Digital Commons Network^™

Lessons Learned From Topic Modeling Analysis Of Covid-19 News To Enrich Statistics Education In Korea, Seokmin Kang, Sungyeun Kim

Teaching and Learning Faculty Publications

This study aimed to investigate how mass media in Korea dealt with various issues arising from COVID-19 and the implications of this on statistics education in South Korea during the recent pandemic. We extracted news articles with the keywords “Corona” and “Statistics” from 18 February to 20 May 2020. We employed word frequency analysis, topic modeling, semantic network analysis, hierarchical clustering, and simple linear regression analysis. The main results of this study are as follows. First, the topic modeling analysis revealed four topics, namely “macroeconomy”, “domestic outbreak”, “international outbreak”, and “real estate and stocks”. Second, a simple linear regression analysis …

The Role Of Economic Development On The Effectiveness Of Industrial Pollution Reduction Policy In Chinese Cities, Wei Wang, Haibo Wang, Jaime Ortiz, Bahram Alidaee, Bowen Sun

International Business and Entrepreneurship Faculty Publications

The societal impact of industrial pollution produced by economic activities is a global concern. This paper presents a causal analytic framework to evaluate the effectiveness of government policy on the reduction of industrial pollutants in 284 Chinese cities between 2005 and 2016. This study reports on the interaction between industrial pollution reduction and the level of regional economic development from four dimensions by using analysis of variance (ANOVA),multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and a bootstrap autoregressive-distributed lag (ARDL) test. The results indicate that city government policies, economic power, the influence of megacities, and the geographical region of the cities have …

Multiple Periodic Vibrations Of Auxetic Honeycomb Sandwich Plate With 1:2 Internal Resonance, Shaotao Zhu, Jing Li, Zhijun Qiao, Ji Zhou

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

In this paper, we focus on the multiple periodic vibration behaviors of an auxetic honeycomb sandwich plate subjected to in-plane and transverse excitations. Nonlinear equation of motion for the plate is derived based on the third-order shear deformation theory and von Kármán type nonlinear geometric assumptions. The Melnikov method is extended to detect the bifurcation and multiple periodic vibrations of the plate under 1:2 internal resonance. The effects of transverse excitation on nonlinear vibration behaviors are discussed in detail. Evolution laws and waveforms of multiple periodic vibrations are obtained to analyze the energy transfer process between the first two order …

The Arecibo Observatory As An Instrument For Investigating Orbital Debris: Legacy And Next Generation Performance, James Murray, Fredrick A. Jenet

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Publications

In this paper, we investigate the ability of the Arecibo Observatory to characterize the orbital debris environment and compare it to the primary instrument used by NASA's Orbital Debris Program Office, the Haystack Ultra-Wideband Satellite Imaging Radar (HUSIR). Arecibo's location (183 N) increases the percentage of observable orbits (relative to HUSIR) by 27%, which gives Arecibo access to a much larger and previously unmeasured portion of the environment. Due to the recent collapse of the Arecibo dish, in addition to exploring historic capabilities of the Legacy Arecibo Telescope, estimates of the performance of the proposed Next Generation Arecibo Telescope (NGAT) …

Mmzda: Enabling Social Welfare Maximization In Cross-Silo Federated Learning, Jianan Chen, Qin Hu, Honglu Jiang

Computer Science Faculty Publications

—As one of the typical settings of Federated Learning (FL), cross-silo FL allows organizations to jointly train an optimal Machine Learning (ML) model. In this case, some organizations may try to obtain the global model without contributing their local training, lowering the social welfare. In this paper, we model the interactions among organizations in cross-silo FL as a public goods game for the first time and theoretically prove that there exists a social dilemma where the maximum social welfare is not achieved in Nash equilibrium. To overcome this social dilemma, we employ the Multi-player Multi-action ZeroDeterminant (MMZD) strategy to maximize …

Search For Intermediate-Mass Black Hole Binaries In The Third Observing Run Of Advanced Ligo And Advanced Virgo, R. Abbott, T. D. Abbott, F. Acernese, K. Ackley, Teviet Creighton, Mario C. Diaz, Francisco Llamas, Soma Mukherjee, Volker Quetschke, Wenhui Wang

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Publications

Intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) span the approximate mass range 100−10⁵ M_⊙, between black holes (BHs) that formed by stellar collapse and the supermassive BHs at the centers of galaxies. Mergers of IMBH binaries are the most energetic gravitational-wave sources accessible by the terrestrial detector network. Searches of the first two observing runs of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo did not yield any significant IMBH binary signals. In the third observing run (O3), the increased network sensitivity enabled the detection of GW190521, a signal consistent with a binary merger of mass ∼150 M_⊙ providing direct evidence of …

Comparative Evaluation Of Physicochemical And Fermentative Responses Of Three Sorghum Varieties From Dryland And Irrigated Land And The Properties Of Proteins From Distillers’ Grains, Jikai Zhao, Thomas Weiss, Zhenjiao Du, Shan Hong, Scott R. Bean, Yonghui Li, Donghai Wang

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Three sorghum varieties [waxy sorghum (WS), high protein sorghum (HPS), and normal sorghum (NS)] grown under dryland and irrigated conditions were evaluated with respect to the physicochemical and fermentative properties. The proteins were extracted from wet distillers' grains with solubles (WDGS) and characterized in terms of purity and in vitro digestibility. Starch, crude protein, crude fat, and fiber contents of the sorghums ranged from 64.16 to 68.05 g/100 g, 11.49–13.54 g/100 g, 2.45–2.98 g/100 g, and 1.62–1.80 g/100 g, respectively. For the same variety, the sorghums grown under dryland conditions had higher protein (0.33–0.91 g/100 g) and lower …

Comparative Assessment Of Pollutant Concentrations And Meteorological Parameters From Tceq Cams Sites At Houston And Rio Grande Valley Regions Of Texas, Usa In 2016, Esmeralda Mendez, Jonathan Rodriguez, August Luna, Amit U. Raysoni

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Spatial and temporal heterogeneity in pollutant concentrations exists at the intra-urban level. In this research work, the concentrations of various pollutants and meteorological parameters are characterized between various central ambient monitoring sites at Houston, TX, and the Rio Grande Valley Regions of South Texas. Meteorological (temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and direction) and pollutant (O3, SO2, CO, NO2, and various PM species) concentrations were downloaded from the appropriate Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) Central Ambient Monitoring Station (CAMS) sites for the year 2016. Correlation Analyses and Coefficient of Divergence (COD) analyses suggest that statistically significant differences occur between the …

Integrable Semi-Discretization Of A Modified Short Wave Equation, Yujuan Zhang, Ruyun Ma, Na Xiong, Bao-Feng Feng

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

In this paper, we are concerned with one of the integrable equations proposed by Hone et al. (2018). We firstly show that it can be derived from the Tzitzeica equation through hodograph or reciprocal transformations and it is linked to the short wave limits of the DP and Novikov equations, respectively, through Miura transformations. Based on the semi-discrete analogue of CKP-Toda hierarchy, we construct the integrable semi-discretization of what we call the modified short wave equation and provide its multi-soliton solution.

Robots Need The Ability To Navigate Abusive Interactions, Hideki Garcia Goo, Katie Winkle, Tom Williams, Megan K. Strait

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Researchers are seeing more and more cases of abusive disinhibition towards robots in public realms. Because robots embody gendered identities, poor navigation of antisocial dynamics may reinforce or exacerbate gender-based violence. It is essential that robots deployed in social settings be able to recognize and respond to abuse in a way that minimises ethical risk. Enabling this capability requires designers to first understand the risk posed by abuse of robots, and hence how humans perceive robot-directed abuse. To that end, we experimentally investigated reactions to a physically abusive interaction between a human perpetrator and a victimized agent. Given extensions of …

Number Of Bounded Distance Equivalence Classes In Hulls Of Repetitive Delone Sets, Dirk Frettlöh, Alexey Garber, Lorenzo Sadun

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

Two Delone sets are bounded distance equivalent to each other if there is a bijection between them such that the distance of corresponding points is uniformly bounded. Bounded distance equivalence is an equivalence relation. We show that the hull of a repetitive Delone set with finite local complexity has either one equivalence class or uncountably many.

Optimal Quantization For Mixed Distributions Generated By Two Uniform Distributions, Ashley Gomez, Olga Lopez, Mrinal Kanti Roychowdhury

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

In this paper, for mixed distributions generated by two uniform distributions we investigate the optimal sets of n-means and the nth quantization errors for all positive integers n. Some conjectures and open problems are also given.

Now You See Me: “First” Records Of The Greater Amberjack Seriola Dumerili At Rapa Nui Range Extension Or Increased Scientific Effort?, Naiti Morales, Amy Rose Coghlan, Erin E. Easton, Alan M. Friedlander, James J. Herlan, Carlos F. Gaymer

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

We report new records of the fisheries-harvested subtropical greater amberjack Seriola dumerili for the south-east Pacific Ocean. Previously, only one species of Seriola (the yellowtail amberjack Seriola lalandi) was scientifically recorded for Rapa Nui (also known as Easter Island) despite local fishers' asserting that three Seriola morphotypes are found in the region. Here we present the first 'scientific record' of what could be a pre-existing (albeit transient) species of the Rapa Nui ecoregion. Establishing the existing range limits of commercially and ecologically valuable species is key for observing climate-driven distribution shifts, and the inclusion of traditional ecological knowledge is likely …

Community-Clinic Linkages For Promoting Hiv Prevention: Organizational Networks For Prep Client Referrals And Collaborations, Rebecca L. Mauldin, Tamara Al Rawwad, Muhammad Amith, Lisa M. Kuhns, John A. Schneider, Kayo Fujimoto

School of Social Work Faculty Publications

Community-clinic linkages may help communities increase HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) uptake. Referrals from community-based organizations may be particularly important for linking Black men who have sex with men (MSM) to PrEP. This study describes PrEP referral and HIV/STI prevention networks among organizations that serve MSM in Houston, TX (N = 40), and Chicago, IL (N = 28), and compares network positions of organizations based on percentage of Black/African American clients. A majority of organizations conducted PrEP awareness/promotion activities, but fewer made PrEP referrals, with little overlap between the collaboration and referral networks. The networks tended to have a …

Deep Learning Model With Adaptive Regularization For Eeg-Based Emotion Recognition Using Temporal And Frequency Features, Alireza Samavat, Ebrahim Khalili, Bentolhoda Ayati, Marzieh Ayati

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Since EEG signal acquisition is non-invasive and portable, it is convenient to be used for different applications. Recognizing emotions based on Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) is an important active BCI paradigm for recognizing the inner state of persons. There are extensive studies about emotion recognition, most of which heavily rely on staged complex handcrafted EEG feature extraction and classifier design. In this paper, we propose a hybrid multi-input deep model with convolution neural networks (CNNs) and bidirectional Long Short-term Memory (Bi-LSTM). CNNs extract time-invariant features from raw EEG data, and Bi-LSTM allows long-range lateral interactions between features. First, we propose a …

Open-Angle Glaucomatous Optic Neuropathy Is Related To Dips Rather Than Increases In The Mean Arterial Pressure Over 24-H, Jesus D. Melgarejo, Jan V. Eijgen, Gladys E. Maestre, Lama A. Al-Aswad, Lutgarde Thijs, Luis J. Mena, Joseph D. Terwilliger, Michele Petitto, Carlos A. Chavez, Miguel Brito

School of Medicine Publications

Background

Mean arterial pressure (MAP) drives ocular perfusion. Excessive 24-h MAP variability relates to glaucoma, however, whether this is due to dips or increases in the blood pressure (BP) is undocumented. We investigated the association of open-angle glaucoma (OAG) in relation to the five largest MAP dips/increases over 24-h, henceforth called dips/blips.

Methods

In the Maracaibo Aging Study (MAS), 93 participants aged ≥40y (women, 87.1%; mean age, 61.9y) underwent baseline ophthalmological and 24-h ambulatory BP monitoring assessments. OAG was the presence of optic nerve damage and visual field defects. Statistical methods included logistic regression and the generalized R2 statistic. …

Multi-Breather Solutions To The Sasa-Satsuma Equation, Chengfa Wu, Bo Wei, Changyan Shi, Bao-Feng Feng

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

General breather solution to the Sasa-Satsuma (SS) equation is systematically investigated in this paper. We firstly transform the SS equation into a set of three Hirota bilinear equations under proper plane wave background. Starting from a specially arranged tau-function of the Kadomtsev-Petviashvili hierarchy and a set of eleven bilinear equations satisfied, we implement a series steps of reduction procedure, i.e., C-type reduction, dimension reduction and complex conjugate reduction, and reduce these eleven equations to three bilinear equations for the SS equation. Meanwhile, general breather solution to the SS equation is found in determinant of even order. The one- and two-breather …

A Skateboarding Experiential Learning Activity For Introductory Physics, Liang Zeng, Guang Zeng, Oscar Guerrero, George Garcia

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Publications

Instructors of introductory college physics courses are in a unique position to explain the physics of skateboarding and its associated risks. A field trip to a skate park to explore the law of conservation of energy and measure the impact forces can enhance student analytical thinking skills and their appreciation of physics in everyday life. Through the measurement of the impact forces and student discussions of their own skateboarding experiences, students are better prepared to protect themselves from skateboarding-related physical injuries. Due to its flexible and creative nature, skateboarding has become a popular action sport worldwide. In the United States, …

Reducing Adverse Impacts Of Amazon Hydropower Expansion, Alexander S. Flecker, Qinru Shi, Rafael M. Almeida, Héctor Angarita, Jonathan M. Gomes-Selman, Roosevelt García-Villacorta, Suresh A. Sethi, Steven A. Thomas, N Leroy Poff, Bruce R. Forsberg

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Proposed hydropower dams at more than 350 sites throughout the Amazon require strategic evaluation of trade-offs between the numerous ecosystem services provided by Earth's largest and most biodiverse river basin. These services are spatially variable, hence collective impacts of newly built dams depend strongly on their configuration. We use multiobjective optimization to identify portfolios of sites that simultaneously minimize impacts on river flow, river connectivity, sediment transport, fish diversity, and greenhouse gas emissions while achieving energy production goals. We find that uncoordinated, dam-by-dam hydropower expansion has resulted in forgone ecosystem service benefits. Minimizing further damage from hydropower development requires considering …

State Of Industry 5.0—Analysis And Identification Of Current Research Trends, Aditya Akundi, Daniel Euresti, Sergio Luna, Wilma Ankobiah, Amit Lopes, Immanuel Edinbarough

Manufacturing & Industrial Engineering Faculty Publications

The term Industry 4.0, coined to be the fourth industrial revolution, refers to a higher level of automation for operational productivity and efficiency by connecting virtual and physical worlds in an industry. With Industry 4.0 being unable to address and meet increased drive of personalization, the term Industry 5.0 was coined for addressing personalized manufacturing and empowering humans in manufacturing processes. The onset of the term Industry 5.0 is observed to have various views of how it is defined and what constitutes the reconciliation between humans and machines. This serves as the motivation of this paper in identifying and analyzing …

The Rider (2022-02-14), Verilu Infante

The Rider Archives

Vol.7 No.19

Differential Privacy In Privacy-Preserving Big Data And Learning: Challenge And Opportunity, Honglu Jiang, Yifeng Gao, S. M. Sarwar, Luis Garza Perez, Mahmudul Robin

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Differential privacy (DP) has become the de facto standard of privacy preservation due to its strong protection and sound mathematical foundation, which is widely adopted in different applications such as big data analysis, graph data process, machine learning, deep learning, and federated learning. Although DP has become an active and influential area, it is not the best remedy for all privacy problems in different scenarios. Moreover, there are also some misunderstanding, misuse, and great challenges of DP in specific applications. In this paper, we point out a series of limits and open challenges of corresponding research areas. Besides, we offer …

Tweet, Like, Subscribe! Understanding Leadership Through Social Media Use, Michael J. Matthews, Samuel H. Matthews, Dawei (David) Waang, Thomas K. Kelemen

Management Faculty Publications

The proliferation of digital data has opened the door for a 21st-century social science that explores human relationships on an unprecedented scale. A particular area of interest is that of leader social media (SM) usage. As studies on leader SM usage have grown dramatically in the past several years, we take stock of the extant literature across various research disciplines. Within this manuscript, we contextualize leader SM usage and demonstrate how it compares to analogous concepts. We subsequently abridge relevant findings and reflect on methodological and theoretical components of the research studies identified in this review. Further, we outline the …

Development Of Zinc Oxide/Hydroxyapatite/Poly(D,L-Lactic Acid) Fibrous Scaffold For Tissue Engineering Applications, Victoria Padilla-Gainza, Heriberto Rodríguez-Tobías, Graciela Morales, Antonio Ledezma-Pérez, Carmen Alvarado-Canché, Raúl Loera-Valencia, Cristóbal Rodríguez, Robert Gilkerson, Carlos Trevino De Leo, Karen Lozano

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

Scaffolds based on polymeric fibers represent an engaging biomedical device due to their particular morphology and similarity with extracellular matrices. The biggest challenge to use fibrous materials in the biomedical field is related to their favorable platform for the adhesion of pathogenic microorganisms. Therefore, their optimum performance not only depends on their bioactive potential but also on their antimicrobial properties. The aim of this work was the design of antimicrobial (zinc oxide, ZnO) and bioactive (hydroxyapatite, Hap) fibrous materials using poly(D, L-lactic acid) (PDLLA) as the polymer fiber substrate. Fiber based composite scaffolds were developed using the Forcespinning® technique. For …

Wallaby Pilot Survey: H I Gas Disc Truncation And Star Formation Of Galaxies Falling Into The Hydra I Cluster, T. N. Reynolds, B. Catinella, L. Cortese, Tobias Westmeier, G. R. Meurer, L. Shao, D. Obreschkow, J. Román, L. Verdes-Montenegro, Juan P. Madrid

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Publications

We present results from our analysis of the Hydra I cluster observed in neutral atomic hydrogen (HI) as part of the Widefield ASKAP L-band Legacy All-sky Blind Survey (WALLABY). These WALLABY observations cover a 60-square-degree field of view with uniform sensitivity and a spatial resolution of 30 arcsec. We use these wide-field observations to investigate the effect of galaxy environment on HI gas removal and star formation quenching by comparing the properties of cluster, infall and field galaxies extending up to ∼5R200 from the cluster centre. We find a sharp decrease in the HI-detected fraction of infalling galaxies at a …

Euclidean Quantum Field Formulation Of P-Adic Open String Amplitudes, A. R. Fuquen-Tibatá, H. García-Compeán, Wilson A. Zuniga-Galindo

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

We study in a rigorous mathematical way p-adic quantum field theories whose N-point amplitudes are the expectation of products of vertex operators. We show that this type of amplitudes admit a series expansion where each term is an Igusa's local zeta function. The lowest term in this series is a regularized version of the p-adic open Koba-Nielsen string amplitude.

Surface Modified Hybrid Znsno3 Nanocubes For Enhanced Piezoelectric Power Generation And Wireless Sensory Application, Sk Md Ali Zaker Shawon, Zaida D. Carballo, Valeria Suarez Vega, Chen Lin, Muhammad Sufian Rafaqut, Andrew Xu Sun, Jianzhi Li, Mohammed J. Uddin

School of Integrative Biological & Chemical Sciences (Formerly Dept. of Chemistry)

Piezoelectric Nanogenerators (PENGs), which can convert ambient mechanical stimuli into electrical energy, are held in high regard due to their cost-effectiveness, energy harvesting applications, and potential as self-powered sensors. We report an aluminum-doped zinc stannate (ZnSnO3) PENG that can achieve high electrical outputs with respect to the external force. In order to enrich the piezoelectric mechanics, a low-temperature solution method was adopted in our work to synthesize ZnSnO3 nanocubes with an average side length of only 30 – 55 nm. Furthermore, ZnSnO3 was doped with 1 wt% to 5 wt% of aluminum nanoparticles. We report that 2 wt% of aluminum …

Inverse Scattering Transform For The Complex Coupled Short-Pulse Equation, Aikaterini Gkogkou, Bao-Feng Feng, A. David Trubatch

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

In this paper, we develop the Riemann–Hilbert approach to the inverse scattering transform (IST) for the complex coupled short-pulse equation on the line with zero boundary conditions at space infinity, which is a generalization of recent work on the scalar real short-pulse equation (SPE) and complex short-pulse equation (cSPE). As a byproduct of the IST, soliton solutions are also obtained. As is often the case, the zoology of soliton solutions for the coupled system is richer than in the scalar case, and it includes both fundamental solitons (the natural, vector generalization of the scalar case), and fundamental breathers (a superposition …

Identifying Available Resources And Agricultural Practices Useful In Soil Fertility Management To Support Orange-Fleshed Sweet Potato Cultivation On Smallholder Farms In Mozambique, Rafaela Feola Conz, Engil Isadora Pujol Pereira, Abdul Naico, Maria Isabel Andrade, Johan Six

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Orange-fleshed sweet potato is an important source of macro-and micronutrients for humans, particularly in resource-poor rural communities. However, sweet potato cultivation removes large amounts of nutrients from the soil. Hence, soil fertility replenishment is vital to secure long-term food production. The lack of access to fertilizers hinders the ability of farmers to supply and replenish soil nutrients, intensifying food insecurity. This study aimed at identifying locally available organic residues and agricultural practices with potential application in soil fertility management to prevent soil degradation in southern Mozambique. We conducted a survey to gather information on the farmers’ demographics and farming systems …

The Reduced Order Method For Solving The Linear Complementarity Problem With An M-Matrix, Xi-Ming Fang, Heng-Jun Zhao, Zhijun Qiao

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

In this paper, by seeking the zero and the positive entry positions of the solution, we provide a direct method, called the reduced order method, for solving the linear complementarity problem with an M-matrix. By this method, the linear complementarity problem is transformed into a low order linear complementarity problem with some low order linear equations and the solution is constructed by the solution of the low order linear complementarity problem and the solutions of these low order linear equations in the transformations. In order to show the accuracy and the effectiveness of the method, the corresponding numerical experiments …