Digital Commons Network^™

Cosmogenic Ages Indicate No Mis 2 Refugia In The Alexander Archipelago, Alaska, Caleb K. Walcott, Jason P. Briner, James F. Baichtal, Alia J. Lesnek, Joseph M. Licciardi

Publications and Research

The late-Pleistocene history of the coastal Cordilleran Ice Sheet remains relatively unstudied compared to chronologies of the Laurentide Ice Sheet. Yet accurate reconstructions of Cordilleran Ice Sheet extent and the timing of ice retreat along the Pacific Coast are essential for paleoclimate modeling, assessing meltwater contribution to the North Pacific, and determining the availability of ice-free land along the coastal Cordilleran Ice Sheet margin for human migration from Beringia into the rest of the Americas. To improve the chronology of Cordilleran Ice Sheet history in the Alexander Archipelago, Alaska, we applied 10Be and 36Cl dating to boulders and glacially sculpted …

Home Sweet Home? Examining Residential Instability And Preschoolers’ Early Mathematics Development, Marisha Kashyap

Publications and Research

In 2020, approximately 13% of all children under five experienced residential instability. Residential instability, also known as housing instability, is known to compromise the socio-emotional and behavioral development of young children. However, there is limited evidence documenting the effect of housing instability on preschoolers' cognitive and academic abilities, in particular the development of mathematics skills. The present literature review argues that unstable residential conditions have important implications for preschoolers’ early mathematics development. First, the current literature review explores the implications of residential instability for the early childhood developmental period. Then this review examines current studies on promotive and risk factors …

An Evaluation Of The Effect Of The Oxycontin® Reformulation On Unintentional Fatal And Non-Fatal Overdose, Daniel C. Beachler, Kelsey Hall, Renu Garg, Geetanjoli Banerjee, Ling Li, Luke Boulanger, Huseyin Yuce, Alexander M. Walker

Publications and Research

Objectives: OxyContin® was reformulated with a polyethylene oxide matrix in August 2010 to reduce the potential for intravenous abuse and for abuse by insufflation. The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of OxyContin’s reformulation on overdose risk for individuals dispensed OxyContin in comparison to those dispensed other opioids under regular care. Methods: Three national insurance databases with National Death Index linkage identified OD in individuals with any dispensing of OxyContin or a primary comparator opioid (ER morphine, transdermal fentanyl, or methadone) between July 2008 through September 2015. A difference-in-differences design was used to compare the pre-post reformulation …

“I Can Math, Too!”: Reducing Math Anxiety In Stem-Related Courses Using A Combined Mindfulness And Growth Mindset Approach (Magma) In The Classroom, Tashana S. Samuel, Sebastien Buttet, Jared Warner

Publications and Research

Math anxiety has become an alarming social justice concern, as it results in negative academic consequences, contributes to disinterest and lack of persistence in STEM programs for underrepresented students, and limits their opportunities in STEM careers. According to research, this fear of math occurs long before students begin working on math problems. When high-math anxious students encounter math situations, anticipation anxiety consumes working memory capacity, inhibits learning, and causes them to severely underperform on mathematical tasks. However, very few studies have been conducted to embed psychological interventions in the classroom in an effort to mitigate both anticipation and execution anxiety. …

Monitoring Sars-Cov-2 In Wastewater During New York City's Second Wave Of Covid-19: Sewershed-Level Trends And Relationships To Publicly Available Clinical Testing Data, Catherine Hoar, Francoise Chauvin, Alexander Clare, Hope Mcgibbon, Esmeraldo Castro, Samantha Patinella, Dimitrios Katehis, John J. Dennehy, Monica Trujillo, Davida S. Smyth, Andrea I. Silverman

Publications and Research

New York City's wastewater monitoring program tracked trends in sewershed-level SARS-CoV-2 loads starting in the fall of 2020, just before the start of the city's second wave of the COVID-19 outbreak. During a five-month study period, from November 8, 2020 to April 11, 2021, viral loads in influent wastewater from each of New York City's 14 wastewater treatment plants were measured and compared to new laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases for the populations in each corresponding sewershed, estimated from publicly available clinical testing data. We found significant positive correlations between viral loads in wastewater and new COVID-19 cases. The strength of the …

Divergent Water Requirements Partition Exposure Risk To Parasites In Wild Equids, Kaia J. Tombak, Laurel A. Easterling, Lindsay Martinez, Monica S. Seng, Liana F. Wait, Daniel I. Rubenstein

Publications and Research

For grazing herbivores, dung density in feeding areas is an important determinant of exposure risk to fecal- orally transmitted parasites. When host species share the same parasite species, a nonrandom distribution of their cumulative dung density and/or nonrandom ranging and feeding behavior may skew exposure risk and the relative selection pressure parasites impose on each host. The arid-adapted Grevy's zebra ( Equus grevyi ) can range more widely than the water-dependent plains zebra ( Equus quagga ), with which it shares the same species of gastrointestinal nematodes. We studied how the spatial distribution of zebra dung relates to ranging and …

Spin-Orbit Gravitational Locking - An Effective Potential Approach, Christopher Clouse, Andrea Ferroglia, Miguel C. N. Fiolhais

Publications and Research

The objective of this paper is to study the tidally locked 3:2 spin–orbit resonance of Mercury around the Sun. In order to achieve this goal, the effective potential energy that determines the spinning motion of an ellipsoidal planet around its axis is considered. By studying the rotational potential energy of an ellipsoidal planet orbiting a spherical star on an elliptic orbit with fixed eccentricity and semi-major axis, it is shown that the system presents an infinite number of metastable equilibrium configurations. These states correspond to local minima of the rotational potential energy averaged over an orbit, where the ratio between …

Nanoscale Hybrid Electrolytes With Viscosity Controlled Using Ionic Stimulus For Electrochemical Energy Conversion And Storage, Sara T. Hamilton, Tony G. Feric, Sahana Bhattacharyya, Nelly M. Cantillo, Steven G. Greenbaum, Thomas A. Zawodzinski, Ah-Hyung Alissa Park

Publications and Research

As renewable energy is rapidly integrated into the grid, the challenge has become storing intermittent renewable electricity. Technologies including flow batteries and CO 2 conversion to dense energy carriers are promising storage options for renewable electricity. To achieve this technological advancement, the development of next generation electrolyte materials that can increase the energy density of flow batteries and combine CO 2 capture and conversion is desired. Liquid-like nanoparticle organic hybrid materials (NOHMs) composed of an inorganic core with a tethered polymeric canopy (e.g., polyetheramine (HPE)) have a capability to bind chemical species of interest including CO 2 and redox-active species. …

Designing Respectful Tech: What Is Your Relationship With Technology?, Noreen Y. Whysel

Publications and Research

According to research at the Me2B Alliance, people feel they have a relationship with technology. It’s emotional. It’s embodied. And it’s very personal. We are studying digital relationships to answer questions like “Do people have a relationship with technology?” “What does that relationship feel like?” And “Do people understand the commitments that they are making when they explore, enter into and dissolve these relationships?” There are parallels between messy human relationships and the kinds of relationships that people develop with technology. As with human relationships, we move through states of discovery, commitment and breakup with digital applications as well. Technology …

Spatial Downscaling Of Goes-R Land Surface Temperature Over Urban Regions: A Case Study For New York City, Abdou Bah, Hamidreza Norouzi, Satya Prakash, Reginald Blake, Reza Khanbilvardi, Cynthia Rosenzweig

Publications and Research

The surface urban heat island (SUHI) effect is among the major environmental issues encountered in urban regions. To better predict the dynamics of the SUHI and its impacts on extreme heat events, an accurate characterization of the surface energy balance in urban regions is needed. However, the ability to improve understanding of the surface energy balance is limited by the heterogeneity of surfaces in urban areas. This study aims to enhance the understanding of the urban surface energy budget through an innovation in the use of land surface temperature (LST) observations from remote sensing satellites. A LST database with 5–min …

Diagnosis Of Polypoidal Choroidal Vasculopathy From Fluorescein Angiography Using Deep Learning, Yu-Yeh Tsai, Wei-Yang Ling, Shih-Jen Chen, Paisan Ruamviboonsuk, Cheng-Ho King, Chia-Ling Tsai

Publications and Research

Purpose: To differentiate polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV) from choroidal neovascularization (CNV) and to determine the extent of PCV from fluorescein angiography (FA) using attention-based deep learning networks.

Methods: We build two deep learning networks for diagnosis of PCV using FA, one for detection and one for segmentation. Attention-gated convolutional neural network (AG-CNN) differentiates PCV from other types of wet age-related macular degeneration. Gradient-weighted class activation map (Grad-CAM) is generated to highlight important regions in the image for making the prediction, which offers explainability of the network. Attention-gated recurrent neural network (AG-PCVNet) for spatiotemporal prediction is applied for segmentation …

Diagnosis Of Polypoidal Choroidal Vasculopathy From Fluorescein Angiography Using Deep Learning, Yu-Yeh Tsai, Wei-Yang Lin, Shih-Jen Chen, Paisan Ruamviboonsuk, Cheng-Ho King, Chia-Ling Tsai

Publications and Research

Purpose: To differentiate polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV) from choroidal neovascularization (CNV) and to determine the extent of PCV from fluorescein angiography (FA) using attention-based deep learning networks.

Methods: We build two deep learning networks for diagnosis of PCV using FA, one for detection and one for segmentation. Attention-gated convolutional neural network (AG-CNN) differentiates PCV from other types of wet age-related macular degeneration. Gradient-weighted class activation map (Grad-CAM) is generated to highlight important regions in the image for making the prediction, which offers explainability of the network. Attention-gated recurrent neural network (AG-PCVNet) for spatiotemporal prediction is applied for segmentation of PCV. …

Emotion Recognition With Audio, Video, Eeg, And Emg: A Dataset And Baseline Approaches, Jin Chen, Tony Ro, Zhigang Zhu

Publications and Research

This paper describes a new posed multimodal emotional dataset and compares human emotion classification based on four different modalities - audio, video, electromyography (EMG), and electroencephalography (EEG). The results are reported with several baseline approaches using various feature extraction techniques and machine-learning algorithms. First, we collected a dataset from 11 human subjects expressing six basic emotions and one neutral emotion. We then extracted features from each modality using principal component analysis, autoencoder, convolution network, and mel-frequency cepstral coefficient (MFCC), some unique to individual modalities. A number of baseline models have been applied to compare the classification performance in emotion recognition, …

Me2b Alliance Validation Testing Report: Consumer Perception Of Legal Policies In Digital Technology, Noreen Y. Whysel, Karina Alexanyan, Shaun Spaulting, Julia Little

Publications and Research

Our relationship with technology involves legal agreements that we either review or enter into when using a technology, namely privacy policies and terms of service or terms of use (“TOS/TOU”). We initiated this research to understand if providing a formal rating of the legal policies (privacy policies and TOS/TOUs) would be valuable to consumers (or Me-s). From our early qualitative discussions, we noticed that people were unclear on whether these policies were legally binding contracts or not. Thus, a secondary objective emerged to quantitatively explore whether people knew who these policies protected (if anyone), and if the policies were perceived …

A Call For The Library Community To Deploy Best Practices Toward A Database For Biocultural Knowledge Relating To Climate Change, Martha B. Lerski

Publications and Research

Abstract

Purpose – In this paper, a call to the library and information science community to support documentation and conservation of cultural and biocultural heritage has been presented.

Design/methodology/approach – Based in existing Literature, this proposal is generative and descriptive— rather than prescriptive—regarding precisely how libraries should collaborate to employ technical and ethical best practices to provide access to vital data, research and cultural narratives relating to climate.

Findings – COVID-19 and climate destruction signal urgent global challenges. Library best practices are positioned to respond to climate change. Literature indicates how libraries preserve, share and cross-link cultural and scientific knowledge. …

Evolution Of Microscopic Heterogeneity And Dynamics In Choline Chloride-Based Deep Eutectic Solvents, Stephanie Spittle, Derrick Poe, Brain Doherty, Charles Kolodziej, Luke Heroux, Md Ashraful Haque, Henry Squire, Tyler Cosby, Yong Zhang, Carla Fraenza, Sahana Bhattacharyya, Madhusudan Tyagi, Jing Peng, Ramez A. Elgammal, Thomas Zawodzinski, Mark Tuckerman, Steve Greenbaum, Burcu Gurkan, Clemens Burda, Mark Dadmun, Edward J. Maginn, Joshua Sangoro

Publications and Research

Deep eutectic solvents (DESs) are an emerging class of non-aqueous solvents that are potentially scalable, easy to prepare and functionalize for many applications ranging from biomass processing to energy storage technologies. Predictive understanding of the fundamental correlations between local structure and macroscopic properties is needed to exploit the large design space and tunability of DESs for specific applications. Here, we employ a range of computational and experimental techniques that span length-scales from molecular to macroscopic and timescales from picoseconds to seconds to study the evolution of structure and dynamics in model DESs, namely Glyceline and Ethaline, starting from the parent …

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation On Parkinson’S Disease: Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis, Paloma Cristina Alves De Oliveira, Thiago Anderson Brito De Araújo, Daniel Gomes Da Silva Machado, Abner Cardoso Rodrigues, Marom Bikson, Suellen Marinho Andrade, Alexandre Hideki Okano, Hougelle Simplicio, Rodrigo Pegado, Edgard Morya

Publications and Research

Background: Clinical impact of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) alone for Parkinson’s disease (PD) is still a challenge. Thus, there is a need to synthesize available results, analyze methodologically and statistically, and provide evidence to guide tDCS in PD.

Objective: Investigate isolated tDCS effect in different brain areas and number of stimulated targets on PD motor symptoms.

Methods: A systematic review was carried out up to February 2021, in databases: Cochrane Library, EMBASE, PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, and Web of science. Full text articles evaluating effect of active tDCS (anodic or cathodic) vs. sham or control on motor symptoms of PD were …

Glycocalyx Mechanotransduction Mechanisms Are Involved In Renal Cancer Metastasis, Heriberto Moran, Limary M. Cancel, Peigen Huang, Sylvie Roberge, Tuoye Xu, John M. Tarbell, Lance L. Munn

Publications and Research

Mammalian cells, including cancer cells, are covered by a surface layer containing cell bound proteoglycans, glycoproteins, associated glycosaminoglycans and bound proteins that is commonly referred to as the glycocalyx. Solid tumors also have a dynamic fluid microenvironment with elevated interstitial flow. In the present work we further investigate the hypothesis that interstitial flow is sensed by the tumor glycocalyx leading to activation of cell motility and metastasis. Using a highly metastatic renal carcinoma cell line (SN12L1) and its low metastatic counterpart (SN12C) we demonstrate in vitro that the small molecule Suberoylanilide Hydroxamic Acid (SAHA) inhibits the heparan sulfate synthesis enzyme …

Biomedical Applications Of Lanthanide Nanomaterials, For Imaging, Sensing And Therapy, Qize Zhang, Stephen O'Brien, Jan Grimm

Publications and Research

The application of nanomaterials made of rare earth elements within biomedical sciences continues to make significant progress. The rare earth elements, also called the lanthanides, play an essential role in modern life through materials and electronics. As we learn more about their utility, function, and underlying physics, we can contemplate extending their applications to biomedicine. This particularly applies to diagnosis and radiation therapy due to their relatively unique features, such as an ultra-wide Stokes shift in the luminescence, variable magnetism and potentially tunable properties, due to the library of lanthanides available and their multivalent oxidation state chemistry. The ability to …

Technical Note: Novel Estimates Of The Leaf Relative Uptake Rate Of Carbonyl Sulfide From Optimality Theory, Georg Wohlfahrt, Albin Hammerle, Felix M. Spielmann, Florian Kitz, Chuixiang Yi

Publications and Research

In order to estimate the gross primary productivity (GPP) of terrestrial ecosystems from the canopy uptake of carbonyl sulfide (COS), the leaf relative uptake rate (LRU) of COS with respect to carbon dioxide needs to be known a priori. Currently, the variability of the LRU between plant species in different biomes of the world is poorly understood, making the choice of an appropriate LRU uncertain and hampering further progress towards developing COS as an alternative tracer of GPP. Here we propose a novel approach for estimating LRU based on plant optimality principles, validate it against in situ leaf gas exchange …

Trapped Surfaces, Topology Of Black Holes, And The Positive Mass Theorem, Lan-Hsuan Huang, Dan A. Lee

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Satellite Evidence Of Canopy-Height Dependence Of Forest Drought Resistance In Southwestern China, Peipei Xu, Wei Fang, Tao Zhou, Hu Li, Xiang Zhao, Spencer Berman, Ting Zhang, Chuixiang Yi

Publications and Research

The frequency and intensity of drought events are increasing with warming climate, which has resulted in worldwide forest mortality. Previous studies have reached a general consensus on the size-dependency of forest resistance to drought, but further understanding at a local scale remains ambiguous with conflicting evidence. In this study, we assessed the impact of canopy height on forest drought resistance in the broadleaf deciduous forest of southwestern China for the 2010 extreme drought event using linear regression and a random forest (RF) model. Drought condition was quantified with standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI) and drought resistance was measured with the …

Magnetoexcitons In Phosphorene Monolayers, Bilayers, And Van Der Waals Heterostructures, Roman Ya. Kezerashvili, Anastasia Spiridonova, Andrew Dublin

Publications and Research

We study direct and indirect excitons in Rydberg states in phosphorene monolayers, bilayers, and van der Waals (vdW) heterostructure in an external magnetic field within the framework of the effective-mass approximation. The magnetic field is applied perpendicular to the monolayer or heterostructure and is varied between 0 and 60 T. Binding energies of magnetoexcitons are calculated by numerical integration of the Schrödinger equation using the Rytova-Keldysh potential for direct magnetoexcitons and both the Rytova-Keldysh and Coulomb potentials for indirect magnetoexcitons. The latter aids in the understanding of the role of screening in phosphorene. We report the magnetic field energy contribution …

The Octagon At Large M, Riccardo Argurio, Matteo Bertolini, Sebastían Franco, Eduardo García-Valdecasas, Shani Meynet, Antoine Pasternak, Valdo Tatitscheff

Publications and Research

Recently, the first instance of a model of D-branes at Calabi-Yau singularities where supersymmetry is broken dynamically into stable vacua has been proposed. This construction was based on a system of N regular and M = 1 fractional branes placed at the tip of the so-called (orientifolded) Octagon singularity. In this paper we show that this model admits a large M generalization, having the same low energy effective dynamics. This opens up the possibility that the effect on geometry is smooth, and amenable to describing the gauge theory all along the RG flow, including the deep IR, in terms of …

Passion-Driven Statistics: A Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience (Cure), Naomi J. Spence, Rachel Anderson, Sherryse Corrow, Susan A. Dumais, Lisa Dierker

Publications and Research

This paper describes the use of scientific practices in the Passion-Driven Statistics CURE and presents the results of surveys from the implementation of this CURE at three different colleges. Overall, students experienced positive changes in thinking and working like a scientist, personal gains related to research, and gains in research skills, attitudes and behaviors. The Passion-Driven Statistics CURE aims to equip the future STEM workforce with the data analysis skills and reasoning needed across industries.

The Naming Of Homo Bodoensis By Roksandic And Colleagues Does Not Resolve Issues Surrounding Middle Pleistocene Human Evolution, Eric Delson, Chris Stringer

Publications and Research

Roksandic et al. (2022) proposed the new species name Homo bodoensis as a replacement name for Homo rhodesiensis Woodward, 1921, because they felt it was poorly and variably defined and was linked to sociopolitical baggage. However, the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature includes regulations on how and when such name changes are allowed, and Roksandic et al.'s arguments meet none of these requirements. It is not permitted to change a name solely because of variable (or erroneous) later use once it has been originally defined correctly, nor can a name be modified because it is offensive to one or more …

A Monolithic 3d Printed Axisymmetric Co-Flow Single And Compound Emulsion Generator, Amirreza Ghaznavi, Yang Lin, Mark Douvidzon, Adam Szmelter, Alannah Rodrigues, Malik Blackman, David Eddington, Tal Carmon, Lev Deych, Lan Yang, Jie Xu

Publications and Research

We report a microfluidic droplet generator which can produce single and compound droplets using a 3D axisymmetric co-flow structure. The design considered for the fabrication of the device integrated a user-friendly and cost-effective 3D printing process. To verify the performance of the device, single and compound emulsions of deionized water and mineral oil were generated and their features such as size, generation frequency, and emulsion structures were successfully characterized. In addition, the generation of bio emulsions such as alginate and collagen aqueous droplets in mineral oil was demonstrated in this study. Overall, the monolithic 3D printed axisymmetric droplet generator could …

Combinatorial Optimization With Photonics-Inspired Clock Models, Mostafa Honari-Latifpour, Matthew S. Mills, Mohammad-Ali Miri

Publications and Research

NP-hard combinatorial optimization problems are in general hard problems that their computational complexity grows faster than polynomial scaling with the size of the problem. Thus, over the years there has been a great interest in developing unconventional methods and algorithms for solving such problems. Here, inspired by the nonlinear optical process of q-photon down-conversion, in which a photon is converted into q degenerate lower energy photons, we introduce a nonlinear dynamical model that builds on coupled single-variable phase oscillators and allows for efficiently approximating the ground state of the classical q-state planar Potts Hamiltonian. This reduces the exhaustive search in …

Exploring Algebraic Thinking: In-Service Teacher Experiences, Outcomes, And Perceptions From An Algebra For All Capstone Unit Plan Project, Alexander J. Lord, Tallin Lamonaca

Publications and Research

Taking algebra is often noted as a key component for student preparation for college and career success. However, this course often serves as a barrier for secondary students to overcome due to their lack of preparation for such abstract contexts and due to a lack of meaningful professional experiences available to assist teachers develop those concepts. Initiatives such as Algebra for All were started to help educators at all grade levels develop methods to expose their students to algebraic thinking. In New York City, a five-course Algebra for All sequence was created for in-service public school educators at a local …

A Framework For Near-Real Time Monitoring Of Diversity Patterns Based On Indirect Remote Sensing, With An Application In The Brazilian Atlantic Rainforest, Andrea Paz, Thiago S. Silva, Ana C. Carnaval

Publications and Research

Monitoring biodiversity change is key to effective conservation policy. While it is difficult to establish in situ biodiversity monitoring programs at broad geographical scales, remote sensing advances allow for near-real time Earth observations that may help with this goal. We combine periodical and freely available remote sensing information describing temperature and precipitation with curated biological information from several groups of animals and plants in the Brazilian Atlantic rainforest to design an indirect remote sensing framework that monitors potential loss and gain of biodiversity in near-real time. Using data from biological collections and information from repeated field inventories, we demonstrate that …