Digital Commons Network^™

Privateex: Privacy Preserving Exchange Of Crypto-Assets On Blockchain, Lei Xu, Lin Chen, Zhimin Gao, Keshav Kasichainula, Miguel Fernandez, Bogdan Carbunar, Weidong Shi

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Bitcoin introduces a new type of cryptocurrency that does not rely on a central system to maintain transactions. Inspired by the success of Bitcoin, all types of alt cryptocurrencies were invented in recent years. Some of the new cryptocurrencies focus on privacy enhancement, where transaction information such as value and sender/receiver identity can be hidden, such as Zcash and Monero. However, there are few schemes to support multiple types of cryptocurrencies/assets and offer privacy enhancement at the same time. The major challenge for a multiple asset system is that it needs to support two-way assets exchange between participants besides one-way …

Optimal Control With Manf Treatment Of Photoreceptor Degeneration, Erika T. Camacho, Suzanne Lenhart, Luis A. Melara, Cristina Villalobos, Stephen Wirkus

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

People afflicted with diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa and age-related macular degeneration experience a decline in vision due to photoreceptor degeneration, which is currently unstoppable and irreversible. Currently there is no cure for diseases linked to photoreceptor degeneration. Recent experimental work showed that mesencephalic astrocyte-derived neurotrophic factor (MANF) can reduce neuron death and, in particular, photoreceptor death by reducing the number of cells that undergo apoptosis. In this work, we build on an existing system of ordinary differential equations that represent photoreceptor interactions and incorporate MANF treatment for three experimental mouse models having undergone varying degrees of photoreceptor degeneration. Using …

Lack Of Debye And Meissner Screening In Strongly Magnetized Quark Matter At Intermediate Densities, Bo Feng, Efrain J. Ferrer, Israel Portillo

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Publications

We study the static responses of cold quark matter in the intermediate baryonic density region (characterized by a chemical potential μ) in the presence of a strong-magnetic field. We consider in particular, the so-called magnetic dual Chiral Density Wave (MDCDW) phase, which is materialized by an inhomogeneous condensate formed by a particle-hole pair. It is shown, that the MDCDW phase is more stable in the weak-coupling regime than the one considered in the magnetic catalysis of chiral symmetry braking phenomenon and even than the chiral symmetric phase that was expected to be realized at sufficiently high baryonic chemical potential. The …

Optimal Quantization Via Dynamics, Joseph Rosenblatt, Mrinal Kanti Roychowdhury

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

Quantization for probability distributions refers broadly to estimating a given probability measure by a discrete probability measure supported by a finite number of points. We consider general geometric approaches to quantization using stationary processes arising in dynamical systems, followed by a discussion of the special cases of stationary processes: random processes and Diophantine processes. We are interested in how close stationary process can be to giving optimal n-means and nth optimal mean distortion errors. We also consider different ways of measuring the degree of approximation by quantization, and their advantages and disadvantages in these different contexts.

Domain Adaptation For Vehicle Detection In Traffic Surveillance Images From Daytime To Nighttime, Jinlong Ji, Zhigang Xu, Hongkai Yu, Lan Fu, Xuesong Zhou

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Vehicle detection in traffic surveillance images is an important approach to obtain vehicle data and rich traffic flow parameters. Recently, deep learning based methods have been widely used in vehicle detection with high accuracy and efficiency. However, deep learning based methods require a large number of manually labeled ground truths (bounding box of each vehicle in each image) to train the Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN). In the modern urban surveillance cameras, there are already many manually labeled ground truths in daytime images for training CNN, while there are little or much less manually labeled ground truths in nighttime images. In …

Accounts Of Asylum: A Call Toward Transnational Literacies Of Displacement, Monica Reyes

Writing and Language Studies Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

On The Spreading Of Non-Canonical Thermals From Direct Numerical Simulations, Kai Liu, ‪Nadim Zgheib, S. Balachandar

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

We present results from direct numerical simulations on laminar and turbulent non-canonical thermals with an initial rectangular density distribution at a Reynolds number of Re = 500 and Re = 5000, respectively. We find the non-canonical shape to induce strong azimuthal variations in the thermal for both the laminar and turbulent cases. These include noticeable differences in downward and horizontal propagation speeds as well as differences in the strength of the vortex tube. These differences persist over a significant period of time and help generate a cross-flow component that is otherwise not present in canonical cases. The cross-flow component is …

Group Vibrational Mode Assignments As A Broadly Applicable Tool For Characterizing Ionomer Membrane Structure As A Function Of Degree Of Hydration, Neili Loupe, Khaldoon Abu-Hakmeh, Shuitao Gao, Luis Gonzalez, Matthew Ingargiola, Kayla Mathiowetz, Ryan Cruse, Jonathan Doan, Isaiah Salas, Nicholas Dimakis

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Publications

Infrared spectra of Nafion, Aquivion, and the 3 M membrane were acquired during total dehydration of fully hydrated samples. Fully hydrated exchange sites are in a sulfonate form with a C3V local symmetry. The mechanical coupling of the exchange site to a side chain ether link gives rise to vibrational group modes that are classified as C3V modes. These mode intensities diminish concertedly with dehydration. When totally dehydrated, the sulfonic acid form of the exchange site is mechanically coupled to an ether link with no local symmetry. This gives rise to C1 group modes that …

How Autobiographies Of Latinx Preservice Teachers Build Culturally Relevant Instruction For The Nature Of Science, Noushin Nouri, Jair J. Aguilar, Patricia Ramirez-Biondolillo

Teaching and Learning Faculty Publications

This chapter argues that preparing teachers to teach science in a culturally relevant context by developing their understanding of how sociocultural factors shape both their own and their students’ learning is a powerful place to begin. Latinx preservice teachers (LPST) come into education programs as learners with existing cultural understandings and experiences. The chapter presents the results of LPSTs’ autobiographical descriptions of their experience with science from early childhood into adulthood, paying specific attention to how their cultures shaped those experiences. The Nature of Science (NOS) is “a rich description of what science is, how it works, how scientists operate …

The Rider (2020-02-10), Victor G. Ramirez

The Rider Archives

Vol.5 No.19

Bilingual Teacher Educators At An Hsi: A Border Pedagogy For Latinx Teacher Development, Alcione N. Ostorga, Christian E. Zúñiga, Kip Austin Hinton

Bilingual and Literacy Studies Faculty Publications

As a borderlands’ institution, we are developing a mission and vision for our HSI identity in the college of education, as well as in our university. We envision pedagogical practices embedded in our teacher preparation that are context specific to our bilingual, biliterate, and bicultural community; one that not only prepares PTs to effectively teach all students, but also promotes strong values for equity and social justice. For our Latinx PTs, this aim has two purposes: 1) to tailor our educational practices capitalizing on their unique strengths and addressing possible challenges in their professional development, and 2) preparing them to …

Delaunay Surfaces Expressed In Terms Of A Cartan Moving Frame, Paul Bracken

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

Delaunay surfaces are investigated by using a moving frame approach. These surfaces correspond to surfaces of revolution in the Euclidean three-space. A set of basic one-forms is defined. Moving frame equations can be formulated and studied. Related differential equation which depend on variables relevant to the surface are obtained. For the case of minimal and constant mean curvature surfaces, the coordinate functions can be calculated in closed form. In the case in which the mean curvature is constant, these functions can be expressed in terms of Jacobi elliptic functions.

Polyphenol-Rich Purple Corn Pericarp Extract Adversely Impacts Herbivore Growth And Development, Mandeep Tayal, Pavel Somavat, Isabella Rodriguez, Tina Thomas, Bradley O. Christoffersen, Rupesh R. Kariyat

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

Plant secondary metabolites such as terpenes, phenolics, glycosides, and alkaloids play various functional roles including pigmentation, foliar and floral volatile synthesis, hormonal regulation, and direct and indirect defenses. Among these, phenolic compounds are commonly found in plants, but vary in the distribution of their specific compounds among plant families. Polyphenols, including anthocyanins and tannins, are widely distributed and have been well documented for their roles- primarily in plant pigmentation and also in plant defenses. However, commercialization of such compounds for use in insect pest management is severely hampered by expensive, inefficient, and time-consuming extraction protocols. Using a recently developed inexpensive …

Effects Of Molten-Salt Processing Parameters On The Structural And Optical Properties Of Preformed La2zr2o7:Eu3+ Nanoparticles, Mitzy A. Penilla Garcia, Santosh K. Gupta, Yuanbing Mao

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

Molten-salt method has been used to synthesize various functional materials, but it has not been employed to adjust the structure, particle size, and properties of preformed particles. To fill the knowledge gap, in this study, we use a molten-salt medium to reprocess preformed La2Zr2O7:5%Eu3+ nanoparticles which were already formed by a molten-salt synthesis (MSS) method. The molten-salt processing is conducted under various conditions in terms of processing time, temperature, and medium. Specifically, within the studied molten-salt processing time (0 h–24 h) at 800°C, 3 h was found to offer the best optical output. In terms of the investigated molten-salt processing …

Function Based Brain Modeling And Simulation Of An Ischemic Region In Post-Stroke Patients Using The Bidomain, Alejandro Lopez-Rincon, Cesar Cantu, Gibran Etcheverry, Rogelio Soto, Shingo Shimoda

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Background. Several studies have shown that post-stroke patients develop divergent activity in the sensorimotor areas of the affected hemisphere of the brain compared to healthy people during motor tasks. Proper mathematical models will help us understand this activity and clarify the associated underlying mechanisms.

New Method. This research describes an anatomically based brain computer model in post-stroke patients. We simulate an ischemic region for arm motion using the bidomain approach. Two scenarios are considered: a healthy subject and a post-stroke patient with motion impairment. Next, we limit the volume of propagation considering only the sensorimotor area of the brain.

Comparison …

Quasinormality Of Powers Of Commuting Pairs Of Bounded Operators, Raul E. Curto, Sang H. Lee, Jasang Yoon

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

We study jointly quasinormal and spherically quasinormal pairs of commuting operators on Hilbert space, as well as their powers. We first prove that, up to a constant multiple, the only jointly quasinormal 2-variable weighted shift is the Helton-Howe shift. Second, we show that a left invertible subnormal operator T whose square T2 is quasinormal must be quasinormal. Third, we generalize a characterization of quasinormality for subnormal operators in terms of their normal extensions to the case of commuting subnormal n-tuples. Fourth, we show that if a 2-variable weighted shift W(α,β) and its powers W(α,β)(2,1) and W(α,β)(1,2) are all spherically quasinormal, …

Classification Of Radial Solutions To Equations Related To Caffarelli–Kohn–Nirenberg Inequalities, John Villavert

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

This article studies the qualitative and quantitative properties of radial solutions to an elliptic equation related to the Euler–Lagrange equations for certain sharp Caffarelli–Kohn–Nirenberg inequalities. Namely, we examine the equation

−div(|x|aDu)=|x|bup, u>0, in RN, where p>1, N≥2, N−2+a≥0 and b>−N. The main results establish the properties of radially symmetric solutions including existence, uniqueness, and classification results as well as results on the asymptotic and intersecting behaviour of such solutions.

The Role Of The Asymmetric Ekman Dissipation Term On The Energetics Of The Two-Layer Quasi-Geostrophic Model, Eleftherios Gkioulekas

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

In the two-layer quasi-geostrophic model, the friction between the flow at the lower layer and the surface boundary layer, placed beneath the lower layer, is modeled by the Ekman term, which is a linear dissipation term with respect to the horizontal velocity at the lower layer. The Ekman term appears in the governing equations asymmetrically; it is placed at the lower layer, but does not appear at the upper layer. A variation, proposed by Phillips and Salmon, uses extrapolation to place the Ekman term between the lower layer and the surface boundary layer, or at the surface boundary layer. We …

Supporting Blockchain-Based Cryptocurrency Mobile Payment With Smart Devices, Lei Xu, Lin Chen, Zhimin Gao, Larry Carranco, Xinxin Fan, Nolah Shah

Computer Science Faculty Publications

The smart device owning rate such as smart phone and smart watch is higher than ever before and mobile payment has become one of the major payment methods in many different areas. At the same time, blockchain-based cryptocurrency is becoming a nonnegligible type of currency and the total value of all types of cryptocurrency has reached USD 200 billion. Therefore, it is a natural demand to support cryptocurrency payment on mobile devices. Considering the poor infrastructure and low penetration of financial service in developing countries, this combination is especially attractive. The high storage cost and payment processing latency are the …

Spanning Properties Of Theta-Theta-6, Mirela Damian, John Iacono, Andrew Winslow

Computer Science Faculty Publications

We show that, unlike the Yao–Yao graph YY6, the Theta–Theta graph ΘΘ6 defined by six cones is a spanner for sets of points in convex position. We also show that, for sets of points in non-convex position, the spanning ratio of ΘΘ6 is unbounded.

Td-Dft Spin-Adiabats With Analytic Nonadiabatic Derivative Couplings, Nicole Bellonzi, Ethan Alguire, Shervin Fatehi, Yihan Shao, Joseph E. Subotnik

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

We present an algorithm for efficient calculation of analytic nonadiabatic derivative couplings between spin-adiabatic, time-dependent density functional theory states within the Tamm-Dancoff approximation. Our derivation is based on the direct differentiation of the Kohn-Sham pseudowavefunction using the framework of Ou et al. Our implementation is limited to the case of a system with an even number of electrons in a closed shell ground state, and we validate our algorithm against finite difference at an S₁/T₂ crossing of benzaldehyde. Through the introduction of a magnetic field spin-coupling operator, we break time-reversal symmetry to generate complex valued nonadiabatic derivative …

The Rider (2020-01-27), Victor G. Ramirez

The Rider Archives

Vol.5 No.17

The Rider (2020-01-20), Victor G. Ramirez

The Rider Archives

Vol.5 No.16

Carbon Tax Or Cap-And-Trade: Which Is More Viable For Chinese Remanufacturing Industry?, Xu Hu, Zhaojun Yang, Jun Sun

Information Systems Faculty Publications

The debate between cap-and-trade and carbon tax, two major carbon emission reduction mechanisms to deal with global warming, has been going on for years unsettled. The strategy to implement one of them or both is by far mainly addressed at the national level, and there is a need to customize the policy-making for different sectors, especially the emerging remanufacturing industry that has the great potential to reduce material and energy consumptions. Based on a closed-loop supply chain model, this study analyzes the tradeoffs between carbon tax and cap-and-trade with a series of numerical studies. While keeping carbon emissions under control, …

Implications Of Different Nitrogen Input Sources For Potential Production And Carbon Flux Estimates In The Coastal Gulf Of Mexico (Gom) And Korean Peninsula Coastal Waters, Jongsun Kim, Piers Chapman, Gilbert Rowe, Steven F. Dimarco, Daniel C. O. Thornton

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

The coastal Gulf of Mexico (GOM) and coastal sea off the Korean Peninsula (CSK) both suffer from human-induced eutrophication. We used a nitrogen (N) mass balance model in two different regions with different nitrogen input sources to estimate organic carbon fluxes and predict future carbon fluxes under different model scenarios. The coastal GOM receives nitrogen predominantly from the Mississippi and Atchafalaya rivers and atmospheric nitrogen deposition is only a minor component in this region. In the CSK, groundwater and atmospheric nitrogen deposition are more important controlling factors. Our model includes the fluxes of nitrogen to the ocean from the atmosphere, …

Monitoring Of The Radio Galaxy M 87 During A Low-Emission State From 2012 To 2015 With Magic, V. A. Acciari, S. Ansoldi, Juan P. Madrid

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Publications

M87 is one of the closest (z = 0.004 36) extragalactic sources emitting at very high energies (VHE, E > 100 GeV). The aim of this work is to locate the region of the VHE gamma-ray emission and to describe the observed broad-band spectral energy distribution (SED) during the low VHE gamma-ray state. The data fromM87 collected between 2012 and 2015 as part of aMAGIC monitoring programme are analysed and combined with multiwavelength data from Fermi-LAT, Chandra, HST, EVN, VLBA, and the Liverpool Telescope. The averaged VHE gamma-ray spectrum can be fitted from ∼100 GeV to ∼10 TeV with a simple …

Impact Of The Next Gen Pet Curriculum On Science Identity, Robynne M. Lock, Ben Van Dusen, Steven Maier, Liang Zeng

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Publications

The Next Gen Physical Science and Everyday Thinking (PET) curriculum was designed for physical science courses for future elementary teachers. However, this curriculum may also be used in general education conceptual science courses. The materials are aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards and use a guided-inquiry approach. Next Gen PET is currently being implemented at many universities nationwide. We examine the impact of this curriculum on students’ science identities at a subset of these universities. The identity framework consists of three dimensions. Recognition is the extent to which a student believes that parents, peers, and professors view them as …

The Second Bible Of Charles The Bald: Patronage And Intellectual Community At St. Amand, Riccardo Pizzinato

School of Art & Design Faculty Publications

Among the manuscripts produced for Charles the Bald, King of West Francia (843-77) and Holy Roman Emperor (875-77), the so-called Second Bible (Paris, BnF, MS Lat. 2) holds a special place. Illuminated in the scriptorium of the abbey of St. Amand between 870 and 873, the Bible—unlike all the other manuscripts presented to the king during this period—contains no human figures or royal portraits. It exhibits instead large initials patterned with geometric and zoomorphic designs. In addition, the volume opens with a long poem dedicated to Charles the Bald and written by Hucbald (ca. 840–930), master of the monastery school …

Professional Development For Mathematics Teacher Education Faculty: Need And Design, Billy Jackson, Shandy Hauk, Jenq Jong Tsay, Alma Ramirez

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

The purpose of this report is to share a conceptual model useful in the design of professional learning about teaching for university mathematics faculty. The model is illustrated by examples from a particular design effort: the development of an online shortcourse for faculty new to teaching mathematics courses for prospective primary school teachers. How novice mathematics teacher educators grow as instructors is an emerging area of research and development in the United States. At the same time, it is well established that effective instructional design of any course, including a course for faculty, requires breadth first: understanding and anticipating the …

Mentoring As Seen Through The Lens Of Doctoral Students, Irma S. Jones, Dianna Blankenship

Teaching and Learning Faculty Publications

This paper will describe the reflections of doctoral students as they complete their first experience of formal mentoring and examine what they discovered about the process and rigors of mentoring adults. Goals and objectives were negotiated and a formal written agreement describing trust, communication, time expectations and constraints, confidentiality of information, plan developing, success criteria and measurement, delineation of mutual responsibilities and target dates for learning goals was executed. Although the students all indicated a successful experience, the process of how each achieved that experience varied.