Digital Commons Network^™

A Solution For Funding The Development Of Technology In Oilwell Drilling, Dalmo S. Amorim, Otto L. A. Santos, Ricardo C. Azevedo, Ana Carolina Chieregati

Faculty Publications

This article proposes a novel methodology to solve an existing gap in benchmark definition by the adoption of statistically defined benchmarks as references to test products or technical procedures. In a win-win partnership, remuneration is made upon realistic bases of comparison being proportional to existing risks. However, establishing values for benchmarks is rarely unanimous if asked to different persons involved in drilling analysis. Conventional benchmarking, which enhances few results and leaves aside poor operational performances, produces references that do not properly represent the geological environment. Nonetheless, when testing new products, it serves as reference to remunerate suppliers. The review of …

Single-Case Experimental Designs For Behavioral Neuroscience, Paul L. Soto

Faculty Publications

Single-case experimental designs (SCEDs) are commonly used in behavior analytic research but rarely used in behavioral neuroscience research. The recent development of technologies that allow control of the timing of neurobiological events such as gene expression and neuronal firing enable the fruitful application of SCEDs for the study of brain-behavior relations. There are at least 3 benefits expected from applying SCEDs to study how neurobiological events affect behavior. First, SCEDs entail direct within- and across-subject assessments of reliability, likely increasing the probability of replication across studies and encouraging a search for the causes of replication failure when they occur. Second, …

Psychometric Analyses Of The Eating And Food Literacy Behaviors Questionnaire With University Students, Kwadernica C. Rhea, Melissa W. Cater, Kevin Mccarter, Georgianna Tuuri

Faculty Publications

Objectives: This study developed and validated a questionnaire to measure young adults’ perceived food literacy and behaviors toward food and created an explanatory model. Design: Cross-sectional. Setting: Large southeastern US university. Participants: A total of 1,896 students, aged 18–30 years, were recruited. Data from 1,813 were analyzed. Variables Measured: Health and nutrition, taste, food preparation, planning and decision-making, and convenience. Analysis: Exploratory factor analysis, test-retest reliability, confirmatory factor analysis, and structural equation modeling were performed. Results: Exploratory factor analysis returned 5 factors with acceptable internal structure. Test-retest reliability coefficients ranged from 0.63 to 0.92. Confirmatory factor analysis suggested that a …

Utilization Of Deep Learning For Subphenotype Identification In Sepsis-Associated Acute Kidney Injury, Kumardeep Chaudhary, Akhil Vaid, Áine Duffy, Ishan Paranjpe, Suraj Jaladanki, Manish Paranjpe, Kipp Johnson, Avantee Gokhale, Pattharawin Pattharanitima, Kinsuk Chauhan, Ross O’Hagan, Tielman Van Vleck, Steven G. Coca, Richard Cooper, Benjamin Glicksberg, Erwin P. Bottinger, Lili Chan, Girish N. Nadkarni

Faculty Publications

Background and objectives Sepsis-associated AKI is a heterogeneous clinical entity. We aimed to agnostically identify sepsis-associated AKI subphenotypes using deep learning on routinely collected data in electronic health records. Design, setting, participants, & measurements We used the Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care III database, which consists of electronic health record data from intensive care units in a tertiary care hospital in the United States. We included patients ≥18 years with sepsis who developed AKI within 48 hours of intensive care unit admission. We then used deep learning to utilize all available vital signs, laboratory measurements, and comorbidities to identify …

The Impact Of Information-Based Interventions On Conservation Behavior: A Meta-Analysis, Mehdi Nemati, Jerrod Penn

Faculty Publications

Interest in using information-based interventions to induce energy and water conservation has increased in recent years but have shown mixed evidence of their effectiveness. This paper seeks to answer two main questions - whether these programs are broadly effective in inducing conservation, and what are the most effective versions of these programs. Using a meta-analysis of 116 studies, we examine the effects of information-based interventions on residential customers' consumption of electricity, gas, and water. We find evidence of publication bias in this literature. After correcting for publication bias, meta-analysis results indicate that information-based interventions reduce consumption by an average of …

Effects Of Cold Storage On Life-History Traits Of Aphidius Matricariae, Mehran Rezaei, Ali A. Talebi, Yaghoub Fathipour, Javad Karimzadeh, Mohammad Mehrabadi, Gadi V.P. Reddy

Faculty Publications

Aphidius matricariae Haliday (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) is a polyphagous solitary endoparasitoid, attacking more than 40 species of aphids. This parasitoid is an important commercial product of many companies that produce biological control agents. Storage at low temperature increases the shelf life of many biocontrol agents, allowing companies to provide a steady and sufficient supply of insects for biocontrol programs. In the current study, the effects of cold storage of 1-day-old host mummies with A. matricariae for various time periods (5, 10, 15, 20, and 30 days) at 5 °C on the parasitoid’s key life-history traits were investigated. Parameters assessed after storage …

Potential Link Between Compromised Air Quality And Transmission Of The Novel Corona Virus (Sars-Cov-2) In Affected Areas, M. G. Manoj, M. K. Satheesh Kumar, K. T. Valsaraj, C. Sivan, Soumya K. Vijayan

Faculty Publications

The emergence of a novel human corona virus disease (COVID-19) has been declared as a pandemic by the World Health Organization. One of the mechanisms of airborne transmission of the severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus (SARS-CoV-2) amid humans is through direct ejection of droplets via sneezing, coughing and vocalizing. Nevertheless, there are ample evidences of the persistence of infectious viruses on inanimate surfaces for several hours to a few days. Through a critical review of the current literature and a preliminary analysis of the link between SARS-CoV-2 transmission and air pollution in the affected regions, we offer a perspective …

Discrete Bethe-Sommerfeld Conjecture For Triangular, Square, And Hexagonal Lattices, Jake Fillman, Rui Han

Faculty Publications

We prove the discrete Bethe-Sommerfeld conjecture on the graphene lattice, on its dual lattice (the triangular lattice), and on the extended Harper lattice. For each of these lattice geometries, we analyze the behavior of small periodic potentials. In particular, we provide sharp bounds on the number of gaps that may perturbatively open, we describe sharp arithmetic criteria on the periods that ensure that no gaps open, and we characterize those energies at which gaps may open in the perturbative regime. In all three cases, we provide examples that open the maximal number of gaps and estimate the scaling behavior of …

Extensions Of Real Bounded Symmetric Domains, Gestur Ólafsson, Robert J. Stanton

Faculty Publications

For a real bounded symmetric domain, G/K, we construct various natural enlargements to which several aspects of harmonic analysis on G/K and G have extensions. Our starting point is the realization of G/K as a totally real submanifold in a bounded domain Gh/Kh. We describe the boundary orbits and relate them to the boundary orbits of Gh/Kh. We relate the crown and the split-holomorphic crown of G/K to the crown Ξh of Gh/Kh. We identify an extension of a representation of K to a larger group Lc and use that to extend sections of vector bundles over the Borel compactification …

P1 Finite Element Methods For An Elliptic State-Constrained Distributed Optimal Control Problem With Neumann Boundary Conditions, S. C. Brenner, M. Oh, L. Y. Sung

Faculty Publications

We investigate two P finite element methods for an elliptic state-constrained distributed optimal control problem with Neumann boundary conditions on general polygonal domains. 1

Multivariate Analyses Of Water Quality Dynamics Over Four Decades In The Barataria Basin, Mississippi Delta, John W. Day, Bin Li, Brian D. Marx, Dongran Zhao, Robert Lane

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Bayesian-Based Predictions Of Covid-19 Evolution In Texas Using Multispecies Mixture-Theoretic Continuum Models, Prashant K. Jha, Lianghao Cao, J. Tinsley Oden

Faculty Publications

We consider a mixture-theoretic continuum model of the spread of COVID-19 in Texas. The model consists of multiple coupled partial differential reaction–diffusion equations governing the evolution of susceptible, exposed, infectious, recovered, and deceased fractions of the total population in a given region. We consider the problem of model calibration, validation, and prediction following a Bayesian learning approach implemented in OPAL (the Occam Plausibility Algorithm). Our goal is to incorporate COVID-19 data to calibrate the model in real-time and make meaningful predictions and specify the confidence level in the prediction by quantifying the uncertainty in key quantities of interests. Our results …

Determination Of Sulfite And Antimicrobial Residue In Imported Shrimp To The Usa, Murshida Khan, Julie A. Lively

Faculty Publications

Incorrect usage of grow out and post-harvest products in shrimp aquaculture can lead to problems such as residue from veterinary drugs and melanosis prevention. These residues can be a serious concern for human health during handling and consumption of the shrimp. In an effort to determine if banned antimicrobial drugs were present in commercial shrimp, imported shrimp from India, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, China, Bangladesh and Ecuador were purchased from retail stores in Baton Rouge, LA, USA and screened for the presence of veterinary drug residues (oxytetracycline, nitrofurantoin, chloramphenicol, fluoroquinolone and malachite green) using ELISA test kits. Additional screening with the …

The Effects Of Family Transitions On Depressive Symptoms: Differences Among Young Adults With And Without Childhood Symptoms Of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Rhiannon A. Kroeger, Debra Umberson, Daniel A. Powers, Danequa L. Forrest

Faculty Publications

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is tied to higher levels of depression, but the social factors that shape these associations are not well understood. This study considers whether family transitions affect depressive symptoms differently for young adults with and without childhood symptoms of ADHD at subthreshold or diagnostic levels. Between-within regression analysis of nationally representative longitudinal survey data shows that transitions into cohabitation and parenthood affect depressive symptoms differently for young adults with and without childhood symptoms of ADHD. Specifically, within-person effects indicate that transitions into cohabitation and parenthood are tied to decreases in depressive symptoms, but only for young adults without …

Relationships Between Emotion, Acceptance, Food Choice, And Consumption: Some New Perspectives, Witoon Prinyawiwatkul

Faculty Publications

Food is more than just a source of nutrients—it also provides basic pleasure as well as aesthetic experiences. A number of studies have reported that acceptance, food choice, and consumption are affected by a large number of factors, including both intrinsic and extrinsic factors and cues, as well as consumer characteristics. Food-elicited emotions are becoming a critical component in designing products that meet consumers’ needs and expectations. Several studies have reported emotional responses to food and their relationships to product acceptability, preference, and choice. This Special Issue brings together a small range of studies with a diversity of approaches that …

High Resolution Real-Time Pcr Melting Curve Assay For Identification Of Top Five Penaeidae Shrimp Species, Laxmi Sharma, Evelyn Watts, Prashant Singh

Faculty Publications

In the United States shrimps is the most popular seafood. Penaeidae shrimp species are known to share morphology characteristic and identification based on morphological appearance becomes more challenging when shrimp is processed into ready-to-eat products. Misrepresentation of shrimp is common in commercially available shrimp. The objective of the study was to develop a high-resolution melting (HRM) real time PCR assay targeting the 16S rRNA gene fragment for specific identification of top five penaeid species, Litopenaeus vannamei, Penaeus duorarum, Penaeus monodon, Litopenaeus setiferus and Pleoticus muelleri. The applicability of assay was evaluated using two DNA extraction kits and two real-time PCR …

Aroma, Quality, And Consumer Mindsets For Shelf-Stable Rice Thermally Processed By Reciprocal Agitation, William R. Dixon, Blanca E. Morales-Contreras, Manoch Kongchum, Zhimin Xu, Dustin Harrell, Howard R. Moskowitz, Louise Wicker

Faculty Publications

Food engineering, food chemistry, and consumer segmentation were used to evaluate ready-to-eat rice. The aromatic Louisiana Clearfield Jazzman (CJ) and Thai Jasmine (TJ), and a non-aromatic parboiled (PB) rice were hydrated during the first 10 min of processing with reciprocal agitation followed by static retort processing. The aroma compound, 2-Acetyl-1-pyrroline (2-AP) was more heat-stable in CJ than TJ rice but decreased 15-fold compared to the rice cooker method. Pareto analysis indicated that rice type and agitation had the main effect on amylose and total starch and chroma and hue. Color differences of rice agitated during hydration and between rice cooker …

Local Solutions Of The Landau Equation With Rough, Slowly Decaying Initial Data, Christopher Henderson, Stanley Snelson, Andrei Tarfulea

Faculty Publications

We consider the Cauchy problem for the spatially inhomogeneous Landau equation with soft potentials in the case of large (i.e. non-perturbative) initial data. We construct a solution for any bounded, measurable initial data with uniform polynomial decay in the velocity variable, and that satisfies a technical lower bound assumption (but can have vacuum regions). For uniqueness in this weak class, we have to make the additional assumption that the initial data is Hölder continuous. Our hypotheses are much weaker, in terms of regularity and decay, than previous large-data well-posedness results in the literature. We also derive a continuation criterion for …

Trade-Offs Tip Toward Litter Trapping: Insights From A Little-Known Panamanian Cloud-Forest Treelet, Kyle E. Harms, James W. Dalling, María N. Sánchez De Stapf

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Multi-Trait Genomic Prediction Of Yield-Related Traits In Us Soft Wheat Under Variable Water Regimes, Jia Guo, Jahangir Khan, Sumit Pradhan, Dipendra Shahi, Naeem Khan, Muhsin Avci, Jordan Mcbreen, Stephen Harrison, Gina Brown-Guedira, J. Paul Murphy, Jerry Johnson, Mohamed Mergoum, Richanrd Esten Mason, Amir M.H. Ibrahim, Russel Sutton, Carl Griffey, M. A. Babar

Faculty Publications

The performance of genomic prediction (GP) on genetically correlated traits can be improved through an interdependence multi-trait model under a multi-environment context. In this study, a panel of 237 soft facultative wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) lines was evaluated to compare single-and multi-trait models for predicting grain yield (GY), harvest index (HI), spike fertility (SF), and thousand grain weight (TGW). The panel was phenotyped in two locations and two years in Florida under drought and moderately drought stress conditions, while the genotyping was performed using 27,957 genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) makers. Five predictive models including Multi-environment Genomic Best Linear …

A Community-Based School Nutrition Intervention Improves Diet Diversity And School Attendance In Palestinian Refugee Schoolchildren In Lebanon, Zeina Jamaluddine, Jowel Choufani, Amelia Reese Masterson, Reem Hoteit, Nadine R. Sahyoun, Hala Ghattas Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

Background:

School feeding programs have the potential to supply children with healthy school food, alleviate short-term hunger, and improve children's educational outcomes.

Objectives:

We linked community kitchens to a subsidized school snack intervention and assessed the impact of this intervention on nutritional (diet diversity, hemoglobin, and anthropometry) and educational (attendance and academic performance) outcomes of Palestinian refugee schoolchildren.

Methods:

We collected data from 1362 students (aged 5-15 y) and their parents at baseline, and at an 8-mo follow-up in 2 control and 2 intervention schools. We conducted linear, logistic, and negative binomial regression analyses to assess changes in outcomes of …

Fair Use In Sayre V. Moore: A Reply To Oracle, Ned Snow

Faculty Publications

The Supreme Court is now considering the case of Google LLC v. Oracle America, Inc. Oracle has argued that Google infringed its copyright in computer software, but a jury found that Google’s use was not infringing under the fair use doctrine. The Federal Circuit reversed the jury verdict under a de novo standard of review. I have argued that this reversal violates the Seventh Amendment.

Seventh Amendment rights depend on whether an issue would have been decided by a jury in English law courts during the late 1700s. My argument is that in the 1785 English case of Sayre v. …

Transit Use For Single-Parent Households: Evidence From Maryland, Sicheng Wang, Yanfeng Xu

Faculty Publications

Single parents face unique transportation barriers in their lives. Although helping single parents obtain private vehicles (e.g., car donation programs) would be a potential solution, we cannot ignore the high expense of maintaining and operating a vehicle, which may impose a heavy financial burden on single-parent families and constrain their ability to access opportunities and services. In contrast, public transit could be a more accessible and affordable transportation mode that benefits single-parent families. This study examined the association between public transit use and single parents using 2017 National Household Travel Survey and American Community Survey data for Maryland, United States. …

Mixed Incorporation Of Carbon And Hydrogen In Silicate Melts Under Varying Pressure And Redox Conditions, Bijaya B. Karki, Dipta B. Ghosh, Dipendra Banjara

Faculty Publications

Volatiles including carbon and hydrogen are generally considered to be more soluble in silicate melts than in mantle rocks. How these melts contribute to the storage and distribution of key volatiles in Earth's interior today and during its early evolution, however, remains largely unknown. It is essential to improve our knowledge about volatiles-bearing silicate magmas over the entire mantle pressure regime. Here we investigate molten Mg Fe SiO (x=0, 0.25) containing both carbon and hydrogen using first-principles molecular dynamics simulations. Our results show that the dissolution mechanism of the binary volatiles in melts varies considerably under different conditions of pressure …

Significance Of Viral Activity For Regulating Heterotrophic Prokaryote Community Dynamics Along A Meridional Gradient Of Stratification In The Northeast Atlantic Ocean, Kristina D.A. Mojica, Corina P.D. Brussaard

Faculty Publications

How microbial populations interact influences the availability and flux of organic carbon in the ocean. Understanding how these interactions vary over broad spatial scales is therefore a fundamental aim of microbial oceanography. In this study, we assessed variations in the abundances, production, virus and grazing induced mortality of heterotrophic prokaryotes during summer along a meridional gradient in stratification in the North Atlantic Ocean. Heterotrophic prokaryote abundance and activity varied with phytoplankton biomass, while the relative distribution of prokaryotic subpopulations (ratio of high nucleic acid fluorescent (HNA) and low nucleic acid fluorescent (LNA) cells) was significantly correlated to phytoplankton mortality mode …

Interface Kinetics Of Rapid Solidification Of Binary Alloys By Atomistic Simulations: Application To Ti-Ni Alloys, Sepideh Kavousi, Brian R. Novak, Jeffrey Hoyt, Dorel Moldovan

Faculty Publications

Using molecular dynamics and Monte Carlo simulations we investigate the non-equilibrium interfacial kinetics during rapid solidification of Ti-Ni alloys. According to the existing theories, the kinetic coefficient is related, via an analytical expression, to the equilibrium and non-equilibrium solute concentration profiles across the crystal-melt interface, the interface temperature and velocity, and the drag coefficient. The kinetic coefficient was obtained by deriving these properties from specifically designed atomistic simulations and then fitting using the analytical expression. The results show that the kinetic coefficient is only weakly anisotropic and increases with increasing temperature. The velocity-dependent partition coefficient, as described by two solute …

Development And Application Of Interatomic Potentials To Study The Stability And Shear Strength Of Ti/Tin And Cu/Tin Interfaces, Abu Shama Mohammad Miraz, Nisha Dhariwal, W. J. Meng, Bala R. Ramachandran, Collin D. Wick

Faculty Publications

A modified embedded atom method interatomic potential was developed to study semi-coherent metal/ceramic interfaces involving Cu, Ti and N. A genetic algorithm was used to fit the model parameters to the physical properties of the materials. To accurately describe interfacial interactions and shear, two-dimensional generalized stacking fault energy profiles for relevant slip systems were selected as one of the major parameterization targets for the models. The models were applied to study semi-coherent Ti(0001)/TiN(111) and Cu(111)/TiN(111) systems. Ti/TiN was stable with misfits accommodated away from the interface. Cu/TiN, in contrast, was more stable with misfits at the interface. A spiral pattern …

Development Of A 4.75 Mm Asphalt Mixture Design For Implementation In Louisiana Dotd Specifications, Saman Salari, Samuel Cooper, Louay N. Mohammad, Peyman Barghabany

Faculty Publications

The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) and other state agencies are continuously looking for techniques to reduce roadway maintenance and construction costs. A common consideration is to introduce asphalt mixtures with a smaller nominal maximum aggregate size (NMAS) for utilization in roadways. In a previous study, DOTD concluded that mixtures with a 4.75 mm NMAS provided acceptable performance as a surface layer. Excessive stockpiles of unused smaller aggregates can result in an economically competitive source to be consi dered for asphalt mixtures. The DOTD developed mixtures with four aggregate types and two binder types. A comprehensive evaluation of …

Performance Analysis Of A Quantum Monte Carlo Application On Multiple Hardware Architectures Using The Hpx Runtime, Weile Wei, Arghya Chatterjee, Kevin Huck, Oscar Hernandez, Hartmut Kaiser

Faculty Publications

This paper describes how we successfully used the HPX programming model to port the DCA++ application on multiple architectures that include POWER9, x86, ARM v8, and NVIDIA GPUs. We describe the lessons we can learn from this experience as well as the benefits of enabling the HPX in the application to improve the CPU threading part of the code, which led to an overall 21% improvement across architectures. We also describe how we used HPX-APEX to raise the level of abstraction to understand performance issues and to identify tasking optimization opportunities in the code, and how these relate to CPU/GPU …

Towards Distributed Software Resilience In Asynchronous Many-Task Programming Models, Nikunj Gupta, Jackson R. Mayo, Adrian S. Lemoine, Hartmut Kaiser

Faculty Publications

Exceptions and errors occurring within mission critical applications due to hardware failures have a high cost. With the emerging Next Generation Platforms (NGPs), the rate of hardware failures will likely increase. Therefore, designing our applications to be resilient is a critical concern in order to retain the reliability of results while meeting the constraints on power budgets. In this paper, we discuss software resilience in AMTs at both local and distributed scale. We choose HPX to prototype our resiliency designs. We implement two resiliency APIs that we expose to the application developers, namely task replication and task replay. Task replication …