Spatial prediction of AADT in unmeasured locations by universal kriging and microsimulation of vehicle holdings and car-market pricing dynamics

Chapters 1 through 5 of this thesis explore the application of kriging and geographically weighted regression (GWR) methods for prediction of average daily traffic counts across the Texas network. Accurate measurements of traffic are essential for proper planning and management of pavements, roadway upgrades, congestion mitigation, and other aspects of ground-based transport. Results based on Euclidean distances are compared to those using network distances, and both allow for strategic spatial interpolation of count values while controlling for each location’s roadway functional classification, lane count, speed limit, employment density, and population access. Both universal kriging and GWR are found to reduce errors (in practically and statistically significant ways) over non-spatial regression techniques, though errors remain quite high at some sites, particularly those with low counts and/or in less measurement-dense areas. Nearly all tests indicated that the predictive capabilities of kriging exceed those of GWR by average absolute errors of 3 to 8 percent. Interestingly, the estimation of kriging parameters by network distances showed no enhanced performance over that with Euclidean distances, which require less data and are much more easily computed. Chapters 6 through 10 explore vehicle purchase and use decisions, which can be central to estimates of crash outcomes, emissions, gas-tax revenues, and national energy security. An auction-style microsimulation of fluctuating vehicle prices is combined with a random-utility-maximizing choice model to produce a model for the evolution of personal-vehicle fleets, recognizing both used- and new-vehicle markets. All buyers and available vehicles are enter the auction process for vehicle selection, with demand, supply and price signals of used cars endogenous to the model. The thesis describes the modeling framework in detail, along with its implementation using Austin, Texas data (for behavioral parameters and a synthetic population). The fleet dynamics are simulated over a 20-year period, highlighting the model’s flexibility and reasonable response to multiple inputs and contextual scenarios. A simulation of doubled gas prices showed a large increase (10%) in the share of the sub-compacts, with smaller decreases in pickup trucks, vans and large cars. A high scrappage rate, sometimes employed to increase turnover, resulted in used-vehicle sales falling by 12%, and new-vehicle sales growing by 3%.Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineerin

Was the Western Diaspora Cut Off from Israel? A Case Study of Sardis and Hamath Tiberias

Edrei and Mendels published an article in 2007 claiming that when the Jerusalem Temple was destroyed in 70 C.E., it caused a rift that completely separated the Western Diaspora from Israel and the East. This study tests Edrei\u27s and Mendels\u27 theory by reviewing the archaeological record at two sites: Hamath Tiberias in Israel and Sardis in Asia Minor. By reviewing the orientation, iconography and epigraphy, we find that enough continuity exists between the two sites to cast doubt on Edrei\u27s and Mendels\u27 theory of a split diaspora

Real-time Event Detection on Social Data Streams

Social networks are quickly becoming the primary medium for discussing what is happening around real-world events. The information that is generated on social platforms like Twitter can produce rich data streams for immediate insights into ongoing matters and the conversations around them. To tackle the problem of event detection, we model events as a list of clusters of trending entities over time. We describe a real-time system for discovering events that is modular in design and novel in scale and speed: it applies clustering on a large stream with millions of entities per minute and produces a dynamically updated set of events. In order to assess clustering methodologies, we build an evaluation dataset derived from a snapshot of the full Twitter Firehose and propose novel metrics for measuring clustering quality. Through experiments and system profiling, we highlight key results from the offline and online pipelines. Finally, we visualize a high profile event on Twitter to show the importance of modeling the evolution of events, especially those detected from social data streams.Comment: Accepted as a full paper at KDD 2019 on April 29, 201

Balancing dietary available phosphorus needs and nutrient excretion of pigs

In trial 1, seven sets of five littermate gilts from a high lean strain were used to determine the dietary available phosphorus needs for high lean pigs fed from bodyweights (± 1) of 7 to 23.5 kg. Pigs fed one of five dietary available P concentrations (0.30, 0.40, 0.50, 0.60, and 0.70%). Protein and fat gain where determined by a deuterium oxide technique. Based on breakpoint analysis, high lean pigs fed from 7 to 23.5 kg bodyweight require daily 5.2 ± 0.6, 5.3 ± 0.9, and 5.0 ± 1.0 grams of dietary available P to maximize body protein gain, efficiency of feed utilization, and body weight gain respectively. Therefore, inadequate intakes of dietary AP lower the pigs\u27 capacity for proteinacous tissue accretion. Trial 2 was performed to determine the effect of closely matching dietary available P with the pig\u27s requirement on nutrient excretion. Dietary P concentrations were lowered from the initial concentrations in an effort to minimize excess urinary P excretion. Once the minimal urinary P excretion was achieved, dietary P concentrations were raised incrementally to the control P concentration. Dietary P concentrations ranged from 0.63 to 0.85%. Based on two slope breakpoint analysis, the inflection point for body P retention per unit of digested P (dP) intake was achieved at an intake of 563 ± 20 mg of dP·kg−1 BW7̇5·d−1. Endogenous urinary and fecal excretion was estimated to be 4 and 5 mg of dP·kg−1BW7̇5·d−1, respectively. At dietary P intakes below the inflection point for maximum efficiency for P retention resulted in 95% retention of digested P intake. Above the inflection point urinary P represented 48.5 ± 5.0% of dP intake resulting 52% efficiency for P retention. Dietary P intakes below the inflection point maximize the efficiency for P retention while minimizing P excretion. This research indicates the maximum efficiency for P retention can be achieved while minimizing P excretion

Identification of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Phenazines that Kill Caenorhabditis elegans

Pathogenic microbes employ a variety of methods to overcome host defenses, including the production and dispersal of molecules that are toxic to their hosts. Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a Gram-negative bacterium, is a pathogen of a diverse variety of hosts including mammals and the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. In this study, we identify three small molecules in the phenazine class that are produced by P. aeruginosa strain PA14 that are toxic to C. elegans. We demonstrate that 1-hydroxyphenazine, phenazine-1-carboxylic acid, and pyocyanin are capable of killing nematodes in a matter of hours. 1-hydroxyphenazine is toxic over a wide pH range, whereas the toxicities of phenazine-1-carboxylic acid and pyocyanin are pH-dependent at non-overlapping pH ranges. We found that acidification of the growth medium by PA14 activates the toxicity of phenazine-1-carboxylic acid, which is the primary toxic agent towards C. elegans in our assay. Pyocyanin is not toxic under acidic conditions and 1-hydroxyphenazine is produced at concentrations too low to kill C. elegans. These results suggest a role for phenazine-1-carboxylic acid in mammalian pathogenesis because PA14 mutants deficient in phenazine production have been shown to be defective in pathogenesis in mice. More generally, these data demonstrate how diversity within a class of metabolites could affect bacterial toxicity in different environmental niches.Chemistry and Chemical Biolog

Comprehensive Cardiovascular magnetic resonance of myocardial mechanics in mice using three-dimensional cine DENSE

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Quantitative noninvasive imaging of myocardial mechanics in mice enables studies of the roles of individual genes in cardiac function. We sought to develop comprehensive three-dimensional methods for imaging myocardial mechanics in mice.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A 3D cine DENSE pulse sequence was implemented on a 7T small-bore scanner. The sequence used three-point phase cycling for artifact suppression and a stack-of-spirals <it>k</it>-space trajectory for efficient data acquisition. A semi-automatic 2D method was adapted for 3D image segmentation, and automated 3D methods to calculate strain, twist, and torsion were employed. A scan protocol that covered the majority of the left ventricle in a scan time of less than 25 minutes was developed, and seven healthy C57Bl/6 mice were studied.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Using these methods, multiphase normal and shear strains were measured, as were myocardial twist and torsion. Peak end-systolic values for the normal strains at the mid-ventricular level were 0.29 ± 0.17, -0.13 ± 0.03, and -0.18 ± 0.14 for <it>E_rr</it>, <it>E_cc</it>, and <it>E_ll</it>, respectively. Peak end-systolic values for the shear strains were 0.00 ± 0.08, 0.04 ± 0.12, and 0.03 ± 0.07 for <it>E_rc</it>, <it>E_rl</it>, and <it>E_cl</it>, respectively. The peak end-systolic normalized torsion was 5.6 ± 0.9°.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Using a 3D cine DENSE sequence tailored for cardiac imaging in mice at 7 T, a comprehensive assessment of 3D myocardial mechanics can be achieved with a scan time of less than 25 minutes and an image analysis time of approximately 1 hour.</p