Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

A Rock Engineering System Model For Predicting Fragment Size Of Muck-Pile Using Geometric Parameters And Rock Mass Properties, Patrick Adeniyi Adesida, Victor Abioye Akinbinu, Babatunde Adebayo

Journal of Sustainable Mining

This study aimed to evaluate rock fragmentation risk indexes and develop a predictive model for the median size of fragment (X₅₀) using the Rock Engineering System (RES). The methodology includes the analysis of 15 significant parameters of rock properties and blast design, which are considered to be important to rock fragmentation from 30 selected blast sites. These parameters include rock type, hardness, blast-hole diameter, charge weight, blast pattern, and others that control fragmentation results. Statistical analysis was performed to validate the RES-based model developed from these parameters. The model exhibited a strong predictive capacity, evidenced by a …

A New Low-Rate Stable Hydrogel Cathode For Aqueous Zn-Ion Batteries, Roya Rajabi, Shichen Sun, Jamil A. Khan, Morgan Stefik, Kevin Huang

Faculty Publications

Aqueous Zn-ion batteries (ZIBs) are attractive candidates for large-scale energy storage owing to the abundance, low cost, and intrinsic safety of Zn metal. However, their practical application is hindered by poor cycle stability, especially at low current densities, due to cathode dissolution and limited electrochemically active sites (EAS). Herein, a hydrogel-based cathode comprising ammonium vanadate, carbon black, and a Zn-ion-conducting carboxymethyl chitosan–acrylamide hydrogel matrix doped with Zn(ClO4)2 is reported. This design establishes a continuous Zn-ion-conducting network, thereby maximizing EAS density throughout the electrode volume. The ZIB with the hydrogel cathode exhibits outstanding cycling stability, with 77% capacity retention after 2000 …

Deep Learning Based Contactless Fingerprint Identification, Mohammad Alsmirat, M. Moneb Khaled, Aghyad A.L. Sayadi

Faculty Publications

Biometric authentication systems, particularly contactless fingerprint methods, offer enhanced security and convenience across various domains like access control, law enforcement, and finance. Despite these advantages, contactless systems face significant challenges related to image quality, finger orientation, and environmental factors. To address this, our paper presents the first extensive deep learning-based study on contactless fingerprint recognition using a large dataset of 2,143 images from 175 individuals. Our proposed approach integrates state-of-the-art preprocessing techniques with deep learning models to boost identification performance. After studying various transfer learning models, we achieved a high accuracy of 93.5%. We also conducted two further studies on …

What Controls Ice Shelf Isotopic Variability? Local And Global Processes Preserved Within Ice Cores Across The Larsen C Ice Shelf, Antarctica, Orion Laurene Schomber

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Antarctic Peninsula (AP) is one of the foremost indicators of anthropogenic global warming as it interacts with both atmospheric and oceanic processes. Although ice shelves across the AP have undergone increased rates of disintegration over the last 30 years, limited in-situ measurements have been investigated. Assessment of three short (~30 m) firn cores (J108, J208, and J409) across the Larsen C ice shelf (LCIS) provide insight into local, regional, and global processes. Average core densities and isotopic variability (δ¹⁸O and δ²H) fall within expected ranges for all cores, indicating signal preservation through firn. However, isotopic maxima in J108 and …

Mapping Seagrass Extent Using Sentinel-2 Satellite Imagery: A Case Study In Salt River Bay, United States Virgin Islands, Chelsea O. Bryant

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Seagrass beds provide important services in many coastal ecosystems. They provide habitat and food for a wide range of marine species, stabilize sediments, and prevent coastal erosion. These services support local fisheries and tourism-driven economies. Yet, seagrass ecosystems are threatened by changes in water quality, sedimentation, and other stressors. This study investigated the interannual variability in seagrass extent in Salt River Bay, United States Virgin Islands (USVI), from 2018 to 2024. The goals were to better understand temporal dynamics in seagrass extent and evaluate the influence of turbidity as a driver of seagrass health and distribution. The overarching research question …

2025 October 23 - Tennessee Weekly Drought Summary, Tennessee Climate Office, East Tennessee State University

Tennessee Climate Office Weekly Drought Summaries

No abstract provided.

Effect Of Au Nanoparticles Doping On The Structure, Surface Morphology And Optical Properties Of Znago Nanorods, Mohsin Talib Mohammed, Salah M. Saleh Al-Khazali, Bassam A. Salih, Adel H. Omran Alkhayatt

Karbala International Journal of Modern Science

In this work, nanoparticles (NPs) composed of noble elements (Au and Ag) were prepared using a chemical reduction method and then combined with a spray pyrolysis technique for synthesizing ZnAgO and Au-doped ZnAgO nanorods (NRs). The films were produced by adding 2 wt% of Ag NPs and 2, 4, and 6 wt% of Au NPs at 420°C. The results showed that the films have a polycrystalline ZnO (wurtzite) with a hexagonal structure. Also, all films had a preference orientation along the (002) plane. The crystal size increased with increasing Au doping from 64.4 to 65.33 nm. For ZnO doped with …

Star-Critical Weakened Ramsey Numbers, Mark R. Budden, Monu Moun, Jagjeet Jakhar

Theory & Applications of Graphs

The weakened Ramsey number $r^{s,t}(G)$ is defined to be the least $p\in \mathbb{N}$ such that every $t$-coloring of the edges of the complete graph $K_p$ contains a subgraph isomorphic to $G$ that is spanned by edges that use at most $s$ colors ($1\le s\le t-1$). The star-critical weakened Ramsey number $r^{s,t}_*(G)$ then determines the minimum number of edges that must join a vertex to $K_{r^{s,t}(G)-1}$ in order for this Ramsey property to hold. We begin by showing that $r_*^{s,t}(K_n)=r^{s,t}(K_n)-1$ for all $n\in \mathbb{N}$. Then, building off of Khamseh and Omidi's recent determination of $r^{s,t}(K_{1,n})$ when $s=t-1$ and $s=t-2$, we focus …

2025 Celebration Of Scholarship, Creativity, And Engagement, Todd Bruns, Jaime Pedigo, Jennifer Smith, Patty Watson, Heather Wohltman, Amanda Wolf

Programs

Each year, Eastern Illinois University proudly recognizes the outstanding achievements of our faculty in research, creativity, and engagement. This collection of accomplishments reflects the dedication of an engaged faculty committed to excellence and the continual pursuit of knowledge. Many of these successes were made possible through meaningful collaboration with our students, who contribute as co-authors, research assistants, and partners in bringing ideas to life. Some of these professional milestones represent years of effort, demonstrating remarkable persistence and determination. We offer our heartfelt congratulations on this wide range of achievements, which bring distinction to our departments, colleges, and the University as …

First Principles Molecular Dynamics Simulations Of Infrared And Raman Vibrational Spectra Of H5o2 +, D5o2 +, Dh4o2 +, And D4ho2 + From 50 To 300 K, Oluwaseun Omodemi, Martina Kaledin

Faculty Articles

We report molecular dynamics simulations of infrared (IR) and Raman spectra of H5O2+ and its deuterium-substituted analogs. We use the well-tested HBB potential and dipole surfaces along with a recently fitted polarizability surface of CCSD(T)/aug-cc-pVTZ quality. The focus of the present work is to provide new insights into the O···O stretch region, located in the [500–700] cm–1 spectral range, by means of analyzing the spectra over a broad range of temperatures: from 50 to 300 K. Also, rovibrational thermal averaging was performed to untangle the unusually complex spectra of partially deuterated isotopologues DH4O2+ and D4HO2+ with H and D minority …

Joint Neutrino Oscillation Analysis From The T2k And Nova Experiments, S. Abubakar, M. A. Acero, B. Acharya, P. Adamson, N. Anfimov, A. Antoshkin, E. Arrieta-Diaz, L. Asquith, A. Aurisano, D. Azevedo, A. Back, N. Balashov, P. Baldi, A. Bambah, E. F. Barenboim, A. Bashyal, A. Basti, K. Bromberg, N. Buchanan, Roberto Petti

Faculty Publications

The landmark discovery that neutrinos have mass and can change type (or flavour) as they propagate—a process called neutrino oscillation^1,2,3,4,5,6—has opened up a rich array of theoretical and experimental questions being actively pursued today. Neutrino oscillation remains the most powerful experimental tool for addressing many of these questions, including whether neutrinos violate charge-parity (CP) symmetry, which has possible connections to the unexplained preponderance of matter over antimatter in the Universe^7,8,9,10,11. Oscillation measurements also probe the mass-squared differences between the different neutrino mass states (Δm²), whether there are two light states and a heavier …

Enhancing Cyberattack Resiliency Through The Radiotherapy Backup And Recovery Dashboard Tool, Justin Pijanowski, Eric Nguyen, Yasin Abdulkadir, Justin Hink, Yevgeniy Vinogradskiy, James Lamb

Department of Radiation Oncology Faculty Papers

PURPOSE: Radiation Oncology departments impacted by recent cyberattacks were unable to access data backups or their Record and Verify (R&V) system and therefore faced challenges to resume patient treatments in a timely manner. We present a novel software tool that backs-up critical radiotherapy treatment information and displays essential information for on-treatment patients in an intuitive and accessible dashboard allowing clinics to continue radiotherapy treatments. The purpose of this report is to describe implementation details, challenges, and share open-source code to facilitate radiation oncology clinics' efforts to develop tools to improve cyberattack resiliency.

METHODS: The Radiotherapy Backup and Recovery Dashboard Tool …

Geometry And Analysis Of The Grusin Operator, Gustavo Hoepfner, Andrew Raich

Mathematical Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

In this paper we introduce a new technique for analyzing the heat kernel associated to the Grusin Laplacian. We prove pointwise estimates for arbitrary derivatives of the Grusin heat kernel and the resolvent in terms of the control distance associated with the Grusin operator. Our technique is based on the globalL(1)-Gevrey method.

Identifying B-Vitamin Requirements And Phycosphere Interactions For The Hab-Forming Dinoflagellate, Pyrodinium Bahamense Var. Bahamense, Lydia A. Ruggles

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Harmful Algal Blooms (HAB) negatively affect economies, ecosystems, and public health through mass proliferation and toxin production. The HAB species, Pyrodinium bahamense var. bahamense, is a saxitoxin-producing dinoflagellate found in tropical and subtropical estuarine waters globally. In two Florida estuaries, Old Tampa Bay and the Indian River Lagoon, P. bahamense is a recurrent HAB species, and the exact timing and intensity of bloom peaks in these estuaries vary interannually. Factors that are suspected to contribute to blooms include temperature, residence times, nutrients, and salinity. However, many HAB dinoflagellates require vitamin B12 for growth and bloom development. Thus, B12 may influence …

Revised Draft Final 2022 Unreclaimed Sites Sampling: Ur-13 Site Evaluation Summary Report, Pioneer Technical Services, Inc.

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Adverse Childhood Experiences, Positive Childhood Experiences, And Digital Media Use Among Children And Adolescents In The United States, Elizabeth L. Crouch, Emma Boswell, Monique J. Brown Ph.D., Kevin J. Bennett

Publications

No abstract provided.

Myfoodrx: A Personalized Food-As-Medicine Mhealth Application For Food-Insecure Adults With Chronic Conditions, Jay Hiteshkumar Jariwala

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Food insecurity (FI) remains a persistent public health challenge in the United States, disproportionately affecting underserved populations and contributing to higher rates of chronic conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, and obesity. Traditional Food-as-Medicine programs have emerged as promising interventions, but often follow a generalized, non-personalized approach that limits long-term effectiveness, especially among diverse, high-risk communities. This thesis presents MyFoodRx, a personalized mobile health (mHealth) application designed to address the intersection of food insecurity and chronic disease through tailored nutritional guidance, real-time pantry integration, and adaptive educational content.

Developed through a User-Centered Design (UCD) process, MyFoodRx leverages a modular client–server architecture, …

The Orange Glow In The Sunshine State: Three Visions Of Plato In Florida (1970-1990), Ryan Mcgahan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The PLATO network, a collection of mainframe computers, terminals, and educational software, has received an increasing amount of scholarly attention in the last decade as a social precursor to the modern internet. Existing histories have neglected to investigate the ways in which PLATO and its related business enterprise worked to accelerate the shift in university governance away from classical liberal ideas centering the public good and towards a more profit-centered neoliberal rationality. By tracing the rise of PLATO in Florida universities, this paper argues that PLATO aided and was aided by the shifting priorities of American universities in the 1970s …

Inferred Global Dense Residue Transition Graphs From Primary Structure Sequences Enable Protein Interaction Prediction Via Directed Graph Convolutional Neural Networks, Islam A. Ebeid, Haoteng Tang, Pengfei Gu

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Introduction: Accurate prediction of protein-protein interactions (PPIs) is crucial for understanding cellular functions and advancing the development of drugs. While existing in-silico methods leverage direct sequence embeddings from Protein Language Models (PLMs) or apply Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) to 3D protein structures, the main focus of this study is to investigate less computationally intensive alternatives. This work introduces a novel framework for the downstream task of PPI prediction via link prediction.

Methods: We introduce a two-stage graph representation learning framework, ProtGram-DirectGCN. First, we developed ProtGram, a novel approach that models a protein's primary structure as a hierarchy of …

Towards Mitigation Of Hallucination For Llm-Empowered Agents: Progressive Generalization Bound Exploration And Watchdog Monitor, Siyuan Liu, Wenjing Liu, Zhiwei Xu, Xin Wang, Bo Chen, Tao Li

Michigan Tech Publications

Empowered by large language models (LLMs), intelligent agents have become a popular paradigm for interacting with open environments to facilitate AI deployment. However, hallucinations generated by LLMs - where outputs are inconsistent with facts - pose a significant challenge, undermining the credibility of intelligent agents. Only if hallucinations can be mitigated, the intelligent agents can be used in real-world without any catastrophic risk. Therefore, effective detection and mitigation of hallucinations are crucial to ensure the dependability of agents. Unfortunately, the related approaches either depend on white-box access to LLMs or fail to accurately identify hallucinations. To address the challenge posed …

Where Have You Been? Backtracking Microplastic To Its Source Using The Biomolecular Composition Of The Ecocorona, Amanda L. Dawson, Utpal Bose, Sophia Escobar-Correas, Kuok Yap, David J. Craik, Cassandra L. Pegg

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Microplastics are a diffuse contaminant with various global sources, pathways, and sinks. This study aimed to backtrack microplastics across environments using metaproteomic and eDNA metabarcoding information stored within the ecocorona. Pristine polyamide (PA) fibers, polyethylene terephthalate (PET) fibers and fragments, and PET and PA preincubated in bovine serum albumin (BSA) were deployed into a tank housing Penaeus monodon to develop an ecocorona. Upon collection, BSA was detected within the ecocorona, along with P. monodon proteins, using mass spectrometry. BSA preincubation influenced the diversity and abundance of ecocorona proteins with pristine microplastics having more significantly enriched proteins. Most ecocorona proteins reflected …

An Empirical Investigation Into The Effect Of Brain Drain “Japa Syndrome” On Agile Practitioners Developing Healthcare Information Systems Software In Nigeria, Yazidu Buba Salihu, Julian M. Bass, Gloria E. Iyawa

Communications of the IIMA

Within the software engineering context, agile approaches encourage customer collaboration, iterative development, and flexibility. However, the mass exodus of highly skilled professionals, known as the “brain drain” or "Japa Syndrome," has emerged as a significant challenge, especially in Nigeria. This phenomenon has particularly impacted agile software development practitioners by undermining project continuity, knowledge transfer, and team dynamics. This study empirically examines the effect of brain drain, “Japa Syndrome,” on agile practitioners developing healthcare information systems software in Nigeria. It employed a qualitative, multi-method approach to gather empirical data from 13 agile practitioners in Nigeria’s healthcare information systems sector. The study …

Genetic Engineering For Pastures, W J. Peacock

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

The first genetically engineered food products from horticultural production systems are now entering the mnrke< and field trials of genetically engineered crop species are well advanced. We cnn expect that a range of crop cultivars, in which gene

Grassland For Sustainable Ecosystems, Malcolm Hadley

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Grasslnnds present many advantages for examining issues related to sustainability. Grasslands include planted pastures as well as a variety of natural rangelands in situations ranging from semi-arid to subhumid. Diversity is also reflected in the spectrum of grassland users and uses, for example, nomadic pastoralism, extensive ranches, intensive pastures, wildlife tourism, game hunting. And in terms of sustainability of resource management, grasslands encompass a wide range of contrasting situations and conflicts in resource use. Heavy grazing pressure associated with increasing human populations in certain tropical savannas, the implications of rural depopulation to traditional pasture management in alpine regions, and the …

Grasslands For Our World, F Riveros

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

The present-day role of grasslands and fodder is reviewed with respect agriculture, animal production and environmental concerns. The world's grazing lands are a finite resource and, overall, arc being badly managed; in most developing countries action is required now, before it is too late. They will continue to be a major source of animal feed for the foreseeable future; encroachment from cropping will continue locally but, for much of what is now natural pasture, exploitation by the grazing animal .will remain the major means of obtaining an economic return; the task of grassland professionals is to assist the managers of …

Human Impact On Terrestrial Ecosystems - What We Know And What We Are Doing About It, H A. Mooney

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

At present the impact of humankind on the Earth System is substantial and will become greater as we continue to add over 80 million people to the global population each year. Collectively the human species utilises over a third of the total fresh water that is available, as well as an equivalent amount of the total terrestrial productivity. Possil energy is being consumed at a prodigious rate and fuels, among other things, over a half a billion vehicles. To support the large human population the Earth has been greatly reconfigured with much of the land utilised for grazing and agriculture. …

Science And Information For Our Grasslands, G A. Nores, R R. Vera

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

This paper favours a view of grasslands, and agricultural research in general, that extends well beyond the limits of the scientific community and promotes the active involvement of scientists in current societal debates from a scientific perspective. It is argued that in developed countries environmental concerns rather than production growth will tend to dominate future social debate. In developing countries there is a need to balance agricultural growth with responsible management of natural resources. Needs for new technology go beyond improving biophysical efficiency, and involve economic and social efficiency objectives. The relevance of grassland research is assessed in terms of …

Vegetation Dynamics In Grazed Systems: A Hierarchical Perspective, D D. Briske

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Grassland vegetation consists of a series of hierarchical levels including the tiller, plant, population and community which collectively influence the productivity and stability of grazed systems. These hierarchical levels may respond uniformly to influence vegetation dynamics, but frequently additional complexity is encountered by the occurrence of opposing responses between or among hierarchical levels. Consequently, it is important to con­sider responses at several hierarchical levels to achieve an accurate interpretation of vegetation dynamics to graz­ing within the community. The significance of a hierarchical perspective to vegetation management is illustrated with examples from bunchgrass dominated rangelands at the level of the individual …

Forage Conservation And Physico-Chemical Conversion, E Zimmer

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

The factors on which the digestibility of organic matter (dMO) of forages depend are now well-known. In temperate forages, this digestibility depends mainly on the growth stage, the rank of the growth-cycle, and the botanical species. It is constantly decreasing with advancing age, especially during the first growth-cycle. In after­math growth-cycles, high temperatures accelerate the decrease of digestibility with age. Tropical forages follow the same laws, but tropical grasses are less digestible than cool-season grasses, especially at young stages and in warm weather. This is partly due to the fact that high temperatures increase cell-wall contents and lignification, and also …

The Feeding Value Of Forages, C Demarquilly

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

The lower productivity of legume based swards and their instability of yield from year to year compared with nitrogen fertilised grass swards continues to be a major constraint on the integration of leguminous nitrogen fixing species into present-day farming systems. Most legume systems have a high biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) potential which is rarely attained in the· field due to limiting environmental or management factors. Enhancement of BNF through manipulation of the Rhizobium and plant components of the symbiosis must be viewed as a long-term objective. Optimisation of nitrogen fixation in the short-term may best be achieved through optimisation of …