Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

United States Suicide Analysis: 1999-2016, Malynn Clark

Honors Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to create information visualizations surrounding suicide trends from 1999-2016 in the United States. The original data was obtained from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Compressed Mortality Database. This database permits users to download several fields of information regarding deaths for the years given. Using this information, many graphs below show trends and patterns for suicide. One notable trend includes the higher proportion of male to female suicides for all categories explored including: age group, race, and metro/nonmetro status. The goal is to bring awareness and understanding surrounding the suicide epidemic in the …

A Synthesis And Analysis Of Anhydrous Hydroxide Ion Conducting Polymer Electrolytes, Stanton Heydinger

Honors Theses

This project investigates the synthesis and physical properties of polyethylene glycol monomethyl ether (MePEGn where n=3 or 7) based polymer electrolytes. The two polymer electrolytes explored in the experiments were designed from two different MePEG chains that varied in their overall length and degree of polymerization. The first MePEG backbone contained three polymerized ethoxy groups and the second contained seven. Both MePEGn polymers were modified by substituting an imidazolium group in place of the alcohol functional group at the end of the PEG chain. This modification was made to create a polymer electrolyte with an attached positive charge that could …

Why Does Ramanujan, The Man Who Knew Infinity, Matter?, Ken Ono

Dalrymple Lecture Series

Dr. Ken Ono is the Thomas Jefferson Professor of Mathematics at the University of Virginia, the Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Mathematics at Emory University, and the vice president of the American Mathematical Society.He is an associate producer of the film The Man Who Knew Infinity starring Dev Patel and Jeremy Irons about Srinivasa Ramanujan, a self-trained two-time college dropout who left behind three notebooks filled with equations that mathematicians are still trying to figure out today. Ramanujan claimed that his ideas came to him as visions from an Indian goddess. This lecture is about why Ramanujan matters. The answers …

Co-Localization Of Dna I-Motif-Forming Sequences And 5-Hydroxymethyl-Cytosines In Human Embryonic Stem Cells, Yogini P. Bhavsar-Jog, Eric Van Dornshuld, Tracy A. Brooks, Gregory S. Tschumper, Randy M. Wadkins

Faculty and Student Publications

G-quadruplexes (G4s) and i-motifs (iMs) are tetraplex DNA structures. Sequences capable of forming G4/iMs are abundant near the transcription start sites (TSS) of several genes. G4/iMs affect gene expression in vitro. Depending on the gene, the presence of G4/iMs can enhance or suppress expression, making it challenging to discern the underlying mechanism by which they operate. Factors affecting G4/iM structures can provide additional insight into their mechanism of regulation. One such factor is epigenetic modification. The 5-hydroxymethylated cytosines (5hmCs) are epigenetic modifications that occur abundantly in human embryonic stem cells (hESC). The 5hmCs, like G4/iMs, are known to participate in …

Can The Merpas Passive Air Sampler Discriminate Landscape, Seasonal, And Elevation Effects On Atmospheric Mercury? A Feasibility Study In Mississippi, Usa, Byunggwon Jeon, James V. Cizdziel

Faculty and Student Publications

© 2019 by the authors. Accurately measuring gaseous elemental mercury (GEM) concentrations in the atmosphere is important to understand its sources, cycling, distribution, and temporal trends. The MerPAS passive air sampler from Tekran Inc. (Toronto, ON, Canada) captures GEM on sulfur-impregnated activated carbon after it passes through a Radeillo diffusive barrier. Because they are small, relatively low in cost, and require no power, they can be deployed at multiple locations, yielding a much greater spatial resolution, albeit at coarser temporal resolution, compared to active sampling. In this study, we used the MerPAS to measure GEM concentration gradients at a mixed …

Air/Surface Exchange Of Gaseous Elemental Mercury At Different Landscapes In Mississippi, Usa, James V. Cizdziel, Yi Zhang, Divya Nallamothu, J. Stephen Brewer, Zhiqiang Gao

Faculty and Student Publications

© 2019 by the authors. Mercury (Hg) is a global pollutant with human health and ecological impacts. Gas exchange between terrestrial surfaces and the atmosphere is an important route for Hg to enter and exit ecosystems. Here, we used a dynamic flux chamber to measure gaseous elemental Hg (GEM) exchange over different landscapes in Mississippi, including in situ measurements for a wetland (soil and water), forest floor, pond, mowed field and grass-covered lawn, as well as mesocosm experiments for three different agricultural soils. Fluxes were measured during both the summer and winter. Mean ambient levels of GEM ranged between 0.93-1.57 …

Untangling The Formation Of Methoxymethanol (Ch3Och2Oh) And Dimethyl Peroxide (Ch3Ooch3) In Star-Forming Regions, Cheng Zhu, Robert Frigge, Alexandre Bergantini, Ryan C. Fortenberry, Ralf I. Kaiser

Faculty and Student Publications

© 2019. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.. Methoxymethanol (CH3OCH2OH) was recently detected toward the MM1 core in the high-mass star-forming region NGC 6334I. However, the underlying formation mechanisms of this complex organic molecule (COM) as well as its structural isomers ethylene glycol (HOCH2CH2OH) and the hitherto unobserved dimethyl peroxide (CH3OOCH3) are still elusive. Here, we report the very first confirmed synthesis of dimethyl peroxide - at various deuteration levels within interstellar analogous ices of D3-methanol (CD3OH) exposed to ionizing radiation at ultralow temperatures of 5 K. The discrimination of specific isomers is achieved by exploiting reflectron time-of-flight mass …

Descent In Symmetry During Solid State Transitions And Other Anomalies In Mixed Valence Compounds Axmxⅱm1-Xⅲf3 (A = K, Rb, Cs; M = V, Cr; X = 0.0 - 1.0), William O. J. Boo, Daniel L. Mattern, Robert M. Metzger

Faculty and Student Publications

The scope of solid-state transitions, from melting temperatures down to 4.2 K, is described for six systems: K_xVF₃, Rb_xVF₃, Cs_xVF₃, K_xCrF₃, Rb_xCrF₃, and Cs_xCrF₃ (for x = 0.0 to 1.0). Connections are drawn between the compounds’ compositions and structures with the various transitions and ordering events. Upon solidification from the melt and gradual cooling to room temperature, a sequential descent of symmetry appears to occur, from high-symmetry perovskite phases, through possible reconstructive transitions, to phases designated α …

Molecular Oxygen Generation From The Reaction Of Water Cations With Oxygen Atoms, Ryan C. Fortenberry, Tarek Trabelsi, Brent R. Westbrook, Weston A. Del Rio, Joseph S. Francisco

Faculty and Student Publications

© 2019 Author(s). The oxywater cation (H2OO+), previously shown to form barrierlessly in the gas phase from water cations and atomic oxygen, is proposed here potentially to possess a 2A″ ← 4A″ excitation leading to the H2⋯O2+ complex. This complex could then easily decompose into molecular hydrogen and the molecular oxygen cation. The present quantum chemical study shows that the necessary electronic transition takes place in the range of 1.92 eV (645 nm), in the orange-red range of the visible and solar spectrum, and dissociation of the complex only requires 5.8 kcal/mol (0.25 eV). Such a process for the abiotic, …

Lecture 10, Kannan Soundararajan

NSF-CBMS Conference: L-functions and Multiplicative Number Theory

Continuation of Fyodorov--Keating conjectures, connections with random multiplicative functions.

Lecture 9, Kannan Soundararajan

NSF-CBMS Conference: L-functions and Multiplicative Number Theory

Fyodorov--Keating conjectures, connections with random multiplicative functions.

The Weyl Bound For Dirichlet L-Functions, Matthew P. Young

NSF-CBMS Conference: L-functions and Multiplicative Number Theory

Abstract: In the 1960's, Burgess proved a subconvexity bound for Dirichlet L-functions. However, the quality of this bound was not as strong, in terms of the conductor, as the classical Weyl bound for the Riemann zeta function. In a major breakthrough, Conrey and Iwaniec established the Weyl bound for quadratic Dirichlet L-functions. I will discuss recent work with Ian Petrow that generalizes the Conrey-Iwaniec bound for more general characters, in particular arbitrary characters of prime modulus.

Extension Of A Positivity Trick And Estimates Involving L-Functions At The Edge Of The Critical Strip, Xiannan Li

NSF-CBMS Conference: L-functions and Multiplicative Number Theory

Updated schedule

Abstract: I will review an old trick, and relate this to some modern results involving estimates for L-functions at the edge of the critical strip. These will include a good bound for automorphic L-functions and Rankin-Selberg L-functions as well as estimates for primes which split completely in a number field.

Lecture 8, Kannan Soundararajan

NSF-CBMS Conference: L-functions and Multiplicative Number Theory

Continuation of Extreme values of L-functions.

Lecture 7, Kannan Soundararajan

NSF-CBMS Conference: L-functions and Multiplicative Number Theory

Extreme values of L-functions.

Lecture 6, Kannan Soundararajan

NSF-CBMS Conference: L-functions and Multiplicative Number Theory

Continuation of Progress towards moment conjectures -- upper and lower bounds.

Lecture 5, Kannan Soundararajan

NSF-CBMS Conference: L-functions and Multiplicative Number Theory

Progress towards moment conjectures -- upper and lower bounds.

Effects Of Polyamine Binding On The Stability Of Dna I-Motif Structures, Michael M. Molnar, Shelby C. Liddell, Randy M. Wadkins

Faculty and Student Publications

B-form DNA can adopt alternative structures under conditions such as superhelical duress. Alternative DNA structures are favored when there is asymmetric distribution of guanosine and cytosine on complimentary DNA strands. A guanosine-rich strand can form a four-stranded structure known as a quadruplex (G4). The complimentary cytosine-rich strand can utilize intercalating cytosine−cytosine base pairing to form a four-stranded structure known as the i-motif (iM). Both secondary structures are energetically uphill from double-strand DNA (dsDNA), meaning that additional factors are needed for their formation. Most iMs require slightly acidic conditions for structure stabilization. However, crowding agents such as polyethylene glycols and dextrans …

High Moments Of L-Functions, Vorrapan Chandee

NSF-CBMS Conference: L-functions and Multiplicative Number Theory

Abstract: Moments of L-functions on the critical line (Re(s) = 1/2) have been extensively studied due to numerous applications, for example, bounds for L-functions, information on zeros of L-functions, and connections to the generalized Riemann hypothesis. However, the current understanding of higher moments is very limited. In this talk, I will give an overview how we can achieve asymptotic and bounds for higher moments by enlarging the size of various families of L-functions and show some techniques that are involved.

Moments Of Cubic L-Functions Over Function Fields, Alexandra Florea

NSF-CBMS Conference: L-functions and Multiplicative Number Theory

Abstract: I will talk about some recent work with Chantal David and Matilde Lalin about the mean value of L-functions associated to cubic characters over F_q[t] when q=1 (mod 3). I will explain how to obtain an asymptotic formula which relies on obtaining cancellation in averages of cubic Gauss sums over functions fields. I will also talk about the corresponding non-Kummer case when q=2 (mod 3) and I will explain why this setting is somewhat easier to handle than the Kummer case, which allows us to prove some better results.

Lecture 4, Kannan Soundararajan

NSF-CBMS Conference: L-functions and Multiplicative Number Theory

Larger values of L-functions on critical line -- moments, conjectures.

Lecture 3, Kannan Soundararajan

NSF-CBMS Conference: L-functions and Multiplicative Number Theory

Continuation of Selberg's central limit theorem and analogues in families of L-functions (typical size of values on critical line).

An Effective Chebotarev Density Theorem For Families Of Fields, With An Application To Class Groups, Caroline Turnage-Butterbaugh

NSF-CBMS Conference: L-functions and Multiplicative Number Theory

This talk will present an effective Chebotarev theorem that holds for all but a possible zero-density subfamily of certain families of number fields of fixed degree. For certain families, this work is unconditional, and in other cases it is conditional on the strong Artin conjecture and certain conjectures on counting number fields. As an application, we obtain nontrivial average upper bounds on ℓ-torsion in the class groups of the families of fields.

Landau-Siegel Zeros And Their Illusory Consequences, Kyle Pratt

NSF-CBMS Conference: L-functions and Multiplicative Number Theory

Updated time

Abstract: Researchers have tried for many years to eliminate the possibility of LandauSiegel zeros—certain exceptional counterexamples to the Generalized Riemann Hypothesis. Often one thinks of these zeros as being a severe nuisance, but there are many situations in which their existence allows one to prove spectacular, though illusory, results. I will review some of this history and some of these results. In the latter portion of the talk I will discuss recent work, joint with H. M. Bui and Alexandru Zaharescu, in which we show that the existence of Landau-Siegel zeros has implications for the behavior of Dirichlet …

Lecture 2, Kannan Soundararajan

NSF-CBMS Conference: L-functions and Multiplicative Number Theory

Selberg's central limit theorem and analogues in families of L-functions (typical size of values on critical line).

Lecture 1, Kannan Soundararajan

NSF-CBMS Conference: L-functions and Multiplicative Number Theory

Introduction to the rest of lectures + value distribution of L-functions away from critical line.

Increasing The Effectiveness Of Impossible Spaces In Virtual Environments Using Moving Textures, Dylan Devenny

Honors Theses

This study looks to examine a method of overcoming the limitations caused by the size of a physical tracking area in virtual reality environments known as impossible spaces and attempt to improve its efficiency by altering the texture flow of the virtual environment. The experiment involves running participants through a series of small buildings consisting of two rooms in which the percentage of overlap between the two rooms and the ratio of texture movement to user movement (corresponding to textural ow conditions) differs from trial to trial and asking participants to make a judgement of whether or not the environment …

Indoor Localization Using A Smartphone: Approaches, Issues, And Challenges, Lee J. Easson

Honors Theses

Localization has gained priority in an increasingly inter-connected world. The majority of industries and sectors require some means of tracking the location of objects and/or people anywhere on the Earth, whether indoors or outdoors. GPS is an already-implemented and viable solution for outdoor localization. However, indoor localization is more challenging to implement and thus has become a broad area of research. Despite the challenges of tracking location in places where satellite GPS signals are unreliable or unreachable (i.e. within a building or structure), there has been considerable progress made in indoor localization research. Although current indoor localization technology can achieve …

Theoretical And Experimental Vibrational Modes Of The Borane Pyridine Complex, Benjamin Stratton

Honors Theses

Benjamin Wade Stratton: Theoretical and Experimental Vibrational Modes of the Borane Pyridine Complex (Under the direction of Dr. Nathan Hammer) The Borane Pyridine complex is a molecule that contains a dative bond between the boron and nitrogen atoms. A dative bond is a type of covalent bonding that occurs when both electrons come from the same atom. The B-N bond has been studied in several other molecules such as ammonia borane and determining the frequency at which this bond vibrates has been a topic of interest studied in these molecules as well as several others. This complex has another factor …

Effects Of Halogen Bonding On 13c Nmr Shifts Of Iodotolan, James Long

Honors Theses

Halogen bonding is the ability of heavier halogens to have noncovalent interactions similar to hydrogen bonding. By mixing two compounds that should halogen bond together and analyzing this mixture with carbon NMR spectroscopy, we attempted to test the strength and extent of halogen bonding in 4-iodotolan. After observing the changes in the 4-iodotolans chemical shifts, the halogen bond appears to be too weak to affect the chemical shifts in a substantial manner; however, the C-I bonded carbon shows a slight but consistent increase in its shift which could be an avenue for future research.