To address several challenges faced in healthcare, the Triple Aim (3A) was targeted by institutions to improve health outcomes and patient experience while reducing the costs of health. Process improvement techniques in manufacturing, such as Lean systems, were applied as tools to achieve the 3A framework. Unfortunately, the high level...
Markov Decision Processes (MDPs) are the de-facto formalism for studying sequential decision making problems with uncertainty, ranging from classical problems such as inventory control and path planning, to more complex problems such as reservoir control under rainfall uncertainty and emergency response optimization for fire and medical emergencies. Most prior research...
Differential expression (DE) analysis allows us to identify genes that respond differently under varying experimental conditions, therefore granting us an understanding of the molecular basis of phenotypic variation. Following the identification of significantly differentially expressed genes, it is often of the researcher's interest to elucidate hidden patterns or groups in...
Due to a general reduction in pavement program funding levels over the past decade, the current budget is not sufficient to maintain roadways at a high level of service with acceptable roughness levels. Rough roadways with poor ride quality increase drivers’ vehicle operating costs (fuel consumption, vehicle maintenance, and tire-wear)...
Halyomorpha halys Stål, brown marmorated stink bug or BMSB, is now present in 43 US states. A native of eastern Asia, this pest can feed on ~200 different plant species damaging bark, leaves, buds, stems, and fruits. Many of these plant species include wild plants, ornamentals, and agricultural crops. BMSB...
Physical experimentation in various scientific and engineering areas continues to be a useful and often necessary approach that is applied in research, development, and for general problem solving. The experimental design process however, is iterative and often involves trial and error. Alternative designs are proposed and evaluated on cost and...
We explore the possibility of estimating sparse inverse covariance matrices when for scientific reasons the covariance matrix is restricted to be a non-negative matrix. The process mirrors the graphical lasso process developed by Friedman and others(2008) that did not have this additional constraint.Accordingly, the Lasso procedure is done through coordinate...
Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) are prevalent among surgeons due to a variety of risk factors. Various subjective tools have been used to investigate the associations between these risk factors and their contributions to the development of WMSDs. This study aimed to provide a summary of a collection of popular subjective...
For spatial data visualization, we approach two problems and provide solutions: heat map resolution selection, and heat map confidence interval presentation. Analysts often present spatial data in gridded heat maps, at some chosen resolution. However, many data types vary in density across the domain. We develop variable-resolution heat maps to...
Turbines at wind projects pose a threat to birds and bats flying at altitudes within the rotor swept area. These animals die from colliding with the turbine blades. Estimating mortality, or the total number of bird or bat fatalities at a wind project, is critical to understanding environmental impacts of...