Digital Commons Network^™

Development Of A Self-Healing And Rejuvenating Mechanisms For Asphalt Mixtures Containing Recycled Asphalt Shingle, Marwa Hassan

Publications

The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that hollow-fibers encapsulating a rejuvenator product could improve both self-healing, rejuvenation, and mechanical properties of asphalt mixtures. Hollow-fibers containing a rejuvenating product were synthesized via a wet spinning procedure with sodium-alginate polymer as the encapsulating material. An optimization of the production parameters for the synthesis of fibers was performed to develop fibers suitable for high-temperature and shear stress environment typical of asphalt mixture production. A self-healing experiment was conducted to evaluate the healing/rejuvenation capabilities of sodium-alginate fibers in asphalt mixtures with varying types of binders and recycled materials. Based on …

Development Of A Standard Test Method For Characterization Of Asphalt Materials And Aging-Related Degradation Using An Extensional Rheometer, Nazimuddin Wasiuddin

Publications

An extensional deformation test method using a Sentmanat Extensional Rheometer (SER) fixture inside a Dynamic Shear Rheometer (DSR) is developed in this study to investigate the degradation of the polymer due to aging and to investigate the effect of modifier type. A relationship between different percentages of modifier and ductility of the modified binder is also investigated. The sample geometrics used in this study are 1 mm x 0.72 mm and 3 mm x 0.72 mm. A total of one hundred and sixty-two samples were tested. Three modifiers Styrene-Butadiene-Styrene (SBS), Polyphosphoric Acid (PPA) and latex were used. One PG 76-22, …

Development Of Environmentally-Friendly Stabilization Methods For Transportation Infrastructure Based On Geopolymers, Miladin Radovic, Anand Puppala

Publications

Geopolymers (GPs) have received much attention as an eco-friendly and sustainable alternative to conventional chemical additives, since they can be processed at room temperatures from aqueous solutions by utilizing waste materials (e.g. fly ash) or abundant natural sources (e.g. clay). A collaborative research study is carried out by teams from Texas A&M University (TAMU) and University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) to investigate the effectiveness of GPs for stabilizing base and subgrade materials by considering the strength and shrink-swell characteristics. Two types of clay, obtained from the North Dallas area, were mixed with a potassium-based GP synthesized from metakaolin and …

Sustainable And Equitable Financing For Pedestrian Infrastructure Maintenance, Gregory Rowangould

Publications

In many communities, pedestrian infrastructure is discontinuous, inaccessible to those with physical disabilities, and poorly maintained. Correcting these problems would be a first step in providing infrastructure to achieve the active travel and related transportation goals of many communities. One nearly universal challenge to maintaining sidewalks in a state of good repair and addressing environmental justice concerns is an adequate, sustainable, and equitable source of funding. Municipal governments across the country maintain and repair their streets and roadways; however, most require residents to maintain and repair public sidewalks adjacent to their property. These policies are difficult to enforce and may …

Bridge Deck Overlays Using Ultra-High Performance Concrete, Craig Newtson, Brad Weldon

Publications

This study investigated the use of a locally produced ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) as an alternative to typical overlay materials. Several bond strength tests including slant-shear, splitting tension, and direct tension tests were performed to assess the bond strength between UHPC and normal strength concrete (NSC) substrate with varying surface textures. Tests were also conducted to assess the early-age and longer-term shrinkage behavior and coefficient of thermal expansion of the UHPC as well as rapid chloride permeability testing. Good bond between UHPC and NSC substrate was observed even with inadequate surface texture. Combined shrinkage and thermal effects were investigated for …

Does Length Of Ride, Gender Or Nationality Affect Willingness To Ride In A Driverless Ambulance?, Stephen Rice, Scott R. Winter, Rian Mehta, Joseph R. Keebler, Bradley S. Baugh, Emily C. Anania, Mattie N. Milner

Publications

Due to the frequent lack of ambulances and personnel, the purpose of this study was to examine consumers’ willingness-to-ride in an ambulance that was either driven by a human driver or completely automated (with no human driver) based on the gender of the participant and their nationality, either Indian or American. A two-study experimental design was utilized using over 1,000 participants. In Study 1, the length of the ride and the type of driver were manipulated while in Study 2, the length of the ride was manipulated across genders and nationality. Study 2 also collected affect measures to complete a …

Information Technology System Failure And Value Of Airlines: A Case Study Of Airlines In 2016, Jayendra Gokhale

Publications

Technology is a critical component of a firm’s operations. Technology failures can cause widespread problems in airlines. These failures cause disruptions in flight schedules, cause passengers to be stranded at airports and also increase airline operating costs. The objective of this study is to measure an effect of information technology failures on the firm value of passenger airline companies during the year 2016. In that year, there were cases involving delays and cancellations associated with JetBlue, Southwest, Delta, American, and Virgin America that received significant media coverage. Using the event study methodology, this study finds that the intensity of failures …

What Do You Have That Others Don't?: Succeeding In Academia Or Industry, Amit Sheth

Publications

No abstract provided.

Personalized Health Knowledge Graph, Amelie Gyrard, Manas Gaur, Saeedeh Shekarpour, Krishnaprasad Thirunarayan, Amit Sheth

Publications

Our current health applications do not adequately take into account contextual and personalized knowledge about patients. In order to design “Personalized Coach for Healthcare” applications to manage chronic diseases, there is a need to create a Personalized Healthcare Knowledge Graph (PHKG) that takes into consideration a patient’s health condition (personalized knowledge) and enriches that with contextualized knowledge from environmental sensors and Web of Data (e.g., symptoms and treatments for diseases). To develop PHKG, aggregating knowledge from various heterogeneous sources such as the Internet of Things (IoT) devices, clinical notes, and Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) is necessary. In this paper, we …

A Comparative Assessment Of National Approaches To Defining The "Ocean Economy", Charles Colgan

Publications

The development of an Ocean Economy Satellite Account (OESA) within the Industry Accounts of the National Income and Product Accounts is taking place at a time when there is increased attention to the measurement of the contribution of oceans to national and regional incomes in many countries. The question arises, therefore, about how the experience in other countries can inform the process in the U.S. The first part of this report presents a summary of discussions that took place at a symposium held at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in November 2017 on the subject of the …

Project Financial Distress: Early Signs And Ways To Overcome, Dimitrios V. Siskos

Publications

Financial distress is a hot topic these days in finance and the project’s health is very important for investors as well as management. Investors posit money in those projects which are financially healthy as the risk of default is minimized for them, while management must be able to identify causes of distress which can be controlled by taking different measures (Khurshid, 2013). However, the fact that many projects encounter financial distress requires further investigation. This paper deals with the elements of project financial distress as its major signs and sources as well as it suggests ways to eliminate the consequences. …

Using Electronic Health Records To Characterize Prescription Patterns: Focus On Antidepressants In Nonpsychiatric Outpatient Settings, Joseph J. Deferio, Tomer T. Levin, Judith Cukor, Samprit Banerjee, Rozan Abdulrahman, Amit Sheth, Neel Mehta, Jyotishman Pathak

Publications

Objective To characterize nonpsychiatric prescription patterns of antidepressants according to drug labels and evidence assessments (on-label, evidence-based, and off-label) using structured outpatient electronic health record (EHR) data.

Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted using deidentified EHR data from an outpatient practice at a New York City-based academic medical center. Structured “medication–diagnosis” pairs for antidepressants from 35 325 patients between January 2010 and December 2015 were compared to the latest drug product labels and evidence assessments.

Results Of 140 929 antidepressant prescriptions prescribed by primary care providers (PCPs) and nonpsychiatry specialists, 69% were characterized as “on-label/evidence-based uses.” Depression diagnoses were associated …

Domain-Specific Use Cases For Knowledge-Enabled Social Media Analysis, Soon Jye Kho, Swati Padhee, Goonmeet Bajaj, Krishnaprasad Thirunarayan, Amit Sheth

Publications

No abstract provided.

Floating Active Baffles, System And Method Of Slosh Damping Comprising The Same, Dae Won Kim, Rudy L. Baum, Vijay Santhanam, Balaji Sivasubramanian, Sathya Gangadharan

Publications

This disclosure provides a system for damping slosh of a liquid within a tank, a baffle for use in the system, and a method of damping slosh using the system. The system includes a plurality of baffles. Each baffle has a body configured to substantially float upon the liquid. Each baffle also has an activation material received along at least a portion of the body. The activation material is magnetically reactive provided in a quantity sufficient to enable the body to be manipulated in the presence of a magnetic field (M). The system further includes an actuator configured to pro­vide …

Database Review: Sao/Nasa Astrophysics Data System, Laura Pope Robbins

Publications

Laura Pope Robbins is an advisor for The Charleston Advisor, and the review below is included in Scholarly Commons with the permission of the publisher.

The Astrophysics Data System (ADS) is the premier Open Access research database for astronomy and astrophysics containing over 13 million bibliographic records. These records include journal articles, books, conference proceedings, historical observatory bulletins, and other gray literature. An exceptional feature of ADS is the visualizations it creates, showing author networks, overlapping citations, and frequently occurring terminology giving researchers new ways to explore the literature. It is a unique resource that is as easy for a …

Camber In Pretensioned Bridge I-Girder Immediately After Prestress Transfer, Jen-Kan Kent Hsiao, Alexander Y. Jiang

Publications

Deflection control is an important design criterion for the serviceability of pretensioned concrete bridges. Upward cambers due to prestressing forces can be utilized to offset downward deflections due to gravity loads in order to control cracks and/or to produce desired cambers. The traditional hand-calculated approach simplifies the computation of pretensioned concrete girders by: (1) assuming that the prestressing force acting at the midspan of a girder remains constant along the entire span of the girder, (2) neglecting the p-δ effect on the girder due to the axial compression force in the girder, and (3) using the gross concrete section of …

A Comparison Of Special Category Light-Sport And Corresponding Type-Certificated Aircraft Safety, Carolina Anderson, Alan Stolzer, Douglas D. Boyd

Publications

The special category light sport airplane (light sport) sector of general aviation has grown 10-fold in as many years with solo operations requiring only a sports pilot's certificate. With little research on light sport airplane safety, the study objective was to compare light sport and type-certificated airplane accident rates.

Accidents were identified from the National Transportation Safety Board database. Statistics employed Poisson distribution/proportion analyses/Mann–Whitney U-tests.

For the 2009–2015 period, the light sport airplane accident rate (fatal/non-fatal combined) was > 15-fold higher than comparable type-certificated aircraft, undiminished over time. The excessive light sport airplane accident rate was associated with inferior airman experience …

Identifying Weak Interdomain Interactions That Stabilize The Supertertiary Structure Of The N-Terminal Tandem Pdz Domains Of Psd-95, Inna S. Yanez Orozco, Frank A. Mindlin, Junyan Ma, Bo Wang, Brie Levesque, Matheu Spencer, Soheila Rezaei Adariani, George Hamilton, Feng Ding, Mark E. Bowen, Hugo Sanabria

Publications

Previous studies of the N-terminal PDZ tandem from PSD-95 produced divergent models and failed to identify interdomain contacts stabilizing the structure. We used ensemble and single-molecule FRET along with replica-exchange molecular dynamics to fully characterize the energy landscape. Simulations and experiments identified two conformations: an open-like conformation with a small contact interface stabilized by salt bridges, and a closed-like conformation with a larger contact interface stabilized by surface-exposed hydrophobic residues. Both interfaces were confirmed experimentally. Proximity of interdomain contacts to the binding pockets may explain the observed coupling between conformation and binding. The low-energy barrier between conformations allows submillisecond dynamics, …

A Taxonomy Framework For Maritime Cybersecurity: A Demonstration Using The Automatic Identification System, G. C. Kessler, J. P. Craiger, J. C. Haass

Publications

The maritime transportation system is increasingly a target of cyber attacks. This paper describes a taxonomy that supports the creation of adversarial cyber models, risk mitigation, and resiliency plans as applied to the maritime industry, using the Automatic Identification System as a specific illustration of the approach. This method has already been applied to the aviation sector; retooling it for a maritime example demonstrates its broad applicability to the transportation sector, in general.

An Analysis Of Cabin Ozone Regulations, Taylor L. Pottinger, Cheryl L. Marcham

Publications

Exposure to elevated levels of ozone have been reported to be associated with complaints of discomfort such as dry mouth, eye irritation and dryness, nasal irritation coughing, and headaches. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) established regulatory requirements in 1980 to limit cabin ozone levels to no more than 0.25 parts per million (ppm) at any time or 0.1 ppm averaged over a 3-hour interval for any flight over four hours in length. The FAA also published an Advisory Circular (AC), AC 120-38, to provide guidance to air carriers on how to comply with these then new ozone regulations. Methods of …

Evaluating The Impact Of Nextgen’S Air Traffic System On Aviation Security, Linda V. Weiland, G. Wei

Publications

Networked Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) opened the gate to digital National Airspace System (NAS) in cyberspace. Air traffic improvements from NextGen system, accompanied by the risk of long-standing cyberattack issue in information technology industry became an increasingly challenging matter to the aviation community and Air Traffic Management (ATM), as cybersecurity challenges in the NextGen system could affect NextGen's principle assurance of safety and security in air transportation. The technological shift of NAS infrastructure from traditional radar-based systems to networking system of systems leads to a review, revision and redefinition of current policies, standards regelations, cultures and norm to …

Innovation Ambidexterity And The Three-Legged Stool: The Value Of Business Processes, Janet Tinoco

Publications

Successful accomplishment of ambidexterity in innovation was, and remains today, a perplexing and challenging task for many firms, especially those in the competitive high-technology climate. Ambidexterity in this context is the ability to create radical product innovations for the future while also developing incremental product innovations for short-term return. Each type of innovation requires different—often opposing—structures, cultures, and processes. Thus, to become ambidextrous, companies must create a balanced mix of all three, each a leg in a three-legged stool.

Evaluation Of Seismic Performance Of Mid-Rise Reinforced Concrete Frames Subjected To Far-Field And Near-Field Ground Motions, Mokhtar Ansari, Masoud Ansari, Amir Safiey

Publications

Damages to buildings affected by a near-fault strong ground motion are largely attributed to the vertical component of the earthquake resulting in column failures, which could lead to disproportionate building catastrophic collapse in a progressive fashion. Recently, considerable interests are awakening to study effects of earthquake vertical components on structural responses. In this study, detailed modeling and time-history analyses of a 12-story code-conforming reinforced concrete moment frame building carrying the gravity loads, and exposed to once only the horizontal component of, and second time simultaneously the horizontal and vertical components of an ensemble of far-field and near-field earthquakes are conducted. …

Mechanically Assisted Electrochemical Degradation Of Alumina-Tic Composites, Hetal Umesh Maharaja, Guigen Zhang

Publications

Alumina-TiC composite material is a tough ceramic composite with excellent hardness, wear resistance and oxidation resistance in dry and high-temperature conditions. In aqueous conditions, however, it is likely to be electrochemically active facilitating charge transfer processes due to the conductive nature of TiC. For application as an orthopedic biomaterial, it is crucial to assess the electrochemical behavior of this composite, especially under a combined mechanical and electrochemical environment. In this study, we examined the mechanically assisted electrochemical performance of alumina-TiC composite in an aqueous environment. The spontaneous electrochemical response to brushing abrasion was measured. Changes in the magnitude of electrochemical …

Bird Hazard Mitigation Training For General Aviation Pilots - A Prospective Research Study, Flavio A. C. Mendonca, Thomas Q. Carney

Publications

• General aviation industry
• 446,000 aircraft worldwide
• 211,000 in the U.S.
• Supports $219 billion in total economic output and 1.1 million jobs in the U.S
• Flies approximately 25 million flight hours (U.S.)
• Flies to more than 5,000 public airports
• Primary training ground for most commercial airline pilots

Particle Slip Velocity Influences Inertial Focusing Of Particles In Curved Microchannels, Saurabh Deshpande, Phanindra Tallapragada

Publications

Size based separation and identification of particles in microfluidics through purely hydrodynamic means has gained significant interest due to a number of possible biomedical applications. Curved micro-channels, particularly spiral micro-channels with rectangular cross-section and the dynamics of particles in such channels have been extensively researched to achieve size based separation of particles. In this paper we present evidence that sheds new light on the dynamics of particles in such curved channels; that a unique particle slip velocity is associated with the focusing positions in the cross sections, which leads to a balance of forces. Our experiments therefore imply that the …

Minor Flow Disruptions, Traffic-Related Factors And Their Effect On Major Flow Disruptions In The Operating Room, Anjali Joseph, Amin Khoshkenar, Kevin Taaffe, Ken Catchpole, Herminia Machry, Sara Bayramzadeh

Publications

Background Studies in operating rooms (OR) show that minor disruptions tend to group together to result in serious adverse events such as surgical errors. Understanding the characteristics of these minor flow disruptions (FD) that impact major events is important in order to proactively design safer systems.

Objective The purpose of this study is to use a systems approach to investigate the aetiology of minor and major FDs in ORs in terms of the people involved, tasks performed and OR traffic, as well as the location of FDs and other environmental characteristics of the OR that may contribute to these disruptions. …

Advancing The Open Modeling Interface (Openmi) For Integrated Water Resources Modeling, Caleb A. Buahin, Jeffery S. Horsburgh

Publications

The use of existing component-based modeling frameworks for integrated water resources modeling is currently hampered for some important use cases because they lack support for commonly used, topology-aware, spatiotemporal data structures. Additionally, existing frameworks are often accompanied by large software stacks with steep learning curves. Others lack specifications for deploying them on high performance, heterogeneous computing (HPC) infrastructure. This puts their use beyond the reach of many water resources modelers. In this paper, we describe new advances in component-based modeling using a framework called HydroCouple. This framework largely adopts the Open Modeling Interface (OpenMI) 2.0 interface definitions but demonstrates important …

A Practical Incremental Learning Framework For Sparse Entity Extraction, Hussein Al-Olimat, Steven Gustafson, Jason Mackay, Krishnaprasad Thirunarayan, Amit Sheth

Publications

This work addresses challenges arising from extracting entities from textual data, including the high cost of data annotation, model accuracy, selecting appropriate evaluation criteria, and the overall quality of annotation. We present a framework that integrates Entity Set Expansion (ESE) and Active Learning (AL) to reduce the annotation cost of sparse data and provide an online evaluation method as feedback. This incremental and interactive learning framework allows for rapid annotation and subsequent extraction of sparse data while maintaining high accuracy. We evaluate our framework on three publicly available datasets and show that it drastically reduces the cost of sparse entity …

Mitigating The Risk: An Analysis Of Wildlife-Strike Data From São Paulo International Airport (Sbgr) [2011-2017], Flavio A. C. Mendonca Ph.D., Julius C. Keller Ph.D.

Publications

São Paulo (Guarulhos) International Airport;

• Busiest airport in South America;
• Major hub in Latin America;
• Commercial Operations - 93%;
• International Commercial Operations - 27.1%;
• Major routes – Argentina, Chile, and U.S;
• LATAM, GOL, Azul, American Airlines, Copa, Aerolineas Argentinas, TAP, United Airlines – Most International Flights.