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For the first time, a cutin-like, highly chemically resistant macropolymer has been isolated from rachises of Karinopteris sp. (lyginopteridalean pteridosperm, Middle Pennsylvanian). Samples are obtained from a cuticular or "paper" coal-shale, i.e., an organic-rich and highly clastic rock associated with the Upper Block Coal Member of the Brazil Formation, Parke County, west-central Indiana, U.S.A. Karinopteris specimens are preserved as naturally oxidized compressions, termed "fossilized cuticles", and possibly represent vegetation of mineral substrate environments. Employing laboratory oxidation reactions, the fossilized cuticle of Karinopteris rachises is used to obtain the cuticle. After additional and long-term oxidation treatment, the cuticle yields the cutin-like macropolymer, here referred to as "cutin" for simplicity. The fossilized cuticle, cuticle, and cutin samples of Karinopteris sp. are chemically analyzed using semi-quantitative Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. Cutin IR spectra of Karinopteris rachises are characterized by (a) a predominantly aliphatic composition as indicated by intense aliphatic (CH al) C H stretching peaks at 3000–2700 cm−1, which are assigned to methylene (CH 2) and methyl (CH 3) groups; (b) carbonyl (C=O) groups at 1730–1640 cm−1, and aromatic carbon (C=C) absorption bands at 1600–1500 cm−1. A comparison with the cuticle, the cutin stands out due to relatively higher values of CH 2 /CH 3 and C=O/C=C, while displaying notably low values of CH al /C=O and C C contribution. Specifically, the relatively low value of CH al /C=O ratio obtained for the cutin of Karinopteris rachises is consistent with those found in the cutin of extant and fossil leaves. This lower CH al /C=O ratio indicates the important role likely played by C O groups in creating a deformable and flexible structure in both the cutin and the cuticle. Such a reduced rigidity suggests a high level of rachis flexibility of the once-living Karinopteris plant, supporting the interpretation of a climbing or liana habit. Cutin isolation and its chemical characterization shed light on the probable biomechanical (flexibility) properties of Karinopteris rachises, thereby enhancing our understanding of the plant growth habit. [Display omitted] • First-time spectroscopic study of Indiana "paper" coal (Pennsylvanian, U.S.A.). • Cutin polymer is obtained from fossilized cuticles of Karinopteris rachises. • Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy supplies chemical data. • Cutin is mainly aliphatic with highly crossed-linked ester carbonyl (C=O) bonds. • High C O contents suggest a liana-like Karinopteris plant with flexible rachises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natural and induced fractures in porous media pose significant challenges in subsurface applications such as carbon storage, hydrocarbon production, and aquifer contamination mitigation. These highly permeable fractures disrupt the natural flow in porous formations, leading to issues including reduced pressure buildup and early fluid breakthrough. To address these challenges, foam injection serves as an effective method for fluid diversion, offering enhanced mobility control in fractured media. However, the foam's performance must be carefully optimized considering factors such as reservoir conditions, in-situ fluid compatibility, rock properties like pore structure, permeability, and mineralogy, as well as fracture roughness, homogeneity, and orientation. This study investigates the effects of inclination angles (0°, 5°, 10°, and 15°) of smooth, saw-cut fractures on the performance of supercritical carbon dioxide foam in three distinct carbonate rocks: Indiana limestone, Fond Du Lac dolomite, and Alabama Silver limestone. These rocks exhibit a wide range of permeabilities, from 0.4 mD to 5.4 D. The findings are compared with previous research on Berea sandstone. It is demonstrated that optimal foam performance is more readily achieved in fractured porous media with higher permeability, larger pore throat sizes, and mineralogically compatible formations. Unlike previous work where studies focused on the individual impact of specific parameters, including a previous study conducted by our group to explore the effect of fracture orientation, the novelty of this paper is that it addresses multiple parameters at the same time and the interconnected roles that they play. This interplay of fracture orientation, rock type, and flow properties is what determines the ideal conditions that must be optimized to achieve the required foam performance. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is concerned with chemotaxis systems with flux limitation u t = Δ u − ∇ ⋅ (u (1 + | ∇ v | 2) (α − 2) / 2 ∇ v) , 0 = Δ v − ⨏ Ω u d x + u for some α < 2 , subjected to homogeneous Neumann boundary conditions in a bounded domain Ω ⊂ R N (N ⩾ 3). Due to Winkler [M.Winkler, Indiana Univ. Math. J., 71 (2022), 1437–1465], the systems with radial assumptions admit a critical exponent N / (N − 1) for finite-time blowup. We further consider the radial solutions blowing up under supercritical settings α ∈ [ N / (N − 1) , 2) and show that if large initial data is strictly more concentrated than its average mass in an appropriate sense, then the solution blows up in finite time when α ∈ (N / (N − 1) , 2) , and the solution is unbounded when α = N / (N − 1) , whereas small homogeneous steady states are locally asymptotically stable. • Initial conditions are relaxed for blowup of chemotaxis systems with limited flux. • Chemotaxis system with critical flux limitation admits unbound radial solutions. • Large homogeneous steady states are unstable with (super)critical settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Efficient electric heat pumps that replace fossil-fueled heating systems could significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, electric heat pumps can sharply increase electricity demand, causing high utility bills and stressing the power grid. Residential neighborhoods could see particularly high electricity demand during cold weather, when heat demand rises and heat pump efficiencies fall. This paper presents the development and field demonstration of a predictive control system for an air-to-air heat pump with backup electric resistance heat. The control system adjusts indoor temperature set-points based on weather forecasts, occupancy conditions, and data-driven models of the building and heating equipment. Field tests from January to March of 2023 in an occupied, all-electric, 208 m 2 detached single-family house in Indiana, USA, included outdoor temperatures as low as − 15 ° C. On average over these tests, the control system reduced daily heating energy use by 19% (95% confidence interval: 13%–24%), energy used for backup heat by 38%, and the frequency of using the highest stage (19 kW) of backup heat by 83%. Concurrent surveys of residents showed that the control system maintained satisfactory thermal comfort. The control system could reduce the house's total annual heating costs by about $300 (95% confidence interval: 23%–34%). These real-world results could strengthen the case for deploying predictive home heating control, bringing the technology one step closer to reducing emissions, utility bills, and power grid impacts at scale. • First field deployment of predictive control for an air-to-air heat pump in a cold climate. • Review of all known field studies of supervisory control for residential HVAC. • Reduced heating energy use by 13%–24% and use of highest-stage backup heat by 83%. • Occupants reported similar thermal comfort to benchmark control system. • Discussion of deployment labor, costs, challenges, and scalability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The production technologies and carbon intensity of multinational enterprises (MNEs) is significantly different from those of domestic enterprises (DEs). However, there are few studies have paid attention to the enterprise ownerships in tracing the carbon emissions embodied in export (CEEE). This paper constructs a new decomposition framework of total export that considering the MNEs. Based on the OECD AMNE input-output table that distinguishing DEs and MNEs from 2005 to 2016 and the related carbon emissions data, it traces the carbon emissions embodied in Chinese mainland's exports based on the value-added trade. It separates Chinese mainland's domestic carbon emissions export (DCEE) that distinguishing enterprise ownerships, analyzes its changes, and further analyzes the differences of the DCEE between DEs and MNEs from the perspective of industrial distribution and export destinations. The results show that: (1) In addition to 2016, every year more than 10.0% of Chinese mainland's carbon emissions are used to meet the demand of foreign countries or regions, and the MNEs located in Chinese mainland has produced about 6.8%–11.1% of the DCEE. (2) About two-thirds of Chinese mainland's DCEE is produced by Chinese mainland's DEs through intermediate products export, and it is mainly concentrated in the basic metals industry, other non-metallic mineral products industry and chemicals and pharmaceutical products industry. (3) In terms of the DCEE through intermediate products export, the industrial distributions of the DEs and the MNEs are similar, and they both mainly concentrate in the three industries mentioned earlier; While for the final products export, it has much difference that labor-intensive processing trade is mainly produced by the DEs. (4) In terms of the main export destination regions of the DCEE, the DEs and MNEs are very similar both for the intermediate products export and the final products export. And ROW and USA are the biggest export destinations, followed by JPN, KOR, IND, GBR, DEU, etc. The research results of this article have important research significance for promoting the achievement of China's dual carbon goals. • Constructing a new decomposition framework of total export that considering the MNEs. • Tracing the carbon emissions embodied in Chinese mainland's exports based on the value-added trade. • The structure of the carbon emissions embodied in Chinese mainland's export is analyzed. • Analyzing the differences of the DCEE between DEs and MNEs from the perspective of industrial distribution. • Analyzing the differences of the DCEE between DEs and MNEs from the perspective of export destinations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As part of the implementation of Family First Preservation Services Act, and to meet legal requirements set by the Indiana State Legislature in 2019, Indiana Department of Child Services (DCS) implemented Indiana Family Preservation Services (INFPS) to maintain children in the home when it is deemed safe to do so. This paper explores the effects of INFPS on child removal episodes and repeat maltreatment. This study compares all children and families receiving INFPS between January 1, 2021 to March 31, 2021 to a similar cohort of in-home cases that opened between January 1, 2019 and March 31, 2019. Contribution analysis and a quasi-experimental design are employed by using administrative records and survey data collected from service providers. INFPS is associated with reduced repeat maltreatment by about 3–4 % at the case-level and about 2–3 % at the child-level. In contrast to repeat maltreatment, in both case-level and child-level analyses, INFPS was not significantly associated with decreased likelihood of child removal. Overall, these results identify short-term effectiveness of INFPS on reducing repeat maltreatment during the treatment period. Results highlight the potential utility of INFPS to improving such outcomes, through increased use of evidence-based practices (EBP). Current findings demonstrate the need for continued research on the long-term effects of INFPS on child and family outcomes. • Adherence to INFPS EBP fidelity metrics were met by most service providers. • INFPS reduced rates of repeat maltreatment in the treatment population. • Results emphasize the need to support child safety throughout cases. • Disproportionality via service provision remains a barrier under INFPS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Groundwater contamination poses serious threats to public health and environmental sustainability. In this paper, we explore smart groundwater contamination sensing , which aims to accurately estimate the nitrate concentration in groundwater via a crowdsensing approach. Existing solutions often require professional groundwater collection and high-quality measurement of groundwater properties, making the data collection process time-consuming and unscalable. In this work, we leverage the approximate nitrate concentration measured by crowd sensors (i.e., participants from well-dependent communities) to accurately estimate nitrate concentration in groundwater samples. Three critical challenges exist in developing the crowdsensing-based groundwater contamination estimation solution: (i) the spatial irregularity of the crowdsensing groundwater contamination data, (ii) the hidden temporal dependency of groundwater contamination in the anthropogenic context, and (iii) the uncertainty of crowdsensing nitrate measurements from crowd sensors. To address the above challenges, we develop CrowdWaterSens, an uncertainty-aware graph neural network framework that explicitly examines the uncertainty and spatial irregularity of the crowdsensing groundwater contamination data and its relevant anthropogenic context to accurately estimate groundwater nitrate concentration. We evaluate the CrowdWaterSens framework through two real-world case studies in well-dependent communities in Northern Indiana, United States. The evaluation results not only show the effectiveness of CrowdWaterSens in accurately estimating nitrate concentration, but also demonstrate the viability of crowdsensing for community-level groundwater quality monitoring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the importance of maintaining infrastructure assets, asset management at both project- and network-levels has been the focus of hundreds of studies. Although these studies and previously developed asset management systems have pushed the boundaries of this field, these advances have been made separately without the ability to build upon one another. This paper puts forward the first open-source, extensible, freely accessible, and modular platform developed in Python, GIAMS, paving the way for researchers and practitioners to easily collaborate and contribute to future related research. Drawing upon related literature, this paper describes modules of GIAMS and illustrates their use with bridge components and models. One project-level lifecycle optimization and one network-level project-selection based on the Indiana, US, bridge network with more than 4600 bridges are provided to demonstrate the applicability of GIAMS. The modular and open-source nature of GIAMS makes it readily capable of further extension in a variety of asset management topics. • The first open-source and extensible platform is developed for asset management. • More than 4600 bridges are used to show the applicability of the developed platform. • The extensibility of GIAMS is demonstrated through three different examples. • GIAMS can accelerate and facilitate research in infrastructure asset management. • Practitioners can use an up-to-date and freely accessible asset management platform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Mineral reactions were observed during water injection into carbonate core samples. • The core samples did not contain any clay minerals. • The mineral reactions dissolved intergranular cement dislodging the rock grains. • The mineral reactions dissolved the grain's surface, releasing silicate fines. • Redistribution of dislodged fines and migration of silicate fines caused clogging. Water injection into an aquifer is generally motivated by one of three objectives: disposal, managed aquifer recharge (MAR), or aquifer storage and recovery (ASR). Any of these would be undermined if an injection well were to become clogged. This paper investigates whether mineral reactions can cause mobilization of fines and rock grains, and if so, how this would affect clogging. Injection experiments are performed on Edwards Brown (dolomite) and Indiana limestone core samples. X-ray Powder Diffraction analysis of the rocks shows that no clays are present. Filtered-deaired deionized water and pure salts are used to prepare the injection fluids. The core samples are subjected to four sequential injections of fluids: at salinities 44,580 mg/L (referred to as "seawater"), 14,860 mg/L, 7,430 mg/L, and 0 mg/L (deionized water). These salinities are selected to represent disposal, and less saline fluids to represent MAR and ASR projects. Pressure difference is recorded across the core sample at each stage and is used to calculate permeability. The effluent samples are collected to characterize produced fines and elements. The increase in the pH of the effluent samples suggest mineral reactions, which is supported by an increase in the concentration of chemical elements in the effluent samples. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) images show pore enlargement due to dissolution and depict pore blockage due to fines migration, grains redistribution, and mineral precipitation. Mineral reactions dissolved the grain's surface and intergranular cement, releasing silicate fines and rock grains, which in turn reduce the permeability of the rock by 68 % to 99.9 %. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Initializations of the petrophysical parameters significantly affect the results of reactive transport simulations on unstable dissolution fronts. As the phenomenon arises from the inherent heterogeneity of the rocks, heterogenous initialization of the petrophysical fields is needed to model such a phenomenon. While modeling of unstable dissolution fronts has been extensively studied in the past, the geostatistical information required to initialize the heterogeneous petrophysical fields is usually assumed and still missing. The objective of this paper is to acquire such information for Indiana limestones on a core-scale. This is done by combining high resolution tomography with pore scale calculations to determine: i) the rock minimum representative volume (REV), ii) the frequency distributions of the petrophysical parameters, namely; porosity, permeability, and reactive surface area, iii) the relationships between the petrophysical parameters, and iv) the rock spatial correlation model and lengths. The results obtained should help reduce the uncertainties associated with petrophysical initialization of core-scale reactive transport simulations of carbonate rocks in general, and Indiana limestones in particular. • Petrophysical heterogeneity of 8 limestone cores were characterized using Digital Rock Physics. • Representative Elementary Volume was found to be between [1 mm]3 and [2 mm]3. • Petrophysical parameters relationships and frequency distributions were calculated. • An exponential covariance model was found to best describe the porosity field. • Correlation length was found to be a strong function of the grid cell size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Opioid overdoses require a rapid response, but emergency responders are limited in how quickly they can arrive at the scene for administering naloxone. If laypersons are trained to administer naloxone and are notified of overdoses, more lives can be saved. This study aimed to examine the feasibility of the Opioid Rapid Response System (ORRS) that recruits, trains, and links citizen responders to overdose events in their community in real-time to administer naloxone. Aim of this paper is to present the protocols for recruiting participants through multiple communication channels; developing and evaluating the online training which has both interactive and asynchronous modules; randomly assigning laypersons to either online naloxone training or waitlist control group; measuring participants' knowledge, skills, and attitudes before and after the training; and distributing intranasal naloxone kits to participants for use in events of overdose in their community. Sampling: Utilizing a combination of purposive sampling methods, laypersons from across five Indiana counties who did not self-identify as current first responders were invited to participate. Design: In this two-arm randomized waitlist-controlled study (N = 220), individuals were assigned into either online training or waitlist control that received the training two weeks later. Analysis: A linear mixed model will be used for determining the changes in targeted outcomes in the training group and accommodate for fixed and random effects. While ORRS can become a community-engaged, cost-effective model for technology-based emergency response for opioid overdoses, study protocols can be useful for other emergency response programs that involve laypersons. ClinicalTrials.gov Registration Number: NCT04589676 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent record-breaking Laurentian Great Lakes water levels have led to severe erosion along many shorelines, but quantification of this erosion has not yet been widely reported. In this paper, novel shoreline measurements of Lake Michigan erosion, using a LiDAR-equipped unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The vehicle surveyed two beaches, Dune Acres and Beverly Shores, along the Indiana shoreline of southern Lake Michigan over the period 2018–2019, which are compared to existing aircraft-based LiDAR surveys. The UAV surveys reveal extensive shoreline erosion and recession at both beaches since the low water conditions of 2012–2013, with both beaches losing 70.7 and 64.8 m3/m of dry beach volume. Shoreline recession over this period was nearly 35 m for both beaches. In the period 2018–2019, the UAV measurements reveal continued beach erosion and the transition of beach topography to a steep, actively eroding foredune. Storm erosion resolved by short-interval surveys highlight the episodic nature of shoreline erosion, with 8 m3/m of material lost over a stormy two-week period at Dune Acres. While large, the erosion and recession observed at both beaches is in keeping with limited historical observations of shoreline change during high water episodes. However, the observed overall shoreline recession slopes of 1:29 (water level rise : recession) are much less than historical slopes, suggesting that the beaches are not yet in equilibrium with the high water levels and that erosion will continue in the foreseeable future while lake levels remain high. • A novel LiDAR-equipped unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) provides timely estimates of shoreline erosion at two Lake Michigan beaches during period of rapid, large water level increase. • Shoreline recession at both beaches between 2013 and 2019 is nearly 35 m, with 70 m3/m of material lost to submergence and erosion. • The presently-observed shoreline recession slope of 1:29 suggests that at the time of the 2019 surveys both beaches were not yet in equilibrium with the elevated water levels. • While the observed erosion is significant, it is consistent with Lake Michigan beach erosion during similar periods of water level increase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]