Digital Commons Network^™

Effect Of Hydraulic Resistivity On A Weakly Nonlinear Thermal Flow In A Porous Layer, Dambaru Bhatta, Daniel N. Riahi

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

Heat and mass transfer through porous media has been a topic of research interest because of its importance in various applications. The flow system in porous media is modelled by a set of partial differential equations. The momentum equation which is derived from Darcy’s law contains a resistivity parameter. We investigate the effect of hydraulic resistivity on a weakly nonlinear thermal flow in a horizontal porous layer. The present study is a realistic study of nonlinear convection flow with variable resistivity whose rate of variation is arbitrary in general. This is a first step for considering more general problems in …

Sex And Age Differences In Prevalence And Risk Factors For Prediabetes In Mexican-Americans, Kristina Vatcheva, Belinda M. Reininger, Susan P. Fisher-Hoch, Joseph B. Mccormick

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

AIMS:

Over 1/3 of Americans have prediabetes, while 9.4% have type 2 diabetes. The aim of our study was to estimate the prevalence of prediabetes in Mexican Americans, with known 28.2% prevalence of type 2 diabetes, by age and sex and to identify critical socio-demographic and clinical factors associated with prediabetes.

METHODS:

Data were collected between 2004 and 2017 from the Cameron County Hispanic Cohort in Texas. Weighted crude and sex- and age- stratified prevalences were calculated. Survey weighted logistic regression analyses were conducted to identify risk factors for prediabetes.

RESULTS:

The prevalence of prediabetes (32%) was slightly higher than …

Screening Potential Citrus Rootstocks For Phytophthora Nicotianae Tolerance, Madhurababu Kunta, Sandy Chavez, Zenaida Viloria, Hilda S. Del Rio, Madhavi Devanaboina, George Yanev, Jong-Won Park, Eliezer S. Louzada

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

Seeds from four citrus rootstocks including sour orange, Bitters-C22 citrandarin, Sarawak pummelo 3 Rio Red grapefruit, and Sarawak pummelo 3Bower mandarin were exposed to high inoculum levels of Phytophthora nicotianae to screen for tolerance. Inoculation of pregerminated seeds (PGIS) and non-PGIS was carried out. The average P. nicotianae propagule counts from the soil samples where these seedlings were raised ranged from 424 to 1361 colony forming units/cm3. The proportion of live to dead plants was recorded at 11months postinoculation, which showed that Sarawak3Bower performed significantly better than other rootstocks. Evaluation of the rootstocks 18 months postinoculation resulted in only one …

On Cohen-Macaulay Hopf Monoids In Species, Jacob A. White

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

We study Cohen-Macaulay Hopf monoids in the category of species. The goal is to apply techniques from topological combinatorics to the study of polynomial invariants arising from combinatorial Hopf algebras. Given a polynomial invariant arising from a linearized Hopf monoid, we show that under certain conditions it is the Hilbert polynomial of a relative simplicial complex. If the Hopf monoid is Cohen- Macaulay, we give necessary and sufficient conditions for the corresponding relative simplicial complex to be relatively Cohen-Macaulay, which implies that the polynomial has a nonnegative h-vector. We apply our results to the weak and strong chromatic polynomials of …

Stability Of Anisotropic Parabolic Equations Without Boundary Conditions, Huashui Zhan, Zhaosheng Feng

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Quantization Of The Standard Triadic Cantor Distribution, Mrinal Kanti Roychowdhury

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

The quantization scheme in probability theory deals with finding a best approximation of a given probability distribution by a probability distribution that is supported on finitely many points. For a given k ≥ 2, let {Sj : 1 ≤ j ≤ k} be a set of k contractive similarity mappings such that Sj(x) = 1 2k−1x + 2(j−1) 2k−1 for all x ∈ R, and let P = 1 k Pk j=1 P ◦ S−1 j . Then, P is a unique Borel probability measure on R such that P has support the Cantor set generated by the similarity mappings …

On The Voronoi Conjecture For Combinatorially Voronoi Parallelohedra In Dimension 5, Mathieu Dutour Sikiric, Alexey Garber, Alexander Magazinov

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

In a recent paper, Garber, Gavrilyuk, and Magazinov [Discrete Comput. Geom., 53 (2015), pp. 245--260] proposed a sufficient combinatorial condition for a parallelohedron to be affinely Voronoi. We show that this condition holds for all 5-dimensional Voronoi parallelohedra. Consequently, the Voronoi conjecture in $\mathbb{R}^5$ holds if and only if every 5-dimensional parallelohedron is combinatorially Voronoi. Here, by saying that a parallelohedron $P$ is combinatorially Voronoi, we mean that $P$ is combinatorially equivalent to a Dirichlet--Voronoi polytope for some lattice $\Lambda$, and this combinatorial equivalence is naturally translated into equivalence of the tiling by copies of $P$ with …

Cartan’S Approach To Second Order Ordinary Differential Equations, Paul Bracken

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

In his work on projective connections, Cartan discusses his theory of second order differential equations. It is the aim here to look at how a normal projective connection can be constructed and how it relates to the geometry of a single second order differential equation. The calculations are presented in some detail in order to highlight the use of gauge conditions

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.

Topological Pressure And Fractal Dimensions Of Cookie-Cutter-Like Sets, Mrinal Kanti Roychowdhury

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

The cookie-cutter-like set is defined as the limit set of a sequence of classical cookie-cutter mappings. For this cookie-cutter set it is shown that the topological pressure function exists, and that the fractal dimensions such as the Hausdorff dimension, the packing dimension and the box-counting dimension are all equal to the unique zero h of the pressure function. Moreover, it is shown that the h-dimensional Hausdorff measure and the h-dimensional packing measure are finite and positive.

Hiv-Associated Neurocognitive Disorder (Hand) Biomarker Identification: Significance Analysis Of Microarrays And Two Persuasive Approaches With Random Forest, Hansapani Rodrigo, Bryan Martinez, Roberto De La Garza, Upal Roy

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

Background: HIV Associated Neurological Disorders (HAND) is relatively common among people with HIV-1 infection, even those taking combined antiretroviral treatment (cART). Genome-wide screening of transcription regulation in brain tissue helps in identifying substantial abnormalities present in patients’ gene transcripts and to discover possible biomarkers for HAND. This study explores the possibility of identifying differentially expressed (DE) genes, which can serve as potential biomarkers to detect HAND. In this study, we have investigated the gene expression levels of three subject groups with different impairment levels of HAND along with a control group in three distinct brain sectors: white matter, frontal cortex, …

2020 Viewbook, Office Of Admissions

Viewbook

IMSA fosters the discoverers. The thinkers. The problem-solvers of the future who can change the world. Our mission is to ignite and nurture creative, ethical, scientific minds that advance the human condition. We are a diverse community that promotes curiosity and exploration. We’re about more than great college prospects and great jobs, we’re about making our families proud. We’re about a better world for everyone through immersive learning experiences.

In 2017, we adopted the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a call to action that commissions us all to make the right choices now to improve life for …

College, At What Cost? African American/Black Women Undergraduate Students’ Perception Of Institutional Policy Levers, Tamara D. White

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study is exploring how institutional policy levers impact retention for African American/Black women undergraduate students at a private four-year predominantly white institution in a mid-western state of the United States. Retention of African American/Black women undergraduate students is not a widely researched area. In this exploratory case study, eight African American/Black undergraduate junior and senior women, ten administrators and one focus group of six African American/Black women were interviewed. Artifacts were collected from the administrators. The data collected was analyzed using the culturally engaging campus environment model. The experiences of the African American/Black undergraduate women were examined in academic …

Can Algorithms Promote Fair Use?, Peter K. Yu

FIU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Access Foundation Student Progression At Technological University Dublin: A Quantitative Study, Annette Forster, Fiona Faulkner, Mark Prendergast

Irish Journal of Academic Practice

Despite a global expansion of higher education in the twentieth century, inequalities in terms of student demographic still remain. The number of mature students (students aged 23 years and over) and students from lower socio-economic backgrounds in full-time higher education in the Republic of Ireland remains low. In order to address this issue, Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) offered a one-year Access Foundation programme providing a route to higher education for mature students and young adults (students less than 23 years) from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. This study examines the factors affecting the progression of students on this programme to undergraduate …

New Technologies And New Spaces: Opportunities For Innovative Educational Environments, Gene Carolan, Cathal Curran, Alan Mccormack

Irish Journal of Academic Practice

Both the National Strategy for Higher Education to 2030 and the EU Commission's Report on the Modernisation of Higher Education emphasized the need for high-quality learning environments that are driven by state-of-the-art physical spaces and e-learning platforms. TU Dublin’s impending move to a new consciously designed campus at Grangegorman, and its adoption of the new virtual learning environment, Brightspace, are reflective of these trends. In anticipation of these developments, this paper explores how Brightspace might be integrated into the novel learning spaces created by TU Dublin’s migration to the Grangegorman Campus. The migration presents an excellent opportunity for students and …

Stem Or Steam?: The Critical Role Of Arts In Technology Education (And The Critical Role Of Art In Technology), Etain Watson

Irish Journal of Academic Practice

This paper outlines the interdependency between arts and technology, and explains the absolute necessity of keeping them together in our education systems. While arts and humanities can be successfully taught without technology, technology greatly enhances learning, and more technology is connected to arts in some way than any other use. According to PwC Chief Executive Luke Sayers, science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) are the solution to our workforce and growth challenge. Deckers suggests that all the levels of Maslow’s Hierarchy exist in order to get us to the highest level where decisions are made according to aesthetics. Both STEM …

Sampling Device-Dependence Of Prokaryotic Community Structure On Marine Particles: Higher Diversity Recovered By In Situ Pumps Than By Oceanographic Bottles, Viena Puigcorbe, Clara Ruiz-Gonzalez, Pere Masque´, Josep M. Gasol

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Microbes associated with sinking marine particles play key roles in carbon sequestration in the ocean. The sampling of particle-attached microorganisms is often done with sediment traps or by filtration of water collected with oceanographic bottles, both involving a certain time lapse between collection and processing of samples that may result in changes in particle-attached microbial communities. Conversely, in situ water filtration through submersible pumps allows a faster storage of sampled particles, but it has rarely been used to study the associated microbial communities and has never been compared to other particle-sampling methods in terms of the recovery of particle microbial …

Pedogenic Processes In A Posidonia Oceanica Mat, Nerea Pineiro-Juncal, Carmen Leiva-Duenas, Oscar Serrano, Miguel Angel Mateo, Antonio Martinez-Cortizas

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Scientists studying seagrasses typically refer to their substratum as sediment, but recently researchers have begun to refer to it as a soil. However, the logistics of sampling underwater substrata and the fragility of these ecosystems challenge their study using pedological methods. Previous studies have reported geochemical processes within the rhizosphere that are compatible with pedogenesis. Seagrass substratum accumulated over the Recent Holocene and can reach several meters in thickness, but studies about deeper layers are scarce. This study is a first attempt to find sound evidence of vertical structuring in Posidonia oceanica deposits to serve as a basis for more …

Navigating Coasts Of Concrete: Pervasive Use Of Artificial Habitats By Shorebirds In The Asia-Pacific, Micha V. Jackson, Chi-Yeung Choi, Tatsuya Amano, Sora M. Estrella, Weipan Lei, Nial Moores, Taej Mundkur, Danny I. Rogers, Richard A. Fuller

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Loss and degradation of wetlands has occurred worldwide, impacting ecosystems and contributing to the decline of waterbirds, including shorebirds that occur along the heavily developed coasts of the East Asian-Australasian Flyway (EAAF). Artificial (i.e. human-made) wetlands are pervasive in the EAAF and known to be used by shorebirds, but this phenomenon has not been systematically reviewed. We collated data and expert knowledge to understand the extent and intensity of shorebird use of coastal artificial habitats along the EAAF. We found records of 83 species, including all regularly occurring coastal migratory shorebirds, across 176 artificial sites with eight different land uses. …

Reservoir And Lithofacies Shale Classification Based On Nmr Logging, Hongyan Yu, Zhenliang Wang, Fenggang Wen, Reza Rezaee, Maxim Lebedev, Xiaolong Li, Yihuai Zhang, Stefan Iglauer

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

© 2020 Chinese Petroleum Society Shale gas reservoirs have fine-grained textures and high organic contents, leading to complex pore structures. Therefore, accurate well-log derived pore size distributions are difficult to acquire for this unconventional reservoir type, despite their importance. However, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) logging can in principle provide such information via hydrogen relaxation time measurements. Thus, in this paper, NMR response curves (of shale samples) were rigorously mathematically analyzed (with an Expectation Maximization algorithm) and categorized based on the NMR data and their geology, respectively. Thus the number of the NMR peaks, their relaxation times and amplitudes were analyzed …

Trade-Off Assessments Between Reading Cost And Accuracy Measures For Digital Camera Monitoring Of Recreational Boating Effort, Ebenezer Afrifa-Yamoah, Stephen M. Taylor, Ute Mueller

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Digital camera monitoring is increasingly being used to monitor recreational fisheries. The manual interpretation of video imagery can be costly and time consuming. In an a posteriori analysis, we investigated trade-offs between the reading cost and accuracy measures of estimates of boat retrievals obtained at various sampling proportions for low, moderate and high traffic boat ramps in Western Australia. Simple random sampling, systematic sampling and stratified sampling designs with proportional and weighted allocation were evaluated to assess trade-offs in terms of bias, accuracy, precision, coverage rate and cost in estimating the annual total number of powerboat retrievals in 10,000 jackknife …

Sam-Sos: A Stochastic Software Architecture Modeling And Verification Approach For Complex System-Of-Systems, Ahmad Mohsin, Naeem Khalid Janjua, Syed M. S. Islam, Muhammad Ali Babar

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

A System-of-Systems (SoS) is a complex, dynamic system whose Constituent Systems (CSs) are not known precisely at design time, and the environment in which they operate is uncertain. SoS behavior is unpredictable due to underlying architectural characteristics such as autonomy and independence. Although the stochastic composition of CSs is vital to achieving SoS missions, their unknown behaviors and impact on system properties are unavoidable. Moreover, unknown conditions and volatility have significant effects on crucial Quality Attributes (QAs) such as performance, reliability and security. Hence, the structure and behavior of a SoS must be modeled and validated quantitatively to foresee any …

Packet Analysis For Network Forensics: A Comprehensive Survey, Leslie F. Sikos

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Packet analysis is a primary traceback technique in network forensics, which, providing that the packet details captured are sufficiently detailed, can play back even the entire network traffic for a particular point in time. This can be used to find traces of nefarious online behavior, data breaches, unauthorized website access, malware infection, and intrusion attempts, and to reconstruct image files, documents, email attachments, etc. sent over the network. This paper is a comprehensive survey of the utilization of packet analysis, including deep packet inspection, in network forensics, and provides a review of AI-powered packet analysis methods with advanced network traffic …

Validity And Reliability Of Methods To Determine Barbell Displacement In Heavy Back Squats: Implications For Velocity-Based Training, Brendyn B. Appleby, Harry Banyard, Prue Cormie, Stuart J. Cormack, Robert U. Newton

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

The purpose of this study was to investigate the validity and reliability of methods for determining barbell displacement during heavy back squats. Twelve well-trained rugby union players (mean ± SD 1 repetition maximum [1RM] 90° squat = 196.3 ± 29.2 kg) completed 2 sets of 2 repetitions at 70, 80, and 90% of 1RM squats. Barbell displacement was derived from 3 methods across 4 load categories (120–129, 140–149, 160–169, and 180–189 kg) including: a (a) linear position transducer (LPT) attached 65 cm left of barbell center, (b) 3D motion analysis tracking of markers attached to either end of a barbell, …

Optimization And Modeling Of Process Parameters In Multi-Hole Simultaneous Drilling Using Taguchi Method And Fuzzy Logic Approach, Muhammad Aamir, Shanshan Tu, Majid Tolouei-Rad, Khaled Giasin, Ana Vafadar

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

In industries such as aerospace and automotive, drilling many holes is commonly required to assemble different structures where machined holes need to comply with tight geometric tolerances. Multi-spindle drilling using a poly-drill head is an industrial hole-making approach that allows drilling several holes simultaneously. Optimizing process parameters also improves machining processes. This work focuses on the optimization of drilling parameters and two drilling processes-namely, one-shot drilling and multi-hole drilling-using the Taguchi method. Analysis of variance and regression analysis was implemented to indicate the significance of drilling parameters and their impact on the measured responses i.e., surface roughness and hole size. …

Leak Location Based On Pds-Vmd Of Leakage-Induced Vibration Signal Under Low Snr In Water-Supply Pipelines, Shuaiyong Li, Chuanqiang Xia, Zhenhua Cheng, Weipei Mao, Ying Liu, Daryoush Habibi

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Leak location in water-supply pipelines is of great significance in order to preserve water resources and reduce economic losses. Cross-correlation (CC) based leak location is a popular and effective method in water-supply pipelines (WSP). However, with a decrease of signal to noise ratio (SNR), the errors of time-delay estimation (TDE) based on CC will become larger making it almost impossible to determine a leakage position. Hence, this work proposes leak location based on a combination of phase difference spectrum and variational mode decomposition (PDS-VMD) of leakage-induced vibration signal under low SNR for WSP. Firstly, the leakage-induced vibration signal is decomposed …

Remodeling The Skeletal Muscle Extracellular Matrix In Older Age—Effects Of Acute Exercise Stimuli On Gene Expression, Matthias Gumpenberger, Barbara Wessner, Alexandra Graf, Marco V. Narici, Christian Fink, Sepp Braun, Christian Hoser, Anthony J. Blazevich, Robert Csapo

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. With advancing age, the skeletal muscle extracellular matrix (ECM) undergoes fibrotic changes that may lead to increased muscle stiffness, injury susceptibility and strength loss. This study tested the potential of different exercises to counter these changes by stimulating the activity of genes associated with ECM remodeling. Twenty-six healthy men (66.9 ± 3.9 years) were stratified to two of four groups, performing unilateral (i) conventional resistance exercise, (ii) conventional resistance exercise followed by self-myofascial release (CEBR), (iii) eccentric-only exercise (ECC) or (iv) plyometric jumps (PLY). The non-trained leg served as control. Six …

Interrelations Among Leadership Competencies Of Bim Leaders: A Fuzzy Dematel-Anp Approach, Seyed Armin Mirhosseini, Reza Kiani Mavi, Neda Kiani Mavi, Behzad Abbasnejad, Farzaneh Rayani

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

© 2020 by the authors. The use of new, digitally enabled innovations, such as building information modeling (BIM), raises issues such as the delineation of a competent leader. Even though BIM-based competency assessment models have become essential tools for maximizing the potential values of BIM implementation, the current competency models provide limited focus on leadership aspects that facilitate and enhance the BIM implementation efforts. This paper seeks to identify the specific competencies required for BIM implementation and examines the relationships between these competencies. Thirty-two experts from around the globe investigated a total of 15 leadership competencies under three categories pertaining …

Structural Similarity Loss For Learning To Fuse Multi-Focus Images, Xiang Yan, Syed Zulqarnain Gilani, Hanlin Qin, Ajmal Mian

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Convolutional neural networks have recently been used for multi-focus image fusion. However, some existing methods have resorted to adding Gaussian blur to focused images, to simulate defocus, thereby generating data (with ground-truth) for supervised learning. Moreover, they classify pixels as ‘focused’ or ‘defocused’, and use the classified results to construct the fusion weight maps. This then necessitates a series of post-processing steps. In this paper, we present an end-to-end learning approach for directly predicting the fully focused output image from multi-focus input image pairs. The suggested approach uses a CNN architecture …