Halide Mitigation Update

The past couple weeks have completely flown by. With civil engineering, things have been a bit more complicated, as we have now completely abandoned our home in Cameron in mid-summer, and now find ourselves in the wonderful new EPIC building. (For anyone who isn't familiar with EPIC--Energy Production and Infrastructure Center, this fall, it will definitely be a great place to visit, and explore the new energy efficient systems and latest green technology.)

Besides the big move, things have been going rather well. I have been able to move beyond literature review and preliminary stages to the next phase of my project which is developing a plan. The amazing thing about being on this research team is the resourcefulness of my faculty mentor. Two weeks ago, it was incredible being able to visit the site and tour where my samples were collected and have a professional to show me around and explain all aspects of the waste treatment processes and answer all of my questions. Later that week, I was invited to sit in on a meeting with a consulting firm who is working more on the greater scope of the project, as well as members of my research team, faculty adviser, and other professionals. It opened up this line of communication to bounce ideas off of industrial professionals and other faculty and to gather more insight into how to solve or begin to analyze the problem at hand. It put my research into a much larger perspective, that what I have begun is just an initial phase we hope will expand in the coming years to help the power industry throughout the country and world as everyone shifts away from nuclear sources.

Since the meetings and tour, I have developed a procedures plan to implement all of the ideas and information that I have collected and the ideas of those throughout the consulting and research team. While I am tackling this project independently, the value of those around me becomes much clearer each day. I also developed spreadsheets to calculate various parameters and predict the impact of those parameters. I have also begun the initial phases of testing on the halide solution, and will continue in the coming weeks with further testing and sample development. The hope is that by the end of the eight week period of time, I will have completed my first phase of this project, and will hope to move forward in the future with this and other research opportunities.

--Bekah

Health effects of weapons production in Britain

Hello everyone! I’ve really enjoyed reading the different blogs and projects going on this Summer. I think this is an awesome opportunity for a lot of people here. I know it is for me. I’ve learned so much over this past month and I’m really enjoying this experience. I’ll start with an introduction: I’m Stephanie Whitley and I’m a rising senior studying History and Political Science. My favorite focuses in History are European History, Medieval History and anything related to World War II. For this program, I have been working with Dr. Thorsheim on a project in British History. The specific topic is: “Environmental and health effects of weapons production in Britain over the past 100 years.” At first I was a little overwhelmed with the reading and the amount of research, but after getting used to it, I really enjoy it. The topic is really interesting because it focuses on something that people don’t really think about. Sure, you hear about United States weapons production, the Atom bomb, etc., but you really don’t think about other key countries such as Britain, Germany and even France playing a part in chemical warfare! With this project, I have been able to look through archived notes and documents containing information on weapons production in Britain. It’s interesting to see what was really going on and how they went about keeping these factories secret. While I’m studying Chemical, Atomic and Biological effects, I believe for the project I will be focusing on Chemical warfare and some of the major factories involved. I look forward to finding out more about these factories in the weeks to come.

Overall, this experience has been amazing. I’ve learned how to time manage, organize and structure my research, much to the help of my mentor! I also have enjoyed the many seminars we’ve attended as scholars. I especially liked the graduate school session because I will be looking into graduate school very soon, so that was extremely helpful! I hope everyone’s projects are coming along great and I look forward to hearing what everyone is working on this Summer!

-- Stephanie Whitley, History

Machine learning

Hey guys, I am Thomas Galloway. I am a systems engineer but I am doing my research in Bioinformatics under Dr. Shannon Schlueter. My interests are in researching the physical sciences and the application of artificial intelligence to model different physical phenomena. The exponential advancements in computational power along with sensing resolution and accuracy need to be met with an equal growth in biological systems modeling. As machines get better at gathering data from the brain I hope to apply artificial neural networks, machine learning and support vector machines to discover underlying patterns or dependencies that are part of how the brain functions. With a better understanding of the brains’ biological and chemical operations, degenerative brain illnesses could be more accurately understood and treated. The goal of my research project is to develop an artificial neural network for the applications discussed above. I have also been given the opportunity to train my network within various accelerated computing environments. I look forward to the following weeks of my project.

For any input or related interests, email me at tgallow5@uncc.edu.

-- Thomas Galloway

Examining Geospatial Correlations in Lightning Frequency

Hi all, my name is Daniel Cunningham and I am majoring in Meteorology. My mentor is Dr. Magi.  The goal of our research this summer is to explore the possible correlations between lightning frequencies below 40˚N and above 40˚N in the boreal regions of Canada.  We are using 15 years of lightning data measured from instruments on NASA satellites.

During the first two weeks of the program I read journal articles related to the satellite instruments and learned about different ways to explore large datasets.  I learned how to use a program called Panoply to study the full 15 years of data (Figures 1-2 are from Panoply), and am now learning about MatLab, a program that can be used to calculate statistics for large datasets. Devoted global lightning observation began in 1995 with the Optical Transient Detector (OTD) aboard the MicroLab-1 satellite, but this detector fell out of orbit in 2000. A second lightning detector, called the Lightning Imager Sensor (LIS) on the Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM) satellite, has been collecting data since 1998 and is still in operation. LIS collects lightning data between 40˚S and 40˚N. As a result, there is a gap in the data above 40˚N after 2000, which can be seen by comparing Figures 1 and 2.  Using MatLab, I hope to determine whether correlations exist between the latitudes with data from 1996-present and the latitudes with data from 1996-2000.  I can then use the statistical relationships to extrapolate the dataset beyond the year 2000.
-- Daniel Cunningham

Neutron Detection Using the Neutron’s Magnetic Properties

My name is Matt Conway and I am getting a dual degree in electrical engineering and physics. My mentor is Dr. Daneshvar who also has degrees in electrical engineering and physics. Our work crosses into both fields and is a very current and interesting project.

Our main goal is to design an inexpensive neutron detector, using the magnetic properties of the neutron. In particle physics and engineering, most particles have a charge, making it easier to detect, manipulate, and perform experiments on them. The neutron has no charge, which brings up the question of how a neutron can be detected.

There are several ways that are currently being used, but they rely on measuring secondary phenomenon from reactions to incoming neutrons.  These methods include things like neutron capture and proton recoil methods and involve measuring the emitted gamma rays or energy, the energy of recoiling protons, emitted alpha particles, or nuclear reactions that take place when a neutron enters the detector.

There are several other ways to detect neutrons, including quantum dots and giant magnetoresistance techniques. Quantum dots have properties that can cause them to fluoresce when struck by a neutron, a topic of current research. There is also research into a technique called giant magnetoresistance, or GMR, which uses the spin and magnetic moment of the neutron to reverse the magnetic polarization in the top layer of the GMR. This causes the resistance to increase, hence the name, giant magnetoresistance. This resistance change can be sensed directly. GMRs can be made in semiconductor wafers, so that there are many in a small area, allowing 2-D and 3-D location sensing, another area of current research.

These methods all work well, but ones that are developed and currently in use are expensive and cannot measure every neutron. In nuclear physics there is something called a cross section, which is the area that a neutron can hit and react with. Because of the structure of an atom, there is a small relative cross section to most materials, making it very hard for a neutron to be detected. In fact, many neutrons will go through the sensor completely undetected. In addition to the cross section, Helium-3, one of the main gasses used in neutron detection, is becoming scarce, with commercial prices in the range of $2,000 per liter. The reason for the scarcity of Helium-3 is due to several factors, including the way it is produced (in the generation of nuclear weapons) and the unforeseen need of large quantities of it. Helium-3 was, at one point, being emitted into the atmosphere because it was considered practically useless.

The scarcity of Helium-3 caused the price to rise from roughly $100 per liter to $2,000 per liter. The USA currently produces 8,000 -10,000 liters per year, but is selling roughly 14,000 liters per year, with a few spikes based on absolute need and the lack of alternatives. However, the USA’s stockpile of Helium-3 is declining rapidly and in need of alternatives. There are many current research projects to find alternatives to Helium-3 or to find altogether different methods of accomplishing the same goals.

Our research is based upon the idea of using the magnetic moment of the neutron to detect their presence. When magnetic fields are used, a magnetized object will always affect the field, making every neutron sensable. The challenge is to create a sensor that is accurate enough to sense the small magnetic field of the neutron. There are many challenges with this, especially noting that the neutron magnetic moment is -9.66 x10^-27 J/T. We hope to design and begin research into detecting neutrons that are sensitive enough to detect the amount of neutrons that would be emitted by a nuclear weapon, for border control use and look into more sensitive sensing options. During this program, our goal is to design a small, inexpensive neutron detector that can be used at border crossings and other places to check for abnormally high neutron concentrations.
-- Matthew D. Conway under Dr. Kasra Daneshvar

Tam Huynh

Hi, my name is Tam Huynh. I am an honor undergraduate senior in my third year. I major in Biology. My mentor, Dr. Inna Sokolova, is a marine biologist and also the Vice Chair of research in my department. Her focus is about intertidal species and how stressors affect them.

Currently, I am in the middle of my honor program. I start it since the spring semester. It just happened that I heard about this summer research program from my mentor. I think this is a chance to introduce myself to the university community and represent my department of biology (along with two other students) to mingle with people from other departments of various disciplines. So basically, I combined the two programs together, very convenient, right?

I am working as an undergraduate assistant for my supervisor, Sandra, who is a master student from Germany. I was given a small piece of her study which focuses on a species of clam, Mercenaria mercenaria, on the effect of carbon dioxide and metal toxicity on these organisms.

If you check our program’s facebook page, you can see I usually post short updates on what happened to me on a particular day. The blog has the same purpose but I don’t see any link that says “start a new entry” or any similar, so I can’t post the blog on my own, and has to ask Dr. Livesay to post it for me.

-- Tam Huynh

Halide Mitigation in FGD Purge Streams

At week 2, I am finishing up all the preliminary readings and narrowing my focus on developing my own procedures for various methods of testing Halide Mitigation in FGD Purge Streams. It is a bit tedious, but this project is a great opportunity to apply my efforts and abilities to real-world problems in the Energy and Power Industry, and under the guidance of an amazing faculty mentor. Starting from scratch on a research project is tedious, but essential to the understanding of what research really is. It is also giving me a chance to reconnect with other students and faculty I have worked with before, and develop a strong relationship with my department, as well as gaining support, guidance, and assistance for my own project from the research team I have been assisting for the past six months.

For a start to week 3, I got to tour the facility my sample materials for testing came from and was able to ask questions and openly communicate with the people from Duke Power. I learned so much and was able to see where and how my research will be used in the next few years. It gives what I am working on purpose and meaning in a whole new way. Not only that but my visit this morning truly opened new doors for me within the industry. Maybe in the next three to five years, everyone will be seeing the results of some of my experiences from this summer in the way Duke operates and how they work to make the environment better through a proactive, and not a reactive, approach to potential concerns. :)

I had briefly left UNCC before to attend NCSU, and I decided to come back "home." Now, I am so glad that I did because I never would have had this communication, experience, and opportunity at NCSU as an undergraduate student to the extent that I have here. I love being a 49er!!!

-- Bekah Vestal