Digital Commons Network^™

Covid-19 And Traffic Safety: Exploring Exposure, Crash Frequency And Severity, And Roadway And Network Design, Nicholas N. Ferenchak Ph.D

Data

Early COVID-19 lockdowns in the first half of 2020 largely kept people at home, thereby reducing motor vehicle traffic levels. Theoretically, reduced traffic exposure should have resulted in reduced motor vehicle crashes. However, a variety of factors may have complicated this relationship. In order to better understand the impact of COVID-19 lockdowns on traffic safety outcomes, we explore fatalities, injuries, and total crashes before and during the lockdowns on both the national and state levels. We provide descriptive statistics and create negative binomial regressions exploring the role of vehicle, user, and built environment factors on traffic safety outcomes. Findings suggest …

Increasing Bridge Durability And Service Life With Lidar Enhanced Unmanned Aerial Systems (Uas), Fernando Moreu, Mahsa Sanei, Chris Lippitt

Publications

Bridge construction inspections require quantitative measurements and location information. The conventional approach is visual inspection, which in general, is rather time-consuming, expensive due to traffic closure, subjective, and needs special access. Therefore an automated rebar layout detection algorithm was developed to quickly extract quantitative rebar layout information from the LiDAR data. This systematic method can automatically cluster the bridge elements from a 3D point cloud by using LiDAR-equipped UAS data collection and unsupervised machine learning techniques. A new automated inspection system using a LIDAR-equipped UAS can eventually if developed and tested be more reliable as well as less expensive. In …

Developing A Conceptual Passive Contact Tracing System For Commercial Buildings Using Wifi Indoor Positioning, Sorena Vosoughkhosravi, Amirhosein Jafari

Faculty Publications

Contact tracing is one of the critical tools for fighting against pandemic disease outbreaks, such as the fast-growing SARS-CoV-2 virus and its different variants. At present, automated contact tracing systems face two main challenges: (1) requiring application installation on smart devices and (2) protecting the users’ privacy. This study introduces a conceptual passive contact tracing system using indoor WiFi positioning to address these challenges and investigate the role of such a system in commercial buildings. In this regard, this study uses a simulated small-office layout in a case study to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed system. The special use …

The Need For A Framework Addressing The Temporal Aspects Of Fish Sperm Motility Leading To Community-Level Standardization, Harvey Blackburn, Leticia Torres, Yue Liu, Terrence R. Tiersch

Faculty Publications

Motility is a widely available parameter that can be used to assess sperm quality of aquatic species. Sperm from fishes with external fertilization usually undergo a dynamic and short-lived period of motility after activation. The common practice of assigning a single value at an arbitrary peak of motility presents challenges for reproducibility, community-level standardization, and comparisons across studies. This study aimed to explore statistical approaches to standardize motility reporting, and to develop an initial framework for community-level standards. Sperm samples from 14 zebrafish (Danio rerio) with a total of 21,705 cells were analyzed by use of computer-assisted sperm analysis with …

Valley-Floor Snowfall In Taylor Valley, Antarctica, From 1995 To 2017: Spring, Summer And Autumn, Madeline E. Myers, Peter T. Doran, Krista F. Myers

Faculty Publications

We present an analysis of the 20 year snowfall dataset in Taylor Valley and the results of a new snow cover monitoring study. Snowfall has been measured at four sites in Taylor Valley from 1995 to 2017. We focus on valley-floor snowfall when wind does not exceed 5 m s-1, and we exclude winter from our analysis due to poor data quality. Snowfall averaged 11 mm water equivalent (w.e.) from 1995 to 2017 across all stations and ranged from 1 to 58 mm w.e. Standard deviations ranged from 3 to 17 mm w.e., highlighting the strong interannual variability of snowfall …

Weak Thermal State Quadrature-Noise Shadow Imaging, Pratik J. Barge, Ziqi Niu, Savannah L. Cuozzo, Eugeniy E. Mikhailov, Irina Novikova, Hwang Lee, Lior Cohen

Faculty Publications

In this work, we theoretically and experimentally demonstrate the possibility to create an image of an opaque object using a few-photon thermal optical field. We utilize the quadrature-noise shadow imaging (QSI) technique that detects the changes in the quadrature-noise statistics of the probe beam after its interaction with an object. We show that such a thermal QSI scheme has an advantage over the classical differential imaging when the effect of dark counts is considered. At the same time, the easy availability of thermal sources for any wavelength makes the method practical for broad range of applications, not accessible with, e.g., …

Ogle-2018-Blg-0799lb: A Q ∼2.7 × 10-3planet With Spitzer Parallax, Weicheng Zang, Yossi Shvartzvald, Andrzej Udalski, Jennifer C. Yee, Chung Uk Lee, Takahiro Sumi, Xiangyu Zhang, Hongjing Yang, Shude Mao, Sebastiano Calchi Novati, Andrew Gould, Wei Zhu, Charles A. Beichman, Geoffery Bryden, Sean Carey, B. Scott Gaudi, Calen B. Henderson, Przemek Mróz, Jan Skowron, Radoslaw Poleski, Michał K. Szymański, Igor Soszyński, Paweł Pietrukowicz, Szymon Kozłowski, Krzysztof Ulaczyk, Krzysztof A. Rybicki, Patryk Iwanek, Marcin Wrona, Michael D. Albrow, Sun Ju Chung, Cheongho Han, Kyu Ha Hwang, Youn Kil Jung

Faculty Publications

We report the discovery and analysis of a planet in the microlensing event OGLE-2018-BLG-0799. The planetary signal was observed by several ground-based telescopes, and the planet-host mass ratio is q = (2.65 ± 0.16) × 10-3. The ground-based observations yield a constraint on the angular Einstein radius θE, and the microlensing parallax vector πE, is strongly constrained by the Spitzer data. However, the 2019 Spitzer baseline data reveal systematics in the Spitzer photometry, so there is ambiguity in the magnitude of the parallax. In our preferred interpretation, a full Bayesian analysis using a Galactic model indicates that the planetary system …

Systematic Kmtnet Planetary Anomaly Search: V. Complete Sample Of 2018 Prime-Field, Andrew Gould, Cheongho Han, Weicheng Zang, Hongjing Yang, Kyu Ha Hwang, Andrzej Udalski, Ian A. Bond, Michael D. Albrow, Sun Ju Chung, Youn Kil Jung, Yoon Hyun Ryu, In Gu Shin, Yossi Shvartzvald, Jennifer C. Yee, Sang Mok Cha, Dong Jin Kim, Hyoun Woo Kim, Seung Lee Kim, Chung Uk Lee, Dong Joo Lee, Yongseok Lee, Byeong Gon Park, Richard W. Pogge, Przemek Mróz, Michal K. Szymanski, Jan Skowron, Radek Poleski, Igor Soszynski, Pawel Pietrukowicz, Szymon Kozlowski, Krzysztof Ulaczyk, Krzysztof A. Rybicki, Patryk Iwanek

Faculty Publications

We complete the analysis of all 2018 prime-field microlensing planets identified by the Korea Microlensing Telescope Network (KMTNet) Anomaly Finder. Among the ten previously unpublished events with clear planetary solutions, eight are either unambiguously planetary or are very likely to be planetary in nature: OGLE-2018-BLG-1126, KMT-2018-BLG-2004, OGLE-2018-BLG-1647, OGLE-2018-BLG-1367, OGLE-2018-BLG-1544, OGLE-2018-BLG-0932, OGLE-2018-BLG-1212, and KMT-2018-BLG-2718. Combined with the four previously published new Anomaly Finder events and 12 previously published (or in preparation) planets that were discovered by eye, this makes a total of 24 2018 prime-field planets discovered or recovered by Anomaly Finder. Together with a paper in preparation on 2018 subprime …

The Curve Not Taken: Effects Of Covid-19 International Comparison News, Seon Woo Kim, Martina Santia, Raymond J. Pingree, Ayla Oden, Kirill Bryanov, Jessica Wyers

Faculty Publications

International news can inform people not only about what is happening in other countries, but also about how their own country could benefit from policies that have proved successful elsewhere. Specifically, international policy comparison news, or news that compares the policies of two or more countries on the same issue, is a potentially important but underutilized and understudied form of news content. We use an experiment to test effects of exposure to news comparing the COVID-19 pandemic policies of the U.S. versus South Korea, and find that this increases knowledge of policy differences between the two countries, support for adopting …

A Machine Learning Framework For Detecting Covid-19 Infection Using Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering, Eloghosa Ikponmwoba, Okezzi Ukorigho, Parikshit Moitra, Dipanjan Pan, Manas Ranjan Gartia, Opeoluwa Owoyele

Faculty Publications

In this study, we explored machine learning approaches for predictive diagnosis using surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS), applied to the detection of COVID-19 infection in biological samples. To do this, we utilized SERS data collected from 20 patients at the University of Maryland Baltimore School of Medicine. As a preprocessing step, the positive-negative labels are obtained using Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) testing. First, we compared the performance of linear and nonlinear dimensionality techniques for projecting the high-dimensional Raman spectra to a low-dimensional space where a smaller number of variables defines each sample. The appropriate number of reduced features used was obtained …

A Framework For Vibration Attenuation In Traffic Mast Arm Structures Under Wind Loads, A. M. Aly, H. Gol-Zaroudi, M. Rezaee

Faculty Publications

Traffic signals and information signs play a vivid role in maintaining safe travel by guiding drivers on highways and urban roads. Traffic mast arm structures are susceptible to vibrations induced by wind loads. Fatigue-induced failure is common in these structures. However, it is crucial to ascertain the functionality of signal support structures. This paper lays the foundation for a fully computational framework to model and mitigate wind-induced vibrations in traffic lighting support structures by conducting computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations, dynamic modeling, and damping enhancement. We validated the CFD simulations by aerodynamic testing. The dependence of flow pattern and aerodynamic …

Bio-Inspired Geotechnical Engineering: Principles, Current Work, Opportunities And Challenges, Alejandro Martinez, Jason Dejong, Idil Akin, Ali Aleali, Chloe Arson, Jared Atkinson, Paola Bandini, Tugce Baser, Rodrigo Borela, Ross Boulanger, Matthew Burrall, Yuyan Chen, Clint Collins, Douglas Cortes, Sheng Dai, Theodore Dejong, Emanuela Del Dottore, Kelly Dorgan, Richard Fragaszy, J. David Frost, Robert Full, Majid Ghayoomi, Daniel I. Goldman, Nicholas Gravish, Ivan L. Guzman, James Hambleton, Elliot Hawkes, Michael Helms, David Hu, Lin Huang, Sichuan Huang, Christopher Hunt, Duncan Irschick

Faculty Publications

A broad diversity of biological organisms and systems interact with soil in ways that facilitate their growth and survival. These interactions are made possible by strategies that enable organisms to accomplish functions that can be analogous to those required in geotechnical engineering systems. Examples include anchorage in soft and weak ground, penetration into hard and stiff subsurface materials and movement in loose sand. Since the biological strategies have been 'vetted' by the process of natural selection, and the functions they accomplish are governed by the same physical laws in both the natural and engineered environments, they represent a unique source …

Exploring The Use Of Machine Learning To Parameterize Vertical Mixing In The Ocean Surface Boundary Layer, Jun Hong Liang, Jianguo Yuan, Xiaoliang Wan, Jinliang Liu, Bingqing Liu, Hakun Jang, Mayank Tyagi

Faculty Publications

In ocean and climate models, the simulation of upper-ocean temperature and salinity depends on mixing parameterizations for ocean surface boundary layer turbulence. Existing mixing parameterizations are based on physical principles with empirical parameters. However, they are still imperfect, leading to biases in the simulation of physical states in the upper ocean. In this study, we explore the use of the data-based machine learning technique, specifically, a deep neural network model, for the effects of vertical mixing in the ocean surface boundary layer. The model is trained using process-oriented simulations of the upper-ocean turbulence driven by realistic forcing conditions at the …

Heat Pulse Testing At Monitoring Wells To Estimate Subsurface Fluid Velocities In Geological Co2 Storage, Refaat G. Hashish, Mehdi Zeidouni

Faculty Publications

Monitoring the injected CO2 during geological CO2 storage (GCS) is essential to assure containment and identify CO2 leakage. In this work, a new approach is introduced to estimate the evolution of the downhole fluid velocity at a monitoring well and identify CO2 arrival time using in-well heat pulse/tracer test. The proposed technique involves using a downhole heater to generate a series of heat pulses and measuring their corresponding temperature response. The surface temperature of the downhole heater is controlled by the supplied electrical power and the heat loss by convection to the surroundings. Convective heat transfer is well described using …

Effectiveness Assessment Of E-Ticketing Technology In Construction Of Transportation Projects, Sharareh Kermanshachi, Karthik Subramanya

Publications

The construction of highway infrastructure has devoted significant resources towards e-Construction to reduce the paperwork and automate the tasks in daily operations. Electronic Ticketing (e-Ticketing) is one such component of e-Construction that aids in the digital transfer of material tickets such as asphalt and concrete which accounts for more than fifty per cent of construction costs. Despite the benefits of e-Ticketing, many state departments and agencies are unwilling to transition into this technology. No studies have identified the cause of the delay in the implementation process, developed a framework to comprehend the platform's full potential, quantified savings, and suggested strategies …

Development Of Distress Index Prediction Models For Rehabilitation Treatments In Louisiana Using Advanced Machine Learning Techniques, Momen R. Mousa, Marwa Hassan

Publications

Performance prediction models are used by state agencies to predict future trends in distress indices, hence, determining the required maintenance and/or rehabilitation treatment as well as the deterioration rate and remaining pavement service life. However, most of these models are based on a limited number of parameters and cannot predict the performance distress indices reliably. Such limitation resulted in having, most of the time, a maximum prediction period of five years. As a solution and coping with the ever-increasing size of pavement data, machine learning techniques have become a promising alternative. The objective of this study was to develop a …

Using Rice Husk Ash (Rha) As Stabilizing Agent For Problematic Subgrade Soils And Embankments, Zahid Hossain, Rifat Bulut, Fares Tarhuni, Hussein Al-Dakheeli

Publications

Arkansas produces the most of the rice in the United States. About 20% of poddy is rice husk (RH), which is burnt under controlled conditions to produce rice rusk ash (RHA). The RHA is considered an environmental hazard and a significant challenge for rice millers. However, RHA is rich in pozzolanic material, which is mainly silica. In this study, RHA is used to stabilize poor soils. Another commonly used stabilizer, hydrated lime (HL), has also been evaluated for comparison purposes. Thus, this study aimed to determine the optimum percentages of RHA, HL, or a combination of these two agents by …

A Deep Learning Tool For The Assessment Of Pavement Smoothness And Aggregate Segregation During Construction, Mostafa Elseifi, Ramchandra Paudel, Md Tanvir Ahmed Sarkar, Hossam Abohamer, Nirmal Dhakal

Publications

Pavement construction monitoring and quality assurance (QA) practices are mostly based on costly, discrete, and destructive methods. Most quality assurance programs are based on pavement construction procedures encompassing in-situ coring for layer thickness determination, density measurements, laboratory testing to measure volumetric properties, and smoothness measurements in case of the availability of a profiler. The main objective of this study was to develop a machine learning-based classifier for predicting pavement roughness and aggregate segregation based on digital image analysis, image recognition, and deep learning machine models. The developed Convolution Neural Networks (CNN) models were trained, tested, and validated using 600-pavement surface …

The Construction And Estimation Of Hidden Semi-Markov Models, Kurdstan Abdullah, John Van Der Hoek

Journal of Stochastic Analysis

No abstract provided.

Electric Field Driven Co-Assembly And Transport Of Colloids Using Active-Passive Interaction, Brishty Deb Choudhury

LSU Master's Theses

Over the past few decades, the out-of-equilibrium transport and assembly of colloidal particles have been drawing significant interest due to their myriad applications in biology, engineering, and physics. In the absence of any external force, micro and nanoparticles perform Brownian motion in dispersion and are termed as passive colloids. In contrast, active colloids are a class of particles where a net imbalance of fluid flow around their surface drives their net migration in space when subjected to an external electric field. While several studies have shown the ability to program the dynamics of active colloids using an external electric field, …

Scheduling Many-Task Computing Applications For A Hybrid Cloud, Shifat Perveen Mithila

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

A centralized scheduler can become a bottleneck for placing the tasks of a many-task application on heterogeneous cloud resources. Previously, it was demonstrated that a decentralized vector scheduling approach based on performance measurements can be used successfully for this task placement scenario. In this dissertation, we extend this approach to task placement based on latency measurements. Each node collects performance metrics from its neighbors on an overlay graph, measures the communication latency, and then makes local decisions on where to move tasks. We present a decentralized and a centralized algorithm for configuring the overlay graph based on latency measurements and …

Wetland Soil Development Along Salinity And Hydrogeomorphic Gradients In Active And Inactive Deltaic Basins Of Coastal Louisiana, Amanda Fontenot

LSU Master's Theses

Coastal wetlands provide an abundance of ecosystem services that benefit society, such as essential habitat for commercial species, storm protection, nutrient cycling, and carbon storage. Louisiana faces rapid rates of relative sea level rise (natural subsidence and eustatic sea levels) that threaten wetland survival, which are amplified by a reduction of riverine sediment input. An important determining factor of marsh survival is the formation of wetland platform elevation, known as vertical accretion, which is determined by several processes including sediment deposition & erosion, below ground biomass (BGB) productivity, decomposition of organic matter, shallow & deep subsidence, and soil compaction. Feldspar …

Adaptive Balancing Compensation In Distribution Grid Of Ultra High-Power Manufacturing Plants, Motab Almousa

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation presents a method of adaptive compensation, capable of handling power factor and the supply quality improvement under non-sinusoidal conditions. The focus in this dissertation is put on developing compensation for ultra-high power metallurgical plants, meaning on compensation in three-phase, four-wire ultra-high power dynamic, distribution systems. A separate attention in the dissertation is put on the adaptive compensation of ultrahigh power arc furnaces. The dissertation also presents an original method of adaptive compensation of DC current generated by such arc furnaces.

The proposed compensator is developed in the frame of the Currents’ Physical Components (CPC) – based power theory. …

Design Tunneling Transistor And Schottky Junction Solar Cell Using Van Der Waals Semiconductor Heterostructure, Md Azmot Ullah Khan

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Transition metal di-chalcogenide (TMDC) materials, being semiconductor in nature, offer Two-dimensional (2D) materials such as graphene and molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂) possess unique and unusual properties that are particularly applicable to nanoelectronics and photovoltaic devices. In this dissertation, four different projects have been done that encompass the implementation of these materials to improve the performance of future transistors and Schottky junction solar cells. In chapter 2, an analytical current transport model of a dual gate tunnel field-effect transistor (TFET) is developed by utilizing the principle of band-to-band tunneling (BTBT) and MoS₂ as the channel material. Later, using this …

Apparatuses, Systems, And Methods For Performing Remote Real-Time Experiments, Paulo J. Waltrich

College of Engineering Patents

Embodiments of the present invention include apparatuses and methods for performing remote experiments in real-time. The method includes sending requests to perform remote experiments for a desired configuration to a first and second facility. The desired configuration may include a first and second configuration. The method includes running a first remote experiment in real-time at the first facility to obtain a first output variable. The first facility may include the first configuration with a first input variable. The method includes simultaneously running a second remote experiment in real-time at a second facility to obtain a second output variable. The second …

4d Spatio-Temporal Electric Field Characterization Of Ultrashort Light Pulses Undergoing Filamentation, Lana Neoričić, Christoph Jusko, Sara Mikaelsson, Chen Guo, Miguel Miranda, Shiyang Zhong, Felix Garmirian, Balazs Major, Jeffrey M. Brown, Mette B. Gaarde, Arnaud Couairon, Uwe Morgner, Milutin Kovačev, Cord L. Arnold

Faculty Publications

We present an experimental method capable of capturing the complete spatiotemporal dynamics of filamenting ultrashort laser pulses. By employing spatially resolved Fourier transform spectrometry in combination with the capability to terminate the filament at any length, we can follow the nonlinear dynamics in four dimensions, i.e. the transverse domain, time and filament length. Our method thus not only enables the full characterization of the filamentation process throughout its evolution, but also allows to identify and select laser pulses with desired parameters.

Development Of A Non-Dairy Yogurt Alternative Using High Protein Brown And White Rice Flour, Anita Morris

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

There is a great demand for plant-based yogurt alternatives (YAs) due to societal prevalence of milk sensitivities and allergies as well as some consumers abstaining from animal-derived products. Producing YAs from rice flour has considerable potential because (1) rice is not a major food allergen, (2) using rice flour is more economical compared to plant milks, the main ingredient in commercially available YAs, and (3) there are no rice-based yogurt alternatives in today’s marketplace. The overall goals of this study were to develop probiotic YAs from brown and white rice flours, and to evaluate their storage stability, probiotic’s survival in …

Genetic Dissection And Qtl Pyramiding To Enhance Salinity Tolerance In Rice (Oryza Sativa L.), Sandeep Chapagain

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Salinity is emerging as a major threat to rice production worldwide due to climate change and anthropogenic sources. We performed three different population development approaches using exotic salt tolerant donors in US rice backgrounds to identify the salt tolerant QTLs/genes and tolerant breeding lines. First approach involved development of a biparental introgression lines (ILs) population by utilizing a salinity tolerant donor ‘TCCP’ in an elite rice cultivar ‘Cheniere’ background and mapping of QTLs at germination, seedling, and reproductive stages A total of seven QTLs for five germination traits, 16 QTLs for seven seedling stage traits, and 30 QTLs for ten …

Probing The Mutation Independent Interaction Of Dna Probes With Sars-Cov-2 Variants Through A Combination Of Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering And Machine Learning, Parikshit Moitra, Ardalan Chaichi, Syed Mohammad Abid Hasan, Ketan Dighe, Maha Alafeef, Alisha Prasad, Manas Ranjan Gartia, Dipanjan Pan

Faculty Publications

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) evolution has been characterized by the emergence of sets of mutations impacting the virus characteristics, such as transmissibility and antigenicity, presumably in response to the changing immune profile of the human population. The presence of mutations in the SARS-CoV-2 virus can potentially impact therapeutic and diagnostic test performances. We design and develop here a unique set of DNA probes i.e., antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) which can interact with genetic sequences of the virus irrespective of its ongoing mutations. The probes, developed herein, target a specific segment of the nucleocapsid phosphoprotein (N) gene of SARS-CoV-2 …

High-Strength Concrete-Like Fluorogypsum-Based Blends And Production Method, Michele Barbato

College of Engineering Patents

High-strength concrete-like FG blends and methods for producing them are described. The blend includes FG, hydraulic cement, additional alkali material, and pozzolanic material. The blend further includes an admixture used in the formulation of concrete. The blend further includes an aggregate. The aggregate is a coarse aggregate or a fine aggregate.