Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Predicting Student Graduation At A Private College, Theo Jongerius, Jennifer Schon

Celebration of Research

The purpose of this project was to accurately predict which students attending Northwestern will graduate based on information we collect on incoming students, as well as information we gain from students during their time at NWC.

Through use of the programming language Python and its machine learning libraries, I was able to develop a machine learning model that can accurately predict if a student would graduate 85% of the time.

Building A Mach Zehnder Interferometer With Limited Resources, Alyssa Buren, Dylan J. Kirkeby, Daniel A. Nordquist, Gabriel M.J.A. Andres, Emily Grace

Celebration of Research

Interferometers are simple optical devices that function by splitting a coherent light beam. The beam is recombined using beam splitters and mirrors. The addition of the two light beams produces interference patterns in the forms of fringes which can be used to study the path taken by the two beams. This is old technology and we sought to construct an interferometer using rudimentary and cast-off equipment. The purpose is to show that modern physics concepts can be measured inexpensively and by undergraduate student design. Though we had no optics table and or optical mounts, by careful alignment and adjustments to …

Researching The Molecular Components Of Flourish Using Mass Spectroscopy, Lane Mulder

Celebration of Research

We looked into the molecular composition of a liquid probiotic known as Flourish and and the 13 components that make it up using mass spectroscopy.

Young’S Modulus: Building A Device To Measure Material Strength To Understand Interatomic Bond Stiffness, Daniel A. Nordquist, Emily Grace

Celebration of Research

Young’s Modulus is an equation that is to measure the strength in different materials. A common application of Young’s Modulus is measuring the breaking point of cables. The understanding of the Young’s Modulus equation and its applications is a standard part of the introductory undergraduate physics sequence. We sought to construct a lab apparatus that would enable physics undergraduate students to measure and verify the results of the Young’s Modulus equation. These macroscopic measurements can then be used to further understand inter-atomic bond stiffness. This poster reviews the design, construction, and testing of a Young’s Modulus lab experiment. This lab …

Amino Acid Quenching, Steven Van Meeteren

Celebration of Research

Alexa Fluor 594 is a fluorescent molecule commonly used to tag calmodulin, a protein that regulates a variety of cell processes. By measuring fluorescence, scientists can study calmodulin and its interactions with other proteins. However, fluorescence is not the only fate of Alexa Fluor 594. The molecule is also known to transfer energy to coupled amino acids through a mechanism called quenching. The purpose of this experiment was to study the quenching effects of Histidine, Tyrosine, and Methionine on the Alexa Fluor 594. These amino acids’ Stern-Volmer plots suggest static quenching may be occurring. Moreover, the Stern-Volmer plot of Potassium …

"Advancing Together." 15th Annual Research Week: Event Proceedings, University Of The Incarnate Word

Excellence Summit (Research Week) Archived Proceedings

Presentations of completed and ongoing research activity conducted by graduate students, undergraduate students, and faculty at University of the Incarnate Word. Includes poster, podium, visual arts, interactive demo, creative and performing arts presentations. Coordinated and presented by the Office of Research and Graduate Studies.

Economic Losses From Covid-19 Cases In The Philippines: A Dynamic Model Of Health And Economic Policy Trade-Offs, Elvira P. De Lara-Tuprio, Ma. Regina Justina E. Estuar, Joselito T. Sescon, Cymon Kayle Lubangco, Rolly Czar Joseph T. Castillo, Timothy Robin Y. Teng, Lenard Paulo V. Tamayo, Jay Michael R. Macalalag, Gerome M. Vedeja

Mathematics Faculty Publications

The COVID-19 pandemic forced governments globally to impose lockdown measures and mobility restrictions to curb the transmission of the virus. As economies slowly reopen, governments face a trade-off between implementing economic recovery and health policy measures to control the spread of the virus and to ensure it will not overwhelm the health system. We developed a mathematical model that measures the economic losses due to the spread of the disease and due to different lockdown policies. This is done by extending the subnational SEIR model to include two differential equations that capture economic losses due to COVID-19 infection and due …

Faster Intercalation Pseudocapacitance Enabled By Adjustable Amorphous Titania Where Tunable Isomorphic Architectures Reveal Accelerated Lithium Diffusivity, Wessel Van Den Bergh, Taylor Larison, Maximilliano Jesus Jara Fornerod, Prof. Stefan Guldin, Morgan Stefik

Faculty Publications

Intercalation pseudocapacitance is a faradaic electrochemical phenomenon with high power and energy densities, combining the attractive features of capacitors and batteries, respectively. Intercalation pseudocapacitive responses exhibit surface-limited kinetics by definition, without restriction from the collective of diffusion-based processes. The surface-limited threshold (SLT) corresponds to the maximum voltage sweep rate (vSLT) exhibiting a predominantly surface-limited current response prior to the onset of diffusion-limitations. Prior studies showed increased lithium diffusivity for amorphous titania compared to anatase. Going beyond prior binary comparisons, here a continuum of amorphous titania configurations were prepared using a series of calcination temperatures to tailor both amorphous …

Neumann Problems For P-Harmonic Functions, And Induced Nonlocal Operators In Metric Measure Spaces, Luca Capogna, Josh Kline, Riikka Korte, Nageswari Shanmugalingam, Marie Snipes

Mathematics Sciences: Faculty Publications

Following ideas of Caffarelli and Silvestre in [20], and using recent progress in hyperbolic fillings, we define fractional p-Laplacians (−∆p) θ with 0 < θ < 1 on any compact, doubling metric measure space (Z, d, ν), and prove existence, regularity and stability for the non-homogenous non-local equation (−∆p) θu = f. These results, in turn, rest on the new existence, global Hölder regularity and stability theorems that we prove for the Neumann problem for p-Laplacians ∆p, 1 < p < ∞, in bounded domains of measure metric spaces endowed with a doubling measure that supports a Poincaré inequality. Our work also includes as special cases much of the previous results by other authors in the Euclidean, Riemannian and Carnot group settings. Unlike other recent contributions in the metric measure spaces context, our work does not rely on the assumption that (Z, d, ν) supports a Poincaré inequality.

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Npl Site Butte Priority Soils Operable Unit, Pioneer Technical Services, Inc.

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

The Relevance Of Pulsed Electroacoustic Measurements For Spacecraft Charging, Zachary Gibson, J. R. Dennison

Physics Student Research

The magnitude and spatial distribution of charge embedded in dielectric materials and the evolution of the charge distributions with time are at the heart of understanding spacecraft charging. Spacecraft materials are charged primarily by incident fluxes of low energy electrons, with electron fluxes in the 10 keV to 50 keV range often responsible for the largest deleterious arcing effects. While the pulsed electroacoustic (PEA) method can provide sensitive non-destructive measurements of the internal charge distribution in insulating materials, it has often been limited for spacecraft charging applications by typical spatial resolutions of ≤10 μm, with a 10 μm range of …

Hybrid Suspension Tissue Engineering Of A 3d Alveolar Model For Lung And Vascular Disease Modeling, Jonard Corpuz Valdoz

Theses and Dissertations

Tissue engineering is a dichotomy of scaffold-based and scaffold-free cultures. Scaffold-based cultures form highly organotypic structures but with low uniformity and throughput. Conversely, scaffold-free cultures create consistently sized and shaped cell aggregates with limited spheroid-like structure and function, thus restricting their use for accurate disease modeling. We hypothesized that combining aspects of each culturing format, we would produce highly organotypic structures of consistent size and shape for use in pulmonary modeling. First, to improve on culture consistency and output, we created a novel easily scalable, minimalistic design for a micropatterned hydrogel dish that increases reliability and efficiency in 3D cell …

Development And Validation Of An Edna Protocol For Monitoring Endemic Asian Spiny Frogs In The Himalayan Region Of Pakistan, Muhammad Saeed, Muhammad Rais, Ayesha Akram, Maggie R. Williams, Kenneth F. Kellner, Syed A. Hashsham, Drew R. Davis

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Wildlife monitoring programs are instrumental for the assessment of species, habitat status, and for the management of factors affecting them. This is particularly important for species found in freshwater ecosystems, such as amphibians, as they have higher estimated extinction rates than terrestrial species. We developed and validated two species-specific environmental DNA (eDNA) protocols and applied them in the field to detect the Hazara Torrent Frog (Allopaa hazarensis) and Murree Hills Frog (Nanorana vicina). Additionally, we compared eDNA surveys with visual encounter surveys and estimated site occupancy. eDNA surveys resulted in higher occurrence probabilities for both A. …

Start Making Plans For The Next Total Eclipses, Erik Johnson

Natural Science Faculty

A lunar eclipse occurs when Earth gets between the Sun and the Moon. Normally, you would see a full Moon but Earth's shadow is capable of covering the Moon entirely, making it much dimmer. A total lunar eclipse looks red due to sunlight refracted through Earth's atmosphere.

This event is visible to anyone who can see the Moon, which could be anywhere on the nighttime side of Earth. Next month on May 15, it will be visible through most of North America if it isn't cloudy.

Nature And Student Wellness At Grand Valley State University, Emma Cubitt

Honors Projects

This project discusses the importance of student mental wellness in relation to nature exposure. A pamphlet is provided to educate students on outdoor volunteer opportunities, as well as hiking trails within walking distance of campus.

Unavoidable Structures In Large And Infinite Graphs, Sarah Allred

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In this work, we present results on the unavoidable structures in large connected and large 2-connected graphs. For the relation of induced subgraphs, Ramsey proved that for every positive integer r, every sufficiently large graph contains as an induced subgraph either K_r or K_r. It is well known that, for every positive integer r, every sufficiently large connected graph contains an induced subgraph isomorphic to one of K_r, K_1,r, and P_r. We prove an analogous result for 2-connected graphs. Similarly, for infinite graphs, every infinite connected graph contains an induced subgraph …

New Aspects Of Optical Coherence And Their Potential For Quantum Technologies, Nathaniel Robert Miller

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Currently, optical technology impacts most of our lives, from light used in scientific measurement to the fiber optic cables that makeup the backbone of the internet. However, as our current optical infrastructure grows, we discover that these technologies are not limitless. Astronomers find themselves unable resolve stars that are too close to one another. Meanwhile, the internet is always under threat as our computer technology improves and more complex ways to break encryption emerge, threatening our personal information and infrastructure. However, our current optical technology functions on classical principles, and can be easily improved by incorporating our knowledge of quantum …

Competitive Sorption And Transport Of Heavy Metals In Soil And Mn Oxide-Coated Sand, Joshua Tyler Padilla

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study investigated the competitive sorption of Ni, Pb, and Zn as well as synergistic interactions between Ni and phosphate (P) in soils and Mn oxide-coated sand. During stirred-flow experiments, the sorption of heavy metal cations by Olivier soil was mutually reduced when applied simultaneously. When applied consecutively, the cation of higher affinity was able to displace the cation of lower affinity from the soil surface, however, no evidence for the reverse case was observed. A novel general exchange kinetics model was able to correctly describe such displacement. Competition between Ni and Zn mutually increased mobility in Olivier and Windsor …

A Numerical Investigation Of Flood And Sediment Dynamics Over The Coastal Watersheds During Hurricane Events, Dongxiao Yin

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Landfalling tropical cyclones can cause catastrophic floods and sediment disturbance over the coastal watersheds. This study aims to unravel the contribution of different processes to hurricane-induced flooding, to assess the uncertainties in flood modelling and forecasting, and to advance the techniques in sediment simulation over coastal watersheds during hurricanes.

First, I examined the hydrometeorology and hydrology of Hurricane Florence (2018) induced inland flooding. My results suggest that the slow motion in combination with the “L-shaped” path was the most distinctive feature of the hurricane that incurred catastrophic and widespread rainfall and flooding over the Cape Fear River Basin (CFRB).

Second, …

Ubjective Information And Survival In A Simulated Biological System, Tyler S. Barker, Massimiliano Pierobon, Peter J. Thomas

School of Computing: Faculty Publications

Information transmission and storage have gained traction as unifying concepts to characterize biological systems and their chances of survival and evolution at multiple scales. Despite the potential for an information-based mathematical framework to offer new insights into life processes and ways to interact with and control them, the main legacy is that of Shannon’s, where a purely syntactic characterization of information scores systems on the basis of their maximum information efficiency. The latter metrics seem not entirely suitable for biological systems, where transmission and storage of different pieces of information (carrying different semantics) can result in different chances of survival. …

Environmental Decision Support Systems As A Service: Demonstration On Ce-Qual-W2 Model, Yoav Bornstein, Ben Dayan, Amir Cahn, Scott A. Wells

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

An environmental decision support system (EDSS) can be used as an important tool for the rehabilitation and preservation of ecosystems. Nonetheless, high assimilation costs (both money and time) are one of the main reasons these tools are not widely adopted in practice. This work presents a low-cost paradigm of “EDSS as a Service.” This paradigm is demonstrated for developing a water quality EDSS as a service that utilizes the well-known CE-QUAL-W2 model as a kernel for deriving optimized decisions. The paradigm is leveraging new open-source technologies in software development (e.g., Docker, Kubernetes, and Helm) with cloud computing to significantly reduce …

Privacy-Preserving Logistic Regression With Secret Sharing, Ali Reza Ghavamipour, Fatih Turkmen, Xiaoqian Jiang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Logistic regression (LR) is a widely used classification method for modeling binary outcomes in many medical data classification tasks. Researchers that collect and combine datasets from various data custodians and jurisdictions can greatly benefit from the increased statistical power to support their analysis goals. However, combining data from different sources creates serious privacy concerns that need to be addressed.

METHODS: In this paper, we propose two privacy-preserving protocols for performing logistic regression with the Newton-Raphson method in the estimation of parameters. Our proposals are based on secure Multi-Party Computation (MPC) and tailored to the honest majority and dishonest majority …

Bioactivity Of Suberitenones A And B, Jared G. Waters

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Throughout human history, natural products have formed the foundation of medicine. In ancient times, a myriad of herbs and fungi have been attributed properties of healing and rejuvenation. Today, that foundation still very much exists, as natural product chemists isolate bioactive compounds from plants, fungi, animals, and microorganisms alike. As more of these secondary metabolites are discovered, scientists pursue more and more sources of biodiversity that may yield new and unprecedented compounds. To this end, Antarctica has become of particular note, as its unique environmental conditions and highly isolated nature make for rare and unusual adaptations in its native wildlife. …

Image Provenance Analysis, Daniel Moreira, William Theisen, Walter Scheirer, Aparna Bharati, Joel Brogan, Anderson Rocha

Computer Science: Faculty Publications and Other Works

The literature of multimedia forensics is mainly dedicated to the analysis of single assets (such as sole image or video files), aiming at individually assessing their authenticity. Different from this, image provenance analysis is devoted to the joint examination of multiple assets, intending to ascertain their history of edits, by evaluating pairwise relationships. Each relationship, thus, expresses the probability of one asset giving rise to the other, through either global or local operations, such as data compression, resizing, color-space modifications, content blurring, and content splicing. The principled combination of these relationships unveils the provenance of the assets, also constituting an …

Closing Social

Computer Science Graduate Research Workshop

No abstract provided.

Prediction Of Balance Control And Instability In Walking At Sea, Jungyeon Choi

Computer Science Graduate Research Workshop

No abstract provided.

Interactive Visualizations For Explanation In Ai, Ashley Ramsey

Computer Science Graduate Research Workshop

No abstract provided.

Automated Program Repair For Api Misuse Vulnerabilities, Dip Kiran Pradhan Newar

Computer Science Graduate Research Workshop

No abstract provided.

New Approaches To Convex Polygon Formations, Rui Yang

Computer Science Graduate Research Workshop

No abstract provided.

Workload Prediction With Cost-Aware Data Analytics System, Anshuman Das Mohapatra

Computer Science Graduate Research Workshop

No abstract provided.