Digital Commons Network^™

Skip The Grid: Providing Power And Light To The Navajo Nation, Esai Contreras

Construction Management

Skip the Grid was created as an initiative to power communities that are in need. This project was made possible through a collaborative effort from California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly) students, industry partners SOLV Energy and Goal Zero, and facilitated through the educational non-profit organization Heart of America (HOA). The goal of this project was to help families of school age children in the Navajo Nation by providing solar energy systems including a battery and lighting. We hoped to achieve a long-lasting effect on the families by installing necessities for families with school-aged children. For the …

Topological Variability In Water Distribution Networks, James M. Anderson

Theses and Dissertations

Water distribution networks are critical infrastructure characterized by difficulties in their assessment and deteriorating performance due to aging components. Resilience analysis of networked infrastructure has replaced traditional risk analysis to focus on performance. Global Resilience Analysis can provide useful information to decision makers and system managers regarding repair and expansion of networks. Network performance has been found to be directly informed by network structure. This work leverages graph theory to assess network qualities that correlate with resiliency characteristics across 69 real world water networks. These networks are then grouped by their structural properties through k-means clustering and compared using parametric …

Net Zero Water Air Force Installations, Kenneth R. Mcknight

Theses and Dissertations

The United States continues to face problems of a reduction in quality and quantity of groundwater sources because water extraction exceeds natural source recharge. The Air Force has recognized the importance of these groundwater sources but has put minimal effort into determining their contribution to the depletion of these sources. The purpose of this study is to determine this contribution by determining whether Air Force installations are net zero water. This is done using a geospatial information system to determine the volume of water recharging groundwater sources associated with an Air Force installation. This volume is then compared to the …

Sea Level Rise Impacts On Wastewater Treatment Plants And Their Social Vulnerability Differences, David S. P. Robinson

Theses and Dissertations

Many of the United States’ major cities that have a high population are located along the coast. The number of people residing in low elevation coastal areas, be-low 10 meters, is increasing. Coastal areas may be affected by various short- and long-term climate hazards, such as sea level rise (SLR). Climate change induced SLR will threaten residents and infrastructure in low-lying coastal areas. A household’s capacity to respond to hazards is highly dependent on its socio-demographic situation which determines its social vulnerability. Wastewater treatment facilities area particularly critical piece of infrastructure often located in low-lying areas due to gravity fed …

Arctic Construction Under Climatological Constraints: A Decision Support System For Expeditionary Construction Site Selection In The Arctic Environment, Zachary S. Wontrop

Theses and Dissertations

The natural physical barriers present in the Arctic are being eroded by climate change, increasing near peer adversaries' abilities to exploit this region for strategic and economic gain. To maintain the Arctic as a region of strategic and economic international cooperation, increased infrastructure investment by the United States and its allies are required. No methodology currently exists to quantify construction-limiting climatological factors over time and space. Decision support systems can provide actionable information to guide decision makers during site selection. This research employs geographic, and time-coded historical climatology applied to a project case study, to develop a site selection decision …

Design And Concept Of Renewable Energy Driven Auto-Detectable Railway Level Crossing Systems In Bangladesh, Iftekharuzzaman Iftekharuzzaman, Susmita Ghosh, Mohammad K. Basher, Mohammad A. Islam, Narottam Das, Mohammad Nur-E-Alam

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Bangladesh’s railway system mostly uses typical manual railway crossing techniques or boom gates through its 2955.53 km rail route all over the country. Accidents frequently happen at railway crossings due to the lack of quickly operating gate systems, and to fewer safety measures at the railway crossing as well. Currently, there are very few automatic railway crossing systems available (without obstacle detectors). Additionally, all of them are dependent on the national power grid, without a backup plan for any emergency cases. Bangladesh is still running a bit behind in generating enough power for its consumption; hence, it is not possible …

Impact Of Population Based Indoor Residual Spraying With And Without Mass Drug Administration With Dihydroartemisinin-Piperaquine On Malaria Prevalence In A High Transmission Setting: A Quasi-Experimental Controlled Before-And-After Trial In Northeastern Uganda, Richard C. Elliott

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background: Declines in malaria burden in Uganda have slowed. Modelling predicts that indoor residual spraying (IRS) and mass drug administration (MDA), when co-timed, have synergistic impact. This study investigated additional protective impact of population-based MDA on malaria prevalence, if any, when added to IRS, as compared with IRS alone and with standard of care (SOC).

Methods: The 32-month quasi-experimental controlled before-and-after trial enrolled an open cohort of residents (46,765 individuals, 1st enumeration and 52,133, 4th enumeration) of Katakwi District in northeastern Uganda. Consented participants were assigned to three arms based on residential subcounty at study start: MDA+IRS, IRS, SOC. IRS …

District-Scale Surface Temperatures Generated From High-Resolution Longitudinal Thermal Infrared Images, Subin Lin, Vasantha Ramani, Miguel Martin, Pandarasamy Arjunan, Adrian Chong, Filip Biljecki, Marcel Ignatius, Clayton Miller, Clayton Miller

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

This paper describes a dataset collected by infrared thermography, a non-contact, non-intrusive technique to acquire data and analyze the built environment in various aspects. While most studies focus on the city and building scales, an observatory installed on a rooftop provides high temporal and spatial resolution observations with dynamic interactions on the district scale. The rooftop infrared thermography observatory with a multi-modal platform capable of assessing a wide range of dynamic processes in urban systems was deployed in Singapore. It was placed on the top of two buildings that overlook the outdoor context of the National University of Singapore campus. …

Landslide Susceptibility Assessment Of A Part Of The Western Ghats (India) Employing The Ahp And F-Ahp Models And Comparison With Existing Susceptibility Maps, Sheela Bhuvanendran Bhagya, Anita Saji Sumi, Sankaran Balaji, Jean Homian Danumah, Romulus Costache, Ambujendran Rajaneesh, Ajayakumar Gokul, Chandini Padmanabhapanicker Chandrasenan, Renata Pacheco Quevedo, Alfred Johny, Kochappi Sathyan Sajinkumar, Sunil Saha, Rajendran Shobha Ajin, Pratheesh Chacko Mammen, Kamal Abdelrahman, Mohammed S. Fnais, Mohamed Abioui

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

Landslides are prevalent in the Western Ghats, and the incidences that happened in 2021 in the Koottickal area of the Kottayam district (Western Ghats) resulted in the loss of 10 lives. The objectives of this study are to assess the landslide susceptibility of the high-range local self-governments (LSGs) in the Kottayam district using the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and fuzzy-AHP (F-AHP) models and to compare the performance of existing landslide susceptible maps. This area never witnessed any massive landslides of this dimension, which warrants the necessity of relooking into the existing landslide-susceptible models. For AHP and F-AHP modeling, ten conditioning …

Wildfire Risk Zone Mapping In Contrasting Climatic Conditions: An Approach Employing Ahp And F-Ahp Models, Aishwarya Sinha, Suresh Nikhil, Rajendran Shobha Ajin, Jean Homian Danumah, Sunil Saha, Romulus Costache, Ambujendran Rajaneesh, Kochappi Sathyan Sajinkumar, Kolangad Amrutha, Alfred Johny, Fahad Marzook, Pratheesh Chacko Mammen, Kamal Abdelrahman, Mohammed S. Fnais, Mohamed Abioui

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

Wildfires are one of the gravest and most momentous hazards affecting rich forest biomes worldwide; India is one of the hotspots due to its diverse forest types and human-induced reasons. This research aims to identify wildfire risk zones in two contrasting climate zones, the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary in the Western Ghats and the Kedarnath Wildlife Sanctuary in the Himalayas, using geospatial tools, analytical hierarchy process (AHP), and fuzzy-AHP models to assess the impacts of various conditioning factors and compare the efficacy of the two models. Both of the wildlife sanctuaries were severely battered by fires in the past, with more …

Estimating Solar Energy Production In Urban Areas For Electric Vehicles, Shaimaa Ahmed

Theses and Dissertations

Cities have a high potential for solar energy from PVs installed on buildings' rooftops. There is an increased demand for solar energy in cities to reduce the negative effect of climate change. The thesis investigates solar energy potential in urban areas. It tries to determine how to detect and identify available rooftop areas, how to calculate suitable ones after excluding the effects of the shade, and the estimated energy generated from PVs. Geographic Information Sciences (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS) are used in solar city planning. The goal of this research is to assess available and suitable rooftops areas using …

Underestimated Passive Volcanic Sulfur Degassing Implies Overestimated Anthropogenic Aerosol Forcing, U. A. Jongebloed, A. J. Schauer, J. Cole-Dai, C. G. Larrick, R. Wood, T. P. Fischer, S. A. Carn, S. Salimi, S. R. Edouard, S. Zhai, L. Geng, B. Alexander

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

The Arctic is warming at almost four times the global rate. An estimated sixty percent of greenhouse-gas-induced Arctic warming has been offset by anthropogenic aerosols, but the contribution of aerosols to radiative forcing (RF) represents the largest uncertainty in estimating total RF, largely due to unknown preindustrial aerosol abundance. Here, sulfur isotope measurements in a Greenland ice core show that passive volcanic degassing contributes up to 66 ± 10% of preindustrial ice core sulfate in years without major eruptions. A state-of-the-art model indicates passive volcanic sulfur emissions influencing the Arctic are underestimated by up to a factor of three, possibly …

Hmm, You Seem Confused! Tracking Interlocutor Confusion For Situated Task-Oriented Hri, Na Li, Robert J. Ross

Articles

Our research seeks to develop a long-lasting and high-quality en- gagement between the user and the social robot, which in turn requires a more sophisticated alignment of the user and the system than is currently commonly available. Close monitoring of inter- locutors’ states, and we argue their confusion state in particular, and adjusting dialogue policies based on this state of confusion is needed for successful joint activity. In this paper, we present an ini- tial study of a human-robot conversation scenarios using a Pepper robot to investigate the confusion states of users. A Wizard-of-Oz (WoZ) HRI experiment is illustrated in …

Plural Communities: A Cultural Mapping Project + A Framework Plan For Cherokee Village, Arkansas, Community Design Center

Community Design Center Project Reports

What do urban designers do with culture? How might we redevelop a mid-century modern planned community through the mapping of cultural influences that shaped it? We explored memory and heritage central to cultural mapping and its participatory-based forms of public inquiry. 54 drawings integrate maps, folklore materials, archived media, photographs, and new drawings into five synchronic cultural frameworks that shaped Cherokee Village—Native American heritage, Ozark pioneer and folk heritage, camping and scouting, midcentury planned communities, and regional modernism in design and planning.

Cherokee Village was developed within a mid-twentieth century planning ethos that valued uniformity …

Distracted In Practice, Maria R. Ebling, Jason C. Brown, Benjamin M. Wallen

ASEE North Midwest Section Annual Conference 2023 Publications

Background - Distractions create well-known impediments to student learning. Many researchers have proposed techniques to overcome the challenges associated with distractions in the classroom.
Purpose - Our study investigates instructors’ experiences in using various theories and practices in a variety of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, & Math) and HSS (Humanities & Social Sciences) classrooms applied in a post-secondary setting. We examine how well the techniques work in practice, investigating questions such as which techniques were most employed, whether instructors perceived improvements in student engagement, and whether instructors plan to use the techniques in the future or advocate the use of …

Defining A European Engineer Profile Within A European University Alliance, Morris Villarroel, Nilüfer Ülker, Pascal Bigey, Pierre Bertrand, Ramón Martínez, Sophie Griveau, Philippe Barboux, Alberto Garrido

Practice Papers

The world needs more engineers and Europe provides a rich and diverse environment to train them, including shared values of sustainability and interculturalism. In this paper we attempt to build a profile for a “European engineer” based on skills and competences acquired in a European University Alliance centred around engineering education (EELISA, European Engineering Learning Innovation Alliance). We carried out an on-line survey for students and staff of partner universities as well as nine indepth interviews (50 min) with relevante stakeholders. The questions included in the survey are described as well as general results from 75 respondents. The overall results …

Transforming Curriculums For An Age Of Multi-Modal Education: A 5-Phase Approach, Justine I. Blanford, Jeroen Verplanke

Practice Papers

The pandemic has accelerated the trend towards online and hybrid learning with many educational institutes pivoting their education to online learning environments and has subsequently transformed societal expectations. There have been many benefits associated with these changes (e.g., multi-dimensional interactions, flexibility and deep learning). As we move into more online education due to changing needs and demands from students, how best to adapt our education for multi-modal learning environments can be a challenge. Getting our education ready for a multi-modal age is bringing about disruptive changes forcing us to rethink what we teach and how we teach it. Thus, the …

Engineering For One Planet: Resources For Infusing Sustainability And Leadership Competencies Across All Engineering Disciplines, Cindy Cooper, Cynthia Anderson, Michael Milligan

Practice Papers

Engineering for One Planet (EOP) is an initiative to transform engineering education and equip all future engineers across all disciplines with the fundamental skills and principles of social and environmental sustainability.

Catalyzed by The Lemelson Foundation and VentureWell in collaboration with hundreds of sustainability advocates across sectors, the EOP initiative envisions a world in which all engineers play a critical role in ensuring that the solutions of today do not become the problems of tomorrow, restoring and regenerating our environment, and improving lives for all.

EOP is accelerating curricular transformation by supporting faculty change efforts and fostering collaboration among stakeholders …

2022-2023 Annual Security And Fire Report - Sayre Campus, Southwestern Oklahoma State University

ANNUAL SECURITY & FIRE REPORTS

This is the 2022-2023 Annual Security and Fire Report of the Sayre Campus by Southwestern Oklahoma State University.

Non-Intrusive Reduced Order Model Formulation For Inverse Shape Design Including Deforming Meshes And Multiphysics Problems., Kapil Aryal

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Despite significant advancements in computer capabilities for numerical simulations, engineers continue to face limitations when dealing with large-scale full-order model(FOM) simulations. These simulations often necessitate repeated solves, such as those encountered in inverse design, real-time solution prediction, error quantification, and solver convergence, among others. To address these challenges, reduced order modeling (ROM) has emerged as a valuable approach. This thesis focuses on the development of an ROM framework that combines Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) with machine learning techniques. This integrated approach is applied to a diverse range of heat transfer and fluid flow inverse design problems. POD constructs optimal sets …

Understanding Outgroup Aversion Effects On Innovation Adoption And Polarization In Network Environments, Bruce G. Miller

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

Individuals' decisions to adopt an innovation can be influenced by the group identity of previous adopters or non-adopters in their social network. Previous research in innovation diffusion considered initial innovators and word-of-mouth imitator effects using analytical models. Simulations and agent-based models have been developed to address the heterogeneity of decision makers and the non-linearity of the process. A further refinement modeled adoption based on networks of social relationships between potential decision makers, analogous to the spread of disease on networks. In addition, adoption or non-adoption of some innovations has been characterized as a means of signaling identification with or aversion …

Developing A Standardized Gis Model Capable Of Identifying Areas To Implement Wind Power Generation Infrastructure, Namidu Vishwanath De Silva

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

This project involves the use of multi-source GIS data, suitability analysis, and spatial modeling techniques to identify the most suitable areas for improving renewable energy infrastructures, primarily focusing on wind energy, within a given region. Previous literature conducted on the subject matter shows research being done in isolated areas or states. The primary objective of this project is to develop a GIS model and scripting tool that has the capability to test any input region to find the most suitable area within the given region that would be ideal for implementing new wind power infrastructure. The success rate of the …

Keynote Address And Meeting Program, Academy Editors

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

No abstract provided.

Characterizing Air Plasma Sprayed Aluminum Oxide Coatings For The Protection Of Structures In Lunar Environments, Perla Latorre Suarez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Wear-resistant ceramic and ceramic composite coatings are significant to provide durability and support long-duration missions to the moon's surface for rovers, landers, robotic systems, habitats, and many other components. On the Lunar surface, structural components are continuously exposed to lunar dust projectiles that can cause protective coating delamination around the affected area, of protective coatings and this may not be physically visible. Ceramic coatings, composed of alumina, present excellent resistance to different types of wear due to their high strength and hardness as well as the ability to protect structural components from regolith impacts, wear, and abrasive damage. Air Plasma …

Clustering States To Improve The Strategic Highway Safety Plan, Victoria Cambron

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

Each update to a Strategic Highway Safety Plan (SHSP) can require a large amount of time, resources, and funding. From the requirements in U.S.C.148(a)(13)(E-F), in the SHSP update process states must consider the results of other transportation planning processes and develop a list of strategies to reduce or eliminate fatal and serious injury crashes (United States, 2023). To fulfill these requirements more efficiently and to gain the largest amount of benefit from said research, this thesis asks the question: how do we select other state transportation plans to study for ideas on improving our own SHSP? In this thesis, a …

Impact Of Covid-19 Nationwide Lockdowns And Unlock Phases In India On River Water Quality Of Upper Part Of The Ganga River, Dhara Kakwani, Abha Kumari, Kumar Suranjit Prasad, Bablu Prasad

Applied Environmental Research

The river water quality index (RWQI) of the upper Ganga canal has been computed to assess the effect of lockdown and unlock phases lead down by COVID-19 in India. Geospatial distribution of RWQI from January 2019 to December 2021 in the study area revealed significant impacts of lockdown on water quality. However, unlock phases (post lockdown) have deteriorated water quality since August 2020 and reached to actual conditions of the river by August 2021. To evaluate the lockdown as a management strategy to clean the river, other factors were reviewed including rainfall data, migration, and other activities. The results revealed …

Revised Avenues Of Assessment In Higher Education In The Presence Of Ai Generative Contents, Muhammad Iqbal

HECA Research Conference

This study explores the impact of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools on academic assessments, focusing on their efficacy in generating unique content across various domains. Dr. Muhammad Iqbal from CCT College Dublin emphasizes the increasing prevalence of AI generative tools and their potential influence on learning quality in academia. The study addresses concerns related to assessment standards in higher education and proposes the evaluation of AI-generated content reliability.

Incremental Development Model Using Vacant Buildings For Affordable Housing, Seogjae Choi, Boyoung Michelle Huh

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Vacant properties have increased and become a problem in cities in the US. Few studies addressed how to utilize vacant properties for affordable housing despite they can be a great resource for affordable housing. To improve affordable housing sustainability, researchers recommended incremental development because it can satisfy residents' dynamic demands over time and engage them in house design. This can be implemented by utilizing vacant buildings to maximize their potential for affordable housing. Through the literature review, critical sustainability criteria for affordable housing are yielded. This paper demonstrates how the incremental development of vacant buildings satisfies the critical sustainability criteria. …

Evaluation Of Low-Cost Radiometer For Surface Reflectance Re-Trieval And Orbital Sensor’S Validation, Dinithi Siriwardana Pathiranage

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This paper evaluates the Arable Mark 2 sensor, an automated and low-cost radiometer, for its potential to retrieve surface reflectance data and validate orbital sensors such as the Landsat-8 (L8) Operational Land Imager (OLI) Level 2 product. While orbital sensors are widely used for monitoring solar radiation changes, managing natural resources, and understanding climatic trends, atmospheric effects can make it challenging to obtain accurate measurements. Equipped with multiple sensors, including long-wave and short-wave radiometers, the Arable Mark 2 sensor can measure upwelling and downwelling irradiance to calculate surface reflectance. To assess the accuracy and consistency of the Arable Mark 2 …

Extended Cross-Referenced Analysis Using Data From The Landsat 8 And 9 Underfly Event, Garrison Gross

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Landsat 8 and 9 Underfly Event occurred in November 2021, where Landsat 9 flew beneath Landsat 8 in the final stages before settling in its final orbiting path. An analysis was performed on the images taken during this event, which resulted in a cross-referenced with uncertainties estimated to be less than 0.5%. This level of precision was due in part to the near-identical sensors aboard each instrument as well as the underfly event itself, which allowed the sensors to take nearly the exact same image at nearly the exact same time. This initial calibration was applied before the end …