Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

344— Wetland Soil, Abigale O'Connor

GREAT Day Posters

This project classified soil properties in the vicinity of a wetland in Livonia, NY. Soil cores were collected from the margin of the wetland to observe the changes in the soil profiles across the transition between the wetland and the surrounding forested land. Soil horizons were delineated based on texture and color. Individual horizons were then correlated between the cores to capture spatial changes in thickness and texture. The core descriptions and the correlations were digitized to create an archive of correlations around the wetland for future reference. The distribution of wetland soil textures contributes to better understanding how water …

024— Optimizing 3d Model Construction Of Rock And Fossil Specimens To Increase Accessibility In An Online Learning Environment, Jaclyn Barreca, Frazer Bourgeois

GREAT Day Posters

Three-dimensional modeling of physical objects has become increasingly applicable in the field of geology. A digital collection of samples is important to have in the event of physical loss, as a means to communicate among scientists in reference to a particular sample, to aid in the preservation of original samples, and is particularly relevant in today’s pandemic. Digital models allow for the option of remote learning for students and stops the need for the sharing of physical samples. It also increases accessibility of samples. The problem of generating a 3D model of an object has already been solved; this research …

356— Conodonts, Microtektites, And Thermal Alteration, Of The Jefferson Formation, Upper Devonian, Wyoming, Joshua Yanuck, Ryan Lee

GREAT Day Posters

The Jefferson Formation, composed of two members, a limestone and dolomite dominated layer called the lower member, and the dolomite-dominated Birdbear Member, is distributed throughout southern Montana and northern Wyoming. Samples were taken from multiple levels within the Birdbear Member, dissolved in buffered 10% formic acid, and the insoluble residue separated using heavy liquid. The heavy fraction was searched for conodonts and microtektites. Conodonts indicate the Middle Frasnian stage of the Upper Devonian and thermal heating of less than 80 degrees Celsius. Microtektites, speculated to occur in the interval corresponding to the Alamo Impact in Nevada, were not found.

312— Mineralogical Analysis Of Slag From Iron Production In The Adirondack State Park, Mary Reid, Griffin Rose

GREAT Day Posters

Slag is a byproduct of iron production formed from the melting of iron-bearing rocks. Iron production in the Adirondacks reached a high in the early to mid 1800s, with many blast furnaces in operation throughout Northern New York. Two sets of samples from different regions in the Adirondacks were collected in the summers of 2019-2020. An unknown sample was taken from the Ausable River at Flume Falls near Wilmington, New York, while other samples were collected from the Mt. Hope iron furnace near Fort Ann, New York. Samples were analyzed through the creation of thin sections and x-ray diffraction. Results …

219— Using Dendrochronology For Place-Based K-12 Paleoclimate Lessons, Grace Raffa

GREAT Day Posters

Dendrochronology focuses on using trees as archives of past climatic changes for a given region. This project focuses on creating a paleoclimate-centered accessible learning experience for K-12 teachers that integrates local climate proxies in the classroom creating place-based experiences connecting students to the effects of climate change. Four tree species: Beech, Sugar Maple, Black Locust, and Hop Hornbeam, were collected from a local glacially-formed hill (from the Last Glacial Maximum) in Geneseo, NY. These trees died and were removed in August 2020, dried for 6+ months, and sanded (40-800 grit) until rings were visible. Annual growth rings were counted from …

062— Nano-Size Dependence In Aggregation Process Of Beta 2 Microglobulin Coated Gold Colloids, Kaylee A. Hausrath

GREAT Day Posters

The formation of the aggregates of the beta 2 microglobulin (b2m) coated nano-gold colloids were investigated for various nanogold colloid sizes ranging between 10 nm and 100 nm. The aggregation process was considered to be initiated by the selfassembly of b2m by transforming the folded to the unfolded structure under highly acidic condition (pH < 4). The formation of the aggregates were monitored by a peak shift of surface plasmon resonance (SPR) band as a function of number of free b2m available. As for relatively smaller size of gold colloid diameter a gradual aggregation process was observed. The size of the aggregates was considered to increase monotonically as the b2m was added. On the other hand, as for relatively larger diameter of gold colloid, stepwise aggregation process was observed. So that the aggregates of a particular size was formed at a certain threshold of the concentration of available free b2m. The majority of the gold surface of the smaller gold size was easily covered and support the aggregation even at the lower concentration of b2m.

357— Dacryoconarids Of The Genundewa And West River Formations, Upper Devonian In Western New York, Emily De Jong

GREAT Day Posters

The Dacryoconarids, small, thin-walled, and cone-shaped, are an extinct taxon in Class Tentaculitoidea, which is of uncertain affinities. Dacryoconarids were widespread throughout the middle Silurian to the Late Devonian when they went extinct. This study focuses on the lower Upper Devonian Dacryoconarids of the Genundewa and West River formations from western New York State. Samples collected from these formations revealed many smooth shelled Styliolinids, however, no difinitive ribbed Dacryoconarids. Calcite was found to have internally filled in the shell of some Styliolinids, showing how thin the external shell is and raising questions about septa orientations. Due to their global occurrence, …

A Mosquito Population Model With Four Positive Equilibrium Points And Sterile Insect Release, Maxwell Joseph Fox

Honors Capstone Projects and Theses

No abstract provided.

205— Revisiting The Geologic History Of The Pathfinder Landing Site At Ares Vallis, Mars, Andrew Agent

GREAT Day Posters

Before NASA sent the Pathfinder lander and Sojourner rover to the mouth of Ares Vallis in 1997, they anticipated the discovery of Hesperian-age (3.6 Ga-3.0 Ga) sediments deposited from catastrophic outflows. When pictures came back, the rocks they discovered were large, boulder-size, angular, and were largely inconsistent with transport by large floods. The origin of the deposits at the Pathfinder landing site remains controversial. This study aims to constrain the surface geology of the Pathfinder landing site using new high-resolution imagery and crater statistics. Context Camera (CTX) images along with High-Resolution Imaging Experiment (HiRISE) images were used to map surface …

299— Determining Accuracy Of Xrd From Known Samples, Collin Horrocks

GREAT Day Posters

Powdered x-ray diffraction (XRD) is a technique that has the power to identify minerals and the proportion of the minerals in a mixture. A mineral is defined by a repeatable set of planes between atoms that form the crystal lattice. It is this repetition that allows the process of XRD to work. The process is done by taking a powdered sample and placing it into the machine and then shooting x-rays into the sample causing diffraction. From this using Bragg’s Law we can determine the d-spacing which is how an identity is determined for a sample and the intensity of …

041— Fiber Decomposition And Pretreatment Analysis Of Cannabis Sativa L.: Hemp, Dina Bu, Jessica Roggie, Sarah Schmidlin, Barnabas Gikonyo

GREAT Day Posters

Hemp is a subspecies of Cannabis sativa L. along with marijuana, yet the two differ in chemical constituent levels of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD). Hemp contains 0.3% THC, compared to marijuana 17.1%, allowing it to be a safe and compelling biomass for investigation. The refined products of hemp are vast due to its fast-growing properties; therefore various commercial industries have included refined hemp in biofuels, biodegradable plastics, textiles, dietary supplements, paper, clothing, and much more. Construction and manufacturing applications have also been seen to include hemp to strengthen their composite products. The high-yielding, sustainable, and environmentally friendly qualities …

069— Geomorphic Characteristics Of Canadice Lake, Ny, Watersheds And The Anthropogenic Effects On Watershed Output And Sensitivity, Carla Crampton

GREAT Day Posters

Land use and size of watershed catchment areas affects the overall health and water quality of Canadice Lake. Methods in ArcGIS Pro were used for high resolution imagery and topography data to analyze the geomorphology of watersheds at Canadice Lake. Watersheds were mapped using ArcGIS Hydrology tools by constructing flow direction and accumulation grids. In each individual watershed, total area of the watershed, area of residential and agricultural land use, and total length of roads was determined to evaluate which watersheds are most sensitive to human impact and which watersheds are likely to contribute the highest flow discharge and sediment …

Biopolymer-Based Filtration Materials, Christopher R. Gough, Kayla Callaway, Everett Spencer, Kilian Leisy, Guoxiang Jiang, Shu Yang, Xiao Hu

College of Science & Mathematics Departmental Research

Biobased materials such as cellulose, chitin, silk, soy, and keratin are attractive alternatives to conventional synthetic materials for filtration applications. They are cheap, naturally abundant, and easily fabricated with tunable surface chemistry and functionality. With the planet’s increasing crisis due to pollution, the need for proper filtration of air and water is undeniably urgent. Additionally, fibers that are antibacterial and antiviral are critical for public health and in medical environments. The current COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the necessity for cheap, easily mass-produced antiviral fiber materials. Biopolymers can fill these roles very well by utilizing their intrinsic material properties, surface chemistry, …

Single-Neutron States In 51ti Via Neutron Transfer Reaction To 50ti, Jessica Nebel-Crosson

Physics and Astronomy Honors Papers

My project clarifies previous measurements made for the high excitation states of titanium isotopes, specifically ⁵¹Ti. We used a single-neutron transfer reaction from a deuterium source and measured the energy difference between the initial energy of the deuterium source, the transferred neutron, and the free proton. Our analysis included creating angular distribution plots of the proton momentum and the loose assignments of the single-particle state nature for each excitation state. We took these measurements via the Super-Enge Split-Pole Spectrograph at Florida State University.

Cognitive Radio Spectrum Sensing And Prediction Using Deep Reinforcement Learning, Syed Qaisar Jalil, Mubashir Husain Rehmani, Stephan Chalup

Preprints

In this paper, we propose to use deep reinforcement learning (DRL) for the task of cooperative spectrum sensing (CSS) in a cognitive radio network. We selected a recently proposed offline DRL method called conservative Q-learning (CQL) due to its ability to learn complex data distributions efficiently. The task of CSS is performed as follows. Each secondary user (SU) performs local sensing and using CQL algorithm, determines the presence of licensed user for current and k-1 future timeslots. These results are forwarded to the fusion centre where another CQL algorithm is operating that generates a global decision for the current and …

029— Calculating Gravitational Waves In A Black Hole Binary System, Nami Nishimura

GREAT Day Posters

Our ultimate goal is to compute the gravitational waves in an extreme mass-ratio binary system. Since gravitational perturbations are difficult to calculate, we model the compact object as a point carrying a scalar charge q and moving around a spinning black holes.

In this project, we take advantage of symmetry under rotation around the spin axis in order to separate φ variables and leverage the periodicity of the source to separate t variable with a Fourier series. The remaining differential equations will be solved numerically with an appropriate discretization considering a grid of points in r-θ plane

200— Chemical Analysis Of Slag From Standish, Ny, Maria Leonard, Dori Farthing

GREAT Day Posters

From 1883 to 1907, magnetite was smelted in Standish, NY. During this time, a large amount of slag, a byproduct of smelting, was created. The slag is now in a pile that covers ~13 acres in the northeastern region of the Adirondacks. The slag at the site has been classified into 6 broad types based on their physical properties. Exemplars of select types were crushed and analyzed by X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF). Both major elements and trace element data was collected for these samples. The XRF results indicate that all Standish slag is dominated by SiO2, CaO, and Fe2O3(t) regardless …

287— The X-Ray Afterglows Of Short Gamma-Ray Bursts, Sarah Popp

GREAT Day Posters

Light curves of the X-ray afterglow from 81 short gamma-ray bursts, from 2005 to 2018, were obtained from the Swift/XRT catalog. The light curves were fit with single power-law and double-power law models using the emcee library in Python and sorted into three groups: bursts well fit by a single power-law, bursts well fit by a double power-law, and bursts not well fit by either. Filters were applied to each category to identify bursts with a steep decay or a plateau. Once these unusual bursts were identified, their properties (duration, flux, fluence, and hardness) were compared to those of the …

Improving Skills In Computer Methods: Introductory Toolkit To Python For Undergraduate Physics Majors, Erin O'Donnell, Melissa Rasmussen

Physics Capstone Projects

The computer-based curriculum for undergraduate physics students before 2019 struggled to stay current and applicable. When the course was created in the early 2000s, MathCad was used daily by many physicists. As computer’s and their computational abilities have grown exponentially, so have programming languages and applications. Now in the late 2010s/early 2020s, Excel, Python, and Mathematica are some of the most common computer appliques. To address this, we created toolkits to give undergraduate physicists the experience for future classes, careers, and graduate school. This paper focuses on the process for creating the Python toolkit and overall class setup. Run on …

Associations Between Family-Based Stress And Dietary Inflammatory Potential Among Families With Preschool-Aged Children, Valerie Hruska, Nitin Shivappa Mbbs, Mph, Ph.D., James R. Hébert Scd, Alison M. Duncan, Jess Hines, David W. L. Ma

Faculty Publications

Chronic stress is known to influence dietary choices, and stressed families often report poorer diet quality; however, little is known about how family-based stress is linked with dietary patterns that promote inflammation. This study investigated associations between family-based stress and the inflammatory potential of the diet among preschool-aged children and their parents. Parents (n = 212 mothers, n = 146 fathers) and children (n = 130 girls, n = 123 boys; aged 18 months to 5 years) from 241 families participating in the Guelph Family Health Study were included in the analyses. Parents reported levels of parenting distress, depressive symptoms, …

Measurement Of The Neutron Decay Electron-Antineutrino Angular Correlation By The Acorn Experiment, Alexander Komives, Et Al.

Physics & Astronomy Faculty publications

The aCORN experiment measures the neutron-decay electron-antineutrino correlation (a coefficient) using a novel method based on an asymmetry in proton time-of-flight for events where the beta electron and recoil proton are detected in delayed coincidence. We report the data analysis and result from the second run at the NIST Center for Neutron Research, using the high-flux cold neutron beam on the new NG-C neutron guide end position: a=−0.10758±0.00136(stat)±0.00148(sys). This is consistent within uncertainties with the result from the first aCORN run on the NG-6 cold neutron beam. Combining the two aCORN runs, we obtain a=−0.10782±0.00124(stat)±0.00133(sys), which has an overall relative …

Optimization Of Leaching Conditions For Extraction Of Magnesium From A Chromite Beneficiation Plant Tailing Predominantly Containing Lizardite, Hakan Çi̇ftçi̇, Bekir Arslan, Ayşegül Bi̇len, Zeyni Arsoy, Bahri Ersoy

Bulletin of the Mineral Research and Exploration

In this study, leaching experiments were performed for extraction of magnesium from a chromite beneficiation plant tailing predominantly containing lizardite. The X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyzes showed that the tailing sample contains 39.3wt.% MgO and consist of predominantly lizardite mineral. Hydrochloric acid (HCl) and sulphuric acid (H₂SO₄) were used as acids separately in leaching experiments. Acid concentration, leaching temperature, leaching time, and solid ratio were investigated as leaching parameters and optimized. Maximum magnesium extraction yield was determined to be nearly 98% for both acids under optimum leaching parameters which leaching temperature was 85°C, solid ratio was 20wt.%, …

An Eemd Approach To Non-Stationary, Non-Linear Environmental Long- And Short-Term Time Series Data Of Charleston, Sc, With A 2009 Flood Anomaly Case Study, Dylan David Carpenter

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Experiences Of Black Women Pursuing Advanced Degrees In Stem, Denaja Haygood

Honors Projects

Black women are severely underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields. While the underrepresentation of professional Black women in STEM has been well-researched, the pipeline problem of the education of Black women in STEM has been overlooked. The number of Black women pursuing STEM degrees dramatically decreases as the level of education increases. This gap in the literature is problematic, because Black women are still severely underrepresented in STEM-focused advanced degree programs. A small but growing literature indicates that Black women tend to experience frequent forms of discrimination, feelings of isolation and less satisfaction with their graduate programs, …

Reconstructing Primary Production In A Changing Estuary: A Mass Balance Modeling Approach, Jongsun Kim, Mark J. Brush, Bongkeun Song, Iris C. Anderson

School of Earth, Environmental, and Marine Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Estuarine primary production (PP) is a critical rate process for understanding ecosystem function and response to environmental change. PP is fundamentally linked to estuarine eutrophication, and as such should respond to ongoing efforts to reduce nutrient inputs to estuaries globally. However, concurrent changes including warming, altered hydrology, reduced input of sediments, and emergence of harmful algal blooms (HABs) could interact with nutrient management to produce unexpected changes in PP. Despite its fundamental importance, estuarine PP is rarely measured. We reconstructed PP in the York River Estuary with a novel mass balance model based on dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) for the …

Unsupervised And Supervised Learning For Rna-Protein Interactions And Annotations, Kateland Sipe

Honors Projects

This project analyzed the base and amino acid interactions and annotations through the use of unsupervised and supervised learning techniques. For unsupervised learning, clustering found the data was not able to be distinguished into clear groups which matched the original annotations through kmeans clustering and hierarchical clustering. For supervised learning, the use of random forest, glmnet, and deep learning neural networks were successful in creating accurate predictions. However, machine learning likely will not be able to replace the original complex program, but could be used for possible simplification.

An Exploratory Analysis Of The Bgsu Learning Commons Student Usage Data, Emily Eskuri

Honors Projects

The purpose of this study was to explore past student usage data in individualized tutoring sessions from the Learning Commons from two academic years. The Bowling Green State University (BGSU) Learning Commons is a learning assistance center that offers various services, such as individualized tutoring, math assistance, writing assistance, study hours, and academic coaching. There have been limited research studies into how big data and analytics can have an impact in higher education, especially research utilizing predictive analytics.

This project applied analytics to individualized tutoring data in the Learning Commons to create a better understanding of why those trends happen …

Spectral Singularities With Directional Sensitivity, Hamidreza Ramezani

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications and Presentations

We propose a class of spectral singularities that are sensitive to the direction of excitation and arise in nonlinear systems with broken parity symmetry. These spectral singularities are sensitive to the direction of the incident beam and result in diverging transmission and reflection for the left (right) incident, while the transmission and reflection of the right (left) side of the system remain finite. For the pedagogical reason, first we review the scattering formalism in nonlinear systems using an abstract δ-function model. Then, using a parity symmetry broken nonlinear system consisting of two δ functions, one linear and the other nonlinear, …

The Effect Of Polyphenol Oxidase On Lipolysis And Proteolysis Of Red Clover Silage With And Without A Silage Inoculant, Michael R. F. Lee, M. B. Scott, D. R. Davies, F. R. Minchin

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

No abstract provided.

Influence Of Cutting Date On The Protein Quality Of Forage Legumes In The Autumn Regrowth, M. Gierus, J. Kleen, Friedhelm Taube

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

No abstract provided.