Digital Commons Network^™

Leveraging Designed Simulations And Machine Learning To Develop A Surrogate Model For Optimizing The Gas–Downhole Water Sink–Assisted Gravity Drainage (Gdws-Agd) Process To Improve Clean Oil Production, Watheq J. Al-Mudhafar, Dandina N. Rao, Andrew K. Wojtanowicz

Faculty Publications

The Gas and Downhole Water Sink–Assisted Gravity Drainage (GDWS-AGD) process addresses gas flooding limitations in reservoirs surrounded by infinite-acting aquifers, particularly water coning. The GDWS-AGD technique reduces water cut in oil production wells, improves gas injectivity, and optimizes oil recovery, especially in reservoirs with high water coning. The GDWS-AGD process installs two 7-inch production casings bilaterally. Then, two 2-3/8-inch horizontal tubings are completed. One tubing produces oil above the oil–water contact (OWC) area, while the other drains water below it. A hydraulic packer in the casing separates the two completions. The water sink completion uses a submersible pump to prevent …

A Theory Of Genetic Dimensions In The Law, Yaniv Heled, Liza Vertinsky, Ana Santos Rutschman

Faculty Publications

Since the biotechnology revolution of the 1970s, genetic science and genetic technology have captured the public imagination. They have become a centerpiece of how we understand ourselves, our relationship with other humans, other living beings, our environment, and—indeed—with the universe. Through this evolution of understanding, genetic phenomena have acquired many meanings, some rooted in objective reality and others subjective and dependent on individual perceptions and sentiments.

However, legal decision-making and policymaking have not kept pace and reflect only a partial understanding of the multiple dimensions of genetic phenomena, which are forced into narrowing legal pathways, neglecting vital interests. As the …

Business Process Anomaly Detection And Root Cause Analysis Using Blstm-Vae With Attention, Yasser Ismail, Eman El-Aziz, Radwa Fathalla, Mohamed Shaheen

Faculty Publications

Detecting anomalous executions in business process data is crucial for safeguarding the efficiency and success of an organization. Unsupervised approaches are commonly used for business process anomaly detection because of the scarcity of labeled anomaly data. However, these approaches often encounter a notable decline in performance because they lack prior knowledge about the anomalies. Additionally, most of them do not perform root cause analysis on the detected anomalies. This study proposes a variational autoencoder-based approach to overcome the performance limitations of existing unsupervised methods and determine the root causes of the detected anomalies. The learning of the variational autoencoder from …

The Business Of Abortion: Access To Capital Post Dobbs, Itay Ravid, Jonathan Zandberg

Faculty Publications

Access to credit—that is, the ability to receive financial leverage that could help jump-start businesses—is one of the most significant barriers preventing millions of American women from opening new businesses. Congress has attempted to address this issue since the 1970s, with legislation like the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA). Nevertheless, studies continue to show a persistent gender gap in access to credit. Scholars have offered a host of explanations for this gap, focusing on both the supply and demand sides of the equation.

This Article contributes to this growing scholarly exploration by offering a new, overlooked explanation for this gap: …

Hydrometeorological Drivers Of The 2023 Louisiana Water Crisis, P. W. Miller, M. Hiatt

Faculty Publications

During summer and fall 2023, Louisiana experienced a historic local drought while dry conditions elsewhere in the central US withheld vital runoff from the Mississippi River, leading to below-normal discharge into the Gulf of Mexico. Thus, by late October 2023, Louisiana was gripped by two super-imposed water crises: a severe local drought and saltwater contamination in the Mississippi River channel. This study frames the development of the water emergency through the lens of flash drought using the Evaporative Demand Drought Index (EDDI). The EDDI shows south Louisiana experience a flash drought during June 2023, while the Mississippi River basin was …

Top-Down Control Of Ammonia Oxidizers By Grazing In The North Pacific, Silin Ni, Min Nina Xu, Moge Du, Edward A. Laws, Shuh Ji Kao

Faculty Publications

The impact of grazing pressure on ammonia oxidizers (AO) has never been quantified in the field. Here we develop a new method to quantify the grazing rates on AO in aquatic systems. We introduce ¹⁵NH4⁺ tracer into the traditional dilution experiments to measure AO's apparent growth rates by using the end-product of ¹⁵NH4⁺ oxidation, that is, ¹⁵NOx⁻. Field studies in the North Pacific revealed that ¹⁵NOx⁻ in the end-product was sensitive enough to detect AO's grazing rates. Experiments from the lower euphotic zone showed NH4⁺ replete growth rates of 0.40 …

Advancing Objective Mobile Device Use Measurement Inchildren Ages 6–11 Through Built-In Device Sensors: A Proof-Of-Concept Study, Olivia L. Finnegan, Robert Glenn Weaver Med, Phd, Hongpeng Yang, James W. White, Srihari Nelakuditi, Zifei Zhong, Rahul Ghosal Ph.D., Yan Tong, Aliye B. Cepni, Elizabeth L. Adams, Sarah Burkart Mph, Ph.D., Michael W. Beets Med, Mph, Phd, Bridget Armstrong Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

Mobile devices (e.g., tablets and smartphones) have been rapidly integrated into the lives of children and have impacted howchildren engage with digital media. The portability of these devices allows for sporadic, on-demand interaction, reducing theaccuracy of self-report estimates of mobile device use. Passive sensing applications objectively monitor time spent on a givendevice but are unable to identify who is using the device, a significant limitation in child screen time research. Behavioralbiometric authentication, using embedded mobile device sensors to continuously authenticate users, could be applied toaddress this limitation. This study examined the preliminary accuracy of machine learning models trained on iPad …

Complexity Of Avian Evolution Revealed By Family-Level Genomes, Josefin Stiller, Shaohong Feng, Al Aabid Chowdhury, Iker Rivas-González, David A. Duchêne, Qi Fang, Yuan Deng, Alexey Kozlov, Alexandros Stamatakis, Santiago Claramunt, Jacqueline M.T. Nguyen, Simon Y.W. Ho, Brant C. Faircloth, Julia Haag, Peter Houde, Joel Cracraft, Metin Balaban, Uyen Mai, Guangji Chen, Rongsheng Gao, Chengran Zhou, Yulong Xie, Zijian Huang, Zhen Cao, Zhi Yan, Huw A. Ogilvie, Luay Nakhleh, Bent Lindow, Benoit Morel, Jon Fjeldså, Peter A. Hosner, Rute R. Da Fonseca, Bent Petersen

Faculty Publications

Despite tremendous efforts in the past decades, relationships among main avian lineages remain heavily debated without a clear resolution. Discrepancies have been attributed to diversity of species sampled, phylogenetic method and the choice of genomic regions^1–3. Here we address these issues by analysing the genomes of 363 bird species⁴ (218 taxonomic families, 92% of total). Using intergenic regions and coalescent methods, we present a well-supported tree but also a marked degree of discordance. The tree confirms that Neoaves experienced rapid radiation at or near the Cretaceous–Palaeogene boundary. Sufficient loci rather than extensive taxon sampling were more effective …

Communication—The Development Of A Stable And Practical Saturated Reference Electrode For Molten Chloride Salt Systems, J. Marvin Torrie, Ranon Fuller, Devin Rappleye

Faculty Publications

A simply constructed, stable, Ni/Ni²⁺ saturated reference electrode (SRE) has potential to measure thermodynamic behavior of molten chloride salts more reliably. Like the Ag/Ag⁺ reference electrode (RE), the Ni/Ni²⁺ SRE is made of commercially available materials. Initial experiments in molten CaCl2 and LiCl show the Ag/Ag⁺ RE potential drifting two times faster than the SRE. Furthermore, experiments show the replicability of SREs by comparing two Ni/Ni²⁺ SREs with different compositions of NiCl₂ which is supportive of saturated phase behavior.

Recent Progress And Perspectives Of Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carrier Electrochemistry For Energy Applications, Jinyao Tang, Rongxuan Xie, Parsa Pishva, Xiaochen Shen, Yanlin Zhu, Zhenmeng Peng

Faculty Publications

Amidst the global pursuit of clean and sustainable energy, the transition towards a hydrogen economy holds immense promise, yet is encumbered by significant storage challenges. Liquid organic hydrogen carrier (LOHC) electrochemistry emerges as a promising solution to enable efficient and sustainable hydrogen storage, meanwhile broadening the horizons of LOHCs for use as clean, renewable, and intense energy carriers to store and generate electricity. In this perspective, we embark on a review of recent trends and progress in LOHC redox electrochemistry, properties, and applications. We categorize electrochemically active, regenerable LOHCs into alcohols, amines, aromatic compounds, aminoxyl species, and others, based on …

Effects Of Rf Signal Eventization Encoding On Device Classification Performance, Michael J. Smith, Michael A. Temple, James W. Dean

Faculty Publications

The results of first-step research activity are presented for realizing an envisioned “event radio” capability that mimics neuromorphic event-based camera processing. The energy efficiency of neuromorphic processing is orders of magnitude higher than traditional von Neumann-based processing and is realized through synergistic design of brain-inspired software and hardware computing elements. Relative to event-based cameras, the development of event-based hardware devices supporting Radio Frequency (RF) applications is severely lagging and considerable interest remains in obtaining neuromorphic efficiency through event-based RF signal processing. In the Operational Technology (OT) protection arena, this includes efficient software computing capability to provide reliable device classification. A …

Recent Progress And Perspectives Of Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carrier Electrochemistry For Energy Applications, Jinyao Tang, Rongxuan Xie, Parsa Pishva, Xiaochen Shen, Yanlin Zhu, Zhenmeng Peng

Faculty Publications

Amidst the global pursuit of clean and sustainable energy, the transition towards a hydrogen economy holds immense promise, yet is encumbered by significant storage challenges. Liquid organic hydrogen carrier (LOHC) electrochemistry emerges as a promising solution to enable efficient and sustainable hydrogen storage, meanwhile broadening the horizons of LOHCs for use as clean, renewable, and intense energy carriers to store and generate electricity. In this perspective, we embark on a review of recent trends and progress in LOHC redox electrochemistry, properties, and applications. We categorize electrochemically active, regenerable LOHCs into alcohols, amines, aromatic compounds, aminoxyl species, and others, based on …

White Matter Trajectories Over The Lifespan, Stefania Conte, Dabriel Zimmerman, John E. Richards

Faculty Publications

White matter (WM) changes occur throughout the lifespan at a different rate for each developmental period. We aggregated 10879 structural MRIs and 6186 diffusion-weighted MRIs from participants between 2 weeks to 100 years of age. Age-related changes in gray matter and WM partial volumes and microstructural WM properties, both brain-wide and on 29 reconstructed tracts, were investigated as a function of biological sex and hemisphere, when appropriate. We investigated the curve fit that would best explain age-related differences by fitting linear, cubic, quadratic, and exponential models to macro and microstructural WM properties. Following the first steep increase in WM volume …

Digital Health Literacy, Vaccine Information Sources, And Vaccine Acceptance Among Parents In Ontario: Quantitative Findings From A Mixed Methods Study, Sarah Ashfield, Lorie Donelle Phd, Rn, Fcan, Panagiota Tryphonopoulos, Ève Dubé, Maxwell Smith

Faculty Publications

Parents make important vaccination decisions for their children and many variables affect parents’ decisions to accept or decline vaccines. Parents are tasked with locating, understanding, and applying information to inform health decisions often using online resources; however, the digital health literacy levels of parents are unknown. The purpose of this study was to investigate parents’ digital health literacy levels, their sources for vaccine information, and analyze how demographics, digital health literacy, health literacy, parental attitudes and vaccine beliefs, trust, and vaccine information sources predict vaccine acceptance. Quantitative findings of a mixed methods study that examined parental vaccine decision making across …

Improving 2–5 Qubit Quantum Phase Estimation Circuits Using Machine Learning, Charles Woodrum, Torrey J. Wagner, David E. Weeks

Faculty Publications

Quantum computing has the potential to solve problems that are currently intractable to classical computers with algorithms like Quantum Phase Estimation (QPE); however, noise significantly hinders the performance of today’s quantum computers. Machine learning has the potential to improve the performance of QPE algorithms, especially in the presence of noise. In this work, QPE circuits were simulated with varying levels of depolarizing noise to generate datasets of QPE output. In each case, the phase being estimated was generated with a phase gate, and each circuit modeled was defined by a randomly selected phase. The model accuracy, prediction speed, overfitting level …

Development Of An Experimentally Validated Computational Fluid Dynamics Model For A Pbi Membrane-Based Anhydrous Hcl Electrolyzer, Kris Likit-Anurak, Hunter R. Teel, Ishwor Karki, Ben I. Howard, Brian C. Benicewicz, Sirivatch Shimpalee, Benjamin H. Meekins

Faculty Publications

We report the development of an experimentally-validated computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model for simulation of an anhydrous HCl electrolyzer. The experimental data from 3 membrane variants was used to provide kinetic and membrane parameters for the model. The model not only accurately simulates overall electrolyzer performance, but it also provides key insights into the transport phenomena within the electrolyzer. The model allows simulation of experimental parameters like high HCl flowrates and increased cell pressure that pose a high safety risk to researchers. The model shows hotspots in the temperature distribution that will need to be addressed by flow field modification …

Engineering The Signal Resolution Of A Paper-Based Cell-Free Glutamine Biosensor With Genetic Engineering, Metabolic Engineering, And Process Optimization, Tyler J. Free, Joseph P. Talley, Chad D. Hyer, Catherine J. Millar, Joel S. Griffitts, Bradley Charles Bundy

Faculty Publications

Specialized cancer treatments have the potential to exploit glutamine dependence to increase patient survival rates. Glutamine diagnostics capable of tracking a patient’s response to treatment would enable a personalized treatment dosage to optimize the tradeoff between treatment success and dangerous side effects. Current clinical glutamine testing requires sophisticated and expensive lab-based tests, which are not broadly available on a frequent, individualized basis. To address the need for a low-cost, portable glutamine diagnostic, this work engineers a cell-free glutamine biosensor to overcome assay background and signal-to-noise limitations evident in previously reported studies. The findings from this work culminate in the development …

Effect Of Treated/Untreated Recycled Aggregate Concrete: Structural Behavior Of Rc Beams, Ayman Abdo, Ayman El-Zohairy, Yasser Alashker, Mohamed Abd El-Aziz Badran Mohamed

Faculty Publications

Using recycled concrete aggregates from construction and demolition wastes on structural concrete is a sustainable solution to reduce the consumption of natural resources and the detrimental effects of concrete production on the environment. This paper has collected much data from the literature to study fresh, mechanical properties and durability of concrete made of treated/untreated recycled aggregate (RA). Furthermore, the flexural and shear behavior of recycled aggregate concrete (RAC) beams was studied. This study discussed the distinctions and similarities between reinforced RAC beams and reinforced natural aggregate concrete (NAC) beams. The results of this review’s analysis clearly show that reinforced RAC …

Acoustofluidic Scanning Fluorescence Nanoscopy With A Large Field Of View, Geonsoo Jin, Neil Upreti, Joseph Rich, Jianping Xia, Chenglong Zhao, Tony Jun Huang

Faculty Publications

Large-field nanoscale fluorescence imaging is invaluable for many applications, such as imaging subcellular structures, visualizing protein interactions, and high-resolution tissue imaging. Unfortunately, conventional fluorescence microscopy requires a trade-off between resolution and field of view due to the nature of the optics used to form the image. To overcome this barrier, we developed an acoustofluidic scanning fluorescence nanoscope that simultaneously achieves superior resolution, a large field of view, and strong fluorescent signals. The acoustofluidic scanning fluorescence nanoscope utilizes the superresolution capabilities of microspheres that are controlled by a programmable acoustofluidic device for rapid fluorescence enhancement and imaging. The acoustofluidic scanning fluorescence …

Analysis Of Modeled 3d Solar Magnetic Field During 30 X/M-Class Solar Flares, Seth H. Garland, Vasyl B. Yurchyshyn, Robert D. Loper, Benjamin F. Akers, Daniel J. Emmons Ii

Faculty Publications

Using non-linear force free field (NLFFF) extrapolation, 3D magnetic fields were modeled from the 12-min cadence Solar Dynamics Observatory Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) photospheric vector magnetograms, spanning a time period of 1 hour before through 1 hour after the start of 18 X-class and 12 M-class solar flares. Several magnetic field parameters were calculated from the modeled fields directly, as well as from the power spectrum of surface maps generated by summing the fields along the vertical axis, for two different regions: areas with photospheric |B_z|≥ 300 G (active region—AR) and areas above the photosphere with the …

Theory And Tools: The Future Of Technology-Based Learning (Slides), Andrew S. Gibbons Iii

Faculty Publications

We are entering a narrow passage that will see great instability in learning technology, instruction, and distance education. My purpose is to talk about two changes that I believe will redirect the entire future of technology-based education.

Theory And Tools: The Future Of Technology-Based Learning (Script), Andrew S. Gibbons Iii

Faculty Publications

We are entering a narrow passage that will see great instability in learning technology, instruction, and distance education. My purpose is to talk about two changes that I believe will redirect the entire future of technology-based education.

Enhancing Curcumin’S Therapeutic Potential In Cancer Treatment Through Ultrasound Mediated Liposomal Delivery, Remya Radha, Vinod Paul, Shabana Anjum, Ayache Bouakaz, William G. Pitt, Ghaleb A. Husseini

Faculty Publications

Improving the efficacy of chemotherapy remains a key challenge in cancer treatment, considering the low bioavailability, high cytotoxicity, and undesirable side effects of some clinical drugs. Targeted delivery and sustained release of therapeutic drugs to cancer cells can reduce the whole-body cytotoxicity of the agent and deliver a safe localized treatment to the patient. There is growing interest in herbal drugs, such as curcumin, which is highly noted as a promising anti-tumor drug, considering its wide range of bioactivities and therapeutic properties against various tumors. Conversely, the clinical efficacy of curcumin is limited because of poor oral bioavailability, low water …

A Redox-Reversible A/B-Site Co-Doped Bafeo3 Electrode For Direct Hydrocarbon Solid Oxide Fuel Cells, Haixia Li, Wanhua Wang, Kai Zhao, Ka-Young Park, Taehee Lee, Ramin Babazadeh Dizaj, Andreas Heyden, Dong Ding, Fanglin Chen

Faculty Publications

Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) can directly convert the chemical energy in fuel to electrical energy with fuel flexibility; however, the conventional nickel-based anodes face great challenges due to coking upon direct oxidation of hydrocarbon fuels and redox instability. Thus, developing new anode materials which can provide high coking resistance as well as redox stability is crucial. In this work, Ba_0.6La_0.4Fe_0.8Mo_0.1Ni_0.1O_3−δ (BLFMN) has been synthesized in air using a sol–gel combustion method, resulting in a dual phase consisting of a cubic BLFMN main phase and scheelite BaMoO_{4 …}

Quantification Of Surface Layer Turbulence Using Sensible Heat Values From Energy Balance Versus Aerodynamic Methods, Steven T. Fiorino, Yogendra Raut, Jaclyn Schmidt, Laura Slabaugh, Blaine Fourman, Jack E. Mccrae, Benjamin C. Wilson, Santasri R. Bose-Pillai

Faculty Publications

Surface layer optical turbulence values in the form of the refractive index structure function C_n^2 are often calculated from surface layer temperature, moisture, and wind characteristics and compared to measurements from sonic anemometers, differential temperature sensors, and imaging systems. A key derived component needed in the surface layer turbulence calculations is the sensible heat value. Typically, the sensible heat is calculated using the bulk aerodynamic method that assumes a certain surface roughness and a friction velocity that approximates the turbulence drag on temperature and moisture mixing from the change in the average surface layer vertical wind velocity. These assumptions/approximations generally …

Techno-Economic Optimization Of A Hybrid Energy System With Limited Grid Connection In Pursuit Of Net Zero Carbon Emissions For New Zealand, Daniel Hill, Shafiqur Rahman Tito, Michael Walmsley, John Hedengren

Faculty Publications

As New Zealand moves towards net zero carbon emissions by 2050, multiple factors must be considered including increased electrical load due to electrification, variability of renewable energy generators, required storage capacity, system economics and limitations on grid transmission capacity. Complex and region-specific interactions between the various design choices involved are likely to require an understanding of a range of optimal and near-optimal designs for proposed micro-grid systems as opposed to a single optimal point. This work develops a novel multiscale optimization algorithm for optimization from a univariate capacity optimization approach to a multivariate one. This enhanced algorithm is applied to …

Multiscale Modeling Of Oxygen Evolution Through Generated Bilayer Porous Transport Layers For Pemwe Performance Improvement, M. Sepe, G.-H. Jung, G.S- Doo, C.-S. Lee, H.-S. Cho, N. Tippayawong, Sirivatch Shimpalee

Faculty Publications

Optimization of proton exchange membrane water electrolyzers (PEMWE) has become a focus of researchers looking for a reliable way to generate power. A vital component to PEMWE operation is the porous transport layer (PTL) on the anode side, which is where oxygen is produced. The PTL must allow water access to the catalyst layer and remove oxygen simultaneously. In this work, a previously developed imaging technique is used to generate bilayer PTL structures. A multiscale modeling approach was used to study the effect of a bilayer PTL on oxygen evolution and PEMWE performance. First, a micro scale model was used …

Modes Of Weather System-Induced Flows Through An Arctic Lagoon, Chunyan Li, Wei Huang, Changsheng Chen, Kevin M. Boswell, Renhao Wu

Faculty Publications

With the increasing warming of the Arctic, the summertime ice-free period in the coastal Arctic becomes longer and the water exchange between arctic lagoons and coastal Beaufort Sea becomes more important for land–ocean interaction. This study examined the dynamics of water exchange between the arctic lagoons and the Arctic Ocean under the influence of weather systems (the transient arctic cyclones and hovering Beaufort High pressure system). We implemented rare observations, numerical modeling with the Finite Volume Community Ocean Model (FVCOM), and a forcing-response Empirical Orthogonal Function (fr-EOF) analysis to determine the weather-driven flow patterns and characteristics in the micro-tidal arctic …

Infrastructure Finance For The Public Good: How Asset Recycling Can Untangle The New York Mta's $50 Billion Debt Load, Lev E. Breydo

Faculty Publications

Systematic infrastructure underinvestment - a $2.6 trillion 'gap' - and accelerating climate change have become facts of life in the United States. Though typically attributed to politics, this Article posits the circumstances as a market disequilibrium rooted in an interplay between unique dimensions of infrastructure and distinctive features of the U.S. approach. Recently-passed legislation, including the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, is insufficient to overcome these longstanding challenges.

Based on a broad, global study of effective approaches to infrastructure finance, as well as a multi-disciplinary analysis of the economics, engineering and finance literature, this Article proposes addressing the U.S. infrastructure …

Using Tensile And Compressive Stress Superposition During Incremental Forming To Manipulate Martensitic Transformation In Ss304, E M. Mamros, F Maab, A E. Tekkaya, Brad L. Kinsey, J Ha

Faculty Publications

Single point incremental forming (SPIF) is a flexible manufacturing process that has applications in industries ranging from biomedical to automotive. In addition to rapid prototyping, which requires easy adaptations in geometry or material for design changes, control of the final part properties is desired. One strategy that can be implemented is stress superposition, which is the application of additional stresses during an existing manufacturing process. Tensile and compressive stresses applied during SPIF showed significant effects on the resulting microstructure in stainless steel 304 truncated square pyramids. Specifically, the amount of martensitic transformation was increased through stress superposed incremental forming. Finite …