Digital Commons Network^™

Comments For The Butte Priority Soils (Bpsou) Residential Metals Abatement Program (Rmap) – Interior School Dust – Investigation Summary Report – Gold Hill Lutheran (Dated February 5, 2024), Molly Roby

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Performance Of A Novel Structural Insulated Panel In Tropical Climates: Experimental And Numerical Studies, Thanongsak Imjai, Fetih Kefyalew, Reyes Garcia, Boksun Kim, Ana Bras, Piti Sukontasukkul

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

This article investigates experimentally and numerically the thermal performance of a new type of structural insulated panel (SIP) termed ‘UWall’. The panel core consists of an ad-hoc waffle skeleton of Expanded Polystyrene (EPS), EPS beads mixed with cement mortar (Portland cement type I and recycled concrete aggregate), and two external water-proof cement boards. The experimental programme examined the panels in three Phases. In Phase 1, 200×200×100 mm block specimens were exposed to a temperature of 70°C for 12 hrs. It was found that the new UWall specimens had a better thermal performance (by up to 20%) over other types of …

Faster Detection Of Asymptomatic Covid-19 Cases Among Care Home Staff In England Through The Combination Of Sars-Cov-2 Testing Technologies, Finola Ryan, Joanna Cole-Hamilton, Niharika Dandamudi, Matthias E Futschik, Alexander Needham, Rida Saquib, Raghavendran Kulasegaran-Shylini, Edward Blandford, Michael Kidd, Éamonn O'Moore, Ian Hall, Malur Sudhanva, Paul Klapper, Andrew Dodgson, Adam Moore, Madeleine Duke, Sarah Tunkel, Chris Kenny, Tom Fowler

School of Biomedical Sciences

To detect SARS-CoV-2 amongst asymptomatic care home staff in England, a dual-technology weekly testing regime was introduced on 23 December 2020. A lateral flow device (LFD) and quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) test were taken on the same day (day 0) and a midweek LFD test was taken three to four days later. We evaluated the effectiveness of using dual-technology to detect SARS-CoV-2 between December 2020 to April 2021. Viral concentrations derived from qRT-PCR were used to determine the probable stage of infection and likely level of infectiousness. Day 0 PCR detected 1,493 cases of COVID-19, of which …

Learning Nonparametric Ordinary Differential Equations From Noisy Data, Kamel Lahouel, Michael Wells, Victor Rielly, Ethan Lew, David Lovitza, Bruno M. Jedynak

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Publications and Presentations

Learning nonparametric systems of Ordinary Differential Equations (ODEs) from noisy data is an emerging machine learning topic. We use the well-developed theory of Reproducing Kernel Hilbert Spaces (RKHS) to define candidates for for which the solution of the ODE exists and is unique. Learning consists of solving a constrained optimization problem in an RKHS. We propose a penalty method that iteratively uses the Representer theorem and Euler approximations to provide a numerical solution. We prove a generalization bound for the distance between and its estimator. Experiments are provided for the FitzHugh-Nagumo oscillator, the Lorenz system, and for predicting the Amyloid …

Thermal Ecology And Swimming Performance Of Native Tadpoles Dryophytes Femoralis In Central Florida, Jessalyn Aretz

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Urbanization and climate warming have contributed to global amphibian declines in recent decades. Amphibians are particularly vulnerable to climate and urban-induced warming because their physiological processes are dependent on temperature across all life stages, but few studies have been done on tadpole responses to warming in comparison to adult responses. The study objective was to determine how the thermal ecology and swimming performance of a native Florida tadpole varied with rearing temperature and urban level, and whether these traits are plastic or adaptive. We collected eggs from wild populations of pine woods treefrog (Dryophytes femoralis) tadpoles at an urban and …

The Integration Of Assistive Technology By Female In-Service Teachers Of Students With Learning Disabilities In Saudi Arabia: A Qualitative Interview Study, Badriah Alotaiby

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The aim of this study is to explore the teachers’ perceptions of integrating assistivetechnology into the curriculum for students with learning disabilities in Saudi Arabia. It is known that teaching students with learning disabilities had been one of the significant difficulties in the past and nowadays. Therefore, integrating assistive technology into the educational process would make it easier for the teachers of students with learning disabilities to teach these students through the use of integrating assistive technology. The use of such assistive technologies will be beneficial for learning disabilities students as well. The main question guiding this research is: What …

Advancing Depth-Storage-Discharge Modeling In Regional Hydrology, Fahad Alshehri

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation presents the development of an innovative approach to populating rating characteristics and supporting hydrologic modeling, designed to simplify complex real-world hydrological systems and accurately estimate their responses to rainfall, runoff, baseflow and evaporation stresses. The core of this research addresses the challenges inherent in characterizing hydrography elements in hydrologic modeling, particularly in regions lacking comprehensive stream reach survey data, flow and stage. This issue is pronounced in areas with extensive wetland hydrography, where traditional modeling requires intensive manual calibration, and course rating data that are often unavailable. To overcome these challenges, this study introduces a novel procedure that …

The Issue Of Modeling The Certification Risk Management Process In Accordance With The "Chemistry Of Goods", Fazilat Khakimova, Ibrokhim Askarov, Abdusobir Saidov

CHEMISTRY AND CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

The article considers one of the research directions of the specialty "Chemistry of goods", namely the study and establishing the conformity of the quality of goods to the technical conditions of production and the certificate. To manage risks in the process of establishing the conformity of the quality of goods, it is proposed to explore the following direction of this specialization - modeling, optimization and automation of technological processes for the production of goods using modern computer technologies. Taking into account the epidemiological realities of today, mathematical models for managing risks related to the countries of the world or individual …

Research Of The Effectiveness Of Oil Demulsifiers Of Jarkurgon Field Under Static Conditions, Masud Karimov, Gulnora Juraeva, Ilkhom Abdirahimov

CHEMISTRY AND CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

The aim of the work is to synthesize a demulsifier and determine its effectiveness in testing oil from the Zharkurgon field under static conditions. Hydrolyzed polyacrylonitrile was used to synthesize the demulsifier (DE-5). Under laboratory conditions, tests were carried out to determine the effectiveness of the synthesized demulsifier in the process of destruction of a stable water-oil emulsion of oil from the Zharkurgon field under static conditions. Good results on desalting and dehydration of typical oil were obtained using DE-5 in an amount of 30–40 g/t. With salt content of 505 mg/l in the oil, it was possible to desalt …

Use Of Hexane-Based Hydrocarbon Solvents For Cleaning Oil From Organic Deposits, Gulmira Tadjiyeva, Farida Badriddinova, Khasan Kadirov, Mukaddas Isakulova, Orifjon Kodirov

CHEMISTRY AND CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

The aim of the research is to study the asphalt-resin-paraffin deposits of the Western Palvantash field and their solubility in composite solvents based on hexane-containing concentrates of non-ionic surfactants and aromatic hydrocarbons. It has been established that the products of AF-9-10 neonols and liquid pyrolysis obtain high efficiency. The use of such additives will increase the efficiency of dissection and dissolution of asphalt-resin-paraffin deposits by 1.3-1.6 times compared to the main solvent. It is determined that with an increase in the concentration of individual additives from 0.5 to 3%, the effectiveness of detergent components decreases.

The Significance Of Using Digital Story-Telling For Enhancing English Oral Communication Skills Among Media Students At Al- Quds Open University, Murad A. Ahmed Tamimi

Middle East Journal of Communication Studies

Due to issues including uninspired teaching techniques and language anxiety, students at Al-Quds Open University, particularly those enrolled in the media major, experience difficulties in establishing strong oral communication skills in a multicultural context. A potential remedy is digital story-telling, which uses multimedia to craft captivating stories that appeal to students who are accustomed to using digital devices. This study evaluated how digital story-telling improved media students' spoken English communication abilities in the second semester of the 2023–2024 academic year. Incorporating motifs from the current Tufan al-Aqsa conflict, the study sought to offer stimulating and culturally appropriate educational opportunities. Twenty-seven …

Municipal Waste Management Based On Geomechanical Assessments Of The Landfill Site Slope – A Case Study In Southern Poland, Tomasz Janoszek, Phu Minh Vuong Nguyen, Jacek Grabowski

Journal of Sustainable Mining

Over time, municipal waste landfills tend to go higher and become larger. The stability of the municipal landfill slope is one of the basic geotechnical tasks. This task ensures continuous waste deposition on the landfill surface and safety in its surroundings. With the increasing height and volume of the landfill, it is difficult to estimate the available area of the municipal landfill, where more waste can be safely deposited due to a number of variable factors, such as the geotechnical conditions of the municipal landfill, the morphological composition, age, and degree of compaction and decomposition of the deposited waste.

This …

Mpt And Capm Mismeasure Risk, Gary N. Smith

Pomona Economics

Mean-variance analysis and the capital asset pricing model provide many useful insights for investors who want to measure and manage risk. However, their focus on short-term returns is of limited use and potentially misleading for investors with long horizons. A value investing approach suggests that risk might be better measured by long-run uncertainty about asset income than by short-run uncertainty about asset prices.

College Senate Minutes March 28, 2024, Bronx Community College Senate

BCC Governance Archives

Minutes for the meeting of the College Senate on March 28, 2024

The Social Pot: A Social Media Application, Reid Long

ASPIRE 2024

The Social Pot is a web application that allows a user to post to Instagram and X simultaneously from one place. The user creates a Social Pot Account and from there can set their Instagram username and password within the home page. Once the user attempts to post, it will redirect them to login to X which once successful will make the tweet. Used the API 'instagram-private-api'. User needed to give access to my X Project which in turn gave an Auth token (via X redirect URL). The auth token was then sent to my endpoint in order to get …

Multi-Modality Transformer For E-Commerce: Inferring User Purchase Intention To Bridge The Query-Product Gap, Srivatsa Mallapragada

Dissertations

The rapid growth of e-commerce has necessitated the development of sophisticated product retrieval systems that can effectively match user queries with relevant products. However, the semantic gap between queries and products remains a significant challenge, as traditional retrieval methods often fail to capture the nuances of user purchase intentions. E-commerce click-stream data and product catalogs offer critical user behavior insights and product knowledge that are untapped in the current product search algorithms. This dissertation presents learning strategies that leverage the query-product transaction logs to enrich the pipeline of our proposed multi-modal transformer model, which transforms initial user queries into pseudo …

Influence Of Subsurface Critical Zone Structure On Hydrological Partitioning In Mountainous Headwater Catchments, Hang Chen, Qifei Niu, James P. Mcnamara, Alejandro N. Flores

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Headwater catchments play a vital role in regional water supply and ecohydrology, and a quantitative understanding of the hydrological partitioning in these catchments is critically needed, particularly under a changing climate. Recent studies have highlighted the importance of subsurface critical zone (CZ) structure in modulating the partitioning of precipitation in mountainous catchments; however, few existing studies have explicitly taken into account the 3D subsurface CZ structure. In this study, we designed realistic synthetic catchment models based on seismic velocity-estimated 3D subsurface CZ structures. Integrated hydrologic modeling is then used to study the effects of the shape of the weathered bedrock …

The Comment, March 28, 2024, Bridgewater State University

The Comment

No abstract provided.

2024 Academic & Creative Excellence Reception Program, Lynn University

Academic and Creative Excellence (ACE) Reception Programs

The program for the 2024 Academic and Creative Excellence (ACE) Reception - the 16th annual - organized by the Lynn Library, working in conjunction with the Office of Academic Affairs. The reception is held on March 28, 2024 in the Salon at the Keith C. and Elaine Johnson Wold Performing Arts Center.

The Faculty Scholarship and Creative Activities Award is presented to Dr. David G. Wolf.

Role Of Electronegativity In Environmentally Persistent Free Radicals (Epfrs) Formation On Zno, Syed Monjur Ahmed, Reuben A. Oumnov, Orhan Kizilkaya, Randall W. Hall, Phillip T. Sprunger, Robert L. Cook

Faculty Publications

Environmentally persistent free radicals (EPFRs), a group of emerging pollutants, have significantly longer lifetimes than typical free radicals. EPFRs form by the adsorption of organic precursors on a transition metal oxide (TMO) surface involving electron charge transfer between the organic and TMO. In this paper, dihalogenated benzenes were incorporated to study the role of electronegativity in the electron transfer process to obtain a fundamental knowledge of EPFR formation mechanism on ZnO. Upon chemisorption on ZnO nanoparticles at 250 °C, electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) confirms the formation of oxygen adjacent carbon-centered organic free radicals with concentrations between 10¹⁶ and 10 …

Understanding Teacher Perceptions Around Feedback, Cari Ann Sloan

Doctor of Education (EdD)

This narrative research study sought to better understand teachers’ perceptions around feedback, specifically the significant drivers of quality teacher feedback and the effect of the evaluator/teacher relationship. The theoretical frameworks of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, adult learning theory, social learning theory, and self-determination theory were examined to determine what the research reveals about adults’ incentive to improve. Research around accepted best practices in feedback was also reviewed in order to understand current implementation in educational settings, specifically what motivates teachers when given feedback on instruction. Four teachers, chosen for their specific characteristics, gave first-hand accounts of their experiences with the …

17O-Excess In Tropical Cyclones Reflects Local Rain Re-Evaporation More Than Moisture Source Conditions, Chijun Sun, Timothy Shanahan, Shaoneng He, Adriana Bailey, Jesse Nusbaumer, Jun Hu, Aubrey Hillman, Erika Ornouski, Jacob Warner, Kristine Delong

Faculty Publications

17O-excess is a relatively new water isotope parameter that could potentially provide useful information about the hydrological cycle. Previous works focusing on 17O-excess in polar regions suggest that it primarily tracks moisture source relative humidity, but little is known about how to interpret 17O-excess data in lower latitudes. Here we present quasi-hourly triple oxygen isotope data of precipitation collected from two tropical cyclones in Texas and Louisiana in 2020 to understand the impacts of environmental and meteorological processes on the 17O-excess of low-to mid-latitude precipitation. We find that at both hourly timescales and the event scale, 17O-excess is strongly correlated …

Introductory Geology Laboratory Students' Learnings From And Perceptions Of Physical And Virtual Polarizing Light Microscopes – An Exploratory Mixed Methods Study, Christy M. Bebeau

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Undergraduate geoscience laboratory courses provide hands-on learning about earth materials. However thin section analysis is not typically included in introductory geology laboratories, likely due to the polarizing light microscope (PLM) costs. Therefore, there is a lack of research about the educational outcomes of novices learning these skills.

In this inquiry, I conducted mixed methods research about novice students' learning of thin section analysis in an introductory geology laboratory and evaluated learning and perception differences between students who used a virtual PLM and those who used a physical PLM. I collected data from Creative Exercise (CE) assessments in student midterm and …

Integrated Process Modeling, Techno-Economic Analysis And Life Cycle Assessment For Enhanced Biogas-To-Energy Sustainability And Efficiency, Rarosue Jennifer Amaraibi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation aims to enhance the cost competitiveness and minimize the environmental footprint of technologies that convert biogas to energy, contributing to global climate change mitigation efforts. Biogas, a by-product of the anaerobic decomposition of organic waste from various sources, is a renewable energy source with the potential to reduce carbon emissions and meet local energy needs. However, widespread adoption requires the development of economically viable and environmentally friendly technologies.The central hypothesis of this dissertation suggests that by adopting a holistic strategy that combines cutting-edge techniques to purify biogas and improve its conversion into valuable liquid fuels, we can substantially …

A Gateway To Next-Generation Patient Monitoring System, Kishore Kumar Kadari

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Healthcare patient monitoring is undergoing a significant digital transformation, and the integration of Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) is becoming increasingly crucial in reshaping patient care. In an era where digital technology is revolutionizing medical practices, this research aims to take a leading role in advancing a fundamental aspect of predictive and sustainable healthcare practices, enhancing patient outcomes and uplifting the practice of medicine.

This research focuses on the study of Digital Twins for precision health, which are designed to monitor and provide intricate, personalized feedback dynamically during a patient's healthcare experience. The architecture of the system is …

A Comparison Of Beamforming Characteristics In Isotropic And Composite Plate Structures For Use In Structural Health Monitoring, Sarah Ketchersid

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Structural health monitoring in plate-like simple structures using phased array beamsteering of guided Lamb waves is useful in damage detection and evaluation efforts. Lamb waves can be effectively used for beamsteering using a linear array. The experimentation primarily focuses on beamsteering in the aluminum panel, which involves developing a simulation based on extracted data to visualize the dispersion of waves across the panel. By evaluating parameters such as slowness, velocity, and amplitude direction and variation for a specific metallic plate, the wavefront generated by a single wave source can be represented as a function of propagation angle and distance from …

Faculty Senate Agenda, Georgia Southern University, Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Agendas

No abstract provided.

Sensor Analytics For Subsea Pipeline And Cable Inspection: A Review, Connor R. Vincent

LSU Master's Theses

Submarine pipelines and cables are vital for transmitting physical and digital resources across bodies of water, necessitating regular inspection to assess maintenance needs. The safety of subsea pipelines and cables is paramount for sustaining industries such as telecommunications, power transmission, water supply, waste management, and oil and gas. Incidents like those involving the Nord Stream subsea pipeline and the SEA-ME-WE 4 subsea communications cable exemplify the severe economic and environmental consequences of damage to these critical infrastructures. Existing inspection methods often fail to meet accuracy requirements, emphasizing the need for advancements in inspection technologies. This comprehensive survey covers the sensors …

Trade Liberalization With Brics: A Cge Model Of Egypt, Kareem Ashraf

Theses and Dissertations

This paper presents an ex-ante impact assessment of a hypothetical FTA between Egypt and the BRICS from an Egyptian economy-wide and sectorial perspectives, with a granular look into manufacturing. The chosen methodology is a static SAM-based Computable General Equilibrium model calibrated to Egypt’s 2018-2019 Social Accounting Matrix (SAM). With respect to existing literature, the paper uniquely stands in considering an Egypt-BRICS FTA with a granular assessment of manufacturing subsectors and in running a simulation of Egypt’s trade liberalization with the wider BRICS alliance, including the accession of Saudi Arabia, UAE, Ethiopia, and Iran, which joined the bloc along with Egypt …

Rfi Mitigation And Discrete Digital Signal Processing Rfsoc Algorithm Implementations For Radio Astronomy And Wideband Communication Systems, Devon Christopher Ward

Theses and Dissertations

Due to the massive increase of active transmitters broadcasting over wideband frequencies, such as 5G wireless systems, LEO/MEO satellites, satellite constellations, and the increase of IoT devices in the average home, the radio frequency spectrum is becoming more and more congested by interference. Passive receivers face additional challenges due to the growing use of wideband frequency transmissions aimed at boosting communication system throughput. As a result, passive receivers must adopt more robust and intricate techniques to mitigate radio frequency interference. A proposed RFI removal system, known as the true time delay Hadamard projection algorithm, has been introduced in previous work …