Digital Commons Network^™

Extreme Cold (-69.1°C) In The Mcmurdo Dry Valleys, Peter T. Doran, Krista F. Myers, Christopher P. Mckay, David H. Bromwich

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Constraints On The Timing And Extent Of Deglacial Grounding Line Retreat In West Antarctica, Ryan A. Venturelli, Brenna Boehman, Christina Davis, Jon R. Hawkings, Sarah E. Johnston, Chloe D. Gustafson, Alexander B. Michaud, Cyrille Mosbeux, Matthew R. Siegfried, Trista J. Vick-Majors, Valier Galy, Robert G.M. Spencer, Sophie Warny, Brent C. Christner, Helen A. Fricker, David M. Harwood, Amy Leventer, John C. Priscu, Brad E. Rosenheim

Faculty Publications

Projections of Antarctica's contribution to future sea level rise are associated with significant uncertainty, in part because the observational record is too short to capture long-term processes necessary to estimate ice mass changes over societally relevant timescales. Records of grounding line retreat from the geologic past offer an opportunity to extend our observations of these processes beyond the modern record and to gain a more comprehensive understanding of ice-sheet change. Here, we present constraints on the timing and inland extent of deglacial grounding line retreat in the southern Ross Sea, Antarctica, obtained via direct sampling of a subglacial lake located …

Interactive Effects Of Climate Change‐Induced Range Shifts And Wind Energy Development On Future Economic Conditions Of The Atlantic Surfclam Fishery, Stephanie Stromp, Andrew M. Scheld, John M. Klinck, Daphne M. Munroe, Eric N. Powell, Roger Mann, Sarah Borsetti, Eileen E. Hofmann

Faculty Publications

Rising water temperatures along the northeastern U.S. continental shelf have resulted in an offshore range shift of the Atlantic surfclam Spisula solidissima to waters still occupied by ocean quahogs Arctica islandica. Fishers presently are prohibited from landing both Atlantic surfclams and ocean quahogs in the same catch, thus limiting fishing to locations where the target species can be sorted on deck. Wind energy development on and around the fishing grounds will further restrict the fishery. A spatially explicit model of the Atlantic surfclam fishery (Spatially Explicit Fishery Economics Simulator) has the ability to simulate the consequences of fishery displacement …

Research On The Total Channel Capacities Pertaining To Two Coverage Layouts For Three-Dimensional, Uav-Assisted Ad Hoc Networks, Xiao Yan, Shenglong Zhu, Qian Wang, Hsiao Chun Wu

Faculty Publications

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) employed as airborne base stations (BSs) are considered the essential components in future sixth-generation wireless networks due to their mobility and line-of-sight communication links. For a UAV-assisted ad hoc network, its total channel capacity is greatly influenced by the deployment of UAV-BSs and the corresponding coverage layouts, where square and hexagonal cells are partitioned to divide the zones individual UAVs should serve. In this paper, the total channel capacities of these two kinds of coverage layouts are evaluated using our proposed novel computationally efficient channel capacity estimation scheme. The mean distance (MD) between a UAV-BS in …

Acetate Formation On Metals Via Ch4 Carboxylation By Co2: A Dft Study, Md Saeedur Rahman, Ye Xu

Faculty Publications

Density functional theory calculations have been performed to investigate CH4 activation and coupling to CO2 forming C2 carboxylates such as acetate on the close-packed (111) or (0001) surfaces of ten mid-to-late transition and coinage metals (Co, Ni, Cu, Ru, Rh, Pd, Ag, Ir, Pt, and Au). Consistent with the literature, the activation energy (Ea) for the initial C-H bond scission in CH4 is mild, being ca. 1 eV or less on all but the coinage metals, of which Ag exhibits the highest Ea at 2.13 eV, followed by Au and Cu. Ea for the CH3-CO2 coupling step is 0.8 ∼ …

The Rise Of Machine Learning In Polymer Discovery, Cheng Yan, Guoqiang Li

Faculty Publications

In the recent decades, with rapid development in computing power and algorithms, machine learning (ML) has exhibited its enormous potential in new polymer discovery. Herein, the history of ML is described and the basic process of ML accelerated polymer discovery is summarized. Next, the four steps in this process are reviewed, that is, dataset selection, fingerprinting, ML framework, and new polymer generation. Finally, a couple of main challenges for ML accelerated polymer discovery is presented and the outlooks in this field are prospected. It is expected that this review can service as a useful tool for the people who just …

Unstructured-Grid Approach To Develop High-Fidelity Groundwater Model To Understand Groundwater Flow And Storage Responses To Excessive Groundwater Withdrawals In The Southern Hills Aquifer System In Southeastern Louisiana (Usa), Ye Hong Chen, Hamid Vahdat-Aboueshagh, Frank T.C. Tsai, Alyssa Dausman, Michael C. Runge

Faculty Publications

Study region: The Southern Hills aquifer system (SHAS) in the Louisiana Capital Area Groundwater Conservation District (CAGCD), USA. Study focus: The SHAS provides abundant groundwater for public and industrial supplies in the CAGCD. Groundwater depletion, saltwater intrusion, and land subsidence are potential concerns due to prolonged excessive groundwater withdrawals. This study develops a high-fidelity groundwater flow model utilizing a complex unstructured grid to investigate groundwater flow and storage responses to excessive groundwater withdrawals for the SHAS in the CAGCD. The groundwater model incorporates the Mississippi River alluvial aquifer down to the Miocene sands extending to depths around 1 km. New …

Predicting Grocery Store Visits During The Early Outbreak Of Covid-19 With Machine Learning, Ruijie Bian, Pamela Murray-Tuite, Brian Wolshon

Faculty Publications

While non-essential travel was canceled during the coronavirus infectious disease (COVID-19) pandemic, grocery shopping was essential. The objectives of this study were to: 1) examine how grocery store visits changed during the early outbreak of COVID-19, and 2) estimate a model to predict the change of grocery store visits in the future, within the same phase of the pandemic. The study period (February 15–May 31, 2020) covered the outbreak and phase-one re-opening. Six counties/states in the United States were examined. Grocery store visits (in-store or curbside pickup) increased over 20% when the national emergency was declared on March 13 and …

Rise Of The Metaverse's Immersive Virtual Reality Malware And The Man-In-The-Room Attack & Defenses, Martin Vondráček, Ibrahim Baggili, Peter Casey, Mehdi Mekni

Faculty Publications

The allure of the metaverse along with Virtual Reality (VR) technologies and speed at which they are deployed may shift focus away from security and privacy fundamentals. In this work we employ classic exploitation techniques against cutting edge devices to obtain equally novel results. The unique features of the Virtual Reality landscape set the stage for our primary account of a new attack, the Man-in-the-Room (MitR). This attack, realized from a vulnerable social networking application led to both worming and botnet capabilities being adapted for VR with potential critical impacts affecting millions of users. Our work improves the state-of-the-art in …

Gas Hydrates Reserve Characterization Using Thermo-Hydro-Mechanical Numerical Simulation: A Case Study Of Green Canyon 955, Gulf Of Mexico, Sulav Dhakal, Ipsita Gupta

Faculty Publications

The Gulf of Mexico is a widely explored and producing region for offshore oil and gas resources, with significant submarine methane hydrates. Estimates of hydrate saturation and distribution rely on drilling expeditions and seismic surveys that tend to provide either large-scale estimates or highly localized well data. In this study, hydrate reserve characterization is done using numerical simulation at Green Canyon block 955 (GC955). In addition, coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical (THM) simulation results show that hydrate saturation and geobody distribution are determined by the thermodynamic conditions as well as reservoir structures, stratigraphic differences, and permeability differences. Hydrate formation due to upflow of …

Beyond Reading And Writing: Information Literacy In Higher Education For Lifelong Success, Marta A. Mercado-Sierra, Sarah H. Northam

Faculty Publications

Information Literacy is critical to finding, evaluating, using, and creating information. It also influences how we navigate daily life, workplace environments, and civic participation. Several Information Literacy standards state that it is a human right. Everyone should have access to the necessary tools to develop their information literacy skills. We argue that students transitioning from high school to college are not college prepared for practicing information literacy. Faculty and Librarians both undertake the work to teach information literacy. Still, it would be more effective for Faculty-Librarian partnerships to utilize strengths in their discipline areas to teach information literacy skills.

Large Eddy Simulation For Empirical Modeling Of The Wake Of Three Urban Air Mobility Vehicles, Denis-Gabriel Caprace, Andrew Ning

Faculty Publications

Recent advances in urban air mobility have driven the development of many new VTOL concepts. These vehicles often feature original designs departing from the conventional helicopter configuration. Due to their novelty, the characteristics of the super-vortices forming in the wake of such aircraft are unknown. However, these vortices may endanger any other vehicle evolving in their close proximity, owing to potentially large induced velocities. Therefore, improved knowledge about the wakes of VTOL vehicles is needed to guarantee safe urban air mobility operations. In this work, we study the wake of three VTOL aircraft in cruise by means of large eddy …

Eli And Susannah Wiggill: South African Saints, Jay H. Buckley, Joshua Rust

Faculty Publications

Eli Wiggill’s story of migration from Gloucester, England, to South Africa and then to Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, epitomizes an inspiring and informative example of the gathering of the Saints to Zion in the mid-nineteenth century. Eli and his wife, Susannah Bentley Wiggill, joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in South Africa while Eli served as a Methodist missionary. Both became stalwart members following their conversion. Eli and Susannah Wiggill’s faithful dedication affected the lives of hundreds of South African Saints. This essay adds to scholarship about Eli and Susannah Wiggill’s immigration from England to South …

Covid-19 Lockdown: Impact On College Students’ Lives, Wendy C. Birmingham, Lori L. Wadsworth, Jane H. Lassetter

Faculty Publications

Objective: In light of COVID-19, leaders issued stay-at-home orders, including closure of higher-education schools. Most students left campus, likely impacting their employment and social network. Leaders are making decisions about opening universities and modality of instruction. Understanding students' psychological, physiological, academic, and financial responses to the shut-down and reopening of campuses can help leaders make informed decisions. Participants: 654 students from a large western university enrolled during the pandemic shutdown. Methods: Students were invited via email to complete an online survey. Results: Students reported stress, depression, loneliness, lack of motivation, difficulty focusing on schoolwork, restless sleep, appetite changes, job loss …

Factors Associated With Knowledge And Experience Of Self-Managed Abortion Among Patients Seeking Care At 49 Us Abortion Clinics, Abigail R.A. Aiken, Luisa Alejandra Tello-Pérez, Melissa Madera, Jennifer E. Starling, Dana M. Johnson, Kathleen Broussard, Elisa Padron, Carol Armelle Ze-Noah, Aleta Baldwin, James G. Scott

Faculty Publications

IMPORTANCE Patients attending US abortion clinics may consider or try self-managing their abortion before coming to the clinic, yet little is known about the factors associated with self-management behavior.

OBJECTIVE To examine the prevalence and factors associated with considering or attempting a self-managed abortion before attending a clinic.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS This survey study included patients obtaining an abortion at 49 independent, Planned Parenthood, and academic-affiliated clinics chosen to maximize diversity in geographic, state policy, and demographic context in 29 states between December 2018 and May 2020. Data were analyzed from December 2020 to July 2021.

EXPOSURES Obtaining an …

Anti Trusts: Reforming An Excessively Flexible Legal Tool, Eric Kades

Faculty Publications

Trusts are one of the most flexible legal tools in lawyers’ arsenals, deployed for socially desirable uses ranging from supporting orphans to structuring complex investments. Trusts, however, are also used for a host of socially undesirable purposes, including restraint of trade, cheating creditors, establishing family dynasties akin to feudalism, and avoiding taxes. This negative litany shows that flexibility has a dark side, and these undesirable trust uses have accelerated in the last few decades. Creative lawyers continuously find novel uses for moldable tools like the trust. This Article argues that long experience and recent developments teach us that dark eclipses …

A Basic Model For The Association Of Ligands With Membrane Cholesterol: Application To Cytolysin Binding, Yvonne Lange, S. M. Ali Tabei, Theodore L. Steck

Faculty Publications

Almost all the cholesterol in cellular membranes is associated with phospholipids in simple stoichiometric complexes. This limits the binding of sterol ligands such as filipin and perfringolysin O (PFO) to a small fraction of the total. We offer a simple mathematical model that characterizes this complexity. It posits that the cholesterol accessible to ligands has two forms: active cholesterol, which is that not complexed with phospholipids; and extractable cholesterol, that which ligands can capture competitively from the phospholipid complexes. Simulations based on the model match published data for the association of PFO oligomers with liposomes, plasma membranes, and the isolated …

Revealing Geographic Transmission Pattern Of Covid-19 Using Neighborhood-Level Simulation With Human Mobility Data And Seir Model: A Case Study Of South Carolina, Huan Ning, Zhenlong Li, Shan Qiao, Chengbo Zeng, Jiajia Zhang Ph.D., Bankole Olatosi Ph.D., Xiaoming Li Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

Direct human physical contact accelerates COVID-19 transmission. Smartphone mobility data has emerged as a valuable data source for revealing fine-grained human mobility, which can be used to estimate the intensity of physical contact surrounding different locations. Our study applied smartphone mobility data to simulate the second wave spreading of COVID-19 in January 2021 in three major metropolitan statistical areas (Columbia, Greenville, and Charleston) in South Carolina, United States. Based on the simulation, the number of historical county-level COVID-19 cases was allocated to neighborhoods (Census block groups) and points of interest (POIs), and the transmission rate of each allocated place was …

Health Of Nations: Preventing A Post-Pandemic Emerging Markets Debt Crisis, Lev E. Breydo

Faculty Publications

Sixty percent of low-income countries are currently at “high-risk” of insolvency, necessitating debt relief, according to the International Monetary Fund. The enormity of the problem cannot be overstated; a prospective sovereign debt crisis and economic collapse threatens hundreds of millions of people around the world.

At the same time, the tools to address these challenges are wholly inadequate. Typically, debt reduction is effectuated through statutory systems; sovereign debt is a critical exception, as there is no bankruptcy court for countries. Historically, this void was filled through a complex architecture based on custom, ‘soft law,’ and contractual mechanisms. However, that construct …

Menstrual Justice In Theoretical Context, Vivian E. Hamilton

Faculty Publications

This Essay reviews and places into theoretical contexts Bridget Crawford and Emily Waldman’s invaluable book Menstruation Matters. Although the authors themselves do not explicitly label the theoretical approach that undergirds their work, much of Menstruation Matters: Challenging the Law’s Silence on Periods falls within the liberal feminist legal tradition typical of post-civil rights second-wave feminism. Their work also embodies aspects of critical feminist approaches to law. Crawford & Waldman expose the discriminatory effects of facially neutral laws, the limits of formal equality, and the pitfalls of essentializing or making universal claims about categories of individuals—including women and menstruators. In …

Legal Order At The Border, Evan J. Criddle

Faculty Publications

For generations, the United States has grappled with high levels of illegal immigration across the U.S.-Mexico border. This Article offers a novel theoretical framework to explain why legal order remains elusive at the border. Drawing inspiration from Lon Fuller’s “interactional view of law,” I argue that immigration law cannot attract compliance unless it is general, public, prospective, clear, consistent, and stable; obedience with its rules is feasible; and the law’s enforcement is congruent with the rules as enacted. The flagrant violation of any one of these principles could frustrate the development of a functional legal order. Remarkably, U.S. immigration law …

The Supreme Court Review Act: Fast-Tracking The Interbranch Dialogue And Destabilizing The Filibuster, Aaron-Andrew P. Bruhl

Faculty Publications

This Essay presents an analysis of the Supreme Court Review Act, a bill that was recently introduced in Congress. The Act would create a streamlined legislative process for bills responding to new Supreme Court decisions that interpret federal statutes or restrict constitutional rights. By facilitating legislative responses to controversial cases, the Act would promote the “dialogue” that commentators and the courts themselves have used as a model for interbranch relations. The Essay describes how the proposed Supreme Court Review Act would work, discusses some of its benefits, addresses its constitutionality, and raises some questions about its implementation and effects.

Transmountain Diversion In The Forest Wilderness: Natural History Is Human History, José A. Rivera Ph.D

Faculty Publications

The case study details how an adjudication involving the water rights of Indigenous pueblos downstream of rights held by Hispano irrigators led to a prolonged conflict not with the pueblos but between Cuba valley farmers and the United States Forest Service. It happened that an adjudication decree in federal court mandated the Nacimiento Community Ditch Association to replace its diversion located in a wilderness forest with a modern structure to partition water equitably among all users on the Jémez River. The transmountain diversion, as it was called, took water out of the Jémez basin and dropped it to a canyon …

Travels In El Levante Spain: Field Notes And Reflections Summer Of 1999, José A. Rivera Ph.D

Faculty Publications

In the summer of 1999, I traveled to eastern Spain to observe the irrigated landscapes of the region known as huertas. I had recently completed a book about the community acequias of the upper Río Grande and set out to compare them with counterpart systems of Valencia, Murcia, and Lorca. In Valencia the highlights included a session of the fabled Water Court, the Tribunal de las Aguas de Valencia, and a tour of huertas within the urbanized portion of city. In Murcia I visited the office of the Junta de Hacendados and from there made it a point to …

The Zanjeras Of Ilocos In The Northern Philippines: A Legacy Of Sustainable Resource Management, José A. Rivera Ph.D

Faculty Publications

Zanjeras are farmer-managed irrigation systems that have endured for centuries in the Ilocos region of northern Luzon in the Philippines. These cooperative irrigation societies emerged during the Spanish regime when Augustinians were deployed to congregate indigenous populations into pueblos, convert them to Christianity, and raise tributes for the Crown. Zanjeras evolved from a blending of two traditions: the Iberian model of irrigation and indigenized practices of water-for-land exchanges with landowners and atar-holdings to distribute shares among the members. Like other community-based irrigation systems in Southeast Asia and globally, zanjeras are self-governed, long-enduring, and serve as exemplary models of …

Human Microbiome Transfer In The Built Environment Differs Based On Occupants, Objects, And Buildings, Andrew J. Hoisington, Christopher E. Stamper, Katherine L. Bates, Maggie A. Stanislawski, Michael C. Flux, Teodor T. Postolache, Christopher A. Lowry, Lisa A. Brenner

Faculty Publications

Compared to microbiomes on other skin sites, the bacterial microbiome of the human hand has been found to have greater variability across time. To increase understanding regarding the longitudinal transfer of the hand microbiome to objects in the built environment, and vice versa, 22 participants provided skin microbiome samples from their dominant hands, as well as from frequently and infrequently touched objects in their office environments. Additional longitudinal samples from home environments were obtained from a subset of 11 participants. We observed stability of the microbiomes of both the hand and built environments within the office and home settings; however, …

24/7 Clean Energy, Todd S. Aagaard

Faculty Publications

In the face of the rapidly escalating climate crisis, the electricity sector is moving toward renewable energy. To date, policies and strategies have focused on increasing overall renewable energy generation, with little regard for timing and location. The result has been a misalignment of supply and demand in renewable energy markets. Renewable power projects produce energy when and where it is least expensive, leaving supply scarce at other times and places. Consumers, meanwhile, continue to use power when and where they need it. This mismatch increases the electricity grid’s dependence on fossil fuel–fired electricity to meet electricity demand at times …

The Future Of Roe And The Gender Pay Gap: An Empirical Assesment, Itay Ravid, Jonathan Zandberg

Faculty Publications

In Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the Supreme Court upheld a Mississippi law that prohibits nearly all abortions after the fifteenth week of pregnancy and overruled the holding in Roe v. Wade. Among the many arguments raised in Dobbs in an attempt to overturn Roe, the State of Mississippi argued that due to “the march of progress” in women’s role in society, abortion rights are no longer necessary for women to participate equally in economic life. It has also been argued that there is no empirical support to the relationship between abortion rights and women’s economic success in society. …

Trading Nonenforcement, Ryan Snyder

Faculty Publications

In recent years, federal agencies have increasingly used nonenforcement as a bargaining chip—promising not to enforce a legal requirement in exchange for a regulated party’s promise to do something else that the law doesn’t require. This Article takes an in-depth look at how these nonenforcement trades work, why agencies and regulated parties make them, and the effects they have on social policy. The Article argues that these trades pose serious risks: Agencies often use trading to evade procedural and substantive limits on their power. The trades themselves present fairness problems, both because they tend to reward large, well-connected firms and …

What Is New In The New Covenant?, Jiří Moskala

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.