Bug Attraction to Light

Presenter: Arianna Mary Nevis Michael

Group Members: Cassandra Jreij, Milla Santos

Faculty Sponsor: Nada Al Sallami

School: Worcester State University

Research Area: Computer Science

Session: Poster Session 2, 11:30 AM - 12:15 PM, 163, C19

ABSTRACT

The rise of LED lights as a means of outdoor lighting is typically seen as positive because it is cheap and requires less maintenance. However, LED lights produce a white or blue light that attracts insects. This artificial light disrupts their circadian rhythm and can lead to their death as they circle the light endlessly. The purpose of this project is to find which of these various factors (temperature, humidity, moon visibility, etc.)  would affect the attraction of insect orders to a light. Using a three table structure (Entity Relationship Diagrams), we defined the types of relationships between three mains sections of data. Our research utilizes an open source database and MySQL Workbench software to provide data modeling and create a network of tools (stored procedures, complex queries, etc.) for analyzing various factors influencing the attraction of bug orders to different light sources. We formatted these tools around the tables formed from the Entity Relationship Diagrams. Specialized operators, such as UNION ALL, are used to create a smoother return. We use these in conjunction with the stored operations to return very specific results. Our procedures result in an organized and easily navigable table for each of the specific queries, making the information from the bug database easier to analyze. Further work in this project would help analyze multiple factors at input and arrive at a more focused result. Overall, this data can help create a solution to prevent bug fatality.

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