Digital Commons Network^™

New Methods To Induce Selectivity In Electrochemical Reactions By Modifying The Electrode Surface, Enqi Feng

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Organic electrochemistry has proven to be an efficient and green method for synthesis. Although the reactions studied to date have been very successful, there is still much to explore including opportunities to introduce new modes for controlling the selectivity of the reactions. Normally, the selectivity of an electrolysis reaction is based on the redox potential of the substrates. The working potential of an electrode either automatically adjusts to the potential required or is manually set at that potential. This allows for the systematic oxidation or reduction of a series of substrates that have a broad range of oxidation or reduction …

Question Answering For Electronic Health Records: Scoping Review Of Datasets And Models, Jayetri Bardhan, Kirk Roberts, Daisy Zhe Wang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Question answering (QA) systems for patient-related data can assist both clinicians and patients. They can, for example, assist clinicians in decision-making and enable patients to have a better understanding of their medical history. Substantial amounts of patient data are stored in electronic health records (EHRs), making EHR QA an important research area. Because of the differences in data format and modality, this differs greatly from other medical QA tasks that use medical websites or scientific papers to retrieve answers, making it critical to research EHR QA.

Objective: This study aims to provide a methodological review of existing works on …

Unveiling Scientic Articles From Paper Mills With Provenance Analysis, João Phillipe Cardenuto, Daniel Moreira, Anderson Rocha

Computer Science: Faculty Publications and Other Works

The increasing prevalence of fake publications created by paper mills poses a significant challenge to maintaining scientific integrity. While integrity analysts typically rely on textual and visual clues to identify fake articles, determining which papers merit further investigation can be akin to searching for a needle in a haystack, as these fake publications have non-related authors and are published on non-related venues. To address this challenge, we developed a new methodology for provenance analysis, which automatically tracks and groups suspicious figures and documents. Our approach groups manuscripts from the same paper mill by analyzing their figures and identifying duplicated and …

Unveiling Scientific Articles From Paper Mills With Provenance Analysis, João Phillipe Cardenuto, Daniel Moreira, Anderson Rocha

Computer Science: Faculty Publications and Other Works

The increasing prevalence of fake publications created by paper mills poses a significant challenge to maintaining scientific integrity. While integrity analysts typically rely on textual and visual clues to identify fake articles, determining which papers merit further investigation can be akin to searching for a needle in a haystack, as these fake publications have non-related authors and are published on non-related venues. To address this challenge, we developed a new methodology for provenance analysis, which automatically tracks and groups suspicious figures and documents. Our approach groups manuscripts from the same paper mill by analyzing their figures and identifying duplicated and …

New Methods To Induce Selectivity In Electrochemical Reactions By Modifying The Electrode Surface, Enqi Feng

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Organic electrochemistry has proven to be an efficient and green method for synthesis. Although the reactions studied to date have been very successful, there is still much to explore including opportunities to introduce new modes for controlling the selectivity of the reactions. Normally, the selectivity of an electrolysis reaction is based on the redox potential of the substrates. The working potential of an electrode either automatically adjusts to the potential required or is manually set at that potential. This allows for the systematic oxidation or reduction of a series of substrates that have a broad range of oxidation or reduction …

Biodegradable And Green Controlled Release Formulations For Fertilizers, Srivalli Sriperambudur

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study aims to address environmental concerns associated with conventional fertilizers, and the persistence of synthetic polymers in soils and investigates the use of biodegradable cellulose esters as sustainable coatings for controlled-release fertilizers (CRFs). The focus is mainly on the synthesis of biodegradable cellulose esters as sustainable coatings for CRFs and applied as a coating on urea fertilizer prills to control nutrient release. The synthesized biodegradable coatings aim to provide effective nutrient delivery over time while minimizing environmental impact. Cellulose esters were synthesized using both saturated and unsaturated fatty acids, followed by crosslinking using thiols. Characterization techniques like FTIR, DSC, …

Wics Conference 2024: Creating Connections Together: Agenda And Abstracts, Daren D. Redfearn, Christopher A. Proctor

Water and Integrated Cropping Systems Conferences

WICS Conference 2024: Creating Connections Together

Agenda and Abstracts

Water Security (Quantity/Quality)

Nebraska Groundwater Quality Clearinghouse; Augustine Adjei, Martha Rhoades, and Kent Eskridge

Assessing the AquaCrop model’s accuracy for soybean under variable irrigation; Anmol Singh

Yield response of irrigated maize hybrids to water availability; Thais Murias Jardi, Saleh Taghvaeian, Chris Proctor, Daran Rudnick, and Chuck Burr

Using the DSSAT CERES-Maize model to evaluate farmers' irrigation decisions; Rintu Sen

Nutrient Management and Cycling

Effect of cover crop mixtures and crop rotation on nitrogen dynamics and crop yield in southeast Nebraska; Madhusudhan Adhikaari

Nitrogen inhibitors reduce nitrogen losses via ammonia volatilization, nitrous …

Enhancing Soil Texture And Bulk Density Mapping Using Soil Grids And Machine Learning: A Comparative Analysis With Observed Data, Aram Ali, Ismael O. Ismael, Hewa T. Mustafa, Diman Krwanji, Akram O. Esmail

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Digital soil mapping plays a crucial role in understanding soil variability and informing sustainable land management practices. This study focuses on the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI), evaluating the accuracy of SoilGrids, a global-scale soil mapping initiative, and exploring the efficacy of machine learning algorithms in refining soil properties estimations. The aim of this research was to assess and represent the physical parameters of soils effectively by comparing ground truth soil sampling data with data obtained from SoilGrids regarding clay, silt, and sand fractions and bulk density. Comparative analyses were conducted between ground truth soil sampling data and SoilGrids predictions, …

Incorporating Ecosystem Information Into The Federal Fisheries Management Process, Adelle Molina

Sustainability Seminar Series

The goal of fisheries management is to maintain sustainable fisheries and preserve their value. Fisheries management councils set fishing rules and regulations based on scientific advice in the form of a stock assessment. Stock assessments collect and analyze data, produce reports on the condition or status of an exploited stock, and estimate sustainable yield. Stock assessment scientists use analytical approaches and quantitative methods to develop stock assessment models that describe the population dynamics of a stock. Traditionally, stock assessments have not accounted for either ecological interactions, such as predation, or the environment. In this presentation, I will briefly describe the …

Photoluminescence Intensity Enhancement And Stability In Cdte/Sio2 Quantum Dots Through Water Molecule Adsorption And Trap Passivation, Daniil S. Daibagya, Ivan A. Zakharchuk, Sergei A. Ambrozevich, Mikhail S. Smirnov, Anna V. Osadchenko, Oleg V. Ovchinnikov, Alexandr S. Selyukov

Karbala International Journal of Modern Science

The study of the luminescence photostability for colloidal nanocrystals is an important task since the understanding of the corresponding physical processes advances new electronic devices based on semiconductor nanoparticles as well as other important applications such as biomarkers. In this paper, we provide the first study and comprehensive analysis of the photostability of the luminescent properties for colloidal CdTe/SiO₂ core/shell quantum dots prepared by an aqueous-based method. The quantum dots were exposed to continuous laser radiation during two time intervals with prolonged break in between. The photoluminescence intensity of the quantum dots increased over time under continuous laser irradiation. …

Removal Of Selenium Ions From Contaminated Aqueous Solutions By Adsorption Using Lemon Peels As A Non-Conventional Medium, Alanood A. Alsarayreh, Suha Anwer Ibrahim, Salem Jawad Alhamd, Thekra Atta Ibrahim, Mohammed Nsaif Abbas

Karbala International Journal of Modern Science

The disposal of heavy metals from various activities has become a pervasive issue. The investigation of sustain-able, low-cost adsorbents for the remediation of these hazardous pollutants has been widely disregarded. This research emphasizes the recovery of selenium ions from contaminated water using lemon peels as a cost-effective adsorbent. The adsorption was explored in a batch unit under various operational parameters, including initial selenium concentration (1-90 ppm), pH (1-11), agitation speed (100-500 rpm), adsorbent dose (0.4-5.5 g), contact time (5-180 minutes), and temperature (25-55 °C). The BET surface area of the lemon peels was found to be 27.86 m²/g before adsorption …

Modern Lakeshore Processes And Historic Lake And Glacial Changes In Taylor Valley, Antarctica, Michael Stanley Stone

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Taylor Valley, which opens to the Ross Sea, is one of several ice-free valleys comprising the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica. The valley is home to several close-basin, perennially ice-covered lakes, whose lake levels largely reflect a balance between meltwater inputs and lake ice ablation; both being driven by climate. A dynamic environment exists where the lake ice covers meet the lakeshore, with the ice grounding to the substrate throughout the cold and dark of winter, and melting to form a perimeter of thin-to-no ice around the lake during the summer. These marginal freeze-thaw regions are known as moats. Here, physical, …

Single Nanobubble Formation On Au Nanoelectrodes And Au@Ws2 Nanoelectrodes: Voltammetric Analysis And Electrocatalysis, Xian-Zhun Luo, Xiao-Hu Chen, Yong-Xin Li

Journal of Electrochemistry

Taking advantage of the extremely small size of the gold nanodisk electrode, the single hydrogen nanobubble generated on the surface of the nanoelectrode was studied to evaluate its hydrogen evolution performance. It was found that compared with the bare gold nanodisk electrode, the bubble formation potential of the gold nanodisk electrode modified with tungsten disulfide quantum dots (WS₂ QDs) on the surface was more positive, indicating that its hydrogen evolution activity was higher. Microdynamic model analysis shows that the average standard rate constant of the rate-determining step of the hydrogen evolution reaction of gold nanoelectrodes modified with WS_{2 …}

Author Spotlight, Fei Li, Yi-Ge Zhou, Yi-Lun Ying, Yong-Xin Li, Yu Huang, Zhen Wu

Journal of Electrochemistry

No abstract provided.

Platinum Nanoparticle-Based Collision Electrochemistry For Rapid Detection Of Breast Cancer Mcf-7 Cells, Fu-Xing Qin, Ming-Ke Li, Hui-Long Zhou, Wei Wen, Xiu-Hua Zhang, Sheng-Fu Wang, Zhen Wu

Journal of Electrochemistry

Cancer metastasis is the leading cause of death in cancer patients worldwide and one of the major challenges in treating cancer. Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) play a pivotal role in cancer metastasis. However, the content of CTCs in peripheral blood is minimal, so the detection of CTCs in real samples is extremely challenging. Therefore, efficient enrichment and early detection of CTCs are essential to achieve timely diagnosis of diseases. In this work, we constructed an innovative and sensitive single-nanoparticle collision electrochemistry (SNCE) biosensor for the detection of MCF-7 cells (human breast cancer cells) by immunomagnetic separation technique and liposome signal …

Highly Sensitive Detection Of Strontium Ions Using Metal-Organic Frameworks Functionalized Solid-State Nanochannels, Xu-Gang Wang, Zheng-Xu He, De-Fang Ding, Xue-Qin Luo, Li Dai, Wei-Qi Zhang, Qun Ma, Yu Huang, Fan Xia

Journal of Electrochemistry

Strontium-90, a highly radioactive isotope, accumulates within the food chain and skeletal structure, posing significant risks to human health. There is a critical need for a sensitive detection strategy for Strontium-90 in complex environmental samples. Here, solid-state nanochannels, modified with metal-organic frameworks (MOF) and specific aptamers, were engineered for highly sensitive detection of strontium ion (Sr²⁺). The synergistic effect between the reduced effective diameter of the nanochannels due to MOF and the specific binding of Sr²⁺ by aptamers amplifies the difference in ionic current signals, enhancing detection sensitivity significantly. The MOF-modified nanochannels exhibit highly sensitive detection of …

Evaluating Indoor Air Quality In Residential Environments: A Study Of Pm2.5 And Co2 Dynamics Using Low-Cost Sensors, Kabir Bahadur Shah, Dylan Kim, Sai Deepak Pinakana, Mkhitar A. Hobosyan, Armando Montes, Amit U. Raysoni

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Indoor air quality (IAQ) poses a significant public health concern, and exposures to high levels of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and carbon dioxide (CO2) could have detrimental health impacts. This study focused on assessing the indoor air pollutants in a residential house located in the town of Mission, Hidalgo County, South Texas, USA. The PM2.5 and CO2 were monitored indoors: the kitchen and the bedroom. This investigation also aimed to elucidate the effects of household activities such as cooking and human occupancy on these pollutants. Low-cost sensors (LCSs) from TSI AirAssure™ were used in this study. They were deployed within …

A Genome-Wide Association Study Identifies Genetic Determinants Of Hemoglobin Glycation Index With Implications Across Sex And Ethnicity, John S. House, Joseph H. Breeyear, Farida S. Akhtari, Violet Evans, John B. Buse, James Hempe, Alessandro Doria, Josyf C. Mychaleckyi, Vivian Fonseca, Mengyao Shi, Changwei Li, Shuqian Liu, Tanika N. Kelly, Daniel Rotroff, Alison A. Motsinger-Reif

School of Medicine Faculty Publications

Introduction: We investigated the genetic determinants of variation in the hemoglobin glycation index (HGI), an emerging biomarker for the risk of diabetes complications. Methods: We conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) for HGI in the Action to Control Cardiovascular Risk in Diabetes (ACCORD) trial (N = 7,913) using linear regression and additive genotype encoding on variants with minor allele frequency greater than 3%. We conducted replication analyses of top findings in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study with inverse variance-weighted meta-analysis. We followed up with stratified GWAS analyses by sex and self-reported race. Results: In ACCORD, we identified single …

Radiomics-Based Machine Learning With Natural Gradient Boosting For Continuous Survival Prediction In Glioblastoma, Mert Karabacak, Shiv Patil, Zachary C. Gersey, Ricardo J. Komotar, Konstantinos Margetis

SKMC Student Presentations and Publications

(1) Background: Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common primary malignant brain tumor in adults, with an aggressive disease course that requires accurate prognosis for individualized treatment planning. This study aims to develop and evaluate a radiomics-based machine learning (ML) model to estimate overall survival (OS) for patients with GBM using pre-treatment multi-parametric magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). (2) Methods: The MRI data of 865 patients with GBM were assessed, comprising 499 patients from the UPENN-GBM dataset and 366 patients from the UCSF-PDGM dataset. A total of 14,598 radiomic features were extracted from T1, T1 with contrast, T2, and FLAIR MRI sequences …

Aggression In Teenagers, Besarta Sadriu, Emrush Thaqi

UBT International Conference

This study analyzes the phenomenon of aggression among adolescents, including its origin, the most frequent forms of aggression that we encounter among adolescents, the factors that contribute to its development, as well as its consequences for the future of adolescents and society as a whole. In adolescence, biological, emotional and social changes often lead to increased feelings of aggression. Factors such as the influence of hormones, social pressure, and the modeling of behaviors in their environments are important in understanding adolescent aggression. Aggressive behaviors in this age group are characterized by impulsivity, a sense of threat and conflicts with authority. …

13th International Conference On Business, Technology And Innovation 2024, University For Business And Technology - Ubt

UBT International Conference

Welcome to IC – UBT 2024

UBT Annual International Conference is the 13th international interdisciplinary peer reviewed conference which publishes works of the scientists as well as practitioners in the area where UBT is active in Education, Research and Development. The UBT aims to implement an integrated strategy to establish itself as an internationally competitive, research-intensive university, committed to the transfer of knowledge and the provision of a world-class education to the most talented students from all background. The main perspective of the conference is to connect the scientists and practitioners from different disciplines in the same place and make …

Leveraging Large Language Models For Enhancing Literature-Based Discovery, Ikbal Taleb, Alramzana Nujum Navaz, Mohamed Adel Serhani

All Works

The exponential growth of biomedical literature necessitates advanced methods for Literature-Based Discovery (LBD) to uncover hidden, meaningful relationships and generate novel hypotheses. This research integrates Large Language Models (LLMs), particularly transformer-based models, to enhance LBD processes. Leveraging LLMs’ capabilities in natural language understanding, information extraction, and hypothesis generation, we propose a framework that improves the scalability and precision of traditional LBD methods. Our approach integrates LLMs with semantic enhancement tools, continuous learning, domain-specific fine-tuning, and robust data cleansing processes, enabling automated analysis of vast text and identification of subtle patterns. Empirical validations, including scenarios on the effects of garlic on …

Carbon Restoration Potential On Global Land Under Water Resource Constraints, Shouzhang Peng, César Terrer, Benjamin Smith, Philippe Ciais, Qinggong Han, Jialan Nan, Joshua B. Fisher, Liang Chen, Lei Deng, Kailiang Yu

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Ecosystem restoration is a critical nature-based solution to mitigate climate change. However, the carbon sequestration potential of restoration, defined as the maximum achievable carbon storage, has likely been overestimated because previous studies have not adequately accounted for the competition between ecosystem water demands for maximizing carbon sequestration and human water needs. Here we used a comprehensive process-based model combined with extensive land-use data and evaporation recycling accounting for land–atmosphere feedback to estimate the water requirements associated with ecosystem restoration. We found that achieving the carbon sequestration potential of restoration would significantly reduce global water availability per capita by 26%, posing …

Interpreting The Biological Effects Of Protons As A Function Of Physical Quantity: Linear Energy Transfer Or Microdosimetric Lineal Energy Spectrum?, Fada Guan, Lawrence Bronk, Matthew Kerr, Yuting Li, Leslie A Braby, Mary Sobieski, Xiaochun Wang, Xiaodong Zhang, Clifford Stephan, David R Grosshans, Radhe Mohan

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The choice of appropriate physical quantities to characterize the biological effects of ionizing radiation has evolved over time coupled with advances in scientific understanding. The basic hypothesis in radiation dosimetry is that the energy deposited by ionizing radiation initiates all the consequences of exposure in a biological sample (e.g., DNA damage, reproductive cell death). Physical quantities defined to characterize energy deposition have included dose, a measure of the mean energy imparted per unit mass of the target, and linear energy transfer (LET), a measure of the mean energy deposition per unit distance that charged particles traverse in a medium. The …

Climate Change And The Logan River: Past, Present, And Future, Mercy Smith, Kendall Becker, Scott Hotaling

All Current Publications

The Logan River runs through Idaho and northern Utah, beginning in the Bear River Mountains and flowing through Logan Canyon to Cutler Reservoir. The river is socially and ecologically significant to the Cache Valley community. Throughout its history, the Logan River’s water and energy have sustained life within the valley. However, climate change is threatening the Logan River’s support of both human and animal communities. Rising water temperatures and reduced flow caused by declining snowpack may impair the river’s ability to maintain healthy ecosystems.

Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (Gc-Ms), Computational Analysis, And In Vitro Effect Of Essential Oils From Two Aromatic Plants, Bubonium Graveolens And Launaea Arborescens Growing In Southwest Algeria Against Potato Cyst Nematodes, Souad Ziane, Chaouki Selles, Khaldun M. Al Azzam, Bounoua Nadia, Belal O. Al-Najjar, Ali Al-Samydai, Obada A. Sibai, El-Sayed Negim

Karbala International Journal of Modern Science

The study tested the nematicidal effects of essential oils from Bubonium graveolens and Launaea arborescens on the potato cyst nematode Globodera rostochiens. The chemical composition of the essential oils was analyzed using GC-MS. To determine the concentration that killed 50% of the nematode population (LC50), five concentrations of the essential oils were applied to the tested organisms. The effects of essential oils on the hatching of cyst nematode (Globodera rostochiensis sp.) eggs in vitro demonstrated a wide variety of effects ranging from no impact to mild, moderate, and strong effects, which increased dramatically with exposure duration and concentration. All the …

Broken Su(3) Description Of Energy Levels And Decay Properties In Gadolinium Isotopes (A=156-160), Fahmi Sh. Radhi, Amir Abdul Ameer Mohammed Ali Dr., Ali H. Al-Musawi

Karbala International Journal of Modern Science

This study presents an in-depth examination of the energy levels and decay properties of Gadolinium (Gd) isotopes with mass numbers (A=156-160), utilizing the Interacting Boson Model-1 (IBM-1) within a broken SU(3) symmetry framework. Through this approach, we systematically calculated and analyzed the energy spectra, B(E2) transition probabilities, quadrupole moments, and potential energy surface (PES) which provided valuable insights into the shape and collective behavior of nuclei, as well as the decay properties of the selected Gd isotopes. The broken SU(3) symmetries provide a good description to the isotopes under study. This comprehensive analysis enhances the understanding of the nuclear structure …

Skin Microbiome: Current Target For Cosmeceuticals, Priyanka Kakkar, Neeraj Wadhwa

Karbala International Journal of Modern Science

Skin acts as a barrier to the external environment and perform various functions like maintaining internal homeostasis, sensations to touch based stimuli, vitamin D production and defence against foreign pathogens, prevent dehydration. Skin has its own diverse microbiota like bacteria, virus, fungi that is collectively called as skin microbiome. Skin microbiome balance is disturbed (condition called dysbiosis) by both internal and external factors which lead to skin problems like acne, psoriasis, dandruff. It is important to maintain the healthy skin ecosystem. Cosmeceuticals i.e., combination of cosmetic and pharmaceuticals, is a recent trend in the skin care industry where we add …

San Diego Collaboration For Conservation: Sustaining The Region's Legacy Of Biodiversity Conservation, Tessa Tinkler, Darbi Berry, A-Bel Gong, Bryan Cardenas, Daniela Olguin, Connelly Meschen, Eo Hanabusa

Environment

We are living through significant environmental, social, political, and economic challenges. These challenges have strained our communities and humanbuilt systems, as well as our interconnected habitats, wildlife, and natural systems. Lack of adequate infrastructure to withstand natural disasters and climate change, as well as historical and presentday inequities in resources across neighborhoods, are examples of the multifaceted and interconnected threats contributing to the accelerated loss of our rich biodiversity. This natural abundance is integral to our region’s health, history, and continued prosperity.

Experimental Characterization, Computational Investigation, And Structure-Property–Activity Relationship Studies Of Nickel Ferrite Nanostructures, Ali Ben Ahmed

Polytechnic Journal

Intending to predict the multifunctionality of Nickel ferrite in several technological and medical fields, we have prepared nickel ferrite nanostructure by coprecipitation method. X-ray Diffraction (XRD) is used to determine the crystalline structure and phase composition of materials by analyzing the pattern of X-rays scattered by the atoms within the material. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) provides information about a material's chemical bonds and functional groups by analyzing how it absorbs infrared light at various wavelengths. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) offers high-resolution images of the material's surface morphology and texture by scanning it with a focused beam of electrons. Transmission …