Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

System And Methods For Wireless Power Transfer Scheduling In A Wireless Power Transfer Network, Muhammad Omer Farooq

Department of Mathematics Publications

A transmitter in a wireless power transfer network (WPTN) needs to deliver wireless power to a number of wireless power receiver. There can be diverse set of wireless power receivers, for example, Internet of Things devices, smart phones, laptops, etc. The wireless power requirements for receivers vary depending upon their type and state. Commercially deployed WPTNs may also have different subscription plans for users, hence each user’s device should receive wireless power transfer (WPT) service based on the subscribed plan. Usually, a transmitter has to provide service to a number of receivers. Hence, the transmitter needs to have a WPT …

Evaluating The Effectiveness Of Readiness Assurance Testing As Part Of Team-Based Ecology Instruction, Danielle Berger, Larkin Powell

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Readiness Assurance Testing (RAT) incorporates content recall, immediate feedback and peer instruction, three strategies known to enhance student learning, into a single classroom activity. While iRAT and tRAT assessments are promising instructional tools, they are time-intensive to administer.

1.Do iRAT/tRAT tests promote student retention of content better than other in-class activities, justifying the investment of instructional time? 2.Are iRAT/tRAT tests beneficial across the spectrum of academic performance?

• Students get a larger proportion of RAT questions correct on exams than other multiple choice questions (Table 1, RAT~MC Intercept), supporting the claim that this instructional technique provides better content-retention than other …

Natural Resource System Size Can Be Used For Managing Recreational Use, D. S. Kane, K. L. Pope, K. D. Koupal, M. A. Pegg, C. Chizinski, M. Kaemingk

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Natural Environment: Protocol To Recover Pollen Grains On Bodies, Karl J. Reinhard, A. Barbosa

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

New Worlds Vr, Mitchell Toth, Wilson Secaur

Computer Science & Engineering Student Projects

Over the month of January, 2022, the developers built a 3D Virtual Reality (VR) game as part of the "New Worlds" engineering class project. New Worlds is a single-axis treadmill system designed for integration with VR. The goal is to immerse the user in a virtual world while walking on a physical track. As the engineers worked hard on the treadmill, the developers' task was to create this immersive VR world from scratch. They learned the necessary tools, decided on a theme, and built a cave featuring intense lighting, tunnels and caverns, and interactive elements that encourage single-axis exploration. They …

Formation Of Contact Binary Stars: 1) Kozai Cycles With Tidal Friction, Levi Carr, Lau Jenn Feng, Larry A. Molnar

Summer Research

A binary star is a system that contains two stars orbiting each other. A contact binary is a binary star whose component stars are so close that they share the same atmosphere (see Figure 1 on far right). They are the most common kind of eclipsing binary stars. Critical questions to be answered are: how do they form, how do they survive for a long time, and how do they ultimately die? This summer’s work focused on the first of those questions. A process is needed to bring a widely separated binary into contact. It has been suggested this requires …

Opinion Dynamics With Slowly Evolving Zealots, Ashlyn Degroot, Emma Schmidt, Todd Kapitula

Summer Research

In today's world, binary opinions are everywhere. People have thoughts on religion, politics, which restaurants are better, and everything in between. We have created a model using nonlinear ODEs to explore the dynamics of how people's opinions change over time.

Investigating Alamethicin Ion Channel Behavior In Lipid Bilayers, Vennisa Owusu-Barfi, Loren Haarsma

Summer Research

Lipid molecules are made up of a head group that is strongly attracted to water and a tail group that is less attracted to it. In water, they selfassemble into bilayers which form the basis of cell membranes. Ion channels are proteins in the lipid bilayer which control the flow of ions in and out of the cell. Alamethicin is a 20 amino-acid peptide produced by fungus. When added to a lipid bilayer they self-assemble into voltage-dependent ion channels which open for brief periods called dwell times, usually on order of a few milliseconds. Because alamethicin is a fairly simple …

The Electronic Structure Of Atoms: A New Approach, Jackson Ross, Krista Zogg, Katherine Selvaggio, Roger Dekock

Summer Research

No abstract provided.

The Development Of Fundamental Insights Into The Electronic Behaviors Of Next-Generation Materials, Sydney Lavan

Wayne State University Dissertations

We develop the fundamental mechanistic understanding of the microscopic behavior of three next generation materials: antiferroelectrics, hybrid perovskites and metal organic frameworks. These materials have the potential to be used in energy and light related applications which could provide a solution for the energy efficiency challenges we face in todays society. Ideally we need to begin to bridge the gap of developing candidate materials that possess high power density and high energy density. The first step in bridging this gap is understanding how the material influ- ences its structure and thus the properties and performance. We leverage vibrational spectroscopy and …

Lepton Flavor Violation And Effective Field Theories, Renae Conlin

Wayne State University Dissertations

The Standard Model is believed to be a low energy effective theory of some completetheory at higher energies. This is already evidenced in the observation of neutrino oscillations. Standard Model processes conserve the lepton flavor quantum numbers. Adding massive neutrinos to the Standard Model, the branching ratios of lepton flavor violating processes are found to be incredibly small. For example, a process μ → eγ has a branching ratio order ∼ 10^−54. These tiny branching ratios of lepton flavor violating processes indicate that they are especially clean areas to look for beyond the Standard Model physics. Any observed flavor violation …

Assembly Of Quantum Dots Into Porous Architectures: Methods, Mechanisms, And Applications, Karunamuni Lakmini Samantha Silva

Wayne State University Dissertations

ABSTRACT ASSEMBLY OF QUANTUM DOTS INTO POROUS ARCHITECTURES: METHODS, MECHANISMS, AND APPLICATIONS by KARUNAMUNI LAKMINI SAMANTHA SILVA May 2022 Advisor: Prof. Stephanie L. Brock Major: Chemistry Degree: Doctor of Philosophy The dissertation research is focused on achieving two main goals: (1) identifying the chemical parameters that govern the oxidative assembly method of semiconductor metal chalcogenide nanocrystals (NCs) to tune the properties of resultant gel structures of multicomponent systems, and (2) developing new assembly techniques to improve properties associated with their quantum-confined structures. NC assembly plays a key role in determining the performance of solid-state devices and the oxidative assembly method …

Understanding The Effects Of Ligand Environment On Important Properties Of Redox-Active Europium Using Computational Chemistry And T1-Weighted Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Brooke Anne Corbin

Wayne State University Dissertations

This thesis is a collection of seven chapters that describes a combination of literature research and experimental analyses into the study of inorganic complexes, with an emphasis on the photophysics and coordination of redox-active europium. The first chapter summarizes the key features of each chapter. The second and third chapters are detailed overviews, including historical context, current studies, and future goals of imaging science, with an emphasis on inorganic complexes. The fourth chapter describes the design of a screening procedure to study new ligand environments for redox-active europium using magnetic resonance imaging and a proof-of-concept experiment. The fifth chapter is …

Segmentation Of Intracranial Structures From Noncontrast Ct Images With Deep Learning, Evan Porter

Wayne State University Dissertations

Presented in this work is an investigation of the application of artificially intelligent algorithms, namely deep learning, to generate segmentations for the application in functional avoidance radiotherapy treatment planning. Specific applications of deep learning for functional avoidance include generating hippocampus segmentations from computed tomography (CT) images and generating synthetic pulmonary perfusion images from four-dimensional CT (4DCT).A single institution dataset of 390 patients treated with Gamma Knife stereotactic radiosurgery was created. From these patients, the hippocampus was manually segmented on the high-resolution MR image and used for the development of the data processing methodology and model testing. It was determined that …

Photophysics Of Metalloporphyrins Strongly Coupled To Cavity Photons, Aleksandr Avramenko

Wayne State University Dissertations

This dissertation will discuss the photophysics of metalloporphyrins, mainly CuTPP, ZnTPP, and H2TPP under strong light-matter coupling conditions. Strong light-matter coupling was achieved by embedding the previously mentioned chromophores into a spun coated PMMA polymer coating which is then incorporated as a spacer layer in a FabryPérot nano-cavity. The cavity thickness is chosen so that the cavity photon is of similar energy as the B, or Soret transition (2nd excited state) of the porphyrin molecule. The exchange of energy between the cavity photon and the molecular mode leads to the formation of polariton states.

Increasing the concentration of the molecules …

Synthesis And Investigation Of Properties In Ternary Transition Metal Phosphide Nanomaterials For Electrochemical Water Splitting, Tharanga Nisansala Batugedara

Wayne State University Dissertations

Nanoscale transition metal phosphides are emerging as efficient catalysts for hydrogen production via electrochemical water splitting. Although monometallic phases have been extensively studied, enhanced catalytic activities and stabilities can be gained by the synergism of two metals in bimetallic ternary transition metal phosphides. In this dissertation, we report (1) the effect of the counter electrode and electrolyte on stabilities of Co2−xRhxP nanoparticles for water reduction (hydrogen evolution reaction, HER), (2) novel synthetic protocol development and electrocatalytic water splitting activity and stability study on Ni2-xRhxP nanoparticles, and (3) a preliminary investigation employing cation exchange methods to synthesize Cu-M-P (M= Fe, Co, …

Kinase-Catalyzed Labeling To Identify Kinase-Substrate Pairs Using Γ-Phosphate Modified Atp Analogs, Rachel Beltman

Wayne State University Dissertations

Post-translational modifications (PTMs) are responsible for a variety of cellular processes. One such PTM is protein phosphorylation, which is catalyzed by kinases. Kinase enzymes play important roles in cellular signaling pathways, but dysregulation of kinase-mediated events results in the formation of diseases, which make kinases favorable drug targets. To uncover the role kinases play in the development of diseases, kinase-mediated cellular events need to be better understood. The current gap in the field is the lack of tools available to identify the kinase that is responsible for specific phosphorylation events within the cell. To improve the gap in the field, …

Sequences Of Random Matrices Modulated By A Discrete-Time Markov Chain, Huy Nguyen

Wayne State University Dissertations

In this dissertation, we consider a number of matrix-valued random sequences that are modulated by a discrete-time Markov chain having a finite space.Assuming that the state space of the Markov chain is large, our main effort in this work is devoted to reducing the complexity. To achieve this goal, our formulation uses time-scale separation of the Markov chain. The state-space of the Markov chain is split into subspaces. Next, the states of the Markov chain in each subspace are aggregated into a ``super'' state. Then we normalize the matrix-valued sequences that are modulated by the two-time-scale Markov chain. Under simple …

Atomic Layer Deposition (Ald) Of Lanthanide Oxide Films: Synthesis, Characterization, And Precursor Property Evaluation Of New Classes Of Lanthanide Complexes And Thermal Ald Of Erbium Oxide Thin Films, Navoda Amali Jayakodiarachchi

Wayne State University Dissertations

ATOMIC LAYER DEPOSITION (ALD) OF LANTHANIDE OXIDE FILMS: SYNTHESIS, CHARACTERIZATION, AND PRECURSOR PROPERTY EVALUATION OF NEW CLASSES OF LANTHANIDE COMPLEXES AND THERMAL ALD OF ERBIUM OXIDE THIN FILMSby NAVODA AMALI JAYAKODIARACHCHI August 2022 Advisor: Prof. Charles H. Winter Major: Chemistry (Inorganic) Degree: Doctor of Philosophy Lanthanide oxide-containing thin films are groups of materials with high application potential in numerous fields, including microelectronic, photovoltaic, catalysis, and surface-coating applications. These oxides are refractory materials with high melting points and thermodynamic stabilities, hence, are useful as heat and corrosion-resistant coatings. Further, due to the high refractive indices of lanthanide oxides, they are widely …

Biomedical Applications Of Lanthanide Nanomaterials, For Imaging, Sensing And Therapy, Qize Zhang, Stephen O'Brien, Jan Grimm

Publications and Research

The application of nanomaterials made of rare earth elements within biomedical sciences continues to make significant progress. The rare earth elements, also called the lanthanides, play an essential role in modern life through materials and electronics. As we learn more about their utility, function, and underlying physics, we can contemplate extending their applications to biomedicine. This particularly applies to diagnosis and radiation therapy due to their relatively unique features, such as an ultra-wide Stokes shift in the luminescence, variable magnetism and potentially tunable properties, due to the library of lanthanides available and their multivalent oxidation state chemistry. The ability to …

Developing A New Treatment For Superficial Fungal Infection Using Antifungal Collagen-Hsaf Dressing, Jing Zhong, Xiayi Yan, Xin Zuo, Xuan Zhao, Jiahui Yang, Qin Dou, Lulu Peng, Yuxiang Zhu, Yichen Xiao, Zeran Bian, Dalian He, Qiushuang Xu, Stephen Wright, Yaoyao Li, Liangcheng Du, Yan Wang, Jin Yuan

Department of Chemistry: Faculty Publications

Fungal pathogens are common causes of superficial clinical infection. Their increasing drug resistance gradually makes existing antifungal drugs ineffective. Heat stable antifungal factor (HSAF) is a novel antifungal natural product with a unique structure. However, the application of HSAF has been hampered by very low yield in the current microbial producers and from extremely poor solubility in water and common solvents. In this study, we developed an effective mode of treatment applying HSAF to superficial fungal infections. The marine-derived Lysobacter enzymogenes YC36 contains the HSAF biosynthetic gene cluster, which we activated by the interspecific signaling molecule indole. An efficient extraction …

Nebraska Water Center Annual Report 2022, Nebraska Water Center, Daugherty Water For Food Global Institute

Nebraska Water Center: Administrative Materials

CONTENTS

Overview: The Nebraska Water Center (https://watercenter.unl.edu)

Fast Facts: NWC 2022 Snapshot

Our Work

Water Sciences Lab Sees Rapid Growth in 2022 (https://watercenter.unl.edu/water-sciences-laboratory2)

WSL is Key to AltEn Contamination Monitoring (https://go.unl.edu/mead)

Know Your Well Project Enters Third Phase (https://knowyourwell.unl.edu)

Computer Science Students Build New Platform for Know Your Well Data Collection

Water Sciences Laboratory Helps Nebraska Tackle Nitrate (https://watercenter.unl.edu/water-sciences-laboratory2)

Nebraska Rural Poll Includes Water Quality Questions (https://ruralpoll.unl.edu and https://go.unl.edu/nitrate_strategy)

NWC Holds Platte River Basin Conference (https://watercenter.unl.edu/2022-nebraska-water-conference)

Spring Seminar Series (https://watercenter.unl.edu/spring-seminar-series)

Water Center Undergoes Five-Year …

Aboveground Carbon Responses To Experimental And Natural Hurricane Impacts In A Subtropical Wet Forest In Puerto Rico, Hervé Chevalier, Nicholas V.L. Brokaw, Sheila E. Ward, Jess K. Zimmerman, Aaron B. Shiels, John Bithorn, Samuel Matta Carmona

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Climate change and disturbance make it difficult to project long-term patterns of carbon sequestration in tropical forests, but large ecosystem experiments in these forests can inform predictions. The Canopy Trimming Experiment (CTE) manipulates two key components of hurricane disturbance, canopy openness and detritus deposition, in a tropical forest in Puerto Rico. We documented how the CTE and a real hurricane affected tree recruitment, biomass, and aboveground carbon storage over 15 years. In the CTE treatments, we trimmed branches, but we did not fell trees. We expected that during the 14-year period after initial canopy trimming, regrowth of branches and stems …

Behavioral States In Space And Time: Understanding Landscape Use By An Invasive Mammal, Steven M. Gray, John M. Humphreys, Robert A. Montgomery, Dwayne R. Etter, Kurt C. Vercauteren, Daniel B. Kramer, Gary J. Roloff

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Animal movement models can be used to understand species behavior and assist with implementation of management activities. We explored behavioral states of an invasive wild pig (Sus scrofa) population that recently colonized central Michigan, USA, 2014–2018. To quantify environmental factors related to wild pig movement ecology and spatio‐temporal landscape use, we predicted wild pig behavioral states relative to land cover type, landscape structure (i.e., edge and patch cohesion), and weather conditions. We used global positioning system (GPS)‐collars and monitored 8 wild pigs from 2014–2018. We fit local convex hulls and calculated movement metrics revealing 3 wild pig behavioral states (resting, …

Accounting For Animal Movement Improves Vaccination Strategies Against Wildlife Disease In Heterogeneous Landscapes, Katherine M. Mcclure, Guillaume Bastille-Rousseau, Amy J. Davis, Carolyn A. Stengel, Kathleen M. Nelson, Richard B. Chipman, George Wittemyer, Zaid Abdo, Amy Gilbert, Kim M. Pepin

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Oral baiting is used to deliver vaccines to wildlife to prevent, control, and eliminate infectious diseases. A central challenge is how to spatially distribute baits to maximize encounters by target animal populations, particularly in urban and suburban areas where wildlife such as raccoons (Procyon lotor) are abundant and baits are delivered along roads. Methods from movement ecology that quantify movement and habitat selection could help to optimize baiting strategies by more effectively targeting wildlife populations across space. We developed a spatially explicit, individual-based model of raccoon movement and oral rabies vaccine seroconversion to examine whether and when baiting …

Rodents In Agriculture: A Broad Perspective, Gary Witmer

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

The largest taxonomic group of mammals is rodents, with over 2200 species known around the world [1]. More recently, it was stated that over 2500 species exist [2]. Many species exist on all continents, with the exception of Antarctica. Rodents have adapted to all ecosystems of the world, including tundra, alpine, temperate forests, grasslands, arid regions, and aquatic systems. They provide many ecosystem functions, including soil aeration and mixing, seed and spore dispersal, vegetation succession, and being an important food source for predatory animals. Some species of rodents are even consumed by people in some parts of the world. Most …

Transmission Of Antibiotic Resistance At The Wildlife-Livestock Interface, Shinyoung Lee, Peixin Fan, Ting Liu, Anni Yang, Raoul K. Boughton, Kim M. Pepin, Ryan S. Miller, Kwangcheol Casey Jeong

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Antibiotic-resistant microorganisms (ARMs) are widespread in natural environments, animals (wildlife and livestock), and humans, which has reduced our capacity to control life threatening infectious disease. Yet, little is known about their transmission pathways, especially at the wildlife-livestock interface. This study investigated the potential transmission of ARMs and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) between cattle and wildlife by comparing gut microbiota and ARG profiles of feral swine (Sus scrofa), coyotes (Canis latrans), cattle (Bos taurus), and environmental microbiota. Unexpectedly, wild animals harbored more abundant ARMs and ARGs compared to grazing cattle. Gut microbiota of cattle was …

No Panacea Attractant For Wild Pigs (Sus Scrofa), But Season And Location Matter, Nathan P. Snow, Caitlin A. Kupferman, Michael J. Lavelle, Kim M. Pepin, Madeline H. Melton, Whitney J. Gann, Kurt C. Vercauteren, James C. Beasley

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Wild pigs (Sus scrofa) are a prolific invasive species throughout many regions of the world that cause extensive economic and environmental damage. Trapping is a common strategy for reducing their populations with baits (i.e., food) and attractants (e.g., scents) used to lure wild pigs into traps. However, there is little information on which scent attractants may attract wild pigs more readily and rapidly across regions and seasons. We examined 60 scent attractants for wild pigs that could be used to increase trapping success across three seasons (winter, spring, and fall) and in two geographic regions, including a warm …

Summer Habitat Use And Movements Of Invasive Wild Pigs (Sus Scrofa) In Canadian Agro-Ecosystems, Corey J. Kramer, Melanie R. Boudreau, Ryan S. Miller, Ryan Powers, Kurt C. Vercauteren, Ryan K. Brook

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Resource selection informs understanding of a species’ ecology and is especially pertinent for invasive species. Since introduced to Canada, wild pigs (Sus scrofa Linnaeus, 1978) remain understudied despite recognized negative impacts on native and agricultural systems globally. Elsewhere in North America, pigs typically use forests and forage in agricultural crops. We hypothesized Canadian wild pigs would behave similarly, and using GPS locations from 15 individuals, we examined diel and seasonal resource selection and movement in the Canadian prairie region. Forests were predominately selected during the day, while corn (Zea mays L.), oilseeds, and wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) …

Predation Thresholds For Reintroduction Of Native Avifauna Following Suppression Of Invasive Brown Treesnakes On Guam, Robert M. Mcelderry, Eben H. Paxton, Andre V. Nguyen, Shane R. Siers

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

The brown treesnake (BTS) (Boiga irregularis) invasion on Guåhan (in English, Guam) led to the extirpation of nearly all native forest birds. In recent years, methods have been developed to reduce BTS abundance on a landscape scale. To help assess the prospects for the successful reintroduction of native birds to Guåhan following BTS suppression, we modeled bird population persistence based on their life history characteristics and relative sensitivity to BTS predation. We constructed individual-based models and simulated BTS predation in hypothetical founding populations for each of seven candidate bird species. We represented BTS predation risk in two steps: …