Digital Commons Network^™

Matters Of Biocybersecurity With Consideration To Propaganda Outlets And Biological Agents, Xavier-Lewis Palmer, Ernestine Powell, Lucas Potter, Thaddeus Eze (Ed.), Lee Speakman (Ed.), Cyril Onwubiko (Ed.)

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

The modern era holds vast modalities in human data utilization. Within Biocybersecurity (BCS), categories of biological information, especially medical information transmitted online, can be viewed as pathways to destabilize organizations. Therefore, analysis of how the public, along with medical providers, process such data, and the methods by which false information, particularly propaganda, can be used to upset the flow of verified information to populations of medical professionals, is important for maintenance of public health. Herein, we discuss some interplay of BCS within the scope of propaganda and considerations for navigating the field.

Covid-19 And Biocybersecurity's Increasing Role On Defending Forward, Xavier Palmer, Lucas N. Potter, Saltuk Karahan

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

The evolving nature of warfare has been changing with cybersecurity and the use of advanced biotechnology in each aspect of the society is expanding and overlapping with the cyberworld. This intersection, which has been described as “biocybersecurity” (BCS), can become a major front of the 21st-century conflicts. There are three lines of BCS which make it a critical component of overall cybersecurity: (1) cyber operations within the area of BCS have life threatening consequences to a greater extent than other cyber operations, (2) the breach in health-related personal data is a significant tool for fatal attacks, and (3) health-related misinformation …

Large-Scale Variation In Wave Attenuation Of Oyster Reef Living Shorelines And The Influence Of Inundation Duration, Rebecca L. Morris, Megan K. La Peyre, Bret M. Webb, Danielle A. Marshall, Donna M. Bilkovic, Just Cebrian, Giovanna Mcclenachan, Kelly M. Kibler, Linda J. Walters, David Bushek, Eric L. Sparks, Nigel A. Temple, Joshua Moody, Kory Angstadt, Joshua Goff, Maura Boswell, Paul Sacks, Stephen E. Swearer

Civil & Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

One of the paramount goals of oyster reef living shorelines is to achieve sustained and adaptive coastal protection, which requires meeting ecological (i.e., develop a self-sustaining oyster population) and engineering (i.e., provide coastal defense) targets. In a large-scale comparison along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United States, the efficacy of various designs of oyster reef living shorelines at providing wave attenuation was evaluated accounting for the ecological limitations of oysters with regards to inundation duration. A critical threshold for intertidal oyster reef establishment is 50% inundation duration. Living shorelines that spent less than half of the time ( …

Investigation Of Anaerobic Digestion Of The Aqueous Phase From Hydrothermal Carbonization Of Mixed Municipal Solid Waste, Kameron J. Adams, Ben Stuart, Sandeep Kumar

Civil & Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

In 2017, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reported that Americans generated over 268 million tons of municipal solid waste (MSW). The majority (52%) of this waste ends up in landfills, which are the third largest source of anthropogenic methane emissions. Improvements in terms of waste management and energy production could be solved by integrating MSW processing with hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) and anaerobic digestion (AD) for converting organic carbon of MSW to fuels. The objectives of this study were to (a) investigate HTC experiments at varying temperatures and residence times (b) evaluate aqueous phase and solids properties, and (c) …

Mechanism For The Unfolding Of The Top7 Protein In Steered Molecular Dynamics Simulations As Revealed By Mutual Information Analysis, Ognjen Perišić, Willy Wriggers

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

We employed mutual information (MI) analysis to detect motions affecting the mechanical resistance of the human-engineered protein Top7. The results are based on the MI analysis of pair contact correlations measured in steered molecular dynamics (SMD) trajectories and their statistical dependence on global unfolding. This study is the first application of the MI analysis to SMD forced unfolding, and we furnish specific SMD recommendations for the utility of parameters and options in the TimeScapes package. The MI analysis provided a global overview of the effect of perturbation on the stability of the protein. We also employed a more conventional trajectory …

Application Of The Vortex Fluid Device (Vfd) In Polysulfone Synthesis And Ultra-Filtration Membrane Fabrication For Water Treatment Purposes, Aghil Igder

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Extensive studies have been performed to improve key properties of filtration membranes via controlling the fabrication process conditions as well as physical and/or chemical modification of the polymers used in membrane fabrication. The Vortex Fluid Device (VFD) is a newly invented platform which has found many applications in materials science and clean technology. The unique features of the VFD originate from a combination of different effects (e.g., micro-mixing, viscous drag, microfluidic flow, enhanced mass transfer) all resulting in faster, greener, and more efficient and better controlled chemical reactions. The main aims of this project are: (i) to investigate the utility …

Power Network And Smart Grids Analysis From A Graph Theoretic Perspective, Hossein Parast Vand

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The growing size and complexity of power systems has given raise to the use of complex network theory in their modelling, analysis, and synthesis. Though most of the previous studies in this area have focused on distributed control through well established protocols like synchronization and consensus, recently, a few fundamental concepts from graph theory have also been applied, for example in symmetry-based cluster synchronization. Among the existing notions of graph theory, graph symmetry is the focus of this proposal. However, there are other development around some concepts from complex network theory such as graph clustering in the study.

In spite …

Development Of Novel Inks And Approaches For Printing Tissues And Organs, Shen Ji

Dissertations

Tissue engineering is a multidisciplinary field that investigates and develops new methods to repair, regenerate and replace damaged tissues and organs, or to develop biomaterial platforms as in vitro models. Tissue engineering approaches require the fabrication of scaffolds using biomaterials or fabrication of living tissues using cells. As the demands of customized, implantable tissue/organs are increasing and becoming more urgent, conventional scaffold fabrication approaches are difficult to meet the requirements, especially for complex large-scale tissue fabrication. In this regard, three-dimensional (3D) printing attracted more interest over the past decades due to its unrivaled ability to fabricate highly customized tissues or …

Human-Robot Interaction For Assistive Robotics, Jiawei Li

Dissertations

This dissertation presents an in-depth study of human-robot interaction (HRI) withapplication to assistive robotics. In various studies, dexterous in-hand manipulation is included, assistive robots for Sit-To-stand (STS) assistance along with the human intention estimation. In Chapter 1, the background and issues of HRI are explicitly discussed. In Chapter 2, the literature review introduces the recent state-of-the-art research on HRI, such as physical Human-Robot Interaction (HRI), robot STS assistance, dexterous in hand manipulation and human intention estimation. In Chapter 3, various models and control algorithms are described in detail. Chapter 4 introduces the research equipment. Chapter 5 presents innovative theories and …

Experiments And Modeling Of The Chemo-Mechanically Coupled Behavior Of Polymeric Gels, Nikola Bosnjak

Dissertations

Polymeric materials consist of mutually entangled or chemically crosslinked long njitmolecular chains which form a polymer network. Due to their molecular structure, the njitpolymeric materials are known to undergo large deformation in response to various njitenvironmental stimuli, such as temperature, chemical potential and light.

When a polymer network is exposed to a suitable chemical solvent, the solvent molecules are able to diffuse inside the network, causing it to undergo a large volumetric deformation, known as swelling. In addition to volumetric deformation, this process involves the chemical mixing of the polymer network and solvent molecules, and is typically environmentally responsive. A …

Characterizing Reactive Iron Mineral Coatings And Their Roles In Natural Attenuation At A Site With Historical Contamination, Han Hua

Dissertations

Reactive iron mineral coatings in redox transition zones play an important role in contaminant attenuation. These mineral coatings include poorly crystalline to crystalline iron sulfides, carbonates, and oxyhydroxides, and are a signature of the biogeochemical processes occurring. To better understand these processes, reactive iron mineral coatings are characterized in an 18-m Anaerobic Core collected from a contaminated industrial site. This study targets redox transition zones uncovered in the core. A suite of complementary analyses is applied to distinguish the surface coating mineralogy using X-ray Diffraction, X-ray fluorescence, and field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) with energy dispersive X-ray analyzer (EDX). In …

The Stability Of Nanobubbles And Its Application In Contaminated Sediment Treatment, Shaini Dilsha Aluthgun Hewage

Dissertations

This dissertation consists of two sections. First, nanobubbles' stability and behavior are studied using experimental and theoretical approaches. Second, nanobubbles application combined with ultrasound to remediate contaminated sediments is discussed.

The stability study consists of four sections. (i). Laboratory investigation to determine bubble size distributions and zeta potentials for different gases, pH levels, temperatures, and salt conditions. (ii). A theoretical study based on the diffused double layer theory to explain nanobubbles' behavior in different NaCl concentrations. (iii). Nanobubbles' stability in electrolyte solutions under different ion valencies using deionized water, NaCl, Na₂SO₄, Na₃PO₄, …

Blast Shock-Wave Characterization In Experimental Shock Tubes, Sudeepto Kahali

Dissertations

Blast-induced traumatic brain injuries have affected U.S. soldiers deployed for extended periods in the gulf and Afghanistan wars. To identify the biomechanical and biochemical mechanisms of injury, critical in the identification of diagnostic and therapeutic tools, compressed gas-driven shock tubes are used by investigators to study shockwave-animal specimen interactions and its biological consequences. However, shock tubes are designed and operated in a variety of geometry with a range of process parameters, and the quality of shock wave characteristics relevant to field conditions and therefore the study of blast-induced traumatic brain injuries suffered by soldiers is affected by those conditions. Lab-to-lab …

Sistem Keamanan Ganda Sepeda Motor Dengan Fingerprint Dan Gprs Berbasis Arduino Untuk Peningkatan Keamanan, Bartholomeus Danar, Masduki Zakarijah

Elinvo (Electronics, Informatics, and Vocational Education)

Tujuan pembuatan Tugas Akhir ini adalah: (1) merancang fingerprint dan gprs pada sistem pengaman sepeda motor, (2) mengimplementasi fingerprint dan gprs pada sistem pengaman sepeda motor, (3) mengetahui unjuk kerja fingerprint dan gprs pada sistem pengaman sepeda motor. Komponen utama yang digunakan adalah Arduino Mega sebagai pusat olah data , fingerprint sebagai keamanan utama, gprs sebagai kemanan kedua. dan kode numerik sebagai penulisan password serta mensetting sistem. Langkah Pembuatan Sitem Keamanan Ganda Sepeda Motor Berbasis Arduino Untuk Peningkatan Keamanan ini adalah (1) Perancangan Perangkat Keras: pertama Pembuatan Skematik Sistem , kedua Pembuatan Layout PCB, ketiga Pembuatan Desain 3D, terakhir …

Human Activity Recognition Using Wearable Sensors: A Deep Learning Approach, Jialun Xue

Theses

In the past decades, Human Activity Recognition (HAR) grabbed considerable research attentions from a wide range of pattern recognition and human–computer interaction researchers due to its prominent applications such as smart home health care. The wealth of information requires efficient classification and analysis methods. Deep learning represents a promising technique for large-scale data analytics. There are various ways of using different sensors for human activity recognition in a smartly controlled environment. Among them, physical human activity recognition through wearable sensors provides valuable information about an individual’s degree of functional ability and lifestyle. There is abundant research that works upon real …

Effects Of Calcination Temperature Of Naturally Occurring Absorbents On Drinking Water Defluoridation, Brenda Mndolwa

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

Currently, in Tanzania, fluoride removal from drinking water is treated mostly using the bone char method. The method has poor acceptability in some religious communities and also causes water quality deterioration in taste and odour if the bones are not properly prepared. The use of local natural adsorbents as an alternative is feasible with limitations of high levels of other impurities in treated water. Locally available gypsum, magnesite and bauxite were converted to adsorbents through calcination. The study was conducted to determine the removal efficiency, best calcination temperature and composite ratio of the three adsorbents for the removal of fluoride …

Fermentability Of Concentrated Sulfuric Acid Hydrolyzates From Aspenwood And Pinewood, Kando Janga

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

The fermentability of hydrolyzates derived from two-stage concentrated sulfuric acid hydrolysis of Trembling aspen (Populus tremula) and Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) were investigated. Three types of hydrolyzates were produced at mild, moderate and high decrystallization severity conditions. Portions of each of the original hydrolyzates were concentrated by vacuum evaporation to increase the sugar fraction to simulate industrial applications. Both sets of hydrolyzates were fermented anaerobically using Saccharomyces cerevisiae ATCC 96581. After 23 hours of fermentation, complete glucose consumption was observed for all the original hydrolyzates, with no signs of inhibition. The ethanol yields from these hydrolyzates ranged from 68% to …

Pillars Of Sustainable Development–Land Capability And Conceptual Project Design, Ian D. Hollingsworth

Journal of Environmental Science and Sustainable Development

Conserving land capability is a pillar of sustainable development strategy. Land units comprising unique combinations of native vegetation, soils, geology, and landforms are used to interpret local environmental processes and land capabilities. An emerging practice is extrapolation modeling of edaphic parameter surfaces in Digital Soil Mapping (DSM) using statistical correlation. Commercial studies of land capability for sustainable development, including a mine closure in a national park, another closure for grazing land restoral, urban stormwater flood mitigation, and wind farm development in plantation forestry, are presented to illustrate applications and review the utility of DSM data. The first case, a mine …

Antibacterial Effect And Phytochemical Analysis Of The Shoot System Of Rubus Canescens Dc. Growing In Lebanon, Omar Assafiri, Hiba Abdallah, Mohammed El-Dakdouki

BAU Journal - Science and Technology

The misuse of antibiotics followed by improved fitness of resistant strains of infectious microorganisms hindered the efficacy of many known antimicrobial agents, and fueled research for the discovery of novel remedies. The current study aims at assessing the antimicrobial activity and understanding the mechanism of action of Rubus canescens DC. growing wild in Lebanon, as well as qualitatively determining its phytochemical profile. The antibacterial activity, MIC, and MBC of the extracts were evaluated by two-fold dilution. Time-kill curves were plotted to assess the bactericidal activity of the R. canescens DC. extracts against the growth of microorganisms, and TEM images were …

Waterpipe: A Global Alarming Problem, Tarek Houri, Bilal Osta, Sara Mobayed, Rayan Farha, Mazher Issa

BAU Journal - Science and Technology

Waterpipe popularity has increased significantly in the recent decades to become the major cause of death worldwide. This practice, which is also known as hookah, shisha and Narghile that is based on tobacco burning, increases the percentage of tobacco smokers especially among young people, due to several factors such as the attracting effect of sweetened tobacco, the marketing role and the social acceptance of waterpipe. A literature review was constructed using "Pub med" as a searching tool to confirm by studies the differences in adverse effects between waterpipe and cigarette by analyzing the toxicant’s levels generated from them, evaluating the …

Moringa Oleifera Leaves Aqueous Extract Induce Apoptosis In Ht29 Cell Line, Farah Reda, Jamila Borjac, Julnar Usta

BAU Journal - Science and Technology

Moringa oleifera (MO) tree has been recognized for the nutritional and medicinal values, attributing anti-inflammatory, antioxidants, and antidiabetic activities of the alcoholic and/or water extracts to its various parts. Recent research has focused on therapeutic anti-cancerous effects of the water extract of MO leaves (MOE), commonly consumed as hot beverage. In-vitro cytotoxicity on esophageal, lung, and breast cancer cells were reported by MOE. The aim in this study is to investigate the anti-cancerous potential of MOE on the colon carcinoma HT29 cells. MO water extract (MOE) was prepared at concentrations (0.1%-0.5%). MOE anti-proliferative effect on HT29-cells was assessed by measuring …

Photoluminescence Spectroscopic Studies Of Mn2o3/Co3o4-Glucose/Lactose Complexes, Alaa Abdallah, Jamalat Al Boukhari, Rana Najjar

BAU Journal - Science and Technology

As nanoparticles serve as mediators in the electron transfer between biomolecules and a biosensor’s electrode surface, this study is dedicated to investigating Mn2O3 and Co3O4 nanoparticles and their photoluminescence effect that play a critical role in sensing glucose and lactose. The chemical coprecipitation method was adopted for preparing the nanoparticles that were characterized by X-Ray Diffraction, Transmission Electron Microscope, Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy, Energy Dispersive X-ray, UV-vis spectroscopy, and Vibrating Sample Magnetometry. It was found that the obtained Mn2O3 and Co3O4 nanoparticles were successfully prepared, with a crystallite size of 65.91 and 58.00 nm, respectively. The high specific surface area …

Activation Of Fly Ash To Stabilise Lead Contaminated Soils And Solutions, Mabrouk Hassan Arhoma

BAU Journal - Science and Technology

The role of pH on removal of metal contaminated solution was investigated by adding gradually drops of NaOH to lead solutions, the increase of the pH was observed and concentration of lead solution was measured by using ICP. The activated \ pulverised fly ash (PFA) was used as stabilizing material. The leaching behaviour of lead was investigated using 5 grams of the soil thoroughly mixed with 0.1g of the stabilising material in a polypropylene container to which 50ml of either deionised water; the mixture was shaken on a flat bed shaker for 2h, and then filtered using a What man …

Essential Control To Environmental Regulations For Oil And Gas Industry: Spotlight On Drilling Processes In Lebanon, Rami Harkouss

BAU Journal - Science and Technology

At present, environmental legislation bounds the drilling operators in drilling wastes removal. The rapid increasing sensitivity of drilling waste management forced many countries to develop environmental guidelines for their drilling operations. This research studies some sorts of waste produced during upstream petroleum activities, particularly while drilling. After that, many hazards and impacts on the environment are addressed, as well as their principal treatment techniques. This paper gives a modest and theoretical vision over the present environmental standard and waste management design, realized at a universal scale. Studies show that performance fluid management and total fluid management are highly recommended in …

Sensitivity Analysis Of An Agent-Based Simulation Model Using Reconstructability Analysis, Andey M. Nunes, Martin Zwick, Wayne Wakeland

Complex Systems Faculty Publications and Presentations

Reconstructability analysis, a methodology based on information theory and graph theory, was used to perform a sensitivity analysis of an agent-based model. The NetLogo BehaviorSpace tool was employed to do a full 2^k factorial parameter sweep on Uri Wilensky’s Wealth Distribution NetLogo model, to which a Gini-coefficient convergence condition was added. The analysis identified the most influential predictors (parameters and their interactions) of the Gini coefficient wealth inequality outcome. Implications of this type of analysis for building and testing agent-based simulation models are discussed.

Significant Contribution Of Mobile Apps To The Development Of Tourism In Uzbekistan, Alimjon Dadamuhamedov Irgashevich

The Light of Islam

Recently, Uzbekistan has taken comprehensive measures to develop tourism as one of the strategic sectors that contribute to the rapid development of regions, increase incomes and living standards of the population, as well as increase investment attractiveness. Modern information technologies make a signifcant contribution to the development of pilgrimage tourism. Advertising of online travel services in pilgrimage tourism currently does not allow you to automate the work of a travel Agency without creating an effective website. This article is devoted to the analysis of Internet technologies aimed at improving the tourism industry. The practical signifcance of the article lies in …

Mixed Complex Compounds Of Palmitate, Oleate Calcium With Acetamide, Nicotinamide And Thiocarbamide, Ibadullaeva Tursunoy, Azizov Tokhir, Ibragimova Мavluda

CHEMISTRY AND CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

The purpose of the study was the synthesis and study of the structure of mixed complexes of palmitate, calcium oleate with acetamide, nicotinamide and thiocarbamide. The mixed coordination compounds of palmitate and calcium oleate were synthesized. The composition, individuality, thermal behavior, methods of coordinating the palmitate and oleate fragments, acetamide, nicotinamide and thiocarbamide molecules have been established. Comparison of the diffraction patterns of calcium palmitate and oleate, free ligand molecules and synthesized compounds showed the mismatch of the diffractograms, conseqently that the synthesized complexes have an individual crystal lattice different from the starting materials. The method of coordination of amide …

Synthesis Of Esters Of Halogenoacetic Acids, Yuldasheva Muxabbat, Turaev Sherzod

CHEMISTRY AND CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

Amidoalkylating reagents containing a phthalimide group are used in the synthesis of hard-to-reach primary amines and complex heterocyclic compounds. These types of amidoalkylating compounds are suitable reagents for nucleophilic substituted reactions in acidic media due to their resistance to acids. Result of reactions of amidoalkylating reagents-N-hydroxyethylphthalimide and N-hydroxymethylphthalimide with aliphatic carbonic acids can also produce new bactericidal and fungicidal esters. In this study, halogen acids reacted with N-hydroxymethylphthalimide monochloric acetic acid, monobromic acetic acid, monoiodic acetic acid, trifluoric acetic acid and trichloroacetic acid, as well as, N-b-hydroxyethylphthaleidyl monohydric acid. As a result of the reactions, new phthalimidomethyl and phthalimidoethyl esters …

High-Efficient And New Technology For Producing 5-Nitro-2-Acetylaminobenzimidazole, Saidov Sarvar, Abdurazakov Askar, Karimov Rikhsibay, Khvan Alla

CHEMISTRY AND CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

The aim of this work is to create new veterinary products for agriculture based on local raw materials, to develop a highly efficient technology for their production. Waste from the production of medamine produced in the pilot production of the Institute of Plant Chemistry of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan. The process of synthesis of 5-nitro-2-acetylaminobenzimidazole was studied by one-factor experiments. The structure of the obtained product was investigated by IR, Mass, 1H, 13C NMR spectroscopy. The main factors influencing the process of obtaining 5-nitro-2-acetylaminobenzimidazole were revealed. On the basis of the obtained research results, a …

Carbon Nanotube–Liposome Complexes In Hydrogels For Controlled Drug Delivery Via Near-Infrared Laser Stimulation, S. Zahra M. Madani, Mohammad Moein Safaee, Mitchell Gravely, Carolynn Silva, Stephen Kennedy, Geoffrey D. Bothun, Daniel E. Roxbury

Chemical, Biomolecular, and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications

Externally controllable drug delivery systems are crucial for a variety of biological applications where the dosage and timing of drug delivery need to be adjusted based on disease diagnosis and progression. Here, we have developed an externally controllable drug delivery system by combining three extensively used platforms: hydrogels, liposomes, and single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs). We have developed carbon nanotube–liposome complexes (CLCs) and incorporated these structures into a 3D alginate hydrogel for use as an optically controlled drug delivery system. The CLC structures were characterized by using a variety of imaging and spectroscopic techniques, and an optimal SWCNT/lipid ratio was selected. …