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2023 Kahramanmaras Sequence: Geospatial Visualization and Analysis of Multiple Building Damage Datasets
Get PDFTo learn from past earthquake events, a critical task is validating observations with data. After a significant seismic event like the 2023 Kahramanmaras Türkiye earthquake series, various organizations perform reconnaissance efforts to collect building response data. Some reconnaissance missions focus on visiting fewer buildings and recording detailed information (high-resolution, HR), while others aim to visit as many buildings as possible recording basic information (low-resolution, LR). Both dataset types are vital for learning, and the next step is analyzing and visualizing the data to validate in-field observations. This paper has three purposes: 1) examine a HR dataset by Degenkolb with 138 buildings, 2) summarize a LR dataset by Thornton Tomasetti with thousands of images, and 3) compare a Degenkolb HR reconnaissance dataset with a Degenkolb LR dataset of image metadata.
The Degenkolb dataset included 35 collapsed and 87 damaged buildings, observational findings reported no apparent predominant pattern in the cause of this damage. To better understand relationships between damage and site, seismicity, and building parameters this paper presents geospatial maps and quantitative graphs of the reconnaissance data. Specifically, the authors examine correlations of building damage with building location and building properties (e.g., number of stories, occupancy, material, and lateral system). The Thornton Tomasetti images each capture building damage and a record of geospatial location for buildings. This paper summarizes the qualitative relationship between these two parameters. Improving reconnaissance data analysis is also important in learning from earthquakes, and a tool that automates the workflows used in this paper is in development
Design, Fabrication, And Test Of A Wi-Fi Band Switched-Beam Cylindrical Antenna Array
No full textAntenna arrays offer notable superiority over a single antenna element. By weighting the signals before combining them, antenna arrays offer several enhanced features such as beam steering or beam switching without physically moving the aperture. While in general the array platform can take any given shape, cylindrical arrays offer many advantages compared to linear and planar arrays due to their azimuthal symmetry, and as such find numerous applications in radar, sonar, etc.. This research proposes a Wi-Fi band cylindrical switched beam array that is capable of full azimuthal beam switching for direction finding applications. Six microstrip patch antennas are arranged in a hexagonal platform to create a cylindrical array. The antenna beam is switched electronically using a SP6T RF switch providing azimuthal coverage with 60-degree resolution. Multiple antennas and arrays were designed, analyzed, and fabricated. The devices and the full array system were measured, and their RF performance was characterized. The experimental results validate the feasibility and practicality of the proposed design, and demonstrate a high-speed array platform for direction finding that can be used for search and rescue operations in emergency situations
Unraveling The History Of Deforestation In The Amazon Rainforest With Statistical Modeling
Get PDFThe Amazon rainforest, a vital ecosystem of immense biodiversity and global climate significance, faces the ongoing threat of deforestation driven by agricultural expansion. This thesis employs remote sensing techniques, focusing on the Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) derived from Landsat satellite imagery, to track land cover dynamics within the Amazon. The study examines historical land cover changes in current plantations in Peru and Brazil, regions where the exact timing of deforestation is uncertain. By analyzing EVI measurements dating back to 1984, inflection points indicative of deforestation events preceding plantation establishment are identified. Statistical modeling techniques, including spline fitting to analyze time series data and Random Forest algorithms for calibration, are employed to enhance the accuracy of EVI measurements. Additionally, predictions for deforestation years derived from ALOS satellite data are compared with those from Landsat imagery, revealing discrepancies and underscoring the need for methodological refinement
Ungrading as a Tool to Combat Students’ Fear of Failure
Get PDFAtychiphobia, the fear of failure, has been correlated with academic procrastination, imposter syndrome, cheating behaviors, and negative self-efficacy. This critical commentary argues that ungrading, as a feminist pedagogical practice, is a useful way to encourage students to embrace, rather than fear, failure. By reframing failure as a process of discovery, failure becomes a necessary, expected, and embraced part of learning that helps to combat the traditional and often adversarial relationship between educators and students
Qwixx Strategies Using Simulation and MCMC Methods
Get PDFThis study explores optimal strategies for maximizing scores and winning in the popular dice game Qwixx, analyzing both single and multiplayer gameplay scenarios. Through extensive simulations, various strategies were tested and compared, including a scorebased approach that uses a formula tuned by MCMC random walks, and race-to-lock approaches which use absorbing Markov chain qualities of individual score sheet rows to find ways to lock rows as quickly as possible. Results indicate that employing a scorebased strategy, considering gap, count, position, skip, and likelihood scores, significantly improves performance in single player games, while move restrictions based on specific dice roll sums in the race-to-lock strategy were found to enhance winning and scoring points in multiplayer games. While the results do not achieve the optimal scores attained by prior informal work, the study provides valuable insights into decision-making processes and gameplay optimization for Qwixx enthusiasts, offering practical guidance for players seeking to enhance their performance and strategic prowess in the game. It also serves as a lesson for how to approach optimization problems in the future
Barcode Medication Administration (BMCA): 2023-24
Get PDFThe Barcode Medication Administration is an important system implemented within a hospital. It is the process in which nurses and other healthcare professionals prescribe and distribute medication to the patients. It aids in organizing which patient got prescribed which medication from which doctor and provides records on who was given care by who. The whole BCMA system is a multi-step process from getting the medication prescribed, to the nurses having to pick up the medication from the medication cabinet, and then having to scan the patient and the medication to finally administer medications.
The current BCMA system implemented at the local hospital is not efficient enough for the nurses. When technology becomes a barrier for the nurses to do their jobs, it leads to taking shortcuts, also known as workarounds. When workarounds are used, it puts the patient’s safety at risk. Thus, as a group, our goal was to provide a solution that will help improve the efficiency of the BCMA system whilst also prioritizing patient safety.
Our current solution is to implement a new barcode scanner that can keep up with the demands of the nurses. To have a barcode scanner with better technology can not only improve user satisfaction, the nurses, but it will also indirectly increase patient safety as a better and more reliable barcode scanner will lead to less inefficiencies and thus less workarounds
Sustainable Land Initiative Infographics
Get PDFThe Sustainable Land Initiative (SLI) is a collaborative program between farmers, Resource Conservation Districts (RCDs), and universities that is aimed at hastening the California agricultural industry’s adoption of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) practices to mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change on the environment. One aspect of the program involves removing the various barriers that local farmers face during the CSA practice adoption process, which includes a lack of outreach and education. To help tackle this obstacle, our senior project team has developed infographics on three different CSA practices with two main objectives: educate growers on the benefits of the techniques, and encourage growers to implement the techniques on their farms.
Our project decisions were driven by our goals of heightened user engagement levels and ultimately, our infographic’s ability to compel users. Research into effective methods for communicating climate-smart agriculture practices to farmers indicates that “an increased time spent looking at …infographics is positively related to knowledge, while better knowledge in turn is positively associated with a stated higher intention to adopt climate action measures” (Laepple, 2022, p. 17). To produce a set of infographics that won’t be glanced through without interest or skipped over altogether, we utilized design principles that capture and keep the user’s attention and foster readability. We also implemented design choices that resonate with our target audience of local growers
How Political Parties Can Appeal to Voters
Get PDFYoung voters are not voting. According to the United States Census Bureau, young voters, aged 18-29, have not turned out to vote in Presidential Elections at a rate higher than 50% since 1968. Millions of ballots – with the potential to swing elections, policies, and political momentum – are left blank. It is in the interest of both parties to identify why young voters are not going to the polls. In order to understand what makes political messaging persuasive to younger voters, this study presented participants with actual campaign speeches made by Democrats and Republican candidates for office. The author hypothesized that young voters would display higher evaluation scores for younger speakers, speakers that identified with the same political party as respondents, and speakers who convey messages that align with respondents’ value structures. To test the hypotheses, a survey embedded experiment was utilized to test respondents’ values and respondents’ affinity with one of four randomly assigned political candidates with differing age, political identification, and political messages. Nearly every result from this study contradicted the author’s hypotheses. The data necessitates readers to ask themselves a series of epistemological questions, asking readers to look inward and understand why they hold their beliefs and what is preventing them from changing their beliefs; the present research suggests there may be more factors affecting readers’ political opinions than the sheer content of politicians\u27 policies
Product Design For Repairability: Identifying Failure Modes With Topic Modeling And Designing For Electronic Waste Reuse
Get PDFDesign for repairability is imperative to making products that last long enough to justify the resources they consume and the pollution they generate. While design for repairability has been gaining steady momentum, especially with recent advances in Right to Repair legislation, there is still work to be done. There are gaps in both the tools available for repair-conscious designers and the products coming onto store shelves. This thesis work aims to help set sails in the right direction on both fronts.
This research explores the use of topic modeling (a natural language processing technique) to extract repairability design insights from online customer feedback. This could help repair-conscious designers identify areas for redesign to improve product repairability and/or prioritize components to provide as available replacement parts. Additionally, designers could apply this methodology early in their design process by examining the failure modes of similar existing products.
Non-Negative Matrix Factorization (NMF) and BERTopic approaches are used to analyze 5,000 Amazon reviews for standalone computer keyboards to assess device failure modes. The proposed method identifies several failure modes for keyboards, including keys sticking, legs breaking, keyboards disconnecting, keyboard bases wobbling, and errors while typing. An accelerated product design process for a keyboard is presented to showcase an application of the topic modeling results, as well as to demonstrate the potential for product design that uses a “piggybacking” design strategy to reuse electronic components. This work indicates that topic modeling is a promising approach for obtaining repairability-related design leads and demonstrates the efficacy of product design to reduce e-waste
Going Rogue: Existence, Spectral Stability, And Bifurcations Of Rogue Waves In Integrable And Non-Integrable Lattice Models
Get PDFThe study of large nonlinear waves that seem to “appear out of nowhere and disappear without a trace”, known as rogue or freak waves, began largely in response to observations of catastrophic ocean waves. However, the study of rogue waves has since been expanded to a wider collection of physical scenarios, including discrete systems, such as those that appear in optics, as opposed to the continuous system of water waves. Waves in these discrete settings can be modeled as solutions to lattice wave equations.
The nonlinear Schrodinger equation (NLSE) is one of the most ubiquitous continuous wave models for physical systems where rogue waves emerge. This thesis focuses on the two discrete analogs of the NLSE: a non-integrable model called the discrete nonlinear Schrodinger equation (DNLS) and its integrable sibling called the Ablowitz-Ladik (AL) equation. The physical relevance of DNLS model motivates the search for its rogue wave solutions; a search that is impeded by its lack of integrability. However, it is homotopically paired with the integrable AL equation through the Salerno model, providing a potential outlet to find numerically exact solutions. This threefold investigation will look at: (i) finding time-periodic solutions to the DNLS atop a constant non-zero background, (ii) proximity of solutions to the AL and DNLS equations over time, and (iii) time-periodic solutions to the defocusing AL model