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Terrorism Independent Study
No full textContemporary political and religious violence in the Middle East continues to blur the line between terrorism and insurgency. The definition of terrorism can be subjective, often depending on the person’s politics, religion, or social motivation. The history of terrorism in Europe, particularly that of Communist terrorist organizations dating back to the 1960s, provides a greater understanding of politically motivated violence. The Baader-Meinhof Gang in West Germany used targeted assassinations and bombings to delegitimize and destabilize the government. Radical Islamic terrorist organizations, which gained world prominence in the 1990s, used similar methods as the Baader-Meinhof Gang, but rather with a goal driven by a hybrid of extremist political and religious agendas. Modern terrorist groups have witnessed a shift in their motivations and global reach, but the use of violence to achieve their goals remains consistent. Over time and space, despite having very different goals and tactics, terrorist organizations share a collection of traits that we aimed to define in this independent study
Enhancing Bubble Nucleation Analysis in Scintillating Bubble Chambers Through Ultrasonic Ping and Echo Signal Processing
No full textAt Northwestern University\u27s Physics and Astronomy Department, the Scintillating Bubble Chamber (SBC) team collaborates with Fermilab to detect dark matter using superheated noble liquids. Bubbles in these chambers emit acoustic chirps, often before they visibly form. Experimenters analyze these signals\u27 frequency and intensity to help identify bubble nucleation from dark matter interactions. Instead of relying solely on bubble-generated pulses, we aim to ultrasonically “ping” bubbles and analyze their echoes, distinguishing them from background noise to refine dark matter detection.
Using a Red Pitaya with piezo drivers and piezoelectrics for emission and reception, we generated and recorded arbitrary sinusoidal waveforms or chirps to capture echoes from bubbles. A high-voltage pulse from an ultrasonic emitter strikes the bubbles, producing echoes influenced by acoustic impedance differences. An ultrasonic sensor detects these weak signals, then pre-amplifies and filters to reduce noise. Although many range finders include built-in amplifiers, we added an external ultrasonic driver to boost performance. The Red Pitaya digitizes the amplified echoes for analysis, enhancing our understanding of how echo characteristics vary with environmental conditions—mirroring the bubble nucleation observed in the SBC’s chamber and representing potential dark matter interactions
Parametric study of maximal potassium conductance on action potentials
No full textThis study, conducted by Andrew Bae and under the guidance of Dr. Ashwin Mohan, investigated how changes in maximal potassium conductance and leak channels influence action potentials. In the first experiment, a parametric study on the maximal conductance (ḡ) was conducted, which resulted in significant changes in the action potential’s characteristics, like the time for an action potential to finish and its amplitude. At a conductance of ḡ = 16 S/cm², neurons displayed oscillatory behavior, while higher values dampened the action potentials. Extreme values, in both directions, resulted in anomalous characteristics.
Subsequently, channel variables of action potentials, such as sodium activation and inactivation, potassium activation, and their respective time derivatives, were looked into. This revealed an inverse relationship between sodium activation and inactivation, where sharp increases in dm[Na]/dt triggered rapid depolarization, followed by a delayed potassium response that repolarized the system.
Finally, the experiment ended by examining how blocking the leak channels of action potentials would affect the membrane potential and channel variables. The leak channels should be either on or off, with no in-between. When the leak channels were turned off, there was little sodium channel activation, which resulted in no depolarization
Pipeline Development to Assess Knee Joint Contact Forces as a Risk Factor for Osteoarthritis in Post-Stroke Patients
No full textAfter a stroke, patients often experience hemiparesis, a condition that causes weakness on one side of the body. Hemiparetic gait can cause abnormal gait patterns that can lead to the deterioration of knee cartilage, resulting in pain, osteoarthritis, and a loss of function. Currently, we do notunderstand the impact of neuromuscular impairment in people post-stroke on knee joint contact forces. Neuromuscular impairments post-stroke may increase knee contact forces, which indicate a greater risk for developing osteoarthritis. Therefore, we aimed to develop a pipeline to calculate knee joint contact forces to assess the risk factors for developing knee osteoarthritis for people post-stroke.
We performed musculoskeletal simulations using the software platform OpenSim. Musculoskeletal modeling allows us to estimate joint contact forces, which are too invasive to measure experimentally. Previously collected experimental data included marker motion data, which we used to scale the model and calculate joint angles using Inverse Kinematics. These kinematics, along with ground reaction forces, and the scaled model are inputs into OpenSim MOCO, an algorithm that solves for muscle forces. Through Python scripts, we improved the processing pipelines for these data, enabling us to be ready to batch process the data and estimate the knee joint contact forces
Discovery of Antimicrobials from Soil Samples
No full textDue to the overuse of antibiotics in past and recent years, many microbes have developed antimicrobial resistance (AMR). This is a very dangerous and prominent issue that is the cause of millions of deaths. The aim of this research is to identify bacteria (derived from soil samples) that have antimicrobial properties against ESKAPE pathogens). The methods and procedures taken include using serial dilution to derive bacteria from soil samples, as well as testing the bacteria grown against ESKAPE pathogens. There were three soil samples used, and over 100 colonies were derived from the samples. All of the bacterial colonies were plated on ESKAPE pathogens, and several appeared to visually exhibit pathogen inhibiting behavior
User Interface Designing With APS Data Technologies
No full textAPS Data Technologies is a technology company that offers services geared toward innovation and impactful digital solutions. They offer expertise, internships, training, and partnerships in computer science. APS Data Technologies, among other things, is currently working on a smart app in collaboration with the city of Aurora: Destination Aurora. This app has its main branch and two smaller parts (AR Wayfinding and IBCez). The main branch includes access to Theater & Entertainment, Dining & Drinks, City Events, Parking Locations, Lodging, and more around Aurora. APS Data Technologies hopes to connect the services and people of the city through its Destination Aurora app, turning Aurora into a smart city. The Other two branches focus on smaller projects, such as identifying and bringing murals around the city to life. This Internship involves the User Interface for this app, which is everything that the user sees and interacts with. Designing the look of the app involves understanding both the function of the app and how it may be best perceived by users
Designing IMSA\u27s Al Future: Student Director of the IMSA Center for Artificial Intelligence
No full textThe IMSA Center for Artificial Intelligence housed in A148, realizes Theme 1 of IMSA\u27s vision 2033 10-year plan: Build curricular and lab space capacity on the Aurora campus to support the growth and experimentation of artificial intelligence and its applications. In conjunction with the Al team leads (Ethics, Research, Entrepreneurship, & Curricular Connections), computer science faculty, the IN2 Innovation Center, IMSA\u27s Outreach and Public Affairs & Development Offices, and the expanded Al internship program, the Student Director led and collaborated on campus-wide initiatives to engage students with the Al Center\u27s Mission. The Center expanded the Al Bytes community programming to include more diverse topics led by faculty, increased student involvement, invited presenters from Nvidia, CIBC, and Avantor, and held weekly (as opposed to biweekly) sessions. The Al Center was showcased at the Illinois Association of Gifted Children and the National Consortium of Secondary STEM Schools Conferences (NCSSS) and was nominated as a Top 3 finalist for the NCSSS Top Student Program. Next Steps for the Center\u27s initiatives include: expanding student programs, increasing engagement with the Faculty Advisory Committee, developing Al Ethics policy for the Parent/Student Handbook, and identifying new locations for the growth of the Center
The Gender Paradox
No full textWomen wanting to pursue careers in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) face biases throughout their careers, from discouragement in childhood education to discrimination in the workplace. We designed The Gender Paradox to engage elementary through high school girls and bring light to the gender biases surrounding women passionate about pursuing a STEM career. Our research aims to address biological differences between the sexes, as well as environmental and societal differences impacting career choices among males and females. We also explore the pay gap and education gap in various STEM specialties and hone in on maternal rights for women pursuing higher education. We connect known case studies like Google\u27s Ideological Echo Chamber (more casually known as the Google Memo) and the John/Jennifer Study. Most importantly, we aim to educate rising women in STEM on how to recognize and overcome gender adversity through education. Growing up as young women interested in pursuing careers in STEM, we have faced adversity and discouragement firsthand. The Gender Paradox aims to instill confidence in young girls, encouraging them never to put their dreams aside due to gender bia
Exploring Reconstructed Proton and Muon Distributions from Simulated Neutrino Interactions in LArTPC
No full textThe main objective of this project is to study neutrino interaction in the Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber (LArTPC), mainly those between muon neutrinos and argon atoms, producing final state particles in the detector. Event simulation software based on GENIE and GIANT4 are used to simulate the neutrino interactions that take place in the ArgonCube 2x2 Demonstrator, the novel type of LArTPC for the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE). These interactions will then be reconstructed and identified using SPINE which uses reconstruction-based machine-learning techniques. From these data sets, we observe the final state particles and characterize their energy using Python application code. We demonstrate these observations on a special case, νμ +n→p+μ−, of muon and proton final states as it allows for more simple energy reconstruction. By observing track lengths and interaction angles of these particles, we can understand important features of energy deposits by protons and muons to determine the total energy of the incoming neutrino. The precise measurement of energy is ultimately required for the test of CP violations in the neutrino oscillation equation. These observations will aid the preparations for the future Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) set to start in the next decade