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Item Precision Enhancement of Pavement Roughness Localization with Connected Vehicles(2016) Bridgelall, Raj; Huang, Y.; Zhang, Z.; Deng, F.; Upper Great Plains Transportation InstituteTransportation agencies rely on the accurate localization and reporting of roadway anomalies that could pose serious hazards to the traveling public. However, the cost and technical limitations of present methods prevent their scaling to all roadways. Connected vehicles with on-board accelerometers and conventional geospatial position receivers offer an attractive alternative because of their potential to monitor all roadways in real-time. The conventional global positioning system is ubiquitous and essentially free to use but it produces impractically large position errors. This study evaluated the improvement in precision achievable by augmenting the conventional geofence system with a standard speed bump or an existing anomaly at a pre-determined position to establish a reference inertial marker. The speed sensor subsequently generates position tags for the remaining inertial samples by computing their path distances relative to the reference position. The error model and a case study using smartphones to emulate connected vehicles revealed that the precision in localization improves from tens of metres to sub-centimetre levels, and the accuracy of measuring localized roughness more than doubles. The research results demonstrate that transportation agencies will benefit from using the connected vehicle method to achieve precision and accuracy levels that are comparable to existing laser-based inertial profilers.Item Rolling-Stock Automatic In-Situ Line Deterioration and Operating Condition Sensing(2013) Bridgelall, Raj; Lu, Pan; Tolliver, Denver D.; Upper Great Plains Transportation InstituteTrack and equipment failures dominate railroad accident causes. Railroads must visually inspect most tracks in service as often as twice weekly to comply with the Federal Track Safety Standards. They augment visual inspections with automated non-destructive-evaluation (NDE) equipment to locate developing and mature defects. However, the defect formation rate is escalating with increasing traffic load density and continuously declining railroad employment per track-mile. This indicates a widening gap between the rate of defect formation and the resources available to find them before they result in accidents, delays, and lost revenue. With resources thinly stretched and the rate of defect formation escalating with traffic load-density, railroads are seeking to enhance the efficiency of inspections and maintenance of way. This paper describes the development of a Rolling-stock Automatic In-situ Line Deterioration & Operating Condition Sensing (RAILDOCS) system to automatically locate and classify track and rail vehicle defects. The approach incorporates a new low-cost wireless sensor technology and Cloud computing method to guide and focus inspection activities to locations of equipment and track defect symptoms, leading to efficient diagnosis and remediation. RAILDOCS has on-board sensors which will continuously monitor track and vehicle condition and transmit a 3D inertial signature for a remote processor to analyze and produce a complete and updated picture of aggregate track and equipment quality. RAILDOCS complement more expensive visual and NDE methods by reallocating time spent on defect discovery to detailed inspections of prioritized defect symptom locations. Symptom sensors integrate micro-electro-mechanical (MEMS), global positioning system (GPS) satellite receivers, wireless communications, and microprocessors technology. Cloud computing and signal processing algorithms produce a track quality index, and forecast optimum maintenance triggers.Item A Fuzzy Delphi Analytic Hierarchy Model to Rank Factors Influencing Public Transit Mode Choice: A Case Study(2020) Ebrahimi, Sajad; Bridgelall, Raj; Upper Great Plains Transportation InstituteThis study applied a decision-based model with uncertainty to identify factors in mode choice and to rank their influence in attracting riders to available public transit modes in the city of Tehran. The model integrates a fuzzy Delphi method and a fuzzy analytic hierarchy process with fuzzy set theory to process opinion uncertainties. The surveys found that from highest to lowest in influence, the service attribute rankings were safety, reliability, frequency, comfort, travel cost, information provision, and accessibility. Based on these attributes, subway ranked highest in passenger attraction potential, followed by ride-hailing, bus rapid transit, vans and taxis, then public bus services. These findings support the hypothesis that it is worthwhile for big cities to ramp investments in public transit improvements even as ride hailing services proliferate with the potential to attract users away from more throughput-efficient and lower-cost services.Item Educational Gaming for Pharmacy Students - Design and Evaluation of a Diabetes-themed Escape Room(2017) Eukel, Heidi N.; Frenzel, Jeanne Elizabeth; Cernusca, DanObjective. To design an educational game that will increase third-year professional pharmacy students’ knowledge of diabetes mellitus disease management and to evaluate their perceived value of the game.Item Characterizing Ride Quality With a Composite Roughness Index(2022) Bridgelall, Raj; Upper Great Plains Transportation InstituteThere are many important applications that require ride quality characterization. However, the only international standard that specifies a roughness index is not suitable for applications beyond assessing the ride quality of paved roads. Other potential applications include automated ride quality characterization of gravel roads, bike or wheelchair paths, railways, rivers, airways, hyperloops, and elevator channels. This work proposes a composite index that characterizes roughness from multidimensional movements along any path. Statistical tests demonstrate two important properties—that the index is consistent based on an ever-decreasing margin-of-error of the mean, and distinguishable among different paths. A low-cost sensor package of accelerometers, gyroscopes, and a speedometer produced the data for spatio-temporal transformation. The experiments conducted on buses revealed that both the consistency and distinguishability of the index improves with the number of measurements. The approach is best suited for applications that can use in-situ sensors or crowdsensing to automate ride quality characterization.Item Dry Edible Bean White Mold MAGIC Population(2021) Escobar, Edgar; Oladzad, Atena; Simons, Kristin J.; Lee, Rian; Schroder, Stephan; McClean, Phillip E.; Osorno, Juan M.A dry edible bean MAGIC population was generated to map genes for resistance to white mold and to produce inbred lines with improved white mold (WM) resistance combined with good agronomic performance for primarily the pinto bean market class. Eight founding parents were crossed to develop a modified MAGIC population. PT7-2 was intermated with Powderhorn (cross A). ID14-4 was intermated with CO16079 (cross B). La Paz was intermated with Lariat (cross C). USPT-WM_12 was intermated with El Dorado (cross D). Subsequently, F1 plants of each initial cross were intermated using a one-way funnel, F1 from cross A was mated with F1 from cross B and F1 from cross C was mated with F1 from cross D meaning that not every possible cross combination was conducted. The next cycle consisted of intermating F1 from the AxB cross with F1 from the CxD cross. For each cycle reciprocal crosses were conducted to offset potential maternal effects and maternal inheritance. After the final crosses, the F1 were planted to produce the F2 generation which then went through three rounds of single seed descent from F2 to F5. A total of 1,050 F2-derived F5 inbred lines were developed for this WM-MAGIC population. A total of 428 lines representing each of the crosses were assigned to the training population. The remaining lines were assigned to the validation population. The training population has been genotyped. Briefly, the DNA was isolated from each line and sequenced using a single-end Illumina platform. Sequences were quality trimmed using SICKLE and then aligned to the Phaseolus vulgaris v2.1 reference sequence (DOE-JGI and USDA-NIFA, http://phytozome.jgi.doe.gov) or the UI111 v1.0 reference sequence, indexed and sorted using BWA-MEMB and SAMtools. Read groups including library ID, platform and platform unit were added to each alignment within the BAM files using Picard. Unifiedgenotyper from GATK3.6 (DePristo et al. 2011) was used to call variants with quality scores above 10. Quality scores between 10 and 30 were marked as low quality. Variants with a read depth of less than two were filtered using GATK3.6 variantfiltration and subsequently replaced as missing data. Low quality variants were removed via hard filtering when variants contained more than 25% missing data, more than one nucleotide, or the minor allele was less than 1%. Genotypes with more than 90% missing data were removed. SNPs with missing data were imputed using fastPHASE. The output file was converted to a hmp file for distribution. Lines were phenotyped using the seedling straw test method proposed by Arkwazee and Myers (2017). The plants were scored four days after inoculation using the disease severity scale described in the protocol. Lines were considered resistant with values from 1 to 3, intermediate with a value of 4, and susceptible with values from 5 to 9. Adjusted means (least square means) were calculated using a linear mixed model in which genotypes were considered fixed effects and reps, blocks, and samples were considered random effects.Item Forecasting the Effects of Autonomous Vehicles on Land Use(2020) Bridgelall, Raj; Stubbing, Edward; Upper Great Plains Transportation InstituteThe widespread availability of connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs) will likely affect social change in terms of how people travel. Traditional methods of travel demand and land use modeling require vast amounts of data that could be expensive to obtain. Such models use complex software that requires trained professionals to configure and hours to run a single scenario. Alternative closed form models that can quickly assess trends in potential CAV impact on the regional demand for shopping, entertainment, or dining land use does not exist. This research developed a closed-form model that considers the potential mode shift towards CAVs, possible changes in the propensity to travel, shopping trip avoidance from e-commerce, and greater accessibility for non-drivers. Model parameter estimation based on statistics from the greater Toronto area found that population growth from 2017 to 2050 alone could increase the demand for shopping, entertainment, or dining land use by nearly 60%. However, CAVs could double or triple that demand—implicating dynamic planning and environmental considerations.Item Using Breeding Populations With a Dual Purpose: Cultivar Development and Gene Mapping—A Case Study Using Resistance to Common Bacterial Blight in Dry Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.)(2021) Simons, Kristin J.; Oladzad, Atena; Lamppa, Robin; Maniruzzaman; McClean, Phillip E.; Osorno, Juan M.; Pasche, Julie S.Dry bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is an important worldwide legume crop with low to moderate levels of resistance to common bacterial blight (CBB) caused by Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. phaseoli. A total of 852 genotypes (cultivars, preliminary and advanced breeding lines) from the North Dakota State University dry bean breeding program were tested for their effectiveness as populations for genome-wide association studies (GWAS) to identify genomic regions associated with resistance to CBB, to exploit the associated markers for marker-assisted breeding (MAB), and to identify candidate genes. The genotypes were evaluated in a growth chamber for disease resistance at both the unifoliate and trifoliate stages. At the unifoliate stage, 35% of genotypes were resistant, while 25% of genotypes were resistant at the trifoliate stage. Libraries generated from each genotype were sequenced using the Illumina platform. After filtering for sequence quality, read depth, and minor allele frequency, 41,998 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and 30,285 SNPs were used in GWAS for the Middle American and Andean gene pools, respectively. One region near the distal end of Pv10 near the SAP6 molecular marker from the Andean gene pool explained 26.7–36.4% of the resistance variation. Three to seven regions from the Middle American gene pool contributed to 25.8–27.7% of the resistance, with the most significant peak also near the SAP6 marker. Six of the eight total regions associated with CBB resistance are likely the physical locations of quantitative trait loci identified from previous genetic studies. The two new locations associated with CBB resistance are located at Pv10:22.91–23.36 and Pv11:52.4. A lipoxgenase-1 ortholog on Pv10 emerged as a candidate gene for CBB resistance. The state of one SNP on Pv07 was associated with susceptibility. Its subsequent use in MAB would reduce the current number of lines in preliminary and advanced field yield trial by up to 14% and eliminate only susceptible genotypes. These results provide a foundational SNP data set, improve our understanding of CBB resistance in dry bean, and impact resource allocation within breeding programs as breeding populations may be used for dual purposes: cultivar development as well as genetic studies.Item Search Terms Up for Debate: The Politics and Purpose of Library Subject HeadingsGross, TinaThe Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) are used by most libraries in the United States to help users find resources in their collections. For the last century, librarians have worked to make LCSH more inclusive and accurate by replacing offensive or racist terms with language that more fully reflects the identities and experiences of diverse populations. This article explains the purpose and function of subject headings and discusses the process by which they are continually updated. The main emphasis of the article is the history of debates and advocacy associated with that process, with a particular focus on the long campaign to change the former subject heading "Illegal aliens."Item Introducing an Efficiency Index to Evaluate eVTOL Designs(2023) Bridgelall, Raj; Askarzadeh, Taraneh; Tolliver, Denver D.; Upper Great Plains Transportation InstituteThe evolution of electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft as part of the Advanced Air Mobility initiative will affect our society and the environment in fundamental ways. Technological forecasting suggests that commercial services are fast emerging to transform urban and regional air mobility for people and cargo. However, the complexities of diverse design choices pose a challenge for potential adopters or service providers because there are no objective and simple means to compare designs based on the available set of performance specifications. This analysis defines an aeronautically informed propulsion efficiency index (PEX) to compare the performance of eVTOL designs. Range, payload ratio, and aspect ratio are the minimum set of independent parameters needed to compute a PEX that can distinguish among eVTOL designs. The distribution of the PEX and the range are lognormal in the design space. There is no association between PEX values and the mainstream eVTOL architecture types or the aircraft weight class. A multilinear regression showed that the three independent parameters explained more than 90% of the PEX distribution in the present design space.