Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Data Science Job Salary Prediction Using Linear Regression, Dipok Deb

Data Science and Data Mining

In the evolving landscape of data science, accurate salary prediction plays a crucial role in shaping career expectations, informing educational strategies, and guiding organizational hiring decisions. This study investigates the key factors influencing entry-level data science salaries in the United States by applying a multiple linear regression model to a recent dataset spanning from 2020 to 2024. Through data preprocessing, transformation, and diagnostic evaluation, we identify how job roles, experience levels, employment types, work arrangements, residency status, and company size impact compensation. Despite challenges such as outliers, heteroscedasticity, and non-normal residuals, model refinements like the Box-Cox transformation and variable selection …

Computational Design Of Potent Sirna For Braf Oncogene Silencing For Enhancing Cancer Therapy, Muhammad Hermawan Widyananda, Ricadonna Raissa

Karbala International Journal of Modern Science

The discovery of oncogenic BRAF mutations has prompted the development of inhibitors, yet resistance remains widespread. A more effective strategy involves targeting BRAF mRNA with siRNA to overcome resistance to BRAF inhibitors. This study aims to design potent siRNA for BRAF oncogene silencing using a computational approach. The full coding sequence of BRAF was retrieved from the NCBI database and potential siRNAs were predicted using the Ui-Tei, Reynolds, and Amarzguioui rules. Identified siRNAs were further analyzed using various prediction systems and parameters, including their interaction with the hAgo2 protein. The results identified that seven siRNAs (siRNA 23, siRNA 24, siRNA …

Ecodrone: Autonomous Environmental Monitoring, Belsen Lee

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

This project presents EcoDrone, an autonomous aerial drone designed for continuous and automated environmental monitoring. Current environmental monitoring methods rely on stationary sensors or manual data collection, limiting real-time response capabilities. This reliance leads to delayed, incomplete, and spatially limited data and restricts the ability to capture real-time changes. Another challenge includes the difficulty of environmental monitoring in challenging terrain, whether it be wildfire areas, dense forestry, or mountainous terrain. EcoDrone overcomes these challenges by autonomously navigating difficult terrain to collect real-time data, offering more flexible and timely monitoring than stationary or manual methods. The central research question investigates integrating …

Algorithmically Optimal Outer Measures, J. H. Lutz, Neil Lutz

Computer Science Faculty Works

We investigate the relationship between algorithmic fractal dimensions and the classical local fractal dimensions of outer measures in Euclidean spaces. We introduce global and local optimality conditions for lower semicomputable outer measures. We prove that globally optimal outer measures exist. Our main theorem states that the classical local fractal dimensions of any locally optimal outer measure coincide exactly with the algorithmic fractal dimensions. Our proof uses an especially convenient locally optimal outer measure κ defined in terms of Kolmogorov complexity. We discuss implications for point-to-set principles.

Microplastic Concentrations Within The Winyah Bay River Plume, Daniel C. Haughie

Honors Theses

In the last 20 years, microplastics have become a significant concern for ecosystem and public health. The buoyancy and method of introduction makes river plumes a likely repository for microplastic accumulation. A river plume is a bulge of fresher water that expands radially from the mouth of an estuary, with distinct lines called fronts at the leading edge of the plume. A front is a region of convergence between the fresher plume water and the saltier ocean water. The density differences between the two water masses may create an easily identifiable color and salinity gradient. These fronts often allow for …

Transmutation, Sam Berger

MFA in Visual Art

My artistic practice is about change itself. I am inspired by the doubling and layering effects that came out of Surrealist Photography. Scale, fracture, and doubling are intentional components of my process. I combine those methods to create complex works of art, focusing on the untamable light that I hope to capture when making my images, which often are self portraits. Poetry is an integral element of this thesis text as well as my art making process. Through my poetic work I hope to offer my audience a glimpse into how I see and experience the world. This thesis text …

Nonthermalizing Dynamics Of Interacting Rydberg Atoms, Nicolaus A. Chlanda

Physics and Astronomy Honors Papers

An isolated system of ultracold Rydberg atoms can come to equilibrium by exchanging energy through dipole-dipole interactions. In our experiment, a static electric field of a few V/cm shifts the energy levels of the atoms, so that the energy levels are nearly degenerate at zero field and fan out with increasing field to form a manifold. We excite atoms to energy levels near the center of the manifold, where the spacing is nearly harmonic. We allow them to interact for a few microseconds, by which time the population of each energy level has reached a steady state. The population is …

Computational Lipophilicity Calculations Of Fluorinated Morphine Derivatives For Improved Pain Management, Mirabella Romano, Allison Vu, Emily Chen

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

The opioid epidemic impacts 60 million people worldwide every year. Morphine, a commonly prescribed opioid, binds to the μ opioid receptor (MOR) in the body via protonation of the tertiary amino group of morphine and the MOR. An unfortunate side effect of this binding process is its non-selectivity in both peripheral and central tissues. While activation within inflamed peripheral tissues results in pain relief, activation within central tissues results in the unwanted and addictive side effects of opioids. Because there is a discrepancy in pH between healthy (central) and inflamed (peripheral) tissue, selective binding within the inflamed tissues results in …

Exploring Human-Centered Principles To Improve Lecture Slides, Joshua Harlev, Louanne Boyd

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

As a university emphasizing student participation and attention, lectures are central to the educational experience at Chapman. However, slide-based lectures can widely vary in quality and approach. Considering various debunkings of learning styles over the years, it seems more difficult than ever to understand how to most effectively teach students. Effective use of computerized tools has thus become increasingly important as the pace of change continues to increase. Yet, research is available on the effectiveness of teaching methods that can provide guidelines for instructors. With increasingly connected and capable devices at our fingertips, it is imperative to both use the …

Representation And Formalization Of Relation Algebras, Pace S. Nelson, Peter Jipsen

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Abstract relation algebras were defined by Alfred Tarski in 1941 to capture the algebraic properties of binary relations. An interesting question is whether a given relation algebra is representable as an algebra of binary relations. Donald Monk proved in 1964 that the theory of representable relation algebras is not finitely based, and Robin Hirsch and Ian Hodkinson in 2001 showed that it is an undecidable problem whether a finite relation algebra is representable. However, Roger Maddux’s concept of n-dimensional bases and Steve Comer’s one-point extension method can prove (non)representability for various small algebras. Both methods are based on a two-player …

Experimental Evaluation Of Resource Allocation To Organelles In Eukaryotic Cells, Ronan Hanley

Senior Honors Papers / Undergraduate Theses

Among the hallmarks of the eukaryotic cell is its organization into spatially defined sub-compartments known as organelles. Organelles provide optimized environments for otherwise incompatible biochemical reactions within the cell. It has been shown that there is significant variation in the properties of organelles in a cell, and that cells have access to a limited pool of resources that they can allocate to organelles. This begs the question: by what principles do cells dictate how resources are allocated? To begin to explore this question, we look at resource allocation in S. cerevisiaefrom two perspectives. First, we use a combination of …

Re: Comment Letter For The 2022 Butte Priority Soils Operable Unit (Bpsou) Groundwater Compliance Evaluation (Dated March 10, 2025), Emma Rott

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Re: Acknowledgement Letter For The Final Blacktail Creek Groundwater Hydraulic Control System Pre-Design Investigation Evaluation Report (Dated February 27, 2025), Emma Rott

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Development Of Interactive Games On An Affordable Braille Display, Daniel Tsivkovski, Dylan Ravel, Maryam Etezad

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Developing an affordable and STEM learning-focused Braille display addresses a significant disparity in the market for Braille displays, where most fail to provide a cost-effective, accessible, and education-oriented solution. This research aims to bridge this gap through innovative hardware and software development, offering a comprehensive learning experience to elementary school children (K-6) who are blind/visually impaired. The hardware features a piezo-electric tactile display that displays up to six Braille characters at once or a shape in an 8x8 pin array configuration. The educational software includes a user-friendly website packed with engaging STEM activities specifically designed for blind/visually impaired children. The …

Statistics - What Does My Data Say About Me?, Taylor Gadsden-Deterville

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

For my Introduction to Statistics Class, I have been tasked with collecting unique, personal data to give insight into my daily routine. I decided to record nine different outcomes (two qualitative and seven quantitative). On February 6, 2025, I began with a blank Excel sheet, and so far, I have 57 full days of data collected. I will continue monitoring my findings for the remainder of the Spring 2025 Semester. Per my project instructions, I must include tables and graphs for my qualitative and quantitative outcomes. So far, I have collected daily quantitative data on my screen time (Instagram and …

Nifuroxazide And 4-Hydroxybenzhydrazone Derivatives As New Antiparasitic (Trypanosoma Cruzi And Leishmania Mexicana) And Anti-Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Agents, Timoteo Delgado-Maldonado, Diana V. Navarrete-Carriola, Lenci K. Vazquez-Jimenez, Alma D. Paz-Gonzalez, Baojie Wan, Scott Franzblau, Othman Mueen Mohammed, Lorena Rodríguez-Páez, Charmina Aguirre-Alvarado, Debasish Bandyopadhyay

School of Integrative Biological & Chemical Sciences Faculty Publications

Background/Objectives: Nifuroxazide (Nfz) is a drug that has been used as a scaffold for designing antimicrobial and antiparasitic agents. This study aimed to synthesize and evaluate in vitro of Nfz and twenty-five 4-hydroxybenzhydrazone derivatives as potential anti-Trypanosoma cruzi, anti-Leishmania mexicana, and anti-Mycobacterium tuberculosis agents.

Methods: The compounds were synthesized by condensing 4-hydroxybenzhydrazide with appropriate aldehydes in acidic conditions and structurally confirmed by spectroscopic techniques. All compounds were evaluated in vitro against T. cruzi strains (NINOA and A1), L. mexicana (M379 and FCQEPS strains), and M. tuberculosis (H37Rv strain), followed by enzymatic assays against T. cruzi …

Re: Comment Letter For The 2023 Butte Priority Soils Operable Unit (Bpsou) Groundwater Compliance Evaluation (Dated March 10, 2025), Emma Rott

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Praxly: An Online Ide For The Praxis Cs Test Pseudocode, Benjamin Saupp

James Madison Undergraduate Research Journal (JMURJ)

No abstract provided.

Using A Pharmacokinetic Model To Design And Evaluate An Early Ctdna Biomarker For Response To Targeted Therapy, Aaron Li

Spora: A Journal of Biomathematics

Early prediction of response to therapy or lack thereof can help physicians plan treatment more efficiently. Biomarkers based on circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) are promising. However, biomarkers beyond direct comparison to baseline have not been thoroughly explored. We develop a model for ctDNA shedding under targeted therapy that incorporates pharmacokinetics. Using a simulated cohort of virtual patients with varied parameters, we define and analyze a biomarker based on ctDNA samples at baseline, 12 hours, and 24 hours after initiation of treatment. The biomarker identified patients who would achieve partial or complete response with high sensitivity and specificity and was able …

Amplifying Climate Action: San Diego’S Climate Action Plan (Cap) Dashboard, San Diego Regional Climate Collaborative, Courtney Chinn, Marius Van Dongen

San Diego Regional Climate Collaborative

The City of San Diego boasts a strong tourism and recreation industry, partly attributed to the City’s temperate climate. In recent years, extreme weather events tied to climate change have led to an even stronger focus on mitigation and resilience. In 2015, the City adopted a Climate Action Plan (CAP), which was most recently updated in 2022. The CAP established the goal for the community to reach net zero emissions by 2035. In the fall of 2024, to boost the efforts of the CAP, the City of San Diego published their online Climate Action Plan platform, the CAP Dashboard. The …

Understanding California’S 2025 Energy Code, San Diego Regional Climate Collaborative, Caroline Stillitano

San Diego Regional Climate Collaborative

California’s 2025 Energy Code is set to take effect in January 2026. Triannual updates to the Energy Code advance the state’s clean energy and climate resilience goals. For 2025, key updates include expanded heat pump requirements, electric-ready requirements, enhanced ventilation standards, and updated solar and battery storage regulations. These updates aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, lower energy costs, and improve public health in California. This case study outlines the main components of the 2025 updates to the California Energy Code (Title 24, Part 6), highlights expected impacts, and identifies financial incentives and programs available to support compliance and facilitate …

Understanding California's Climate Zones, San Diego Regional Climate Collaborative, Caroline Stillitano

San Diego Regional Climate Collaborative

California’s diverse geography led the California Energy Commission (CEC) to divide the state into 16 Climate Zones, each reflecting local weather patterns and energy demands. These zones guide energy-efficient building standards by setting energy budgets tailored to regional conditions. This fact sheet explains the role of climate zones in shaping energy policy, using San Diego County’s four distinct zones as an example of how local climates influence building code requirements.

Symmetry Induced Pairing In Dark Excitonic Condensate At Finite Temperature, Adham Alkady, Anatoly Kuklov

Publications and Research

Bose Einstein condensate of dark intervalley excitons must be inherently multi-component because of crystalline symmetries. Since valleys hosting such excitons are separated by large quasi-momenta, a minimal inter-component Josephson-type coupling can only be established between pairs of excitons from the time-reversed valleys. As a result, a paired condensate can emerge at finite temperature, that is, the off-diagonal order exists for the pairs from the time-reversed valleys, while the individual valleys are disordered. This prediction follows from the elementary mean field analysis regardless of the dimensionality. However, as Monte Carlo simulations show, no such a phase exists in 3D crystals. Instead, …

Optimizing Information Security In Cloud Environments: A Risk Management Approach And Guide For Enterprise Cloud Security, Joshua Olusegun Oyeniyi, Oluwashina Akinloye Oyeniran

Journal of Cybersecurity Education, Research and Practice

In recent years, cloud computing has become increasingly integral to organizational operations due to its scalability, accessibility and cost effectiveness in managing data and resources. However, the rise in security threats and attacks on cloud environments necessitates having robust measures in place to protect data confidentiality, integrity and availability. This paper presents an optimized approach to cloud information security management by reviewing the current threat landscape, evaluating key risk management frameworks, and provided practical solutions for enhancing enterprise cloud security. The study examined three leading cloud security frameworks: the Cloud Controls Matrix (CCM) known for its cloud-specific controls, the NIST …

Flying Safe: Reducing Bird Strikes At Northern Illinois University, Stacey Marcinkowski

Honors Capstones

Bird-window collisions are a major source of avian mortality, particularly in urban environments where glass structures are prevalent. At Northern Illinois University (NIU), systematic monitoring conducted between 2019 and 2024 revealed Montgomery Hall to be the building with the highest incidence of bird strikes. This project aimed to test the effectiveness of a cost efficient bird strike mitigation strategy using grease marker frit dots on Montgomery Hall’s skybridge windows. We applied white dots spaced four inches apart and compared strike data collected during fall migration seasons before (2018–2022) and after (2024) dot application. While limited to one post-treatment season, results …

Characterization Of A Magnetically Contained Hot Filament Plasma Source With A Wide-Sweeping Langmuir Probe, Jonas Rowan

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Ionospheric plasma research in the Space and Atmospheric Instrumentation Laboratory’s Space Plasma Chamber has been hindered by the lack of a suitable plasma diagnostic instrument and understanding of its hot-filament plasma source. This thesis describes efforts made to remedy both problems. A wide-range Sweeping Langmuir Probe was developed with a ±35 V sweeping range to fully analyze ion and electron saturation regions in the entire IV curve. A method was derived to estimate the chamber source’s filament temperatures. The new Langmuir probe was integrated into a refurbished automated system designed in Python to measure plasma parameters for various chamber conditions, …

Satellite Reorientation Using Reinforcement Learning Under Unknown Attitude Failure, Matthew Willoughby

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

This study presents a reinforcement learning (RL) approach for reestablishing communication with deep-space satellites under unknown attitude determination and control system (ADCS) failures. When traditional fault-tolerant control methods cannot restore signal, the proposed RL controller acts as a last-resort measure by autonomously reorienting the satellite’s antenna toward Earth while charging the battery via solar panels. A generic reward function, designed for the RL-based method, enables the controller to adapt to diverse failure scenarios, including severe actuator noise, misalignment, and complete actuator failure. Simulations are conducted in the Basilisk environment and trained with the tonic framework and demonstrate ranging capabilities of …

Vanadyl Phthalocyanine As A Low-Temperature/Low-Pressure Catalyst For The Conversion Of Fructose To Methyl Levulinate, Juan Luna, Mataz Alcoutlabi, Elizabeth M. Fletes, Helia Magali Morales, Jason Parsons

School of Integrative Biological & Chemical Sciences Faculty Publications

In this study, a vanadyl phthalocyanine was synthesized and characterized using XRD, FTIR, and XPS, confirming the successful metalation of the phthalocyanine ring. XRD analysis showed the vanadyl phthalocyanine crystallized in the P-1 crystal lattice, with unit cell parameters a = 12.058 Å, b = 12.598 Å, and c = 8.719 Å, and the lattice angels were 96.203°, 94.941°, and 68.204°. FTIR spectroscopy supported the metalation by the disappearance of the N-H stretch of the non-metalated phthalocyanine. The vanadyl phthalocyanine was tested as a heterogenous catalyst for the conversion of fructose into methyl levulinate in H2SO4–methanol and HCl–methanol systems. The …

Mapping The Key Players In Kawasaki Disease; Role Of Inflammatory Genes And Protein-Protein Interactions, Wael Hafez, Feras Al-Obeidat, Asrar Rashid, Afsheen Raza, Nouran Hamza, Nesma Ahmed, Marwa M. Abdeljawad, Raziya Kadwa, Abdelhameed Elmesery, Muneir Gador, Dina Khair, Gihan Zina, Fatema Abdulaal, Mina Wassef Girgiss, Maha Abdelhadi, Ahmed Abdelrahman, Mahmad Anwar Ibrahim, Mohamed El Sherbiny

All Works

Background: Kawasaki disease (KD) is a complex acquired condition characterized by systemic blood vessel inflammation that primarily affects children under five years of age. It is clinically diagnosed as a syndrome, making it susceptible to misdiagnoses. Severe complications such as myocardial damage and coronary artery abnormalities can be fatal; thus, early diagnosis is critical for preventing disease progression. Currently, no specific diagnostic test can distinguish KD from viral or bacterial infections. Additionally, the molecular mechanisms underlying the disease remain unclear, hindering the development of targeted therapies. Objective: This study aimed to identify the genetic patterns and molecular mechanisms associated with …

Two-Sample Bi-Directional Causality Between Two Traits With Some Invalid Ivs In Both Directions Using Gwas Summary Statistics, Siyi Chen

School of Public Health Faculty Publications

Mendelian randomization (MR) is a widely used method for assessing causal relationships between risk factors and outcomes using genetic variants as instrumental variables (IVs). While traditional MR assumes uni-directional causality, bi-directional MR aims to identify the true causal direction. In uni-directional MR, invalid IVs due to pleiotropy can violate assumptions and introduce biases. In bi-directional MR, traditional MR can be performed separately for each direction, but the presence of invalid IVs poses even greater challenges. We introduce a new bi-directional MR method incorporating stepwise selection (Bidir-SW) designed to address these challenges. Our approach leverages public genome-wide association study (GWAS) datasets …