Digital Commons Network^™

Iss Inequalities For Vector Versions Of Halanay's Inequality And Of The Trajectory-Based Approach, Frédéric Mazenc, Michael Malisoff

Faculty Publications

Halanay's inequality is a powerful and widely used tool to prove asymptotic convergence properties of functions that arise in the study of systems with delays or continuous-discrete features. In its standard form, it applies to scalar valued functions that satisfy decay conditions, with overshoots depending on suprema of the functions over suitable intervals. Then it provides an exponential decay estimate on the scalar functions. Here, we provide vector versions of Halanay's inequality, and of the so-called trajectory based approach, both yielding input-to-state stability (or ISS) inequalities. Our proofs of the inequalities use the theory of positive systems. We apply our …

Improved Models Of R Coronae Borealis Stars, Bradley Munson, Emmanouil Chatzopoulos, Pavel A. Denissenkov

Faculty Publications

We present an improved numerical method to model subsolar He+CO-WD merger progenitors of R Corona Borealis stars that builds on our previous work. These improvements include a smooth entropy transition from the core to the envelope of the post-merger, inclusion of single-zone nucleosynthesis to mimic the effects of burning during the merger event, and post-processing the models with a larger nuclear network for analysis of s-process nucleosynthesis. We perform a parameter study to understand the effects of the entropy transition, peak temperature, and overshooting on our models. The models that best agree with observations of R Corona Borealis stars are …

Efficacy Of The Symmetry-Adapted Basis For Ab Initio Nucleon-Nucleus Interactions For Light- And Intermediate-Mass Nuclei, A. Mercenne, K. D. Launey, T. Dytrych, J. E. Escher, S. Quaglioni, G. H. Sargsyan, D. Langr, J. P. Draayer

Faculty Publications

We study the efficacy of a new ab initio framework that combines the symmetry-adapted (SA) no-core shell-model approach with the resonating group method (RGM) for unified descriptions of nuclear structure and reactions. We obtain ab initio neutron-nucleus interactions for ⁴He, ¹⁶O, and ²⁰Ne targets, starting with realistic nucleon-nucleon potentials. We discuss the effect of increasing model space sizes and symmetry-based selections on the SA-RGM norm and direct potential kernels, as well as on phase shifts, which are the input to calculations of cross sections. We demonstrate the efficacy of the SA basis and its scalability with particle …

Niobium In The Clean Limit: An Intrinsic Type-I Superconductor, Ruslan Prozorov, Mehdi Zarea, James A. Sauls

Faculty Publications

Niobium is one of the most researched superconductors, both theoretically and experimentally. It is enormously significant in all branches of superconducting applications, from powerful magnets to quantum computing. It is therefore imperative to understand its fundamental properties in great detail. Here, we use the results of recent microscopic calculations of anisotropic electronic, phonon, and superconducting properties, and apply a thermodynamic criterion for the type of superconductivity, more accurate and straightforward than a conventional Ginzburg-Landau parameter κ-based delineation, to show that pure niobium is a type-I superconductor in the clean limit. However, disorder (impurities, defects, strain, stress) pushes it to become …

The Global Regulator Mftr Controls Virulence And Siderophore Production In Burkholderia Thailandensis, Sudarshan S. Thapa, Ahmed Al-Tohamy, Anne Grove

Faculty Publications

Burkholderia thailandensis is a member of the Burkholderia pseudomallei complex. It encodes the transcription factor MftR, which is conserved among the more pathogenic Burkholderia spp. and previously shown to be a global regulator of gene expression. We report here that a B. thailandensis strain in which the mftR gene is disrupted is more virulent in both Caenorhabditis elegans and onion. The DmftR strain exhibits a number of phenotypes associated with virulence. It is more proficient at forming biofilm, and the arcDABC gene cluster, which has been linked to anaerobic survival and fitness within a biofilm, is upregulated. Swimming and swarming …

All-Electron, Density-Functional-Based Method For Angle-Resolved Tunneling Ionization In The Adiabatic Regime, Imam S. Wahyutama, Denawakage D. Jayasinghe, François Mauger, Kenneth Lopata, Mette B. Gaarde, Kenneth J. Schafer

Faculty Publications

We develop and test a method that integrates many-electron weak-field asymptotic theory (ME-WFAT) [O. I. Tolstikhin, L. B. Madsen, and T. Morishita, Phys. Rev. A 89, 013421 (2014)1050-294710.1103/PhysRevA.89.013421] in the integral representation (IR) into the density-functional-theory (DFT) framework. In particular, we present modifications of the integral formula in the IR ME-WFAT to incorporate the potential terms unique to DFT. By solving an adiabatic rate equation for the angle-resolved ionization yield in our DFT-based ME-WFAT method, we show that the results are in excellent agreement with those of real-time time-dependent density-functional-theory (TDDFT) simulations for NO, OCS, CH3Br, and CH3Cl interacting with …

High-Resolution Ribosome Profiling Reveals Translational Selectivity For Transcripts In Bovine Preimplantation Embryo Development, Linkai Zhu, Tong Zhou, Rajan Iyyappan, Hao Ming, Michal Dvoran, Yinjuan Wang, Qi Chen, R. Michael Roberts, Andrej Susor, Zongliang Jiang

Faculty Publications

High-resolution ribosome fractionation and low-input ribosome profiling of bovine oocytes and preimplantation embryos has enabled us to define the translational landscapes of early embryo development at an unprecedented level. We analyzed the transcriptome and the polysome- and non-polysome-bound RNA profiles of bovine oocytes (germinal vesicle and metaphase II stages) and early embryos at the two-cell, eight-cell, morula and blastocyst stages, and revealed four modes of translational selectivity: (1) selective translation of non-abundant mRNAs; (2) active, but modest translation of a selection of highly expressed mRNAs; (3) translationally suppressed abundant to moderately abundant mRNAs; and (4) mRNAs associated specifically with monosomes. …

The Uneven Reaction To Combat The Covid-19 Pandemic: Geovisualizing Of Fever Clinics In Mainland China, Guoqi Li, Zhuoshi Lv, Fahui Wang, Gang Chen, Wenjie Sun, Yuting Shi, Sijing Liu

Faculty Publications

The COVID-19 pandemic has exerted unprecedented impacts on the world. Since its onset, China has established a network of fever clinics as an effective strategy to aggressively isolate and screen possible patients with COVID-19 symptoms. This study presents two fever clinic maps that visualize the uneven responses to the COVID-19 pandemic at the city level in mainland China. The maps highlight more resources in the southwest, northwest, east, and south China, and paucity in the far west parts of southwest and northwest China and in the north and northeast China.

Multiscale Analysis Of Cancer Service Areas In The United States, Changzhen Wang, Tracy Onega, Fahui Wang

Faculty Publications

The purpose of delineating Cancer Service Areas (CSAs) is to define a reliable unit of analysis, more meaningful than geopolitical units such as states and counties, for examining geographic variations of the cancer care markets using geographic information systems (GIS). This study aims to provide a multiscale analysis of the U.S. cancer care markets based on the 2014–2015 Medicare claims of cancer-directed surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. The CSAs are delineated by a scale-flexible network community detection algorithm automated in GIS so that the patient flows are maximized within CSAs and minimized between them. The multiscale CSAs include those comparable in …

Monitoring Asbestos Mine Remediation Using Airborne Hyperspectral Imaging System: A Case Study Of Jefferson Lake Mine, Us, Yongsik Jeong, Jaehyung Yu, Lei Wang, Huy Hoa Huynh, Hyun Cheol Kim

Faculty Publications

This study investigated an asbestos mine restoration project using Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) hyperspectral data. The distribution of an abandoned asbestos mine (AAM) and treatment area were analyzed before and after the remediation based on the spectral indices for detecting naturally occurring asbestos (NOA) indicators and encapsulation. The spectral indices were developed for NOA, host rock, and encapsulation by logistic regression models using spectral bands extracted from the random forest algorithm. The detection models mostly used VNIR spectra rather than SWIR and were statistically significant. The overall accuracy of the detection models was approximately 84%. Notably, the detection accuracy …

Probing Free Nucleons With (Anti)Neutrinos, Roberto Petti

Faculty Publications

We discuss a method to study free protons and neutrons using ν(⊽)-hydrogen (H) Charged Current (CC) inelastic interactions, together with various precision tests of the isospin (charge) symmetry using ν and ⊽ CC interactions on both H and nuclear targets. Probing free nucleons with (anti)neutrinos provides information about their partonic structure, as well as a crucial input for the modeling of ν(⊽)-nucleus (A) interactions. Such measurements concurrently represent a valuable tool to address the main limitations of accelerator-based neutrino scattering experiments on nuclear targets, originating from the combined effect of the unknown (anti)neutrino energy and of the …

The Formal Institutional Context Of Informal Entrepreneurship: A Cross-National, Configurational-Based Perspective, Joshua K. Ault, Andrew Spicer

Faculty Publications

While previous comparative research has identified the formal institutional conditions that differentiate countries on their degree of informal entrepreneurship, this paper examines the characteristics that shape cross-national diversity in its type. Based on a series of fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analyses (fs/QCA) of 138 country cases, we find evidence of causal heterogeneity in the configuration of institutional conditions associated with entrepreneurial outcomes that are informal and growth-oriented and those that are informal and subsistence-oriented. Given our results, we propose that the formal institutional-based conditions that differentiate between types of informal sectors are best identified by the conjoint mixture of strength and …

On A Prior Based On The Wasserstein Information Matrix, Wuchen Li, F. J. Rubio

Faculty Publications

We introduce a prior for the parameters of univariate continuous distributions, based on the Wasserstein information matrix, which is invariant under reparameterisations. We discuss the links between the proposed prior with information geometry. We present sufficient conditions for the propriety of the posterior distribution for general classes of models. We present a simulation study that shows that the induced posteriors have good frequentist properties.

Bio-Oil Production From Hydrothermal Liquefaction Of Pennisetum Purpureum X Pennisetum Typhoideum, Tossapon Katongtung, Sanphawat Phtomphithak, Thossaporn Onsree, Nakorn Tippayawong, Jochen A. Lauterbach

Faculty Publications

Among renewable and sustainable energy resources, biomass plays a vital role. Agricultural residues/wastes, energy crops, and lignocellulosic biomass could potentially be major feedstocks for biorefineries. In Thailand, one of the most interesting energy crops is hybrid giant Juncao grass (GJG) or Pennisetum purpureum × Pennisetum typhoideum. GJG can be easily grown and has relatively high yields under tropical climates. Herein, conversion of GJG to biofuels via hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) was investigated using batch reactors under varying reaction temperatures of 250–350 ◦C and biomass-to-deionized water concentrations of 15–25 wt% at a fixed residence time of 30 min. Changes in temperature and …

Δ34s, Δ18o, And Δ2h-Δ18o As An Approach For Settling The Question Of Groundwater Salinization In Neogene Basins: The North Of Morocco In Focus, Mohammed Elgettafi, Malak Elmeknassi, Abdenabi Elmandour, Mahjoub Himi, Juan M. Lorenzo, Albert Casas

Faculty Publications

Neogene plains around the Mediterranean basin are characterized by considerable groundwater salinization. Some studies have misidentified seawater intrusion as the main source of salinity. Across northern Morocco, we gathered δ¹⁸OSO4 and δ³⁴SSO4 data from coastal and inland aquifers, Messinian marls, and volcanic products. Differences in the isotopic composition between Messinian marls and some groundwater in all aquifer samples indicate that salinization in groundwater is a consequence of dissolution of Messinian evaporite deposits; nevertheless, modern agriculture and wastewater strongly influence depletion in levels of δ³⁴SSO4. Our novel approach enables effective investigation of processes governing salinity …

Tectonism Of Late Noachian Mars: Surface Signatures From The Southern Highlands, Trishit Ruj, Goro Komatsu, Gene Schmidt, Suniti Karunatillake, Kenji Kawai

Faculty Publications

Upwelling mantle plumes often instigate extensional stress within the continental crust of Earth. When stress exceeds crustal strength, extensional structures develop, reducing the effective stress and trigger magmatic processes at the crust–mantle boundary. However, such processes and their relationship to the formation of many surface structures remain poorly characterized on Mars. We identified a series of extensional structures in the southern highlands of Mars which collectively resemble continental rift zones on Earth. We further characterized these extensional structures and their surrounding region (area of ~1.8 M km²) by determining the surface mineralogy and bulk regional geochemistry of the …

Wearable Activity Tracker Use And Physical Activity Among Informal Caregivers In The United States: Quantitative Study, Asos Mahmood, Hyunmin Kim, Satish Kedia, Patrick Dillon

Faculty Publications

Background: With an increase in aging population and chronic medical conditions in the United States, the role of informal caregivers has become paramount as they engage in the care of their loved ones. Mounting evidence suggests that such responsibilities place substantial burden on informal caregivers and can negatively impact their health. New wearable health and activity trackers (wearables) are increasingly being used to facilitate and monitor healthy behaviors and to improve health outcomes. Although prior studies have examined the efficacy of wearables in improving health and well-being in the general population, little is known about their benefits among informal …

Damage Monitoring Methods For Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Joints: A Review, Wencai Li, Genevieve Palardy

Faculty Publications

As the application of composite materials in structural parts continues to increase, so does the importance to monitor the structure's health condition during their entire service life. This paper presents a comprehensive review on damage monitoring methods focusing on fiber-reinforced polymer joints: adhesively bonded, mechanically fastened, and welded. In this review, structural health monitoring (SHM) methods are classified into two major groups: intrinsic sensing (embedded at the bond line) and extrinsic sensing (placed outside the interface). Main intrinsic techniques include fiber optic sensors, piezoelectric sensors (e.g., electromechanical impedance), and nanocomposite-based monitoring. The latter has attracted significant interest in the past …

Design And Economic Analysis Of A Hydrokinetic Turbine For Household Applications, Carmen M. Puertas-Frías, Clinton S. Willson, Pablo A. García-Salaberri

Faculty Publications

Social and political concerns on climate change have made renewable energy an essential component of government's work plans. Grid-connected horizontal-axis hydrokinetic turbines are promising eco-friendly power sources for electrical energy supply to households near middle-to-high discharge rivers, while providing an opportunity to sell the energy surplus. In this work, a rotor design analysis of a hydrokinetic turbine with a 1 m nominal radius is performed based on blade element momentum theory. Then, an economic analysis is presented in terms of the discounted payback period and the internal rate of return. The numerical results show that three-bladed hydrokinetic turbines with a …

Subpredictor Approach For Event-Triggered Control Of Discrete-Time Systems With Input Delays, Frédéric Mazenc, Michael Malisoff, Corina Barbalata, Zhong Ping Jiang

Faculty Publications

We propose a new output event-triggered control design for linear discrete-time systems with constant arbitrarily long input delays, using delay compensating subpredictors. We prove input-to-state stability of the closed loop system, using framers and the theory of positive systems. A novel feature of our approach is our use of matrices of absolute values, instead of Euclidean norms, in our discrete-time event triggers for our delay compensating control design. We illustrate our approach using a model of the BlueROV2 marine vehicle, where our new event triggers lead to a smaller number of control recomputation times as compared with standard event triggers …

A Machine Learning Approach For Detecting Rescue Requests From Social Media, Zheye Wang, Nina S.N. Lam, Mingxuan Sun, Xiao Huang, Jin Shang, Lei Zou, Yue Wu, Volodymyr V. Mihunov

Faculty Publications

Hurricane Harvey in 2017 marked an important transition where many disaster victims used social media rather than the overloaded 911 system to seek rescue. This article presents a machine-learning-based detector of rescue requests from Harvey-related Twitter messages, which differentiates itself from existing ones by accounting for the potential impacts of ZIP codes on both the preparation of training samples and the performance of different machine learning models. We investigate how the outcomes of our ZIP code filtering differ from those of a recent, comparable study in terms of generating training data for machine learning models. Following this, experiments are conducted …

Generating Realistic Cyber Data For Training And Evaluating Machine Learning Classifiers For Network Intrusion Detection Systems, Marc W. Chalé, Nathaniel D. Bastian

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Interband Transitions And Critical Points Of Single-Crystal Thoria Compared With Urania, Christina L. Dugan, Lu Wang, Kai Zhang, James Matthew Mann, Martin M. Kimani, Wai-Ning Mei, Peter A. Dowben, James C. Petrosky

Faculty Publications

The interband transitions of UO₂ are validated independently through cathode luminescence. A picture emerges consistent with density functional theory. While theory is generally consistent with experiment, it is evident from the comparison of UO₂ and ThO₂ that the choice of functional can significantly alter the bandgap and some details of the band structure, in particular at the conduction band minimum. Strictly ab initio predictions of the optical properties of the actinide compounds, based on density functional theory alone, continue to be somewhat elusive.

Optimizing Switching Of Non-Linear Properties With Hyperbolic Metamaterials, James A. Ethridge, John G. Jones, Manuel R. Ferdinandus, Michael J. Havrilla, Michael A. Marciniak

Faculty Publications

Hyperbolic metamaterials have been demonstrated to have special potential in their linear response, but the extent of their non-linear response has not been extensively modeled or measured. In this work, novel non-linear behavior of an ITO/SiO₂ layered hyperbolic metamaterial is modeled and experimentally confirmed, specifically a change in the sign of the non-linear absorption with intensity. This behavior is tunable and can be achieved with a simple one-dimensional layered design. Fabrication was performed with physical vapor deposition, and measurements were conducted using the Z-scan technique. Potential applications include tunable optical switches, optical limiters, and tunable components of laser sources.

Techno-Economic Sensitivity Analysis For Combined Design And Operation Of A Small Modular Reactor Hybrid Energy System, Daniel Hill, Adam Martin, Nathanael Martin-Nelson, Charles Granger, Kody Powell, John Hedengren

Faculty Publications

With increasing grid-penetration of renewable energy resources and a rising need for carbon-free dispatchable power generation, nuclear-hybrid energy systems (NHES), consisting of small modular reactors, are an increasingly attractive option for maintaining grid stability. NHES can accomplish this with a minimal carbon footprint but there are significant uncertainties that are not fully understood. This work describes and demonstrates methods for analyzing the uncertainties of potential NHES designs, including uncertain design parameters and time series as well as variations in dispatch horizon length. The proposed methods are demonstrated on a sample system with 16 design parameters, 3 uncertain time series, and …

Optimizing Cybersecurity Budgets With Attacksimulation, Alexander Master, George Hamilton, J. Eric Dietz

Faculty Publications

Modern organizations need effective ways to assess cybersecurity risk. Successful cyber attacks can result in data breaches, which may inflict significant loss of money, time, and public trust. Small businesses and non-profit organizations have limited resources to invest in cybersecurity controls and often do not have the in-house expertise to assess their risk. Cyber threat actors also vary in sophistication, motivation, and effectiveness. This paper builds on the previous work of Lerums et al., who presented an AnyLogic model for simulating aspects of a cyber attack and the efficacy of controls in a generic enterprise network. This paper argues that …

Determinants Of Egg Consumption By Infants And Young Children In Ethiopia, Bezawit E. Kase, Edward A. Frongillo Jr. Ph.D., Sejla Isanovic, Wendy Gonzalez, Hana Yemane Wodajo, Eric W. Djmeu

Faculty Publications

Objective:

To identify determinants of egg consumption in infants and young children aged 6–23·9 months in Ethiopia. Design and setting:

Data used were from the cross-sectional baseline survey of an egg campaign in Ethiopia implemented by the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition. Participants:

Children aged 6–23·9 months (n 453) were sampled. Data on socio-demographic characteristics, economic resources, caregiver’s behaviour, child health and feeding practices, and egg consumption in the last 7 d were collected using interviewer-administered questionnaires. Multivariable ordinal logistic regression was used to examine the association between explanatory variables and egg consumption in the last 7 d. Results:

About …

Agr2-Associated Er Stress Promotes Adherent-Invasive E. Coli Dysbiosis And Triggers Cd103+ Dendritic Cell Il-23-Dependent Ileocolitis, Monica Viladomiu, Manirath Khounlotham, Belgin Dogan, Svetlana F. Lima, Ahmed Elsaadi, Emre Cardakli, Jim G. Castellanos, Charles Ng, Jeremy Herzog, Alexi A. Schoenborn, Melissa Ellermann, Bo Liu, Shiying Zhang, Ajay S. Gulati, R. Balfour Sartor, Kenneth W. Simpson, Steven M. Lipkin, Randy S. Longman

Faculty Publications

Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress is associated with Crohn’s disease (CD), but its impact on host-microbe interaction in disease pathogenesis is not well defined. Functional deficiency in the protein disulfide isomerase anterior gradient 2 (AGR2) has been linked with CD and leads to epithelial cell ER stress and ileocolitis in mice and humans. Here, we show that ileal expression of AGR2 correlates with mucosal Enterobactericeae abundance in human inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and that Agr2 deletion leads to ER-stress-dependent expansion of mucosal-associated adherent-invasive Escherichia coli (AIEC), which drives Th17 cell ileocolitis in mice. Mechanistically, our data reveal that AIEC-induced epithelial cell …

Pretreatment Of Corncob With Green Deep Eutectic Solvent To Enhance Cellulose Accessibility For Energy And Fuel Applications, Sanphawat Phromphithak, Nakorn Tippayawong, Thossaporn Onsree, Jochen A. Lauterbach

Faculty Publications

Fossil fuels are the primary source of energy for a long period in spite of excessive environmental hazards, such as greenhouse gas emissions. Production of energy and fuel from lignocellulosic biomass has been the goal of the study in pursuit of renewable alternatives to fossil materials. Corncob is common agricultural biomass waste found in many countries. It can be utilized to produce bioenergy, but the conversion efficiency is limited. Pretreatment may be applied to improve the efficiency of corncob conversion; for example, by the fractionation of lignocellulosic biomass. Choline chloride (ChCl) and glycerol are considered as synthetic deep eutectic solvents …

The Biblical Imperative For Pastoral Self-Care, Petr A. Činčala, René Drumm

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.