Digital Commons Network^™

Simultaneous Detection And Quantification Of Multiple Pathogen Targets In Wastewater, Gouthami Rao, Drew Capone, Kevin Zhu, Abigail Knoble, Yarrow Linden, Ryan Clark, Amanda Lai, Juhee Kim, Ching Hua Huang, Aaron Bivins, Joe Brown

Faculty Publications

Wastewater-based epidemiology has emerged as a critical tool for public health surveillance, building on decades of environmental surveillance work for pathogens such as poliovirus. Work to date has been limited to monitoring a single pathogen or small numbers of pathogens in targeted studies; however, few studies consider simultaneous quantitative analysis of a wide variety of pathogens, which could greatly increase the utility of wastewater surveillance. We developed a novel quantitative multi-pathogen surveillance approach (35 pathogen targets including bacteria, viruses, protozoa, and helminths) using TaqMan Array Cards (TAC) and applied the method on concentrated wastewater samples collected at four wastewater treatment …

Energy And Spectrum Efficient Federated Learning Via High-Precision Over-The-Air Computation, Liang Li, Chenpei Huang, Dian Shi, Hao Wang, Xiangwei Zhou, Minglei Shu, Miao Pan

Faculty Publications

Federated learning (FL) enables mobile devices to collaboratively learn a shared prediction model while keeping data locally. However, there are two major research challenges to practically deploy FL over mobile devices: (i) frequent wireless updates of huge size gradients v.s. limited spectrum resources, and (ii) energy-hungry FL communication and local computing during training v.s. battery-constrained mobile devices. To address those challenges, in this paper, we propose a novel multi-bit over-the-air computation (M-AirComp) approach for spectrum-efficient aggregation of local model updates in FL and further present an energy-efficient FL design for mobile devices. Specifically, a high-precision digital modulation scheme is designed …

The Juan De La Cruz Molino: Folk Architecture At El Güique-Estaca New Mexico, José A. Rivera Ph.D

Faculty Publications

El Güique and Estaca are twin communities just north of the confluence of the Río Grande and the Río Chama. Like other Spanish colonial settlements in the historic Río Arriba, acequia-based agriculture was essential for food production in this high desert region of the northern Río Grande. Along with the construction of acequias, molinos (grist mills) were built to grind wheat into flour as part of the subsistence farming economy of the times. While acequias were communal, molinos most often were constructed and operated as private enterprises by local millers like the case of Juan de la Cruz Borrego and …

How Consideration Of Future Consequences, Prior Gain Or Loss, Personal Risk Profile, And Justification Affect Risk–Payoff Preferences, W. Eric Lee

Faculty Publications

This study examines (1) how risk–payoff preference can be affected by differences in consideration of future consequences (CFC), prior gain/loss, and personal risk profile, and (2) whether one’s risk–payoff preference may vary with justification prompts. Using an experimental design with 366 undergraduate business students, participants are tasked to make risk–payoff choices in two scenarios, with the combined risk–payoff outcomes serving as the dependent variable. In addition, participants are assessed on their personal risk profiles and also complete the 14-item CFC scale to gauge the propensity to take into account future consequences of their behaviors. Findings show that one who scores …

Sovereignty And Dependence In The American Empire: Native Nations, Territories, And Overseas Colonies, Alvin Padilla-Babilonia

Faculty Publications

What justifies plenary powers over Native nations, U.S. territories, and overseas colonies? One answer is the text of the Constitution: the Indian Commerce Clause or the Territorial Clause. Another answer is sovereignty under international law. In this Article, I argue that these legalistic explanations overlook a third answer: that political and judicial actors justified plenary powers based on the colonial notion that these so-called dependent peoples were incapable of self- government.

Members of Congress, presidents, federal judges, and territorial governors reconciled republicanism and colonialism in the American empire by constituting Native nations, the territories, and the overseas colonies as dependent …

Global Change Impacts On Indigenous Sustainability In Sakha Republic: A Synthesis Of Knowledge, Stanislav Saas Ksenofontov, Andrey N. Petrov

Faculty Publications

Indigenous understanding of sustainability is embedded in close relations to land and environment, Indigenous Knowledge systems, Indigenous epistemologies and ontologies, and Indigenous languages. However, the sustainability of Indigenous peoples’ livelihoods is significantly affected by various global change drivers. In the Arctic, Indigenous peoples’ livelihoods are impacted by environmental, social, and cultural changes, including climate change, environmental pollution, economic processes, and resource extraction. This paper aims to review and synthesize recent academic and gray literature on the sustainability of Indigenous communities in Sakha Republic, Northeast Siberia, Russia in the face of global change with a particular focus on land- and water-based …

Residual Optical Absorption From Native Defects In Cdsip2 Crystals, Timothy D. Gustafson, Nancy C. Giles, Elizabeth M. Scherrer, Kevin T. Zawilski, Peter G. Schunemann, Kent L. Averett, Jonathan E. Slagle, Larry E. Halliburton

Faculty Publications

CdSiP₂ crystals are used in optical parametric oscillators to produce tunable output in the mid-infrared. As expected, the performance of the OPOs is adversely affected by residual optical absorption from native defects that are unintentionally present in the crystals. Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) identifies these native defects. Singly ionized silicon vacancies (V^-_Si) are responsible for broad optical absorption bands peaking near 800, 1033, and 1907 nm. A fourth absorption band, peaking near 630 nm, does not involve silicon vacancies. Exposure to 1064 nm light when the temperature of the CdSiP₂ crystal is near 80K converts …

A Codified Liabilty Regime To Stimulate Greater Investment In Subpatentable Innovation, Ana Santos Rutschman, Jerome H. Reichman

Faculty Publications

The global intellectual property system rests on a distinction between exclusive property rights and free competition. Exclusive rights vary in strength and intensity, but the opposite of protection is almost always free competition. Distinctions of intensity are drawn in terms of the length of protection given to different subject matters plus variable lists of exceptions and limitations to exclusive rights. But the bottom line is that, when protection is not available under the existing system, free competition prevails, and vice-versa (i.e., where there is exclusivity, free competition is deferred for a specified period of time).

This Article departs from a …

Canceling Appellate Precedent, Michael A. Risch, Lisa A. Tucker

Faculty Publications

In recent years, since soon after Justice Amy Coney Barrett assumed her seat on the United States Supreme Court, the Court has erased more than thirteen politically and legally significant opinions written by the federal appeals courts. In deciding to vacate rather than simply deny certiorari, the Court has eliminated—with one sentence orders that offer no explanation—fully briefed, argued, and reasoned opinions on issues such as abortion, the Voting Rights Act, President Trump’s travel ban, and the Emoluments Clause. Consequently, progressive victories in those areas no longer stand.

The Supreme Court used its power to “vacate” lower court rulings, which …

The Nitrogen Footprint Of Ukraine: Why Personal Consumption Matters, Sergiy Medinets, Allison M. Leach, Tetiana Pavlik, Volodymyr Medinets, James N. Galloway

Faculty Publications

Unintended reactive nitrogen (N) losses from agriculture, energy and transportation pose significant environmental hazards, including eutrophication, acidification, water and air pollution, biodiversity loss, human health risks and climate change. The concept of a nitrogen footprint (NF) emerges as a pivotal metric, reflecting potential N losses in the entire production-consumption chain of goods and services used by an individual within a defined timeframe.In a pioneering assessment of per capita NF in Ukraine, key factors, such as the food production chain, consumption patterns, connection to wastewater treatment (WWT) system and the efficacy of WWT facilities, were identified as critical components. Addressing specific …

Effect Of Teacher Social Support On Students’ Emotions And Learning Engagement: A U.S.-Chinese Classroom Investigation, Moyi Jia, Jiuqing Cheng

Faculty Publications

Psychological and instructional communication researchers increasingly recognize the significance of student emotions in determining their engagement in the classroom. Under the direction of Emotional Response Theory (Mottet, Frymier, & Beebe, 2006), this study aims to establish a model of a college instructor’s social support, student positive and negative emotions, and student engagement in learning. It also attempts to extend this research by examining cultural differences in U.S. and Chinese classrooms and how these factors influence teacher behavior and student emotions. The result demonstrates the mediating effects of student positive emotions between teacher support and student engagement in both cultures. In …

Women At Work: Pathways From Gender Stereotypes To Gender Bias And Discrimination, Madeline E. Heilman, Suzette Caleo, Francesca Manzi

Faculty Publications

Despite important advances, gender-based discrimination continues to hin-der women’s career progress. This review examines the role that gender stereotypes play in promoting gender bias and discrimination. After review- ing what is known about the content of gender stereotypes and examining both their descriptive and prescriptive aspects, we discuss two pathways through which stereotypes result in discrepant work outcomes for women and men. First, we consider how the characterization of women as com- munal but not agentic conflicts with the perceived demands of many male gender-typed jobs and fields, thus promoting perceptions of women’s lack of competence in those areas. Second, …

The Cetacean Sanctuary: A Sea Of Unknowns, Jason N. Bruck

Faculty Publications

Housing cetaceans in netted sea pens is not new and is common for many accredited managed- care facilities. Hence, the distinction between sanctuary and sea pen is more about the philosophies of those who run these sanctuary facilities, the effects of these philosophies on the animals’ welfare, and how proponents of these sanctuaries fund the care of these animals. Here, I consider what plans exist for cetacean sanctuaries and discuss the caveats and challenges associated with this form of activist-managed captivity. One goal for stakeholders should be to disregard the emotional connotations of the word “sanctuary” …

An Empirical Investigation Of Online Grocery Shopping Behaviors Based On Different Generations, Jung-Im Seo

Faculty Publications

The Coronavirus 19 (COVID-19) pandemic has significantly impacted on consumers’ grocery shopping habits and lifestyles. Online grocery shopping is one of the promising ways to have little contact as well as increase convenience. For this reason, the sales and revenues of online grocery shopping have been dramatically increasing during the pandemic. The purpose of this study to explore online grocery shopping behaviors of different generations and their shopping intentions toward online grocery shopping during and after the pandemic. Data were collected from Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) and Southeast region in U.S.A with convenience sample. All Generations know that online grocery …

Ecological Diversification In An Adaptive Radiation Of Plants: The Role Of De Novo Mutation And Introgression, Benjamin Stone, Carolyn A. Wessinger

Faculty Publications

Adaptive radiations are characterized by rapid ecological diversification and speciation events, leading to fuzzy species boundaries between ecologically differentiated species. Adaptive radiations are therefore key systems for understanding how species are formed and maintained, including the role of de novo mutations versus preexisting variation in ecological adaptation and the genome-wide consequences of hybridization events. For example, adaptive introgression, where beneficial alleles are transferred between lineages through hybridization, may fuel diversification in adaptive radiations and facilitate adaptation to new environments. In this study, we employed whole-genome resequencing data to investigate the evolutionary origin of hummingbird-pollinated flowers and to characterize genome-wide patterns …

The Relationship Between The Saharan Air Layer, Convective Environmental Conditions, And Precipitation In Puerto Rico, P. W. Miller, C. Ramseyer

Faculty Publications

The Saharan Air Layer (SAL) is a hot, dry, and dust-laden feature that advects large concentrations of dust across the Atlantic annually to destination regions in the Americas and Caribbean. However, recent work has suggested the SAL may be a contributing factor to high-impact drought in the Caribbean basin. While the SAL's characteristic dust loadings have been the focus of much previous research, fewer efforts have holistically engaged the co-evolution of the dust plume, its associated convective environment, and resultant rainfall in Caribbean islands. This study employs a self-organizing map (SOM) classification to identify the common trans-Atlantic dust transport typologies …

Machine-Learning-Assisted Leak Detection Using Distributed Temperature And Acoustic Sensors, Hayden Gemeinhardt, Jyotsna Sharma

Faculty Publications

Small leaks, many of which often go undetected using conventional gauges, remain an urgent problem for an aging pipeline infrastructure. This article proposes a method that allows for an automated and robust leak detection and localization system by fusing distributed acoustic sensor (DAS) and distributed temperature sensor (DTS) data for machine learning. Distributed fiber-optic sensing creates an advantage over conventional gauges by providing real-time continuous measurements along the entire length of the fiber-instrumented pipeline at a high spatiotemporal resolution and sensitivity that can detect small leaks, as well as the leak location. High sensitivity, however, can create noisy data. Thus, …

The Association Of Dietary Antioxidants And The Inflammatory Potential Of The Diet With Poor Physical Function And Disability In Older Australian Men: The Concord Health And Ageing In Men Project, Daniela Wizgier, Ying Meng, Arpita Das, Vasi Naganathan, Fiona Blyth, David G. Le Couteur, David J. Handelsman, Louise M. Waite, Rosilene V. Ribeiro, Nitin Shivappa, James Hébert Scd, Vasant Hirani

Faculty Publications

Our objective was to evaluate the association of antioxidant intake and the inflammatory potential of the diet with functional decline in older men. A diet history questionnaire was used to collect dietary intake data from men aged ≥ 75 years (n 794) participating in the Concord Health and Aging in Men Project cohort study. Intake of vitamins A, C, E and Zn were compared with the Australian Nutrient Reference Values to determine adequacy. The Energy-adjusted Dietary Inflammatory Index (E-DIITM) was used to assess the inflammatory potential of the diet. Physical performance data were collected via handgrip strength and walking speed …

Scaffold-Based 3d Cell Culture Models In Cancer Research, Waad H. Abuwatfa, William G. Pitt, Ghaleb A. Husseini

Faculty Publications

Three-dimensional (3D) cell cultures have emerged as valuable tools in cancer research, offering significant advantages over traditional two-dimensional (2D) cell culture systems. In 3D cell cultures, cancer cells are grown in an environment that more closely mimics the 3D architecture and complexity of in vivo tumors. This approach has revolutionized cancer research by providing a more accurate representation of the tumor microenvironment (TME) and enabling the study of tumor behavior and response to therapies in a more physiologically relevant context. One of the key benefits of 3D cell culture in cancer research is the ability to recapitulate the complex interactions …

Model Predictive Control Of A Lab-Scale Thermal Energy Storage System In Relap5-3d, Jaron Wallace, Daniel Hill, David Thurston, John Hedengren, Matthew Memmott

Faculty Publications

Increased renewable energy penetration of an electrical grid generally creates more supply fluctuations. Traditional base-load systems, such as nuclear power, can be retrofitted with thermal energy storage (TES) systems to meet supply demand fluctuations. These systems can store energy during low electricity demand times to allow the reactor to operate at constant power while simultaneously fluctuating electricity output. The control of these systems is of vital importance and Model Predictive Control (MPC) is a leading control mechanism for optimized production plans with forecast information. This study combines high fidelity RELAP5-3D models with MPC to control an experimental benchtop system that …

Free-Standing 3d Printing Of Epoxy-Vinyl Ether Structures Using Radical-Induced Cationic Frontal Polymerization, Brecklyn R. Groce, Alexandra V. Aucoin, Md Asmat Ullah, Jake Dicesare, Claire Wingfield, Jonathan Sardin, Jackson T. Harris, John C. Nguyen, Patrick Raley, Svetlana S. Stanley, Genevieve Palardy, John A. Pojman

Faculty Publications

The application of frontal polymerization to additive manufacturing has advantages in energy consumption and speed of printing. Additionally, with frontal polymerization, it is possible to print free-standing structures that require no supports. A resin was developed using a mixture of epoxies and vinyl ether with an iodonium salt and peroxide initiating system that frontally polymerizes through radical-induced cationic frontal polymerization. The formulation, which was optimized for reactivity, physical properties, and rheology, allowed the printing of free-standing structures. Increasing ratios of vinyl ether and reactive cycloaliphatic epoxide were found to increase the front velocity. Addition of carbon nanofibers increased the front …

Editorial: Methods And Advances In Marine Geology And Hydrodynamics Environment, Xingsen Guo, Fei Han, Yan Liu, Nan Wu, Cheng Zhang, Ningning Zhang

Faculty Publications

EDITORIAL article Front. Mar. Sci., 12 January 2024Sec. Ocean Observation Volume 11 - 2024 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2024.1362605

Editorial: Methods And Advances In Marine Geology And Hydrodynamics Environment, Xingsen Guo, Fei Han, Yan Liu, Nan Wu, Cheng Zhang, Ningning Zhang

Faculty Publications

EDITORIAL article Front. Mar. Sci., 12 January 2024Sec. Ocean Observation Volume 11 - 2024 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2024.1362605

Editorial: Observations And Simulations Of Layering Phenomena In The Middle/Upper Atmosphere And Ionosphere, Bingkun Yu, Xuguang Cai, Daniel J. Emmons Ii, Chong Wang, Jainfei Wu

Faculty Publications

The middle/upper atmosphere and ionosphere are the transition between neutral and ionized components of the Earth’s atmosphere, including stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere, ionospheric E region and ionospheric F region (Laštovička et al., 2006; Xu, et al., 2007; Smith, 2012). The atmospheric thermal structure and composition are significantly affected by dynamical processes through coupling. The layering phenomena such as mesospheric metal layers, sporadic E layers, and noctilucent clouds are important tracers to study mechanisms of the vertical coupling from the lower to the upper atmosphere (Dou et al., 2010; Plane, 2012; Xue et al., 2013).

Enhancing Bridge Resilience And Overheight Vehicle Mitigation Through Innovative Sacrificial Cushion Systems, Aly Mousaad Aly, Marc Hoffmann

Faculty Publications

Transportation departments have made significant strides in addressing the challenges posed by the increasing weights of trucks on bridges. While there is a growing awareness of overheight vehicle collisions with bridges, implementing effective countermeasures remains limited. The susceptibility of bridges to damage from such collisions is on the rise, further exacerbated by unpredictable lateral impact forces. This study employs nonlinear impact analysis to assess the response of an unprotected vehicle-girder model, yielding realistic deformation outcomes comparable to observed impacts on the US-61 bridge. Predictions for a truck traveling at 112.65 km/h indicate deformations of 0.229 m, 0.161 m, and 0.271 …

Flexural Behavior Of Pultruded Gfrp–Concrete Composite Beams Strengthened With Gfrp Stiffeners, Muataz I. Ali, Abbas A. Allawi, Ayman El-Zohairy

Faculty Publications

The utilization and incorporation of glass fiber-reinforced plastics (GFRP) in structural applications and architectural constructions are progressively gaining prominence. Therefore, this paper experimentally and numerically investigates the use of GFRP I-beams in conjunction with concrete slabs to form composite beams. The experimental design incorporated 2600 mm long GFRP I-beams which were connected compositely to concrete slabs with a 500 mm width and 80 mm thickness. The concrete slabs are categorized into two groups: concrete slabs cast using normal strength concrete (NSC), and concrete slabs prepared using high-strength concrete (HSC). Various parameters like the type of concrete (normal and high-strength concrete), …

Indigenous Peoples And Local Communities Report Ongoing And Widespread Climate Change Impacts On Local Social-Ecological Systems, Victoria Sharakhmatova, Victoria Reyes-García, David García-Del-Amo, Santiago Álvarez-Fernández, Petra Benyei, Laura Calvet-Mir, André B. Junqueira, Vanesse Labeyrie, Xiaoyue Li, Sara Miñarro, Vincent Porcher, Anna Porcuna-Ferrer, Anna Schlingmann, Christoph Schunko, Ramin Soleymani, Adrien Tofighi-Niaki, Mariam Abazeri, Emmanuel M.N.A.N. Attoh, Ayansina Ayanlade, Julia Vieira Da Cunha Ávila, Daniel Babai, Rodrigo C. Bulamah, Joao Campos-Silva, Rosario Carmona, Julián Caviedes, Rumbidzayi Chakauya, Mouna Chambon, Zhuo Chen, Fasco Chengula, Esther Conde, Aida Cuní-Sanchez

Faculty Publications

The effects of climate change depend on specific local circumstances, posing a challenge for worldwide research to comprehensively encompass the diverse impacts on various local social-ecological systems. Here we use a place-specific but cross-culturally comparable protocol to document climate change indicators and impacts as locally experienced and analyze their distribution. We collected first-hand data in 48 sites inhabited by Indigenous Peoples and local communities and covering all climate zones and nature-dependent livelihoods. We documented 1,661 site-agreed reports of change corresponding to 369 indicators. Reports of change vary according to climate zone and livelihood activity. We provide compelling evidence that climate …

Low Complexity Doa Estimation Of Multiple Coherent Sources Using A Single Direct Data Snapshot, Ahmed A. Hussain, Nizar Tayem, Abdel-Hamid Soliman

Faculty Publications

The direction of arrival (DOA) estimation of multiple radio frequency (RF) coherent signals using conventional algorithms such as Multiple Signal Classification (MUSIC), Estimation of the Signal Parameters via the Rotational Invariance Technique (ESPRIT), and their variants is computationally complex and usually requires a large number of data snapshots for accurate estimation. As the number of antenna elements grows, particularly in massive MIMO systems, the complexity of real-time DOA estimation algorithms significantly rises, placing higher demands on computational power and memory resources. In this paper, we present an efficient approach that operates effectively with just a single snapshot for DOA estimation …

Training Data Augmentation With Data Distilled By Principal Component Analysis, Nikolay Metodiev Sirakov, Tahsin Shahnewaz, Arie Nakhmmani

Faculty Publications

This work develops a new method for vector data augmentation. The proposed method applies principal component analysis (PCA), determines the eigenvectors of a set of training vectors for a machine learning (ML) method and uses them to generate the distilled vectors. The training and PCA-distilled vectors have the same dimension. The user chooses the number of vectors to be distilled and augmented to the set of training vectors. A statistical approach determines the lowest number of vectors to be distilled such that when augmented to the original vectors, the extended set trains an ML classifier to achieve a required accuracy. …

Regional Geographies And Public Health Lessons Of The Covid-19 Pandemic In The Arctic, Sweta Tiwari, Andrey N. Petrov, Nikolay Golosov, Michele Devlin, Mark Welford, John Degroote, Tatiana Degai, Stanislav Ksenofontov

Faculty Publications

Objectives: This study examines the COVID-19 pandemic’s spatiotemporal dynamics in 52 sub-regions in eight Arctic states. This study further investigates the potential impact of early vaccination coverage on subsequent COVID-19 outcomes within these regions, potentially revealing public health insights of global significance. Methods: We assessed the outcomes of the COVID-19 pandemic in Arctic sub-regions using three key epidemiological variables: confirmed cases, confirmed deaths, and case fatality ratio (CFR), along with vaccination rates to evaluate the effectiveness of the early vaccination campaign on the later dynamics of COVID-19 outcomes in these regions. Results: From February 2020 to February 2023, the Arctic …