Digital Commons Network^™

A Review Of Coal Heating Value Correlations With Application To Coal Char, Tar, And Other Fuels, Andrew P. Richards, Denver Haycock, Jacob F. Frandsen, Thomas H. Fletcher

Faculty Publications

Accurately measuring a fuel’s heating value is one of the first steps in the classification of a new fuel. Heating values are widely used in coal combustion research and are becoming more useful in other fuel types as well. Many different empirical correlations to predict heating values based on primary organic (CHONS) elemental composition are found in the literature, many of which were originally created to predict heating values of parent coal, and some of which have been extended for biomass. However, no correlations exist for heating values of coal chars and tars. Thirteen literature heating value correlations (10 model …

Tlr Antagonism By Sparstolonin B Alters Microbial Signature And Modulates Gastrointestinal And Neuronal Inflammation In Gulf War Illness Preclinical Model, Dipro Bose, Ayan Mondal, Punnag Saha, Diana Kimono, Sutapa Sarkar, Ratanesh K. Seth, Patricia Janulewicz, Kimberly Sullivan, Ronnie Horner, Nancy Klimas, Mitzi Nagarkatti, Prakash Nagarkatti, Saurabh Chatterjee

Faculty Publications

The 1991 Persian Gulf War veterans presented a myriad of symptoms that ranged from chronic pain, fatigue, gastrointestinal disturbances, and cognitive deficits. Currently, no therapeutic regimen exists to treat the plethora of chronic symptoms though newer pharmacological targets such as microbiome have been identified recently. Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) antagonism in systemic inflammatory diseases have been tried before with limited success, but strategies with broad-spectrum TLR4 antagonists and their ability to modulate the host-microbiome have been elusive. Using a mouse model of Gulf War Illness, we show that a nutraceutical, derived from a Chinese herb Sparstolonin B (SsnB) presented a …

Simulated Field-Modulated X-Ray Absorption In Titania, Pragathi Darapaneni, Alexander M. Meyer, Mykola Sereda, Adam Bruner, James A. Dorman, Kenneth Lopata

Faculty Publications

© 2020 Author(s). In this paper, we present a method to compute the x-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) spectra of solid-state transition metal oxides using real-time time-dependent density functional theory, including spin-orbit coupling effects. This was performed on bulk-mimicking anatase titania (TiO2) clusters, which allows for the use of hybrid functionals and atom-centered all electron basis sets. Furthermore, this method was employed to calculate the shifts in the XANES spectra of the Ti L-edge in the presence of applied electric fields to understand how external fields can modify the electronic structure, and how this can be probed using x-ray absorption …

Recent Advances In Hydrothermal Carbonisation: From Tailored Carbon Materials And Biochemicals To Applications And Bioenergy, Sabina A. Nicolae, Heather Au, Pierpaolo Modugno, Hui Luo, Anthony E. Szego, Mo Qiao, Liang Li, Wang Yin, Hero J. Heeres, Nicole Berge, Maria Magdalena Titirici

Faculty Publications

Introduced in the literature in 1913 by Bergius, who at the time was studying biomass coalification, hydrothermal carbonisation, as many other technologies based on renewables, was forgotten during the "industrial revolution". It was rediscovered back in 2005, on the one hand, to follow the trend set by Bergius of biomass to coal conversion for decentralised energy generation, and on the other hand as a novel green method to prepare advanced carbon materials and chemicals from biomass in water, at mild temperature, for energy storage and conversion and environmental protection. In this review, we will present an overview on the latest …

Problems With Lorentz Violation Originating From A Cosmologically Varying Pseudoscalar Field, Sapan Karki, Brett David Altschul

Faculty Publications

Lorentz- and CPT-violating models of electrodynamics with Chern-Simons terms are typically plagued by various sorts of instabilities. However, when the Chern-Simons term arises from a slow time variation in a pseudoscalar field with an axionlike electromagnetic coupling, the total energy of the theory is bounded below. We examine the behavior of such a theory, finding that in a systematic power series expansion of the magnetic and pseudoscalar fields, singularities appear in the field profiles. Some of the questionable behavior can be cured by taking a fully nonperturbative approach, but other problematic terms remain. This may be an indication that Cerenkov-like …

Unjust Universities, Zachary S. Ritter, Reshmi Dutt-Ballerstadt

Faculty Publications

Dr. Zachary S. Ritter and Dr. Reshmi Dutt-Ballerstadt highlight some red flags related to people's experiences working in institutions that are suffering from toxic whiteness.

This essay originally appeared as part of Conditionally Accepted, a career advice blog for Inside Higher Ed providing news, information, personal stories, and resources for scholars who are, at best, conditionally accepted in academe. Conditionally Accepted is an anti-racist, pro-feminist, pro-queer, anti-transphobic, anti-fatphobic, anti-ableist, anti-ageist, anti-classist, and anti-xenophobic online community.

Sediment Transport Near Ship Shoal For Coastal Restoration In The Louisiana Shelf: A Model Estimate Of The Year 2017–2018, Haoran Liu, Kehui Xu, Yanda Ou, Robert Bales, Zhengchen Zang, Z. George Xue

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Sociopolitical Silos: Environmental Views And The Multiplicative Effect Of Same-Party Friends, Lawrence C. Hamilton, Joel Hartter, Curt Grimm

Faculty Publications

Analysis of climate and other environmental questions on three regional survey projects conducted over 2017–2020 (9,000+ interviews) elaborate on the well-known importance of political factors by adding support for three newer propositions. First, strength of political identification predicts climate-change views within the ranks of conservatives but not within ranks of liberals, evidence that conservatives’ climate-change views are more politically determined. Second, factor analysis suggests that climate-change beliefs meet statistical criteria for being an indicator of sociopolitical identity, alongside the traditional indicators of ideology and party, or the newer one of Trump support. This result calls for caution interpreting models that …

Exploiting Somatic Pirnas In Bemisia Tabaci Enables Novel Gene Silencing Through Rna Feeding, Mosharrof Mondal, Judith K. Brown, Alex Flynt

Faculty Publications

© This article is available under a Creative Commons License (Attribution 4.0 International, as described at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). RNAi promises to reshape pest control by being nontoxic, biodegradable, and species specific. However, due to the plastic nature of RNAi, there is a significant variability in responses. In this study, we investigate small RNA pathways and processing of ingested RNAi trigger molecules in a hemipteran plant pest, the whitefly Bemisia tabaci. Unlike Drosophila, where the paradigm for insect RNAi technology was established, whitefly has abundant somatic piwi-associated RNAs (piRNAs). Long regarded as germline restricted, piRNAs are common in the …

Separability Of The Planar 1/Ρ2 Potential In Multiple Coordinate Systems, Richard Decosta, Brett David Altschul

Faculty Publications

With a number of special Hamiltonians, solutions of the Schrödinger equation may be found by separation of variables in more than one coordinate system. The class of potentials involved includes a number of important examples, including the isotropic harmonic oscillator and the Coulomb potential. Multiply separable Hamiltonians exhibit a number of interesting features, including “accidental” degeneracies in their bound state spectra and often classical bound state orbits that always close. We examine another potential, for which the Schrödinger equation is separable in both cylindrical and parabolic coordinates: A z-independent V ∝ 1/ρ² = 1/ (x² + y^{2 …}

Cost-Effectiveness Analysis Of Advanced Radiotherapy Techniques For Post-Mastectomy Breast Cancer Patients, Yibo Xie, Beibei Guo, Rui Zhang

Faculty Publications

Background: Prior cost-effectiveness studies of post-mastectomy radiotherapy (PMRT) only compared conventional radiotherapy versus no radiotherapy and only considered tumor control. The goal of this study was to perform cost-effectiveness analyses of standard of care (SOC) and advanced PMRT techniques including intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT), standard volumetric modulated arc therapy (STD-VMAT), non-coplanar VMAT (NC-VMAT), multiple arc VMAT (MA-VMAT), Tomotherapy (TOMO), mixed beam therapy (MIXED), and intensity-modulated proton therapy (IMPT). Methods: Using a Markov model, we estimated the cost-effectiveness of various techniques over 15 years. A cohort of women (55-year-old) was simulated in the model, and radiogenic side effects were considered. Transition probabilities, …

The Longitudinal Associations Of Sound Financial Management Behaviors And Marital Quality, Jeffrey P. Dew

Faculty Publications

We investigated the association between sound financial management behaviors and marital quality, particularly the direction of the association and a potential mediator. To do this, we used three waves of longitudinal dyadic data that spanned three years from 279 married couples living in a large northwestern city and a longitudinal path analysis that incorporated the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model (Kenny et al. Dyadic data analysis. Guilford, New York City, 2006). Marital satisfaction at T1 was positively associated with sound financial management behavior for husbands; we only found actor effects, though. Wives’ T2 reports of sound financial management behavior were directly and …

Wideband Satcom Model: Evaluation Of Numerical Accuracy And Efficiency, Andrew J. Knisely, Andrew Terzuoli

Faculty Publications

The spectral method is typically applied as a simple and efficient method to solve the parabolic wave equation in phase screen scintillation models. The critical factors that can greatly affect the spectral method accuracy is the uniformity and smoothness of the input function. This paper observes these effects on the accuracy of the finite difference and the spectral methods applied to a wideband SATCOM signal propagation model simulated in the ultra-high frequency (UHF) band. The finite difference method uses local pointwise approximations to calculate a derivative. The spectral method uses global trigonometric interpolants that achieve remarkable accuracy for continuously differentiable …

Wideband Satcom Model: Evaluation Of Numerical Accuracy And Efficiency, Andrew J. Knisely, Andrew J. Terzuoli Jr.

Faculty Publications

The spectral method is typically applied as a simple and efficient method to solve the parabolic wave equation in phase screen scintillation models. The critical factors that can greatly affect the spectral method accuracy is the uniformity and smoothness of the input function. This paper observes these effects on the accuracy of the finite difference and the spectral methods applied to a wideband SATCOM signal propagation model simulated in the ultra-high frequency (UHF) band. The finite difference method uses local pointwise approximations to calculate a derivative. The spectral method uses global trigonometric interpolants that achieve remarkable accuracy for continuously differentiable …

Simulation And Analysis Of The Carrying Capacity For Road Networks Using A Grid-Based Approach, Junqing Shi, Linwu Chen, Fengxiang Qiao, Lei Yu, Qing Li, Guilian Fan

Faculty Publications

The number of vehicles that a road network can carry is limited. When the limit is exceeded, the network system is not able to function effectively. In this paper, an updated cellular automaton model for grid networks with all-way stop-controlled intersections is proposed to simulate the network level critical density and carrying capacity under different conditions, which essentially indicates the limit number of vehicles that the network can handle before going into gridlock. In the proposed model, two update rules, including lane-changing and the longitudinal location update, are adopted to describe the vehicle's movements on road segments according to the …

The Experiences Of Latino Adolescent Mentees Growing-Up With A Single Mother And Mentoring Program Development: A Narrative Analysis Study, Christine Marie Bishop

Faculty Publications

Latinos comprise the largest minority population in the United States. Research underscores the many positive effects that mentors can have on Latino adolescents who lack a male role model living in the home. Mentors can provide support and teach helpful skills that can be applied to multiple life domains needed throughout a person’s lifespan. There are many different types of mentoring services and styles available to adolescents. Yet, there are specific gaps and room for growth within the scholarly literature regarding Latino adolescents that need to be addressed. Shining light and allowing their narratives to be heard and understood in …

Salt Marsh Dynamics In A Period Of Accelerated Sea Level Rise, Sergio Fagherazzi, Giulio Mariotti, Nicoletta Leonardi, Alberto Canestrelli, William Nardin, William S. Kearney

Faculty Publications

Salt marshes are dynamic systems able to laterally expand, contract, and vertically accrete in response to sea level rise. Here, we present the grand challenges that need to be addressed to fully characterize marsh morphodynamics. The review focuses on physical processes and quantitative models. Without predictive models, it is impossible to determine the future marsh evolution under accelerated sea level rise. In these models, one of the challenges is to resolve both horizontal and vertical dynamics within the same framework. Vertically, the marsh has to accumulate enough material to contrast rising water levels. Horizontally, marsh erosion at the ocean side …

Data Quality And Reliability Assessment Of Wearable Emg And Imu Sensor For Construction Activity Recognition, Srikanth Sagar Bangaru, Chao Wang, Fereydoun Aghazadeh

Faculty Publications

The workforce shortage is one of the significant problems in the construction industry. To overcome the challenges due to workforce shortage, various researchers have proposed wearable sensor-based systems in the area of construction safety and health. Although sensors provide rich and detailed information, not all sensors can be used for construction applications. This study evaluates the data quality and reliability of forearm electromyography (EMG) and inertial measurement unit (IMU) of armband sensors for construction activity classification. To achieve the proposed objective, the forearm EMG and IMU data collected from eight participants while performing construction activities such as screwing, wrenching, lifting, …

After Espinoza: What's Left Of The Establishment Clause?, Carl H. Esbeck

Faculty Publications

Consistent with the Establishment Clause, the Supreme Court had permitted the government to fund public and private K-12 schools, so long as any direct aid was not diverted to an explicitly religious purpose. In Espinoza v. Montana Dept. of Rev., the Court held that when there is a government program with a secular purpose, such as education, the Free Exercise Clause requires that the program be available without regard to religion. Clearly the Religion Clauses have undergone a major transformation since the days of no parochial school aid whatsoever in the 1970s and 80s. So, it bears asking: What …

Context-Dependent Action Of Scc4 Reinforces Control Of The Type Iii Secretion System, Leiqiong Gao, Yanguang Cong, Gregory V. Plano, Xiancai Rao, Lyndsey N. Gisclair, Sara Schesser Bartra, Megan A. Macnaughtan, Li Shena

Faculty Publications

Copyright © 2020 American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved. Chlamydia trachomatis Scc4 (formerly CT663) engages the transcription machinery and the pathogenic type III secretion system (T3SS). Both machines are required for Chlamydia infection. These requirements and the limited ability for genetic manipulation in Chlamydia have hampered dissection of Scc4's contributions. Here, by developing bacterial systems that permit the controlled expression and stable maintenance of Scc4, we assess Scc4's effects on chlamydial growth phenotype, secretion, and the patterns of T3SS gene expression. Expressing Scc4 in Escherichia coli lacking a T3SS injectisome causes a growth defect. This deficiency is rescued by …

Comparative Transcriptomics Of Rice Genotypes With Contrasting Responses To Nitrogen Stress Reveals Genes Influencing Nitrogen Uptake Through The Regulation Of Root Architecture, Prasanta K. Subudhi, Richard S. Garcia, Sapphire Coronejo, Ronald Tapia

Faculty Publications

The indiscriminate use of nitrogenous fertilizers continues unabated for commercial crop production, resulting in air and water pollution. The development of rice varieties with enhanced nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) will require a thorough understanding of the molecular basis of a plant's response to low nitrogen (N) availability. The global expression profiles of root tissues collected from low and high N treatments at different time points in two rice genotypes, Pokkali and Bengal, with contrasting responses to N stress and contrasting root architectures were examined. Overall, the number of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in Pokkali (indica) was higher than in Bengal …

Probing The Surface Acidity Of Supported Aluminum Bromide Catalysts, Md Ashraful Abedin, Swarom Kanitkar, Nitin Kumar, Zi Wang, Kunlun Ding, Graham Hutchings, James J. Spivey

Faculty Publications

Solid acid catalysis is an important class of reactions. The principal advantages of solid acid catalysts as compared to their corresponding fluid acids include minimal waste and ease of product separation. One type of these catalysts is based on aluminum bromide (Al2Br6), which is a stronger Lewis acid than Al2Cl6. In this report, Al(2)Br(6)is grafted on commercial mesoporous silica (CMS), SBA-15 and silica gel to create a solid catalyst similar to the silica-supported Al(2)Cl(6)superacid. These supported Al(2)Br(6)catalysts were characterized by NH3-Temperature Programmed Desorption (TPD), pyridine Diffuse Reflectance for Infrared Fourier Transform Spectroscopy (DRIFTS) and Magic Angle Spinning Nuclear Magnetic Resonance …

Investigation Of Pore-Scale Caco3 Distributions And Their Effects On Stiffness And Permeability Of Sands Treated By Microbially Induced Carbonate Precipitation (Micp), Hai Lin, Muhannad Suleiman, Derick G. Brown

Faculty Publications

Physical properties of MICP-treated sands are controlled by CaCO3 distributions in pore space, which remain relatively unexplored. CaCO3 can deposit at the particles' contact area (contact-cementing), coat sand particles (grain-coating), or create a cementation bridge between soil grains (matrix-supporting). The objectives of this paper are to determine the dominant CaCO3 distributions in pore space and investigate the effects of CaCO3 distributions on the small-strain stiffness (measured by S-and P-wave velocities) and permeability of MICP-treated sands. To achieve these objectives, cemented-sand and uncemented-sand models combined with three ideal CaCO3 distributions (contact-cementing, grain-coating, and matrix-supporting) were used to estimate the S-and P-wave …

Instruction Model Using Collaborative Tools That Promote Competence Attainment In A Health Professions Graduate Program, Rosemary M. Caron

Faculty Publications

Competency-based education is widespread in graduate public health and health administration programs. The Council on Education in Public Health (CEPH) amended its criteria for accreditation with more of an emphasis on skills-based curricula as opposed to solely a knowledge-based curricula so graduates would be ready to join the workforce with the requisite knowledge and skills. The purpose of this article is to describe two tools that promote select CEPH competence attainment via collaborative online pedagogical approaches. Specifically, the assignments utilizing these tools were designed to: (1) curate and evaluate primary resources for a selected health issue; (2) develop questions based …

Amortized Channel Divergence For Asymptotic Quantum Channel Discrimination, Mark M. Wilde, Mario Berta, Christoph Hirche, Eneet Kaur

Faculty Publications

It is well known that for the discrimination of classical and quantum channels in the finite, non-asymptotic regime, adaptive strategies can give an advantage over non-adaptive strategies. However, Hayashi (IEEE Trans Inf Theory 55(8):3807–3820, 2009. arXiv:0804.0686) showed that in the asymptotic regime, the exponential error rate for the discrimination of classical channels is not improved in the adaptive setting. We extend this result in several ways. First, we establish the strong Stein’s lemma for classical–quantum channels by showing that asymptotically the exponential error rate for classical–quantum channel discrimination is not improved by adaptive strategies. Second, we recover many other classes …

Feasibility Of 3d Tracking And Adaptation Of Vmat Based On Vmat-Ct, Xiaodong Zhao, Rui Zhang

Faculty Publications

Background: Local computed tomography (CT) reconstruction is achievable with portal images acquired during volumetric-modulated arc therapy (VMAT) delivery and was named as VMAT-CT. However, the application of VMAT-CT is limited because it has limited field of view and no density information. In addition, the new generation of multi-leaf collimator with faster speed and various collimator angles used in patients’ plans could cause more artifacts in VMAT-CT. The goal of this study was to extend VMAT-CT concept, generate complete three-dimensional (3D) CT images, calculate new 3D dose, track and adapt VMAT plan based on updated images and dose. Materials and methods: …

Volume I. Introduction To Dune, B. Abi, R. Acciarri, M. A. Acero, G. Adamov, D. Adams, M. Adinolfi, Z. Ahmad, J. Ahmed, T. Alion, S. Alonso Monsalve, C. Alt, J. Anderson, C. Andreopoulos, M. Andrews, F. Andrianala, S. Andringa, A. Ankowski, M. Antonova, S. Antusch, A. Aranda-Fernandez, A. Ariga, L. O. Arnold, M. A. Arroyave, J. Asaadi, A. Aurisano, V. Aushev, D. Autiero, F. Azfar

Faculty Publications

The preponderance of matter over antimatter in the early universe, the dynamics of the supernovae that produced the heavy elements necessary for life, and whether protons eventually decay-these mysteries at the forefront of particle physics and astrophysics are key to understanding the early evolution of our universe, its current state, and its eventual fate. The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is an international world-class experiment dedicated to addressing these questions as it searches for leptonic charge-parity symmetry violation, stands ready to capture supernova neutrino bursts, and seeks to observe nucleon decay as a signature of a grand unified theory underlying …

Volume Iii. Dune Far Detector Technical Coordination, B. Abi, R. Acciarri, M. A. Acero, G. Adamov, D. Adams, M. Adinolfi, Z. Ahmad, J. Ahmed, T. Alion, S. Alonso Monsalve, C. Alt, J. Anderson, C. Andreopoulos, M. Andrews, F. Andrianala, S. Andringa, A. Ankowski, M. Antonova, S. Antusch, A. Aranda-Fernandez, A. Ariga, L. O. Arnold, M. A. Arroyave, J. Asaadi, A. Aurisano, V. Aushev, D. Autiero, F. Azfar

Faculty Publications

The preponderance of matter over antimatter in the early universe, the dynamics of the supernovae that produced the heavy elements necessary for life, and whether protons eventually decay-these mysteries at the forefront of particle physics and astrophysics are key to understanding the early evolution of our universe, its current state, and its eventual fate. The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is an international world-class experiment dedicated to addressing these questions as it searches for leptonic charge-parity symmetry violation, stands ready to capture supernova neutrino bursts, and seeks to observe nucleon decay as a signature of a grand unified theory underlying …

Volume Iv. The Dune Far Detector Single-Phase Technology, B. Abi, R. Acciarri, M. A. Acero, G. Adamov, D. Adams, M. Adinolfi, Z. Ahmad, J. Ahmed, T. Alion, S. Alonso Monsalve, C. Alt, J. Anderson, C. Andreopoulos, M. Andrews, F. Andrianala, S. Andringa, A. Ankowski, M. Antonova, S. Antusch, A. Aranda-Fernandez, A. Ariga, L. O. Arnold, M. A. Arroyave, J. Asaadi, A. Aurisano, V. Aushev, D. Autiero, F. Azfar

Faculty Publications

The preponderance of matter over antimatter in the early universe, the dynamics of the supernovae that produced the heavy elements necessary for life, and whether protons eventually decay-these mysteries at the forefront of particle physics and astrophysics are key to understanding the early evolution of our universe, its current state, and its eventual fate. DUNE is an international world-class experiment dedicated to addressing these questions as it searches for leptonic charge-parity symmetry violation, stands ready to capture supernova neutrino bursts, and seeks to observe nucleon decay as a signature of a grand unified theory underlying the standard model. Central to …

Overlapping But Distinct Sequences Play Roles In The Insulator And Promoter Activities Of The Drosophila Beaf-Dependent Scs⇔ Insulator, Mukesh Maharjan, J. Keller Mckowen, Craig M. Hart

Faculty Publications

Copyright © 2020 by the Genetics Society of America. Chromatin domain insulators are thought to help partition the genome into genetic units called topologically associating domains (TADs). In Drosophila, TADs are often separated by inter-TAD regions containing active housekeeping genes and associated insulator binding proteins. This raises the question of whether insulator binding proteins are involved primarily in chromosomal TAD architecture or gene activation, or if these two activities are linked. The Boundary Element-Associated Factor of 32 kDa (BEAF-32, or BEAF for short) is usually found in inter-TADs. BEAF was discovered based on binding to the scs’ insulator, and is …