Digital Commons Network^™

Dashboard And Racing Telemetry, Cole Barach, Jacob Koshel, Ethan Zifzal, Matthew Sullivan

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The main goal of the project is to design and manufacture a combined dashboard and data logger for the vehicles produced by the Zips Racing design team. The dashboard will intuitively display real-time information to the driver and record all received information while driving. This information may be pulled off the device later for performing data analysis. This project will incorporate custom PCB design, surface mount soldering, embedded software development, and the CAN communication protocol.

Akron Soap Box Derby Super Kids Car, Alexis Schultz, Cooper Sites, Sean Stevenson

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This project aims to redesign the All-American Soap Box Derby Super Kids vehicle to enhance safety, accessibility, and performance while maintaining full compliance with official regulations. The Super Kids program enables children with physical and cognitive disabilities to race alongside a co-pilot, but the current vehicle design presents challenges in stability, entry/exit accessibility, and control—especially following recent regulation changes that increased vehicle speed. The redesigned car will focus on improved ergonomics, lightweight construction, and structural integrity within a $1,000 budget and a 165 lb weight limit.

An iterative engineering design process will guide the project through research, CAD modeling, FEA …

Aquaflow Pro, Ashton Henley, Jeannie Fritz, Khalin Rubbo

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Changing aquarium water is a hassle, and when done incorrectly, it will result in changes in water quality and potential harm to aquatic life. Aquarium water changes are crucial in removing toxins such as ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates. There is a need for an automated, stressless fish tank water-changing solution that ensures aquatic safety. To this end, an automatic temperature-controlled fish tank water changing system was designed, carrying out a water change for a designated main tank in which water heated within an inbound reservoir is pumped into the tank to replace the outbound water, responding to both the tank’s …

Development Of A Signature Model For Predicting Normal Boiling Point Using Machine Learning, Mackenzie Karabin

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The goal of this project was to utilize the Signature molecular descriptor to construct a predictive model for computing the normal boiling point using a 4856-compound dataset. The final model intends to be applied to screening compounds whose experimental normal boiling point values are not readily available. Compounds were deconstructed into their height-1 atomic Signatures, resulting in 225 unique descriptors for the dataset, which were used as independent variables for creating the model. Machine learning (ML) techniques were employed to evaluate the applicability and accuracy of different ML models for predicting normal boiling point using the Regression Learner App in …

Clear Skies, Avery C. Munn

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Air quality impacts public health, environmental sustainability, and quality of life. However, accurate and easily accessible short-term air quality forecasting is challenging to find. This project, Clear Skies, presents a machine learning–based system for forecasting next-day Air Quality Index (AQI) levels across regions in Ohio. By using historical pollutant data with variables such as temperature, humidity, wind speed, and atmospheric pressure, the system finds relationships that traditional statistical models often don’t show.

Machine learning models are evaluated alongside AI techniques to find the environmental factors that influence AQI predictions. This helps reduce the “black box” nature of many AI systems …

Analysis Of Stem Activities At Preschool And Primary School Levels In The Usa's And Turkiye's Educational Reports Based On The Engineering Design Process, Cetin Kursat Bilir, Mehmet Fatih Öçal, Esra Yilmaz Bilir

Indiana STEM Education Conference

This comparative study examines STEM activities from preschool to grade 4 in the United States and Türkiye using the Engineering Design Process (EDP) framework. Five activities from each country were selected based on national standards (NGSS in the U.S.; Ministry of National Education STEM Standards in Türkiye). Using qualitative content analysis, we examined how each activity reflects the stages of the EDP. The findings highlight ways to strengthen STEM education through design-based learning and offer teachers practical insights for integrating engineering design into early education.

Indiana Bridges: Inclusive Stem Learning For Students With Down Syndrome, Elizabeth N. Christian, Jeffrey A. Nowak

Indiana STEM Education Conference

This research brief explores how materials and the engineering design process may be used to support inclusive STEM learning for students with Down syndrome. Conducted as a series of five consecutive workshops over a summer break, the Indiana Bridges project introduced engineering concepts through bridge-themed sessions created to be accessible for all ages and abilities. Students ages 11-20 with Down syndrome and two teacher education faculty participated in five workshops. Family members and center support staff frequently participated. Bridges from across the state of Indiana and classroom materials familiar to the participants provided entry points while new materials extended their …

More Than A Design Task: How Questions Shape Student Attention And Learning, Isaiah Kent-Schneider

Indiana STEM Education Conference

Incorporating engineering design activities into education has the potential to transform learning and students' educational experiences. However, when teachers implement engineering design without asking purposeful questions to focus students' attention, students tend to focus on the task but miss out on the intended learning of underlying science and math concepts. This research brief provides practical examples of questions teachers can use to focus student attention during engineering design activities.

Proactive Safety Reasoning In Human-Robot Collaboration In Disassembly Through Llm-Augmented Stpa And Fmea, Morteza Jalali Alenjareghi, Fardin Ghorbani, Samira Keivanpour, Yuvin Adnarain Chinniah, Sabrina Jocelyn

Études primaires

Disassembly tasks in human–robot collaboration (HRC) environments present safety challenges due to hazardous materials, control system variability, and physically demanding operator tasks. To address these challenges, we propose an AI-augmented risk assessment framework integrating System-Theoretic Process Analysis (STPA) and Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA). This framework is implemented in four configurations: Term Frequency– Inverse Document Frequency (TF-IDF), Fine-tuned Large Language Models (LLMs), Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), and RAG with a structured Knowledge Graph (KG) built from safety standards. The system supports real-time, standards-compliant safety reasoning by generating interpretable, context-specific recommendations. We evaluate these configurations across GPT-3.5 TURBO, GPT-4o, GPT-4.1, and …

Optically-Pumped Semiconductor Optical Amplifiers, Dhruvkumar Desai

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs) offer a low-cost, compact solution for power amplification needs in an optical communication system compared with the dominant erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs). They can also provide a wide gain bandwidth. However, conventional electrically-pumped SOAs suffer from larger noise figures, low saturation power, and polarization dependence, in comparison with EDFAs. We propose an optically-pumped SOA (OP-SOA) that will maintain the benefits of conventional SOAs while closing the gaps in other amplifier performance metrics. The underlying reasons for optical pumping are twofold. First, optical pumping allows higher carrier injection and thus "population inversion." Second, optical pumping decouples carrier …

Minimizing Performance Overheads For Crash-Consistency In Disaggregated Persistent Memory, Khan Shaikhul Hadi

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Compute express link (CXL) enables persistent memory disaggregation with memory pooling and hardware managed multi-host memory sharing capability, resulting in better resource utilization, increased scalability. Persistency-aware applications need to manage crash consistency across the system which results in significant performance overhead. This dissertation systematically investigates performance overhead to achieve crash consistency in disaggregated persistent memory and proposes solutions to enable persistency-aware application scaling for distributed system. First, we study persistent parallel programming to scale computation capability beyond single processor and determine the underlying hardware limitation to adopt lock-free data structure. We propose hardware support to design durable atomic instruction (DAI) …

Explainable Multi-Horizon Wind Power Forecasting Via Aquila-Optimized Machine Learning Models, Mostafa A. Abdelnaby, Nahla B. Abdel-Hamid, Eman M. El-Gendy, Mahmoud M. Saafan

Mansoura Engineering Journal

The inherently unpredictable nature of wind energy necessitates the development of sophisticated forecasting models to ensure grid stability and optimal distribution. In this research, we propose a novel and systematic approach to wind power forecasting (WPF) across diverse timescales. This approach leverages the power of various machine learning (ML) models, metaheuristic hyperparameter optimization, and utilizes explainable artificial intelligence (XAI). The developed methodology is based on the Aquila optimizer (AO), capable of automatically adjusting different ML models for four different time periods (30 minutes, 6 hours, 24 hours, and 36 hours) on the data collected from the Gabal El-Zayt wind power …

Preserving The Identity Of Historic Coptic Orthodox Monasteries In Egypt Under Contemporary Pressures: Case Studies Of St. Bishoy And St. Anthony Monasteries, George Medhat Adeeb, Mohamed Khairy Amin, Mohamed Ahmed Al-Sherbiny

Mansoura Engineering Journal

Historic Coptic Orthodox monasteries in Egypt (HCOMEs) represent an important component of Christian heritage, integrating architectural value with enduring spiritual traditions that reflect both tangible and intangible dimensions. However, contemporary development and changing functional demands are generating transformations that may affect their identity if not carefully managed. Despite extensive scholarship, limited research has systematically examined these transformations through a structured evaluative approach. This study addresses this gap by developing and applying an analytical and evaluation framework to examine how contemporary pressures influence the historical, architectural-spatial, and spiritual identity of HCOMEs, and to assess the effectiveness of monastic responses. The framework …

The Multiwalled Carbon Nanotube-Incorporated Cfrp Laminates Interlaminar Fracture Toughness, Nikhil Janardan Rathod, Markala Karthik, Harshvardhan P. Ghongade, Javed Sikandar Shaikh, Rahul Soma Deshmukh

Mansoura Engineering Journal

The structural integrity of carbon fibre reinforced polymers (CFRPs) suffers from damage caused by interlaminar cracking and delamination which diminishes their performance capabilities. This study provides an experimental analysis of the impact of carboxyl-functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) on the Mode I interlaminar fracture toughness of CFRP laminates. The researchers created composite specimens by using epoxy systems which included MWCNT loadings of 0.1 wt% 0.2 wt% and 0.3 wt% together with an unmodified control. The researchers conducted Double Cantilever Beam (DCB) testing according to ASTM standards to ascertain the rate of critical strain energy release (G_IC) of the material. The …

Data Collection Algorithm Based On Regression Analysis, Aiming To Minimize Data Processing Delays In 6g-Enabled Iot Networks, Archana Rajendra Mane, Sachin Vasant Chaudhari

Mansoura Engineering Journal

Researchers are currently investigating 6G wireless communication technologies because they can offer ultra-low latency, high data rates, and smarter network management than 5G. IoT services have spurred the development of cutting-edge technologies such as quantum communications, terahertz (THz), and artificial intelligence (AI), all of which are expected to be included into the subsequent generation of 6G networks. This paper presents a regression-based data collection algorithm for 6G-enabled IoT networks that dynamically prioritizes data through Random Forest regression. With a Mean Absolute Error (MAE) of 0.62 ms and a Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE) of 0.83 ms, the proposed method can …

Handwriting Recognition In Vr, Dominique Mosley

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

Virtual Reality (VR) is slowly becoming more popular for more than just entertainment. VR can be found in educational, office, and even healthcare settings to help discover more intuitive ways to teach, collaborate, and treat patients. Outside of the virtual world, these environments typically rely on writing for communicating or note-taking. Currently, VR input forces users to rely on clunky on-screen keyboards which disrupts the user’s immersion and breaks the flow of natural interaction. This thesis explores the potential of VR as a learning platform by combining it with artificial intelligence (AI). It aims to develop a VR-enhanced handwriting practicing …

Five Tensions Of Artificial Intelligence Adoption For Organ Allocation: Applying The Technology–Organization–Environment Framework, Amaneh Babaee, Daniel Burton Shank, Casey I. Canfield, Joely Grace Hall, Krista L. Lentine, Henry Randall, Mark Schnitzler

Psychological Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

Background: The US organ transplantation system is pursuing modernization of the allocation process through the integration of new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI). However, the legal and ethical issues within the transplantation industry are still of concern. Objective: We explore the opportunities and challenges for Organ Procurement Organizations (OPOs) to adopt AI. The US organ transplant system is a highly regulated industry yet open to innovation. Methods: Ten structured interviews were conducted with OPO representatives using the Extended Technology, Organization, Environment (TOE) framework. Results: Overall, we identified five core tensions in AI adoption: (1) misconceptions, (2) approach to training, …

Architecting A Complex Adaptive System Model For Selecting Policies To Reduce Kidney Discard, Lirim Ashiku

Doctoral Dissertations

"The kidney allocation system is a complex, evolving system involving multiple heterogeneous agents. Each agent exhibits emergent behavior that may not fully align with the complex system goals. Therefore, there is a need for a transdisciplinary systems approach to visualize the interdependency among agents and understand the dominant patterns that shape the kidney allocation system.

First, this research presented an incremental hierarchical system engineering approach in identifying the agents’ needs and behaviors toward the complex systems’ goal of maximizing deceased donor kidney utilization and reducing kidney discard. The hierarchical systems approach linked with model-based system engineering aided in eliciting agents’ …

Applying Transfer Learning For Street-Scale Nuisance Flood Forecasting In Coastal-Urban Environments, Binata Roy, Jonathan L. Goodall, Diana Mcspadden, Chetan Kumar, Steven Goldenberg, Yidi Wang, Malachi Schram

Data Science Faculty Publications

An important challenge with Machine Learning (ML) is its transferability; that is, whether an ML model trained on one set of data can be applied to a second set of data without requiring full retraining of the model. Transfer Learning (TL) addresses this challenge by transferring knowledge learned in the source domain (the data it was trained on) to the target domain (a second set of data that is statistically different but related, which the model was not trained on). This study investigates the use of TL for street-scale nuisance flood forecasting by exploring whether an ML model trained for …

Towards Developing A Career Technology Fit Framework And Analyzing Its Influence On Work-Related Outcomes Among It Professionals, Gunjan Tomer

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

With growing attrition rate and significant demand for skilled IT professionals, the importance of studying their behaviour has become important for both academia and industry. Despite ample amount of research, there is still a gap between theory and practice. Based on our qualitative study conducted on Indian IT professionals we propose that technology allocation might contribute in understanding the behaviour of IT professionals. We found that IT professionals evaluate the technology allocated to them based on their individual career motives. This evaluation, either positive or negative, influences their job outcomes. Further, we explored the factors that make a technology preferable …

High Technology And The Developing State: The Arrival Of Supercomputers In India, Ramesh Subramanian

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

While India has made vast strides in information technology in the last few decades, its success is mainly attributed to its software, rather than its hardware sector. In fact, India’s attempts at developing computer hardware that can match international standards have largely been unsuccessful. A notable exception is its development of a series of supercomputers that match and exceed many international standards. This paper looks at an interesting period in India’s computing history – namely the 1980s and 1990s – focusing on its development of an indigenous supercomputer. During that period, supercomputers were thought to be the sole privy of …

Responsible People Analytics For Remote-Work Decisions: A Machine-Learning Benchmark For Classifying Perceived Productivity, Ruth Menjivar, Nima Molavi, Narges Mashhadi Nejad

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

This study examines whether employee-perception survey data can support responsible people-analytics decisions about remote-work productivity. Using the public New South Wales (NSW) Remote Working Survey 2021 (N=1,512), the study benchmarks statistical and machine-learning classifiers for self-reported perceived productivity classes (same, less, or more productive when working remotely relative to onsite work), not objective output, under default, class-weighted, and resampling protocols. Main evidence comes from 5×5 repeated stratified cross-validation using macro F1 and balanced accuracy with fixed model specifications. Class-balanced separability is modest. Random Forest, CatBoost, and LightGBM form a leading cluster with overlapping confidence intervals (macro F1 ≈0.51–0.52). Affective/well-being items, …

The Value Of Personal Data Ecosystems: A Flemish Media Sector Case Study, Maarten De Mildt, Melanie Verstraete, Sofie Verbrugge, Didier Colle

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

Personal Data Stores (PDSs) have been proposed as a privacy-preserving approach to data sharing that increases individual control over personal data while enabling new forms of cross-organizational collaboration. This collaboration leads to the emergence of Personal Data Ecosystems (PDEs). Despite growing interest in PDEs, limited research has examined how the organizational and economic barriers identified in prior studies manifest in practice. This paper investigates these challenges through a case study of the Flemish media sector within the Solid4Media project, which explores the use of PDSs to support data sharing and personalization across media organizations. Using a qualitative research design, data …

Epistemic Edge: Subjective Logic Guardrails For Llm-Driven Iot Actuation, Muntaser Syed, Marius Silaghi

Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Student Publications

Deploying large language models (LLMs) as decision-making agents in safety-critical Internet of Things (IoT) systems introduces risks that purely behavioral guardrails, such as action whitelists, cannot fully address. This paper presents Epistemic Edge, a four-tier neuro-symbolic pipeline that augments LLM-driven actuation with subjective logic (SL) uncertainty quantification, temporal decay, and dual guardrails combining epistemic threshold checks with behavioral whitelists. We evaluate seven locally-deployed models: three PrismML Bonsai 1-bit models (1.7B, 4B, 8B), three 4-bit quantized models (Qwen3-8B, Llama 3.2-3B, Phi-3.5-mini), and the DeepSeek-R18B reasoning model, across eight ablation conditions and five IoT actuation scenarios (2,800 controlled trials). We further validate …

Advancing Ultrahigh Carbon Steel Characterization: A Metaheuristic-Tuned Deep Learning Approach, Walaa Omar El-Farouk Badr, Hossam El-Din Mostafa, Rania Elbana

Mansoura Engineering Journal

Accurate classification of ultrahigh carbon steel (UHCS) microstructures is essential for elucidating processing-structure-property relationships and enhancing material performance. While convolutional neural networks (CNNs) offer powerful automated classification, navigating their complex, high-dimensional hyperparameter spaces present a significant computational bottleneck. To advance automated materials characterization, this study proposes a metaheuristic-tuned deep learning approach for robust and efficient microstructure classification. Two architectures, VGG16 and MobileNetV2, were evaluated under both pretrained and fine-tuned configurations, with Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), Genetic Algorithm (GA), and Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) applied for systematic hyperparameter tuning. Results show that GA substantially improves the performance of fine-tuned VGG16, achieving …

Synthesis, Structure, And Electrochemical Properties Of The Ni(Oh)2/Nimoo4 Composite On The Rgo/Nf Template For Hybrid Battery-Supercapacitor Electrodes, Retno Asih, Haniffudin Nurdiansah, Rogabe Sianipar, Ida Ayu Gayatri, Lukman Noerochim, Diah Susanti, Isao Watanabe, Darminto Darminto

Journal of Metals, Materials and Minerals

The growing demand for renewable and sustainable energy has intensified research on advanced energy-storage systems that can deliver both high energy and power densities. In this study, a Ni(OH)2/ NiMoO4 composite on a reduced graphene oxide/nickel foam (rGO/NF) template was synthesized through a hydrothermal and electrodeposition route to construct a hybrid battery-supercapacitor electrode. The unique hierarchical design combines the pseudocapacitive activity of Ni(OH)2/NiMoO4 with the excellent conductivity of rGO and the high surface area of NF, enabling efficient electron and ion transport. Structural and morphological analyses confirm the successful formation of the Ni(OH)2/NiMoO4/rGO/NF architecture. The electrode exhibits a specific capacitance …

Impact Of Chromium Substitution On Structural And Magnetic Properties Of Mnbi-Based Melt-Spun Ribbons, Anh Kha Vuong, Triet Minh Dang, Truong Xuan Nguyen, Duy Anh Vo Nguyen, Hai Van Pham, Nam Hoai Nguyen, Nam Hong Pham, Oanh Kim Thi Vuong, Tan Nhut Nguyen Le, Tuan Van Dinh, Nam Thanh Tran Nguyen, Nhan Thi Tran, Trung Quoc Nguyen, Nhan Thi Tran, Trung Quoc Nguyen, Lu Wei, Vuong Van Nguyen

Journal of Metals, Materials and Minerals

MnBi-based magnetic materials and magnets are of significant interest due to their magnetism without rare earth elements and their ability to replace Nd-Fe-B in high-temperature magnet applications due to its unique feature of enhancing coercivity in the range of 100℃ to 250℃, enabling their energy product (BH)max comparable to NdFeB magnets despite their moderate spontaneous magnetization Msp. To adjust the magnetic properties of MnBi magnets, various elements have been doped to regulate magnetic interactions among the atoms, which subsequently alters Msp and the magneto-crystalline anisotropy energy. In this work, we investigate the effects of chromium doping on the magnetic properties …

Cold Sintering-Assisted Low Temperature Fabrication Of Dense Ba5 Nb4 O15 Ceramics, Usa Sukkha, Apichayaporn Teandam, Phakkhananan Pakawanit, Phitsamai Kamonpha, Wanwilai Vittayakorn, Phieraya Pulphol, Naratip Vittayakorn

Journal of Metals, Materials and Minerals

This study presents a novel approach for fabricating Ba5Nb4O15 (BNO) ceramics at low sintering temperatures via the cold sintering process (CSP), using Ba(OH)2∙8H2O (BOH) as a transient liquid phase. CSP was performed under an external pressure of 10 MPa with a sintering temperature range of 150℃ to 300℃. Optimally, BNO-BOH ceramics achieved a relative density of 93.7 ± 0.43% when sintered at 250℃ for 1 h. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) suggested that particle densification occurred via a dissolution-precipitation process, which filled pores and formed necks between particles. The study demonstrates that the residual liquid content is crucial for ceramic densification. …

Fabrication Of A Chitosan‒Fe3o4/Activated Carbon/Tio2 Nanocomposite As A Pb(Ii) Heavy Metal Adsorbent, Berliantty Warim Putri, Arif Hidayat, Lya Rizka Herawati, Poppy Puspitasari, Nandang Mufti, Yap Wing Fen, Muhammad Safwan Abdul Aziz, Tahta Amrillah, Ahmad Taufiq

Journal of Metals, Materials and Minerals

Nowadays, water pollution by heavy metal Pb(II) is a significant issue in many countries, including Indonesia. To overcome this problem, a suitable and efficient waste treatment method is necessary. Therefore, in this work, Fe3O4/AC/TiO2 nanocomposite modified with chitosan (CS) for the treatment of Pb (II) waste were investigated. CS was used due to its OH and NH2 functional groups, which enable the formation of a new hybrid nanocomposite that can be used repeatedly. To reduce production costs, environmentally friendly, raw natural materials, such as iron sand, coconut shells, and shrimp shells, were employed. The XRD characterization results indicate that the …

Sodium Alginate/Aloe Vera/Mangosteen Peel Extraction Hydrogel Composite Films With Anti-Staphylococcal Properties As A Promising Alternative Material In Biomedical Applications, Pruss Chimwai, Poonyarat Apikarnsakulchai, Tirawit Jindaratanaporn, Witsanu Liangaumnuay, Thitima La-Ongthitirat, Purin Somnuake, Pattara Somnuake

Journal of Metals, Materials and Minerals

This study focuses on the development of alternative biodegradable hydrogel films from sodium alginate as a matrix and curing into a hydrogel by CaCl2. Thus, the aloe vera (AV) and the crude extract of mangosteen peels (MPE) were additionally blended. The polymer films were prepared using the casting film process, and their morphology, functional groups, water absorption, antibacterial, thermal, and mechanical properties were characterized using SEM, FTIR, water swelling test, disk diffusion method, DSC-TGA, and UTM. The results demonstrated the heterogeneity between the composites and the polymer matrix, and a lower polarity from the decreased %water swelling from 45% to …