Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Mapping Disparities: Spatial And Socioeconomic Analysis Of Medical Apartheid Regions In Spartanburg County, Anthony G. Tarulli

Student Scholarship

Medical Apartheid Regions (MARs) are a widely underesearched topic that are heavily prominent in the southeastern United States, specifically rural areas (Brînzac et al. 2023). Due to the historical implementation of redlining (Egede et al., 2023) and structural racism (Miller & Vasan, 2021) in the development of the southern United States, a reclassification of medical deserts needed to occur to truly assess the implications of a lack of healthcare acces.

Toxicity And Biodegradability Of Novel Boronium Vs Conventional Ammonium Based Anti Microbial Compounds In Wastewater Treatment Systems, Noor Shalan

Poster Presentations

Quaternary ammonium compounds (QACs) are highly effective as disinfectants, herbicides, and pesticides; thus, overuse causes elevated levels of residual toxicity in domestic and industrial wastewater. QACs can be toxic to essential bacteria breaking down pollutants in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and can remain untreated in effluent, harming the environment, and contributing to antibiotic resistance, posing risks to human health. Novel boronium-based antimicrobial compounds have demonstrated efficacy in eliminating bacteria, fungi, and viruses. If the boronium compounds exhibit lower residual toxicity, they could offer a promising alternative to QACs. Because these compounds are still in development, their potential toxicity to the …

Binary Solid/Liquid Equilibrium Of Mixtures Of Thermally Robust Salts And Molecular Compounds For Use As Heat Transfer Fluids, Jared Ridge Mathews

Poster Presentations

Fossil fuels, contributors to climate change that may bear catastrophic consequences, power the entire world. The human species is almost entirely dependent on fossil fuels for energy, but other sources of renewable and environmentally friendly energy must be developed. Concentrated solar power (CSP) is a promising source of renewable energy with hampered potential—better heat transfer fluids (HTFs) are needed for it to be economically feasible. Currently, the HTFs in industrial use are predominantly either synthetic oils or nitrate-based molten salts. Synthetic oils are only stable up to 400 °C, and molten salts often have high melting temperatures, making them prone …

Linear Dicyclopentadiene Copolymers: Synthesis And Thermal Analysis, Connor Lewis

Poster Presentations

To retain the existing advantages of L-pDCPD and to enhance its material properties, an incorporation of functionalized comonomers is being investigated. It is hypothesized that such functionalization will allow for higher theoretical molecular weights, increased oxidative resistance, and more durable thermal properties following air exposure. The use of heteroatoms in exemplary oxa-norbornene-based compounds is thought to strengthen intermolecular interactions and thus improve the structural stability of L-pDCPD. To better understand the polymerization initiated by GC3 and to identify potential ROCM processes, IR-active nitrile and hydroxyl groups were specifically incorporated. For this study, the comonomers were synthesized from exo-3,6-epoxy- 1,2,3,6 tetrahydrophthalic …

Ghosts In Glass: Ghost Crabs (Ocypode Quadrata) As Judges Of Glass Sand For Coastal Restoration, Emily Parrish

Poster Presentations

Coastal erosion is heavily impacting coastal ecosystems across the Gulf. For instance, the state of Louisiana loses a football field worth of land every 100 minutes (Couvillion, 2017). The drastic loss of coastline highlights the dire need for restoration in the Northern Gulf Coast. An unexpected solution to this sediment loss may solve two major environmental issues at once by diverting millions of tons of glass waste from entering America’s landfills each year. By crushing glass to create sand and gravel for coastal restoration, we may generate a consistent and sustainable source of substrate. Our goal is to determine the …

Designing An Interactive Exit Ticket System To Enhance Learning In Engineering Education, Tapanga Witt

McNair Scholars Manuscripts

Within Grand Valley State University's (GVSU) Padnos College of Engineering, many first-year Engineering courses consistently see pass rates below 70%, signaling a need for stronger academic support. This is an issue across many universities; students are underprepared and face a lot of challenges with workload, pace, and independence due to the transition from high school to college (Flanigan, 2024). For this project, I designed and developed a website-based exit ticket system to support student reflection and instructor feedback. Using UX design principles, the platform offers a weekly self-reflection form that recommends resources like tutoring, office hours, or study groups. Gamification …

Quantifying The Role Of Climate On Tropical River Flow (Guarare River) Along The Panama Pacific Coast, 1981 – 2020., Jessie Abrego - Bonilla

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Guarare River watershed on the Azuero Peninsula of Panama, part of the Panamanian Dry Arc, experiences significant hydrological variability driven by seasonal changes, elevation, and the El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO). This study investigates precipitation and river discharge patterns over 40 years (1981 – 2020), showing that elevation influences rainfall distribution, with higher-altitude areas receiving more precipitation during the Neutral and El Niño phases. In contrast, La Niña phases bring increased rainfall to lower-elevation areas, such as Pocrí. Seasonal ENSO effects reveal that El Niño phases reduce dry-season precipitation, lowering river discharge. La Niña events sustain high wet-season rainfall, peaking …

Western Australia’S Marine Heatwave Update - 9th May 2025, Department Of Primary Industries And Regional Development, Western Australia

Marine Heatwave Notification Reports

Category 1 – Moderate marine heatwave (MHW) conditions continue for the Gascoyne and South Coast Bioregions. Marine heatwave conditions in the North Coast Bioregion have abated and the West Coast Bioregion remains warm but neither are categorised as experiencing MHW conditions.

Low-Field Magnetoresistance In Nanocomposites Of La₀.₇Sr₀.₃Mno₃ And Metal Oxides, Nicholas K. Thiel-Hudson

University Scholar Projects

Pure La_0.7Sr_0.3MnO₃ (LSMO) exhibits colossal magnetoresistance (CMR) with large applied magnetic field over a narrow temperature range (intrinsic behavior), limiting its application to narrow temperature ranges. In contrast, the extrinsic CMR effect originates from inhomogeneities at larger length scales, such as grain boundaries and phase separation, where the structural features act as tunneling barriers, leading to a low-field magnetoresistance (LFMR) response, thereby expanding the application of LSMO into the low-field regime over a broader temperature range. In this work, the magnetotransport behavior of pure LSMO thin film is compared to the composite layered heterostructures of …

Assessing Perceived Safety Of Non Motorized Travel With Virtual Reality, Vahid Balali, Sahand Fathi

Mineta Transportation Institute

Cycling is increasingly advocated as a healthier and more sustainable mode of transportation, as reflected in both scholarly literature and policy initiatives. Nonetheless, the escalation in bicyclist crash fatalities underscores deficiencies in extant roadway designs that inadequately safeguard these vulnerable users. A persistent challenge in the examination of bicyclist safety, behavior, and comfort is the paucity of comprehensive cycling data. To enhance understanding of cyclists' behavioral and physiological responses safely and efficiently, this investigation utilizes a bicycle simulator within an immersive virtual environment (IVE). Off-the-shelf sensors are employed to evaluate cyclists' performance metrics (speed and lane position) and physiological responses …

Latent Variable Dyadic Regression Models For Predicting Over/Under Bets In Sports Betting, Alexcia Trejo

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the use of latent factor models to uncover hidden structures in pair wise outcomes derived from Over/Under betting markets in sports betting. Specifically, we implement and evaluate the Eigen model, a latent space model that represents dyadic data using node-specific vectors whose inner product govern edge probabilities. By modeling relationships between teams as adjacency matrices of binary outcomes, we investigate the extent to which the Eigen model captures both homophily, the tendency of similar teams to yield consistent betting results, and stochastic equivalence, where different teams exhibit indistinguishable patterns of Over/Under outcomes. A Bayesian formulation of the …

Mathematics-Ai Based Phylogenetic Analysis Of Influenza Virus Mutation Data, Emilee Walden

Mathematical Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

The influenza virus is one of the most common viral infections each year and can mutate rapidly. Viral mutations pose significant threats to public health by increasing infectivity and strengthening vaccine resistance. To track these evolving patterns, agencies like the CDC annually evaluate thousands of virus strains to understand viral mutagenesis and evolution in depth. Therefore, a computational method for analyzing high-dimensional, noisy virus data could aid in the rapid identification of antigens essential for an effective influenza vaccine for the upcoming season. Through the integration of genomic analysis, clustering, and dimensionality reduction methods, this study specifically aims to develop …

Some Interpolation Problems In The Projective Plane, Lilah Estes

Mathematical Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

Given some set of r general points in the projective plane, we want to better understand: what is the smallest degree of any polynomial passing through the points m times? How many linearly independent equations of this degree pass through the points m times? The investigation of these questions, particularly for the case of m=3 and r< 16, motivates the development of several results. We translate Terracini's inductive argument, a tool for evaluating the expectedness of certain sets of double points, into a version which can be used for triple points, and prove that the argument holds. We compute the minimal graded free resolutions for the ideals corresponding to up to 15 points, for m up to 6, and we conjecture a connection between the expectedness of these ideals and what their resolutions look like. Further, we prove that this conjecture holds when m=1, and we either fully or partially prove that these ideals are …

Generative Artificial Intelligence Dependency: Scale Development, Validation, And Its Motivational, Behavioral, And Psychological Correlates, Adalia Yin Hui Goh

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

The growing integration of generative artificial intelligence (AI) into everyday life has raised questions about its potential psychological and behavioral consequences. The present research develops and validates the Generative AI Dependency Scale, a multidimensional tool developed to assess individual differences in dependency on generative AI systems. Across six studies involving 1,223 participants from the United States and Singapore, the Generative AI Dependency Scale demonstrated strong psychometric properties, including a stable three-factor structure (cognitive preoccupation, negative consequences, withdrawal) and good test-retest reliability (ICC = .85). Confirmatory factor analysis supported a higher-order dependency construct, and scalar measurement invariance was established across sex …

Current Wind Simulation Techniques, Keegan J. Sims

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

Not much exists in the realm of wind simulation. For what does exist involves tornadoes, and even then that is stretched far and few between. Due to this we have a lot of room to explore, and figure things out. How do we simulate real time wind? My capstone project involves a simple wind algorithm, how does it compare to what does currently exist? This paper covers the papers about wind and how it it interacts with objects and itself.

On The Hexgame, Corwin Jones

Mathematical Sciences Technical Reports (MSTR)

The SOMA Cube has been studied by mathematicians for a number of decades, but so far methods for solving three-dimensional space-filling puzzles like the SOMA cube remain numerical; we do not have a means to predict the number of solutions to SOMA-like puzzles. We present a two-dimensional puzzle that shares certain features of the SOMA Cube, with the hope that it will be a more convenient object of study for future research into space-filling/space-covering puzzles.

The Impact Of Maternal Age On The Expression Of Transgenerational Plasticity In Daphnia Pulicaria, Calvin Nguyen

2025 Spring Honors Capstone Projects - Archive

Transgenerational plasticity refers to heritable, non-genetic changes in phenotype that persist across multiple generations and can enhance offspring survivability in variable environments. In Daphnia, increasing maternal age has been associated with maladaptive plasticity. To investigate this relationship, six clones were collected from two Wisconsin lakes and acclimated to laboratory conditions through a common garden rearing process. For each clone, ten replicates were generated and evenly divided between young (clutches 2–4) and old (clutches 5–8) maternal age groups. Offspring were exposed to three dietary treatments for three experimental generations: one fed only green algae, one fed only cyanobacteria (a nutritionally …

Cuegen: Customizing Sensor Captions For Neon Bending Tutorials, Gunnika Kapoor

2025 Spring Honors Capstone Projects - Archive

Methods of knowledge transfer that rely primarily on visual and/or auditory formats do not effectively convey context-specific or implicit skills, known as tacit skills. This limits knowledge transfer. In this work, the use of customizable pitch captions and spatial audio vibration captions is proposed to aid in conveying this tacit knowledge for neon glass bending video tutorials. Such a system is designed to provide users with greater control and support, which may maximize the information they obtain from, improve the autonomy they have with, and experience they have with a learning tool. As such, a system interface was developed that …

Controlling A Mobile Inverted Pendulum And Optimizing Leaning Angle To Apply Force Using Reinforcement Learning, Aryan Mediratta

2025 Spring Honors Capstone Projects - Archive

Reinforcement Learning is a Machine Learning paradigm that involves simulating learning through rewards and penalties in intelligent systems. This technique is often employed in robotics when traditional control methods are insufficient or when human intuition does not provide a good solution on how to control robot systems, This project involves training a Segway-style Mobile Inverted Pendulum (MIP) robot to balance and push a box forward. The BeagleBone Blue board is used that includes a built-in Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) and encoder ports. These sensors enable the system to measure its current state. The goal is to find the optimal leaning …

Bismuth-207 For Purity Monitoring System For Lartpc: Dune And Proto-Dune, Rohit Raut

2025 Spring Honors Capstone Projects - Archive

The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE), the U.S. flagship neutrino experiment, relies on high purity liquid argon (LAr) for optimal detector performance. Ensuring and monitoring LAr purity is crucial, as electronegative impurities can degrade signal quality in detectors. As part of Proto-DUNE, a prototype detector at CERN for DUNE, this study explores the use of Bismuth-207 (Bi-207) as a novel tool for real-time LAr purity monitoring and calibration. Bi-207 emits monochromatic internal conversion electrons, allowing precise impurity assessment without interfering with standard detector operations. By simulating the behavior of radioactive Bi-207 and analyzing data from the Proto-DUNE Vertical Drift detector, …

Tutortech: A Web App For A Smarter And More Efficient Tutoring System, Smarika Pathak

2025 Spring Honors Capstone Projects - Archive

The Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) department faces challenges with managing its tutoring services, especially tracking attendance, booking sessions, and overall management of the tutoring system - all of which severely limits the ability for tutors to connect and engage with students. To help overcome these issues, TutorTech, a web-based application that provides improved management of the tutoring system and supports more engaging learning experiences between students and tutors was designed. Through this project, the aim was to optimize the TutorTech search capabilities - assisting students to find tutors based on skills, while also considering the effect of user interface …

Generating Motivational Messages For Behavior Change: Encouraging Users To Be More Physically Active, Hananeel Pankaj

2025 Spring Honors Capstone Projects - Archive

High levels of sedentary lifestyles can cause adverse effects in individuals’ health. This has prompted researchers to analyze ways to increase physical activity, including the use of Large Language Models (LLMs) to generate motivational messages. While research has found LLMs to be feasible for this task, the findings are limited in availability and scope given that the research focuses on a conversational, chatbot setting—which is not ideal in the real world. This research assesses OpenAI’s GPT-4o mini’s (one of several models powering ChatGPT) ability to tailor messages towards a user. This is done by passing user health data to the …

Navigation Of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Using Computer Vision In Raytheon Drone Competition, Joseph R. Pavlik Iii

2025 Spring Honors Capstone Projects - Archive

A major problem with using GPS to navigate an unmanned aerial vehicle is that GPS signals do not accurately work while inside a building. This work presents the usage of the Simultaneous Localization and Mapping library, ORB-SLAM2, in C++ to solve this issue. By using the camera attached to the unmanned aerial vehicle, a map of the area covered by the drone will be created, and landmarks in area will be utilized to navigate throughout the interior of the building without the GPS. Based on previous studies, this navigation method should be viable. Preliminary tests show that this method will …

On The Challenges Posed By Non-Machian Solutions To Relationalism In General Relativity, Zachary Matthew Zito

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

The relationship between Mach’s Principle and solutions to Einstein’s field equations is examined, with special attention to Friedmann-Lematre-Robertson-Walker (FLRW) cosmology. Mach’s Principle is outlined, and the extent to which general relativity fulfills Machs vision is assessed. It is argued that several important solutions to Einsteins equations, particularly the FLRW cosmological models, embody key Machian features. In order to elucidate the FLRW cosmological model, the associated energy-momentum tensor for a perfect fluid under the assumptions of large-scale homogeneity and isotropy is derived and used to obtain the Friedmann equations that govern cosmic expansion. It is shown that FLRW cosmology can be …

Reevaluating The Drumian Carbon Isotope Excursion (Dice) In Western-Central Utah, Michelle M. Norman

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

The Drumian Stage of the Cambrian Period is defined by the First Appearance Datum (FAD) of the cosmopolitan trilobite Ptychagnostus atavus in 504.5 Ma strata deposited on the slope and shelf of the Laurentia margin. The Drumian Global Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP), showing the best preserved example of P. atavus compared to global outcrops, is defined in the Drum Mountains of west-central Utah. Due to the inconsistent nature of fossil preservation, researchers have sought secondary proxies to identify Drumian-aged strata in the absence of age-diagnostic fauna. One key proxy is the Drumian Carbon Isotope Excursion (DICE), an ~-2.5‰ carbon …

The Stem Gender Gap: Can It Be Closed?, Makenna Roberts

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Despite increasing gender parity in many professional fields, women remain underrepresented in STEM industries, particularly in math-intensive areas such as engineering, computer science, and physics. This report explores the persistent gender gap in STEM through analysis of two data sources: gendered differences in the US national Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) performance and post-graduate employment patterns among scientists and engineers.

The first portion of the analysis examines SAT score data from 2018 to 2024, with a focus on high-performing test-takers. Using Python and R, data was extracted and visualized to compare male and female performance on the Math and Evidence-Based Reading …

To Bee Or Not To Bee: Investigating Pesticide Behavior Inside And Outside Of Semi-Field Cages, Mallory Bingham

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Bees play an important role in ecosystems and food production through pollination. One such bee, the alfalfa leaf cutting bee (ALCB) is a very efficient pollinator and is essential in alfalfa seed production. However, bees face increasing harm, most notably due to the deleterious effect of pesticides used in agriculture, and much research is dedicated to investigating the extent of effects that pesticides have on different bee populations. One common tool used to study the effects of pesticide exposure on bees is semi-field cages. These cages have some key advantages, such as restricting bee foraging to plots sprayed with pesticides …

Data Science For Engineers, Heidi Moulton

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Undergraduate research is a core pillar of Utah State University’s College of Engineering. Many students become involved with research during their Junior and Senior years and begin to generate various forms of data. Most students, however, have received little formal education on how to process data, and there are currently no readily available resources within the College of Engineering. As a Mechanical Engineering and Data Science double major, I found the data processing techniques I learned in my Data Science courses invaluable as an undergraduate researcher, and now as a Mechanical Engineer at Apogee Instruments, I frequently draw upon these …

Gravity Wave Breaking Over Northern Utah With An Advanced Mesospheric Temperature Mapper And Sodium Lidar, Eric Davis

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

Considerable progress has been made in recent decades in the understanding of gravity wave (GW) dynamics. However, there remain important aspects and effects that are poorly understood. In particular, the coupling and deposition of their energy and momentum into the mesosphere lower thermosphere (MLT) region and the interaction and instability dynamics that are directly associated with GW breaking. Using an Advanced Mesosphere Temperature Mapper (AMTM) several strong wave breaking events were observed in the summer of 2015 at USU’s BLO research station. These events have exhibited high momentum fluxes and associated strong wave breaking, prompting detailed data analyses. Rossby waves, …

Studies Of Pathways To T2d And Interventions Through A Dynamical System Model., Rafiqul Islam

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Existing mathematical models investigating the progression of type 2 diabetes (T2D) over time primarily focus on glucose, insulin, β-cell mass, and other related factors, while often omitting fatty acids (FA) as an explicit variable—despite FA being a major energy source for the body. There exists a complex network of dynamical interactions among glucose, insulin, FA, and β-cell mass. To gain deeper insights into the metabolic dynamics and pathophysiology of T2D, it is essential to incorporate FA into such models. In this study, we extend the classic Topp’s GIβ model by explicitly incorporating FA and exploring its interactions with glucose, insulin, …