Digital Commons Network^™

Optimal Fenestration Of The Fontan Circulation, Zan Ahmad, Lynn H Jin, Daniel J Penny, Craig G Rusin, Charles S Peskin, Charles Puelz

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

In this paper, we develop a pulsatile compartmental model of the Fontan circulation and use it to explore the effects of a fenestration added to this physiology. A fenestration is a shunt between the systemic and pulmonary veins that is added either at the time of Fontan conversion or at a later time for the treatment of complications. This shunt increases cardiac output and decreases systemic venous pressure. However, these hemodynamic benefits are achieved at the expense of a decrease in the arterial oxygen saturation. The model developed in this paper incorporates fenestration size as a parameter and describes both …

Gut Microbiota From Sjögren Syndrome Patients Causes Decreased T Regulatory Cells In The Lymphoid Organs And Desiccation-Induced Corneal Barrier Disruption In Mice, Laura Schaefer, Claudia M Trujillo-Vargas, Firas S Midani, Stephen C Pflugfelder, Robert A Britton, Cintia S De Paiva

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Sjögren syndrome (SS) is an autoimmune inflammatory disorder characterized by secretory dysfunction in the eye and mouth; in the eye, this results in tear film instability, reduced tear production, and corneal barrier disruption. A growing number of studies show that homeostasis of the ocular surface is impacted by the intestinal microbiome, and several 16S sequencing studies have demonstrated dysbiosis of the intestinal microbiota in SS patients. In this study, we utilized metagenomic sequencing to perform a deeper analysis of the intestinal microbiome using stools collected from sex- and age-matched healthy (n = 20), dry eye (n = 4) …

Is Characteristic Frequency Limiting Real-Time Electrocochleography During Cochlear Implantation?, Amit Walia, Matthew A Shew, Shannon M Lefler, Dorina Kallogjeri, Cameron C Wick, Timothy A Holden, Nedim Durakovic, Amanda J Ortmann, Jacques A Herzog, Craig A Buchman

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Objectives: Electrocochleography (ECochG) recordings during cochlear implantation have shown promise in estimating the impact on residual hearing. The purpose of the study was (1) to determine whether a 250-Hz stimulus is superior to 500-Hz in detecting residual hearing decrement and if so; (2) to evaluate whether crossing the 500-Hz tonotopic, characteristic frequency (CF) place partly explains the problems experienced using 500-Hz.

Design: Multifrequency ECochG comprising an alternating, interleaved acoustic complex of 250- and 500-Hz stimuli was used to elicit cochlear microphonics (CMs) during insertion. The largest ECochG drops (≥30% reduction in CM) were identified. After insertion, ECochG responses were measured …

Generalized Regression Neural Network And Fitness Dependent Optimization: Application To Energy Harvesting Of Centralized Teg Systems, Adeel Feroz Mirza, Syed Kamran Haider, Abbas Ahmed, Ateeq Ur Rehman, Muhammad Shafiq, Mohit Bajaj, Hossam Zawbaa, Pawel Szczepankowski, Salah Kamel

Articles

The thermoelectric generator (TEG) system has attracted extensive attention because of its applications in centralized solar heat utilization and recoverable heat energy. The operating efficiency of the TEG system is highly affected by operating conditions. In a series-parallel structure, due to diverse temperature differences, the TEG modules show non-linear performance. Due to the non-uniform temperature distribution (NUTD) condition, several maximum power points (MPPs) appear on the P/V curve. In multiple MPPs, the true global maximum power points (GMPP) are very important for optimum action. The existing conventional technologies have slow tracking speed, low productivity, and unwanted fluctuations in voltage curves. …

Bias Impedes Progress In Physical Biology, Consciousness Studies And Quantum Gravity, Maurice Goodman

Articles

If scientists hope to make progress in consciousness studies they needs to accept that biased judgments have a major influence on the sciences, how we divide them up, how they are funded and this, in turn, has a profound impact on progress. The imbalance in funding, resulting from bias, in favour of the life and health sciences needs to be addressed as does why perversely little of this funding is devoted to a physics explanation of self-organisation and life on the mesoscopic scale? While life (the cell) is an outstanding example of self-organisation on the mesoscopic scale we need to …

Probing With Noise: Unpicking The Warp And Weft Of Taxonomic And Thematic Meaning Representations In Static And Contextual Embeddings, Filip Klubička

Doctoral

The semantic relatedness of words has two key dimensions: it can be based on taxonomic information or thematic, co-occurrence-based information. These are captured by different language resources—taxonomies and natural corpora—from which we can build different computational meaning representations that are able to reflect these relationships. Vector representations are arguably the most popular meaning representations in NLP, encoding information in a shared multidimensional semantic space and allowing for distances between points to reflect relatedness between items that populate the space. Improving our understanding of how different types of linguistic information are encoded in vector space can provide valuable insights to the …

Identification Of Nanotechnology Skill Shortages In Ireland’S Agri-Food Sector: Towards The Safe, Innovative And Sustainable Development Of Nano-Food Technology, Eileen Mccarron

Doctoral

The purpose of this research was to assess the nanotechnology skill and capacity shortages in Irelands Agri-food sector. In 2008 the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) published its statement on ‘The Relevance for Food Safety of Applications of Nanotechnology in the Food and Feed Industries’. The importance of the food sector to the Irish economy was clearly emphasised by the FSAI’s statement. The report identified the urgent need for focused research programs into the potential of nanotechnology in the agri-food sector and it highlighted the need for a multi-organisation approach between state agencies, industry and academia to ensure safe …

The Dynamic Impact Of Biomass And Natural Resources On Ecological Footprint In Brics Economies: A Quantile Regression Evidence, Abraham Ayobamiji Awosusi, Tomiwa Sunday Adebayo, Mehmet Altuntaş, Ephraim Bonah Agyekum, Hossam Zawbaa, Salah Kamel

Articles

Many emerging economies, including the BRICS economies, are having difficulty meeting the Sustainable Development Goals’ (SDGs) objectives. Consequently, this research discusses the creation of an SDG framework for the BRICS economies, which can be utilized as a model for other blocs. To achieve this purpose, this research probes into the effect of biomass energy usage on ecological footprint in the BRICS economies between 1992 and 2018, considering the roles of gross capital formation, natural resources, and globalization. The novel Methods of Moments-Quantile-Regression (MMQR) approach with fixed effects is used, the outcomes of which reveal that in all quantiles (10th to …

Image-Based Malware Classification Hybrid Framework Based On Space-Filling Curves, Stephen O Shaughnessy, Stephen Sheridan

Articles

There exists a never-ending “arms race” between malware analysts and adversarial malicious code developers as malevolent programs evolve and countermeasures are developed to detect and eradicate them. Malware has become more complex in its intent and capabilities over time, which has prompted the need for constant improvement in detection and defence methods. Of particular concern are the anti-analysis obfuscation techniques, such as packing and encryption, that are employed by malware developers to evade detection and thwart the analysis process. In such cases, malware is generally impervious to basic analysis methods and so analysts must use more invasive techniques to extract …

Interconnection And Damping Assignment Passivity-Based Non-Linear Observer Control For Efficiency Maximization Of Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor, Youcef Belkhier, Abelyazid Achour, Miroslav Bures, Nasim Ullah, Mohit Bajaj, Hossam Zawbaa, Salah Kamel

Articles

The permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) has several advantages over the DC motor and is gradually replacing it in the industry. The dynamics of the PMSM are described by non-linear equations; it is sensitive to unknown external disturbances (load), and its characteristics vary over time. All of these restrictions complicate the control task. Non-linear controls are required to adjust for non-linearities and the drawbacks mentioned above. This paper investigates an interconnection and damping assignment (IDA) passivity-based control (PBC) combined with a non-linear observer approach for the PMSM using the model represented in the dq-frame. The IDA-PBC approach has the inherent …

Modeling And Sensitivity Analysis Of Grid-Connected Hybrid Green Microgrid System, Sumit Sharma, Yog Raj Sood, Naveen Kumar Sharma, Mohit Bajaj, Hossam Zawbaa, Rania A. Turky, Salah Kamel

Articles

The demonstrated research work analyses the technoeconomic modelling and sensitivity analysis of the available resources for the rural community in India. The various resources used in this study are solar, wind, hydro, battery and utility grid-connected system. The usefulness of the on-grid system in the rural sector is that excess amount of electricity produced through renewable energy sources (RES) could be sold back to the utility grid. A total of 12 possible configurations of various resources with and without a grid-connected system was analyzed for minimum Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) and Total Net Present Cost (TNPC). Further, sensitivity analysis …

Effect Of Cryogenic Treatment On Drill Tool For Enhancing Metal Cutting Operation Of Aluminium Alloy Is737.Gr19000, G. Navaneethakrishnan, B. Sureshkumar, R. Palanisamy, Mohit Bajaj, Hossam Zawbaa, Salah Kamel

Articles

Drilling is the hole making process on the component face with the aid of a twisted drillbit. Normal drill bits easily wear out through penetration of drill bit into the workpiece material due to force generated in the drilling operation. So this work tries to investigate the machining parameters with cryogenically treated drill bits on various responses. Cryogenic treatment is one of the thermal engineering processes, which is used to cool the material from the temperature of −150 °C to −273 °C. This research work utilizes cryogenically treated drill tools for investigating the drilling performance on aluminium alloy (IS737.Gr19000) workpiece …

Using Feature Selection With Machine Learning For Generation Of Insurance Insights, Ayman Taha, Bernard Cosgrave, Susan Mckeever

Articles

Insurance is a data-rich sector, hosting large volumes of customer data that is analysed to evaluate risk. Machine learning techniques are increasingly used in the effective management of insurance risk. Insurance datasets by their nature, however, are often of poor quality with noisy subsets of data (or features). Choosing the right features of data is a significant pre-processing step in the creation of machine learning models. The inclusion of irrelevant and redundant features has been demonstrated to affect the performance of learning models. In this article, we propose a framework for improving predictive machine learning techniques in the insurance sector …

Does Information And Communication Technology Impede Environmental Degradation? Fresh Insights From Non-Parametric Approaches, Tomiwa Sunday Adebayo, Ephraim Bonah Agyekum, Mehmet Altuntas, Sadriddin Khudoyqulov, Hossam Zawbaa, Salah Kamel

Articles

Although ICT has played a critical role in the socio-economic growth of human cultures, it has also brought with it significant environmental risks. Nevertheless, scholars remain divided on this topic; some believe that ICT has had a positive influence on the quality of the environment, while others believe that ICT has created major environmental issues. Hence, this research is another effort to assess the effects of ICT on CO2 emissions in the top 10 ICT nations (Denmark, Japan, Luxemburg, South Korea, Netherlands, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom) using a dataset from the period between 1986Q1 and 2019Q4. …

Human Mental Workload: A Survey And A Novel Inclusive Definition, Luca Longo, Christopher D. Wickens, Gabriella Hancock, P.A. Hancock

Articles

Human mental workload is arguably the most invoked multidimensional construct in Human Factors and Ergonomics, getting momentum also in Neuroscience and Neuroergonomics. Uncertainties exist in its characterization, motivating the design and development of computational models, thus recently and actively receiving support from the discipline of Computer Science. However, its role in human performance prediction is assured. This work is aimed at providing a synthesis of the current state of the art in human mental workload assessment through considerations, definitions, measurement techniques as well as applications, Findings suggest that, despite an increasing number of associated research works, a single, reliable and …

Towards An Inclusive Co-Design Toolkit: Perceptions And Experiences Of Co-Design Stakeholders, Eamon Aswad, Emma Murphy, Claudia Fernandez-Rivera, Sarah Boland

Articles

Participatory design holds great potential for the creation of inclusive technology but existing toolkits and resources to support co-design are not always accessible to designers and co-designers with disabilities. In this paper we present two studies to assist in facilitating the creation of a sustainable, accessible, inclusive co-design toolkit for individuals with intellectual disabilities i) exploration of the perceptions and experiences of lecturers (n =5) and students (n= 5) involved in co-design activities via individual interviews and ii) a protocol and initial findings from focus groups with men and women with intellectual disabilities to inform on best co-design practices (n=15). …

Ai Governance In The Financial Industry, Robin C. Feldman, Kara Stein

Faculty Scholarship

Legal regimes in the United States generally conceptualize obligations as attaching along one of two pathways: through the entity or the individual. Although these dual conceptualizations made sense in an ordinary pre-modem world, they no longer capture the financial system land­ scape, now that artificial intelligence has entered the scene. Neither person nor entity, artificial intelligence is an activity or a capacity, something that mediates relations between individuals and entities. And whether we like it or not, artificial intelligence has already reshaped financial markets. From Robinhood, to the Flash Crash, to Twitter's Hash Crash, to the Knight Capital incident, each …

Implementing A (Modern) Progressive Consumption Tax, Manoj Viswanathan

Faculty Scholarship

Progressively taxing consumption has much normative appeal, but pre­ vious legal scholarship has incorrectly assumed that directly accounting for the expenditures of individual taxpayers is administratively infeasible. Changes in consumer spending and advances in technology require revisiting this assumption. This article proposes a novel framework through which an individual accounting progressive consumption tax (IAPCT) can be imple­ mented and establishes the IAPCT's superiority to previously proposed forms of progressive consumption taxation. IAPCT advantages include a significant reduction in tax filing costs, improved enforcement, and the immediate de­ ployment of place-based tax policy.

In Search Of The Public Interest, Jodi L. Short

Faculty Scholarship

“Public interest” standards in statutory delegations to agencies represent the greatest hopes and the darkest fears of the U.S. administrative state. On the one hand, the public interest standard provides a vessel for agencies to infuse policymaking with the moral and ethical commitments of the community. On the other hand, regulation in the public interest opens the door to the arbitrary exercise of tyrannical state power. Despite the lofty aspirations and ominous warnings about regulation in the public interest, little is known about how agencies actually decide what is in the public interest when charged by statute to do so. …

Protecting Public Trust Resources In America's Private Forests: Case Studies In The Diversity Of U.S. State-Level Forestry Policies, Brita Ann Goldstein

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Privately-owned forests in the U.S. provide ecological and socioeconomic benefits to Americans. At the same time, they challenge common law principles that govern the administration of public goods. There is long-standing tension between private property rights, which entitles forest landowners to make land management decisions about their properties, and the role of state governments in protecting public trust resources on behalf of the general public. Each state chooses to protect public trust resources on private lands in a different way, meaning the U.S. is a patchwork of diverse private forest policy approaches. Describing this range of approaches can help inform …

Techno-Economic Feasibility Of Electrifying Food Markets In Nigeria With Biogas Hybrid Mini-Grids, Demi Temitope Ogunwo

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

This thesis explored the feasibility of electrifying a food market in an urban city in Nigeria with a hybrid biogas-powered mini-grid. Under the Energizing Economies Initiative of the Rural Electrification Agency of Nigeria, nine markets in the country currently receive constant access to electricity via hybrid mini-grid systems. As a majority of these systems are diesel-solar-battery systems, this thesis explored the use of biogas generators as a substitute for diesel generators in hybrid mini-grids for food markets. A fruit and vegetable market in Ketu, Lagos was used as a case study for the research. The research for this thesis was …

Comparing Molecular Methods To Estimate Fish Stomach Contents And Gastric Evacuation Rates: Implications For Measuring The Impacts Of Predation On Central Valley Chinook Salmon, Cory M. Dick

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Juvenile Chinook Salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) migrating through the Sacramento – San Joaquin Delta (the Delta) in central California have higher mortality rates than salmonids migrating through other west coast estuaries. Some hypotheses for high mortality rates include entrainment into water export facilities, physical alterations of the river system, and predation. Of these factors, predation is considered the least understood but may have the largest impact. Predation from large populations of non-native piscivorous fishes in the Delta is believed to effect abundances of Central Valley Chinook salmon, however sufficient data supporting this hypothesis is scarce. In this study, I …

Contributions To The Field Of Library And Information Sciences In Pakistan: A Bio Bibliometric Study Of Dr. Saeed Ullah Jan, Abid Hussain Mr, Nasir Shakoor

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Abstract

Purpose- This paper presents the bio-bibliometric analysis of Dr. Saeed Ullah Jan's contributions to the Library and Information Science (LIS) field in Pakistan. This study includes the following: the year-wise distribution of research produced; authors' collaboration; publications by type; language; geographical preference for research; and coverage of different subject areas.

Methodology/Design- The data for this retrospective study was requested through email from Dr. Saeed Ullah Jan with advance ethical permission and further verified from Scholar Google, the official university website, and departments where required.

Findings- The results of the study indicate that Dr. Saeed Ullah Jan is a prolific …

30-Year Bibliometric Analysis Of Digital Library Studies, Muhammad Muhajir Aminy

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The purpose of this study is to analyse and map the metadata and keywords associated with existing research publications in digital library studies during the last 30 years. This is a quantitative descriptive study that employs bibliometric analysis approaches namely co-authorship analysis, citation analysis, and text data mapping with a help of VOSviewer computer application. The dimensions.ai, an international article indexing service, was used as the source to collect samples in this study. A total of 1,185 documents discussing digital library studies were analysed during 1991 – 2021.

The analysis discovered that Edward A. Fox is the most prolific author …

Extent Of Provision Of Library Information For Climate Change Adaptation Among Rural Farmers In Nigeria, Abaobi David Agbo Phd, Christian Sunday Ugwuanyi Phd, Onyinye Regina Ekere Mrs, Nkechi Idoko Phd

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

South East Nigeria is a Nigerian region primarily populated by rural farmers. According to the literature, there is a scarcity of research on provision of library information for climate change adaptation among farmers in order to improve agricultural products among rural farmers. As a result, this study looked into the sources of library knowledge needed by rural farmers to adapt to climate change. The study used descriptive survey research with a sample of 510 registered rural farmers in South Eastern Nigeria. The data was collected using a well-validated and trial-tested tool. Using the Cronbach alpha approach, the instrument's internal consistency …

Sources Of Library Information Needs For Climate Change Adaptation Among Rural Farmers In South Eastern Nigeria, Abaobi David Agbo Phd, Christian Sunday Ugwuanyi Phd, Onyinye Regina Ekere Mrs

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

There is a dearth of research on the library information needs of farmers for climate change adaptation to improve agricultural products among the rural farmers. Thus, this study explored the sources of library information needs for climate change adaption among rural farmers. Descriptive survey research was adopted for the study using a sample of 510 registered rural farmers in South Eastern Nigeria. A well validated and trial tested instrument was used to collect the data. The internal consistency reliability index of the instrument was 0.97 using Cronbach alpha method. Data collected were analysed using mean as a descriptive statistic to …

A Scientometric Studies On Library And Information Science In India As Reflected In Digital Databases: A Review Using R, Ravindranath Wodeyar, K R. Mulla

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The scientometric research productivity and scholarly communication on library and information science papers indexed in the Web of Science and Scopus database from 2002 to 2021 are explored in this article.The main focus of scientometric research in the field of library science was on the range of research production over time.This paper presents a scientometric analysis to know the academic overview of LIS in India in terms of annual growth of publications, most prominent authors, most preferred journals, country and Institute collaboration etc.

Evaluating Preschool Librarians’ Information And Communication Technology Competency Level For Online Teaching, Christian S. Ugwuanyi Ph.D, Chinedu I.O. Okeke Prof

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

For adequate teaching and learning, twenty-first-century classrooms, combined with the needs of the new normal in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, have mandated the effective use of online education platforms. This begs the question of how well-versed in information and communication technologies Nigerian Preschool Librarians are (ICT). Because there is a scarcity of studies on the subject, this is the case. As a result, the researchers were in a good position to determine or measure the level of ICT expertise of Preschool Librarians in order to embrace online education during and after the Covid-19 pandemic. The descriptive survey research …

Gender Differences In Information Literacy Self-Efficacy Among Academic Librarians In Federal University Libraries In South-East Nigeria, Osita Victor Ossai Dr

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The study investigated gender differences in information literacy self-efficacy among academic librarians working in federal university libraries in South-east Nigeria. The descriptive survey research design was used in this study. Using purposive sampling, twenty academic librarians were selected for the study. The Information Literacy Self-Efficacy Scale (ILSES) was used to obtain the data. In total, there are 28 items on the scale, which has a high Cronbach Alpha reliability score of 0.91. In this scale, seven sub-dimensions are measured extensively. To analyze the data, percentages, means, standard deviations, t-tests, and Lavene's tests were used. In terms of mean ratings, male …

Digital Literacy Inclusion: The Role Of Librarians In Higher Education In The New Normal, Oluwatoyin Oyeyemi Obinyan Mrs, Linus Ikechukwu Ugwuanyi Mr

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Higher education in recent years has witnessed dynamic changes due to the Coronavirus pandemic to the extent that a new term, 'new normal,' originated. In this regard, teaching and learning processes have significantly become dependent on digital technologies to warrant emphasis being laid on digital literacy skills, which many learners lack. In order words, the growing prominence of the Internet and other digital environments as educational tools requires research regarding learners' digital literacy and the role of librarians in supporting learning in the new normal. Digital literacy is the learners’ ability to locate, organise, understand, evaluate, and create information using …