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Mathematical Modeling with Applications to SARS-COV-2
No full textWe developed a mathematical model to investigate the transmission dynamics of SARSCoV-2, the virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. Our main model is built on the Susceptible-Exposed-Infected-Recovered framework to account for the unique characteristics of COVID-19. In a particular case of the main model, we assessed the optimal allocation of resources to mitigate the spread of the virus. Additionally, we expanded the main model to include another vaccination compartment to explore the strategic distribution of vaccinations. Our findings provided insights into the management of COVID-19 and could guide evidence-based decision-making for public health authorities
A Many-Objective Robust Decision-Making Analysis of Seawall Upgrades at the United States Naval Academy
No full textSea level rise is a growing threat to coastal communities across the United States. Uncertainty about the extent of sea level rise poses a challenge for creating infrastructure to address this threat. Due to disagreement among decision makers on the severity of climate change, it can be challenging to determine the appropriate level of preparation for the future, which can lead to potential under or over-preparedness. To combat this uncertainty, the US Department of Defense has embraced a robust decision-making model. Decision makers should incorporate multiple future models of the world into their decision-making process. This thesis describes an effort to address these challenges at the United States Naval Academy using a decision support approach called many-objective robust decision-making. Considering decisions to upgrade their seawall at varying heights and at twenty-year intervals, a genetic algorithm was employed to identify a frontier of non-dominated upgrade strategies. Three strategies from the frontier were evaluated in hundreds of possible scenarios with varied discount rates, sea level rise projections, changes to future storminess, and building replacement costs. An analysis was performed to determine in which future conditions those three strategies were vulnerable to failing to meet objectives of having a benefit cost ratio of over 1 and limiting damage to less than $100 million over an 80-year planning horizon. This analysis will enable the US Naval Academy to determine the effectiveness of their seawall upgrade plans for preventing storm surge damage over a range of future scenarios and stakeholder preferences. Ultimately, this research found that upgrading the Naval Academy’s seawall in the near future is critical to avoiding costly damage from flooding. This research also emphasizes how variations to the assumed discount rate can reshape a cost benefit analysis
Development of a Multiple Water Course Joint Probability Analysis Procedure for Indiana Watersheds
Get PDFThe design of hydraulic structures located near a confluence of two streams must take into consideration the flows from both of the streams. A hydraulic structure located on a small tributary that drains into a large river immediately downstream is not just affected by the flow in the tributary, but also by the backwater flow from the downstream river. Currently INDOT uses a tabular summary (Table 1.1 and Table 7.3 in the HEC-22 manual) of joint probabilities of coincident flows in designing hydraulic structures at confluences. However, the source of the table is unknown, and the tabular summary provides coincidental flows for only 1% and 10% probabilities, and thus it cannot be used directly for other probabilities. This study analyzed the interdependence of flows in mainstream and tributary and then developed a Gumbel-Hougard Copula-based procedure for estimating joint probabilities for confluences in Indiana. The study found that the mainstream and tributary streamflow are significantly correlated with Kendall’s Tau varying generally ranging from 0.5 to 0.8. Furthermore, the Kendall’s Tau, which is the key parameter for Gumbel-Hougard Copula, was found to be significantly related to drainage area ratio (DAR). Regression-based equations between DAR and τ are used as a basis to relate DAR to joint probabilities at confluences. The study also found that the currently used tabular summary (Table 1.1 and Table 7.3 in HEC-22 manual) resulted in significantly conservative design estimates and therefore overdesigned structures
Board 394: Sustaining and Scaling the Impact of the MIDFIELD project at the American Society for Engineering Education (Year 1)
No full textA substantial investment by the National Science Foundation (NSF), including awards from Engineering Education and Centers in the Engineering Directorate and the Division of Undergraduate Education in the Education and Human Resources Directorate, has led to the creation and study of the Multiple Institution Database for Investigating Engineering Longitudinal Development (MIDFIELD). This large database of student records has yielded groundbreaking research on student pathways by a small interdisciplinary team of researchers. The team has shown that while individual engineering programs may have poor graduation rates, a multi-institutional view reveals that engineering programs as a whole graduate a larger fraction of students than other groups of disciplines. The team has also shown that women and men have similar graduation rates in engineering, likely a result of efforts to make engineering education a welcoming environment for women and the high academic credentials of the women who do study engineering. As with the overall graduation rate, individual institutions and programs can and do have outcomes that depart from this aggregate perspective. A comprehensive study of student pathways in various engineering disciplines provided practitioners with rich information specific to their disciplinary context. The team has also designed a variety of metrics that have provided researchers and practitioners with an improved understanding of student pathways. The quality of the data source and the research team is attested by these substantial findings, multiple best paper awards, and other recognitions.
This paper provides updates on transitioning MIDFIELD to the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE), documentation of institutional policies, and supporting a growing community of researchers in using the database including the second offering of the MIDFIELD Institute.
This work is supported by the NSF Division of Engineering Education and Centers
Everybody Wants to be a Fascist Online: Psychoanalysis and the Digital Architecture of Fascism
Get PDFFélix Guattari and Franco Berardi have both argued that media ecologies and psychic ecologies are intimately intertwined and as such, any exploration of the collective unconscious must engage with how the mind is formed with and through media. This understanding of networks of interdependence necessitates an exploration of how platformization has impacted users” collective psyche. Drawing from psychosocial theory, psychoanalysis and the work of Félix Guattari, this article analizes the micropolitics of desire of digital platforms, with an explicit focus on how algorithmic structures amplify extreme Right content, allowing fascisms to metastasis throughout digital spaces. It will first examine the algorithmic architecture of social media platforms, demonstrating how these digital spaces lock in and over-code desire through recursive feedback loops that amplify extremism. Following this will be an exploration of the excess of desire that is cut off and left as a remainder partial object, termed the “fascist abject,” and what role this process plays in the production of subjectivity
The Impact of Girl Scout Engineering Experiences on the Identity Development of Middle Schoolers
Get PDFDespite years of recruitment efforts, women remain significantly underrepresented throughout engineering. While research into precollege engineering education has expanded, it has primarily focused on formal learning settings, even though students spend significantly more time outside of the classroom. The COVID-19 pandemic changed everything, including the time spent outside of the classroom in informal environments. Specifically, programs had to evolve to provide online content and at-home activities. Some programs even shut down completely. Within this context, our study sought to understand the impact of one informal engineering learning experience, a Girl Scout engineering badge, which also shifted online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, we examined the impact on middle school girls’ engineering identity development to understand how these experiences supported the development of an engineering identity. Before and after a Girl Scout engineering badge experience, 15 girls (grades 4–7) were interviewed about their knowledge and perception of engineering. The Draw-an-Engineer Test was used as a focal artifact, and we studied the girls’ engineering identity through the lens of Possible Selves Theory. The engineering badge activities were facilitated online. Completely virtual and hybrid meetings were employed allowing additional insight into how outcomes differ with delivery method. Most participants showed an increase in their understanding of engineering and some developed engineering possible selves. Through our work, we noted that informal engineering experiences can improve pre-college students’ understanding and perception of engineering; however, differences in program delivery, such as those caused by the pandemic, can have an impact. Therefore, significant additional research is needed to better understand the scope of the impact of informal programs particularly regarding how impacts differ across delivery modes and contexts. These discoveries can be used to shape evidence-based recommendations for impactful informal experiences
School Personnel Lived Experiences Related to High School Engineering Education and the Covid-19 Pandemic
Get PDFThis study investigated the teaching experiences of three school personnel at a public high school during the 2020–2021 school year as they implemented a unique science, technology, engineering, arts, and math (STEAM) unit with in-person and virtual students in their engineering classes during the Covid-19 pandemic. A research team interviewed two teachers and one administrator at the school to better understand the nuances of pre-college engineering during a pandemic year and how changes in school and district policy affected the instructional delivery of STEAM projects. Narrative analytic methods were utilized to understand each participant’s experience and an inductive content thematic approach was used to develop the findings. The participants described varied experiences navigating instruction during the pandemic, particularly when adapting hands-on STEAM projects for virtual or hybrid teaching. All three participants thought deeply about how to best meet the needs of students while attempting to support equitable instruction. The findings of this study indicate that pre-college engineering in the pandemic was challenging for the participants, but not impossible, and that this setting was an appropriate context for STEAM projects that provided students with a mechanism for collaboration and engagement