Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Extremely Broad Ly Α Line Emission From The Molecular Intragroup Medium In Stephan's Quintet: Evidence For A Turbulent Cascade In A Highly Clumpy Multiphase Medium?, P. Guillard, P. N. Appleton, F. Boulanger, J. M. Shull, M. D. Lehnert, G. Pineau Des Forets, E. Falgarone, M. E. Cluver, C. K. Xu, Sarah C. Gallagher, P. A. Duc

Physics and Astronomy Publications

We present Hubble Space Telescope Cosmic Origin Spectrograph (COS) UV line spectroscopy and integral-field unit (IFU) observations of the intragroup medium in Stephan's Quintet (SQ). SQ hosts a 30 kpc long shocked ridge triggered by a galaxy collision at a relative velocity of 1000 km s-1, where large amounts of molecular gas coexist with a hot, X-ray-emitting, plasma. COS spectroscopy at five positions sampling the diverse environments of the SQ intragroup medium reveals very broad (≈2000 km s-1) Lyα line emission with complex line shapes. The Lyα line profiles are similar to or much broader than those of Hβ, [C …

Survey Analysis: Senior And One-Year Out Surveys, Paige Phillips

Computer Science: Student Scholarship & Creative Works

Through surveys colleges are able to collect and analyze data pertaining to the institution's alumni, including valuable information about employment post-graduation. The number of alumni employed after graduation is an important statistic for colleges. In addition, the location, company, industry sector, and relevance to major are other aspects that can be analyzed by the college. Collecting alumni information not only provides pertinent employment status but can also maintain alumni connections. Therefore, this project works to organize and analyze alumni major feedback collected through alumni surveys, in order to provide pertinent information for departments and the college.

The Effects Of Floodplain Restoration On Biodiversity, Ireland Keeney, Jessica Gutekunst

Summer Scholarship, Creative Arts and Research Projects (SCARP)

During the colonial era, numerous mills and dams were built in Pennsylvania. This and other intensive land uses led to sediment eroding from upstream and burying wetlands. The accumulated sediment is known as legacy sediment1.

There has been a significant loss of wetlands throughout the centuries, with many of them in the Piedmont region being buried under thick layers of legacy sediment as shown in Figure 1 below2.

The removal of legacy sediment is a new technique used to restore wetlands, mainly with the intent being to improve water quality3. However, a restored wetland as shown by Figure 1 may …

Development Of Sensitive And Fast Immunoassay For Lyme Disease, Justin Cosgrove

Summer Scholarship, Creative Arts and Research Projects (SCARP)

Testing for Lyme disease has proven to be time consuming and inaccurate, especially in its early stages. The goal of this project is to develop a new diagnostic that has improved timeliness, sensitivity, and selectivity. This test is based on an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, or ELISA. To improve on what is currently in place, magnetic beads will be used. Unlike a normal ELISA, these magnetic beads are the binding site of the capture antibody instead of the microplate surface. With greatly increased surface area from the beads, the process can be much faster and detect far lesser concentrations of protein …

Encapsulation Of Molecular Probes In Polymer Nanoparticles For Visual Detection Of Heavy Metals In Water, Kyla Dewittie

Summer Scholarship, Creative Arts and Research Projects (SCARP)

Heavy metal contamination is a problem worldwide, and it has dangerous effects on humans and the environment. Lead is one of the most common metal toxins due to its presence in a variety of household items including paint and pipes. Mercury is another common toxin that is dangerous due to its long half-life which causes it to buildup in not only water sources, but also inhabiting wildlife. The consumption of both metals is detrimental to human health, therefore proper detection methods are needed. Various detection methods exist but are not cost or time efficient. Molecular probes could be a solution …

Luminescence From Metal-Organic Frameworks: Structural Modification And Small Molecule Uptake, Nicholas A. Erisman, Brandon A. Molina

Summer Scholarship, Creative Arts and Research Projects (SCARP)

Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) are materials that contain metal centers coordinated by organic molecules that form an extended, porous lattice. These MOFs are of interest in the field of sensing for their unique properties such as high stability, high surface area, high crystallinity, and ability to perform small molecule exchange. Luminescent metal-organic frameworks (LMOFs) are of specific interest since they contain the potential to detect volatile organic compounds via adsorption into the porous framework. 1 Luminescent properties can be imparted to MOFs in several ways. Previous projects focused on the inclusion of the luminescent osmium complex Os(dcphen)(CO)2 (Cl)2 (dcphen = 1,10-phenanthroline-4,7-dicarboxylic …

Synthesis Of Asymmetrically-Substituted Tetraphenyl-Class Porphyrins, William J. Davis

Summer Scholarship, Creative Arts and Research Projects (SCARP)

Porphyrins are macrocyclic compounds that can be synthesized and used in photodynamic therapy (PDT), a noninvasive and selective method designed to eliminate diseased tissue (such as cancer) without killing healthy tissue. PDT involves the following three steps. A photosensitizer enters a cancerous cell, is excited by electromagnetic radiation, and transfers the energy to molecular oxygen which is then converted into singlet oxygen, which triggers cellular apoptosis. However, for a porphyrin to be utilized as a therapeutic in PDT, it must satisfy the following two criteria: the porphyrin needs to possess the correct solubility to pass through the cell membrane and …

Optimization Of The Control Line On A Lateral Flow Assay For Lead (Ii) Detection In Drinking Water, Yudeliz Sanchez

Summer Scholarship, Creative Arts and Research Projects (SCARP)

According to a recent survey by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), there are between 6 to 10 million lead (Pb2+) service lines in the country. Consumption of lead can cause brain and kidney damage. Our goal is to create a simple, inexpensive paper-based assay to make lead testing accessible. Lateral flow assays (LFAs) are rapid tests (5-30 mins) used to detect or quantify analytes in mixtures. Each LFA has a control line and a test line(s). The control line ensures the test is working. In our test, the control line is composed of neutral red polymer nanoparticles, which …

Design And Synthesis Of Hoogsteen-Binding Peptide Nucleic Acid Monomers With Extended Linkers For Triple Helical U-A Recognition In Rna, Angelina B. Giglio-Tos, Tristan L. Mabee, James A. Mackay

Summer Scholarship, Creative Arts and Research Projects (SCARP)

RNA provides many functions within biological systems. For example, noncoding RNA (ncRNA), a form of RNA that is not part of transcription or translation, serves a variety of unique roles, such as catalysis or gene regulation. ncRNA generally forms double helical motifs that are ripe for molecular recognition. Sequence selective recognition of double helical RNA (dhRNA) can be achieved using Peptide Nucleic Acids (PNA) through triple helical formation by Hoogsteen hydrogen bonding of PNA nucleobases in the major groove of dhRNA. However, strong, and selective recognition is typically limited to polypurine strands and pyrimidine recognition remains an unsolved problem. A …

Creation Of A Cell Line For Rapid Identification Of Potential Receptor Agonists Or Antagonists, Brandon Baxter

Summer Scholarship, Creative Arts and Research Projects (SCARP)

Developing drugs to combat disease is costly and time-consuming. Efficient methods for rapid drug screening for diseases such as Type 2 diabetes mellitus or cancer would be extremely advantageous. Diabetes effects 33.3 million people in the United States and 462 million worldwide and 17 million new cases of cancer are diagnosed each year. Many diseases result from the cells inability to respond to external signals that bind to receptors on the cytoplasmic membrane. This research attempted to create a cell line containing an intracellular protein fused to GFP. This protein would alter its cellular location and serve as an indicator …

Netsec: Real-Time And Scalable Malware Traffic Detection Within Iot Networks, Ethan Weitkamp, Yusuke Satani, Peilong Li, Jingwen Wang

Summer Scholarship, Creative Arts and Research Projects (SCARP)

Detecting malicious network traffic in real time has become a crucial requirement at smart communities for elderly care and medical facilities with the prevalence of Internet-of-things (IoT) devices. Existing machine learning based solutions for network traffic malware detection often fail to scale with the exponential increase of IoT devices at the facility and to detect malicious traffic with desirable low latency. In this paper we seek to fill the gap by designing a scalable end-to-end network traffic analyzing system that permits real-time malware detection. By leveraging distributed systems such as Apache Kafka and Apache Spark, the system has demonstrated scalable …

The Effectiveness Of Co-Taught Geometry Classes, Alesha Bowers

Master of Science in Mathematics

Ever-changing graduation requirements, along with other legislation involving students with disabilities, many schools have started implementing and pushing for more cotaught math classes if they have the means to do so. Certain schools have begun researching and experimenting with different types of co-teaching pairs and models for specific subject areas, including math. This research examines which type or types of students benefit the most from co-teaching in the geometry classroom setting, but also if schools are most effectively utilizing their teachers to receive the most success on the Geometry EOC AIR Assessment, by using Mixed models and Two-Way ANOVA techniques. …

Repercussions Of Multicollinearity In Binary Logistic Regression, Aaron Wayne Ghaner

Master of Science in Mathematics

The type I error rates for the binary logistic regression model were examined across varying levels of multicollinearity. Population data sets were created using the statistical software package R and then used to create data suitable for binary logistic regression models. The results showed the type I error rates did not differ across multicollinearity levels, the percentage of accurately classified cases were unaffected, and the variance inflation factors were affected by more than just correlation between the independent variables. These results show that multicollinearity may have limited effects on the type I error rates of the binary logistic regression model; …

The Mountain Gap Wind Of The Isthmus Of Tehuantepec And Its Impact On Tropical Cyclogenesis In The Eastern Pacific, Adolfo Lugo Rios

Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation we research two aspects of the mountain gap wind northerlies of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in Southern Mexico. The causes of extreme gap wind northerlies, emphasizing the causes by tropical weather systems, like easterly waves troughs or hurricanes, and the impacts of an extreme gap wind events on tropical cyclogenesis.

Through the use of an index to diagnose the mountain gap wind strength, its evolution through the year and the mechanisms leading to extreme mountain gap winds was highlighted. The index revealed that the gap wind is strongly related to high surface pressure anomalies over the GoM …

Predicting Students’ Performance Using Growth Models, Sam Habach

Master of Science in Mathematics

This study examines the effectiveness of latent growth models for clustering middle school math students to predict the high school academic outcome, as measured by the number of AP STEM courses passed in high school. Middle school math performance is based on the 6th, 7th, and 8th grade Rhode Island Comprehensive Assessment System (RICAS) scores. The study also examines whether demographic factors can predict student performance clusters. These demographic factors are High-risk status (HAR), eligibility for a free lunch program (FRP), and/or an individualized learning plan (IEP). The study concluded that the students’ growth can be grouped into four clusters. …

Development And Characterization Of Germanium Detectors For Searching Rare-Event Physics, Rajendra Panth

Dissertations and Theses

High-purity germanium (HPGe) detector has an excellent energy resolution and low-energy detection threshold ideal for searching rare-event physics such as dark matter and neutrinoless double beta decay searches. Understanding the electrical contact properties and the Ge detector properties is key to enhancing the use of Ge detectors for a wide range of applications. Amorphous Ge (a-Ge) is one of the passivation materials used to passivate Ge detectors, which also provides the barrier height to the charge injection. Several a-Ge contact Ge detectors were fabricated and tested at the University of South Dakota (USD) and Max-Planck-Institut (MPI) für Physik in Munich …

2d Respiratory Sound Analysis To Detect Lung Abnormalities, Rafia Sharmin Alice

Dissertations and Theses

In this paper, we analyze deep visual features from 2D data representation(s) of the respiratory sound to detect evidence of lung abnormalities. The primary motivation behind this is that visual cues are more important in decision-making than raw data (lung sound). Early detection and prompt treatments are essential for any future possible respiratory disorders, and respiratory sound is proven to be one of the biomarkers. In contrast to state-of-the-art approaches, we aim at understanding/analyzing visual features using our Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) tailored Deep Learning Models, where we consider all possible 2D data such as Spectrogram, Mel-frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCC), …

Ultraviolet Water Treatment, Danielle Dumnjak, Jerin Joy

Featured Student Work

Water treatment is a very important process for producing potable water safe for human consumption. A major step in water treatment is disinfecting it to remove water-borne pathogens to minimize the risk of diseases or infection. Although many chemical and physical methods exist, there is an increase in the use of UV radiation for water disinfection due to its advantages over traditional chemical disinfection methods like chlorination and ozonation.

The document will elaborate on the mechanism of UV disinfection and the pre-treatments required. Discuss the chemical treatment methods and compare them to UV disinfection. Consider sources of UV radiation, UV …

Bending Waves Excited By Irregular Gas Inflow Along Warps, Tigran Khachaturyants, Leandro Beraldo E Silva, Victor P. Debattista, Kathryne J. Daniel

Physics Faculty Research and Scholarship

Gaia has revealed clear evidence of bending waves in the vertical kinematics of stars in the solar neighbourhood. We study bending waves in two simulations, one warped, with the warp due to misaligned gas inflow, and the other unwarped. We find slow, retrograde bending waves in both models, with the ones in the warped model having larger amplitudes. We also find fast, prograde bending waves. Prograde bending waves in the unwarped model are very weak, in agreement with the expectation that these waves should decay on short, approximately crossing, time-scales, due to strong winding. However, prograde bending waves are much …

Ransombuster Iot: A Intrusion Detection And Dataset Creation Tool For Ransomware Attacks Within Iot Networks, Jackson M. Walker

Cybersecurity Undergraduate Research Showcase

The proposed research follows the design-science guidelines(Hevner, 2004). This paper uses these design-science methods for developing the guidelines for the implementation of the proposed architecture, understanding previous research contributions, and evaluating of research. This paper proposes a network artifact for studying ransomware IoT intrusion detection techniques and offers a proposed network architecture to serve as a framework for creating a publicly available dataset for IoT research on ransomware.

Peptidomics Analysis Reveals Changes In Small Urinary Peptides In Patients With Interstitial Cystitis/Bladder Pain Syndrome, Md Shadman Ridwan Abid, Haowen Qiu, Bridget Tripp, Aline De Lima Leite, Heidi E. Roth, Jiri Adamec, Robert Powers, James W. Checco

Chemistry Department: Faculty Publications

Interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome (IC/BPS) is a chronic and debilitating pain disorder of the bladder and urinary tract with poorly understood etiology. A definitive diagnosis of IC/BPS can be challenging because many symptoms are shared with other urological disorders. An analysis of urine presents an attractive and non-invasive resource for monitoring and diagnosing IC/BPS. The antiproliferative factor (APF) peptide has been previously identified in the urine of IC/BPS patients and is a proposed biomarker for the disorder. Nevertheless, other small urinary peptides have remained uninvestigated in IC/BPS primarily because protein biomarker discovery efforts employ protocols that remove small endogenous peptides. …

Arkansas Bulletin Of Water Research - Issue 2021-2022, Erin Grantz, Lillie Haddock, Brian E. Haggard

Arkansas Bulletin of Water Research

The Arkansas Bulletin of Water Research (Bulletin) is a publication of the Arkansas Water Resources Center (AWRC). We publish the Bulletin to communicate the major findings of research funded by the Water Resources Research Act Section 104(b) in Arkansas. This research is relevant to Arkansas water stakeholders, and the Bulletin provides an easily searchable and aesthetically engaging access option.

This is the fourth publication of the Bulletin. This issue contains final reports from research projects that were funded by the 104(b) program in fiscal years 2019 and 2020. The articles in this issue can be cited as an AWRC publication. …

Unemployment Inequality, Dylan Visbara

Goal 1: No Poverty

No abstract provided.

2022 Wachapreague Station Tide Prediction Calendars, Virginia Institute Of Marine Science

Miscellaneous

No abstract provided.

2022 Gloucester Point Station Tide Prediction Calendars, Virginia Institute Of Marine Science

Miscellaneous

No abstract provided.

2022 Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel Station Tide Prediction Calendars, Virginia Institute Of Marine Science

Miscellaneous

No abstract provided.

Sediment Survey: Yr061116, Station 3922, Clay Bank, York River Virginia, Grace M. Massey, Patrick J. Dickhudt, Carl T. Friedrichs

Data

This dataset consists of sediment properties including grain size distribution, percent moisture, percent organic matter, sediment bed erodibility, as well as (in most cases) x-ray images of the sediment structure. Most samples were taken in support of an Acoustic Doppler Velocimeter (ADV) tripod deployed in nearby location.

Tripod Deployment: Yr080623 To Yr080922, Adv, Clay Bank, York River Virginia, Grace M. Massey, Carl T. Friedrichs

Data

Dataset consists of burst data collected as part of a tripod deployment. The tripod included the following instruments: Acoustic Doppler Velocimeter (ADV), YSI6600 CTD, Sequoia LISST.

Sediment Survey: Yr110511, Station S4909-S4913, Clay Bank, York River Virginia, Grace M. Massey, Kelsey A. Fall, Carl T. Friedrichs

Data

This dataset consists of sediment properties including grain size distribution, percent moisture, percent organic matter, sediment bed erodibility, as well as (in most cases) x-ray images of the sediment structure. Most samples were taken in support of an Acoustic Doppler Velocimeter (ADV) tripod deployed in nearby location.

Giant Acoustically-Induced Synthetic Hall Voltages In Graphene, Pai Zhao, Chithra H. Sharma, Renrong Liang, Christian Glasenapp, Lev Mourokh, Vadim M. Kovalev, Patrick Huber, Marta Prada, Lars Tiemann, Robert H. Blick

Publications and Research

Any departure from graphene’s flatness leads to the emergence of artificial gauge fields that act on the motion of the Dirac fermions through an associated pseudomagnetic field. Here, we demonstrate the tunability of strong gauge fields in nonlocal experiments using a large planar graphene sheet that conforms to the deformation of a piezoelectric layer by a surface acoustic wave. The acoustic wave induces a longitudinal and a giant synthetic Hall voltage in the absence of external magnetic fields. The superposition of a synthetic Hall potential and a conventional Hall voltage can annihilate the sample’s transverse potential at large external magnetic …