Studying the evolution of the Milky Way galaxy helps us understand our place in the Universe. Early evolution of the Galaxy can effectively be studied by observing stars with low metallicity values since they are the oldest stars still visible. Due to the formation of the Galaxy, the oldest stars...
Forward osmosis provides a low energy alternative for waste water purification. One of the major issues facing this process is the formation of a foulant layer preventing fluid transfer across the membrane. In recent studies, a conductive layer added to the membrane surface allowing an electric charge to be present...
Offshore renewable energy, an untapped energy resource in the United States, has the potential to stimulate job creation and diversify the world’s energy portfolio. Transmission cables are used to transfer electrical power to the mainland. These cables carry a harmonic time-dependent current. This current in turn generates both an electric...
Due to the colloquial and adaptive nature of jazz, not much is known about the process of how a jazz piece is composed. Often, pieces that were not intended for jazz performance are adopted by jazz musicians; those who compose jazz are almost always performers, as they focus their explanation...
The addition of a weather ballooning program at Western Oregon University creates research opportunities for the Science Department, allows for projects in professional development for in-service teachers, fosters a partnership with Oregon Space Grant, and creates another option for students participating in the Program for Undergraduate Research Experiences. As the...
String theory, one of the more popular approaches to quantizing gravity, is a highly complex
theory, involving high level mathematics and physics. But the basic ideas of string theory are not inaccessible, even to the undergraduate. This document acts as report to my thesis project, the writing of A Detailed...
Learning about periodic and oscillatory systems is a huge step in an undergraduate's
comprehensive understanding of physics and complex systems such as solids. However,
understanding how specific changes to such a system affect aspects of the entire system can
be difficult. The goal of this study is to create a...
Thermal transport properties of a material are often difficult to measure, especially for
thin films, but they are important for materials that have applications in modern devices,
such as nano-scale electronics, thermoelectrics, and thermally resistive coatings. In this
thesis, we describe an apparatus developed to measure the thermal conductivity of...
This investigation expands on earlier methods of using surface polarization reflection (SPR) to characterize the first few monolayers of a surface. Past research measured intensities of light reflecting off an SiO₂ optical flat inside a vacuum. Pressure of applied gas was changed to view a change in reflection. In an...
Optical trapping is a tool used throughout a wide variety of disciplines rang- ing from precisely probing and manipulating sub-micron organisms in biol- ogy to analyzing fundamental charge transfer in colloidal physics. This thesis presents research involving optical tweezer force measurements of polystyrene and silica microspheres. In addition, preliminary work...
This project investigated transient photoconductivity in organic donor-acceptor (D-A) systems, where a flourinated anthradithiophene, ADT-TES-F, acts as the donor. Various acceptor molecules were used, with different sidegroups, and different HOMO (highest occupied molecular orbital) and LUMO (lowest unoccupied molecular orbital) energy level offsets relative to the acceptor. Thin film composites...
Rectial Program
| Scherzo - Oleg Miroshnikov
| Syrinx - Claude Debussy
| Bachianas Brasileiras No. 6 - Heitor Villa-Lobos (Feat. Kaleigh Hull on flute)
| Turkisher March - Christian Julius Weissenborn (Feat. Annie Kosanovic-Brown, Andrew McKelvey on bassoon)
| Pizzicati Polka - Leo Delibes (DeArr. Mark Eubanks) (Feat. Annie...
Internal force, or sting, balances are used in wind tunnel testing to measure the total force and moment imposed on an aerodynamic structure. A sting balance operates through strain gauges converting strain from externally applied loads to voltage signals. An accurate measuring device is of paramount importance in wind tunnel...
Using research on student motivation as well as Project-Based Learning as a theoretical framework, this thesis outlines the creation process for a set of curricula. These curricula were designed to address topics of markedly low student motivation in the first term of an introductory physics with calculus course (PH 211)...
A spectral fitting routine was developed to analyze X-ray emissions in neutron capture decay
processes that produce ¹⁹⁷Hg and ¹⁹⁷Pt. Through correcting for X-ray emissions, the
77.3 keV γ gamma ray intensities were analyzed. The thermal cross sections for the production of
¹⁹⁷Hg and ¹⁹⁷Pt were found to be 2088...
High resolution images of a dim companion in a binary star system can be obtained using a Digital Micromirror Array (DMA) as an optical mask. Imaging can be problematic because the intense light from the main star can saturate the detector and leave the companion unnoticed. Placement of the DMA...
This thesis presents a measurement of the resonance integral and thermal cross section – which together represent the total neutron absorption cross section – of the naturally occurring isotopes of platinum that emit gamma radiation upon neutron absorption. The measurements were made via neutron activation analysis. Platinum samples were bombarded...
Intensity beam profiles of a 633 nm laser off a super-polished glass surface were captured using surface polarization reflection. Profile capture can be difficult due to the relative intensities of molecular reflection versus macro reflection. Surface polarization reflection uses parallel polarized light incident at Brewster’s angle to extinguish macro reflection....
We examine a discrete-time quantum walk with two-step memory for a particle on a one-
dimensional infinite space. The walk is defined with a four-state memory space analogous to the
two-state coin space commonly used in discrete time quantum walks, and a method is presented
for calculating the time evolution...