The LAIR at East Texas A&M
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Blast Wave Simulator for Laminated Glass Panels Experimental Evaluation
No full textThe study of blast loads on structures is important due to the potential of significant consequences in various scenarios. From terrorist attacks to industrial accidents, comprehending how structures respond to blast waves is critical for ensuring public safety and designing resilient structures. Studying these effects typically involves two main methods: free-field tests with live explosives and shock tube tests. Although shock tube testing offers certain advantages, both approaches are costly and demand significant space. This research aims to develop a cost-effective and straightforward technique for generating stress waves that closely replicate the progressive and spatial characteristics of free-field or shock tube blast waves. This method was designed to evaluate the dynamic response of laminated glass panels. The stress wave was generated by impacting a piston on the fluid inside a tube, which was connected to a fluid chamber. This setup produced impulsive loads that were distributed across a laminated glass test panel. Moreover, it was used to simulate the shock near filed explosions for a certain part of a structure. High-speed cameras were utilized to analyze the initial velocity of flying glass fragments. The apparatus successfully produced various blast waves and impulsive profiles for different drop weight heights. The initial velocities of randomly selected flying shards ranged from 3 m/s to 4 m/s
New Insights into Supradense Matter from Dissecting Scaled Stellar Structure Equations
No full textThe strong-field gravity in general relativity (GR) realized in neutron stars (NSs) renders the equation of state (EOS) P(ε) of supradense neutron star matter to be essentially nonlinear and refines the upper bound for ϕ≡P/ε to be much smaller than the special relativity (SR) requirement with linear EOSs, where P andεare respectively the pressure and energy density of the system considered. Specifically, a tight bound ϕ ≲ 0.374 is obtained by perturbatively anatomizing the intrinsic structures of the scaled Tolman–Oppenheimer–Volkoff (TOV) equations without using any input nuclear EOS. New insights gained from this novel analysis provide EOS-model-independent constraints on the properties (e.g., density profiles of the sound speed squared s2 = dP/dε and trace anomaly Δ=1/3−ϕ) of cold supradense matter in NS cores. Using the gravity-matter duality in theories describing NSs, we investigate the impact of gravity on supradense matter EOS in NSs. In particular, we show that the NS mass MNS, radius R, and compactness ξ≡MNS/R scale with certain combinations of its central pressure and energy density (encapsulating its central EOS). Thus, observational data on these properties of NSs can straightforwardly constrain NS central EOSs without relying on any specific nuclear EOS model
Empowering Collaborative Application Development: A Robust Framework for Ad-Hoc Distributed Systems
No full textThe amalgamation of ubiquity, mobility, computing prowess, storage, and communication of the portable electronic devices including smartphones, wearable devices, tablets have significantly altered the fabric of human existence. The software applications for these mobile devices possess the capability to disseminate and receive information, thereby enable the development of applications that may execute in collaborative manner. However, in situations with ad-hoc connectivity unavailability of infrastructure and communication breakdown are common, which inhibit information sharing across the devices, and hence affect the applications running in the collaborative spaces. Further the applications developers face challenges while developing reliable collaborative applications that can seamlessly execute in ad-hoc communication settings with recurring issues with device connectivity. Therefore, it is necessary to provide a reliable framework to the application developers which provides such an abstraction that they may create robust applications without any concern about random communication disruptions. To address the aforementioned issues, this article proposes a framework that facilitates the development of reliable and efficient collaborative applications that communicate across devices while working in ad-hoc device connectivity settings. The proposed framework provides an abstraction of some major components including service exposition, service registration, storage, and synchronization while ensuring robustness to the challenges posed by the intermittent connectivity failures. The efficacy of the framework has been demonstrated through a detailed experimental evaluation using a custom developed collaborative application run in a variety of operational settings over different portable devices in ad-hoc settings. The results reveal that the framework not only successfully mitigates the challenges posed by the ad-hoc device connectivity, but also the abstractions provided by the framework not only enables the application developers create customized robust collaborative applications with significantly fewer lines of code, but also without worrying about the intermittent communication failures among the involved devices
Third-Grade Teachers’ Instructional Strategies for The STAAR in Title I Schools in the Aftermath of Covid-19
No full textThis qualitative case study addressed instructional practices used by third-grade teachers teaching at Title I schools to provide strategies to teach higher-order thinking skills in reading comprehension. In Texas, third-grade students were required to take the reconstructed STAAR assessment at the end the 2022–2023 school year. The teachers interviewed in this study currently taught third-grade students who were in first grade during the 2020–2021 school year, when schools and classrooms were affected by mandated COVID-19 safety protocols. Therefore, the third-grade students had begun their educational journey in first grade during the onset of the COVID pandemic. Five third-grade teachers teaching at Title I schools at a Texas independent school district took part in interviews to discuss their instructional practices
The Relationship Between Shoulder Mobility and Upper Body Mass on 2-RM Bench Press in Division I Collegiate Football Players
No full textStrength may come at the cost of mobility as recent studies have reported an inverse relationship between shoulder range of motion (ROM) and strength, with an increase in strength causing a decrease in ROM (Shitara et al., 2022). The purpose of this study was to determine if upper body muscle mass or shoulder mobility are associated with two-repetition max (2-RM) bench press performance in collegiate football players. Data from 80 Division I football players (20.5 ± 1.4 yrs., 182.8 ± 6.9 cm, 100.9 ± 22.7 kg) who participated in Spring Football 2023 were examined. Athletes were asked to self-report their estimated 2-RM bench press, underwent a whole body dual x-ray absorptiometry scan (DEXA, Hologic W), and DARI marker-less motion capture analysis (DARI Motion, Inc.). Upper body muscle mass was computed with the DEXA variables left and right arm lean mass and trunk lean mass. ROM was assessed using shoulder abduction, horizontal abduction, flexion and extension, and internal and external rotation. Statistical analyses included Pearson correlations, a one-way repeated measures Anova, and Linear Regression for ROM to 2-RM bench press and upper body muscle mass to 2-RM using IBM SPSS 29 (SPSS, Chicago, IL). All correlations between ROM variables to 2-RM bench press performance were non-significant and very weak to weak (ranging from r = -0.002 to 0.165). No significant interactive effect was found when analyzing ROM to 2-RM in the Anova. However, when analyzing the Anova main effect, external rotation (p \u3c 0.001) and extension (p = 0.001) had a significant difference when comparing each variable\u27s left and right sides. Upper body muscle mass (44.0 ± 6.2 kg) showed a positive correlation with 2-RM (270 ± 48 lbs.) bench press performance (r = 0.644, p \u3c 0.001). As recent studies have suggested, ROM and strength, represented by 2-RM bench press, have a weak relationship. Likewise, asymmetrical differences exist between external rotation and extension left and right ROM. Nonetheless, strength is a function of muscle mass as suggested by the strong positive correlation between upper body muscle mass with 2-RM bench press
Variability of DQ White Dwarfs
No full textWhite dwarfs are born when a medium to low mass star reaches the end of its evolutionary cycle. A small subset of these stars are the DQ white dwarfs, which have a helium-rich atmosphere and show carbon features. DQs are predicted to have a binary origin, in which case they would be expected to be rapidly rotating. This paper aims to provide an analysis of time series data from the TESS satellite across hot, warm, cool, classical, and second sequence DQs in search for possible variability. An investigation of 28 DQ white dwarf stars revealed three DQ WDs to show definitive variability while 25 showed no confirmed variability. The periodogram and folded light curve analysis strongly suggests rotational variability for GJ 3614, Gaia DR2 6079710620510474240, and WD 1300-355. The variable WDs appear to be stable in period, frequency and amplitude. A harmonic can be observed for Gaia DR2 6079710620510474240 that further reinforces that the star is rotationally variable
Pharmacological Effects on F-Actin Dynamics, A Study of Neural Development and Motor Function
No full textStudying the effect of cytoskeletal dynamics on neural development should provide key understanding towards basic science as well as disorders and pathologies. Many disorders affecting motor development and abilities have been reported to be due to irregularities in actin dynamics caused by mutations in the protein itself or in interacting proteins. Therefore, this study hypothesizes pharmacological manipulations to actin dynamics will result in changes in motor function. For this, Latrunculin A, an actin destabilizer drug, and Jasplakinolide, an actin stabilizer drug, were utilized to manipulate the cytoskeletal dynamics of the wildtype Drosophila melanogaster (fruit flies) in the embryonic stage. The delivery method of drugs has been developed through a collection of research methods from literature and multiple trials of differing drug delivery protocols of embryo permeabilization. Embryo permeabilization techniques rely on removing the chorion and permeabilizing the vitelline membrane of embryos, allowing the pharmaceutical drugs to penetrate the embryo. In later developmental stages, established behavioral paradigms of larval crawling and adult geotaxis were exercised to assess and draw conclusions about changes in the animals’ locomotor abilities as a proxy to the state of the neuromuscular system. Larval crawling assays showed significant slowing in drug-treated animals compared to controls indicating perturbations to motor function whether actin structures were stabilized or destabilized in embryonic stage. However, adult geotaxis (RING) assays did not indicate significant changes in drug-treated animals compared to controls. This might indicate recovery mechanisms for cytoskeletal and neuromuscular systems throughout Drosophila’s life cycle. This study poses further questions about the effects of actin dynamics at the cellular level throughout development, and whether the neuron, muscle, or both are affected when treated with actin binding drugs
The Experiences of Licensed Professional Counselors Working with Military Sexual Trauma
No full textMilitary Sexual Trauma (MST) is an issue of increasing concern within the military and mental health fields. This study aims to explore the lived experiences of Licensed Professional Counselors (LPC’s) who work with MST survivors. With the increasing knowledge and awareness of MST that has been gained in the recent past, the need for competent LPC’s in this domain is evident, especially as the number of veterans seeking mental health services continue to rise. By investigating LPC experiences, this study sought to fill the gap in existing research and provide valuable insights into their unique concerns, struggles, and strengths when working with MST survivors. Utilizing purposeful sampling, semi-structured interviews over Zoom, and thematic analysis, this study resulted in four themes that provide in-depth depictions of the experiences of Licensed Professional Counselors who work with survivors of military sexual trauma. This study also provided implications for counselors in clinical practice, as well as counselor educators and supervisors
Determining the Lightcurves and Rotational Periods of Four Main Belt Asteroids
No full textThis research found lightcurves and rotational periods of four main belt asteroids, 2854 Rawson, 5142 Okutama, (14362) 1988 MH, and 28248 Barthelemy. The A&M-Commerce observatory 0.7 meter telescope equipped with a CCD camera was used to collect multiple nights of data for each asteroid which was then analyzed to determine the asteroid’s lightcurve, rotational period, and create a possible 3D model. The rotational periods were found to be 4.775 ± 0.001 h for 2854 Rawson, 3.803 ± 0.001 h for 5142 Okutama, 3.645 ± 0.001 h for (14362) 1988 MH, and 3.128 ± 0.002 h for 28248 Barthelemy