Digital Commons Network^™

Neural Network For Tuning-Friendly Automatic Outlier Detection In Water Quality Time Series, Cyril Garneau, Peter A. Vanrolleghem

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

With the increasing presence of online sensors to monitor environmental systems, automatic outlier detection procedures are necessary to tackle the huge amount of data generated. Cleaned time series can afterwards be filtered, screened for fault detection, used for process control or decision support.

Outliers from time series exhibiting stable signals can easily be removed by tracking the local mean and standard deviation and accepting all data within, e.g., from the mean. However, environmental time series often exhibit large discontinuities or highly unstable behaviour, which requires more advanced outlier detection methods. Unfortunately, these advanced methods require complex parameterization that depends on …

Automated Data Discovery, Retrieval, Manipulation, And Publication Using Python, Tethys, And Hydroshare, Scott D. Christensen, Dharhas Pothina, Aaron Valoroso, Kevin Winters

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

Most environmental modelling efforts have significant data needs, which can present technical challenges and distract from the primary modelling objectives. These challenges include finding relevant data sources, retrieving large amounts of data, performing data transformations, and finally storing and sharing results. This presentation describes the tools being used and developed at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) to address these challenges. These tools include (1) Quest, an extensible Python library for searching various local and public data providers, automating downloading, performing various data filters (or transformations), and finally, publishing the data to data repositories, (2) Data Depot, …

Simulating Reactive Nitrogen In Canadian Farmland From 1981 To 2011, Jingyi Yang Dr, Craig F. Drury Dr, Xueming Yang Dr

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

A reactive nitrogen (N) model has been developed to estimate reactive N for Canadian agricultural land at a soil landscape of Canada polygon 1:1M scale. The N inputs include fertilizer N, biological N fixation, N deposition and N mineralization from previous organic residues. The N output contains crop N removal for food and feed, N losses from gaseous forms including N₂O and NH₃, surface runoff and leaching of NO₃^-, and residual inorganic N left in the soil. Manure N was considered as part of the internal N cycle. The inputs of the model …

The Effect Of Sweeteners In Drosophila Melanogaster's Locomotion., Araceli Francisco

The International Student Science Fair 2018

This research aims to measure how much locomotion is affected in Drosophila melanogaster considering the alimentation. The experiment was divided in a control group, a group fed with natural sugar and another fed with artificial sugar. The diets were prepared based on standard laboratory food (SLF) by varying the sugar. Several generations were grown. The locomotion was measured through monitors with infrared lasers which calculated the number of times the fly passed through it. They were accustomed to a day and night cycle and were kept under observation for a period of 13 days. As a result, the group that …

Is Google Self-Aware?, Gerry Heapes

Irish Communication Review

The field of artificial intelligence evolves incrementally with gradual improvement over time and has relied on the Turing Test as a measure of progress. However human standards of intelligence measurement may not be appropriate to current developments. The platform of cloud computing now provides a means of implementing a kind of ubiquitous awareness unknown to humans before now and a means of augmenting human intelligence. The level of awareness held by Google is explored and some recent developments in the uses of AI programmes for social media are covered. The misinterpretation of these developments is explored and a solution proposed. …

Quantum Computational Supremacy: Security And Vulnerability In A New Paradigm, Deborah Brennan

Irish Communication Review

Despite three decades of research, the field of quantum computation has yet to build a quantum computer that can perform a task beyond the capability of any classical computer – an event known as computational supremacy. Yet this multi-billion dollar research industry persists in its efforts to construct such a machine. Based on the counter-intuitive principles of quantum physics, these devices are fundamentally different from the computers we know. It is theorised that large-scale quantum computers will have the ability to perform some remarkably powerful computations, even if the extent of their capabilities remains disputed. One application, however, the factoring …

Examining Periodontal Disease And Cardiovascular Disease Risk - Assessing The Feasibility And Acceptability Of Screening In The Dental Care Setting, Richard H. Singer

Open Access Dissertations

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death for both men and women in the U.S. and is responsible for 1 in 4 deaths annually. While mounting evidence points to an association of periodontal disease (PD) with a significant increase in the risk of CVD, independent of established CVD risk factors, this association has not been studied in Hispanic/Latino populations. Dental care settings offer an untapped health care setting to expand access to screening and early identification of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. However, little is known about dentist or patient viewpoints towards CVD screening in the dental office. The …

Photodimerization Of Cis-Cinnamic Acids And Cis-Cinnamides In Crystalline State And Aqueous Solution, Giri Babu Veerakanellore

Open Access Dissertations

The research work presented in this thesis describes the photochemical reactions carried out in the solid-state and X-ray structural studies to understand the photochemical behavior of cis-cinnamic acids by exploiting topochemical postulates. The photochemistry of excited cis-cinnamic acids can be understood from the photochemistry of corresponding trans-cinnamic acids but not from cis-cinnamic acids alone. Existence of dual reactive centers and its photoreactivity of cis-olefinic crystals are thoroughly investigated. Similar to trans-cinnamic acids, cis-cinnamic acids can also undergo direct photodimerization when the intermolecular distance of double bonds is less than 4.2 Å. Key contributing factors for the isomerization of cis-cinnamic acids …

Western News, June 7, 2018, Western Michigan University

Western News (1972-2018)

Story highlights: VP, two unit head appointments announced; Sales program nationally recognized for excellence; Fostering success center announces new partner, transition plans; On Campus with Lindsey Palar.

Working On The Wayne | Diminishing Butternut Trees, Ohio University College Of Arts & Sciences

All Forum Articles

No abstract provided.

Ongoing Transposon-Mediated Genome Reduction In The Luminous Bacterial Symbionts Of Deep-Sea Ceratioid Anglerfishes, Tory Hendry, Lindsay L. Freed, Dana Fadera, Dante Fenolio, Tracey Sutton, Jose Lopez

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Diverse marine fish and squid form symbiotic associations with extracellular bioluminescent bacteria. These symbionts are typically free-living bacteria with large genomes, but one known lineage of symbionts has undergone genomic reduction and evolution of host dependence. It is not known why distinct evolutionary trajectories have occurred among different luminous symbionts, and not all known lineages previously had genome sequences available. In order to better understand patterns of evolution across diverse bioluminescent symbionts, we de novo sequenced the genomes of bacteria from a poorly studied interaction, the extracellular symbionts from the “lures” of deep-sea ceratioid anglerfishes. Deep-sea anglerfish symbiont genomes are …

The Effects Of The Nepal Community Forestry Program On Biodiversity Conservation And Carbon Storage, Harisharan Luintel, Randall Bluffstone, Robert M. Scheller

Economics Faculty Publications and Presentations

Approximately 15.5% of global forest is controlled by ~1 billion local people and the area under community control is increasing. However, there is limited empirical evidence as to whether community control is effective in providing critical global ecosystem services, such as biodiversity conservation and carbon storage. We assess the effectiveness of one example of community-controlled forest, Nepal’s Community Forestry Program (CFP), at providing biodiversity conservation and carbon storage. Using data from 620 randomly selected CFP and non-CFP forest plots, we apply a robust matching method based on covariates to estimate whether CFPs are associated with greater biodiversity conservation or carbon …

Immune Cells That Create And Sustain Chronic Inflammatory Bowel Disease Identified, Jeff Hansen

Browse All News

No abstract provided.

Identification Of Genomic Regions Controlling Leaf Scald Resistance In Sugarcane Using A Bi-Parental Mapping Population And Selective Genotyping By Sequencing, Andres F. Gutierrez, Jeffrey W. Hoy, Collins A. Kimbeng, Niranjan Baisakh

Faculty Publications

Leaf scald, caused by Xanthomonas albilineans, is a major sugarcane disease worldwide. The disease is managed primarily with resistant cultivars obtained through classical breeding. However, erratic symptom expression hinders the reliability and reproducibility of selection for resistance. The development and use of molecular markers associated with incompatible/compatible reactions could overcome this limitation. The aim of the present work was to find leaf scald resistance-associated molecular markers in sugarcane to facilitate marker-assisted breeding. A genetic linkage map was constructed by selective genotyping of 89 pseudo F2 progenies of a cross between LCP 85-384 (resistant) and L 99-226 (susceptible) using 1,948 single …

Dune Habitat Trends Of An Endangered Species, Penstemon Haydenii Wats. (Blowout Penstemon), In Carbon County, Wyoming, Bonnie Heidel, Samuel E. Cox, Frank C. Blomquist

Western North American Naturalist

Penstemon haydenii Wats. (blowout penstemon, blowout beardtongue) is an early-succession plant species that is adapted to the dynamic habitats found in sand dunes. Following widespread habitat loss, the species was thought to be extinct from 1940 until it was rediscovered in 1968. It was listed as endangered in 1987 under the Endangered Species Act. At the time, it was only known from the Nebraska Sandhills, where its low numbers were ascribed to habitat loss. It was first discovered in Wyoming in 1996, in the Ferris Dunes of Carbon County. To develop a proxy for historic Wyoming habitat trends and a …

Density And Pond Habitat Affect Survival And Growth Rates In Larval Columbia Spotted Frogs (Rana Luteiventris), Sidney A. Patchett, Allystair D. Jones, Mark C. Belk

Western North American Naturalist

Juvenile survival and growth are critical determinants of evolutionary fitness in most organisms. However, specific effects of population density and habitat quality on survival and growth of larvae vary widely among amphibian species. The Columbia spotted frog (Rana luteiventris), like many amphibians in the arid western United States, is a species of conservation concern, especially in the southern part of its range. To determine how density and habitat affect vital rates of Columbia spotted frog during the larval period, we performed a controlled experiment. Larval growth and survival in the Columbia spotted frog are determined by density of …

Kinetic Solvent Viscosity Effects As Probes For Studying The Mechanisms Of Enzyme Action, Giovanni Gadda, Pablo Sobrado

Chemistry Faculty Research & Creative Works

The study of enzyme reaction mechanisms is fundamentally important to our understanding of biochemistry, cellular metabolism, and drug development. This Perspective focuses on the use of kinetic solvent viscosity effects (KSVEs) to study enzyme reactions. This technique is easily implemented and uses steady-state kinetic analyses to probe whether substrate binding is diffusion-controlled and whether product release is the rate-limiting step in the catalytic cycle. In addition, KSVEs can identify isomerization steps that are important for catalysis. The use of KSVEs in combination with other techniques, such as kinetic isotope effects, pH effects, and site-directed mutagenesis, can provide a detailed view …

Adjusting To The New Abet Criteria 3 And 5: It’S Really Not Very Hard, Allen C. Estes, Peter Laursen, Pamalee A. Brady

Architectural Engineering

ABET has revised the criteria 3 (Student Outcomes) and 5 (Curriculum) of the general criteria. These changes have made it through the rigorous approval process and will be effective for the 2019-20 academic year. This paper analyzes the differences between the existing criteria and the proposed changes. Through a specific detailed example, the paper illustrates how an existing assessment system can seamlessly be adjusted for the new criteria. Most of the embedded indicators and direct measures of attainment can still be used. The results simply need to be organized differently.

Cue Competition During Phonotactic Processing In Bilingual Adults As Measured By Eye-Tracking, Katherine Manrique

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

It is well documented in the literature that bilingual speakers simultaneously activate both languages during spoken language processing (e.g., Marian & Spivey, 2003). However, parallel activation can lead to competition between the two languages (e.g., Blumenfield & Marian, 2013; Freeman, Shook, & Marian, 2016). The Unified Competition model (UCM) provides a theory as to how bilingual speakers navigate through two languages while different linguistic cues are competing (MacWhinney, 2005). The UCM proposes that cues are used to process language, based on cue validity (the product of how reliable and available a cue is), which is determined by cue strength (a …

Privacy Regulation In The Age Of Biometrics That Deal With A New World Order Of Information, Michael Monajemi

University of Miami International and Comparative Law Review

No abstract provided.

Robust Computation In 2d Absolute Eit (A-Eit) Using D-Bar Methods With The “Exp” Approximation, Sarah J. Hamilton, J. L. Mueller, T. R. Santos

Mathematical and Statistical Science Faculty Research and Publications

Objective

Absolute images have important applications in medical Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT) imaging, but the traditional minimization and statistical based computations are very sensitive to modeling errors and noise. In this paper, it is demonstrated that D-bar reconstruction methods for absolute EIT are robust to such errors.

Approach

The effects of errors in domain shape and electrode placement on absolute images computed with 2-D D-bar reconstruction algorithms are studied on experimental data.

Main Results

It is demonstrated with tank data from several EIT systems that these methods are quite robust to such modeling errors, and furthermore the artefacts arising from …

Efficient Intracellular Delivery Of Cell-Impermeable Cargo Molecules By Peptides Containing Tryptophan And Histidine, Amir Nasrolahi Shirazi, Saghar Mozaffari, Rinzhin Tshering Sherpa, Rakesh Tiwari, Keykavous Parang

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

We have previously evaluated and reported numerous classes of linear and cyclic peptides containing hydrophobic and hydrophilic segments for intracellular delivery of multiple molecular cargos. Herein, a combination of histidine and tryptophan amino acids were designed and evaluated for their efficiency in intracellular delivery of cell-impermeable phosphopeptides and the anti-HIV drug, emtricitabine. Two new decapeptides, with linear and cyclic natures, both containing alternate tryptophan and histidine residues, were synthesized using Fmoc/tBu solid-phase chemistry. The peptides were characterized and purified by using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) spectroscopy and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), respectively. These peptides did not show significant toxicity up …

Investigation Of Molluscan Survivorship Across The Cenomanian-Turonian Boundary Event Using Ecological Niche Modeling, Agathe E. Carrier

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

In the beginning of the Late Cretaceous, the Western Interior Seaway experienced the effects of a global ocean anoxic event (OAE2, or the Bonarelli Event) across the Cenomanian-Turonian (C/T) boundary (~94 Ma). This event resulted in major environmental and biological disturbances creating significant biotic turnover, with recent research suggesting near mass extinction levels in some clades. In this study we utilize a paleobiological application of a modern ecological modeling technique (PaleoENM), to test whether changes in species’ survivorship and distribution patterns across this event relate to changes in their predicted suitable habitat area and abiotic niche dimensions.

Results suggest that …

A Model Of Motor And Sensory Axon Activation In The Median Nerve Using Surface Electrical Stimulation, Jessica L. Gaines, Kathleen E. Finn, Julia P. Slopsema, Lane A. Heyboer, Katharine H. Polasek

Faculty Publications

Surface electrical stimulation has the potential to be a powerful and non-invasive treatment for a variety of medical conditions but currently it is difficult to obtain consistent evoked responses. A viable clinical system must be able to adapt to variations in individuals to produce repeatable results. To more fully study the effect of these variations without performing exhaustive testing on human subjects, a system of computer models was created to predict motor and sensory axon activation in the median nerve due to surface electrical stimulation at the elbow. An anatomically-based finite element model of the arm was built to accurately …

Biomarkers Of Orthodontic Tooth Movement With Fixed Appliances And Vibration Appliance Therapy: A Randomized Clinical Trial, Stacey M. Reiss

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Susceptibility Of Field-Collected Pupations Of The Corn Earworm, Helicoverpa Zea (Boddie) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) From Three Southern States Of The U.S. To Cry1a.105 And Cry2ab2 Proteins, Gagandeep Kaur

LSU Master's Theses

The corn earworm (CEW), Helicoverpa zea (Boddie) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), is a major target pest of pyramided Bt corn and Bt cotton in the U.S. In 2016 and 2017, notable corn ear damage and larval survival of CEW were observed on pyramided Cry1A.105/Cry2Ab2 corn in some fields in northeast Louisiana. The objectives of this study were 1) to determine if the ear damage and larval survival observed in the area were due to resistance development to the Bt proteins in the plants, and 2) if resistance had occurred, to determine the approximate distributions of the resistance in the southern region of …

When Does Less Equal More? Assessing The Mechanisms Driving Compensatory Mortality And The Hydra Effect, Joseph T. Neale

Theses and Dissertations

Many populations across taxa are regulated by negative density-dependence, wherein increased population sizes lead to decreased birth rates and/or increased mortality. By releasing such populations from some level of these density-dependent effects, extrinsic mortality can lead to counter-intuitive results, such as no change in population size (compensation), or an increase in population size (overcompensation). These results have been documented experimentally, but there currently exists a dearth of empirical studies exploring the mechanisms behind the phenomenon. We tested the relationship between extrinsic mortality level and (over)compensation in four mosquito species – Aedes aegypti, A. albopictus, A. triseriatus, and Culex pipiens – …

Decision Support For Control Of Salt And Methylmercury Export From Managed Seasonal Wetlands, Nigel Wt Quinn Phd, P.E., D.Wre, Stefanie Helmrich, Joel Herr, Katie Van Werkhoven

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

Monomethylmercury (MeHg) is a toxic mercuric compound that, even at very low concentrations, can lead to mercury (Hg) bioaccumulation within the aquatic food web and cause high levels of MeHg contamination in fish and humans. The behavior of Hg in the environment depends on numerous chemical, physical, and biological factors that vary in time and space driven by biogeochemical and hydrodynamic processes. Managed seasonal wetlands are a major source of both MeHg and salinity to the Sacramento – San Joaquin Delta which discharges into San Francisco Bay and is the source of drinking water for 2/3 of California’s citizens. Whereas …

Daycent Assessment Under Multiple Treatment-Measurement Scenarios In Bioenergy Sorghum Production, Yong Wang, Fugen Dou, Stephen Del Grosso, Keith Paustian, Robert Anex, Frank Hons

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

Intermediate complexity biogeochemical models are usually composed of several sub-models which are interrelated. Model assessment using a single treatment or measurement may not be adequate to fully examine the correctness of model mechanisms and has the risk of over-parameterization. In order to evaluate the simultaneous performance of all sub-models in DAYCENT, the model was parameterized using field measurements of soil temperature and water, aboveground biomass carbon (C), soil organic C (SOC), and carbon dioxide (CO₂),and nitrous oxide (N₂O) emissions from an 8-year field trial of bioenergy (biomass) sorghum with treatments of residue return, nitrogen (N) fertilization, …

When Brother Becomes Other: Communitas And Conflict Along The Camino De Santiago, Megan E. Havard

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

It is widely believed, both by scholars and practitioners of pilgrimage, that during the rite most if not all pilgrims experience communitas - a sense of community, of mutual understanding and acceptance of their fellow ritual initiates that is unfettered by traditional social structures or markers of difference. Nevertheless, evidence indicates that conflict also regularly arises among pilgrims, even as they navigate the same liminoid space in pursuit of a common goal. Pilgrims may experience conflict with one another due to differences in personality, divergent cultural backgrounds, the perception of scarcity of resources, the intrinsic stress of transformation, or myriad …