Virginia Tech

The Impacts of Zonal and Meridional Winds on the Observed Occurrence Rate of Equatorial Plasma Bubbles

Abstract Post‐sunset equatorial plasma bubble (EPB) formation is believe to be influenced by factors including thermospheric neutral winds. This study characterizes pre‐sunset neutral winds observed by ICON on EPB occurrences observed by GOLD over the east Atlantic. 3 years of da...

Paying upfront: successful initial infections protect against severe future infections

Abstract Understanding the consistency with which individual hosts respond to repeated pathogen exposures is crucial for accurately modeling pathogen transmission and eco-evolutionary dynamics. When hosts face repeated pathogen exposures, immune memory is expected to reduce the p...

Operationalizing the Concept of Socio-environmental Tipping Points in River Basin Management

Abstract The concept of socio-environmental tipping points (SETPs) is gaining interest as a means to describe nonlinear transformations in socio-environmental systems that are driven by both biophysical and social dynamics. These SETPs stem from multiple interacting factors that...

Leveling the Peak: Standard Waveforms for Consistent PA Benchmarking

This is a paper submitted for review that focuses on creating a set of standard signals to use in PA measurement. The paper reviews why such standard signals are needed. As a companion, we are releasing a github that has a set of signals that we have curated and will additionally...

The impact of work from home on urban expansion: a GIS simulation via an intelligent self-adapting multiscale agent-based model

Urban land use is increasingly shaped by evolving work modalities, particularly the rise of Work from Home (WFH) arrangements. This study introduces a hybrid Artificial Neural Network – Agent-Based Modeling (ANN – ABM) framework to simulate urban expansion under differentiated wo...

Sample-Efficient Robot Skill Learning for Construction Tasks: Benchmarking Hierarchical Reinforcement Learning and Vision-Language-Action Model

Abstract This study evaluates two leading approaches for teaching construction robots new skills to understand their applicability for construction automation: a vision-language-action (VLA) model and reinforcement learning (RL) methods. The goal is to understand task performance...

Phase-Space Formulation of Shock-Containing Irrotational Barotropic Euler Flow

We develop a KvN/Weyl/Wigner/Moyal phase-space formulation for shock-containing compressible, irrotational, barotropic Euler flow. Smooth branches are represented by branchwise Wigner distributions, while piecewise-smooth entropy-admissible shocks generate an interface-supported...

Revisiting aCommon Cobalt Chloride Equilibrium Experimentwith Generative Artificial Intelligence

Abstract We have developed and implemented a first-year undergraduate laboratory experiment at St. Bonaventure University that augments a well-established thermodynamics lab on the spectrophotometric determination of the equilibrium of cobalt(II) chloride hexahydrate with generat...

Stochastic Entanglement of Deterministic Origami Tentacles For Robust Robotic Grasping

Origami-inspired robotic grippers have shown promising potential for object manipulation tasks due to their compact volume and mechanical flexibility. However, robust capture of objects with random shapes in dynamic working environments often comes at the cost of additional actua...

Bottlebrush Polyolefin Sulfones as Triggerable and Degradable Pressure‐Sensitive Adhesives

ABSTRACT The molecular architecture (topology) of bottlebrush polymers, featuring densely grafted side chains along a polymeric backbone, leads to unique physical properties, enabling their use as functional materials including elastomers and pressure‐sensitive adhesives (PSAs)....

Facile Approach to Modulating Stereochemistry in Ring‐Opening Metathesis Polymerization of Cyclooctadiene

ABSTRACT Olefin trans/cis geometry strongly influences the properties of unsaturated polymers, yet controlling stereochemistry in ring‐opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) often requires specialized catalysts or monomers. In ROMP, polymer stereochemistry is determined not onl...

A Multiagent Large Language Model–Based System for Early-Stage Building Layout Planning

Abstract This paper proposes a multiagent large language model (LLM)–based system for early-stage building layout planning, which enables flexible design requirement inputs and robust spatial reasoning. Existing generative methods often depend on structured inputs, and perform po...

Insights from Explainable AI-Assisted Microbial SourceTracking in an Urban Watershed

Abstract Microbial contamination in urban watersheds poses significant challenges for public health, yet traditional monitoring offers limited insight into identifying contamination sources or environmental drivers. This study integrates chip-based digital polymerase chain reacti...

Optimizing Motor Skill Acquisition in Laparoscopic Surgery With Automated Gaze-Based Feedback

Gaze-based training has shown promise for laparoscopic surgery, but personalized gaze feedback to support skill acquisition remains underexplored. This study recruited 30 college students to practice the peg transfer task across two sessions using a prototype system delivering pe...

Extracellular membrane vesicles—previously unrecognized components of Staphylococcus aureus biofilms

ABSTRACT Staphylococcus aureus is a leading cause of biofilm-associated infections, in which communities of bacterial cells are encased in an extracellular matrix composed of polysaccharides, proteins, and extracellular DNA (eDNA) that protect bacteria from host immune defense an...

The Zooplankton International Geospatial dataset: A global repository of spatiotemporal freshwater zooplankton community composition data from lakes and reservoirs to support ecological research

Abstract Zooplankton transfer substantial energy in aquatic food webs and are used as indicators of environmental change. Syntheses of zooplankton community dynamics globally require datasets that span a wide range of environmental gradients; however, these datasets are limited d...

When Noise Gets into the Notes: Auditory Distraction Effects on Triage Documentation in a Simulated ED Waiting Room

Emergency department (ED) waiting rooms have complex soundscapes where nurses sometimes perform triage and documentation amid task-irrelevant sounds. This study examined whether auditory distraction affects documentation accuracy across noise types and interval patterns. Thirty-t...

Computational modeling of motor-driven extension of microtubule bundles in axons reveals a biphasic effect of crosslinker density

In addition to actin assembly at the growth cone, neuronal axons elongate via interactions between microtubules, dynein motor proteins and cross-linking proteins. Dynein translocates microtubules toward the growth cone and exerts extensile forces for axonal outgrowth. During this...

Characterizing How Community‐Level Plant Functional Traits Impact Soil Microbial Diversity

ABSTRACT Introduction Functional trait‐based approaches have been suggested for designing functionally diverse plant communities to influence soil microbial community structure and diversity. However, it remains unclear how species‐level plant functional traits (PFTs) and microbi...

Perceived Livelihood Vulnerabilities of Artisanal Fishers in Elmina, Ghana, in Relation to Chinese‐Controlled Industrial Trawling

ABSTRACT This study examines the perceived livelihood vulnerabilities reported by artisanal fishers in Elmina, Ghana, in relation to Chinese‐controlled industrial trawling. Using a mixed‐methods design, it combined eight in‐depth interviews, 12 mini‐group discussions, informal co...