Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Bh2 Revisited: New, Extensive Measurements Of Laser-Induced Fluorescence Transitions And Ab Initio Calculations Of Near-Spectroscopic Accuracy, Fumie X. Sunahori, Mohammed Gharaibeh, Dennis J. Clouthier, Riccardo Tarroni

Chemistry Faculty Publications

The spectroscopy of gas phase BH₂ has not been explored experimentally since the pioneering study of Herzberg and Johns in 1967. In the present work, laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) spectra of the òB₁(Πu)-X̃²A₁ band system of ¹¹BH₂, ¹⁰BH₂, ¹¹BD₂, and ¹⁰BD₂ have been observed for the first time. The free radicals were "synthesized" by an electric discharge through a precursor mixture of 0.5% diborane (B₂H₆ or B₂D₆) in high pressure argon at the exit of …

Section Abstracts: Astronomy, Mathematics And Physics With Material Science

Virginia Journal of Science

Abstracts of the Astronomy, Mathematics, and Physics with Material Science Section for the 93rd Annual Meeting of the Virginia Academy of Science, May 21-23, 2015, James Madison University, Richmond, Virginia

Section Abstracts: Computer Science

Virginia Journal of Science

Abstracts of the Computer Science Section for the 93rd Annual Meeting of the Virginia Academy of Science, May 21-23, 2015, James Madison University, Richmond, Virginia

Section Abstracts: Chemistry

Virginia Journal of Science

Abstracts of the Chemistry Section for the 93rd Annual Meeting of the Virginia Academy of Science, May 21-23, 2015, James Madison University, Richmond, Virginia

Section Abstracts: Environmental Science

Virginia Journal of Science

Abstracts of the Environmental Science Section for the 93rd Annual Meeting of the Virginia Academy of Science, May 21-23, 2015, James Madison University, Richmond, Virginia

Section Abstracts: Statistics

Virginia Journal of Science

Abstracts of the Statistics Section for the 93rd Annual Meeting of the Virginia Academy of Science, May 21-23, 2015, James Madison University, Richmond, Virginia

Differentiation Of Human, Animal And Synthetic Hair By Atr Ftir Spectroscopy, Jeremy Manheim

Chemistry

Hair fibers are ubiquitous to every environment and are the most commonly found form of trace evidence at crime scenes. The primary difficulty forensic examiners face after retrieving a hair sample is determining who it came from. Currently, the methodology of microscopic examination of potential hair evidence is absent of statistical probability and is inherently subjective. Another method, involving DNA analysis, takes months to conduct and the majority of times is unsuccessful due to its degradation and absence from the hair. Here, Attenuated Total Reflectance (ATR) Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) Spectroscopy coupled with advanced statistics was used to identify a …

The Van Der Pol Oscillator As A Model Of The Hair Cell Auditory Response: A Numerical Study, Thomas Yocono

Physics

Hair cells, which detect and encode sound stimuli, have been shown to have a non-linear response and self sustaining oscillations. Here, we look at the Van der Pol oscillator, which has these properties, and numerically calculate its response to multiple driving frequencies. Any nonlinear system's response to multiple driving frequencies will have not just the driving frequencies present, but also combination tones, or heterodyne frequencies, which have order defined by the number of driving frequency combinations. This phenomenon has been experimentally confirmed in the human auditory response [1]. In the frequency specture of the Van der Pol steady state response …

A Multilaboratory Comparison Of Calibration Accuracy And The Performance Of External References In Analytical Ultracentrifugation, Huaying Zhao, Rodolfo Ghirlando, Carlos Alfonso, Fumio Arisaka, Ilan Attali, David L. Bain, Et Al. ..., Donald F. Becker, Peter Schuck

Department of Biochemistry: Faculty Publications

Analytical ultracentrifugation (AUC) is a first principles based method to determine absolute sedimentation coefficients and buoyant molar masses of macromolecules and their complexes, reporting on their size and shape in free solution. The purpose of this multi-laboratory study was to establish the precision and accuracy of basic data dimensions in AUC and validate previously proposed calibration techniques. Three kits of AUC cell assemblies containing radial and temperature calibration tools and a bovine serum albumin (BSA) reference sample were shared among 67 laboratories, generating 129 comprehensive data sets. These allowed for an assessment of many parameters of instrument performance, including accuracy …

Methodology Development In Green Chemistry: Oxoammonium Salt Oxidations And Fluoroform Incorporation, Rebecca J. Wiles

University Scholar Projects

Central to the advancement of small molecule synthesis is the ability to develop methodologies that reimagine well known chemistry in a new, environmentally friendly manner. In this thesis two central themes emerge: oxoammonium salt oxidations and trifluoromethyl incorporation using fluoroform gas. Several projects have been developed surrounding oxoammonium salt chemistry, which are featured by their mild conditions, ease of use, and the metal-free, recyclable nature of the oxidant. Trifluoromethylation using fluoroform gas finds its utility in the use of a potent greenhouse gas waste product as a benchtop reagent.

Investigating Sedimentary Rocks To Understand Past Wet Climate Of Mars, Emily Harper

Senior Honors Theses

The “deltaic” geomorphology in the Eberswalde Crater is often considered a “smoking gun” for the warm-and-wet ancient climate of Mars. The Crater displays sedimentary features, which many argue, can only be found in a river-delta system (Bhattacharya et al., 2005). However, with the advent of high-resolution images, the Eberswalde Crater delta’s geomorphology has been revealed to be more complicated than could be seen previously. These high-resolution data suggest that the development of the Eberswalde delta is likely more episodic (Schieber 2007). While better resolution data has placed doubt on the wet Mars hypothesis at the Eberswalde Crater, the opposite is …

12th Annual Symposium Of The School Of Science, Engineering And Health, Messiah College

School of Science, Engineering & Health (SEH) Symposium

Welcome to the 12th Annual Symposium of the School of Science, Engineering and Health! This event continues a strong tradition showcasing student an faculty innovation, creativity and productivity in academic departments largely from within the School of Science, Engineering and Health.

Introducing Young Women To Cs, And Supporting Advanced Research Environments, Joel C. Adams, Daniel A. Reed

University Faculty Publications and Creative Works

No abstract provided.

Adolescent Girls, Human Rights And The Expanding Climate Emergency, Holly G. Atkinson, Judith Bruce

Publications and Research

Many adolescent girls—the poorest girls in the poorest communities—already live in an “emergency.” Humanitarian crises only amplify the call on their coping and caring capacities, while exacerbating their vulnerabilities. The frequency and intensity of emergencies, including natural disasters, conflicts, and infectious disease outbreaks such as Ebola, appear to be growing.¹ These emergencies threaten entire communities and whole countries, often with global implications. Many become virtually permanent. The authors urge key actors responding to both the threats and opportunities that climate change poses to understand adolescent girls as exceptionally at risk on the one hand, and as exceptionally resilient and …

Variation In Avian Vocalizations During The Non-Breeding Season In Response To Traffic Noise, Amy I. Oden, Mary Bomberger Brown, Mark E. Burbach, James R. Brandle, John E. Quinn

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Low-frequency traffic noise that leads to acoustic masking of vocalizations may cause birds to alter the frequencies or other components of their vocalizations in order to be heard by conspecifics and others. Altering parts of a vocalization may result in poorer vocal performance or the message contained in the vocalization being received incorrectly. During the winters of 2011–2012 and 2012–2013, we recorded and measured the “chick-a-dee” call of Black-capped Chickadees (Poecile atricapillus) and the “po-ta-to-chip” call of American Goldfinches (Spinus tristis) to determine whether components of the calls produced in areas of high traffic noise and …

Study Of Laser Speckle Scattering In Vitreous Humor Models, Wanseok Oh

Graduate Theses - Physics and Optical Engineering

When a highly high coherent light propagates through a medium, interactions between light and the medium produces a unique intensity speckle pattern that is dependent on several factors such as particle size in the medium, wavelength of the light, concentration of medium, and scattering angle. Speckle patterns from either static or dynamic specimens have been studied using optical techniques due to its non-invasive nature. Speckle patterns from biological specimens (dynamic) are different from that of the static specimens since random movement of molecules (Brownian motion) in the biological specimen affect the light interactions and thereby the intensity of the speckles …

P-Manga: Full Spectral Fitting And Stellar Population Maps From Prototype Observations, David M. Wilkinson, Claudia Maraston, Daniel Thomas, Lodovico Coccato, Rita Tojeiro, Michele Cappellari, Francesco Belfiore, Matthew Bershady, Mike Blanton, Kevin Bundy, Sabrina Cales, Brian Cherinka, Niv Drory, Eric Emsellem, Hai Fu, David Law, Cheng Li, Roberto Maiolino, Karen Masters, Christy Tremonti, David Wake, Enci Wang, Anne-Marie Weijmans, Ting Xiao, Renbin Yan, Kai Zhang, Dmitry Bizyaev, Jonathan Brinkmann, Karen Kinemuchi, Daniel Oravetz, Kaike Pan, Audrey Simmons

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

MaNGA (Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory) is a 6-yr SDSS-IV (Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV) survey that will obtain resolved spectroscopy from 3600 to 10 300 Å for a representative sample of over 10 000 nearby galaxies. In this paper, we derive spatially resolved stellar population properties and radial gradients by performing full spectral fitting of observed galaxy spectra from P-MaNGA, a prototype of the MaNGA instrument. These data include spectra for 18 galaxies, covering a large range of morphological type. We derive age, metallicity, dust, and stellar mass maps, and their radial gradients, using high spectral-resolution stellar …

Female Reproductive Impacts Of Dietary Methylmercury In Yellow Perch (Perca Flavescens) And Zebrafish (Danio Rerio), Abigail Rachael Debofsky

Theses and Dissertations

This study sought to evaluate the effects of dietary MeHg exposure on female teleost reproduction and phenotypically-anchor gene dysregulation in adult yellow perch (Perca flavescens) and zebrafish (Danio rerio) in order to establish relevant biomarkers relating exposure and subsequent reproductive effects. Yellow perch were used in the study for their socioeconomic importance within the Great Lakes basin, and their significance to the food web. Utilization of zebrafish allowed for a detailed analysis of the molecular effects of MeHg and established its relevance as a model for other fish species. MeHg exposures at environmentally relevant levels were done in zebrafish for …

Seasonal Influences Upon And Long-Term Trends In The Length Of The Atlantic Hurricane Season, Juliana Marie Karloski

Theses and Dissertations

Atlantic tropical cyclone (TC) seasons vary yearly in length with some seasons significantly shorter or longer than normal. Kossin (2008) suggested that from 1980 to 2007, the Atlantic TC season increased in length; however, their study only considered a subset of the Atlantic basin south of 30°N and east of 75°W. It is uncertain whether this trend holds over the entire Atlantic basin or continues into the present. It is also unclear as to whether meaningful sub-seasonal variability in the environmental factors necessary for TC formation exists between early- and late-starting and -ending seasons.

Quantile regression is used to evaluate …

The Impact Of International Water Treaties On Transboundary Water Conflicts: A Study Focused On Large Transboundary Lakes, Victoria Eileen Lubner

Theses and Dissertations

Lakes are the largest reservoir of available surface freshwater on Earth, representing an irreplaceable ecosystem, essential for all life. Despite the crucial need for these lakes, there has been minimal research focused on their health and security. There are over 1,600 transboundary lakes worldwide, which do not follow political borders and thus result in governance and management challenges. International water treaties have been cited to be a main mechanism for cooperation between riparian countries. This study researches the impact of international water treaties as well as economic, political, and environmental variables on transboundary water conflict between riparian countries of the …

On The Dimension Of Group Boundaries, Molly Ann Moran

Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this dissertation is to find connections between the small-scale dimension (i.e. covering dimension and linearly controlled dimension) of group boundaries and the large scale dimension (i.e. asymptotic dimension and macroscopic dimension) of the group. We first show that generalized group boundaries must have finite covering dimension by using finite large-scale dimension of the space. We then restrict our attention to CAT(0) group boundaries and develop metrics on the boundary that allow us to study the linearly controlled dimension. We then obtain results relating the linearly controlled dimension of CAT(0) boundaries to the large scale dimension of the …

Using A Semiprognostic Test To Elucidate Key Model Errors Of Warm Rain Processes Within A Unified Parameterization Of Clouds And Turbulence, Justin Kyle Weber

Theses and Dissertations

The representation of clouds and turbulence remains one of the foremost challenges in modeling earth's climate system and continues to remain one of the greatest sources of uncertainty in future climate projections. Increased attention has been given to unifying cloud and turbulence parameterizations in order to avoid the artificial categorization of cloud and turbulence regimes. One such unified parameterization is known as the Cloud Layers Unified by Binormals (CLUBB). CLUBB is a single column model of clouds and turbulence that assumes subgrid scale variability can be represented by a joint probability density function (PDF) of temperature, moisture, momentum, and hydrometeors. …

Using Omaha System Documentation To Understand Physical Activity Among Rural Women, Jeanette Melissa Olsen

Theses and Dissertations

Rural women are more inactive and have different barriers to physical activity than those who live in more urban settings, yet few studies have specifically examined physical activity and associated factors in this population. Clinical data documented with standardized terminology by nurses caring for rural women may provide an opportunity to generate evidence that informs and improves nursing care. However, the knowledge to be gained and utility of nurses' clinical documentation in regard to physical activity have not been explored. Accordingly, the purpose of this study was to increase understanding of physical activity and associated factors among rural women by …

The L^2-Cohomology Of Discrete Groups, Kevin David Schreve

Theses and Dissertations

Given a space with a proper, cocompact group action, the L^2-cohomology groups are a particularly interesting invariant that incorporates the topology of the space and the geometry of the group action. We are interested in both the algebraic and geometric aspects of these invariants. From the algebraic side, the Strong Atiyah Conjecture claims that the L^2-Betti numbers assume only rational values, with certain prescribed denominators related to the torsion subgroups of the group. We prove this conjecture for the class of virtually cocompact special groups. This implies the Zero Divisor Conjecture holds for such groups. On the geometric side, the …

Optical Bistability With Two Serially Integrated Inp-Soas On A Chip, Michael Edward Plascak

Graduate Theses - Physics and Optical Engineering

A photonic switch using two series-connected, reverse-biased semiconductor optical amplifiers integrated onto a single device has been proposed and switching operation has been verified experimentally. The switching operates on two principles; an electrical bistability arising from the connection of two p-i-n structures in series, and the quantum confined Stark effect in reverse-biased multiple quantum well structures. The result is an electroabsorption modulation of the light through the SOAs due to the alternating voltage states. The system simultaneously produces outputs with both inverted and non-inverted hysteresis behavior, with experimental switching speeds demonstrated up to 400 kHz for a reverse-bias voltage of …

Geochemical Analysis Of Surface Materials Surrounding The Bautsch-Gray Mine Superfund Site Near Galena, Illinois, Ryan Plath

Geology: Student Scholarship & Creative Works

The Bautsch-Gray zinc and lead mine, near Galena, IL, was in operation from the early 1900s until closing in 1975. The mine’s tailings pile has documented elevated lead and zinc concentrations in the surface materials surrounding the site. Numerous floods have caused contaminated sediment to migrate off the mine tailings pile, across Blackjack Road and into an outwash basin, and towards Smallpox Creek. Since this site was designated an EPA priority list Superfund site in 2010, the EPA has conducted numerous remediation efforts. This study attempts to develop a better understanding of the contamination within the soils of the outwash …

Encoding Knots, Rachael Keller

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Visualization And Analysis Of Wikipedia Data Relating To Louisiana And Its Culture, Morgan Hargrove

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Modeling Deformations Of Solids At The Continuum Scale, Paxton Turner

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Acute And Chronic Effects Of Large-Vessel Anchoring On Coral Reef Communities Inside A Designated Commercial Anchorage, Lauren Waters

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

Coral reefs provide economic and environmental services to millions of people as areas for recreation, sources of food, jobs, and shoreline protection; and are now under threat from multiple stresses (NOAA 2002). Anthropogenic impact from acute physical events such as commercial vessel grounding and anchor drags have been well documented throughout the world and southeast Florida. However little data exist on the chronic effects of large commercial vessels anchoring on reef resources. The Port Miami commercial anchorage was designated circa 1927 and was delineated over approximately 700 acres of reef resources. Anchorage use, benthic resources, and substrate composition were surveyed …