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2025 September - Tennessee Monthly Climate Report, Tennessee Climate Office, East Tennessee State University

Tennessee Climate Office Monthly Reports

Hi All,

The main weather and climate stories of September 2025 for Tennessee were the hot and dry conditions in West Tennessee that led to rapid drought expansion. While the month started out cool, warmer than normal conditions built back into the state from west to east in the second and third weeks of September. Daytime temperatures were especially high, with many locations in the western half of the state seeing high temperatures that were 5-15°F warmer than normal for this time of the year. This combined with a lack of rainfall over the summer season led to rapid drought …

Root Exudates: The Rhizospheric Frontier For Advancing Sustainable Plant Protection, Muhammad Rahil Afzal, Misbah Naz, Youbo Yu, Lisha Yan, Peiyi Wang, Janaki Mohotti, Gefei Hao, Jing-Jiang Zhou, Zhou Chen, Libo Zhang, Qian Wang

Faculty Publications

Root exudates (REs), a diverse array of bioactive metabolites secreted by plant roots in response to environmental stimuli, serve as key mediators of rhizosphere ecology and plant defense responses, offering a promising avenue for sustainable pest management and eco-friendly plant protection. While earlier reviews primarily focus on root exudates in the context of general rhizosphere dynamics and plant-microbial interactions, critical knowledge gaps persist in REs-plant-pest tripartite interactions, the mechanistic basis of REs-mediated plant defense, and their practical integration with integrated pest management (IPM) frameworks. This review provides a synthesis of the latest literature on the biochemical diversity and functions of …

Futurescape Libraries Ai Toolkit, Keith Webster

Copyright, Fair Use, Scholarly Communication, etc.

A toolkit developed to explore scenario-specific strategies and activities that research libraries can undertake to prepare for various possible AI-influenced futures. The toolkit integrates the ARL/CNI AI Scenarios published in spring 2024 along with priorities trialed and refined by strategic thinkers working directly in, or adjacent to, the research library field during a Strategic Implications forum held December 7–8, 2024, in Washington, DC.

Long-Term Patterns In The Relative Abundance Of Common Snook As A Factor Of Shifting Environmental Conditions In The Florida Coastal Everglades, Jordan A. Massie, Ryan J. Rezek, Rolando O. Santos, W. Ryan James, Natasha M. Viadero, Ross E. Boucek, Jennifer S. Rehage

Marine Science

Objective Environmental variability as a factor of climate change and water management can result in fluctuations in the abundance and distribution of fish populations from year to year, with either negative or positive effects depending on behavioral and physiological requirements and the ability to adapt to changing conditions. Variability in water levels can also influence prey availability, affecting predator abundance in seasonal foraging areas. In this study, our objective was to better understand how environmental variation has affected the relative abundance of Common Snook Centropomus undecimalis in the freshwater/estuarine habitats of Everglades National Park. Methods Electrofishing data over 17 years …

The Weight Of Complicity: A Network Analysis Of Ecocide In Palestine, Marilyn Moy

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This paper combines multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) with a network graph visualization to examine corporate and institutional involvement in ecocide in Palestine from 1917 to the present. Using a weighted sum model based on UN human rights principles and UNEP guidelines, actors are evaluated across three criteria: directness, scale, and duration of harm. A dataset of 50+ entities, including Caterpillar, Elbit Systems, and the Jewish National Fund, reveals a dense network of responsibility, with major enablers in the construction, tech, and military sectors. Findings highlight the severe impacts of the 2023–present assault on Gaza and demonstrate that ecocide is a …

Comprehensive Review Of In Vitro Approaches For Environmental Heavy Metal Exposure, Manas Warke, Madeline English, Camila Padilla, Lexie Gasco, Wendy Leisner, Rupali Datta, Smitha Rao

Michigan Tech Publications

Heavy metals are ubiquitous environmental pollutants, contaminating air, soil, and water via the erosion of natural deposits, as well as originating from anthropogenic sources, such as agriculture, industries, transportation, and landfills. The increasing utilization of heavy metals over the years, combined with the persistent nature of metals in the environment poses a direct threat to human and environment health. Although regulatory limits have been established for toxic metals, assessing the associated health risks using real-life exposure scenarios remains challenging. In this review, we summarize the development and use of in vitro models based two- and three-dimensional cell culture systems, focusing …

Nonlinear Optics Through Femtosecond Light-Matter Interactions, Shah Faisal B. Mazhar

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation offers experimental and theoretical insights into nonlinear light-matter interactions induced by intense femtosecond (fs) laser pulses. It investigates key phenomena, including stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) from phonon and magnon quasiparticles, supercontinuum (SC) generation via self-phase modulation (SPM), conical emission (CE) arising from four-wave mixing (4WM), and modulation instability (MI) driven by cross-phase modulation (XPM) between SRS and SC processes. These effects are studied in diverse media using state-of-the-art femtosecond lasers.

The interplay among SRS, SC, 4WM, and MI is examined to probe vibrational modes and temperature-dependent magnetic excitations in condensed-matter systems. Experiments are conducted on anisotropic uniaxial calcite …

Distribution And Occurrence Of Cyanohabs, Nutrients, And Water-Quality Data In The Tennessee State University Wetland, Kristi Hill

Tennessee State University Alumni Theses and Dissertations

Toxic algal blooms are an expanding issue for aquatic ecosystems because they are hazardous to human and environmental health. Algal blooms naturally occur from the combination of warm temperatures, sunlight, and abundant nutrients in water, but what triggers them to become harmful algal blooms (HABs) and begin synthesizing toxin is not well understood, and their threat to freshwater sources was not heavily researched until recently. Microcystin (MC), a freshwater algal toxin, is a HABs toxin which targets the liver and causes sickness and death in humans and animals (pets, livestock, and wildlife). Urban freshwater wetlands are among the most HAB …

The Floodnet Community Engagement Guide, Véronëque Ignace, Sofia Mariyamis, Kendra Krueger, Polly Pierone, Hayley Elszasz, Hannah Eisler Burnett

The Science and Resilience Institute at Jamaica Bay, SRIJB

"At the Intersection of Science, Policy, and Community: The FloodNet NYC Community Engagement Strategy” is a public-facing community engagement guide that documents the strategies, tools, and lessons developed through FloodNet NYC, a cross-sector partnership among researchers at NYU and CUNY and New York City agencies. Designed as a practical resource, this guide shares our approach to community engagement and dissemination so that researchers, practitioners, community organizations, and public agencies can adapt these methods to their own urban climate science projects and other community-centered efforts that address climate challenges.

Grounded in community-based participatory research (CBPR) principles, the guide presents community engagement …

Multi-Modal Depth Estimation Using Camera And Mmwave Sensors, Alston D. Devero-Belfon

Student Theses

For accurately estimating the depth of environments with varying lighting conditions, reliable methods are limited. By utilizing wireless sensor technology in conjunction with cameras, a wide range of environments can be visualized, and objects within these environments can be tracked and monitored. Such methods offer cost-effective alternatives and provide a more secure, data-at-rest option for individuals with low vision, while also enhancing machine perception. In this work, we develop such a prototype that utilizes wireless sensors and cameras, which act in sync, enabling us to estimate the depth of objects within varying lighting environments to a level that is recognizable …

Single-Molecule Orientation And Localization Microscopy, Sophie Brasselet, Matthew D. Lew

Electrical & Systems Engineering Publications and Presentations

Single-molecule localization microscopy (SMLM) offers enhanced spatial resolution in optical microscopy, providing detailed insights into the spatial organization of proteins in cells at the nanoscale. Over the past decade, SMLM has progressively incorporated the capability to retrieve the orientations of single molecules using their polarized dipolar emission pattern. Here we explore recent advancements in single-molecule orientation and localization microscopy (SMOLM), which yields super-resolved images of molecular three-dimensional (3D) orientations, wobble and 3D positions. This advancement opens possibilities to explore the nanoscale organization and conformation of biological molecules as well as to monitor and design local 3D optical fields in nanophotonics. …

Gti: Graph-Based Tree Index With Logarithm Updates For Nearest Neighbor Search In High-Dimensional Spaces, Ruoyao Ma, Yifan Zhu, Baihua Zheng, Lu Chen, Congcong Ge, Yunjun Gao

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Nearest neighbor search (NNS) is fundamental for high-dimensional space retrieval and impacts various fields, such as pattern recognition, information retrieval, recommendation systems, and vector database management. Among existing NNS methods, graph-based methods often excel in query accuracy and efficiency. However, these methods face significant challenges, including high construction costs and difficulties with dynamic data updates. Recent efforts have focused on combining graph methods with hashing, quantization, and tree-based approaches to address these issues, but problems with large index sizes and update performance remain unresolved. In response, this paper proposes GTI, a novel, lightweight, and dynamic graph-based tree index for high-dimensional …

The “Founder’S Gaze”: How The Fourth Amendment Is A Surveillance Technology That Enables Ai To Scale Control Over The Subaltern, Diego H. Alcalá Laboy

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

Much has been written about the rise of artificial intelligence and machine learning applications and how the current Fourth Amendment law has been unable to mitigate the privacy harm that these tools produce. This article explores how the development and usage of AI and machine learning models is dependent on the originalism principles of Fourth Amendment Law. Utilizing Critical Surveillance Studies and Anticolonial Theory, I posit that the Fourth Amendment is a surveillance technology that categorizes conduct, persons, and places to impose the material conditions for the subjugation of historically minoritized communities within the United States. Furthermore, this article explores …

The God Prompt And Deus Ex Machina: Techno-Theological Tropes And Operational Metaphors In Generative Media, James Hutson

Faculty Scholarship

This study reframes two durable tropes—the ―God Prompt‖ and the deus ex machina—as analytic lenses for understanding how contemporary generative systems stage beginnings and endings of cultural production. The ―God Prompt‖ denotes command-driven synthesis in which minimal textual instructions instantiate content on demand, crystallizing a production loop of input, model execution, and post hoc evaluation that orients anticipation toward instantaneous yield and controllable variation. The deus ex machina names an externally imposed resolution that interrupts causal development—historically a crane-borne god, functionally an algorithmic override—thereby concentrating attention on closure mechanics rather than world-building continuity. Read together, the pair offers a compact …

Exact And Approximate Conformal Inference For Multi-Output Regression, Chancellor Johnstone, Eugene Ndiaye

Faculty Publications

It is common in machine learning to estimate a response y given covariate information x . However, these predictions alone do not quantify any uncertainty associated with said predictions. One way to overcome this deficiency is with conformal inference methods, which construct a set containing the unobserved response with a prescribed probability. Unfortunately, even with a one-dimensional response, conformal inference is computationally expensive despite recent encouraging advances. In this paper, we explore multi-output regression, delivering exact derivations of conformal inference p-values when the predictive model can be described as a linear function of y . Additionally, we introduce a multivariate …

Draft 2025 Interim Site-Wide Surface Water Monitoring Quality Assurance Project Plan, Woodard & Curran

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Trends And Predictive Modeling Of Real Estate Prices In Major Saudi Arabia Cities, Meshal S. Aldahas

Theses and Dissertations

his research examines historical trends and explanatory modeling of real estate prices in major Saudi cities, with a focus on Riyadh, Jeddah, and Dammam. Using a mixed-methods approach, the study integrates quantitative data from 2010–2023, including housing and macroeconomic indicators, with qualitative insights drawn from over 320 survey responses that captured consumer sentiment on affordability, job security, and housing policies. A combination of descriptive statistics, ARIMA and Exponential Smoothing techniques was applied to detect long-term patterns, seasonal variations, and market shocks. Predictive modeling was conducted using Linear Regression, Decision Trees, and Neural Networks, with results showing that job security consistently …

Epa Region 8 Optimized Ufp-Qapp Review Crosswalk, Environmental Protection Agency, Emma Rott

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Guiding Multiple Remote Users In Physical Tasks With Language-Driven Robotic Telepresence, Ruyi Li, Jingfei Guo, Xinyi Zhang, Xuji Zhang, Zeqing Li, Jiannan Li, Jiangtao Gong

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Remote assistance through robotic telepresence could involve both control and memory challenges, particularly in one expert to multiple workers situation. In this work, we proposed a novelty language-driven interface to facilitate remote collaboration through telepresence robots. Through operations and maintenance expert interviews and a scenario simulation study, we identified key pain points in executing one-expert-multiple-workers remote guidance using the telepresence robot and proposed two design goals, which together consist of five sub-design goals with corresponding features. These features were integrated into a standard telepresence robot, resulting in the development of a Collaborative LLM-based Embodied Assistant Robot, named CLEAR Robot. A …

Scientific Multimodal Summarization : Integrating Knowledge Across Textual, Visual And Auditory Content, Zusheng Tan

Lingnan Theses (MPhil & PhD)

As scientific publications increasingly incorporate multimodal content, ranging from textual descriptions to figures, tables, presentation videos, and audio, there is a growing need for summarization systems that can effectively process and integrate information across these diverse modalities.

This work presents a comprehensive exploration of Scientific Multimodal Summarization, introducing a series of novel architectures and datasets aimed at advancing this emerging field. 1): We begin by introducing CMT-Sum, which integrates multimodal scientific source content (i.e., primarily paper text and figures) to generate high-quality textual summaries and identify representative graphical abstracts. We refer to this task as Scientific Multimodal Summarization with …

Effect Of Equation Of State On The Formation Of Binary Black Holes In Active Galactic Nucleus Disks, Theodore Edwards

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Active galactic nucleus disks have been proposed as a possibly dominant location of the mergers of binary black holes detected by gravitational wave observatories. The nonlinear interactions between stellar mass black holes and disk gas determine when binaries will form from single objects on nearby orbits. Prior work has used smoothed particle hydrodynamics models in an isothermal disk to study this problem. However, the local equation of state near the midplane of an optically thick accretion disk is adiabatic rather than isothermal, even if the radiative equilibrium temperature is azimuthally isothermal. Therefore, we investigate the use of an adiabatic equation …

An Efficient Security-Enhanced Accountable Access Control For Named Data Networking, Jianfei Sun, Yuxian Li, Xuehuan Yang, Guomin Yang, Robert H. Deng

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Named Data Networking (NDN) is embraced as the crucial implementation of Information-Centric Networking (ICN), enhancing content distribution and caching efficiency through edge routers. However, existing NDN architectures face significant security and privacy challenges, including: (a) a lack of secure and efficient access control; (b) inadequate support for flexible and selective content management by content publishers; (c) insufficient implementation of accountability and privilege revocation mechanisms. To handle these challenges, we propose ESAS, the first-ever Efficient Security-enhanced Accountable Access Control Scheme for NDN. Specifically, our ESAS incorporates anonymous authentication using group signatures at network routers to prevent unauthorized access, employs key-aggregation-based access …

Large Lithium-Ion Battery Model For Secure Shared E-Bike Battery In Smart Cities, Donghui Ding, Zhao Li, Linhao Luo, Ming Jin, Bin Zhu, Yichen Zhong, Junhao Hu, Peng Cai, Huiqi Hu

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Electric bikes powered by lithium-ion batteries are increasingly used in smart cities to promote sustainable mobility and efficient delivery services. However, limited battery range and slow plug-in charging remain key challenges. Shared electric bike battery systems, facilitated by battery swapping stations, offer a promising solution by enabling quick and efficient battery replacements. However, their success hinges on accurate anomaly detection, battery health estimation and remain range prediction. These tasks remain challenging due to data scarcity, battery diversity and environmental variability. Here we show that a large-scale lithium-ion battery model trained on over ten million battery time series data enables robust …

Towards Multimodal Emotional Support Conversation Systems, Yuqi Chu, Lizi Liao, Zhiyuan Zhou, Chong-Wah Ngo, Richang Hong

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

The integration of conversational artificial intelligence (AI) into mental health care promises a new horizon for therapist-client interactions, aiming to closely emulate the depth and nuance of human conversations. Despite the potential, the current landscape of conversational AI is markedly limited by its reliance on single-modal data, constraining the systems’ ability to empathize and provide effective emotional support. This limitation stems from a paucity of resources that encapsulate the multimodal nature of human communication essential for therapeutic counseling. To address this gap, we introduce the Multimodal Emotional Support Conversation (MESC) dataset, a first-of-its-kind resource enriched with comprehensive annotations across text, …

Flow, Immersion, And Presence: Creating Virtual Reality And Engagement In The Era Of Ubiquitous And Intelligent Technologies, Yi Maggie Guo, Fiona Fui-Hoon Nah, Nannan Xi, Marshall Scott Poole

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Researchers use the concepts of flow, immersion, and presence to explain the usage of and engagement (e.g., cognitive absorption) with information technology. In this special issue, we showcase four papers on empirical investigations of flow and immersion, their antecedents, and their outcomes. These papers address research questions that range from investigating the antecedents and consequences of immersion in head-mounted displays of virtual reality, designing for the flow experience in extended reality, studying factors influencing user engagement in the metaverse, and identifying adverse effects of work-related flow. We also provide directions and suggestions for future research.

Managing Rumors On Electronic Interaction Platforms: How Management Responses Affect Investor Reaction, Runyu Wang, Zili Zhang, Keng Siau, Ziqiong Zhang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

This study investigates how listed firms respond to investors’ rumor-related inquiries and examines the impact of these responses on investor reactions, as indicated by subsequent daily abnormal stock returns (ARs). Using a unique dataset of question-and-answer (Q&A) interactions from China’s major e-interaction platforms, established by the stock exchanges, our study provides insights into regulated firm-investor communications in a structured Q&A setting. Unlike informal social media channels, these platforms enable official responses from firm representatives, typically board secretaries, under direct regulatory oversight. By analyzing rumor-related Q&A pairs with regression models and several robustness checks, we find that firms can benefit from …

Multi-Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (Nmr) Characterization Of Novel Materials, Tawhid Pranto

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The increasing reliance on batteries in commercial products, coupled with the environmental challenges posed by climate change and the limitations of fossil fuel consumption, has created strong financial and environmental incentives to explore innovative energy storage solutions. Renewable energy sources are being actively developed, but their intermittent nature necessitates efficient storage technologies, driving significant research into improving the performance of batteries, fuel cells, and capacitors.

This thesis focuses on the application of advanced Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy to study and understand novel materials for energy storage applications, with an emphasis on electrolytes for rechargeable lithium-ion batteries and all-solid-state batteries. …

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Characterization For The Study Of Beyond Lithium-Ion Battery Electrolytes, Allen Zheng

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

To achieve a sustainable future, key issues in the energy and construction sectors such as the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources and recycling of waste construction materials must be addressed. While fossil fuels offer a high energy density source of quick, consistent energy, renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, and hydroelectric offer intermittent energy output, requiring energy storage systems to maintain steady energy availability for consumers. Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are widely used in consumer electronics, electric vehicles, and grid storage due to their high energy density, low self-discharge, and rechargeability. However, they are limited by high …

Satellite-Host Galaxy Co-Evolution With Next-Generation Regulator Models, Austen Gabrielpillai

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The evolution of satellites galaxies is an unsolved problem in galaxy formation. Recent observations such as the SAGA and ELVES surveys find tension in HI contents and star formation of satellites around their central host galaxies when compared to our own local environment, the Milky Way. These processes are potentially highly influenced by the host's circumgalactic medium (CGM), and to constrain these cases requires accurate and fast modeling of satellites-host interactions. In this work, we present our methodology for evolving z = 0 surviving satellites alongside their central galaxy in sapphire, a CGM regulator co-evolution model of galaxy formation. …

Clark Tailings Consolidated Waste Management Area (Ctcwma) Site Investigation Draft Data Summary Report 2019 Surface Water, Groundwater Seep, And Soil Characterization 2021-2023 Surface Water And Groundwater Seep Evaluation 2023 Waterloo Aps Soil And Groundwater Evaluation, Woodard & Curran

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.