Reducing Noise in Automatic Transmission

The efficiency of an automobile increases as its running torque increases. This is an avenue for improving fuel economy that is actively being pursued. However, transmissions running at higher torques produce an unacceptable amount of noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH). NVH occurs most visibly as a result of the vehicle’s friction clutch behavior. At present, machines capable of testing this behavior exist (MTM machine and LVFA rig) but are very expensive in terms of time, space, and production cost. The goal of this project is to produce a cost-effective machine in which friction clutch behavior can be analyzed in a laboratory setting. Due to the complex nature of this project, multiple teams will be working to refine and improve the instrument over time. The first iteration of the machine produced by a previous design team was very limited in its ability to produce data efficiently. This design team took on the challenge of automating data collection for the load cell and thermocouple installed by the previous team, as well as implementing automated instrumentation capable of measuring motor torque and speed. The new instrumentation of the machine is illustrated below, with the measurements of torque, load, speed, and temperature being collected by an analog data acquisition system. The machine is now capable of simultaneously recording these values, producing results such as the graph shown below. In addition to the sensor additions, the team made structural modifications to the machine to accommodate the torque sensor assembly.https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/capstone/1211/thumbnail.jp

At the Margins of the Plantation: Alternative Modernities and an Archaeology of the Poor Whites of Barbados

This dissertation is an historical archaeological examination of the poor whites or Redlegs of Barbados. Excavations were undertaken from October 2012 to July 2013 in an abandoned tenantry, Below Cliff, on the east coast of the island, once inhabited by dozens of families locally referred to as the poor whites or Redlegs , said to be the descendants of seventeenth century European indentured servants. Combining archaeological, ethnographic, and historical methodologies, this dissertation explores class relations of Below Cliff residents to processes of capitalism as well as other island laborers, including Afro-Barbadians. Additionally, racial categories are interrogated through an analysis of complex and interracial genealogies of Below Cliff residents that call into question the legitimacy of determinate racial categories of black and white. I argue that Below Cliff is best understood as an alternative modernity, a place in which residents were directly affected by processes of modernization, but through their own ways of relating to economic forces and their own experiences of race relations they were able to engender alternatives to modernity that were all their own

Warhol’s Hustler and Queen Assembly Line: Deconstructing Factory Produced Genders and Their Roles in Contemporary Queer Culture

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Arts of Bard College

ANTA: Accelerated Network Traffic Analytics.

Implementing traditional machine learning models and neural networks has become trivial in detecting malicious network traffic and has sparked interest in many researchers investigating this field. Standard implementations include using the baseline models in packages such as sklearn, tensorflow, and keras. In this paper we seek to advance the field of network detection and produce results which will have great benefits in terms of speed and performance of these models. We take advantage of Intel’s DAAL and OpenVINO packages as they are the two best performance enhancing methods which are publicly available today. Furthermore, comparisons will be made to determine the impact of these two Intel packages on network intrusion detection

Transgenic Animals

This project examines the controversial topic of transgenic animals, and describes the effect of this new technology on society. Chapters-1 and 2 describe how transgenic animals are created and categorizes their uses. Chapters-3 and 4 investigate the ethics and legalities surrounding this controversial technology. The authors of this project conclude that most types of transgenic experiments should continue, provided that strong IACUC and FDA oversights are in place to reduce animal suffering. However, experimentation in mammalian growth factor transgenesis should be discontinued due to the strong negative effects on the animals with no strong benefit to society. Patenting of transgenic animals should be continued, and will provide incentive for further investment in this kind of research

PredictChain: Empowering Collaboration and Data Accessibility for AI in a Decentralized Blockchain-based Marketplace

Limited access to computing resources and training data poses significant challenges for individuals and groups aiming to train and utilize predictive machine learning models. Although numerous publicly available machine learning models exist, they are often unhosted, necessitating end-users to establish their computational infrastructure. Alternatively, these models may only be accessible through paid cloud-based mechanisms, which can prove costly for general public utilization. Moreover, model and data providers require a more streamlined approach to track resource usage and capitalize on subsequent usage by others, both financially and otherwise. An effective mechanism is also lacking to contribute high-quality data for improving model performance. We propose a blockchain-based marketplace called "PredictChain" for predictive machine-learning models to address these issues. This marketplace enables users to upload datasets for training predictive machine learning models, request model training on previously uploaded datasets, or submit queries to trained models. Nodes within the blockchain network, equipped with available computing resources, will operate these models, offering a range of archetype machine learning models with varying characteristics, such as cost, speed, simplicity, power, and cost-effectiveness. This decentralized approach empowers users to develop improved models accessible to the public, promotes data sharing, and reduces reliance on centralized cloud providers

Session A, 2016 Cranberry Lake Director\u27s Choice Award: Cryptic Shade and Hue Gradients of Anaxyrus americanus from Stream to Forest Habitats

Camouflage is a form of protection deployed by a wide variety of species to render themselves to prevent detection. We examined how the background substrate of the environment, in this case being the transition from streams to deciduous forests, affects the coloration of the American Toad (Anaxyrus americanus), a noxious and cryptically colored amphibian found across the Eastern United States. The general color transition from streams, with a prevalence of lighter colors, to deciduous forest, consisting of red leaf debris and dark tree shadow, should be seen in this cryptic coloration of A. americanus. Six-mile creek, Chair rock creek, East creek and Sucker brook located at Cranberry Lake, NY were selected to survey American toads. Three 100x10m belt transects, each 100m apart were run perpendicular to each stream, and the dorsal coloration of toads found inside these transects were recorded using the Munsell soil color chart. Hue and darkness of each specimen were recorded along with the distance away from the stream it was found. The distance away from the stream will be categorized into ranges and colors will be place within these ranges, so that a chi-square test would be conducted. We hypothesize that A. americanus is darker and redder as distance away from streams and into deciduous forest increases. Preliminary results have found support of this hypothesis in regards to darkness however, no significant difference in hue has been found. This indicates that toads are ecologically adapted to their respective habitat types in regards to cryptic coloration