Digital Commons Network^™

Using Ai And Machine Learning To Indicate Shale Anisotropy And Assist In Completions Design, Cole E. Palmer

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Operating companies in the unconventional Marcellus shale play have all faced a similar and problematic issue, while attempting to produce natural gas over the last decade. Companies have quickly realized that not every perforation along their horizontal wells are producing gas. In fact, producing perforations are only ranging from 15%-70% of the total perforations along the horizontal wellbore [1]. This unexplained issue results in millions of dollars in lost revenue per well, in addition to the sunk cost of paying for completions that are not actually yielding any produced gas.

What is causing these perforations to have no produced gas? …

Energy Forensics Analysis, Rupa Das

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The energy consumed by a building can reveal information about the occupants and their activities inside the building. This could be utilized by industries and law enforcement agencies for commercial or legal purposes. Utility data from Smart Meter (SM) readings can reveal detailed information that could be mapped to foretell resident occupancy and type of appliance usage over desired time intervals. However, obtaining SM data in the United States is laborious and subjected to legal and procedural constraints. This research develops a user-driven simulation tool with realistic data options and assumptions of potential human behavior to determine energy usage patterns …

The Impact Of The Global Financial Crisis On Visitation To The Monongahela National Forest: An Activity-Based Segmentation Approach, Connor Braxton Akers

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Research on recreational use market segments and trends are essential for determining how tourism businesses can better meet the needs of their customers and find new target markets especially during challenging times. The purpose of this study is to determine how recreation participation has changed over five years on the Monongahela National Forest following the world financial crisis in 2008. Data used for this research were collected with the National Visitor Use Monitoring (NVUM) surveys in fiscal years 2009 and 2014. NVUM surveys are onsite interviews conducted at the end of a visit. The surveys produce descriptive information about visitors. …

Pulmonary Immune Responses To Respirable Elongate Mineral Particles Of Asbestiform And Non-Asbestiform Morphologies, Timur Khaliullin

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Inhalation exposure to asbestiform elongate mineral particles (EMPs) may cause pulmonary fibrosis, lung and pleural cancer. At the same time, epidemiological evidence for non-asbestiform EMP pathogenicity is scarce, with little if any risk of cancer, but consistent findings of pneumoconiosis and increased mortality. Globally, conditions caused by asbestos exposures contribute most to the occupational cancer burden and are responsible for the increasing mortality for occupational respiratory diseases. Immunological components of the fiber-induced lesions are extremely understudied, partly due to the lack of comparable test articles. In this study I utilized respirable preparations of asbestiform and non-asbestiform riebeckite and tremolite to …

Understanding The Host Immune Response Against Pseudomonas Aeruginosa To Develop Novel Therapeutics And Vaccines, Emel Sen Kilic

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a Gram-negative opportunistic bacterium that causes a broad range of acute and chronic infections. The high adaptability and emergence of multidrug-resistant strains of this bacterium pose a significant threat to human health. Particularly, pneumonia caused by this pathogen is associated with high morbidity and mortality in immunocompromised patients. To prevent these infections, we aimed to develop novel vaccine strategies by characterizing the host immune response against P. aeruginosa. During respiratory infections, P. aeruginosa first contacts with epithelial cells along the respiratory tract. Using RNA-sequencing, we were able to characterize transcriptional changes of the epithelial cells in …

Development, Analysis And Case Studies Of Impact Resistant Steel Sets For Underground Roof Fall Rehabilitation, Dakota D. Faulkner

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Underground mines often experience roof falls in entries, crosscuts, and intersections of active mining sections, main travel ways, and belt entries. Roof fall heights greater than 20 ft (6 m) make re-bolting of the newly exposed roof dangerous and impractical. To protect mine personnel, belts, moving vehicles, and other equipment, mine operators typically install steel structures such as square or arch sets in the roof fall areas. Wood lagging is usually installed between the steel-sets to enclose the area and protect the entry from recurring falls. Usually the void space above the steel-sets and wood lagging is backfilled. However, backfilling …

Development And Implementation Of A Novel Voltage-Free Interface For Capillary Electrophoresis-Mass Spectrometry Separations Of Proteins, Courtney J. Kristoff

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Capillary electrophoresis-mass spectrometry is a powerful technique for high-throughput and high efficiency separations combined with structural identification. Electrospray ionization is the primary interface used to couple capillary electrophoresis to mass analyzers; however, improved designs continue to be reported. A new interfacing method based on vibrating sharp-edge spray ionization is presented in this work to overcome the challenges of decoupling applied voltages and to enhance the compatibility with separations performed at near-neutral pH. The versatility and ease of use of this ionization source is demonstrated using β-blockers, peptides, and proteins. The cationic β-blocker pindolol was injected electrokinetically and detected at concentrations …

Chlordiazepoxide Increases Risky Choice, Devin Andrew Galdieri

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Probability discounting is a measure of risky choice that is correlated with maladaptive behavior and psychological disorders. Benzodiazepines are a class of drug on which relatively little risky-choice research has been conducted, particularly under conditions of chronic drug exposure. Chlordiazepoxide, a standard benzodiazepine, was administered to rats that had been trained to respond on a risky-choice task in which a choice was available between a single food pellet with 100% certainty or three food pellets with probabilities of delivery that decreased across each experimental session. During baseline, responding was sensitive to the programmed contingencies and larger-reinforcer choice decreased as the …

Microbial Responses To Unconventional Oil And Gas Development May Alter Ecosystem Function In Headwater Streams, Rachel Michaels

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The demand for natural gas, and the need for efficient extraction, has led to the development of unconventional oil and natural gas (UOG) techniques. Due to the novelty of UOG, the potential impacts to freshwater ecosystems are not fully understood. We used a dual pronged approach to study the effects of UOG development on microbial biodiversity and function via a laboratory microcosm experiment and a survey study of streams with and without UOG development within their watersheds. The laboratory microcosm study simulated stream contamination with produced water, a byproduct of UOG operation, using sediment collected from one high water-quality stream …

Assessment Of Unmanned Aerial Systems And Lidar For The Utility Vegetation Management Of Electrical Distribution Rights-Of-Ways, Matthew R. Walker

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Utility Vegetation Management (UVM) is often the largest maintenance expense for many utilities. However, with advances in Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS; or more commonly, “drones”) and lidar technologies, vegetation managers may be able to more rapidly and accurately identify vegetation threats to critical infrastructures. The goal of this study was to assess the utility of Geodetics’ UAS-lidar system for vegetation threat assessment for 1.6 km of a distribution electric circuit. We investigated factors which contribute to accurate tree crown detection and segmentation of trees from within an UAS-lidar derived point cloud, and the factors which contribute to accurate tree risk …

Improving The Biological Control Of Persicaria Perfoliata (Polygonaceae) Using Rhinoncomimus Latipes Korotyaev (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), Jaewon Kim

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Persicaria perfoliata (L.) H. Gross (Polygonaceae; Mile-a-minute weed) is a rapid-growing invasive vine introduced from eastern Asia to northeastern United States in the 1930s. This vine has been invaded in disturbed areas and reforestation sites in 15 states in the U.S. and forms dense, monocultural patches that may inhibit natural forest regeneration. To control this weed, a host-specific biocontrol agent, Rhinoncomimus latipes Korotyaev (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) has been released in the P. perfoliata invaded states in the U.S. during the past 15 years. Currently, R. latipes is released by hand to the invaded area where the presence of the weed is …

Individual Differences In Social Decision-Making Preferences, Kelly R. Smith

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Most research on decision making to date has focused primarily on the individual decision maker and has not looked at social aspects of decision making. A review of decision making in older adults indicated that older adults rate their own decision-making competence as worse than younger adults, even though not all facets of decision making decline with age (Strough, Bruine de Bruin, & Peters, 2015). Because of social roles that contribute to gender differences, women are theorized to be more interpersonally-oriented than men, suggesting that they may prefer to make decisions with others (Eagly, 1983). As population age continues to …

Evaluation Of Fitts’ Throughput As A Possible Performance Measure For Manual Assembly Tasks, Pradyumna Bettagere Jagadish

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Assembly lines are the backbone of the manufacturing sector. Workers at the assembly lines are expected to perform fast pace hand-arm exertions with precision and accuracy. To protect the workers from injuries, OSHA mandates the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) including gloves. Certain assembly operations require the use of special gloves. Some of these gloves can inhibit hand performance, further increasing the task difficulty. The Index of Difficulty (ID) is a metric measured in ‘bits’ quantifies task difficulty through the quotient of target width and target motion, i.e., distance travelled. The time required to complete the target motion is …

Development Of Software-Only Simulation Test Beds (Sost) For Spacecraft And Smallsats, Scott Alan Zemerick

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Software-only-Simulation Test Beds (SoST) are beginning to become more popular among aircraft, spacecraft, and smallsat embedded system developers due to the high cost of duplicating hardware test beds.

SoSTs provide a software-only, or virtual test bed, that creates a “digital twin” that contains software models of the ETUs and often includes modeled components such as flight computers, busses (e.g., MIL-STD-1553, SPI, I2C), compact PCI (cPCI) backplane cards, sensors, and actuators. The ultimate goal of a SoST is for it to run the native system software compiled-binary on its native CPU architecture (e.g., PowerPC, LEON3/4, ARM) on a standard X86 personal …

Trial By Fire: Gaming And Badging In An Fye Program, Wendy G. Pothier, Kathrine C. Aydelott, Benjamin Peck

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Where Is The Policy? A Bibliometric Analysis Of The State Of Policy Research On Medical Tourism., Altaf Virani, Adam Wellstead, Michael Howlett

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

Background: It is imperative that researchers studying medical tourism connect their work with policy, so that its real-world challenges can be better understood, and more effectively addressed. This article gauges the scope and evolution of

Methods: A Boolean search of the Web of Science (WoS) Core Collection was performed to identify policy-related publications on medical tourism. We analyzed the results using bibliometrics and a data visualization software called

Results: Our findings suggest that only a small proportion of medical tourism research explicitly addresses policy issues or applies policy paradigms in their study approach. Field-specialized journals serving practitioners publish less research …

Surviving Mathematics, Nathalie M. Luna

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

In this essay written in an informal voice, the author shares the ups and downs of her experience in academia. She shares her motivation to study mathematics, her undergraduate experience in Puerto Rico, and her graduate experience in South Texas.

High Tunnels Extend The Growing Season In Warm Season Crops Tomato, Cucumber And Bell Pepper, Kyla Louise Splichal

Plant Sciences

High tunnels are used to modify the crop environment by trapping solar energy, providing protection from unfavorable weather events, and extending the growing season in temperate regions. This project assessed yield and quality in three independent cultivar trials of warm-season crops tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.), bell pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) and cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) grown under high tunnel production compared with an outdoor field in eastern and western North Dakota. Tomato yields in the high tunnel were increased by 1.4 times over the field trial yields. Yields from the pepper cultivar trials both inside the high tunnel and outside …

Managing Soybean Cyst Nematode By Utilizing Cover Crops And Resistant Sources From Early Maturing Soybean Accessions, Krishna Acharya

Plant Sciences

Greenhouse and microplot studies were conducted for understanding the effects of cover crop species/cultivars for hosts and population reduction of soybean cyst nematode (SCN; Heterodera glycines) from the fields of North Dakota. Moreover, early-maturing soybean [Glycine max (L.)] accessions from different countries of origin were screened for resistance against two common SCN populations for finding new sources of resistance. Thirty-eight cover crop species/cultivars were evaluated for their hosting ability of two SCN populations (SCN103 and SCN2W) from two fields of North Dakota in greenhouse experiments. The majority of the tested crops were non-hosts for both SCN populations. However, a few …

Combining Cover Crops, Strip Tillage, And Novel Mulches To Manage Weeds In Vegetable Cropping Systems, Jesse Jor-El Puka-Beals

Plant Sciences

Vegetable producers may benefit from integrating living mulches into their operations to manage weeds and improve soil quality. Living mulches, however, can reduce vegetable yield through competition. Here we investigate strip tilling into living mulches and then direct seeding a vegetable crop in the strip till zone as a production practice to limit competition. We further investigate the use of two surface-applied mulches, a newsprint hydromulch and a compost blanket, for weed control within the strip till zone. In field conditions, living mulches reduced vegetable yield by 49-84% and the use of the newsprint hydromulch and compost blanket reduced weed …

Factors Affecting Establishment And Growth Of Cover Crops In A Corn-Soybean Rotation, Mattie Bree Schmitt

Plant Sciences

In the Midwest, it can be beneficial to interseed cover crops into corn (Zea mays L.) since there is a limited time for them to establish and grow after corn harvest. Research conducted in four environments in North Dakota quantified the impacts of planting method and time of planting when grown with or without corn competition on the establishment, and development of three cover crop species. Limited light intensity (less than 20%) under the corn canopy drastically reduced cover crop development. Soil water can also constrain cover crop establishment. Model simulations suggest soil water is more limiting for cover crop …

Debranning Affects Durum Wheat Milling Properties And Semolina Quality, Delgersaikhan Shinezorigt

Plant Sciences

Wheat can undergo debranning before milling. Debranning involves the removal of the outer bran layer from wheat kernels by friction and abrasion forces. This research was conducted to determine the effect of durum cultivar and debranning time on milling extraction and semolina and pasta quality. Four cultivars of durum wheat were debranned for 0, 1, 3 and 5 minutes and milled on a Bühler 202 MLU laboratory mill. Cultivars differed in the amount of bran removed at a given debranning time. Debranning for 3 min removed 8% of outer layer which resulted in 69% increase in mill throughput and 35% …

Comparative Study On Hulled Wheats Kernel, Flour, Dough Quality And Dietary Fiber Variation, Jayani Chathurika Sandarani Maddakandage Dona

Plant Sciences

This study was conducted to evaluate the kernel, flour and dough qualities and dietary fiber content of hulled wheats. Experimental design was separate randomized complete block designs for hulled wheat species with four field replicates. According to the results, significant differences (p<0.05) were observed in kernel quality, flour, and dough quality compared to common bread wheat. Einkorn and spelt reported significantly lower insoluble dietary fiber and total dietary fiber content, in contrast emmer had contents with both higher and lower genotypes. Interestingly, few genotypes of hulled wheat had a higher content of low molecular weight soluble dietary fibers (LMW-SDF) such as fructo and galacto oligosaccharides. Overall, hulled wheats differed from modern bread wheat in their kernel, flour, baking and nutritional quality. Moreover, due to higher LMW-SDF content, hulled wheats would be a potential candidate for breeding and producing health beneficial novel food products.

Black Bean Milling And Flour Functionality, Hettige Supun Sandaru Fernando

Plant Sciences

Dry bean utilization by the food industry can be increased by developing value-added processing applications. The goals of this research were to evaluate (1) the effect of milling method on the physical, chemical and functional properties of whole black bean flour and its fractions and (2) the effect of removing soluble phenolic compounds on the functional and rheological properties of black bean protein isolates. Black bean was milled with five laboratory mills [cyclone mill, hammer mill, stone mill (fine, medium, coarse), disc mill (fine, coarse), and centrifugal mill (10,000 or 12,000 rpm and 250, 500, 1000 μm aperture screen)] and …

Functional Bioactive Compounds From Sweet Potatoes For Human Health Benefits, Pradeepika Chintha

Plant Sciences

Global food and nutritional insecurities, public health challenges of diet-linked non-communicable chronic diseases (NCDs), and rapid climate change-linked agricultural production challenges are interconnected and require urgent attention. Therefore, to address these complex and interconnected challenges, it is essential to advance robust and resilient strategies based on sustainable agricultural production practices, wider integration of nutritionally-balanced plant-based foods in the diet, improvement of human health-targeted nutritional qualities, post-harvest preservation qualities and food processing optimization. Therefore, food plants that are climate resilient and rich source of human health protective nutritional bioactives, such as sweet potato are ideal dietary targets for advancing global food …

Prospective Molecular Profiling Of Circulating Tumor Cells From Patients With Melanoma Receiving Combinatorial Immunotherapy., Selena Y Lin, Shu-Ching Chang, Stella Lam, Romela Irene Ramos, Kevin Tran, Shuichi Ohe, Matthew P Salomon, Ali Asgar S Bhagat, Chwee Teck Lim, Trevan D Fischer, Leland J Foshag, Christine L Boley, Steven J O'Day, Dave Hoon

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

BACKGROUND: Blood molecular profiling of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) can enable monitoring of patients with metastatic melanoma during checkpoint inhibitor immunotherapy (CII) and in combination with targeted therapies. We developed a microfluidics-based CTC platform to explore CTC profiling utility in CII-treated patients with melanoma using a melanoma messenger RNA (mRNA)/DNA biomarker panel.

METHODS: Blood samples (n = 213) were collected prospectively from 75 American Joint Committee on Cancer-staged III/IV melanoma patients during CII treatment and those enriched for CTCs. CTC profiling was performed using 5 known melanoma mRNA biomarkers and BRAF V600E DNA mutation. CTC biomarker status associations with clinical …

Cerebellar-Cortical Function And Connectivity During Sensorimotor Behavior In Aging Fmr1 Gene Premutation Carriers., Walker S Mckinney, James Bartolotti, Pravin Khemani, Jun Yi Wang, Randi J Hagerman, Matthew W Mosconi

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

INTRODUCTION: Premutation carriers of the FMR1 gene are at risk of developing fragile X-associated tremor/ataxia syndrome (FXTAS), a neurodegenerative disease characterized by motor, cognitive, and psychiatric decline as well as cerebellar and cerebral white matter pathology. Several studies have documented preclinical sensorimotor issues in aging premutation carriers, but the extent to which sensorimotor brain systems are affected and may represent early indicators of atypical neurodegeneration has not been determined.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Eighteen healthy controls and 16 FMR1 premutation carriers (including five with possible, probable, or definite FXTAS) group-matched on age, sex, and handedness completed a visually guided precision gripping …

Relative Maturity And Row Spacing Effect On Establishment Of Interseeded Cover Crops Into Soybean, Kory Lee Johnson

Plant Sciences

Low adoption to cover crops in the northern Plains is due to limited soil water for stand establishment, short growing season, and few adapted winter-hardy species. Studies were conducted to evaluate the impact of interseeded winter camelina [Camelina sativa (L.) Crantz] and winter rye (Secale cereale L.) using different soybean relative maturities, planting date, and row spacing on cover crop biomass, canopy coverage, plant density, soybean yield, and wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) yield the following year. Early-maturing soybean cultivars, produced increased cover crop biomass and canopy coverage, with winter rye outperforming winter camelina. Row spacing showed no effect on cover …

Cri Iatlas: An Interactive Portal For Immuno-Oncology Research., James A Eddy, Vésteinn Thorsson, Andrew E Lamb, David L Gibbs, Carolina Heimann, Jia Xin Yu, Verena Chung, Yooree Chae, Kristen Dang, Benjamin G Vincent, Ilya Shmulevich, Justin Guinney

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

The Cancer Research Institute (CRI) iAtlas is an interactive web platform for data exploration and discovery in the context of tumors and their interactions with the immune microenvironment. iAtlas allows researchers to study immune response characterizations and patterns for individual tumor types, tumor subtypes, and immune subtypes. iAtlas supports computation and visualization of correlations and statistics among features related to the tumor microenvironment, cell composition, immune expression signatures, tumor mutation burden, cancer driver mutations, adaptive cell clonality, patient survival, expression of key immunomodulators, and tumor infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) spatial maps. iAtlas was launched to accompany the release of the TCGA …

Persistent Reduction In The Age Adjusted Mortality Rate From Aortic Valve Surgery In The United State With Elimination Of Gender Gap In Recent Years., Mohammad Reza Movahed, Sara Etemad, Mehrnoosh Hashemzadeh, Mehrtash Hashemzadeh

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

BACKGROUND: Advancement in the surgical techniques should translate into better outcome. The goal of this study was to evaluate mortality trends from aortic valve surgery in the United State using large inpatient database.

METHOD: The Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) database was used to calculate the age-adjusted mortality rate from aortic valve surgery from 1988 to 2011 in the United State using ICD-9 coding for aortic valve surgery.

RESULTS: We found that age adjusted mortality rate from aortic valve surgery gradually decreased from 1988 until end of study in 2011 to the lowest level with elimination of gender gap that was …