Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Basil And Swiss Chard: Edible Crops For Use In Floating Treatment Wetlands Improving Agricultural Runoff, Clare Escamilla, David R. Tyrpak, William H.J. Stronsnider, Sarah A. White

Faculty Publications

The plant species established within floating treatment wetlands (FTWs) influence nutrient removal efficiency. To enhance adoption of FTWs by agricultural producers, both economic and ecological benefits from FTWs are needed to increase their use within irrigation retention reservoirs. Thus, we ascertained the feasibility of growing food crops in FTWs by evaluating two edible plant species to determine survivability and nutrient accumulation when grown in FTWs. We quantified plant growth (at saleable/harvestable size), nutrient uptake in root and shoot tissues, and overall nutrient removal efficiency of sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum) and Swiss chard (Beta vulgaris) over a …

Modifiable And Non-Modifiable Risk Factors For Dementia Among Non-Hispanic White And Black Populations Aged 50-64 In The United States, 2006-2016, Jingkai Wei, Matthew C. Lohman Ph.D., Monique J. Brown, James W. Hardin, Chih-Hsiang Yang, Anwar T. Nerchant, Daniela B. Friedman

Faculty Publications

Background and Objectives

Research Design and Methods

Adverse Childhood Experiences, Resilience, And Syringe Services Program Attendance Among Persons Who Inject Drugs In Northeast Georgia, Usa: A Mediation Analysis, Mohammad Rifat Haider, Samantha Clinton, Monique J. Brown, Nathan B. Hansen

Faculty Publications

Background: Syringe services programs (SSP) are evidence-based venues offering harm reduction services to persons who inject drugs (PWID), such as sterile syringes, STI/HIV testing, and linkage to care to decrease drug use-related morbidities and mortalities. Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have been linked with reduced resilience, while increased resilience can help PWID attend SSPs. This study examined the potential mediating role of resilience between ACEs and SSP attendance among PWID.

Methods: Data were collected from adult HIV-negative PWID in northeast Georgia, between February-December 2023 (N = 173). Data were collected on SSP attendance (Yes vs. No), resilience, and ACEs. Covariates included …

Geographic Disparities In Unpaid Caregiving, Emma Kathryn Boswell, Monique J. Brown Ph.D., Mph, Lorie Donelle Phd, Rn, Fcan, Nicholas Yell, Taryn Farrell, Peiyin Hung Ph.D., Elizabeth Crouch Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

Purpose: An updated, nationally representative examination of rural–urban differences in the experiences, health, and well-being of caregivers is needed; previous research on this topic uses older data or has limited generalizability. This study examines rural–urban differences in the characteristics, experiences, and health of caregivers. Methods: The 2021–2022 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (n = 44,274 unpaid caregivers) was used, with rurality defined according to the 2013 National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) Urban-Rural Classification Scheme. Chi-square tests compared rural–urban differences in these caregivers’ characteristics, including demographic factors, caregiving intensity (e.g., weekly hours spent caregiving, reason for caregiving, past-month ADL/IADL assistance), …

Urbanization Impacts Dissolved Organic Matter Concentration And Quality In A Southeastern United States Watershed, Gwendolyn M. Hopper, Erik M. Smith, Jade Dormoy-Boulanger, Claudia R. Benitez-Nelson

Faculty Publications

Blackwater rivers are named due to their exceptionally high concentrations of chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM). They are the predominant lotic ecosystem in the United States Southeastern Coastal Plain, a region experiencing some of the nation’s highest rates of development. This study assessed variability in DOM concentration and composition across forested to urbanized blackwater systems in coastal South Carolina, U.S. Dissolved organic carbon and nutrient concentrations as well as absorbance and fluorescence optical properties reveal that urban sites have lower concentrations, elemental ratios, and less complex DOM. In contrast, forested blackwater sites have concentrations an order of magnitude higher, elevated …

Yinyang-Align: Benchmarking Contradictory Objectives And Proposing Multi-Objective Optimization Based Dpo For Text-To-Image Alignment, Amitava Das, Yaswanth Narsupalli, Gurpreet Singh, Vinija Jain, Vasu Sharma, Suranjana Trivedi, Aman Chadha, Amit Sheth

Publications

As Text-to-Image (T2I) models become more advanced, they face a fundamental challenge—balancing conflicting alignment goals such as faithfulness vs. artistic freedom, realism vs. stylization, and verifiability vs. creativity. Existing alignment methods often optimize for one objective at the cost of another, leading to inconsistencies in AI-generated images.
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/="/">In our latest work, YinYang-Align, we introduce a benchmarking framework to systematically evaluate these trade-offs and propose Contradictory Alignment Optimization (CAO)—a multi-objective extension of Direct Preference Optimization (DPO) that enables models to navigate competing alignment goals more effectively.

Variations In Hawaiian Plume Flux Controlled By Ancientmantle Depletion, Paul Béguelin, Andreas Stracke, Maxim D. Ballmer, Shichen Huang, Michael Wilig, Michael Bizimis

Faculty Publications

Mantle plumes—upwellings of buoyant rock in Earth's mantle—feed hotspot volcanoes such as Hawai‘i. The size of volcanoes along the Hawai‘i–Emperor chain, and thus the magma flux of the Hawaiian plume, has varied over the past 85 million years. Fifteen and two million years ago, rapid bursts in magmatic production led to the emergence of large islands such as Pūhāhonu, Maui Nui and Hawai‘i, but the underlying mechanisms remain enigmatic. Here, we use new radiogenic Ce–Sr–Nd–Hf isotope data of Hawaiian shield lavas to quantify the composition and proportion of the different constituents of the Hawaiian plume over time. We find that …

Childhood Sexual Trauma, Substance Use, And Antiretroviral Therapy Adherence Among Older Adults Living With Hiv: A Mediational Analysis, Monique J. Brown, Josie Zhang, Prince Nii Ossah Addo, Amandeep Kaur, Daniel Amoatika, Elizabeth L. Crouch Ph.D., Steven A. Cohen

Faculty Publications

Childhood sexual abuse (CSA) is linked to substance use and lower antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence. However, studies examining the mediational role of substance use between CSA and ART adherence are lacking. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the potential mediational role of substance use between CSA and ART adherence among older adults living with HIV (OALH) (n = 91). Mediation analyses assessed the direct and indirect relationships between CSA, substance use, and ART adherence. Statistically significant differences existed in substance use by gender (male vs. female: 12.3 vs. 9.97) and ART adherence by race (Black vs. …

Pilot Study: Initial Investigation Suggests Differences In Emt-Associated Gene Expression In Breast Tumor Regions, Kylie L. King, Hamed Abdollahi, Zoe Dinkel, Alannah Akins, Homayoun Valafar, Heather Dunn

Faculty Publications

Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is the most aggressive subtype and disproportionately affects African American women. The development of breast cancer is highly associated with interactions between tumor cells and the extracellular matrix (ECM), and recent research suggests that cellular components of the ECM vary between racial groups. This pilot study aimed to evaluate gene expression in TNBC samples from patients who identified as African American and Caucasian using traditional statistical methods and emerging Machine Learning (ML) approaches. ML enables the analysis of complex datasets and the extraction of useful information from small datasets. We selected four regions of interest …

An Investigation Of Travel Distance And Timeliness Of Breast Cancer Treatment Among A Diverse Cohort In The United States, Swann Arp Adams, Oluwole Adeyemi Babatunde, Whitney Zahnd, Peiyin Hung, Karen E. Wickersham, Nathaniel Bell Ph.D., Jan M. Eberth Ph.D.

Publications

Travel to and from distant cancer treatment facilities can place a significant burden on cancer patients, particularly rural and minority survivors. Thus, the purpose of our investigation was to examine the association between patient travel distance and delays in types of treatment for breast cancer (surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, and hormonal therapy) and treatment delays. Using a novel linkage between the state cancer registry and administrative data from Medicaid and a private insurance plan, 2155 BC patients were successfully linked to create the cohort. ArcGIS was used to geocode all case residences and treatment facility addresses and calculate network distance between …

Deep Learning-Based Superconductivity Prediction And Experimental Tests, Daniel Kaplan, Adam Zheng, Joanna Blawat, Rongying Jin, Robert J. Cava, Viktor Oudovenko, Gabriel Kotliar, Anirvan M. Sengupta, Weiwei Xie

Faculty Publications

The discovery of novel superconducting materials is a long-standing challenge in materials science, with a wealth of potential for applications in energy, transportation and computing. Recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI) have enabled expediting the search for new materials by efficiently utilizing vast materials databases. In this study, we developed an approach based on deep learning (DL) to predict new superconducting materials. We have synthesized a compound derived from our DL network and confirmed its superconducting properties in agreement with our prediction. Our approach is also compared to previous work based on random forests (RFs). In particular, RFs require knowledge …

Associations Between Social Determinants Of Health And Mental Health Disorders Among U.S. Population: A Cross-Sectional Study, S. Tanarsuwongkul

Faculty Publications

Aims

The impact of social determinants of health (SDOH) on mental health is increasingly realized. A comprehensive study examining the associations of SDOH with mental health disorders has yet to be accomplished. This study evaluated the associations between five domains of SDOH and the SDOH summary score and mental health disorders in the United States.

Methods

We analyzed data from a diverse group of participants enrolled in the All of Us research programme, a research programme to gather data from one million people living in the United States, in a cross-sectional design. The primary exposure was SDOH based on Healthy …

Durable Oxyfluoride Waste Forms For Salt Wastes From Molten Salt Reactors, Alevtina A. Maksimova, Jake W. Amoroso, Matthew Page, Gregory Morrison, Hans Conrad Zur Loye

Faculty Publications

Molten salt reactors (MSRs) are promising technology to replace traditional light and heavy water reactors in the near future. Waste management for MSRs, however, remains a pressing concern that needs to be resolved prior to realizing deployment of MSRs. Specifically, the generated salt waste needs to be safely sequestered, a task made difficult by the high solubility of the salt waste that can cause the release of radionuclides into the environment. This work demonstrates a new approach to immobilize multiple fluoride salts into a single waste form by converting highly-soluble fluorides to durable and stable oxyfluorides. Notably, we report a …

Temporal Network Analysis Of Comorbidities Among People With Hiv In South Carolina, Yunqing Ma, Matthew Lohman Ph.D., Monique J. Brown Ph.D., Mph, Yichen Li, Xiaoming Li Ph.D., Bankole Olatosi Ph.D., Jiajia Zhang Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

Introduction: People with HIV experience a high rate of comorbidities that can complicate their health outcomes. Understanding the prevalence, interrelationships and temporal development of these comorbidities is crucial for improving health management and quality of life for people with HIV. Methods: We used a population-based cohort extracted from statewide electronic health record (EHR) data in South Carolina (SC), including 18 649 people with HIV who survived at least 1 year after HIV diagnosis between January 1, 2005, and December 31, 2020. Comorbidities and organ systems were classified using ICD-10 codes. Network analysis was performed to assess the closeness centrality among …

Permutations Minimizing The Number Of Collinear Triples, Joshua Cooper, Jack Hyatt

Faculty Publications

We characterize the permutations of Fq whose graph minimizes the number of collinear triples and describe the lexicographically-least one, confirming a conjecture of Cooper-Solymosi. This question is connected to Dudeney’s No-3-in-a-Line problem, the Heilbronn triangle problem, and the structure of finite plane Kakeya sets. We discuss a connection with complete sets of mutually orthogonal latin squares and state a few open problems primarily about general finite affine planes.

The Serendipity Of Discovery: Life Of A Geochemist, Willard S. Moore

Faculty Publications

My strategy for writing this autobiography is to use examples of how working on seemingly different projects can often lead to outcomes more important than originally envisioned. Serendipity is a "happy accident"; specifically, the accident of discovering something useful without directly looking for it. This often occurs when two research projects converge unexpectedly. The main text contains examples of how serendipity has led me to important discoveries including: (a) finding surprisingly high ²²⁸Ra activities in the ocean, (b) developing a means of rapidly and quantitatively extracting radium from seawater, (c) devising a rapid, sensitive method of measuring ²²⁴Ra …

Knowledge And Ontology Enhanced Approach To Natural Language Understanding (Koe-Nlu) In Computational Social Media And Healthcare, Naga Usha Gayathri Lokala

Theses and Dissertations

Natural Language Understanding (NLU) faces both opportunities and challenges as the amount of social media and healthcare data grows. This is particularly evident in context-sensitive applications such as evaluating cognitive health, identifying mental health symptoms, and monitoring drug abuse. Even though traditional NLU models work well for processing language in a wide range of areas, they often lack the ability to understand language in a specific domain, reason in context, and incorporate structured external knowledge. This dissertation talks about the Knowledge and Ontology Enhanced Approach to Natural Language Understanding (KOE-NLU), a new framework that is meant to make NLU systems …

Modification Of Nanoparticles For Designed Interfaces, Tony Lee Neely, Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

The work contained herein, is focused on the design, synthesis, and characterization of polymer nanocomposite interfaces and the property enhancement afforded from said interface design. Through the use of reversible addition fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization for the grafting of polymer chains to silica nanoparticles, the surface of silica nanoparticles can be manipulated to tune the properties of the nanocomposite as a whole.

In the first part of this work, heterogeneity is introduced onto the surface of silica nanoparticles via a sequential RAFT polymerization to afford a bimodal brush system. A densely grafted, short brush population is polymerized from the …

Maternal Vulnerability Index And Severe Maternal Morbidity, Nansi S. Boghossian, Joshua Radack, Molly Passarella, Ciaran S. Phibbs, Lucy T. Greenberg, Jeffrey S. Buzas, George R. Saade, Jeannette Rogowski, Scott A. Lorch

Faculty Publications

Importance: Few studies have investigated the association of composite measures of neighborhood social determinants of health with severe maternal morbidity (SMM), and no research has examined this association for indices tailored to maternal health. Objective: To examine the association of scores in the Maternal Vulnerability Index (MVI), a tool developed to measure maternal risk of adverse health outcomes, with SMM. Design, Setting, and Participants: This retrospective, population-based cohort study was conducted in 5 states (2008-2020 for Michigan, Oregon, and South Carolina; 2008-2018 for Pennsylvania; and 2008-2012 for California) among individuals delivering a fetal death or a live birth between 22 …

Caregiving Burdens Of Task Time And Task Difficulty Among Paid And Unpaid Caregivers Of Persons Living With Dementia, Matthew Lee Smith, Jodi L. Southerland, Malinee Neelamegam, Gang Han, Shinduk Lee, Chung Lin Kew, Juanita Dawne R. Bacsu, Elyse Couch, Steffi M. Kim, Monique J. Brown Ph.D., Mph, Ayse Malatyali, Lucas Wilson, Zahra Rahemi, Jeremy Holloway, Marcia G. Ory

Faculty Publications

Background: Demands of caregivers of persons living with dementia (PLWD) are often influenced by the context of their caregiving situation. This study examines common and unique factors associated with caregiving burden in terms of task time and task difficulty among paid and unpaid caregivers of PLWD. Methods: Cross-sectional baseline survey data were analyzed from 107 paid and unpaid caregivers of PLWD participating in a larger NIH-funded study assessing the feasibility of using a novel in-situ sensor system. Oberst Caregiving Burden Scale constructs of task time and task difficulty served as dependent variables. Two least squares regression models were fitted, controlling …

Investing In The Development Of The Next Generation Of Mch Leaders, Karen A. Mcdonnell, Jamal Percy, Lisa Anders, Monique J. Brown Ph.D., Mph, Alice R. Richman, Julianna Deardorff, Monica S. Ruiz, Jihong Liu Sc.D., Kelli Russell, Audrey Snyder, Cassondra Marshall

Faculty Publications

The public health landscape is constantly evolving to address the strengths and needs of the community. Training for the public health workforce is leading the way, establishing an ecosystem approach that integrates individuals within social, political, and environmental contexts to promote health equity within a framework of social justice. One area of public health that is innovatively preparing the next generation of leaders is maternal and child health (MCH). In the United States, key indicators of health disparities within MCH remain stagnant, highlighting the need for training programs that develop future MCH professionals from diverse backgrounds. These professionals will deliver …

Healthcare Providers’ Perspective On Hiv Testing And Hypothetical Mhealth-Connected Linkage To Care Among Men Who Have Sex With Men (Msm) In South Carolina, Tony Brown, Prince Nii Ossah Addo, Monique J. Brown Ph.D., Mph, Xiaoming Li, Oluwafemi Adeagbo

Faculty Publications

Background: HIV continues to be an important public health concern in South Carolina (SC). However, an examination of providers’ willingness to use mHealth technologies to address ongoing barriers to HIV care and prevention strategies, particularly among men who have sex with men (MSM) is currently lacking in SC. We therefore explored HIV care providers’ perceptions of HIV testing and treatment uptake among MSM, and providers’ willingness to use mHealth technology to address barriers to HIV testing and treatment in SC. Methods: Between August and December 2021, we conducted semistructured virtual interviews with 10 HIV care providers recruited purposively based on …

Sars-Cov-2 Detection And Persistence In A Remote Amazonian Settlement, Glauco M. Silva, Roberto C. Ilacqua, Franciely G. Gonçalves, Carla M. Santana, Felipe T. Jordão, Paula R. Prist, Melissa S. Nolan Ph.D., Mph, Andreia F. Brilhante, Marcia A. Sperança, Gabriel Z. Laporta

Faculty Publications

Background: COVID-19 continues to pose a major global health challenge. Despite its geographic distance from Brazil’s major urban centers, Acre state has experienced notable outbreaks. This study assessed the detection and persistence of SARS-CoV-2 in the rural settlement of Santa Luzia, located in the remote municipality of Cruzeiro do Sul, Acre state, Brazil. Methods: In July 2022, a cross-sectional survey was conducted at 40 sites from an ongoing environmental study, selected by deforestation patterns and proximity to health posts. Saliva samples were collected from residents aged 5–90 years, followed by nucleic acid extraction and multiplex RT-qPCR for SARS-CoV-2 detection. Results: …

Molten Flux Synthesis Of Plutonium (Iv) Silicates K2Pusi2O7 And Rb2Pusi6O15, Travis K. Deason, Gregory Morrison, Amir Mofrad, Jake Amoroso, David Diprete, Theodore M. Besmann, Shanna L. Estes, Hans Conrad Zur Loye

Faculty Publications

Few plutonium containing silicates have been reported in the literature and only one other tetravalent plutonium silicate structure has been reported using the flux growth method. With the goal of understanding actinide incorporation into silicates, we describe herein two new plutonium (IV) silicates, Rb2PuSi6O15 and K2PuSi2O7, synthesized using a mixed alkali chloride/alkali fluoride flux growth. Both structures crystallize in the C2/c space group with lattice parameters a=24.2980(10) Å, b=7.1466(3) Å, c=17.2025(8) Å and 96.6560(10)° for Rb2PuSi6O15, and a=9.9478(2) Å, b=5.59820 (10) Å, c=13.1848(2) Å, and 105.7400(10)° for K2PuSi2O7. Comparisons to the synthesis of other reported alkali actinide silicates (Ce, U, …

Racial And Ethnic Differences In Outcomes Of Neonates Born At Less Than 30 Weeks' Gestation, 2018-2022, Nansi S. Boghossian, Marco Geraci, Erika M. Edwards, Jeffrey D. Horbar

Faculty Publications

Importance: Previous research has examined outcomes among very preterm newborns by the birthing parent's race and ethnicity, but knowledge about these trends during the COVID-19 pandemic is limited. Objective: To examine trends in outcomes among Black, Hispanic, and Asian preterm newborns compared with White preterm newborns. Design, Setting, and Participants: This cohort study (2018-2022) took place at 774 neonatal intensive care units in the Vermont Oxford Network. Participants were newborns born at 22 to 29 weeks' gestation. Exposure: Race and ethnicity. Main Outcomes and Measures: The primary outcomes were mortality and complications, including respiratory distress syndrome, necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), early-onset …

Capacity-Weighted Figures-Of-Merit For Battery Transport Metrics, Cj Sturgill, Christopher Sutton, Julian Schwenzel, Morgan Stefik

Faculty Publications

New battery materials with improved transport are needed. Typical measurements yield widely varying voltage-dependent diffusivities and reporting practices are diverse. Some materials (e.g. first-order phase change) have most redox occur at a specific voltage and may be sufficiently represented by singular transport metrics. Many rapid intercalation materials, however, exhibit second-order phase transitions with redox over a broad voltage range. How should such cases be compared? The use of capacity-weighted average values is suggested where voltage-dependent metrics are consolidated into representative descriptors as figures-of-merit. Examples are elaborated where differential capacity (dQ/dV) is used to derive a …

Mental Health Care Disparities Among Us Pregnant Individuals In 2020–2021: A Cross-Sectional Study, Julisa Tindall, Monique J. Brown Ph.D., Mph, Peiyin Hung

Faculty Publications

Purpose

To examine maternal characteristics associated with perceived unmet mental health needs and mental health care settings, focusing on residential rurality and race/ethnicity.

Methods

This cross-sectional study analyzed self-reported unmet mental health needs and mental health care settings among 1097 pregnant respondents in the 2020–2021 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, incorporating the complex sampling weights for national representativeness.

Findings

Non-Hispanic Black pregnant individuals and those living in nonmetro rural areas reported lower odds of unmet mental health needs compared to those in large metro areas and non-Hispanic White individuals. Pregnant individuals in nonmetro rural areas and non-Hispanic other …

Predicting Chaotic Systems With Quantum Echo-State Networks, Erik Connerty, Ethan N. Evans, Gerasimos Angelatos, Vignesh Narayanan

Publications

Recent advancements in artificial neural networks have enabled impressive tasks on classical computers, but they demand significant computational resources. While quantum computing offers potential beyond classical systems, the advantages of quantum neural networks (QNNs) remain largely unexplored. In this work, we present and examine a quantum circuit (QC) that implements and aims to improve upon the classical echo-state network (ESN), a type of reservoir-based recurrent neural networks (RNNs), using quantum computers. Typically, ESNs consist of an extremely large reservoir that learns high-dimensional embeddings, enabling prediction of complex system trajectories. Quantum echo-state networks (QESNs) aim to reduce this need for prohibitively …

Na2B12Si6Se18: A Novel B12-Cluster-Containing Quaternary Selenoborate Framework Material, Gopabandhu Panigrahi, Hunter B. Tisdale, Gregory Morrison, Hans Conrad Zur Loye

Faculty Publications

We report the successful synthesis of the new quaternary, three-dimensional Na₂B₁₂Si₆Se₁₈ material using a solid-state synthesis route. This compound is characterized by a unique framework structure that features the rare icosahedral [B₁₂]¹⁰⁺ cation which is connected via Si2Se6 polyhedral units into a 3D framework structure with Na+ ions located inside the channels. The Na₂B₁₂Si₆Se₁₈ compound crystallizes in the cubic crystal system in the space group Im, with lattice parameter a = 11.91110(10) Å and unit cell volume of 1689.88(4) ų. …

Investigation Of Magnesium-Potassium Phosphates As Potential Nuclear Waste Form For The Immobilization Of Minor Actinides, Hans Conrad Zur Loye, Petr Vecernik, Monika Kiselova, Vlastislav Kašpar, Hana Korenkova, Vlastimil Miller, Petr Bezdicka, Jan Šubrt, Natalija Murafa, Volodymyr Shkuropatenko, Sergey Sayenko

Faculty Publications

Several recent studies have evaluated technologies of spent nuclear fuel processing specifically for solidifying transuranic (TRU) waste as a by-product of fission. Of the TRU group, plutonium and the minor actinides will be responsible for the bulk of the radiotoxicity and heat generation of spent nuclear fuel in the long term (300 to 20,000 years). In this study, we investigated magnesium potassium phosphate (MKP)-based compounds as host waste forms for the encapsulation of inactive trivalent Nd and Sm as analogues of the minor trivalent actinides, Am and Cm. Waste forms were fabricated under ambient atmospheric conditions by adding 5 wt.% …