Digital Commons Network^™

A Tool For Optimizing Java 8 Stream Software Via Automated Refactoring, Raffi Khatchadourian, Yiming Tang, Mehdi Bagherzadeh, Syed Ahmed

Publications and Research

Streaming APIs are pervasive in mainstream Object-Oriented languages. For example, the Java 8 Stream API allows for functional-like, MapReduce-style operations in processing both finite and infinite data structures. However, using this API efficiently involves subtle considerations like determining when it is best for stream operations to run in parallel, when running operations in parallel can be less efficient, and when it is safe to run in parallel due to possible lambda expression side-effects. In this paper, we describe the engineering aspects of an open source automated refactoring tool called Optimize Streams that assists developers in writing optimal stream software in …

The Role Of Proton Transport In Gating Current In A Voltage Gated Ion Channel, As Shown By Quantum Calculations, Alisher M. Kariev, Michael E. Green

Publications and Research

Over two-thirds of a century ago, Hodgkin and Huxley proposed the existence of voltage gated ion channels (VGIC) to carry Na⁺ and K⁺ ions across the cell membrane to create the nerve impulse, in response to depolarization of the membrane. The channels have multiple physiological roles, and play a central role in a wide variety of diseases when they malfunction. The first channel structure was found by MacKinnon and coworkers in 1998. Subsequently the structure of a number of VGIC was determined in the open (ion conducting) state. This type of channel consists of four voltage sensing domains …

Observed Differences Between Near-Surface Air And Skin Temperatures Using Satellite And Ground-Based Data, Satya Prakash, Farjana Shati, Hamidreza Norouzi, Reginald Blake

Publications and Research

Accurate estimates of long-term land surface temperature (T_s) and near-surface air temperature (T_a) at finer spatio-temporal resolutions are crucial for surface energy budget studies, for environmental applications, for land surface model data assimilation, and for climate change assessment and its associated impacts. The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensors onboard the Aqua satellite provide a unique opportunity to estimate both temperatures twice daily at the global scale. In this study, differences between T_a and T_s were assessed locally over regions of North America from 2009 to 2013 …

Preparation And Characterization Of Chemically-Modified Biomaterials And Their Application As Adsorbents Of Penicillin G, Jesie Silva, Lizebel Morante, Tesfamichael Demeke, Jacqueline Baah-Twum, Abel E. Navarro

Publications and Research

The prevalence of antibiotics in water creates microbial resistance and has a negative impact on the ecosystem. Biomaterials such as spent tea leaves are rich in functional groups and are suitable for chemical modification for diverse applications. This research proposes the use of spent tea leaves of chamomile (CM), green tea (GT), and peppermint (PM) as structural scaffolds for the incorporation of carboxyl, sulfonyl, and thiol groups to improve the adsorption of Penicillin G (Pe). Adsorbents characterization reported a higher number of acidic functional groups, mainly in thiolated products. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis showed changes on the surfaces of …

Genetic Determinants Of Telomere Length In African American Youth, Andrew M. Zeiger, Marquitta J. White, Celeste Eng, Sam S. Oh, Jonathan Witonsky, Pagé C. Goddard, Maria G. Contreras, Jennifer R. Elhawary, Donglei Hu, Angel C. Y. Mak, Eunice Y. Lee, Kevin L. Keys, Lesly-Anne Samedy, Oona Risse Adams, Joaquín Magaña, Scott Huntsman, Sandra Salazar, Adam Davis, Kelley Meade, Emerita Brigino-Buenaventura, Michael A. Lenoir, Harold J. Farber, Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, Luisa N. Borrell, Esteban G. Burchard

Publications and Research

Telomere length (TL) is associated with numerous disease states and is affected by genetic and environmental factors. However, TL has been mostly studied in adult populations of European or Asian ancestry. These studies have identified 34 TL-associated genetic variants recently used as genetic proxies for TL. The generalizability of these associations to pediatric populations and racially diverse populations, specifically of African ancestry, remains unclear. Furthermore, six novel variants associated with TL in a population of European children have been identified but not validated. We measured TL from whole blood samples of 492 healthy African American youth (children and adolescents between …

The Diverse Magneto-Optical Selection Rules In Bilayer Black Phosphorus, Jhao-Ying Wu, Szu-Chao Chen, Thi-Nga Do, Wu-Pei Su, Godfrey Gumbs, Ming-Fa Lin

Publications and Research

The magneto-optical properties of bilayer phosphorene is investigated by the generalized tight-binding model and the gradient approximation. The vertical inter-Landau-level transitions, being sensitive to the polarization directions, are mainly determined by the spatial symmetries of sub-envelope functions on the distinct sublattices. The anisotropic excitations strongly depend on the electric and magnetic fields. A uniform perpendicular electric field could greatly diversify the selection rule, frequency, intensity, number and form of symmetric absorption peaks. Specifically, the unusual magneto-optical properties appear beyond the critical field as a result of two subgroups of Landau levels with the main and side modes. The rich and …

Perspectives On Natural Philosophy, Stanley N. Salthe

Publications and Research

This paper presents a viewpoint on natural philosophy focusing on the organization of substance, as well as its changes as invited by the Second Law of thermodynamics. Modes of change are pointed to as definitive of levels of organization; these include physical, chemical, and biological modes of change. Conceptual uses of the subsumptive hierarchy format are employed throughout this paper. Developmental change in dissipative structures is examined in some detail, generating an argument for the use of final causality in studies of natural systems. Considerations of ‘internalism’ in science are presented along the way.

Master Integrals For Double Real Radiation Emission In Heavy-To-Light Quark Decay, Roberto Bonciani, Alessandro Broggio, Leandro Cieri, Andrea Ferroglia

Publications and Research

We evaluate analytically the master integrals for double real radiation emission in the b→uW∗" role="presentation" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: inline-block; line-height: normal; word-spacing: normal; overflow-wrap: normal; text-wrap: nowrap; float: none; direction: ltr; max-width: none; max-height: none; min-width: 0px; min-height: 0px; border: 0px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; position: relative;">��→����∗ decay, where b and u are a massive and massless quark, respectively, while W∗" role="presentation" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: inline-block; line-height: normal; word-spacing: normal; overflow-wrap: normal; text-wrap: nowrap; float: none; direction: ltr; max-width: none; max-height: none; min-width: 0px; min-height: 0px; border: 0px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; position: relative;">��∗ is an off-shell charged …

The Price Of A Vote: Diseconomy In Proportional Elections, Hygor Piaget M. Melo, Saulo D. S. Reis, Andre ́ A. Moreira, Hernan Makse, Jose ́ S. Andrade Jr.

Publications and Research

The increasing cost of electoral campaigns raises the need for effective campaign planning and a precise understanding of the return of such investment. Interestingly, despite the strong impact of elections on our daily lives, how this investment is translated into votes is still unknown. By performing data analysis and modeling, we show that top candidates spend more money per vote than the less successful and poorer candidates, a relation that discloses a diseconomy of scale. We demonstrate that such electoral diseconomy arises from the competition between candidates due to inefficient campaign expenditure. Our approach succeeds in two important tests. First, …

Burning Man’S Mathematical Underbelly, Seth S. Cottrell

Publications and Research

A math degree can take you to a lot of places, both physically and figuratively, and if you play your cards right, you too can argue counterfactual definiteness with a shaman. First in 2008, and several times since, a fellow math PhD and I traveled to the Burning Man art festival to sit in the desert and talk with the locals about whatever they happened to be curious about.

Kinetic Effects In 2d And 3d Quantum Dots: Comparison Between High And Low Electron Correlation Regimes, Marlina Slamet, Viraht Sahni

Publications and Research

Kinetic related ground state properties of a two-electron 2D quantum dot in a magnetic field and a 3D quantum dot (Hooke's atom) are compared in the Wigner high (HEC) and low (LEC) electron correlation regimes. The HEC regime corresponds to low densities sufficient for the creation of a Wigner molecule. The LEC regime densities are similar to those of natural atoms and molecules. The results are determined employing exact closed-form analytical solutions of the Schrödinger-Pauli and Schrödinger equations, respectively. The properties studied are the local and nonlocal quantal sources of the density and the single particle density matrix; the kinetic …

New Insights Into The Design Of Conjugated Polymers For Intramolecular Singlet Fission, Jiahua Hu, Ke Xu, Lei Shen, Qin Wu, Guiying He, Jie-Yu Wang, Jian Pei, Jianlong Xia, Matthew Y. Sfeir

Publications and Research

Singlet fission (SF), a multiple exciton generation process that generates two triplet excitons after the absorption of one photon, can potentially enable more efficient solar cell designs by harvesting energy normally lost as heat. While low-bandgap conjugated polymers are highly promising candidates for efficient SF-based solar cells, few polymer materials capable of SF have been reported because the SF process in polymer chains is poorly understood. Using transient spectroscopy, we demonstrate a new, highly efficient (triplet yield of 160-200%) isoindigo-based donor–acceptor polymer and show that the triplet pairs are directly emissive and exhibit a time-dependent energy evolution. Importantly, aggregation in …

Climate-Informed Environmental Inflows To Revive A Drying Lake Facing Meteorological And Anthropogenic Droughts, Aneseh Alborzi, Ali Mirchi, Hamed Moftakhari, Iman Mallakpour, Sara Alian, Ali Nazemi, Elmira Hassanzadeh, Omid Mazdiyasni, Samaneh Ashraf, Kaveh Madani, Hamid Norouzi, Marzi Azarderakhsh, Ali Mehran, Mojtaba Sadegh, Andrea Castelletti, Amir Aghakouchak

Publications and Research

The rapid shrinkage of Lake Urmia, one of the world's largest saline lakes located in northwestern Iran, is a tragic wake-up call to revisit the principles of water resources management based on the socio-economic and environmental dimensions of sustainable development. The overarching goal of this paper is to set a framework for deriving dynamic, climate-informed environmental inflows for drying lakes considering both meteorological/climatic and anthropogenic conditions. We report on the compounding effects of meteorological drought and unsustainable water resource management that contributed to Lake Urmia's contemporary environmental catastrophe. Using rich datasets of hydrologic attributes, water demands and withdrawals, as well …

An Application Of Game Theory In Distributed Collaborative Decision Making, Angran Xiao

Publications and Research

In a distributed product realization environment, new paradigms and accompanying software systems are necessary to support the collaborative work of geographically dispersed engineering teams from different disciplines who have different knowledge, experience, tools and resources. To verify the concept of collaboration by separation, we propose a generic information communication medium to enable knowledge representation and exchange between engineering teams, a digital interface. Across digital interfaces, each engineering team maintains its own perspective towards the product realization problem, and each controls a subset of design variables and seeks to maximize its own payoff function subject to individual constraints. Hence, we postulate …

Dual Graph Partitioning Highlights A Small Group Of Pseudoknot-Containing Rna Submotifs, Swati Jain, Cigdem S. Bayrak, Louis Petingi, Tamar Schlick

Publications and Research

RNA molecules are composed of modular architectural units that define their unique structural and functional properties. Characterization of these building blocks can help interpret RNA structure/function relationships. We present an RNA secondary structure motif and submotif library using dual graph representation and partitioning. Dual graphs represent RNA helices as vertices and loops as edges. Unlike tree graphs, dual graphs can represent RNA pseudoknots (intertwined base pairs). For a representative set of RNA structures, we construct dual graphs from their secondary structures, and apply our partitioning algorithm to identify non-separable subgraphs (or blocks) without breaking pseudoknots. We report 56 subgraph blocks …

Nanostructured Fibers As A Versatile Photonic Platform: Radiative Cooling And Waveguiding Through Transverse Anderson Localization, Norman Nan Shi, Cheng-Chia Tsai, Michael J. Carter, Jyotirmoy Mandal, Adam C. Overvig, Matthew Y. Sfeir, Ming Lu, Catherine L. Craig, Gary D. Bernard, Yuan Yang, Nanfang Yu

Publications and Research

Broadband high reflectance in nature is often the result of randomly, three-dimensionally structured materials. This study explores unique optical properties associated with one-dimensional nanostructures discovered in silk cocoon fibers of the comet moth, Argema mittrei. The fibers are populated with a high density of air voids randomly distributed across the fiber cross-section but are invariant along the fiber. These filamentary air voids strongly scatter light in the solar spectrum. A single silk fiber measuring ~50 μm thick can reflect 66% of incoming solar radiation, and this, together with the fibers' high emissivity of 0.88 in the mid-infrared range, allows …

Consensus On Molecular Subtypes Of High-Grade Serous Ovarian Carcinoma, Gregory M. Chen, Lavanya Kannan, Ludwig Geistlinger, Victor Kofia, Zhaleh Safikhani, Deena Ma Gendoo, Giovanni Parmigiani, Michael Birrar, Benjamin Haibe-Kains, Levi Waldron

Publications and Research

Purpose: The majority of ovarian carcinomas are of high-grade serous histology, which is associated with poor prognosis. Surgery and chemotherapy are the mainstay of treatment, and molecular characterization is necessary to lead the way to targeted therapeutic options. To this end, various computational methods for gene expression-based subtyping of high-grade serous ovarian carcinoma (HGSOC) have been proposed, but their overlap and robustness remain unknown.

Experimental Design: We assess three major subtype classifiers by meta-analysis of publicly available expression data, and assess statistical criteria of subtype robustness and classifier concordance. We develop a consensus classifier that represents the subtype classifications of …

R Program For Estimation Of Group Efficiency And Finding Its Gradient. Stochastic Data Envelopment Analysis With A Perfect Object Approach, Alexander Vaninsky

Publications and Research

The data presented here are related to the research article “Energy-environmental efficiency and optimal restructuring of the global economy” (Vaninsky, 2018) [1]. This article describes how the world economy can be restructured to become more energy-environmental efficient, while still increasing its growth potential. It demonstrates how available energy-environmental and economic information may support policy-making decisions on the atmosphere preservation and climate change prevention. This Data article presents a computer program in R language together with examples of input and output files that serve as a means of implementation of the novel approach suggested in publication[1]. The computer program utilizes stochastic …

Iopscience, Michelle Ehrenpreis

Publications and Research

Created by IOP Publishing, IOPscience is an online database which features 78 electronic journals, e-books, and conference proceedings from the Institute of Physics. Launched in 2010 on the previous Axiom platform, the database contains proprietary and Open Access content in the disciplines of physics and related sciences. Multiple pricing and packages offer a variety of options, as well as IOPscience Extra and IOPcorporate as add-ons for additional charges. As an online service for its journal content, IOPscience is a valuable service for institutions in need of access to essential physics and related subject matter research.

Applying P-Balanced Energy Technique To Solve Liouville-Type Problems In Calculus, Lina Wu

Publications and Research

We are interested in solving Liouville-type problems to explore constancy properties for maps or differential forms on Riemannian manifolds. Geometric structures on manifolds, the existence of constancy properties for maps or differential forms, and energy growth for maps or differential forms are intertwined. In this article, we concentrate on discovery of solutions to Liouville-type problems where manifolds are Euclidean spaces (i.e. flat Riemannian manifolds) and maps become real-valued functions. Liouville-type results of vanishing properties for functions are obtained. The original work in our research findings is to extend the  q-energy for a function from finite in L^q space to infinite …

Methods Matter: The Relationship Between Strength And Hypertrophy Depends On Methods Of Measurement And Analysis, Andrew D. Vigotsky, Brad J. Schoenfeld, Christian Than, J. Mark Brown

Publications and Research

Purpose: The relationship between changes in muscle size and strength may be affected by both measurement and statistical approaches, but their effects have not been fully considered or quantified. Therefore, the purpose of this investigation was to explore how different methods of measurement and analysis can affect inferences surrounding the relationship between hypertrophy and strength gain.

Methods: Data from a previous study—in which participants performed eight weeks of elbow flexor training, followed by an eight-week period of detraining—were reanalyzed using different statistical models, including standard between-subject correlations, analysis of covariance, and hierarchical linear modeling.

Results: The associative relationship between strength …

Product Development Process And Student Learning In An Engineering Technology Capstone Project: Electrical Go-Kart, Angran Xiao, Andy S. Zhang, Joyce Tam

Publications and Research

Project based learning (PBL) is a dynamic classroom approach in which students actively explore, solve real world problems and gain knowledge through developing real products. In our Engineering Technology program, a project based capstone design class is offered that provides graduating seniors a hands-on opportunity to experience team-based design under conditions that closely resemble current industry practice. In this paper, we introduce a capstone project, an electrical go-kart. A group of 20 students spent 15 weeks and around $600 designing and building a working electrical go-kart. This multidisciplinary project allows students to integrate knowledge from across the core curricula, and …

A Novel Multiscale Mathematical Model For Building Bone Substitute Materials For Children, Abdennasser Chekroun, Laurent Pujo-Menjouet, Jean-Philippe Berteau

Publications and Research

Bone is an engineering marvel that achieves a unique combination of stiffness and toughness exceeding that of synthesized materials. In orthopedics, we are currently challenged for the child population that needs a less stiff but a tougher bone substitute than adults. Recent evidence suggests that the relationship between inter-molecular connections that involve the two main bone building blocks, TropoCollagen molecules (TC) and carbonated Hydroxyapatite (cAp), and bone macroscopic mechanical properties, stiffness and toughness, are key to building bone substitute materials for children. The goal of our study is to establish how inter-molecular connections that occur during bone mineralization are related …

Direct Current Stimulation Of Endothelial Monolayers Induces A Transient And Reversible Increase In Transport Due To The Electroosmotic Effect, Limary M. Cancel, Katherin Arias, Marom Bikson, John M. Tarbell

Publications and Research

We investigated the effects of direct current stimulation (DCS) on fluid and solute transport across endothelial cell (EC) monolayers in vitro. Our motivation was transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) that has been investigated for treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders, to enhance neurorehabilitation, and to change cognition in healthy subjects. The mechanisms underlying this diversity of applications remain under investigation. To address the possible role of blood-brain barrier (BBB) changes during tDCS, we applied direct current to cultured EC monolayers in a specially designed chamber that generated spatially uniform direct current. DCS induced fluid and solute movement across EC layers that persisted …

The Problem Of Sexual Harassment, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

In the last few months, the media have been inundated with news about sexual harassment of women. The cases with the most notoriety have been those of celebrities or associated with the entertaining industry, but they have not been the only ones. This attention to the issue has generated what is called the “Me Too Movement” (or “MeToo”). With sexual harassment and assault occurring in every segment of society, it is important to ask how this issue is seen on college campuses, which have been accused of too much “political correctness” in the past.

A new study published last week …

Impacts Of Stress On Forest Recovery And Its Interaction With Canopy Height, Peipei Xu, Tao Zhou, Chuixiang Yi, Hui Luo, Xiang Zhao, Wei Fang, Shan Gao, Xia Liu

Publications and Research

Global climate change is leading to an increase in the frequency, intensity, and duration of drought events, which can affect the functioning of forest ecosystems. Because human activities such as afforestation and forest attributes such as canopy height may exhibit considerable spatial differences, such differences may alter the recovery paths of drought-impacted forests. To accurately assess how climate affects forest recovery, a quantitative evaluation on the effects of forest attributes and their possible interaction with the intensity of water stress is required. Here, forest recovery following extreme drought events was analyzed for Yunnan Province, southwest China. The variation in the …

Not All College Faculty Are Equal, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

Despite the fact that college faculty seem to lead very public lives because they show up in front of audiences on a regular basis, the fact of the matter is that most people – even faculty themselves –don’t know how much time they spend doing the different aspects of their jobs. A new study helps us better understand faculty by grouping them according to the way they spend their time.

A team of researchers from the Center for Postsecondary Research at Indiana University at Bloomington just published a report based on the analyses of responses to the center’s survey of …

Recent Trends In The Frequency And Duration Of Global Floods, Nasser Najibi, Naresh Devineni

Publications and Research

Frequency and duration of floods are analyzed using the global flood database of the Dartmouth Flood Observatory (DFO) to explore evidence of trends during 1985–2015 at global and latitudinal scales. Three classes of flood duration (i.e., short: 1–7, moderate: 8–20, and long: 21 days and above) are also considered for this analysis. The nonparametric Mann–Kendall trend analysis is used to evaluate three hypotheses addressing potential monotonic trends in the frequency of flood, moments of duration, and frequency of specific flood duration types. We also evaluated if trends could be related to large-scale atmospheric teleconnections using a generalized linear model framework. …

Deciphering The Mechanism Of O2 Reduction With Electronically Tunable Non-Heme Iron Enzyme Model Complexes, Roshaan Surendhran, Alexander A. D'Arpino, Bao Y. Sciscent, Anthony F. Cannella, Alan E. Friedman, Samantha N. Macmillan, Rupal Gupta, David C. Lacy

Publications and Research

A homologous series of electronically tuned 2,20,200-nitrilotris(N-arylacetamide) pre-ligands (H3LR) were prepared (R ¼ NO2, CN, CF3, F, Cl, Br, Et, Me, H, OMe, NMe2) and some of their corresponding Fe and Zn species synthesized. The iron complexes react rapidly with O2, the final products of which are diferric mu-oxo bridged species. The crystal structure of the oxidized product obtained from DMA solutions contain a structural motif found in some diiron proteins. The mechanism of iron mediated O2 reduction was explored to the extent that allowed us to construct an empirically consistent rate law. A Hammett plot was constructed that enabled …

One Year After U.S. Withdrawal, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

Despite very few – but very vocal – opponents, there is a general consensus that current climate change is occurring mostly as a consequence of human activities. Climate change is having, and will continue to have, serious consequences not only for the planet in general, but on human life in particular. It will lead to a disruption in food production, an increase in epidemics, climatic catastrophes will include droughts, floods,changes in the sea level, rapid and violent swings in weather patterns, costly infrastructure damages, etc.

Because these effects represent a clear and present danger to humans, on April 2016, 195 …