Rio Rancho Cyber Academy (106)

The Rio Rancho Cyber Academy team (#106) is from Rio Rancho. This year they've submitted a project titled Deadly Dose.

Proposal
http://mode.lanl.k12.nm.us/get_proposal1112.php?team_id=106

Deadly Dose Team: 106

School: Rio Rancho Cyber Academy

Area of Science: Environmental Science

For our Supercomputing Challenge project, we want to demonstrate the effects of radiation exposure to humans and their environment. Utilizing the amount of radiation in an environment can have varied effects on people due to certain levels of radioactivity. It may also affect the environment’s natural resources such as water and food. The combined effect of radiation exposure to people directly and indirectly from consumption of resources can increase the accumulation of radiation inside the body. The environment is a radiated environment, so all of the inhabitants are exposed to low levels of background radiation. When people move around in the environment they accumulate radiation. Resources such as food and water are affected from radiation exposure, and when people consume this food and water, it will increase the amount of radiation in the body. Exposure will be controlled within the environment and will have different effects on the people. Low level exposure will infect gastro vascular functions causing loss of appetite. Higher levels of exposure will result in neurovascular dysfunction and damage the brain directly. These variables will contribute to the exposure and spread of radiation poisoning in the human body. Team Members • Monika Nadzins • Jocelyn Tansey • Sierra Venegas

Sponsoring Teacher:Harry Henderson

Interim Report
http://mode.lanl.k12.nm.us/get_interim1112.php?team_id=106

Deadly Dose Team: 106

School: Rio Rancho Cyber Academy

Area of Science: Environmental Science

Problem Definition:

High exposure to radiation is a hazard to many, especially in recent years. Nuclear plants all around the world have been established, producing high amounts of radioactivity and threatening the lives of those who come in contact with it. Scientists have discovered multiple ways in which this dangerous substance can impact human health. Gastro vascular and Neurovascular abnormalities have been observed in some unfortunate exposures. From gamma to beta, rays of this deadly element have been known to negatively affect the anatomy of a healthy human being. In our project, we will tackle and describe these main effects and produce a simulation that will illustrate the odds of consuming radiation as well as who it infects, and why. In our project, the goal is to discover accurate ways radiation can enter the human body through simulation and observation. This procedure will show a simple example of a radioactive area and the result of those who come in contact with it. A human population will inhabit the area and disperse randomly. As the humans move about the premises, radioactivity will successfully reach certain areas with different doses. The middle will be a high dose area and the further away from the middle, the smaller the dose. Depending on the amount, and how close a human comes to the radiation, there will be different effects to their health.

Problem Solution:

Through a series of simulations, the computer will apply different crowds of people randomly and show how radiation exposure can affect overall health. These people will be separated into different breeds; sick and healthy. They will each have a description that will show the percentage of radiation they have been exposed to. This will allow us to see just how much it takes to infect and promote a visible change in overall health. The computer will also demonstrate the outcome of exposure to radiation and paint a mental picture of how to avoid it.

Progress to Date:

The current progress in the coding of our NetLogo Deadly Dose project has been to compute a radioactive plant which disperses waves of radiation. We are working on another program building off of our base model, to utilize the workforce subjects effected in the nuclear powerplant. We are scheduling a meeting with a KAFB scientist for more insight on our project. We are also researching Power Plants near by the city of Alburquerque to examine for information.

Expected Results:

Team Members: Jocelyn Tansey Monika Nadzins Sierra Venegas

Sponsoring Teacher: Harry Henderson

Interim Comments
Hello,

My name is Aaron Soto. I am a computer security instructor in Baltimore, Maryland. I went to school in Las Cruces where I was a Challenge participant in 2000. The Challenge team have asked me to look over the interim report for your project to help you stay on track for the finals in April. Here are my comments and questions. You don't need to reply to me, but hopefully these questions will help you with your face-to-face evaluation in April and also when presenting your final project during the Challenge Expo in April.

Before I talk about your project, I noticed you did not list a mentor. If you don't have a mentor, I would strongly recommend you find one. A mentor is someone (other than your teacher) who has studied your area of Science and is willing to meet with your team every once-in-a-while to give you advice. A mentor is key to making your project a success.

Especially considering the disasters at Fukushima, your project is both relevant and timely. As the safety of nuclear energy is considered around the world, work like your own will provide for a more informed debate.

Regarding your model, you mention random populations moving around randomly. While this is a great starting point, there is a way to make your project more impressive with likely minimal work. I suggest adding behaviors to your population to make the simulation more accurate.

For example, the population might tend to cluster together (to lend itself towards families, villages and cities). Additionally, healthy individuals may react to sick individuals by moving away from them. This would mean that those who fall ill might serve as a warning to those who have not yet.

Similarly, you could introduce more realistic scenarios. For example, the population may suffer from an uncontrolled release of radiation, like at Fukushima. In this event, the population may be forced to evacuate for a period of time before it is safe to return. This could lend itself to measuring the amount of time it takes for a population to safely evacuate the area.

Finally, you might consider adding generations to your simulation. As healthy people become ill, the effects of their radiation poisioning might affect unborn children, who would potentially carry birth defects. Potentially, this may resolve itself over the course of generations -- or it might be fatal to the children.

These are just some ideas to add to your own. Overall, I think you have an excellent, relevant project that could make your team a strong finalist this year. To make your point to the judges, I would encourage you to make strong use of visuals and animations for your final report and presentation. Certainly, keep an eye out for any patterns that start to emerge. Be prepared to ask questions like "How quickly do the negative effects of radiation spread throughout the population?" and "How long does it take the population to recover from the damage caused by an incident?"

Overall, I think your team has an exciting project that can become as impressive as you want it to be. I look forward to seeing what you come up with.

Good luck!

-- Aaron (Aaron Soto 19:58, 7 February 2012 (PST))