Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Road Accessibility From County Seat Under Flooding: Hampton, Newport News, James City, Poquoson, Williamsburg, York, Accomack, Northampton, Alexandria, Fairfax, Gloucester, Mathews, Middlesex, Molly Mitchell, Jessica Hendricks, Daniel Schatt, Marcia Berman

Data

The impacts of recurrent flooding on roadways present challenging social and economic considerations for all coastal jurisdictions. Maintenance, public and private accessibility, evacuation routes, and emergency services are just a few of the common themes local governments are beginning to address for low-lying roadways currently known to flood. The project implements a protocol developed by CCRM to analyze the level at which road flooding may impact communities and their ability to reach key locations at periodic intervals; through the year 2100 in coastal Virginia. Using a network analysis, road accessibility is evaluated at different levels of flooding (at 0.1 meter …

Formation Of Oil-Particle-Aggregates: Numerical Model Formulation And Calibration, Linlin Cui, Courtney K. Harris, Danielle R.N. Tarpley

VIMS Articles

When oil spills occur in turbid waters, the oil droplets and mineral grains can combine to form oil-particle aggregates (OPAs). The formation of OPAs impacts the vertical transport of both the oil and the mineral grains; especially increasing deposition of oil to the seabed. Though the coastal oceans can be very turbid, to date, few numerical ocean models have accounted for aggregation processes that form OPAs. However, interactions between oil and mineral aggregates may be represented using techniques developed to account for sediment aggregation. As part of Consortium for Simulation of Oil Microbial Interactions in the Ocean (CSOMIO), we modified …

Proteomic Analysis Of Mycobacteriophage Crimd, William Moeller

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Bacteriophages represent a large portion of the biomatter on our planet, and many of them have yet to be fully characterized. Here we discuss the proteomic analysis of a particular Bacteriophage, Mycobacteriophage CrimD. This phage was discovered on the Campus of William & Mary and has had its genome characterized. We took the next logical step of proteomic analysis.

In our analyses we made use high pressure liquid chromatography paired with linear ion trap mass spectrometry to analyze the proteome of CrimD at specific time points after the infection of its host, Mycobacterium smegmatis. Additionally, we used nanospray ionization with …

Using Machine Learning To Track The Location Of The Shock Train In Hypersonic Engines, Alison Reynolds

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Proposed hypersonic vehicles would be able to travel at five to ten times the speed of sound, but there are still many problems that need to be solved to construct a functioning vehicle. One such problem involves shocks created in the engine isolator when the vehicle reaches high speeds. These shocks must be contained to the isolator to maximize performance and avoid potential failure. This project attempts to track the location of the leading shock given images of airflow from ground tests of engines using random forests and convolutional neural networks. When the models are trained and tested on data …

Contentious Vulnerability: Infrastructure, Assemblages, And Environmental Justice Communities, Mads Emmett

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Charles City County, Virginia has been the target of several large developmental proposals in recent years. Two of these proposed projects, the C4GT and Chickahominy natural gas power stations, have faced opposition from residents of Charles City County and people across the state who are concerned about the environmental impacts and health risks associated with fossil fuel infrastructure. These proposed power plants are part of an extensive assemblage of infrastructure: an uneven built network of physical and affective relationships brought together through contingencies which involves human and non-human parts and facilitates the distribution of resources and people around the world …

Composite Gravity In Curved Spacetime, Austin Batz

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This work presents the development of a quantum theory of gravity motivated by diffeomorphism-invariance and background-independence. A composite graviton state that satisfies the linearized Einstein’s field equations has been identified via perturbative expansion about a curved vacuum spacetime. The emergence of this gravitational interaction is discussed, as well as cancellation of tadpoles and treatment of ultraviolet divergences via dimensional regularization. In other words, the formalism of quantum field theory is used to identify a gravitational interaction as an emergent phenomenon rather than as a fundamental aspect of nature. The lattice is proposed as a candidate for a physical regulator, and …

Topology Of The O(3) Non-Linear Sigma Model Under The Gradient Flow, Stuart Thomas, Christopher Monahan

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Quantum field theory is an extraordinarily successful framework that describes phenomena in particle physics and condensed matter. The O(3) non-linear sigma model (NLSM) is a specific theory used in both of these fields, describing ferromagnets and acting as a prototype for the strong nuclear force. It features topologically stable configurations known as instantons which cannot continuously evolve to the ground state. The topological susceptibility is a parameter that describes this stability and is predicted to vanish in physical theories, however numerical simulations find that the topological susceptibility diverges in the continuum limit. This issue has motivated the application of the …

Three Centuries Of Vegetation Change In The William & Mary College Woods Reconstructed Using Phytoliths, Timothy Terlizzi

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The College Woods, west of William & Mary’s campus, consists of ~900 acres of protected southern mixed hardwood forest. The woods surround Lake Matoaka, a former millpond established in ~1700. Despite the rich history of the area, little is known about how the dominant vegetative landcover has shifted over the last 300 years. This study set out to quantify the modern vegetation within the College Woods via the phytolith assemblages within the soil and identify shifts in the assemblages since the creation of Lake Matoaka and whether these changes are distinct from the vegetation that existed in the area before …

Physical Vulnerability Index, Karinna Nunez, Molly Mitchell, Alexander Renaud

Data

The Center for Coastal Resources Management at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science has developed a Physical Vulnerability Index (PVI) for the Chesapeake Bay region. PVI provides a broad perspective on the vulnerability of the Tidewater region, creating a composite measure of general flood impact rather than the threat of any one particular storm track. While there have been a number of efforts to categorize physical risk, the analysis behind this physical vulnerability index allows for application at a variety of scales, such as the county or US Census tract level. Calculating physical risk for geopolitically defined boundaries generates values …

Simulation And Optimization Of Kinematics Measurements For The Moller Parity-Violating Electron-Electron Scattering Experiment, Lauren Carver

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This report describes the optimization of the sieve collimator that will be used for the MOLLER experiment at Jefferson Laboratory. The MOLLER experiment seeks to study the parity-violating asymmetry in electron-electron elastic scattering. For this project, Monte Carlo simulations were run using a GEANT4 simulation package, which includes the main geometry of the proposed experiment, and the essential physics reaction processes. A sieve collimator was added to the simulated geometry. This collimator has pin-hole openings to select scattered electrons at certain locations (radial and azimuthal positions) corresponding to specific scattering angles (theta, and phi). Analysis of the simulated data were …

Investigating Charge Transfer Complexes In Brown Carbon Aerosols, Brianna Peterson

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Aerosols are suspensions of particles in the air, commonly seen as dust or fog in the atmosphere. Brown carbon is a particular classification of carbonaceous atmospheric aerosol that increases in absorption from the visible to ultraviolet region, making it important for radiative forcing models. Elucidating the structures of brown carbon chromophores has been difficult as brown carbon is a broad category and the chromophore type can change depending on emission source, temperature, humidity, and season. Twisted intramolecular charge transfer (TICT) molecules have been identified as potential brown carbon chromophores. TICT molecules are those that allow charge transfer to occur between …

A Survey Of Methods To Determine Quantum Symmetry Of Graphs, Samantha Phillips

Undergraduate Honors Theses

We introduce the theory of quantum symmetry of a graph by starting with quantum permutation groups and classical automorphism groups. We study graphs with and without quantum symmetry to provide a comprehensive view of current techniques used to determine whether a graph has quantum symmetry. Methods provided include specific tools to show commutativity of generators of algebras of quantum automorphism groups of distance-transitive graphs; a theorem that describes why nontrivial, disjoint automorphisms in the automorphism group implies quantum symmetry; and a planar algebra approach to studying symmetry.

“Garden-Magic”: Conceptions Of Nature In Edith Wharton’S Fiction, Jonathan Malks

Undergraduate Honors Theses

I situate Edith Wharton’s guiding idea of “garden-magic” at the center of my thesis because Wharton’s fiction shows how a garden space could naturalize otherwise inadmissible behaviors within upper-class society while helping a character tie such behavior to a greater possibility for escape. To this end, Wharton situates gardens as idealized touchstones within the built environment of New York City, spaces where characters believe they can reach self-actualization within a version of nature that is man-made. Actualization, in this sense, stems from a character’s imaginative escape that is enabled by a perception of the garden as a kind of natural …

Determining Quantum Symmetry In Graphs Using Planar Algebras, Akshata Pisharody

Undergraduate Honors Theses

A graph has quantum symmetry if the algebra associated with its quantum automorphism group is non-commutative. We study what quantum symmetry means and outline one specific method for determining whether a graph has quantum symmetry, a method that involves studying planar algebras and manipulating planar tangles. Modifying a previously used method, we prove that the 5-cycle has no quantum symmetry by showing it has the generating property.

Scope: Building And Testing An Integrated Manual-Automated Event Extraction Tool For Online Text-Based Media Sources, Matthew Crittenden

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Building on insights from two years of manually extracting events information from online news media, an interactive information extraction environment (IIEE) was developed. SCOPE, the Scientific Collection of Open-source Policy Evidence, is a Python Django-based tool divided across specialized modules for extracting structured events data from unstructured text. These modules are grouped into a flexible framework which enables the user to tailor the tool to meet their needs. Following principles of user-oriented learning for information extraction (IE), SCOPE offers an alternative approach to developing AI-assisted IE systems. In this piece, we detail the ongoing development of the SCOPE tool, present …

Performance Implications Of Memory Affinity On Filesystem Caches In A Non-Uniform Memory Access Environment, Jacob Adams

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Non-Uniform Memory Access imposes unique challenges on every component of an operating system and the applications that run on it. One such component is the filesystem which, while not directly impacted by NUMA in most cases, typically has some form of cache whose performance is constrained by the latency and bandwidth of the memory that it is stored in. One such filesystem is ZFS, which contains its own custom caching system, known as the Adaptive Replacement Cache. This work looks at the impact of NUMA on this cache via sequential read operations, shows how current solutions intended to reduce this …

A Pain Free Nociceptor: Predicting Football Injuries With Machine Learning, Andrew Lyubovsky

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Injuries are a significant aspect of every sport, with the ability to impact a player’s career and the success of a team in their season. As sensor data is able to pick up on a player’s physical state, recently it has been analyzed for its ability to predict player injuries. We inspect the predictive power of player stats, subjective player responses, GPS data, and training load data in forecasting game injuries from an NCAA American football team during the 2019 season. Data processing techniques are used to remove noise and decrease correlated data, and as large portions of the data …

Progress Towards Electromagnetic Manipulation And Trapping Of Micro-Particles, Andrew John Beling

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis describes research to investigate the electromagnetic manipulation of microspheres and microrings. The work consists of three main thrusts: 1) the use of an electric field gradient to move dielectric microspheres, 2) the use of an AC magnetic field to move a conducting ring, and 3) the preparation of substrates for a microwave atom chip. The electrostatic movement of dielectric polyethylene microspheres was observed and recorded with a CCD imaging system. The microspheres were suspended in various liquids and placed on top of a microstrip transmission line, which consists of a conducting copper trace separated from a ground plate …

The Minimum Number Of Multiplicity 1 Eigenvalues Among Real Symmetric Matrices Whose Graph Is A Tree, Wenxuan Ding

Undergraduate Honors Theses

For a tree T, U(T) denotes the minimum number of eigenvalues of multiplicity 1 among all real symmetric matrices whose graph is T. It is known that U(T) >= 2. A tree is linear if all its vertices of degree at least 3 lie on a single induced path, and k-linear if there are k of these high degree vertices. If T′ is a linear tree resulting from the addition of 1 vertex to T, we show that |U(T′)−U(T)|

Coastal Natural And Nature-Based Features (Nnbfs) Ranked: Co-Benefits For Coastal Buildings And Target Areas For The Creation Of New Or Restoration Of Nnbfs In Coastal Virginia, Pamela Mason, Jessica Hendricks, Julie Herman

Data

Community resilience to storm-driven coastal flooding is improved with the presence of natural and nature-based features (NNBFs) such as wetlands, wooded areas, living shorelines, and beaches. These natural and created features can provide multiple benefits for a local community, including mitigating the impacts of storm surge and sea-level rise and allowing communities to take advantage of programmatic incentive programs like FEMA’s Community Rating System and nutrient reduction crediting.

As part of a NOAA-funded project NA17NOS4730142, an exportable geospatial protocol and NNBF ranking methodology was developed with the goal of incentivizing the protection and creation of NNBFs across Chesapeake Bay localities …

Vegetation Type And Decomposition Priming Mediate Brackish Marsh Carbon Accumulation Under Interacting Facets Of Global Change, Anthony J. Rietl, J. Patrick Megonigal, Ellen R. Herbert, Matthew L. Kirwan

VIMS Articles

Coastal wetland carbon pools are globally important, but their response to interacting facets of global change remain unclear. Numerical models neglect species-specific vegetation responses to sea level rise (SLR) and elevated CO₂ (eCO₂) that are observed in field experiments, while field experiments cannot address the long-term feedbacks between flooding and soil growth that models show are important. Here, we present a novel numerical model of marsh carbon accumulation parameterized with empirical observations from a long-running eCO₂ experiment in an organic rich, brackish marsh. Model results indicate that eCO₂ and SLR interact …

The Geomorphic Impact Of Mangrove Encroachment In An Australian Salt Marsh, Daniel J. Coleman, Kerrylee Rogers, D. Reide Corbett, Christopher J. Owers, Matthew L. Kirwan

VIMS Articles

Mangroves are encroaching into salt marshes throughout the world as a result of environmental change. Previous studies suggest mangroves trap sediment more efficiently than adjacent salt marshes, providing mangroves greater capacity to adapt to sea level rise; this may occur by displacing salt marshes. However, sediment transport in adjacent marsh-mangrove systems and its role in mangrove encroachment upon salt marsh remain poorly understood. Here we directly test the hypothesis that mangroves reduce the ability of adjacent marsh to adjust to sea level rise by measuring sediment transport across salt marsh platforms, with and without 6 m of fringing mangroves at …

Vims Ferry Pier Ambient Water Monitoring And Meteorological Data, Six-Minute Data 1986-2003, Gary F. Anderson

Data

Bulk water parameters of Temperature and Salinity were measured at the VIMS Ferry Pier from 1947 to 2003. Initial methods were undocumented but likely automated with an instrument and chart recorder since the data consists of a daily high and low measurement from which a mean value was derived. Beginning in 1986 an Inter-Ocean CTD instrument placed at mid-depth was interfaced to a digital data logger (Campbell Scientific CRJ) that recorded data every six minutes, resulting in 240 measurements per day.

This collection contains only the six-minute data from 1986 through 2003. Weather parameters were also added in 1986 and …

Blockchain In Healthcare: A New Perspective From Social Media Data, Andrew Caietti

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Blockchain as a technology has brought with it a wave of promises and expectations. After its successes in the financial sector, many potential new applications of the technology have been theorized across a variety of sectors. Blockchain’s application to healthcare stands out among these theories. Healthcare is a sector that views technological innovation under more scrutiny, so the introduction of blockchain into healthcare is a particularly unique implementation of the technology. Attempting to understand how blockchain is accepted in the healthcare industry is a difficult problem due to the nature of data associated with the sector. One avenue to understand …

Mechanisms Driving Decadal Changes In The Carbonate System Of A Coastal Plain Estuary: Associated Dataset, Fei Da, Marjorie A.M. Friedrichs, Pierre St-Laurent

Data

This dataset includes model outputs presented in the associated publication (Da et al. 2021, Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans). This study used a three-dimensional ecosystem model to quantify the relative impacts of multiple anthropogenic drivers on the Chesapeake Bay carbonate system over the past three decades. Model simulations highlight that increased atmospheric CO₂ concentrations and decreased terrestrial nutrient inputs are two primary drivers causing nearly equal reductions in pH in surface waters of the Bay.

Vims Ferry Pier Ambient Water Monitoring Data, Salinity And Temperature, Daily Summary 1947-2003, Gary F. Anderson

Data

Bulk water parameters of Temperature and Salinity were measured at the VIMS Ferry Pier from 1947 to 2003. Initial methods were undocumented but likely automated with an instrument and chart recorder since the data consists of a daily high and low measurement from which a mean value was derived.

Beginning in 1971 an automated instrument recorded continuously from which 2-hour measurements were made and daily minimum and maxima were derived. Beginning in 1986 an Inter-Ocean CTD instrument placed at mid-depth was interfaced to a digital data logger (Campbell Scientific CRJ) that recorded data every six minutes, resulting in 240 measurements …

Ecological Monitoring Program At Vims Esl : Annual Report 2020, Paige G. Ross, Richard A. Snyder

Reports

An Ecological Monitoring Program (EMP) has been established at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science Eastern Shore Laboratory (VIMS ESL) for the coastal environment near the Wachapreague lab. The goals of the initiative are to 1) provide status and trends information to scientists who study and regulators who manage Virginia’s marine resources, 2) provide a scientific context for short-term research and grant proposals 3) provide pedagogical enrichment to educators for their classes, and 4) build capacity in staff expertise and training of interns and students at VIMS ESL.

The program formalizes and standardizes data collection for a long-term status and …

Dredging Implementation Prioritization And Management For Middle Peninsula Shallow Draft Channels, Donna A. Milligan, C. Scott Hardaway Jr., Christine A. Wilcox, Nicholas J. Dinapoli

Reports

To develop a regional dredging program for the localities of the Middle Peninsula, a database of 120 creeks and rivers was created of its waterbodies from Tappahannock to West Point. Generally, these waterbodies can be categorized into three basic types of shallow draft channels: federally-defined, non-federal with ATONs (aids to Navigation) and non-federal without ATONs. For the Middle Peninsula there are 13 federal channels, 12 non-federal channels in creeks with ATONs, and 94 in creeks without defined channels or ATONs.

Physical parameter data was collected or created for each of these creeks. This data included creek mouth morphology, amount of …

Accurate Determination Of The Neutron Skin Thickness Of ^208pb Through Parity-Violation In Electron Scattering, D. Adhikari, (...), David S. Armstrong, Et Al.

Arts & Sciences Articles

We report a precision measurement of the parity-violating asymmetry APV in the elastic scattering of longitudinally polarized electrons from 208Pb. We measure APV=550±16(stat)±8(syst) parts per billion, leading to an extraction of the neutral weak form factor FW(Q2=0.00616  GeV2)=0.368±0.013. Combined with our previous measurement, the extracted neutron skin thickness is Rn−Rp=0.283±0.071  fm. The result also yields the first significant direct measurement of the interior weak density of 208Pb: ρ0W=−0.0796±0.0036(exp)±0.0013(theo)  fm−3 leading to the interior baryon density ρ0b=0.1480±0.0036(exp)±0.0013(theo)  fm−3. The measurement accurately constrains the density dependence of the symmetry energy of nuclear matter near saturation density, with implications for the size and …

Expanding The Use Of Natural And Nature-Based Infrastructure To Enhance Coastal Resiliency, Marcia Berman, Pamela Mason, Jessica Hendricks, Tamia Rudnicky

Reports

The vulnerability of coastal communities and the growing risks of coastal infrastructure continue largely due to past and ongoing patterns of development in high risk areas. This project is focused on increasing the use of natural and nature-based features (NNBFs) to increase resilience of coastal communities to flooding caused by extreme weather events.