-dimensional shape model to determine surface properties of the asteroid (101955) Bennu. Two major projects were completed. For the first project, images of the pre-sampled Nightingale site and post-sampled Nightingale were compared to determine how the TAGSAM sampling maneuver effected the surface of the asteroid directly at the sampling site and in the surrounding area. This analysis demonstrated how spacecraft can potentially affect a small body during this and future sample-return missions. For the second project, several craters on Bennu’s surface were selected and all …

Investigation Of Catalysis Of Nitration By Cytochrome P450s, Lannika Johnson

Honors Undergraduate Theses

TxtE is a protein related to cytochrome P450 enzymes, which catalyze a number of reactions that typically involve oxygen and not nitrogen. It has been discovered that TxtE can nitrate tryptophan through an unusual reaction in which it uses nitric oxide (NO) as a nitrogen donor to install the nitro group despite NO typically being considered toxic to bacteria. This project will determine if all cytochromes P450 can catalyze nitration as long as they are given NO. This will have an impact on understanding drug delivery and metabolism for which nitration is important.

Examining Cooperative System Responses Against Grid Integrity Attacks, Alexander D. Parady

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Smart grid technologies are integral to society’s transition to sustainable energy sources, but they do not come without a cost. As the energy sector shifts away from a century’s reliance on fossil fuels and centralized generation, technology that actively monitors and controls every aspect of the power infrastructure has been widely adopted, resulting in a plethora of new vulnerabilities that have already wreaked havoc on critical infrastructure. Integrity attacks that feedback false data through industrial control systems, which result in possible catastrophic overcorrections and ensuing failures, have plagued grid infrastructure over the past several years. This threat is now at …

Comparative Evaluation Of Assemblers For Metagenomic Data Analysis, Matheus Pavini Franco Ferreira

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Metagenomics is a cultivation-independent approach for obtaining the genomic composition of microbial communities. Microbial communities are ubiquitous in nature. Microbes which are associated with the human body play important roles in human health and disease. These roles span from protecting us against infections from other bacteria, to being the causes of these diseases. A deeper understanding of these communities and how they function inside our bodies allows for advancements in treatments and preventions for these diseases. Recent developments in metagenomics have been driven by the emergence of Next-Generation Sequencing technologies and Third-Generation Sequencing technologies that have enabled cost-effective DNA sequencing …

Investigation Of Dna Hybridization In Localized Systems In Close Proximity, Ashley M. Sewsankar

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Hybridization of two or more DNA or RNA strands is well documented for the process taking place with all strands free in solution or when one strand is immobilized on a substrate. This study contributes to the investigation of the hybridization process when two single DNA strands (ssDNA) are in close proximity. We took advantage of an X sensor in which hybridization of four DNA strands enables the formation of a DNA four-way junction (crossover or X) structure. We immobilized multiple layers of crossover structures to study its hybridization being triggered by short ssDNA coming from solution and further investigate …

Impact Of Proton And Neutron Irradiation On Carrier Transport Properties In Ga2o3, Andrew C. Silverman

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This project studies the properties of minority charge carriers in beta gallium oxide (β -Ga₂O₃). The behavior of minority carriers is of high importance as it greatly affects conduction and consequently device performance. Cathodoluminescence (CL) spectroscopy and EBIC (Electron Beam Induced Current) are the main experimental techniques used to study minority carrier behavior.

High energy radiation affects minority carrier properties through damage to the material and through the production of carrier traps that reduce the conductivity and mobility of the material. In this investigation, we study the effects of various kinds of high energy radiation on …

The Effects Of Viscous Damping On Rogue Wave Formation And Permanent Downshift In The Nonlinear Schrödinger Equation, Evelyn Smith

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This thesis investigates the effect of viscous damping on rogue wave formation and permanent downshift using the higher-order nonlinear Schrödinger equation (HONLS). The strength of viscous damping is varied and compared to experiments with only linear damped HONLS.

Stability analysis of the linear damped HONLS equation shows that instability stabilizes over time. This analysis also provides an instability criterion in the case of HONLS with viscous damping.

Numerical experiments are conducted in the two unstable mode regime using perturbations of the Stokes wave as initial data. With only linear damping permanent downshift is not observed and rogue wave formation is …

Instanton Counting, Matrix Models, And Characters, Spencer Tamagni

Honors Undergraduate Theses

In this thesis we study symmetries of quantum field theory visible only at the non-perturbative level, which arise from large deformations of the integration contour in the path integral. We exposit the recently-developed theory of qq-characters that organizes such symmetries in the case of N = 2 supersymmetric gauge theories in four dimensions. We sketch the physical origin of such observables from intersecting branes in string theory, and the mathematical origin as certain
equivariant integrals over Nakajima quiver varieties. We explain some of the main applications, including the derivation of Seiberg-Witten geometry for quiver gauge theories and the relations to …

The Global Impact Of Covid-19 And Tourism On Conservation Rangers' Guardianship Capabilities, Zachary Bockler

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This thesis explores how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted wildlife rangers with an emphasis on the influences of tourism rates. Two sets of data are used: one is a survey of rangers around the world and the other looks at global governmental tourism data. While coming from a routine activities perspective, the problem of decreased capable guardianship becomes apparent in the form of massively decreased tourism arrivals and troubling ranger perceptions. This data allows for the establishment of tourism trends and changes during COVID. The findings of this thesis link the downturn in tourism with impacts on formal and informal …

Synthesis And Characterization Of Silver-Gold Nanocage With Enhanced Thermal Stability, Victoria Ten

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Silver-gold nanocages have attracted considerable research interest recently due to their excellent performance in the fields of biomedicine and photocatalysis. These applications oftentimes manipulate at elevated temperatures and therefore impose demands on the thermal stability of the cage structures. To better understand this subject, in this work, we systematically evaluated the thermal stability of two nanocages with different wall thicknesses of 3.8 nm and 13 nm, both in the solution-phase (diethylene glycol) and solid-phase (in-situ STEM). The results revealed that the nanocages with thicker walls exhibited better thermal stabilities in both phases. By monitoring and analyzing the morphology changes of …

How Adolescents In The Child Welfare System Seek Support For Their Sexual Risk Experiences Online, Taylor L. Moraguez

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Youth in the foster care system experience unique and challenging situations online, such as higher risks of inappropriate messaging (e.g., sexting) and unwanted solicitations from strangers. As a vulnerable group of adolescents, foster youth often use online platforms as a resource to express themselves and seek support over their sexual experiences online. This thesis analyzes how foster youth seek support online for their sexual risk experiences, including sexual abuse, sexting, and sexuality. To understand how adolescents (ages 13-17) in the child welfare system seek support for these experiences, we conducted a thematic analysis of 541 individual posts made by 121 …

Genetic Algorighm Representation Selection Impact On Binary Classification Problems, Stephen V. Maldonado

Honors Undergraduate Theses

In this thesis, we explore the impact of problem representation on the ability for the genetic algorithms (GA) to evolve a binary prediction model to predict whether a physical therapist is paid above or below the median amount from Medicare. We explore three different problem representations, the vector GA (VGA), the binary GA (BGA), and the proportional GA (PGA). We find that all three representations can produce models with high accuracy and low loss that are better than Scikit-Learn’s logistic regression model and that all three representations select the same features; however, the PGA representation tends to create lower weights …

Heterogenous Reduction Of Co2 Over Boron-Rich Alb2, Jose C. Berger

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Evidence suggests that the recent drastic changes in the global climate have been caused by greenhouse gases, especially CO­₂. As a result, scientists are aiming to develop processes that either minimize the production of these gases or convert them into products of higher value. To that end, the catalytic properties of a two-dimensional boron-rich material were investigated. Herein is reported that such a material can reduce CO₂ into benzene, C₃ species, and C₄ species at relatively low temperatures (225-450 ℃) and pressures (0.38 MPa). Current data suggest that a low-temperature induction period (e.g., 225 ℃) …

Photocatalytic Hydrogen Production Over Boron Rich Solids, Emma E. Blanco

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The greenhouse emission produced from the combustion of fossil fuels, such as methane (CH_4­) and carbon dioxide (CO₂), are linked to global warming crisis because of their ability to absorb heat emitted to space by the Earth’s atmosphere. Over the last century, methane is estimated to have the Global Warming Potential (GWP) estimated to be 28-36 times larger than carbon dioxide. Although it is released in smaller quantities, methane traps nearly 90 times more heat than CO₂. While recent research efforts has focused on the capture and conversion of CO₂, these efforts …

Multicolor Ramsey And List Ramsey Numbers For Double Stars, Jake Ruotolo

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The core idea of Ramsey theory is that complete disorder is impossible. Given a large structure, no matter how complex it is, we can always find a smaller substructure that has some sort of order. For a graph H, the k-color Ramsey number r(H; k) of H is the smallest integer n such that every k-edge-coloring of K_n contains a monochromatic copy of H. Despite active research for decades, very little is known about Ramsey numbers of graphs. This is especially true for r(H; k) when k is at least 3, also known as the multicolor Ramsey number of …