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Faculty Senate Minutes December 2017, Uno Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Minutes

These are the official minutes of the Faculty Senate Meetings at the University of Nebraska - Omaha (UNO) for Academic year 2017-2018. The Faculty Senate supports faculty governance and believes that shared governance is essential to creating productive and rewarding environment for faculty and students. The Faculty Senate is a representative body of members elected by the faculty of the various academic departments and units of UNO. The Faculty Senate features representation from each academic college, Criss Library , and Omaha-base University of Nebraska – Lincoln (UNL) colleges.

Layer-By-Layer Assembled Membranes With Immobilized Porins, Sebastián Hernández, Cassandra Porter, Xinyi Zhang, Yinan Wei, Dibakar Bhattacharyya

Chemical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications

New and advanced opportunities are arising for the synthesis and functionalization of membranes with selective separation, reactivity, and stimuli-responsive behavior. One such advancement is the integration of bio-based channels in membrane technologies. By a layer-by-layer (LbL) assembly of polyelectrolytes, outer membrane protein F trimers (OmpF) or “porins” from Escherichia coli with central pores ∼2 nm in diameter at their opening and ∼0.7 × 1.1 nm at their constricted region are immobilized within the pores of poly(vinylidene fluoride) microfiltration membranes, in contrast to traditional ruptured lipid bilayer or vesicle processes. These OmpF-membranes demonstrate selective rejection of non-charged organics over ionic solutes, …

Volume 55, Number 18: December 13, 2017, University Of North Dakota

University Letter Archive

No abstract provided.

Rankings And Enrollment Report, Stephen Payne

Andrews Agenda: Campus News

No abstract provided.

Using Crude Palm Oil (Cpo) As Diesel Engine Fuel, Lim T.H., Bari S., Yu C.W.

ASEAN Journal on Science and Technology for Development

In this study, heating was used to lower the viscosity of CPO to an acceptable level. 60°C was found to be the optimum heating temperature for CPO to ensure smooth flow in the fuel system, but heating further up to 100°C did not improve the engine performance. A comparison between CPO and diesel in terms of engine performance, combustion characteristics and emission showed that the brake specific fuel consumprion (bsfc) for CPO was 13% higher at 400 kPa brake mean effective pressure (bmep), and the highest bmep achieved was 13.5% lower. However, CPO fuel gave a brake thermal efficiency. Combustion …

Development Of The New Educational Content "Small Uas In Civil Engineering Application Scenarios", E. Levin, K. Vach, R. Shults

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

The key point of this paper is presentation of the main idea and some results of the project "Small UAS in civil engineering application scenarios" (SUAS-CAS). This project was proposed by newly established in 2016 ISPRS WG V/7: "Innovative Technologies in Training Civil Engineers and Architects". Here we are presenting our experience in using low-cost UAS in training architects at Kyiv National University of Construction and Architecture, which was chosen as basic for this project. In the first part of paper, the project outline is presented. Then the first and possible follow project outcomes were described. In some details is …

Resilient Microgrids Through Software-Defined Networking, Lingyu Ren

Doctoral Dissertations

Multiple major blackouts had occurred in the U.S. power distribution system highlighting the importance of enhancing electricity resiliency. Microgrid is the new paradigm incorporating high flexibility and reliability in power supply. It allows various distributed energy resources and loads to be integrated and coordinated as an intelligent entity through control and communication infrastructure. Microgrid control technologies have been continuously developed over 20 years. However, there is still a lack of communication architecture that is able to provide fast, reliable and elastic services for multi-level data transmission and adaptable network management. This dissertation solves this intractable problem by integrating programmable networks …

Play The Game, Don't Let It Play You: A Case Study Of African American Male Student-Athletes' Experiences At A Division Ii Historically Black College, Eric A. Bailey Ii

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

The media's overrepresentation of Black men in entertainment often portrays that the only Black males who are successful are those who are either professional athletes or entertainers. Therefore, at an early age, many Black boys aspire to capitalize on what society speculates to be their best attributes--physical ability. African American male athletes spend countless hours practicing, exerting a great deal of energy, and enduring physical pain and injuries while competing, all for the slim hope of securing a roster spot on a professional sports team. While college is intended to be a place to acquire the necessary skills or credentials …

Sexual Recombination And Increased Mutation Rate Expedite Evolution Of Escherichia Coli In Varied Fitness Landscapes, George Peabody, Hao Li, Katy Kao

Faculty Publications

Sexual recombination and mutation rate are theorized to play different roles in adaptive evolution depending on the fitness landscape; however, direct experimental support is limited. Here we examine how these factors affect the rate of adaptation utilizing a “genderless” strain of Escherichia coli capable of continuous in situ sexual recombination. The results show that the populations with increased mutation rate, and capable of sexual recombination, outperform all the other populations. We further characterize two sexual and two asexual populations with increased mutation rate and observe maintenance of beneficial mutations in the sexual populations through mutational sweeps. Furthermore, we experimentally identify …

Factors Affecting The Evolution Of Inclusion Populations During Steelmaking And Casting Processes, Obinna Adaba, Laura Bartlett, Mingzhi Xu, Ronald J. O'Malley

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Investigations into the evolution of inclusion populations during ladle processing and continuous casting are reviewed. Details of the steelmaking practices employed in BOP and EAF steelmaking have been observed to have a strong influence on the size distribution, quantity, composition, phases and morphology of the final inclusion population delivered to the caster. Examples of the effects of different processing paths on the evolution of inclusion populations are presented. The importance of preexisting inclusion populations on the formation and removal of new inclusion populations is also reviewed and discussed.

Paleo Journey: An Interactive Paleolithic Cave Art Experience. Using The User Experience (Ux) Design Process To Develop An Interactive And Immersive Paleolithic Cave Art Exhibit Suitable For Children Between Five (5) And Seven (7) Years Old., James J. Parrillo

Theses

Most European caves containing Paleolithic cave art paintings (dating from approximately 10,000 – 50,000 years BP) are no longer accessible to the general public, and their visitor centers often require lengthy travel for tourists. In addition, the interactivity associated with these exhibits largely focus upon computer screens, and not a tactile interface. This Thesis project seeks to create a prototype of a tactile interface on a mock cave surface using projection mapping and motion tracking.

In developing this exhibit, the user experience (UX) design process was used as a methodology for defining, researching and co-designing for a particular user segment. …

Virtual Notes: Projected Note-Taking System Design, Yiran Lu

Theses

Currently, traditional devices such as paper, notebooks and textbooks, and electronic devices such as computers and tablets, are the most common media people choose to take notes on. However, there is no device designed only for note-taking with full functionalities. The project Virtual Notes is designed for people to have a much better, effortless experience on taking notes. Implemented with projector, sensor and camera, Virtual Notes offers users a projected note-taking platform. With Virtual Notes, users can take notes on desks, paper or even textbooks without actually leaving a single mark.

The thesis project is undertaken independently and engaged in …

Vu: Integrating Ar Technology And Interaction Into An Event Planning App, Yun Liu

Theses

Planning a social event can be expensive and time consuming. To minimalize the risk of event problems, the organizer can consult professional event planners. However, a consultant can also be costly. Therefore, purchasing decor, food, and other items, without

knowing if they look right or fit the venue, is a guessing game, and the game could be an expensive one.

If the original plan cannot be completed efficiently, then modifying or improving these works are likely to cost extra time and funds. However, testing the revised plan may also increase the likelihood of risk in future.

By integrating Augmented Reality …

We Fish: An Interactive Information Design Mobile App For Local Fishing, Liyang Wang

Theses

Fishing is a popular hobby in today’s society. People enjoy fishing to relieve stress, create social bonds, and find it fulfilling and challenging. In order to fish effectively, a fisherman needs to know the real-time weather, location information, and have basic fishing knowledge. There are many ways we can help fishermen by providing this information in an easily accessible manner. For fishing beginners and fishing amateurs, the best way to help them catch fish is to create a tool that solves their needs.

Mobile applications have quickly become a useful tool and are widely used today for its diversity and …

A Low, Cost Portable Ground Station To Track And Communicate With Satellites In Vhf Band, Sneha Velayudhan

Theses

In this thesis, we present the architecture and implementation of a low-cost, small, mobile and easily deployable ground station to track and receive signals from satellites that operate on the VHF-band (144 MHz to 147 MHz). The ground station uses a handheld 5-dB gain Yagi-Uda antenna, a low noise amplifier with 23 dB gain and a software defined radio (FUNcube Dongle) to receive the signals. The analog front end’s software-defined nature gives it the flexibility to target satellites with diverse power, modulation and error-correcting schemes. Software for satellite tracking, signal decoding and processing is freely-available.

The low cost of the …

A Physical Framework For Evaluating Flood Inundation Risk Under Different Water Management Scenarios, Sage Hardesty

Master's Theses

In the United States, many river floodplains contain critical infrastructure that is vulnerable to extreme hydrologic events. These structures are designed based on flood frequency analysis aimed at quantifying the magnitude of the extreme events. However, many floodplains are ungauged or poorly gauged, making flood frequency analysis significantly uncertain. This research topic focuses on estimating flood frequency peaks for an ungauged critical infrastructure within Connecticut’s Naugatuck River Basin utilizing a physically based approach consisting of a distributed rainfall-runoff model forced by long-term reanalysis meteorological data and a hydraulic model driven by high-resolution LiDAR derived terrain elevation data. The hydrologic model …

The Ability Of Different Imputation Methods To Preserve The Significant Genes And Pathways In Cancer, Rosa Aghdam, Taban Baghfalaki, Pegah Khosravi, Elnaz Saberi Ansari

Publications and Research

Deciphering important genes and pathways from incomplete gene expression data could facilitate a better understanding of cancer. Different imputation methods can be applied to estimate the missing values. In our study, we evaluated various imputation methods for their performance in preserving significant genes and pathways. In the first step, 5% genes are considered in random for two types of ignorable and non-ignorable missingness mechanisms with various missing rates. Next, 10 well-known imputation methods were applied to the complete datasets. The significance analysis of microarrays (SAM) method was applied to detect the significant genes in rectal and lung cancers to showcase …

An Introduction To The Economic Impact Of Dry Edible Bean Production, Timothy Meyer

Cornhusker Economics

Amazing statistics about Nebraska agriculture are plentiful. For example, Nebraska produces the 4th most output of agricultural products in the United States, while ranking only 37th in population. No wonder Nebraska's agricultural output ranks first when adjusted for population. It is safe to say most Nebraskans understand the importance of beef, corn, soybeans and ethanol. On the other hand, secondary crops play an important role in the economy as well, especially in the western portion of the state.

Development And Applications Of A Real-Time Magnetic Electron Energy Spectrometer For Use With Medical Linear Accelerators, Paul Ethan Maggi

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Purpose – This work presents a design for a real-time electron energy spectrometer, and provides data analysis methods and characterization of the real-time system. This system is intended for use with medical linear accelerators (linacs). The goal is 1 Hz acquisition of the energy range 4-25 MeV, reconstructed in 0.1 MeV increments.

Methods – Our spectrometer uses a nominal 0.54 T permanent magnet block as the dispersive element and scintillating fibers coupled to a CCD camera as the position sensitive detector. A broad electron beam produced by a linac is collimated by a 6.35 mm dimeter aperture at the entrance …

Multiphase Flow Modeling For Design And Optimization Of A Novel Down-Flow Bubble Column, Mutharasu Lalitha Chockalingam

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The application of the Euler-Euler framework based Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) models for simulating the two-phase gas-liquid bubbly flow in down-flow bubble columns is discussed in detail. Emphasis is given towards the modelling and design optimization of a novel down-flow bubble column. The design features of this novel down-flow bubble column and its advantages over a conventional Plunging Jet down-flow bubble column are discussed briefly. Then, some of the present challenges in simulating a conventional Plunging Jet down-flow bubble column in the Euler-Euler framework is highlighted, and a sigmoid function based drag modification function is implemented to overcome those challenges. …

Context-Sensitive Human Activity Classification In Video Utilizing Object Recognition And Motion Estimation, Abigail R. Jacoby

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

Classification of human activity in raw video presents a challenging problem that remains unsolved, and is of great interest for large datasets. Though there have been several attempts at applying image processing techniques to video to recognize human activity in controlled video segments, few have attained a significant degree of success in raw videos.

Raw video classification exhibits significant challenges that can be addressed through the use of geometric information. Current techniques employ a combination of temporal information of the feature space or a combination of Convolutional and Recurrent Neural Networks (CNN and RNNs). CNNs are used for frame feature …

Tone Insertion To Indicate Timing Or Location Information, Peter Doris

Defensive Publications Series

Disclosed herein is a mechanism for inserting a series of tones that indicate timing information or location information. For example, the mechanism can include inserting tones into audio data associated with a video to indicate timing and/or location information.

Phosphate Speleothems In Caves Developed In Iron Ores And Laterites Of The Carajás Mineral Province (Brazil) And A New Occurrence Of Spheniscidite, Alan R.L. Albuquerque, Rômulo S. Angélica, Daniele F. Gonçalves, Simone P.A. Paz

International Journal of Speleology

The Carajás Mineral Province has one of the largest concentrations of caves in Brazil, and its iron ore is among the country’s main exports. As a result of iron ore intense extraction, new environmental policies have been implemented. In an attempt to balance economic activity and environmental conservation, an inventory and a relevance-based classification of caves were implemented in 2008 as criteria for environmental licensing of mining ventures. This implementation motivated the present study of phosphate speleothems in Carajás’ caves developed in ferriferous rocks. The objectives of this study are to describe the phosphate minerals and their formation processes based …

Notification Features For Digital Content In A Mobile-Optimized Format, Justin Lewis, Joseph Cohen

Defensive Publications Series

Disclosed herein is a mechanism for providing notification features for digital content that is in a mobile-optimized format. The mechanism can, for example, provide one or more tags in the mobile-optimized format that specify a uniform resource locator (URL) for a notification content item. Such a URL provided in the one or more tags can enable digital content that is in a mobile-optimized format to request notification permissions from a parent page or domain of the digital content. Such a URL provided in the one or more tags can also enable digital content that is in a mobile-optimized format to …

Using Imagery Of Lawns To Estimate Lawn Care Need, Charles Armstrong

Defensive Publications Series

Generally, the present disclosure is directed to identifying properties whose owners are likely to be receptive to lawn care services. In particular, in some implementations, the systems and methods of the present disclosure can include or otherwise leverage one or more machine-learned models to predict that a property exhibits a need for lawn care disproportional to surrounding properties and/or has an owner or owners with the financial capability to afford lawn care services based on imagery and/or real estate information for the property and/or surrounding properties.

Using Imagery Of Property Improvements To Direct Marketing, Charles Armstrong

Defensive Publications Series

Generally, the present disclosure is directed to using imagery of properties containing property improvements to direct advertising for such improvements. In particular, in some implementations, the systems and methods of the present disclosure can include or otherwise leverage one or more machine-learned models to predict that a property has a property improvement based on imagery of the property.

Generating Punctuation For Spoken Text, Sourish Chaudhuri, Andrew Gallagher

Defensive Publications Series

Generally, the present disclosure is directed to generating punctuation for spoken text from a speech-to-text system. In particular, in some implementations, the systems and methods of the present disclosure can include or otherwise leverage one or more machine-learned models to generate punctuation data for spoken text based on speech data for the spoken text

Anticipatory Product Development Using Design Suggestions, Nicole Gibson, Kevin D. Brune

Defensive Publications Series

Generally, the present disclosure is directed to determining an optimal solution for building and/or designing a multi-dimensional product. In particular, in some implementations, the systems and methods of the present disclosure can include or otherwise leverage one or more machine-learned models to predict an optimal design solution for building and/or designing a product based on design characteristics and information relating to existing designs.

Compressed Sensing For Monitoring Of An Application, Roberto Lupi

Defensive Publications Series

Generally, the present disclosure is directed to monitoring behavior of an application or other computing system or computing task. In particular, in some implementations, the systems and methods of the present disclosure can include or otherwise leverage one or more machine-learned models to predict behavior of an application or other computing system or computing task based on monitoring data.

Machine-Learned Wireless Propagation Model, Yi-Fan Chen, Georgios Roumpos, Boon-Lock Yeo, Peter Yung Sen Chen

Defensive Publications Series

Generally, the present disclosure is directed to predicting wireless propagation in an area and/or at a wavelength. In particular, in some implementations, the systems and methods of the present disclosure can include or otherwise leverage one or more machine-learned models to predict propagation data (e.g. radio signal attenuation and/or Bit Error Rate (BER)) based on connection data and terrain data.