Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Is It Rational To Care About The Natural Environment?, Joshua Brown

Theses and Dissertations

This paper helps address the question of how people who currently care about the natural environment, or nature, might rationally persuade those who do not currently have such concern. Philosophers have largely ignored this question, but it is important outside philosophy. For instance, many environmental advocates seem to believe that others should care about nature. At least much writing that falls under the broad category of environmentalism intends to persuade us to care about nature in one way or another.

In this paper, I argue that people should care about nature to the extent that they have three other, rationally …

Place Events 2016-2017, Place

PLACE Historical Documents

This document describes PLACE events at Linfield College for 2016-2017.

“Cultures As Toolboxes”: An Introduction To The Special Issue Focused On Stem, Anita L. Bright

Journal of Multicultural Affairs

The Journal of Multicultural Affairs welcomes Dr. Anita Bright as a guest editor to lead a special issue on Science, Engineering, Technology, and Mathematics (STEM). Dr. Bright centers this special issue around one particularly simple, yet complex question, Is the teaching of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics multicultural?

Becoming Women Engineers: Dismantled Notions And Distorted Perspectives, Lisa Zagumny, Holly Garrett Anthony, Sally J. Pardue

Journal of Multicultural Affairs

In an investigation of (non-international) undergraduate students’ experiences with their engineering major, we interviewed 10 young women asking questions about their interactions with instructors, academic successes/struggles, and any challenges they felt they had faced as women/girls in engineering. Initial findings echoed those in previous research serving to affirm held notions of interventions that would improve women/girls’ experiences in engineering. In reflecting on the research methods and troubling its design, we realized that we had approached the data with limited perspectives. A new approach to analysis opened up concepts and yielded findings that offer a different course of action for abating …

Dispositions Of First Year Teachers Who Teach Mathematics For Social Justice, Kyndall A. Brown

Journal of Multicultural Affairs

For over 10 years, mathematics educators have sought to use mathematics tasks with social justice contexts to engage students. While student teachers in the UCLA Teacher Education Program (TEP) engage in social justice tasks in their secondary mathematics method classes, very few teachers use these types of tasks with students in the classrooms. The master’s inquiry projects of three TEP students who engaged their students in social justice tasks are analyzed to determine how their backgrounds and positionality influenced their instructional decision making. Results show that personal experiences in the teachers’ lives, as well as a desire to increase motivation …

When Teachers Get It Right: Voices Of Black Girls’ Informal Stem Learning Experiences, Natalie S. King

Journal of Multicultural Affairs

This paper is a part of a larger research study exploring the STEM learning experiences of Black girls who participated in an informal STEM program – I AM STEM. Through the process of reflection and co-construction of counterstories, Black girls reclaimed authorship of their lives. They identified three major attributes of teachers who promoted their academic success and engagement in STEM learning as ones who (a) responded to their needs and built a community of learners, (b) interacted with their parents in a professional manner, and (c) encouraged them to think critically and creatively during the lessons. Excerpts of their …

Scholars Day Program Of Events 2017, Carl Goodson Honors Program

Scholars Day

No abstract provided.

Paleoimagery: The Artistic Restoration Of Dinosaurs And Prehistoric Life, Colin Mcnulty

Honors Projects

My purpose in creating this paper is to research a holistic view of paleontological illustration (also called paleoimagery or paleoart). A thorough history of paleoimagery is outlined from its roots in biblical illustration in the 17^th and 18^th centuries approaching the modern day. A two-fold examination of the utility of art to communicate science and its use within the science of paleontology is also given. This includes discussions of the specific components of art pieces that help them to successfully communicate scientific ideas and examples of how paleoimagery contributes to paleontology. The author then outlines the conception and …

Who Is Morally Responsible For Microfiber Pollution?, Luka Cai

Undergraduate Research Symposium Posters

Microplastic fiber pollution (MFP) is the persistence of microfibers (fibrous plastic particles less than 5mm in diameter and length) in the environment in levels sufficient to harm aquatic/marine ecosystems, primarily caused by the laundering of polyester garments. MFP is a compelling issue because it causes harm to natural habitats, animals, and human beings, harm that moral agents need to be held accountable for. I define moral responsibility as an agent’s accountability for an act which they voluntarily committed/contributed to. Causal responsibility is the relationship between an agent and an outcome of the agent’s act. I theorize that an agent’s moral …

Glhf: A Brief Overview Of Gaming Cafes, John Sun

ART 108: Introduction to Games Studies

My paper is on the history of internet and gaming cafes, focusing on how they are seen today, the problems they face and some potential solutions. Although my focus is on gaming cafes in America, because they are so popular overseas in Asian countries (such as South Korea, China, and Japan), they inevitably come up more often in my paper and presentation.

Topics In Group Testing With Multiple Infections, Peijie Hou

Theses and Dissertations

Group testing, dating back to the early 1940s, was first proposed to screen for syphilis among US inductees during World War II (Dorfman, 1943). Since then, the benefits of reducing testing costs by employing group testing have been demonstrated in many areas, such as drug discovery, genetics, and infectious disease testing. Traditionally, statistical research in group testing has largely been motivated by applications involving a single infection. With the recent development of multiplex assays that can diagnose multiple infections simultaneously, generalizing the existing group testing literature to incorporate multiple infections is a natural and necessary next step. This dissertation consists …

Advances In Chemistry, Part I: Noise, Calibration, And Educational Advances In Analytical Chemistry. Part Ii: Safety Oversight In Chemical Journals, Lauren E. Grabowski

Theses and Dissertations

Part I:

The accuracy and precision of the results of any chemical analysis depends on the calibration graph and its associated systematic and random errors. Least squares regression generally treats all data with equal weights. A weighted least-squares fit is an improvement but requires knowledge of the imprecision in each point of the calibration graph. The imprecision is not easy to estimate with high confidence because of the large number of replicates needed.

The imprecision depends on the types and magnitudes of the sources of noise. We characterized the noise sources in ICP-OES and UV/Vis and developed a model that …

Antimicrobial Biomaterials And Sustainable Polymers From Renewable Biomass, Mitra Shiran Ganewatta

Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, development of antimicrobial biomaterials and sustainable polymers from renewable biomass is described. In Chapter 1, an overview and recent development about sustainable polymers from renewable biomass, antimicrobial biomaterials and polymerization methods are given. Afterwards, the major research objectives of this doctoral research work are described.

Innovative cationic polymers containing pine resin sourced abietic acid is discussed in Chapter 2. The preparation of cationic compounds is conversed via a combination of Diels-Alder, catalytic esterification, quaternization and subsequent decoration of polycaprolactone that was prepared via ring-opening polymerization (ROP). Furthermore, the antimicrobial activity against a range of bacteria, biocompatibility with …

Shaping Metallic Nanoparticles Toward Integrated Plasmonics And Catalysis, Qingfeng Zhang

Theses and Dissertations

Noble metal nanoparticles have been of tremendous interest because of their intriguing size- and shape-dependent plasmonic and catalytic properties. The combination of tunable plasmon resonances with superior catalytic activities on the same nanoparticle, however, has long been challenging because plasmonics and catalysis require nanoparticles in two drastically different size regimes. Tunable plasmon resonances is a unique feature of sub-wavelength metallic nanoparticles, whereas heterogeneous catalysis requires the use of sub-5 nm nanoparticles as the catalysts. In this dissertation, I firstly found a unique way to bridge this size gap between nanoplasmonics and nanocatalysis. I demonstrated that desired plasmonic and catalytic properties …

Philosophers On The Fringe: Albert Schweitzer, Liberty Hyde Bailey, Aldo Leopold, And The Wrongful Polarization Of Environmentalist History 2017, Minnie A.M. Lauzon

Master's Theses

This thesis includes three articles (chapters) intending to encourage clarification of an area of environmental history that has not received adequate attention since the publication of Roderick Nash’s Wilderness and the American Mind. Since its publication in 1967, little research has been dedicated to understanding the scholarly or philosophical influence Albert Schweitzer and Liberty Hyde Bailey had on Aldo Leopold. Since my undertaking of this topic, I have established two primary goals. First, I want to provide clarification to environmentalists, academics, and the populace at large that environmentalism does not have to be bound by rules and convention, but can …

Inside The Mind Of Mcmillen, Tina Duong

ART 108: Introduction to Games Studies

The paper discusses how Edmund McMillen created “The Binding of Isaac”. It goes into his inspirations, influences, and his background leading up to the game. It then describes the game, going into its mechanics, design, art and story and how each of these elements were unique and risky to put into an Indie game. I discussed how “The Binding of Isaac” brought in fresh, new elements that most mainstream games wouldn’t dare touch, and despite that “Binding of Isaac” accomplished amazing success. Then, I talk about how the game was initially made by a group of two people, and was …

Mmorpgs And Their Effect On Players, Udit Manocha

ART 108: Introduction to Games Studies

The purpose of this essay is to explore the popularity and effects of video games in the MMORPG genre. Games and play have been a part of human culture for an exceptionally long time, and in the recent decades video games have a become a large medium to continue this. Studying how video games, such as MMORPGs, can be used in order to advance life skills is important to understand the future of human development. By researching other studies done on various topics of related to MMORPG, I developed the idea that this genre of video games could be very …

Our Food Story: Examining The Relationship Between Food And The Community, Joan Kao

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Our Food Story is a project that critiques, analyzes and intercepts the cycle of concentrated poverty in the Near Westside through a look into the neighborhoods’ history and present day conditions. The project aims to offer a solution to the observed issues through interior design. Our Food Story is a casual eatery and a community food workshop as well as a source of employment to address the low employment rate in the area. Through biomorphic and biophilic design, Our Food Story hopes to engage all in and out of the community to bring back food, jobs and a community space. …

Cli-Fi Cinema: An Epideictic Rhetoric Of Blame, Chloe Louise Powell

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This thesis analyzes the symbolic mechanisms of guilt-redemption as developed by Kenneth Burke within two climate fiction (cli-fi) films: The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008), and Interstellar (2014). In doing so, this thesis offers an account of: (1) each film’s role in providing their audience temporary assuagement of climate change related guilt, and (2) each film’s role in transmitting values and “attitudes” to build and strengthen communities. Because cli-fi films begin from a dystopic vision of a possible future, it fulfills the "blame" function of epideictic discourse to provoke and inspire the "ecological imagination." Through this provocation, the audience …

Table Of The Sun, Christine Bettis

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

My creative thesis is a 48-page collection of poems titled Table of the Sun. Each poem is an intimate interrogation of varied ecological, romantic, and/or political disasters ranging from the Dakota Access Pipeline, cruel love, and Donald Trump. Some poems are reckonings, and others work to heal trauma, heartache, clinical illness, and supernatural afflictions like those experienced by the Tarantati of Puglia. Some are combative, it's true. Water is everywhere and it is multitudinous as an agent of destruction, cleansing, and transformation, and as a life-giver. The collection was influenced by readings, lectures, and courses I've experienced at UNLV, including …

Volume 3, Full Contents

Butler Journal of Undergraduate Research

No abstract provided.

Tango: A Spanish-Based Programming Language, Ashley M. Zegiestowsky

Butler Journal of Undergraduate Research

The first part of this article deals with the creation of my own Spanish-based programming language, Tango, using Spanish key words (instead of English key words). The second part relates to the design and implementation of a compiler that follows the grammar rules outlined in the Tango language in order to successfully lexically analyze, parse, semantically analyze, and generate code for Tango. This article begins with a description of the specific goals achieved in the Tango language, an explanation and brief examples of the Tango Grammar, a high-level overview of the compiler design and data structures used, and concludes with …

Table Of Contents

Butler Journal of Undergraduate Research

Front cover, a list of the article contents in this issue, and editorial information.

Measuring Gender-Based Violence Attitude On Twitter, Goonmeet Bajaj, Tanvi Banerjee, Amir Hossein Yazdavar, Valerie L. Shalin, Amit Sheth

Symposium of Student Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activities Materials

This study examines social media to analyze communication patterns, specifically in the Gender-Based Violence domain. It explores the pragmatic content of tweets to categorize them into one of the following groups: Belief, Fact Reporting, or Other to determine the tweeting practices prevalent in this domain.

Legalization Of Gay Marriage And Its Impact On Military Stereotypes Of Homosexuals, Jasmine Moore

Symposium of Student Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activities Materials

Homosexuality has become a popular research topic in a variety of professional fields, and over the last decade has become a priority for the military. Since the implementation of the law repealing Don't Ask Don't Tell (DADT) researchers have questioned what effects repealing this law has had on the military as a whole. Particular attention has been spent on studying the attitudes and stereotypes about homosexuals after DADT was repealed. However, there is a lack of research examining how marriage equality affects society's stereotypes about homosexuals serving in the United States military.

It was hypothesized that participants that have personal …

Wright State University's Celebration Of Research, Scholarship And Creative Activities Book Of Abstracts From Friday, April 21, 2017, Wright State University

Symposium of Student Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activities Materials

The student abstract booklet is a compilation of abstracts from students' oral and poster presentations at Wright State University's Annual Celebration of Research, Scholarship and Creative Activities on April 21, 2017.

Social Workers’ Salaries Vs. Educational Student Debt Burden: A Losing Battle, Michael Wadham

Symposium of Student Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activities Materials

College tuitions rise at disparate rates with starting salaries and inflation, causing student debt to weigh on social work graduates. Data was collected from 701 social workers in an NASW - Ohio Chapter survey to investigate this disparity and its consequences. The purpose of this study was to analyze the qualitative data set, 174 written comments, for themes and perceptions. The following themes, echoed in current research on the topics of social work salary and student debt burden, were identified: unmanageable debt and financial burden, varying lengths of time and repayment methods, social workers feeling undervalued and underpaid, loan forgiveness …

Treating Chronic Post Herpetic Neuralgia Using Topical Superconcentrated Capsaicin, Jaree Naqvi, Scott Seider, Jason Miller, Cole Budinsky, Amol Soin

Symposium of Student Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activities Materials

Post Herpetic Neuralgia (PHN) is a painful condition that occurs after reactivation of the dormant Herpes Zoster Virus.Typically PHN presents with a unilateral rash affecting a single dermatome which is accompanied by burning, irritation, and hypersensitivity for >3 months.Current treatment includes anticonvulsants, tricyclic antidepressants, narcotic/nonnarcotic painkillers, and topical lidocaine.

We propose the utilization of a superconcentrated transdermal patch of capsaicin called Qutenza 8%, which is 300 times more potent than current OTC capsaicin. The treatment protocol using Qutenza to treat refractory PHN proposes a novel approach to the treatment of this condition.

Capsaicin is commonly known as the active chemical …

Khealth Bariatrics: A Multisensory Approach To Monitoring Patient’S Postsurgical Behavior, Revathy Venkataramanan, Utkarshani Jaimini, Amit Sheth, Joon K. Shim, Priti Parikh, Dene S. Berman

Symposium of Student Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activities Materials

The rate of obesity is on the rise reaching epidemic proportions. According to American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS), 500 million people all over the world are obese. The data from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC) shows that more than 36% of adults in the United States have obesity. According to World Health Organization (WHO), 65% of the world’s population lives in countries where the occurrence of death due to overweight and obesity is higher than being underweight. It is well established that weight loss surgery can play a significant role in reducing, or even eliminating medical …

2017 - The Twenty-Second Annual Symposium Of Student Scholars

Symposium of Student Scholars Program Books

The full program book from the Twenty-second Annual Symposium of Student Scholars, held on April 20, 2017. Includes abstracts from the presentations and posters.