Browse Articles

Determining the Habitable Zone Around a Star

Lee et al. | May 29, 2013

Determining the Habitable Zone Around a Star

Life requires many things, including a hospitable temperature, elements, and energy. Here the authors utilize Newton's laws of physics and information relating a star's luminosity and temperature to determine the minimum and maximum masses and luminosities of planets and stars that would support life as we know it. This work can be used to determine the likelihood of a planet being able to support life based on attributes we can measure from here on Earth.

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The influence of working memory on auditory category learning in the presence of visual stimuli

Vishag et al. | Sep 18, 2022

The influence of working memory on auditory category learning in the presence of visual stimuli

Here in an effort to better understand how our brains process and remember different categories of information, the authors assessed working memory capacity using an operation span task. They found that individuals with higher working memory capacity had higher overall higher task accuracy regardless of the type of category or the type of visual distractors they had to process. They suggest this may play a role in how some students may be less affected by distracting stimuli compared to others.

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A Retrospective Study of Research Data on End Stage Renal Disease

Ponnaluri et al. | Mar 09, 2016

A Retrospective Study of Research Data on End Stage Renal Disease

End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) is a growing health concern in the United States. The authors of this study present a study of ESRD incidence over a 32-year period, providing an in-depth look at the contributions of age, race, gender, and underlying medical factors to this disease.

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Economic performance of solar energy systems financed with green bonds in New Jersey

Peng et al. | Jan 22, 2025

Economic performance of solar energy systems financed with green bonds in New Jersey
Image credit: Peng and Peng 2025

Global reliance on extractive energy sources has many downsides, among which are inconsistent supply and consequent price volatility that distress companies and consumers. It is unclear if renewable energy offers stable and affordable solutions to extractive energy sources. The cost of solar energy generation has decreased sharply in recent years, prompting a surge of installations with a range of financing options. Even so, most existing options require upfront payment, making installation inaccessible for towns with limited financial resources. The primary objective of our research is to examine the use of green bonds to finance solar energy systems, as they eliminate the need for upfront capital and enable repayment through revenue generated over time. We hypothesized that if we modeled the usage of green bonds to finance the installation of a solar energy system in New Jersey, then the revenue generated over the system’s lifetime would be enough to repay the bond. After modeling the financial performance of a proposed solar energy-producing carport in Madison, New Jersey, financed with green bonds, we found that revenue from solar energy systems successfully covered the annual green bond payments and enabled the installers to obtain over 50% of the income for themselves. Our research demonstrated green bonds as a promising option for New Jersey towns with limited financial resources seeking to install solar energy systems, thereby breaking down a financial barrier.

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Using economic indicators to create an empirical model of inflation

Kasera et al. | Dec 01, 2022

Using economic indicators to create an empirical model of inflation

Here, seeking to understand the correlation of 50 of the most important economic indicators with inflation, the authors used a rolling linear regression to identify indicators with the most significant correlation with the Month over Month Consumer Price Index Seasonally Adjusted (CPI). Ultimately the concluded that the average gasoline price, U.S. import price index, and 5-year market expected inflation had the most significant correlation with the CPI.

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A novel deep learning model for visibility correction of environmental factors in autonomous vehicles

Dey et al. | Oct 31, 2022

A novel deep learning model for visibility correction of environmental factors in autonomous vehicles

Intelligent vehicles utilize a combination of video-enabled object detection and radar data to traverse safely through surrounding environments. However, since the most momentary missteps in these systems can cause devastating collisions, the margin of error in the software for these systems is small. In this paper, we hypothesized that a novel object detection system that improves detection accuracy and speed of detection during adverse weather conditions would outperform industry alternatives in an average comparison.

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Fractals: Exploring Mandelbrot Coordinates and qualitative characteristics of the corresponding Julia Set

Thomas et al. | Jul 07, 2022

Fractals: Exploring Mandelbrot Coordinates and qualitative characteristics of the corresponding Julia Set

Here based on an interest in fractals, the authors used a Julia Set Generator to consider a specific point on the Mandelbrot set with an associated coordinate. In this manner, they found that the complexity of the Mandelbrot and Julia Sets are governed by relatively simple rules, revealing that the intricate patterns of fractals can be defined by defined by simple rules and patterns.

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