Digital Commons Network^™

Biomimetic Technologies For Drill Rods: Advances In Research And Development Trends, Wang Chuanliu, Ju Pei

Coal Geology & Exploration

Significance Drill rods are recognized as core tools in drilling engineering, and their performance exerts a significant influence on drilling efficiency and safety. Over recent years, applying biomimetic technologies to drill rod design has gradually emerged as a hot research topic. By imitating the remarkable structures, morphologies, and material properties of living organisms in nature, biomimetic technologies provide entirely new philosophies and approaches for the innovative design of drill rods. Advances This study summarizes the advances in research on biomimetic technologies for drill rods in terms of the biomimetic design of structures, morphologies, and materials. Regarding the biomimetic design of …

Microbial Diversity And Biogeochemical Interactions In The Seismically Active And Co2-Rich Eger Rift Ecosystem, Daniel Lipus, Zeyu Jia, Megan Sondermann, Robert Bussert, Alexander Bartholomäus, Sizhong Yang, Dirk Wagner, Jens Kallmeyer

College of Life Sciences Faculty Papers

The Eger Rift subsurface is characterized by frequent seismic activity and consistently high CO2 concentrations, making it a unique deep biosphere ecosystem and a suitable site to study the interactions between volcanism, tectonics, and microbiological activity. Pulses of geogenic H2 during earthquakes may provide substrates for methanogenic and chemolithoautotrophic processes, but very little is currently known about the role of subsurface microorganisms and their cellular processes in this type of environment. To assess the impact of geologic activity on microbial life, we analyzed the geological, geochemical, and microbiological composition of rock and sediment samples from a 238 m deep drill …

Changes In Climate And Their Implications For Cattle Nutrition And Management, Bashiri Iddy Muzzo, R. Douglas Ramsey, Juan J. Villalba

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Climate change is a global challenge that impacts rangeland and pastureland landscapes by inducing shifts in temperature variability, precipitation patterns, and extreme weather events. These changes alter soil and plant conditions, reducing forage availability and chemical composition and leading to nutritional stress in cattle. This stress occurs when animals lack adequate water and feed sources or when these resources are insufficient in quantity, composition, or nutrient balance. Several strategies are essential to address these impacts. Genetic selection, epigenetic biomarkers, and exploration of epigenetic memories present promising avenues for enhancing the resilience of cattle populations and improving adaptation to environmental stresses. …

Optimizing Transport Predictive Modeling With Simulation-Based Statistical Inference Authors, Mamunur Rashid, Quyen Tran

Mathematics Faculty Publications

Simulation-based statistical inference (SBI) leverages computer simulations to help scientists understand and analyze complex data. This paper explores how SBI techniques can be used to analyze transportation data. We use modern computational methods, including machine learning models, to improve the accuracy of predictions and decision-making in transportation planning. Our study focuses on two SBI methods, Approximate Bayesian Computation - Markov Chain Monte Carlo and Synthetic Likelihood, to create synthetic data for training machine learning models. These models show the potential of SBI to handle uncertain transportation data. It also highlights the practical benefits of SBI in making better decisions for …

Highway Crossing Rates Of Wild Felids Before, During, And After Wildlife Crossing Structure Installation, Sarah E. Lehnen, Mitch Sternberg, Hilary M. Swarts, John H. Young Jr., Victoria Hanley, Richard J. Kline

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

In an environment increasingly dominated by roads, wildlife crossing structures (WCS) have been installed to decrease wildlife mortality and improve habitat linkages. In South Texas, vehicle collisions have been a major mortality source for the endangered ocelot ( Leopardus pardalis ). To mitigate threats to this species, eight WCS, along with associated fencing, were strategically placed along Farm‐to‐Market Road 106 (FM106), which passes through ocelot habitat. We assessed the rate of on‐roadway crossings and WCS use by GPS‐collared animals before, during, and after WCS installation using camera traps to verify WCS use. Because of the rarity of ocelots in this …

Physics-Informed Heterogeneous Spatiotemporal Graph Neural Network For Reservoir Simulation, Ahmed A.M.A. Abdullah

LSU Master's Theses

Reservoir simulation is the state-of-the-art method for predicting the flow of petroleum reservoir fluids in porous media. It provides an accurate and unbiased prediction of the performance of petroleum reservoirs under different operating conditions. Despite its advantages, reservoir simulation is computationally expensive; with typical full-field simulation models running for several hours. This limitation is worsened when simulating reservoirs with several equations for each cell, such as multiphysics or compositional reservoir simulation. The goal of this research is to provide a fast and accurate spatiotemporal machine-learning model that incorporates discretized governing mass balance equations for training. To achieve this, we propose …

Butte Priority Soils Operable Unit Sbcca Principles For A Greener Cleanup Report, Josh Bryson

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Modeling Of Light Filamentation For Nonlinear Imaging And Waveguiding, Nicholas Bagley

Mathematics Theses and Dissertations

Ultrashort pulses are capable of extremely high powers; in addition to enabling various applications in defense, sensing, and imaging, they provide a useful arena in which to study nonlinear optical phenomena that are observable only at high intensities. Due to these effects, which can include ionization and thermal blooming, simulation of ultrashort pulse propagation is a complicated multiphysics problem. We provide an overview of techniques used to simulate the propagation of ultrashort pulses in the nonlinear regime, including the formation of light filaments due to the competition of Kerr self-focusing and defocusing (e.g. via plasma generation). We discuss both carrier-resolved …

Optimization Of The Starch Chitosan-Based Flocculant Crosslinked By Ethylene Glycol Dimethacrylate On Removing Dypro 19 Textile Dye From Wastewater, Asep Nurohmat Majalis, Putri Ramadhani, Hendris Hendarsyah Kurniawan, Axel Dimaz Sanusi Pasaribu, Hafiizh Prasetia, Fitri Yuliani, Andreas Andreas, Hartati Hartati

Karbala International Journal of Modern Science

Dyes used in industry, especially textile dyes, are one of the water pollutants that receive much attention because they are potentially toxic, carcinogenic, mutagenic, and generally challenging to decompose naturally. Textile dyes from wastewater can be removed through coagulation-flocculation. However, conventional coagulation-flocculation based on Fe and Al salts and synthetic polymers often leaves residual pollution. In this research, the performance of the new biopolymer-based flocculant, namely starch-ethylene glycol dimetacrylate-chitosan (SEC), which can act as coagulants and flocculants in solid-liquid separation of textile dyes, has been optimized using response surface methodology (RSM) approach. The influences of several independent variables, such …

Breast Cancer Area Identification In Mammograms Using Expectation Maximization Gaussian Mixture Model, Rizki Khoirun Nisa, Dian Kurniasari, Favorisen R. Lumbanraja, Warsono Warsono

Karbala International Journal of Modern Science

Breast cancer accounts for 25% of all cancer diagnoses and 16% of cancer-related deaths among women globally, with high mortality rates due to late diagnosis. Early detection relies on imaging techniques such as mammography, histopathology, and breast ultrasound, with mammography being the gold standard due to its proven to detect breast cancer, thus it is effective for breast cancer treatment. However, mammogram images often produce noise and artefacts, complicating early-stage cancer detection and emphasizing the need for advanced image processing. Clustering algorithms such as K-means and Expectation Maximization - Gaussian Mixture Model (EM-GMM) have shown potential in image segmentation. This …

Interactions Of The Sars-Cov-2 Viral Genome 3’-Untranslated Region With Viral And Host Rnas, Caleb Frye, Mihaela Rita Mihailescu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation focuses on the characterization of RNA-RNA interactions within the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) genome and with host microRNAs. As the causative agent of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), SARS-CoV-2 has evolved rapidly since its appearance. This has warranted prompt characterization of the virus particularly of its single stranded RNA (ssRNA) genome. By using a combination of bioinformatics, biophysics, and/or biological assays, we analyzed the SARS-CoV-2 viral genomic RNA and uncovered interactions of genomic RNA with host RNAs, highlighting an underutilized method of targeting RNA viruses. We showed here that the conserved elements in the viral genomic …

Molten Flux Synthesis Of Plutonium (Iv) Silicates K2Pusi2O7 And Rb2Pusi6O15, Travis K. Deason, Gregory Morrison, Amir Mofrad, Jake Amoroso, David Diprete, Theodore M. Besmann, Shanna L. Estes, Hans Conrad Zur Loye

Faculty Publications

Few plutonium containing silicates have been reported in the literature and only one other tetravalent plutonium silicate structure has been reported using the flux growth method. With the goal of understanding actinide incorporation into silicates, we describe herein two new plutonium (IV) silicates, Rb2PuSi6O15 and K2PuSi2O7, synthesized using a mixed alkali chloride/alkali fluoride flux growth. Both structures crystallize in the C2/c space group with lattice parameters a=24.2980(10) Å, b=7.1466(3) Å, c=17.2025(8) Å and 96.6560(10)° for Rb2PuSi6O15, and a=9.9478(2) Å, b=5.59820 (10) Å, c=13.1848(2) Å, and 105.7400(10)° for K2PuSi2O7. Comparisons to the synthesis of other reported alkali actinide silicates (Ce, U, …

Multimodal Representation Learning Frameworks For Modeling Progression And Heterogeneity In Alzheimer’S Disease, Sayantan Kumar

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is the leading cause of dementia, characterised by cognitive and functional impairments that disrupt daily activities. Different clinical modalities such as neuroimaging biomarkers, cognitive assessments, fluid biomarkers and genetic data provide unique and complementary information, contributing to a more comprehensive understanding of disease progression and heterogeneity in disease characteristics. With recent advancements in computational capabilities, particularly in deep learning, multimodal representation learning frameworks aim to integrate diverse clinical modalities into a cohesive framework, capturing the most significant patterns within each modality. Existing data-driven multimodal representation learning frameworks in AD research have two major limitations. First, AD progresses …

Intrinsic Gas-Phase Behavior Of Uranium Species: A Comprehensive Reactivity Study Of [O=U≡Ch]+ And [Uh]+, Justin Terhorst

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The intrinsic chemistry of actinide elements, particularly uranium, remains a key challenge in understanding f-block reactivity due to the complexity introduced by solvent interactions, counter-ions, and complex equilibria in the condensed phase. In this dissertation, a systematic gas-phase study utilizing preparative tandem ion-trap mass spectrometry (PTMSⁿ) is presented, focusing on the reactivity of uranium-centered species, specifically [OUCH]⁺, an oxy uranium methylidyne species, and [UH]⁺ ions. By stripping away solvent effects and isolating the ions, PTMSⁿ provides a powerful platform to probe the fundamental chemical behavior of uranium species in their intrinsic state.

The …

Advancing Continuous Manufacturing: The Role Of Process Analytical Technology In Process Development, Samuel R. Henson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The pharmaceutical industry is actively pursuing technologies which improve manufacturing processes with the goal of producing high-quality pharmaceutical products for patients, manifesting in an industry-wide investment in continuous manufacturing (CM). Process analytical technology (PAT) has been recognized for its successful monitoring of critical quality attributes during routine production and is often cited alongside CM due to its ability to make timely, in-line measurements of intermediate materials. Various PAT tools are valuable in process development, particularly as continuous wet granulation processes are developed for use within pharmaceutical manufacturing. This work applied PAT and chemometric modeling during CM process development to enhance …

Rna Structural-Dynamical Hierarchy: Sars-Cov, Sars-Cov-2, And Delta/Omicron Variant S2m Monomers, Kissing Complexes, And Extended Duplexes, Adam Kensinger

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The power and promise of ribonucleic acid (RNA) molecules are only beginning to be realized in living organisms and pharmaceutical intervention. Specifically, defining the chemical physics of RNA’s heterogenous structural ensemble and dynamics, which has experienced expansive growth over the last few years, is central to a complete understanding, yet continues to be a significant challenge. A 41-nucleotide hairpin called the stem-loop II motif (s2m), present in the viral genomes of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), SARS-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), and the Delta and Omicron variants responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic, is a potential antiviral target due to its high sequence conservation …

Efficient Development Of Density-Insensitive Near-Infrared Methods For In-Line Drug Content Monitoring In Continuous Powder Streams, Natasha L. Velez-Silva

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A well-defined action plan to respond effectively to sudden changes in product demand is critical for preventing drug shortages within the pharmaceutical industry. An effective way to increase the output of a continuous manufacturing (CM) process is through flow rate adjustments. However, robust analytical methods must be in place to ensure consistent analytical performance across varying flow rates. Existing approaches for mitigating the physical effects of flow rate on Near-Infrared (NIR) measurements are often burdensome. Thus, efficient robust modeling strategies that reduce the current calibration burden and ensure model insensitivity to the physical variations in CM systems are needed. In …

Assembly Of Ppsu-Oligomers, Mariam Nesterov

Student Theses and Dissertations

The development of nanostructures for delivering multiple proteins to targeted antibodies has become a promising avenue in biotechnology, driven by advancements in synthetic polymers like poly(propylene sulfone), PPSU. However, the PPSU polymer faces a major limitation - its high insolubility. To address this challenge, this study investigates whether PPSU oligomers can enhance both the solubility and stability of lysozyme, a model protein that is cost-effective and widely accessible. Using dimer, trimer, tetramer, and hexamer configurations, we analyzed the interactions between PPSU oligomer and lysozyme under varying conditions. Our results show that the dimer and trimer are water soluble (no aggregate …

Synthetic Studies On Ship Activators And New Oxidative Methods Utilizing Ddq And Hypervalent Iodine Catalysts, Christos Nixarlidis

Dissertations - ALL

One important cell signaling pathway is the PI3K pathway because it influences many key cellular functions such as proliferation and apoptosis. Among the enzymes that are involved in this pathway, the SH2-containing inositol-5’-phosphatase (SHIP) plays an important role by maintaining the balance of PI(3,4,5)P3 and PI(3,4)P2. SHIP activation promotes a higher rate of hydrolysis of PI(3,4,5)P3 and thus reduces the downstream activation of AKT, which influences many cell processes. Activation of SHIP using small molecules may be useful for certain diseases such as inflammatory disorders and some types of cancer. The synthesis and evaluation of a new class of sulfonamide …

Noise-Enhanced Network Science, Reyhaneh Abdolazimi

Dissertations - ALL

Graphs are a versatile and powerful data structure used to model complex relationships in diverse domains such as social networks, biological systems, and transportation networks. In graphs, entities are represented by nodes, and interactions or relationships between them are represented by edges. For example, in the World Wide Web, web pages are considered vertices, and if there is a link from one page to another page on the web, there will be a directed edge between those pages in its graph data structure. These structures allow us to analyze and solve important problems like community detection (identifying closely related clusters …

Modulating Liquid-Liquid Phase Separation Of Intrinsically Disordered Proteins Through Lipidation, Zhe Zhang

Dissertations - ALL

Liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) is a fascinating biological phenomenon that enables cells to form membraneless organelles, creating specialized compartments for orchestrating complex biochemical reactions. While significant progress has been made in deciphering the sequence determinants underlying phase separation, precisely modulating these features remains a challenge. Inspired by biology, post-translational modifications (PTMs) offer a promising approach to modulate the protein condensates formation and their properties in real-time, without altering the sequences. Despite the identification of over 300 types of PTMs, most research has predominantly focused on charge-altering modifications. The effects of non-charged PTMs, such as lipidation, on LLPS remain poorly understood. …

A Comprehensive Usability And Economic Analysis Of Heat-Related Wearable Technologies: Applications To Occupational Health, Ryan T. Cannady

Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to analyze the usability and economic considerations of real-time wearable technologies that are implemented in occupational settings to assess risk of heat stress and heat strain. The study population included current agriculture workers and Department of Energy (DOE), Environmental Management (EM) contractors. We employed a mixed-methods approach to comprehensively analyze the usability and economic considerations of heat-related technologies. Specifically, our approach assessed three distinct aspects the applications of these technologies in occupational settings to comprehensively address our research objective: (1) worker perceptions of heat-related wearable technologies, (2) field-based assessment of these heat-related wearable technologies, …

Evaluating The Effectiveness Of Benguet Pine (Pinus Kesiya) Xylem For Deep Well Water Filtration, Allen Conner C. Hizon, Robert Zachary M. Santos, Juan Jose B. Lacson, Jefferson Danilo G. Villarin, Juan Carlo T. Gumangan

Sinaya: A Philippine Journal for Senior High School Teachers and Students

Even today, many rural and remote communities still do not have access to safe drinking water, which is a basic right of every human. To address this problem, the effectiveness of the Benguet pine tree (Pinus kesiya) xylem as a sustainable water filtration method for well water was investigated. The physical and chemical properties of the filtered and unfiltered deep well water were tested: the total dissolved solids (TDS) and the electrical conductivity using a 5-in-1 electronic water quality tester and the pH level using pH strips. On the other hand, the microbiological metrics, such as heterotrophic plate …

Multimodal Representation Learning Frameworks For Modeling Progression And Heterogeneity In Alzheimer’S Disease, Sayantan Kumar

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is the leading cause of dementia, characterised by cognitive and functional impairments that disrupt daily activities. Different clinical modalities such as neuroimaging biomarkers, cognitive assessments, fluid biomarkers and genetic data provide unique and complementary information, contributing to a more comprehensive understanding of disease progression and heterogeneity in disease characteristics. With recent advancements in computational capabilities, particularly in deep learning, multimodal representation learning frameworks aim to integrate diverse clinical modalities into a cohesive framework, capturing the most significant patterns within each modality. Existing data-driven multimodal representation learning frameworks in AD research have two major limitations. First, AD progresses …

Investigation Of The Use Of Nanotechnology In Food Packaging, Ollie-May Woodland

The Plymouth Student Scientist

This review discusses topics related to the use and development of nanotechnology and nanomaterials in food packaging applications. The accelerated use of these technologies brings about relevant safety, environmental, ethical and legislative/ regulatory concerns and as such the aim of this work is to assess the viability of the use of current commercialised nano-enabled packaging and to evaluate the potential future trends in the progression of these technologies against public opinion and potential risk(s). The data for this report was collected through comprehensive research of nanotechnology and its applications, specifically the packaging industry in the food sector. An online survey …

Application Of Two-Directional Carbonyl Ene Reaction To The Synthesis Of Complex Tetrahydropyrans, And Studies Toward The Synthesis Of C26-C39 Subunit Of Spirastrellolide B., Md Abid Abid Hasan

Dissertations - ALL

The use of exocyclic enol ethers as nucleophiles in carbon-carbon bond forming reactions has been underutilized in organic synthesis. This work describes the use of 6-iodomethyl-2-methylenetetrahydropyran as a bis-exocyclic enol ether equivalent for the synthesis of pyran derivatives. Use of this linchpin allows for bidirectional elaboration of the pyran core by two directional carbonyl ene. The development of a convergent, modular synthesis of 2,6-disubstituted-4H-pyrans in a three-step sequence starting from 6-iodomethyl-2-methylenetetrahydropyran is described. Initial carbonyl ene reaction of 6-iodomethyl-2-methylenetetrahydropyran with aldehydes or activated ketones was followed by elimination of iodide to give cross oriented bis-enol ethers that contain both endocyclic …

Studies Towards The Synthesis Of A Simplified Forskolin Core And Phomactin A, Fortune Ononiwu

Dissertations - ALL

Oxadecalins are privileged scaffolds found in various natural products that show biological activity, such as platelet aggregating factor antagonism and activation of adenyl cyclase. As such, various synthetic methods such as intramolecular substitution reactions and [4+2] cycloadditions have been developed for the construction of these important intermediates. Studies towards the synthesis of a simplified core of the labdane diterpene, forskolin, are described. Forskolin is the only known supplement to naturally raise cAMP levels, thereby displaying important pharmacological properties. The synthetic route described features a Lewis acid catalyzed dihydropyrone Diels-Alder reaction for rapidly assembly of the ABC tricycle. Modified Saegusa-Ito oxidation …

On Physical Processes That Work Like Learning Algorithms, Vidyesh Rao Anisetti

Dissertations - ALL

Adaptive behavior is a widespread phenomenon observed in both living and non-living systems, manifesting in diverse forms such as the directional growth of plants in response to sunlight and the directed aging of materials. Such diversity demands a physics-based approach. Thus, the emerging field of physical learning aims to explain these phenomena by drawing analogies between adaptive processes in nature and learning in neural networks, motivating the central question of this thesis: Can physical processes in nature function like learning algorithms? A typical learning algorithm involves two fundamental steps: signaling and weight up- dating. In the Part I of the …

Peptides And Metalloproteins: Evolution, Catalysis And Material Design, Dona Imanga Upamadi Edirisinghe

Dissertations - ALL

Peptide hydrogels are an important class of biomaterials that have gained significant attention in recent years. The stimuli responsive materials change their properties in response to pH, redox, temperature and enzymes and this property allowed us to design the materials with tunable properties based on their end application. This dissertation reports the de novo design, synthesis and characterization of short chain peptide sequences and optimizations of those in order to develop them into potential candidates in wound care and drug delivery applications. The investigation of these novel peptide sequences will open up new possibilities to tailor the properties through simple …

Overcoming Obstacles To Interdisciplinary Research: Empirical Insights And Strategies [Peer-Reviewed Journal], Cristo Leon Ph.D., James Lipuma Ph.D.

STEM for Success Resources

Explore how to overcome obstacles to interdisciplinary research with strategies for transdisciplinary communication, breaking silos, and fostering collaboration. Read insights from Cristo Leon and James Lipuma in this impactful study.