Browsing by Author "Betsill, Matthew"

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Thumbnail Image
    CS3604 Case Study Library II
    Bagbey, Trevor; Betsill, Matthew; Elgeoushy, Omar; Setareh, Daniel (Virginia Tech., 2022-12-16)
    Examples of applied knowledge are vital to any university student looking to develop a deep and abiding understanding of their major. Such examples pour the foundation of changing the world through novel, thought provoking innovations and advancements by offering insight into how an idea can turn into a reality. This Case Study Library was developed with the purpose of providing students and others a litany of various cases in which specific Computer Science topics were relevant in industry. Case studies, in this context, are the multimedia presentations by students of Virginia Tech in CS3604: Professionalism in Computing that take place at the end of the semester. Students are instructed to pick an example from industry pertaining to the Internet, Artificial Intelligence, Intellectual Property, Commerce, or Privacy. Through thorough research and the learnings from the class itself, the students construct their presentations on their topic of choice. This project is the second iteration of the Case Study Library. From the previous project group’s work, the library held more than 500 case studies by students of Professionalism in Computing. It was evident that there were some major aspects that could be improved upon. These included titling the case studies by file name, no classification of case studies by course topic, and no thumbnail images. Along with this, a significant percentage of files were unable to be displayed due to file format issues. The burden of uploading case studies was on the professor, who needed to run a Python script to batch upload site items. This iteration of the project had a solid understanding of what needed to be done, including the addition of a student upload page, stylistic corrections, search parameter specification, and thumbnail images for files. Search filtering, student authentication, collections by course topic, and functionality to upload more than one case study file were also added. Changes to the site were made via a frontend administrative page as well as making additions and modifications to the code base. With the Case Study Library having been improved, it now stands as an effective tool that current students of Professionalism in Computing can reference while they work on their own case studies.
  • Thumbnail Image
    The Impact of Microplastic Ingestion on the Bivalve Filtration Efficiency of the Hooked Mussel (Ischadium recurvum) from the Chesapeake Bay
    Betsill, Matthew; Gonzalez, Juan; Woods, Allison (2019-05-08)
    Microplastic pollution is an increasing issue as sea animals are observed with pollutants within their bodies and cells. Mussels and other marine bivalves have the capability to filter phytoplanktonic organisms and chemical pollutants, but cannot break down microplastics if ingested. Because bivalves filter pollutants out of the water, many kinds of debris enter their systems. It is hypothesized that microplastics will reduce the efficiency of the Ischadium recurvum and its ability to filter toxins that deteriorate water quality. This study will determine the effect of intaking 5 to 50-micrometer diameter plastic on the filtering efficiency of Ischadium recurvum. The experiment will prepare two 10-gallon water samples with 34% salinity and water turbidity of ~100 NTU from the algae concentration for mussels’ environment. Twelve mussels will be collected from the York River to measure the nutrient concentration, dissolved oxygen concentration, water transparency, and chlorophyll concentration to determine the water quality before and after the filtration in both the controlled and polluted environment. A comparison of the two water quality results will determine how microplastics have affected the mussels’ filtration. The mussels are expected to completely filter out the contaminants in the control test and experimental trial with microplastic contaminants, albeit at a slower rate. With a bivalve system, mussels can capture particles at a low nutritive value, which will slow down consumption, but leave little filtration difference. The study will provide information for bay restoration projects to utilize different mussels to filter bay water at a higher efficiency.