Sewanee: Scholarship Sewanee 2021
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Item Silicon Photomultiplier as an Alternative to Traditional PMT(University of the South, 2021-05-04) Haque, AshrafulSilicon photomultiplier is a cheaper and more efficient alternative to traditional PMTs. Advantages include low operating voltage, insensitivity to magnetic field and high photon sensitivity. We have used an SiPM coupled with an inch long scintillation crystal. A pre-amp and amplifier circuits were built onsite to interface the signal from the detector to a multi-channel analyzer. Two of these detectors were used as a muon telescope and the result from the telescope was used to confirm the well-known correlation between the zenith angle and distribution of cosmic muons. In a separate experiment, an SiPM and a NaI detector without magnetic shielding were used to collect gamma spectra from Cs-137 and Na-22 sources. The spectroscopy for the SiPM detector was significantly better than the NaI detector.Item Measuring the Lifetime of Cosmic Ray Muons Using One NaI Scintillation Detector(University of the South, 2021-05-07) Abdelhamid, AlaaCosmic rays are energetic particles from outer space that penetrate and interact with the atmosphere, producing more particles. One of these particles that reaches the surface of the Earth is the muon. A muon is a “heavy” lepton (the same family as electrons) with a mean lifetime of 2.2 microseconds. Muons lose their energy continuously as they penetrate materials, like detectors, and some of them stop and decay inside the detector. I am measuring the mean lifetime using a sodium iodide (NaI) scintillation detector and nuclear instrumentation modules (NIMs).Item The Purple Sea Urchin (S. purpuratus) Utilizes AMPA-type Glutamate Receptors in the Righting Response(University of the South, 2021-05-07) Jordan, Rowan; Besch, Jordan; Rodriguez, Patrick; Lancaster, Abigail; Shelley, ChrisWhile the developmental and reproductive systems of the purple sea urchin, Strongylocentrotus purpuratus, have been studied for many years, there is little known about the neurobiology of the adult sea urchin. There has been little research into the underlying neurotransmitter processes behind the sensory, behavior, and motor systems of this widely used model organism. To further our understanding of S. purpuratus neurotransmitters, righting and motility assays were used to indicate if AMPA-type glutamate receptors were present and affected urchin movement and behavior. Righting responses were conducted by inverting the urchin and recording the amount of time taken for the urchin to right itself. Motility assays were performed by isolating the urchin in a small tank and using Behavioral Observation Research Interactive Software (BORIS) to analyze the number of urchin tube foot movements. Righting and motility assays were recorded after drug immersion in varying concentrations of glutamate and decanoic acid, an AMPA receptor inhibitor, in DMSO. High concentrations of glutamate were used in an attempt to desensitize AMPA glutamate receptors and block transmission. However, glutamate had little to no effect on the righting response and motility. Decanoic acid was then used to investigate the role of AMPA receptors in righting and motility. Very low concentrations of decanoic acid significantly slowed the urchin righting response and motility data is continuing to be analyzed. These results indicate that glutamate oversaturation is not effective for blocking AMPA glutamate receptors in this paradigm and that AMPA glutamate receptors are present in the adult sea urchin neural system and are utilized in urchin behavior.Item The Women of Viennese Musical Modernism(University of the South, 2021-05-07) Michalik, Jana; Belshaw, Alice; Dr. Kerry GingerThe celebrated composers of music’s Second Viennese School (circa 1905-1935) undoubtedly had connections to female associates, including musical colleagues and students, but the mainstream historical narrative is oddly silent on these women’s activities. We tasked ourselves with unearthing the reasons for this silence. We explored the scholarship on well-known Viennese modernists such as Arnold Schoenberg, Alban Berg, and Anton Webern, and cross-referenced those sources with numerous databases, books, and encyclopedias on women composers. As a result, we were able to identify a multitude of female musicians closely associated with the Viennese modernist sphere but excluded from prevailing histories. These composers include Elizabeth Gyring, Charlotte Schlesinger, and Grete von Zieritz, who had a vast modernist output ranging from operas to string quartets. Of the seventy-plus additional women composers we identified with connections to the Second Viennese School, many chose a more conservative or non-modernist musical idiom. After surveying the literature on women composers with substantial links to Viennese musical modernism, we conducted preliminary case studies on Gyring, Zieritz, and a number of other contemporaries. We concluded that the lack of representation of female composers in musical modernism of this era can be attributed to limitations on women’s education, social pressures and oppression stemming from stigmatizing gender norms, and the later blockage of modernist composition, publication, and study by the Nazi party. To illustrate the musical world of these women, we also developed a voice recital program showcasing music by many of the composers we uncovered in our research, including Alma Mahler-Werfel, Johanna Müller-Hermann, Vally Weigl, and Gyring. By shedding light on their historically shadowed musical contributions, we hope to retroactively correct the wrongs visited upon these composers and bring them back to the public consciousness, thereby giving them their deserved place in the musical canon.Item Incarceration Effects on Voter Turnout(University of the South, 2021-05-07) Pichardo, Bianca; Kebede, Samuel; Huerta, EdgarThe United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world and disproportionately imprisons minorities, particularly African-Americans. Research shows that incarceration has many impacts on the individuals and families affected. One important question is whether high rates of incarceration silence the voices of minority communities by discouraging voting, affecting the structure of the political system. We use county-level data from 2010-2018 to study the impact of incarceration on the voter turnout rate in the 2012 and 2016 presidential elections. We find that incarceration has an insignificant effect on voter turnout after controlling for other demographic variables. However, the impacts of incarceration may operate through other channels, impacting demographic characteristics such as income and education. Thus, further research is needed to determine the effects of mass incarceration on voter engagement.