Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Autonomous Eco-Driving With Traffic Light And Lead Vehicle Constraints: An Application Of Best Constrained Interpolation, Yara Hazem Mohamed Mahmoud

Masters Theses

Eco-Driving is a critical technology for improving automotive transportation efficiency. It is achieved by modifying the driving trajectory over a particular route to minimize required propulsion energy. Eco-Driving can be approached as an optimal control problem subject to driving constraints such as traffic lights and positions of other vehicles. Best interpolation in a strip is a problem in approximation theory and optimal control. The solution to this problem is a cubic spline. In this research we demonstrate the connection between Eco-Driving and best interpolation in the strip. By exploiting this connection, we are able to generate optimal Eco-Driving trajectories that …

Sustainable Polymers: Upcycling Poly(Vinyl Chloride) And Mimicking Low Density Polyethylene, Ian Baxter

Theses and Dissertations

In this research, increasing the sustainability of polymers was investigated through two main methods. The upcycling of poly(vinyl chloride) and the creation of polymer mimics to create degradable low-density polyethylene. In the first chapter, an overview of the sustainability issues of polymers is presented and approaches are described on how their sustainability may be increased through the upcycling of polymers or the synthesis of degradable polymers that mimic the properties of petrol-based polymers.

Chapter 2 contains the progress on the upcycling of PVC using high oleic soybean oil. Soybean oil can soften PVC making it less brittle than pure PVC. …

Well–Defined Donor–Acceptor Materials, Gabrielle A. Leith

Theses and Dissertations

The modularity of multivariant scaffolds such as covalent–organic frameworks (COFs) provides an unprecedented level of control in the alignment of donor (D) and acceptor (A) units, a demand that is driven by the production of optoelectronic, photonic, and spintronic devices. The foray into novel motifs bearing D-A ensembles in frameworks has been applied towards material property modulation for device performance enhancement. This dissertation presents an emerging trend in the development of D-A interfaces by highlighting recent advances probing D-A interactions in porous crystalline matrices and co-crystals, with a focus on energy transfer (ET) and charge transfer (CT) processes in pre-designed …

Deep Learning Based Generative Materials Design, Yong Zhao

Theses and Dissertations

Discovery of novel functional materials is playing an increasingly important role in many key industries such as lithium batteries for electric vehicles and cell phones. However experimental tinkering of existing materials or Density Functional Theory (DFT) based screening of known crystal structures, two of the major current materials design approaches, are both severely constrained by the limited scale (around 250,000 in ICSD database) and diversity of existing materials and the lack of a sufficient number of materials with annotated properties. How to generate a large number of physically feasible, stable, and synthesizable crystal materials and build accurate property prediction models …

Characterization Of Particulate Matter Species In An Area Impacted By Aggregate And Limestone Mining North Of San Antonio, Tx, Usa, Amit U. Raysoni, Esmeralda Mendez, August Luna, Joe Collins

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Aggregate and limestone mining in San Antonio's Bexar and Comal counties in Texas, USA, has caused considerable health concerns as of late. Aggregate mining actions can result in localized air quality issues in any neighborhood. Furthermore, heavy truck traffic, hauling, and transportation of the mined material contribute to pollution. In this research, PM species were sampled at four locations north of the San Antonio city limits. The data were collected using a TSI Air Quality Sampler that sampled PM1, PM2.5, PM4, PM10, wind speed, wind direction, temperature, and relative humidity. Continuous data with 1 min averages were recorded during the …

1st Place Contest Entry: Designing Hollow Nanogels For Drug Delivery Applications, Mo Hijazi

Kevin and Tam Ross Undergraduate Research Prize

This is Mo Hijazi's submission for the 2022 Kevin and Tam Ross Undergraduate Research Prize, which won first place. It contains their essay on using library resources, their bibliography, and a summary of their research project on hollow-core nanogels.

Mo is a second-year student at Chapman University, majoring in Biological Sciences. Their faculty mentor is Dr. Molla Islam.

Pseudo-Modal Expansions For Generating Random Electromagnetic Beams, Milo W. Hyde Iv, Olga Korotkova

Faculty Publications

Excerpt: We derive two pseudo-modal expansions that provide insight into the structure of stationary electromagnetic sources and can be used for their physical realization and in computer simulations. Both expansions are derived from the vectorial version of Bochner’s theorem of functional analysis.

An Integrable Semidiscretization Of The Modified Camassa-Holm Equation With Linear Dispersion Term, Han-Han Sheng, Guo-Fu Yu, Bao-Feng Feng

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

In the present paper, we are with integrable discretization of a modified Camassa-Holm (mCH) equation with linear dispersion term. The key of the construction is the semidiscrete analog for a set of bilinear equations of the mCH equation. First, we show that these bilinear equations and their determinant solutions either in Gram-type or Casorati-type can be reduced from the discrete Kadomtsev-Petviashvili (KP) equation through Miwa transformation. Then, by scrutinizing the reduction process, we obtain a set of semidiscrete bilinear equations and their general soliton solution in Gram-type or Casorati-type determinant form. Finally, by defining dependent variables and discrete hodograph transformations, …

Datadescription-Detection Of Sulfur Dioxide By Broadband Cavity-Enhanced Absorption Spectroscopy (Bbceas), Ryan Thalman, Nitish Bhardwaj, Callum Flowerday, Jaron C. Hansen

ScholarsArchive Data

Files archived include the following:

Figure1.txt This file contains all the data used to make Figure 1 in the paper.

Figure4.txt This file contains all the data used to make Figure 4 in the paper.

Figure5.txt This file contains all the data used to make Figure 5 in the paper.

Figure6.txt This file contains all the data used to make Figure 6 in the paper.

Figure7.txt This file contains the code, written in Igor, that was used to generate this figure.

Figure8.txt This file contains all the data used to make Figure 8 in the paper.

Figure9.txt This file contains …

Protecting Terrapins With Teds In Virginia: Lessons From Other States, Bridget Verrekia, Shelby Fuchs

Virginia Coastal Policy Center

This paper highlights case studies about other states' efforts to require or incentivize the use of TEDs [terrapin excluder devices] and recommends policies for Virginia to adopt that have proven successful elsewhere. First, it outlines the threats to terrapins at large, as well as the threat posed by commercial and recreational crabbing, specifically. Next, it details the efforts that other East Coast states have made to combat the problem, including policies that require or incentivize the use of TEDs on crab pots, and discusses the regulatory framework currently in place in Virginia. Finally, this paper concludes by analyzing the approaches …

Building For The Future: Functional, Energy-Efficient, And Beautiful Buildings By Snøhetta, Amanda J. Oross

Student Publications

The construction industry accounts for nearly 40% of all greenhouse gas emissions, which ultimately leads to climate change. Because of a lack of global consensus and accountability on a large scale about how to combat climate change, certain countries and cities are leading the charge on mitigation, since they tend to be more progressive and homogenous. Norway is one of those countries, and happens to be the headquarters for Snøhetta, a design company, that is designing buildings that are not only energy-efficient but also functional for the space in which it resides. Snøhetta very much values the interconnection between the …

Evaluating Human Pressure On Protected Areas In East Africa, Bailey M. Ytterdahl

Student Publications

Protected areas (PAs) are crucial to achieving effective conservation goals and mitigate the loss of biodiversity. I investigated the following research questions: How does human pressure threaten PAs in East Africa? Is human pressure associated with the factors of country, ecosystem characteristics, size, or governance type of a PA? For this study, I used a combination of a GIS analysis and case studies to evaluate human pressure on PAs in Tanzania and Kenya. For the GIS analysis, I used 589 terrestrial PAs from the World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA). Within each PA, I summarized the landform, landcover, moisture level, …

Ecosystem Service Trade-Offs In Coral Reefs: A Global Analysis, Megan E. Keene

Student Publications

Coral reefs are biodiversity hotspots that provide humans with extractive ecosystem services like fisheries and non-extractive services like tourism. Though no studies have examined these trade-offs among these services at a global scale, there are now large, open datasets that make this possible. Using these datasets, we asked whether spatial protection and the level of protection (World Database on Protected Areas) impacted coral reef tourism value (Atlas of Ocean Wealth). We also examined whether proximity to regions of high fishing effort, defined as the top 25th percentile of the average annual effort from Global Fishing Watch, impacted tourism values. Since …

Logging Impacts On Aquatic Ecosystem Quality In Michaux State Forest, Pennsylvania, Sara Baran, Timothy J. Bell, Erick R. Seager

Student Publications

Logging can affect freshwater streams around logging sites, even years after the logging has occurred. In this study, we looked into how sustainable logging in Michaux State Forest (in Adams County, Pennsylvania) has affected two streams within the state park: Mountain Creek and Birch Run. Six sites were selected along each stream, with three upstream and three downstream from the logging area. We hypothesized that the water quality would be lower at the stream sites downstream from the logged areas as compared to the upstream sites. At each site, water samples were collected, including pH, water temperature, and turbidity, as …

Sea Level Rise And Public Perceptions Of Climate Change At Otter Point Creek Estuarine Reserve, Md, Haley A. Bechtel, Meghan L. Junis, Keylen Lucero Garcia

Student Publications

Freshwater tidal marshes are essential stopover points for migratory birds traveling up and down the east coast of North America. Given the importance of these habitats, we examined the effects of sea level rise on vegetation health and vegetation migration at Otter Point Creek Estuarine Reserve. We aimed to test three predictions: 1) vegetation health will decline over time during vegetation growth periods, 2) vegetation migration of less water-tolerant species will occur with movement into higher elevation plots, 3) people will be aware that there are impacts of climate change on species around them and themselves. We used a combination …

Leveraging Land Easements For Grassland Bird Habitat Conservation, Amy N. Marigliano, Hayden E. Dubniczki, Sarah W. Westrick

Student Publications

In addressing the decline of North American grassland bird populations, it is important to consider the various interdisciplinary approaches that can be employed in their conservation. OECMs, or “other effective area-based conservation measures” encompass a wide array of strategies which can be leveraged to conserve natural landscapes and species. Land easements implemented by the Land Conservancy of Adams County (LCAC) are an example of one such strategy. The LCAC seeks primarily to preserve the rural character of Adams County but has more recently turned their focus toward environmental conservation. In partnering with the Land Conservancy, this case study aimed to …

Untangling The Solar Wind And Magnetospheric Drivers Of The Radiation Belt Electrons, Simon Wing, Jay R. Johnson, Drew L. Turner, Aleksandr Y. Ukhorskiy, Alexander J. Boyd

Faculty Publications

Plain Language Summary

Many solar wind parameters correlate with one another, which complicates the causal-effect studies of solar wind driving of the magnetosphere. We use conditional mutual information, which is part of information theory, to untangle and isolate the effect of individual solar wind and magnetospheric drivers of the radiation belt electrons. For example, the solar wind density negatively correlates with electron phase space density (PSD) (average energy ∼1.6 MeV) with the response time lag of 15 hr. This has been attributed to the electron loss process such as magnetopause shadowing. The time lag suggests the time scale for this …

Search For Gravitational Waves Associated With Gamma-Ray Bursts Detected By Fermi And Swift During The Ligo–Virgo Run O3b, Ligo Scientific Collaboration, Virgo Collaboration, Kagra Collaboration, Tiffany Z. Summerscales

Faculty Publications

We search for gravitational-wave signals associated with gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) detected by the Fermi and Swift satellites during the second half of the third observing run of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo (2019 November 1 15:00 UTC–2020 March 27 17:00 UTC). We conduct two independent searches: a generic gravitational-wave transients search to analyze 86 GRBs and an analysis to target binary mergers with at least one neutron star as short GRB progenitors for 17 events. We find no significant evidence for gravitational-wave signals associated with any of these GRBs. A weighted binomial test of the combined results finds no evidence …

Understanding Continent-Wide Variation In Vulture Ranging Behavior To Assess Feasibility Of Vulture Safe Zones In Africa: Challenges And Possibilities, Adam Kane, Ara Monadjem, H. K.Ortwin Aschenborn, Keith Bildstein, André Botha, Claire Bracebridge, Evan R. Buechley, Ralph Buij, John P. Davies, Maria Diekmann, Colleen T. Downs, Nina Farwig, Toby Galligan, Gregory Kaltenecker, Chris Kelly, Ryno Kemp, Holger Kolberg, Monique L. Mackenzie, John Mendelsohn, Msafiri Mgumba, Ran Nathan, Aaron Nicholas, Darcy Ogada, Morgan Pfeiffer, W. Louis Phipps, Matteuns D. Pretorius, Sascha Rösner, Dana G. Schabo, Gabriel Lita Shatumbu, Orr Spiegel, Lindy J. Thompson, Jan A. Venter, Munir Virani, Kerri Wolter, Corinne J. Kendall

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Protected areas are intended as tools in reducing threats to wildlife and preserving habitat for their long-term population persistence. Studies on ranging behavior provide insight into the utility of protected areas. Vultures are one of the fastest declining groups of birds globally and are popular subjects for telemetry studies, but continent-wide studies are lacking. To address how vultures use space and identify the areas and location of possible vulture safe zones, we assess home range size and their overlap with protected areas by species, age, breeding status, season, and region using a large continent-wide telemetry datasets that includes 163 individuals …

Economic Consequences Of The Wolf Comeback In The Western United States, Dana Hoag, Stewart W. Breck, Kevin Crooks, Becky Niemiec

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Gray wolves were eradicated from most of the United States in the 1940’s but have made a comeback in parts of their historic range over the last two decades. First reintroduced into the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and central Idaho in the mid-1990’s, wolves have subsequently dispersed into at least 7 western states. Coloradoans became the latest state to take interest in bolstering wolf populations, as residents passed a ballot initiative in November 2020 to reintroduce a self-sustaining population of gray wolves by the end of 2023. Conflicts between people in rural areas that might incur costs (such as livestock loss) …

One‑Dimensional Arrays Of Optical Dark Spot Traps From Nested Gaussian Laser Beams For Quantum Computing, Travis Frazer, Katharina Gillen

Physics

Quantum computing is rapidly becoming a practical technology, driven by new and advanced quantum systems, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. For neutral atoms as a host system, the natural advantage of long lifetimes is limited by decoherence mechanisms like light scattering. In this work, we computationally investigate a blue-detuned one-dimensional optical dipole trap array to reduce light scattering by holding atoms in minimum light intensity regions. The array consists of two counter-propagating Gaussian beams of differing widths, such that light walls from the larger beam radially confine the standing wave generating the dipole traps. We find this system …

Destruction Is A Must-See: Coastal Heritage Site Erosion And Public Perception Of Climate Change, Haley Borowy

Senior Theses

Archaeological sites in South Carolina are vanishing. As sea level rise, and therefore coastal erosion, worsen, more sites will disappear. The questions of how erosion at these sites is measured and how the public perceives the effects of climate change have been studied separately, but not together. Here, the intersection of these is discussed, alongside how sites are portrayed affects how the public perceives them, and therefore their importance. Studies on measuring coastal erosion, local news reports, government documents, and public perception of coastal management and sea level rise illuminate how people eventually decide what is worth saving.

The Territory, John C. Lyden

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of The Territory (2022), directed by Alex Pritz.

All That Breathes, Sheila J. Nayar

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of All That Breathes (2022), directed by Shaunak Sen.

Utama, Sheila J. Nayar

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Utama (2022), directed by Alejandro Loayza Grisi.

Circulation, Volume 27, No. 2, Center For Coastal Physical Oceanography, Old Dominion University

CCPO Circulation

Spring 2022 issue of CCPO Circulation featuring the article "Looking Back While Moving Forward," by Sönke Dangendorf.

Estimation Of Pure B Power In Polarized Cmb Data Via Gibbs Sampling., Joseph Sterling

Honors Theses

In the search for effective processes to estimate E and B spectra from polarized data, Gibbs Sampling has proven to be a powerful method. In the search for B modes, it is essential to avoid a false positive detection due to contamination from the larger E component. It is therefore of interest to combine Gibbs sampling with methods to “purify” the B modes, ensuring that a B-mode detection is robust. This goal can be achieved by compelling the Gibbs Sampler to estimate a pure B spectrum. The method we chose to implement involves an artificially inflated E spectrum, which “forces” …

Measurement Errors In Range-Based Localization Algorithms For Uavs: Analysis And Experimentation, Francesco Betti Sorbelli, Cristina M. Pinotti, Simone Silvestri, Sajal K. Das

Computer Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

Localizing Ground Devices (GDs) is an Important Requirement for a Wide Variety of Applications, Such as Infrastructure Monitoring, Precision Agriculture, Search and Rescue Operations, to Name a Few. to This End, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) or Drones Offer a Promising Technology Due to their Flexibility. However, the Distance Measurements Performed using a Drone, an Integral Part of a Localization Procedure, Incur Several Errors that Affect the Localization Accuracy. in This Paper, We Provide Analytical Expressions for the Impact of Different Kinds of Measurement Errors on the Ground Distance between the UAV and GDs. We Review Three Range-Based and Three Range-Free …

Adsorption-Based Atmospheric Water Harvesting: A Review Of Adsorbents And Systems, Muhammad Bilal, Muhammad Sultan, Tatiana Morosuk, Walter Den, Uzair Sajjad, Mian Ma Aslam, Muhammad W. Shahzad, Muhammad Farooq

Water Resources Science and Technology Faculty Publications (Archived)

Atmospheric water harvesting (AWH) has been an appealing prospect for decades to overcome water scarcity in remote areas. Adsorption-based AWH technologies have gained popularity due to their adaptability, and applicability using low-grade heat sources. This study presents up-to-date and future possibilities of adsorbents and systems for adsorption-based AWH. In this review, in-depth advancements in adsorbent materials are compartmentalized into adsorption equilibrium/isotherms, adsorption kinetics, and thermal conductivity. Various systems designs and modifications have been reviewed and classified accordingly. Liquid desiccants i.e., CaCl₂ and LiCl-based AWH systems produced in between 0.63 to 1.0 kg/m/d of water. Recently, metal-organic frameworks …

Assessing The Effectiveness Of An Egg Intervention In The Nutritional And Food Security Status Of Infants And Toddlers From Rural Honduras, Aishat Adewoye, Mario Keko, Luke Roberson, Dziyana Nazaruk, Gisela Ramos, Laura Manship, Haresh Rochani, Asli Aslan, Ana M. Palacios

Biostatistics, Epidemiology & Environmental Health Sciences: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.