Digital Commons Network^™

An Image Processing Method For Extraction Of The Stresswave Reflection Period, Panpan Gong, Mingzhang Luo, Luoyu Zhou, Liming Jiang, Xuemin Chen

Faculty Publications

The stress wave reflection method is widely used in the detection of structure size and integrity due to its advantages of low environmental impact and convenience. The detection accuracy depends on the accurate extraction of the stress wave reflection period. The traditional peak-peak method (PPM) measures the time interval between the first two peaks of the reflected waves to extract the reflection period. However, human interpretation is not avoidable for identifying the weak peak due to signal energy leaks into the surrounding environment. This paper proposes an algorithm for automatic extraction of the stress wave reflection period based on image …

Using Taint Analysis And Reinforcement Learning (Tarl) To Repair Autonomous Robot Software, Damian Lyons, Saba Zahra

Faculty Publications

It is important to be able to establish formal performance bounds for autonomous systems. However, formal verification techniques require a model of the environment in which the system operates; a challenge for autonomous systems, especially those expected to operate over longer timescales. This paper describes work in progress to automate the monitor and repair of ROS-based autonomous robot software written for an a-priori partially known and possibly incorrect environment model. A taint analysis method is used to automatically extract the data-flow sequence from input topic to publish topic, and instrument that code. A unique reinforcement learning approximation of MDP utility …

State-Community System Of Care Development: An Exploratory Longitudinal Review, Isaac Karikari, Betty Walton, Christine Marie Bishop, Stephanie Moynihan, Pinkie Evans

Faculty Publications

The system of care (SOC) philosophy evolved into a framework to support access to effective behavioral health services for children. This study explored the use of the System of Care Implementation Survey (SOCIS) to monitor SOC development during one Midwestern state’s federal planning and expansion grants. Utilizing a translational framework, results showed that despite fluctuations in SOC factor implementation over time, state and local SOCs had mid-level development. Further, inferential analysis of select factors indicated that outreach and access to services and the skilled provider network were significantly worse over time. Significant improvement in the treatment quality was documented but …

Disturbance Legacies Increase And Synchronize Nutrient Concentrations And Bacterial Productivity In Coastal Ecosystems, John S. Kominoski, Evelyn E. Gaiser, Edward Castañeda-Moya, Stephen E. Davis, Shimelis B. Dessu, Paul Julian, Dong Yoon Lee, Luca Marazzi, Victor H. Rivera-Monroy, Andres Sola, Ulrich Stingl, Sandro Stumpf, Donatto Surratt, Rafael Travieso, Tiffany G. Troxler

Faculty Publications

Long-term ecological research can resolve effects of disturbance on ecosystem dynamics by capturing the scale of disturbance and interactions with environmental changes. To quantify how disturbances interact with long-term directional changes (sea-level rise, freshwater restoration), we studied 17 yr of monthly dissolved organic carbon (DOC), total nitrogen (TN), and phosphorus (TP) concentrations and bacterioplankton productivity across freshwater-to-marine estuary gradients exposed to multiple disturbance events (e.g., droughts, fire, hurricanes, and low-temperature anomalies) and long-term increases in water levels. By studying two neighboring drainages that differ in hydrologic connectivity, we additionally tested how disturbance legacies are shaped by hydrologic connectivity. We predicted …

Long-Term Trajectory Of Nitrogen Loading And Delivery From Mississippi River Basin To The Gulf Of Mexico, Hanqin Tian, Rongting Xu, Shufen Pan, Yuanzhi Yao, Zihao Bian, Wei Jun Cai, Charles S. Hopkinson, Dubravko Justic, Steven Lohrenz, Chaoqun Lu, Wei Ren, Jia Yang

Faculty Publications

The large areal extent of hypoxia in the northern Gulf of Mexico has been partially attributed to substantial nitrogen (N) loading from the Mississippi River basin, which is driven by multiple natural and human factors. The available water quality monitoring data and most of the current models are insufficient to fully quantify N load magnitude and the underlying controls. Here we use a process-based Dynamic Land Ecosystem Model to examine how multiple factors (synthetic N fertilizer, atmospheric N deposition, land use changes, climate variability, and increasing atmospheric CO2) have affected the loading and delivery of total nitrogen (TN) consisting of …

Measuring "Access To Justice" In The Rush To Digitize, Amy J. Schmitz

Faculty Publications

Access to Justice (A2J) is the hot topic of the day, energizing Twitter and judges alike. Meanwhile, professors and policymakers join in song, singing the praises of online dispute resolution (ODR) as means for expanding A21. This is because ODR uses technology to allow for online claim diagnosis, negotiation, and mediation without the time, money, and stress of traditional court processes. Indeed, courts are now moving traffic ticket, condominium, landlord/tenant, personal injury, debt collection, and even divorce claims online. The hope is that online triage and dispute resolution systems will provide means for obtaining remedies for self-represented litigants (SRLs) and …

Missouri's Residency Restrictions For Medical Marijuana Use, Royce De R. Barondes

Faculty Publications

Missouri's adoption of a constitutional amendment decriminalizing medical marijuana for state law purposes has presented numerous interstitial issues. This article examines one that Missouri's Department of Health and Senior Services ("DHSS") has attempted to address by regulation: residency requirements for qualifying patients. The current regulations add detail to the constitutional requirement that a qualifying patient be a "Missouri resident". They require that a patient must "reside [] in Missouri and not claim resident privileges in another state or country". This article concludes this aspect of the regulations is of dubious tenability.

Plant Genome Size Influences Stress Tolerance Of Invasive And Native Plants Via Plasticity, Laura A. Meyerson, Petr Pyšek, Magdalena Lučanová, Sara Wigginton, Cao Tri Tran, James T. Cronin

Faculty Publications

© 2020 The Authors. Plant genome size influences the functional relationships between cellular and whole-plant physiology, but we know little about its importance to plant tolerance of environmental stressors and how it contributes to range limits and invasion success. We used native and invasive lineages of a wetland plant to provide the first experimental test of the Large Genome Constraint Hypothesis (LGCH)—that plants with large genomes are less tolerant of environmental stress and less plastic under stress gradients than plants with small genomes. We predicted that populations with larger genomes would have a lower tolerance and less plasticity to a …

Structure, Function, And Regulation Of The Essential Virulence Factor Capsular Polysaccharide Of Vibrio Vulnificus, Gregg S. Pettis, Aheli S. Mukerji

Faculty Publications

© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Vibrio vulnificus populates coastal waters around the world, where it exists freely or becomes concentrated in filter feeding mollusks. It also causes rapid and life-threatening sepsis and wound infections in humans. Of its many virulence factors, it is the V. vulnificus capsule, composed of capsular polysaccharide (CPS), that plays a critical role in evasion of the host innate immune system by conferring antiphagocytic ability and resistance to complement-mediated killing. CPS may also provoke a portion of the host inflammatory cytokine response to this bacterium. CPS production is biochemically and genetically diverse …

Emerging Investigator Series: Carbon Electrodes Are Effective For The Detection And Reduction Of Hexavalent Chromium In Water, Callie M. Stern, Darius W. Hayes, Lebogang O. Kgoadi, Noémie Elgrishi

Faculty Publications

© 2020 The Royal Society of Chemistry. Electrochemical methods are an attractive option for the detection and reduction of toxic Cr(vi) to benign Cr(iii) in drinking water. Here a method is reported for the reproducible detection and reduction of hexavalent chromium in water on glassy carbon electrodes, over a wide range of pH. This study allows for unmodified inexpensive carbon electrodes to join gold and gold modified electrodes as substrates for Cr(vi) removal from water.

Bionoinet: Ligand-Binding Site Classification With Off-The-Shelf Deep Neural Network, Wentao Shi, Jeffrey M. Lemoine, Abd El Monsif A. Shawky, Manali Singha, Limeng Pu, Shuangyan Yang, J. Ramanujam, Michal Brylinski

Faculty Publications

© The 2020 Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. Motivation: Fast and accurate classification of ligand-binding sites in proteins with respect to the class of binding molecules is invaluable not only to the automatic functional annotation of large datasets of protein structures but also to projects in protein evolution, protein engineering and drug development. Deep learning techniques, which have already been successfully applied to address challenging problems across various fields, are inherently suitable to classify ligand-binding pockets. Our goal is to demonstrate that off-the-shelf deep learning models can be employed with minimum development effort to recognize nucleotide-and …

The Origins And Future Of Global Health Law: Regulation, Security, And Pluralism, Sam F. Halabi

Faculty Publications

The COVID-19 pandemic has presented a global health crisis unlike any seen in the seventy-five years since the United Nations and the World Health Organization were formed - one that is killing people, spreading human suffering, and upending people's lives. But this is much more than a health crisis. It is a human crisis. The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is attacking societies at their core. It is therefore a crucial point around which to focus the capability of national and global institutions to address this essential threat to human health and life.

The purposes of this Article are to revisit and …

Identification Of New Transitions And Levels In Gd 163 From Β -Decay Studies, C. J. Zachary, N. T. Brewer, J. C. Batchelder, E. Wang, J. H. Hamilton, J. M. Eldridge, B. M. Musangu, A. V. Ramayya, C. J. Gross, K. P. Rykaczewski, R. Grzywacz, A. C. Dai, F. R. Xu, Y. X. Liu, Y. Sun, M. Madurga, D. Miller, D. W. Stracener, C. Jost, E. F. Zganjar, J. A. Winger, M. Karny, S. V. Paulauskas, S. H. Liu, M. Wolińska-Cichocka, S. W. Padgett, A. J. Mendez, K. Miernik, A. Fijałkowska, S. V. Ilyushkin

Faculty Publications

Background: Neutron-rich nuclei in the mass region around A=160 have been and will continue to be of interest for the study of nuclear structure because of the rapid onset of deformation between 88 and 90 neutrons. The observation of detailed changes in nuclear structures within this mass region has provided and will continue to provide insight into the nuclear force. Purpose: Investigations of γ rays emitted following Eu163 β-decay to Gd163 have been performed for evaluation of the nuclear structure of Gd163. Method: Data were collected at the LeRIBSS station of the Holifield Radioactive Ion Beam Facility at Oak Ridge …

Structure Gauges And Laser Gauges For The Semiconductor Bloch Equations In High-Order Harmonic Generation In Solids, Lun Yue, Mette B. Gaarde

Faculty Publications

The semiconductor Bloch equations (SBEs) are routinely used for simulations of strong-field laser-matter interactions in condensed matter. In systems without inversion or time-reversal symmetries, the Berry connections and transition dipole phases (TDPs) must be included in the SBEs, which in turn requires the construction of a smooth and periodic structure gauge for the Bloch states. Here, we illustrate a general approach for such a structure-gauge construction for topologically trivial systems. Furthermore, we investigate the SBEs in the length and velocity gauges and discuss their respective advantages and shortcomings for the high-harmonic generation (HHG) process. We find that in cases where …

Design Of Microresonators To Minimize Thermal Noise Below The Standard Quantum Limit, S. Sharifi, Y. M. Banadaki, T. Cullen, G. Veronis, J. P. Dowling, T. Corbitt

Faculty Publications

Microfabricated resonators play a crucial role in the development of quantum measurement, including future gravitational wave detectors. We use a micro-genetic algorithm and a finite element method to design a microresonator whose geometry is optimized to maximize the sub-Standard Quantum Limit (SQL) performance including lower thermal noise (TN) below the SQL, a broader sub-SQL region, and a sub-SQL region at lower frequencies. For the proposed design, we study the effects of different geometries of the mirror pad and cantilever microresonator on sub-SQL performance. We find that the maximum ratio of SQL to TN is increased, its frequency is decreased, and …

Theia: An Advanced Optical Neutrino Detector, M. Askins, Z. Bagdasarian, N. Barros, E. W. Beier, E. Blucher, R. Bonventre, E. Bourret, E. J. Callaghan, J. Caravaca, M. Diwan, S. T. Dye, J. Eisch, A. Elagin, T. Enqvist, V. Fischer, K. Frankiewicz, C. Grant, D. Guffanti, C. Hagner, A. Hallin, C. M. Jackson, R. Jiang, T. Kaptanoglu, J. R. Klein, Yu G. Kolomensky, C. Kraus, F. Krennrich, T. Kutter

Faculty Publications

New developments in liquid scintillators, high-efficiency, fast photon detectors, and chromatic photon sorting have opened up the possibility for building a large-scale detector that can discriminate between Cherenkov and scintillation signals. Such a detector could reconstruct particle direction and species using Cherenkov light while also having the excellent energy resolution and low threshold of a scintillator detector. Situated deep underground, and utilizing new techniques in computing and reconstruction, this detector could achieve unprecedented levels of background rejection, enabling a rich physics program spanning topics in nuclear, high-energy, and astrophysics, and across a dynamic range from hundreds of keV to many …

Studies Of The Spectral And Angular Distributions Of Transition Radiation Using A Silicon Pixel Sensor On A Timepix3 Chip, J. Alozy, N. Belyaev, M. Campbell, M. Cherry, F. Dachs, S. Doronin, K. Filippov, P. Fusco, F. Gargano, E. H.M. Heijne, S. Konovalov, D. Krasnopevtsev, X. Llopart, F. Loparco, V. Mascagna, M. N. Mazziotta, H. Pernegger, D. Ponomarenko, C. Rembser, A. Romaniouk, A. A. Savchenko, D. Schaefer, E. J. Schioppa, D. Yu Sergeeva, E. Shulga, S. Smirnov, Y. Smirnov, M. Soldani, P. Spinelli, M. Strikhanov, P. Teterin, V. Tikhomirov, A. A. Tishchenko

Faculty Publications

X-ray transition radiation detectors (TRDs) are used for particle identification in both high energy physics and astroparticle physics. In most of the detectors, emission of the X-ray transition radiation (TR) starts at Lorentz factors above γ∼500 and reaches saturation at γ∼2÷3⋅103. However, many experiments require particle identification up to γ∼105, which is very difficult to achieve with conventional detectors. Semiconductor pixel detectors offer a unique opportunity for precise simultaneous measurements of spectral and angular parameters of TR photons. Test beam studies of the energy and the angular distributions of TR photons emitted by electrons and muons of different momenta crossing …

Targeting Egfr Overexpression At The Surface Of Colorectal Cancer Cells By Exploiting Amidated Bodipy-Peptide Conjugates, Tyrslai M. Williams, Zehua Zhou, Sitanshu S. Singh, Martha Sibrian-Vazquez, Seetharama D. Jois, Maria Da Graça Henriques Vicente

Faculty Publications

© 2020 American Society for Photobiology Three BODIPY-peptide conjugates designed to target the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) at the extracellular domain were synthesized, and their specificity for binding to EGFR was investigated. Peptide sequences containing seven amino acids, GLARLLT (2) and KLARLLT (4), and 13 amino acids, GYHWYGYTPQNVI (3), were conjugated to carboxyl BODIPY dye (1) by amide bond formation in up to 73% yields. The BODIPY-peptide conjugates and their “parent” peptides were determined to bind to EGFR experimentally using SPR analysis and were further investigated using computational methods (AutoDock). Results of SPR, competitive binding and docking studies propose …

Population Epigenetic Divergence Exceeds Genetic Divergence In The Eastern Oyster Crassostrea Virginica In The Northern Gulf Of Mexico, Kevin M. Johnson, Morgan W. Kelly

Faculty Publications

© 2019 The Authors. Evolutionary Applications published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd Populations may respond to environmental heterogeneity via evolutionary divergence or phenotypic plasticity. While evolutionary divergence occurs through DNA sequence differences among populations, plastic divergence among populations may be generated by changes in the epigenome. Here, we present the results of a genome-wide comparison of DNA methylation patterns and genetic structure among four populations of Eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica) in the northern Gulf of Mexico. We used a combination of restriction site-associated DNA sequencing (RADseq) and reduced representation bisulfite sequencing (RRBS) to explore population structure, gene-wide averages of …

Promoter-Proximal Chromatin Domain Insulator Protein Beaf Mediates Local And Long-Range Communication With A Transcription Factor And Directly Activates A Housekeeping Promoter In Drosophila, Yuankai Dong, S. V. Satya Prakash Avva, Mukesh Maharjan, Janice Jacobi, Craig M. Hart

Faculty Publications

Copyright © 2020 by the Genetics Society of America BEAF (Boundary Element-Associated Factor) was originally identified as a Drosophila melanogaster chromatin domain insulator-binding protein, suggesting a role in gene regulation through chromatin organization and dynamics. Genome-wide mapping found that BEAF usually binds near transcription start sites, often of housekeeping genes, suggesting a role in promoter function. This would be a nontraditional role for an insulator-binding protein. To gain insight into molecular mechanisms of BEAF function, we identified interacting proteins using yeast two-hybrid assays. Here, we focus on the transcription factor Serendipity d (Sry-d). Interactions were confirmed in pull-down experiments using …

Statistical Comparisons Of Temperature Variance And Kinetic Energy In Global Ocean Models And Observations: Results From Mesoscale To Internal Wave Frequencies, Conrad A. Luecke, Brian K. Arbic, James G. Richman, Jay F. Shriver, Matthew H. Alford, Joseph K. Ansong, Steven L. Bassette, Maarten C. Buijsman, Dimitris Menemenlis, Robert B. Scott, Patrick G. Timko, Gunnar Voet, Alan J. Wallcraft, Luis Zamudio

Faculty Publications

©2020. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved. Temperature variance and kinetic energy (KE) from two global simulations of the HYbrid Coordinate Ocean Model (HYCOM; 1/12° and 1/25°) and three global simulations of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology general circulation model (MITgcm; 1/12°, 1/24°, and 1/48°), all of which are forced by atmospheric fields and the astronomical tidal potential, are compared with temperature variance and KE from a database of about 2,000 moored historical observations (MHOs). The variances are computed across frequencies ranging from supertidal, dominated by the internal gravity wave continuum, to subtidal, dominated by currents and mesoscale eddies. The …

Sugarcane And Sugar Yields In Louisiana (1911–2018): Varietal Development And Mechanization, Andrew Schmitz, P. Lynn Kennedy, Fangyi Zhang

Faculty Publications

© 2020 The Authors. Crop Science © 2020 Crop Science Society of America Louisiana is the second largest producer of sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.) in the United States. New sugarcane cultivars better adapted for Louisiana have been in development since the inception of a three-way cooperative breeding program in the 1920s. Piecewise regression is used to determine the growth in both Louisiana sugarcane and sugar yields and how new sugarcane cultivars and mechanization have had a positive impact of yields. The analysis uses several breakpoints for periods between 1911 and 2018 to consider the impact of varietal development and mechanization. …

Is Commodity Storage An Option For Enhancing Food Security In Developing Countries?, G. Cornelis Van Kooten, Andrew Schmitz, P. Lynn Kennedy

Faculty Publications

© 2020 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston 2020. We revisit the underlying economics of commodity storage and its relation to food security by first clarifying the standard model used to analyze the economic efficiency and distributional effects of commodity storage programs. We find that producers prefer stabilization, although their incomes are more variable, while consumers are indifferent. However, numerical simulations indicate that physical stocks will build up inexorably over a sustained period or the government will need to raise prices continuously over a prolonged period. For the least developed countries facing fluctuating world prices, government should guarantee the price received …

Cave-Adapted Evolution In The North American Amblyopsid Fishes Inferred Using Phylogenomics And Geometric Morphometrics, Pamela B. Hart, Matthew L. Niemiller, Edward D. Burress, Jonathan W. Armbruster, William B. Ludt, Prosanta Chakrabarty

Faculty Publications

© 2020 The Authors. Evolution © 2020 The Society for the Study of Evolution. Cave adaptation has evolved repeatedly across the Tree of Life, famously leading to pigmentation and eye degeneration and loss, yet its macroevolutionary implications remain poorly understood. We use the North American amblyopsid fishes, a family spanning a wide degree of cave adaptation, to examine the impact of cave specialization on the modes and tempo of evolution. We reconstruct evolutionary relationships using ultraconserved element loci, estimate the ancestral histories of eye-state, and examine the impact of cave adaptation on body shape evolution. Our phylogenomic analyses provide a …

The Triple Oxygen Isotope Composition Of Precambrian Chert, Frasier L. Liljestrand, Andrew H. Knoll, Nicholas J. Tosca, Phoebe A. Cohen, Francis A. Macdonald, Yongbo Peng, David T. Johnston

Faculty Publications

© 2020 Elsevier B.V. The temperature and chemistry of early seawater have both been inferred from the isotopic composition of Precambrian chert (SiO2), a precipitated mineral formed on or within marine sediments. The δ18O of chert shows a robust quasi-linear increase through time - a signal that has been interpreted in a number of conflicting ways. For example, changing δ18O has been hypothesized to reflect the product of cooling surface ocean temperatures, a signature of evolving seawater δ18O composition, or the product of later stage diagenesis (where measured δ18O reflects the composition of diagenetic fluids). We suggest this uncertainty can …

Ranking Tournaments With No Errors Ii: Minimax Relation, Xujin Chen, Guoli Ding, Wenan Zang, Qiulan Zhao

Faculty Publications

A tournament T=(V,A) is called cycle Mengerian (CM) if it satisfies the minimax relation on packing and covering cycles, for every nonnegative integral weight function defined on A. The purpose of this series of two papers is to show that a tournament is CM iff it contains none of four Möbius ladders as a subgraph; such a tournament is referred to as Möbius-free. In the first paper we have given a structural description of all Möbius-free tournaments, and have proved that every CM tournament is Möbius-free. In this second paper we establish the converse by using our structural theorems and …

Hst/Fgs Trigonometric Parallaxes Of M-Dwarf Eclipsing Binaries, Gail H. Schaefer, Kaspar Von Braun, Edmund P. Nelan, Zachary Hartman, Tabetha S. Boyajian, Mercedes Lopez-Morales, David R. Ciardi

Faculty Publications

Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Fine Guidance Sensor (FGS) trigonometric parallax observations were obtained to directly determine distances to five nearby M-dwarf/M-dwarf eclipsing binary systems. These systems are intrinsically interesting as benchmark systems for establishing basic physical parameters for low-mass stars, such as luminosity L, and radius R. HST/FGS distances are also one of the few direct checks on Gaia trigonometric parallaxes, given the comparable sensitivity in both magnitude limit and determination of parallactic angles. A spectral energy distribution (SED) fit of each system’s blended flux output was carried out, allowing for estimation of the bolometric flux from the primary and …

Orbital Refinement And Stellar Properties For The Hd 9446, Hd 43691, And Hd 179079 Planetary Systems, Michelle L. Hill, Teo Močnik, Stephen R. Kane, Gregory W. Henry, Joshua Pepper, Natalie R. Hinkel, Paul A. Dalba, Benjamin J. Fulton, Keivan G. Stassun, Lee J. Rosenthal, Andrew W. Howard, Steve B. Howell, Mark E. Everett, Tabetha S. Boyajian, Debra A. Fischer, Joseph E. Rodriguez, Thomas G. Beatty, David J. James

Faculty Publications

The Transit Ephemeris Refinement and Monitoring Survey is a project that aims to detect transits of intermediate-long period planets by refining orbital parameters of the known radial velocity planets using additional data from ground-based telescopes, calculating a revised transit ephemeris for the planet, then monitoring the planet host star during the predicted transit window. Here we present the results from three systems that had high probabilities of transiting planets: HD 9446 b and c, HD 43691 b, and HD 179079 b. We provide new radial velocity (RV) measurements that are then used to improve the orbital solution for the known …

Quantifying The Individual Contributions Of Climate Change, Dam Construction, And Land Use/Land Cover Change To Hydrological Drought In A Marshy River, Peng Qi, Y. Jun Xu, Guodong Wang

Faculty Publications

Hydrological drought for marshy rivers is poorly characterized and understood. Our inability to quantify hydrological drought in marshy river environments stems from the lack of understanding how wetland loss in a river basin could potentially change watershed structure, attenuation, storage, and flow characteristics. In this study, hydrological drought in a marshy river in far Northeast China at a higher latitude was assessed with a streamflow drought index (SDI). A deterministic, lumped, and conceptual Rainfall-Runoff model, the NAM (Nedbor Afstromnings Model), was used to quantify the individual contributions of climate change, land use/land cover (LULC) change, and river engineering to hydrological …

Direct Measurement Of Sweetpotato Surface Area And Volume Using A Low-Cost 3d Scanner For Identification Of Shape Features Related To Processing Product Recovery, Arthur Villordon, Jeffrey C. Gregorie, Don Labonte

Faculty Publications

The growing demand for sweetpotato French fry and other processed products has increased the need for producing storage roots of desired shape profile (i.e., blocky and less tapered). Length-width ratio (LW) is the current de facto standard for characterizing sweetpotato shape. AlthoughLWis sensitive and descriptive of some types of shape variability, this index may be inadequate to measure taper and other subtle shape variations. Prior work has shown that surface area (SA) and volume (VOL) are important shape descriptors but current direct measurement methods are tedious, inconsistent, and often destructive. A low-cost three-dimensional (3D) scanner was used to acquire digital …