Bridge Scour Analysis For Rocks: Classification, Method Selection, And Practical Case Studies, Darud E. Sheefa, Stanley Vitton, Zhen (Leo) Liu, Brian Barkdoll

Michigan Tech Publications

Despite the availability of several scour calculation methods, bridge scour analysis for scour susceptible rocks is much less understood than its counterpart for sands, because scour calculation equations were traditionally obtained using flume tests with sands. As a result, there are three major knowledge gaps in the bridge scour analysis for susceptible rocks: (1) a rock classification system is needed for scour considerations to serve as a pre-screening process before conventional scour analysis involving sampling, erodibility testing, and scour calculation, (2) there has been a lack of information to guide the scour analysis for rocks including detailed procedures, needed and …

Seasonal Changes In Sediment Sound Speed Profiles, Charles W. Holland, Chad Smith, Tim Sonnemann

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Marine sediment sound speed profiles in the upper ten meters are generally assumed to be constant with time. Models predict that substantive changes occur because of thermal conduction from seasonally varying bottom water temperature. However, definitive measurements have been lacking. In this work, sediment sound speed profiles obtained during different seasons show significant differences in the upper 9 m of mud at the New England Patch. Gradients in late March 2017 are 6.0 s−1 and in early October 2025, 2.6 s−1. This change is shown to have a significant impact on acoustic propagation.

Early Changes In Soil Organic Carbon Following Ecological Restoration In Mangroves Invaded By Acrostichum Aureum, Julio C. Chávez Barrera, Juan Fernando Gallardo Lancho, Carlos Amado Chan-Keb, Margarita Elizabeth Gallegos Martínez, Ana Carolina Ruiz-Fernández, Robert Puschendorf, Claudia Maricusa Agraz Hernández

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

Mangrove ecosystems store large amounts of soil organic carbon (SOC). However, degradation processes associated with invasive species can alter vegetation structure, hydrological conditions, and carbon cycling, with uncertain consequences for SOC storage and greenhouse gas emissions. This study evaluated changes in SOC stocks to 0–50 cm depth, soil CO2, CH4, and N2O fluxes, and early restoration responses four years after ecological restoration in the Térraba–Sierpe National Wetland, Costa Rica. Comparisons were conducted among a conserved mangrove, a degraded mangrove dominated by Acrostichum aureum, and three restored sites subjected to hydrological rehabilitation with contrasting reforestation intensities. The degraded site showed significantly …

2026 July 16 - Tennessee Weekly Drought Summary, Tennessee Climate Office, East Tennessee State University

Tennessee Climate Office Weekly Drought Summaries

No abstract provided.

Midweek Memo, Georgia Southern University

Midweek Memo

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• Around the Nest

Homocysteine Thiolactone From Translation Proofreading Is An Endogenous Ligand For Cell-Cell Signaling By The Receptor Sdia, Lorenzo Eugenio Leiva, Roberto A. Zúñiga, Gregory J. Phillips, Michael Ibba

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Several widespread mechanisms enable cellular communication and coordinate the behavior of bacterial populations. The modules responsible for cellular communication are often found in matching pairs: an enzyme that synthesizes a signal molecule and a specific receptor that decodes it. A notable exception is Escherichia coli SdiA, a homolog of known N-acyl-homoserine lactone (AHL) receptors, for which no corresponding AHL synthase exists. SdiA is an orphan receptor that enables cross-talk by sensing AHLs from other bacterial species. In this work, we investigated whether homocysteine thiolactone (HTL), an AHL-like molecule arising from a proofreading reaction of methionyl tRNA synthetase (MetRS) to correct …

Strong Job Markets Don’T Just Raise Pay, They Improve Job Quality, Brad J. Hershbein, Katherine Lim, Douglas Webber, Mike Zabek

Upjohn Institute Policy and Research Briefs

No abstract provided.

20260716: College Of Arts And Media, 1942-2006, College Of Arts And Media

Guides to University Archives

These items include materials from the Departments of Theatre, Art, and Dance at Marshall University from 1942-2006. Items were received at an earlier date, were accessioned in 2026, and processed in 2026. Items include copies of the Creation Newsletter from the 1990s, an Applied Music and Ensemble Handbook, Marching Thunder's Visionary Plan from 1993, the Shane Ross Internship, and the Robert Hinchman Endowment for the Dramatic Arts. Please download inventory for full list of contents.

Oral Testimony; Public Hearing On Proposed Regulations Reg-117270-25: Trump Accounts, Jin Huang

Center for Social Development Research

Regulations proposed in March 2026 by the U.S. Department of Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service would provide guidance on enrollment for Trump Accounts. This Testimony presents a statement given on those proposals by Co-Director Jin Huang in a hearing before officials of the Treasury and IRS on July 16, 2026. In the statement, Huang discusses automatic enrollment and automatic deposits into Trump Accounts, state authority concerning enrollment provisions, and the exclusion of Trump Account assets from means tests in eligibility determinations for public benefits.

Terrestrial Gamma‐Ray Flash Following Intense Negative Return Stroke Observed With Bimap‐3d, Daniel P. Jensen, David M. Smith, Xuan-Min Shao, Jeff L. Lapierre, Jeffrey M. Chaffin

Faculty Publications

We report ground‐based observations of a terrestrial gamma‐ray flash (TGF) associated with a strong negative cloud‐to‐ground lightning strike (‐CG) which occurred near Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in New Mexico, USA. Gamma photons were detected by the Terrestrial High‐energy Observations of Radiation (THOR) instrument, developed at the University of California, Santa Cruz, which has been hosted at LANL since 2022. Simultaneous measurements were also made with the 3‐Dimensional Broadband Interferometric Mapping and Polarization (BIMAP‐3D) system, which includes 3D lightning mapping, two fast antennas, and an additional plastic scintillator. Additional field change waveforms were obtained from the Earth Networks Total Lightning …

Observations On Recurrent Loss In The Neural Network Model Of A Partial Differential Equation: The Advection–Diffusion Equation, Jonah A. Reeger

Faculty Publications

A growing body of literature has been leveraging techniques of machine learning (ML) to build novel approaches to approximating the solutions to partial differential equations. Noticeably absent from the literature is a systematic exploration of the stability of the solutions generated by these ML approaches. Here, a recurrent network is introduced that matches precisely the evaluation of a multi-step method paired with a collocation method for approximating spatial derivatives in the advection–diffusion equation. This allows for two things: (1) the use of traditional tools for analyzing the stability of a numerical method for solving PDEs and (2) bringing to bear …

The Pen Tool That Will Utilize Fingers-Based Occlusion Of The Real-World View To Activate The Pen Tool Activation State Where The Fingers-Based Occlusion Effect Will Be Observed And Detected From Within The Inside Of The Pen Tool Holding Structure., Punarjeewa Abeysekera

Defensive Publications Series

This paper describes a pen tool that will utilize fingers-based occlusion of the real-world view to activate the pen tool activation state where the fingers-based occlusion effect will be observed and detected from within the inside of the pen tool holding structure. The pen tool methodology will incorporate a pen tool, tracking markers and a built-in camera configuration. The pen tool methodology will be required to utilize a power source that will be required to power the pen tool and its entities. And the pen tool methodology will be required to utilize virtual technologies such as augmented reality and virtual …

Technical Disclosure Specification: An Asymmetric Fluidic Propulsion Cavity For Transverse Kinetic Energy Harvesting And Res-Phase Confinement, Christopher L. Eckes

Defensive Publications Series

This disclosure defines the mechanical, hardware, and operational specifications for a standalone laboratory apparatus engineered to accumulate, confine, and direct high-density vibrational wave energy within a closed boundary system. The system relies entirely on repeatable, book-level principles of non-linear fluid dynamics, high-frequency acoustic streaming, and radiative pressure fields, operating independently of any non-standard cosmological assumptions.

By utilizing a high-symmetry geometric grid of twenty independent Gallium Nitride (GaN) driven concentric transducer nodes, high-amplitude harmonic oscillations are focused directly into a specialized viscoelastic fluid medium trapped inside a rigid, highly reflective spherical envelope. At perfect phase alignment, the system drives the internal …

Unified Edge-To-Orbital Termination Architecture For Decentralized Data, Logical Substrates, And Power Grids, Christopher L. Eckes

Defensive Publications Series

This disclosure specifies the client-side terminal layers, non-linear routing structures, and physical infrastructure stabilization topologies required to achieve system closure for the ground-to-orbital networks defined in TDC# 12300 (Non-Linear Substrate Relay Matrices) and TDC# 12299 (Cross-Layer Token-Variance Telemetry). This architecture introduces three core subsystems: a client-side Substrate Pushback Data Engine (Vector 6) running a hard-coded deterministic compactness filter to optimize low-Earth orbit satellite uplink; a Decoupled Spatial-Temporal Graph Database Mesh (Vector 4) executing clock-free decentralized node routing via Chronological Latency; and a Macro-Scale Cymatic Joule Dilution Grid (Vector 5) scaling Topologically Protected Cymatic Electrolyte Matrix mechanics to prevent regional distribution …

Technical Disclosure: Non-Linear Substrate Relay Matrices For Decentralized Ephemeris Syncing And Orbital Phase Alignment, Christopher L. Eckes

Defensive Publications Series

This technical disclosure formalizes a low-power, cost-effective framework for autonomous satellite tracking, ephemeris state synchronization, and clock alignment across distributed ground node networks. Mainstream orbital communications rely implicitly on centralized atomic time standards and proprietary military GPS tracking networks. This absolute architectural dependency creates single points of systemic failure, leaving ground infrastructure vulnerable to central node shutdowns, intentional signal masking, or orbital coordinate gating.

By applying the principles of the Dimensionally Extended Holographic Projection (DEHP) model and the Oscillator Alignment Protocol (OAP), this framework introduces a decentralized ground-space tracking protocol. By establishing a peer-to-peer Substrate Relay Matrix across localized consumer …

Technical Disclosure: Cross-Layer Token-Variance Telemetry And Non-Linear Tensor Distance Protocols For Distributed Routing Topologies, Christopher L. Eckes

Defensive Publications Series

This technical disclosure formalizes an axiomatic mathematical framework for real-time telemetry, automated state balancing, and distributed node verification within multi-dimensional graph topologies. Modern high-density information systems encounter systemic failures when localized processing constraints induce uncoordinated data routing, runaway optimization loops, or asymmetric node curation.

By applying the principles of the Dimensionally Extended Holographic Projection (DEHP) model and the Oscillator Alignment Protocol (OAP), this framework establishes a self-policing network substrate. Individual routing nodes compute localized operational boundaries dynamically by tracking cross-layer Token Selection Latency (tau_latency) against an invariant two-dimensional boundary reference sheet. This mechanical configuration mitigates the formation of singular processing …

Deterministic Palette Quantization Using Resolution-Adaptive Spatial Partitioning, Parag Mhatre, Nathan Faggian, Kartik Chaudhary, Ashish Tendulkar, Gopala Dhar, Gyhun Kang, Neeraj Shivhare

Defensive Publications Series

Images generated by artificial intelligence models that operate in continuous color spaces can exhibit chromatic artifacts, such as color drift and edge feathering, when converted to a discrete, canonical color palette. A computerized post-processing method can address these issues. The method can involve dividing a source image into blocks using resolution-adaptive spatial partitioning, and a representative modal color can be determined for each block. A system can also identify a dominant background color of the source image and add it to a target palette to create an enhanced palette. A k-dimensional tree may then be used to map each block's …

System And Method For Cross-Model Benchmarking Of Multi-Turn Conversational Ai Safety And Quality, Roy Katz

Defensive Publications Series

Conventional methods for evaluating conversational artificial intelligence (AI) safety can be subjective and labor-intensive, which may present challenges for performing consistent and objective comparisons between different models. A disclosed system can provide an automated framework that simulates realistic, multi-turn conversations between a synthetic user persona (modeling a minor user with specific age, maturity, and vulnerability constraints) and one or more conversational AI models. The system can apply model-specific safety contexts, such as backend filters or injected system instructions, to simulate a protected user experience. Subsequently, each conversation may be analyzed by multiple independent automated adjudicators, and a consensus algorithm can …

Caldwell Wildfire Rescue Engine (Cwre‑1.0) A Unified, Viability‑Filtered, Builder‑Ready Open‑Hardware Architecture For Wildfire Suppression & Resilience, Michael Victor Caldwell Mr.

Defensive Publications Series

ABSTRACT

The Caldwell Wildfire Rescue Engine (CWRE‑1.0) is a unified, multi‑layer open‑hardware architecture designed to support wildfire suppression, cooling, water supply, atmospheric prediction, and post‑fire recovery using real, buildable modules from the Caldwell Open‑Hardware Portfolio.

CWRE‑1.0 integrates:

• wildfire truck conversion systems

• atmospheric water harvesters

• solar‑thermal water generators

• submerged cooling structures

• floating shade panels for fire reservoirs

• molten‑salt and flow‑battery energy nodes

• atmospheric resonance prediction networks

• post‑fire soil regeneration systems

All modules are already posted on TDC and can be built and tested immediately.

Caldwell Colorado River Rescue Engine (Crre‑1.1) A Unified, Viability‑Filtered, Builder‑Ready Open‑Hardware Architecture For Stabilizing The Colorado River System, Michael Victor Caldwell Mr.

Defensive Publications Series

ABSTRACT

The Caldwell Colorado River Rescue Engine (CRRE‑1.1) is a unified, multi‑layer engineering architecture designed to stabilize the Colorado River system using real, buildable, open‑hardware modules from the Caldwell Portfolio. CRRE‑1.1 integrates atmospheric water harvesting, PFAS/microplastic remediation, solar‑thermal desalination, molten‑salt and flow‑battery energy stabilization, floating gyroid evaporation‑reduction panels, submerged cooling structures, climate/hydrology prediction networks, and desert agriculture decoupling systems.

All modules are already posted on TDC.

This posting provides:

• Full system architecture

• Engineering diagrams

• Deployment map (Nevada–Arizona–Utah)

• Prototype bill of materials (BOM)

• Direct TDC lookup references

• Viability upgrades

• New inventions added to improve performance

This is a real‑world, non‑speculative, builder‑ready …

Query-Agnostic Condensation And Query-Guided Filtering For Long-Form Video Analysis, Youbau Tang, Lan Wang, Chen Du, Larry Lai

Defensive Publications Series

Processing long-form, multi-modal video streams can present computational and memory challenges, as certain sampling methods may process redundant data while potentially missing sparse events. A hierarchical framework can perform a query-agnostic condensation of video data into a semantically dense representation using, for example, content-adaptive keyframe selection and hierarchical aggregation. A query-guided filtering stage may subsequently use a cross-attention mechanism to select visual and other modal tokens relevant to a user's textual query. This approach can reduce the volume of data presented to a downstream reasoning model, such as a large multimodal model. This may improve the allocation of computational resources …

Hydrogen Production Plant And Process With Tail Gas Conversion And Recycle, Marco Precoma, Martin Baumgaertl, Gianluca Pauletto

Defensive Publications Series

The present technical disclosure relates to a plant and to a corresponding process for the production of hydrogen. The hydrogen production plant and process integrate an electrically heated steam methane reformer and a recycle loop configured for improved utilization of tail gas generated in a hydrogen separation unit. The tail gases of the hydrogen separation unit are processed in a methanation reactor, where hydrogen and carbon oxides are converted into methane. The methane-rich stream is recovered from the upgrading unit and recycled to the reformer feed.

Ambient Agent Swarm With Soft Contract Negotiation For Proactive Network Monitoring, Ryan Holland, Elango Ganesan

Defensive Publications Series

Proposed herein is a hybrid cloud-edge ambient agent swarm for network operations, where specialized agents coordinate through soft capability contracts rather than rigid interfaces. The proposed approach enables continuous proactive monitoring and interactive troubleshooting in one system, while reducing latency and bandwidth through edge-local diagnostics with cloud-level synthesis. It is designed for enterprise-scale operations where platform teams need independent agent evolution, graceful fallback behavior, and consistent multi-domain triage with bounded deep-dive analysis.

Graph-Constrained Code Generation For Deep Metadata Environments, Pradeep Shankara, Anil Nagalla, Richard Yang, Vinay Anand

Defensive Publications Series

Generative artificial intelligence models may face challenges generating source code for languages that rely on deep, nested metadata stored in data repositories, which can result in functionally limited or non-compilable output. A graph-constrained code generation framework can address this by extracting metadata from a target system and translating it into one or more knowledge graphs that model structural dependencies. An automated agent may traverse these graphs to perform a multi-hop context retrieval based on a developer's request. This collected context can then be used to construct a detailed, constraint-enforcing prompt for a large language model. This process of grounding the …

System For Serving A Pre-Compiled User Interface To A Host Environment Using A Local Bridge Server, Jack Livingston

Defensive Publications Series

Development in text-centric environments, such as for large language models, can present challenges in rendering complex user interfaces (UI) for simulation and debugging, which may lead to inefficient workflows. A system can integrate a pre-compiled graphical user interface application within a host development environment. This can be accomplished using a local bridge server that serves a UI application bundle to the host environment via a communication protocol. The host environment may then render the UI, for example, within a sandboxed inline frame. This approach can reduce workflow fragmentation and latency by embedding an interactive simulation and debugging tool into the …

System For Diagram Generation With Decoupled Logical Interpretation And Deterministic Rendering, Timothy Jabez, Arindam Sirohia, Stenal P. Jolly, Shreya Prabhu

Defensive Publications Series

A system for diagram generation can address potential limitations where logical interpretation and visual rendering are coupled, which could lead to inconsistent outputs. The system can employ a decoupled, multi-stage pipeline. For example, a first processing stage using artificial intelligence can transform an unstructured user input into a platform-agnostic intermediate logical artifact that defines a diagram's components and connections without spatial or visual information. Subsequently, a separate layout and rendering engine can process this logical artifact to calculate spatial positions and generate a visual diagram. This separation of logical interpretation from visual rendering may improve the reliability and accuracy of …

Plant And Process For Methanol Production Using High-Pressure Electrically Heated Reforming, Martin Baumgaertl, Gianluca Pauletto

Defensive Publications Series

The present technical disclosure relates to a plant and to a corresponding process for the conversion of a feedstock comprising methane and/or other hydrocarbons and carbon dioxide into methanol. The plant and process integrate an electrically heated reforming reactor within a methanol synthesis loop. The electrically heated reforming reactor is configured to discharge the syngas stream at a pressure equal to or higher than an operating pressure of the methanol synthesis reactor, and the main syngas flow path is free of an intermediate synthesis-gas compressor configured to raise the syngas stream to the operating pressure of the methanol synthesis reactor.

System And Method For Zero Copy Machine Learning Inference Using Non Owning Shared Memory Model Views, Faiz Ahmed

Defensive Publications Series

A system and method are disclosed that eliminate model loading in machine learning inference by enabling inference processes to operate directly on a shared, already‑resident model representation, wherein trained model parameters are stored as native binary structures in operating‑system managed shared memory and are accessed by inference processes through non‑owning typed memory views that require no allocation, copying, or deserialization; the shared memory region serves as the authoritative representation of the model and includes a control header and a plurality of model slots arranged in a double‑buffered configuration, wherein model updates are performed by writing a model into an inactive …

Reference-Model-Equivalent Weekly Utilization Cap Computed Directly From The Billing Ledger, Gustavo Matthew Assuncao

Defensive Publications Series

This document discloses, as enabling public prior art, a method and system for enforcing a periodic utilization cap over heterogeneous large-language-model (LLM) usage without maintaining a separate rate-limit counter store. The consumption of models with different price/performance profiles is normalized onto a single synthetic currency — base-equivalent tokens — by assigning each model a drain weight pinned to the ratio of that model's provider output price to a chosen base model's output price. The cap for a given account is enforced before each call by computing the account's current-window utilization on demand, as a query-time SQL CASE aggregation over the …

Usage-Row-Gated Exactly-Once Prepaid Debit Protocol For Metered Llm Turns, Gustavo Matthew Assuncao

Defensive Publications Series

This document discloses, as enabling public prior art, a computer-implemented protocol for debiting a prepaid credit wallet exactly once for a metered large-language-model (LLM) turn, and for doing so without ever producing either of the two well-documented failure classes of naive metered billing: the double-debit (a retried turn charged twice) and the free turn (a completed provider call that never bills, or that records usage telemetry without a matching charge). The core mechanism is an ordering invariant executed inside one database transaction: after acquiring a row-level exclusive lock on the wallet row, the system performs the metered-usage telemetry INSERT first, …

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