The LAIR at East Texas A&M
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Biomechanical Analysis of Collegiate Softball Pitchers’ Spin Rate, Shoulder Range of Motion, and Grip Strength
No full textA Narrative Inquiry into Cultural Discontinuity: The Case of Iranian Students in the United States
No full textCultural discontinuity is recognized as a culturally motivated academic process where sociocultural behaviors and communicative skills valued in the home culture of students are discontinued at school thus resulting in their low academic performance. This process may be reinforced by structural inequality in the mainstream society and education system. In this study, I employed narrative inquiry methodology to explore the experience of cultural discontinuity among an understudied population, that is, Iranians who are or have pursued their education in a United States university after the 1979 revolution in Iran. First, I collected narrative data through semi-structured interviews. In the data collection process, I explored the very experience of cultural discontinuity as well as two other major experiences which inform cultural discontinuity, that is, participants’ native culture socialization and the experience of living as a minority in American society. Next, I analyzed the content of the data and identified a few overarching themes that characterized the narratives. In addition to culturally motivated discontinuities which were highlighted in previous scholarship, in the current study, I observed two new kinds of discontinuities, namely, linguistic and communicative discontinuities that developed out of Iranian students’ non-native knowledge of English language and contributed to communicative challenges in American academia. This observation is the main significance of the current study as the previous scholarship is mainly focused on cultural dimensions of cultural discontinuity rather than its linguistic aspects. Furthermore, the participants in this research didn’t receive significantly discriminatory treatment by American mainstream society or American academia despite the Iran-United States hostile relationships since the 1979 revolution (which escalated after the hostage crisis and is highlighted in previous scholarship). The findings of this research point to inclusion and communicative accommodation as important practices in the process of academic socialization for students who are both culturally and linguistically diverse. In the process of socialization into American academia, the participants drew on such resources in the academic setting as professors, peers, on-campus writing center, or technological facilities. Furthermore, in interaction with the academic setting, they took agency, drew on their own resources, and actively participated in second culture and language academic socialization
Drone Detection Using YOLOv5
No full textThe rapidly increasing number of drones in the national airspace, including those for recreational and commercial applications, has raised concerns regarding misuse. Autonomous drone detection systems offer a probable solution to overcoming the issue of potential drone misuse, such as drug smuggling, violating people’s privacy, etc. Detecting drones can be difficult, due to similar objects in the sky, such as airplanes and birds. In addition, automated drone detection systems need to be trained with ample amounts of data to provide high accuracy. Real-time detection is also necessary, but this requires highly configured devices such as a graphical processing unit (GPU). The present study sought to overcome these challenges by proposing a one-shot detector called You Only Look Once version 5 (YOLOv5), which can train the proposed model using pre-trained weights and data augmentation. The trained model was evaluated using mean average precision (mAP) and recall measures. The model achieved a 90.40% mAP, a 21.57% improvement over our previous model that used You Only Look Once version 4 (YOLOv4) and was tested on the same dataset
Understanding Favorability in Diels-Alder Reaction For Hydrogel Synthesis: A Computational Study
No full textThis study delves into analyzing the change in reaction enthalpy and activation energies of the Diels-Alder reaction for the synthesis of hydrogels, possessing diverse applications in scientific domains due to their unique properties. Utilizing the Diels-Alder reaction for hydrogel creation allows tailored structures responsive to specific stimuli. Theoretical calculations, employing computational methods, utilized the latest Spartan software (version 20) and conducting gas-phase calculations with semi-empirical methods (PM3) and Hartree-Fock (6-31G*). This research examines the hypothesis regarding the potential enhancement of reaction favorability through the introduction of an aromatic ring into the product, along with the incorporation of an electron-donating group as a substituent. The objective is to reduce the enthalpy gap, ultimately yielding a more stable product. The findings indicate that the inclusion of an aromatic ring coupled with an electron-donating groups on the reactants facilitates a more favorable reaction, further contributing to the reduction of the enthalpy gap. However, the extent of the substituent effect varies between the three reactions, showing a more pronounced impact in the anti-aromatic reactions, whereas in the reaction yielding an aromatic product, the aromatic structure itself emerges as the primary determinant driving the reaction
Synthetic Strategies of Supported Pd-Based Bimetallic Catalysts for Selective Semi-Hydrogenation of Acetylene: A Review and Perspectives
No full textSelective semi-hydrogenation of acetylene is an extremely important reaction from both industrial and theoretical perspectives. Palladium, due to its unique chemical and physical properties, is the most active and currently irreplaceable metal for this reaction in industry, but the poor catalytic selectivity towards ethylene is also its inherent shortcoming. Introducing a secondary metal to tune a geometric and electronic structures of Pd nanoparticles and to create a synergistic effect is the most widely used strategy to effectively improve the overall catalytic performance of Pd-based catalysts. Thus, various supported Pd-based bimetallic catalysts for selective semi-hydrogenation of acetylene have been exploited in the past decade. Timely comparison, analysis, and summarizing of various preparation methods may offer a beneficial reference for the subsequent development of such catalysts. In this context, herein, the advances in synthesis strategies of catalysts, including nano-catalysts, single atom alloys (SAAs), as well as bimetallic dual atom catalysts are summarized systematically. Their advantages and disadvantages are comparatively discussed. Finally, future perspectives for the synthetic strategies of supported Pd-based bimetallic catalysts for selective semi-hydrogenation of acetylene are proposed
Experimental Investigation of Self-Compacting Concrete with Recycled Concrete Aggregate
No full textDue to the depletion of natural aggregates and raw materials for contemporary construction, the construction and demolition waste existing in old concrete structures is an imperative problem. Cutting down on exploiting natural aggregates and reusing construction and demolition waste in the concrete industry are solutions to this problem. This paper investigated the replacement of natural coarse aggregate (NCA) with recycled concrete aggregates (RCA) with different ratios (0%, 50%, 75%, and 100%) in producing self-compacting concrete (SCC). Different components of supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs), such as nano-silica (NS), fly ash (FA), and metakaolin (MK), as well as PVA fibers, were incorporated into the SCC mixtures. The fresh properties (slump flow, V-funnel, and L-box test) and hardened properties (compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, and flexural strength), as well as the flexural behavior of SCC beams (load-carrying capacity, crack pattern, midspan deflection, and flexural stiffness), were studied for all SCC mixes. The results of fresh and hardened concrete confirmed that it is possible to produce SCC with a 100% replacement of RCA with minimal effects on the concrete properties. The mixture of SCC with 100% RCA replacement, 20% MK,and22%FAwastheoptimummixture with acceptable fresh properties that complied with the EFNARC specifications. For 100% RCA replacement, the compressive strength was reduced by 8.20%, and the ultimate load and flexural stiffness increased by 3.20 and 16.25%, respectively, compared with the control mixture
Computational Investigation of Porphyrin-Based Host Design for Anions and Ion Pairs
No full textLittle research has heretofore been devoted to studying the binding interactions between porphyrin-based molecular hosts and anions or ion pairs. Such interactions could be important in synthesizing molecules capable of detecting, binding, extracting, and transporting ions of biological, environmental, and industrial significance. With this in mind, computational studies of nine different porphyrin hosts were performed to examine the structural and binding properties of each molecule and potential ion guests. Using the Spartan computational chemistry software, each porphyrin was modeled and binding was tested with a number of ions of different shapes and sizes. Data was then collected regarding the distances between the molecules’ projections, distances from the molecules’ projections to the ions, and the overall cavity sizes of each molecule. Finally, the properties of each potential host were compared and narrowed down to one porphyrin-based host molecule that is predicted to be the best molecule in terms of both ability to synthesize and success in binding
Pubertal Progression and Its Relationship to Psychological and Behavioral Outcomes Among Adolescent Boys
No full textVariations in pubertal timing and tempo have relevance to psychosocial development. Accounting for pubertal timing, tempo, and psychosocial development simultaneously in a model remains challenging. This study aimed to document the typology of pubertal development in a cohort of Taiwanese adolescent boys and then to examine how the associations between psychosocial variables across time vary by the patterns of pubertal development. A group of adolescent boys (n = 1,368) reported pubertal signs and psychosocial variables for 3 years since seventh grade. The growth mixture model revealed three major classes of pubertal transition: average pubertal growth, late-onset with rapid catch-up, and late-onset with slow catch-up. In a cross-lagged panel model, the multigroup analysis found the regression coefficients mostly invariant across all three classes, except those between deviant behavior and subsequent changes in depressive symptoms that were significantly positive only in the late-onset with slow catch-up group. Adolescent boys in this group were estimated to have the highest marginal level of depressive symptoms and deviant behavior in ninth grade among the three classes. Our study highlights the heterogeneity in boys’ pubertal development and the role of the pubertal development pattern in their psychosocial development
Role of G1P3-Rab5 Interaction in Breast Cancer Gene Expression
No full textBreast cancer is one of the most common cancers worldwide with millions of cases diagnosed each year. Despite modern treatments, over 40% of patients can expect to relapse after initial cancer eradication. Consequently, it is crucial to unravel the mechanisms by which breast cells confer their cancerous properties to develop novel treatments that improve patient survival. G1P3 is a mitochondrial localized protein found to be upregulated 50x in estrogen receptorpositive breast cancer and is correlated with overall poor patient survival. G1P3-overexpressing cells display increased amounts of interferon-stimulated genes (ISGs) and G1P3 as an ISG indicates these genes potential to promote cancerous activity. Recently, it has been found that G1P3 encourages the association of Rab5-containing endosomes (RCEs) with mitochondria. Thus, it was hypothesized that the direct interaction between G1P3 and Rab5 promotes the association of RCE-mRNA complexes with mitochondria to enhance the translation of ISGs. To determine if G1P3 and Rab5 were forming a protein complex a co-immunoprecipitation was performed. However, it was determined Rab5 and G1P3 were not directly associated to facilitate the RCE-mitochondrial interaction. Preliminary results of quantitative RT-PCR suggest that more ISG RNA is present in Co-IP samples. Overall, these results indicate other interactions are responsible for the RCE-mitochondrial interaction, though more research is needed to determine what these interactions are and what purpose the complex serves in conferring cancerous properties to breast cells
Reliable Detection of Location Spoofing and Variation Attacks
No full textLocation spoofing is a critical attack in mobile communications. While several previous studies investigated the detection of location spoofing attacks, they are limited in their performance and lack the consideration of emerging attack variations. In this paper, we present a data-driven methodology for the reliable detection of location spoofing and its variations. To enhance the performance, we introduce and utilize a new set of features, which is differential in nature and enables the checking of the mobility constraints and inconsistency. Our comparison study with the previous research shows that the presented scheme using the new features significantly improves the accuracy and reliability of the detection against location spoofing attacks. To take the possibility of attack variations into account, we establish a set of scenarios manipulating coordinate data to create attack variants. Our experimental results confirm the feasibility and effectiveness of the new features for identifying diverse types of spoofing attacks and their variations, greatly improving the detection performance by up to 99.1% accuracy. Additionally, we present a profiling-based detection approach (building the detector referring only to legitimate coordinate data), to further extend resilience to previously unseen attacks as a means to zero-day detection. The evaluation result shows the potential of the profiling-based detector with comparable or even better performance than the supervised learning methods (requiring both legitimate and falsified data to construct the detector)