Digital Commons Network^™

Cyber Attacks Against Industrial Control Systems, Adam Kardorff

LSU Master's Theses

Industrial Control Systems (ICS) are the foundation of our critical infrastructure, and allow for the manufacturing of the products we need. These systems monitor and control power plants, water treatment plants, manufacturing plants, and much more. The security of these systems is crucial to our everyday lives and to the safety of those working with ICS. In this thesis we examined how an attacker can take control of these systems using a power plant simulator in the Applied Cybersecurity Lab at LSU. Running experiments on a live environment can be costly and dangerous, so using a simulated environment is the …

Single Wall Carbon Nanotubes For The Detection Of Misfolded Proteins In Neuro-Degenerative Disorders, Stefanie Vining

Senior Honors Projects

Single wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) are one-dimensional carbon nanomaterials made up of a singular layer of graphene. These nanotubes can be functionalized with different molecules for various bio-sensing/imaging applications. SWCNTs are unique in their ability to be used as long-term multiplexed sensors due to their photostability and ability to remain fluorescent.

This project focused on the functionalization of SWCNTs to detect misfolded proteins for early detection of neuro-degenerative diseases like Alzheimers. Currently, there is no simple way to detect these misfolded proteins and diagnose for diseases like Alzheimers, Parkinsons, or ALS, and a confirmed diagnosis can take upwards of six …

Objective.Gg: Uniting Scholastic Esports, Douglas Beirne

Posters - 2024

Objective.gg is a startup recruitment platform within the scholastic esports scene that seeks to unite esports prospects with collegiate esports programs in an effective manner. Objective.gg seeks to accomplish its mission by operating an online platform that allows prospects and collegiate coaches to create their own profiles and connect with one another, building a community in the process. This platform will begin with a free tier, but additional features will be offered through a subscription-based model with two additional pricing tiers to choose from. The online platform will be supported by free online and paid in-person tournaments for Objective.gg platform …

Personalized Quiz Maker: Novel Feature For Alby Learning Management System, Lys Kang , '24

Senior Theses, Projects, and Awards

This report details the development of a personalized quiz feature for the Alby learning management platform, designed to enhance student learning by generating quizzes tailored to individual performance data. The project involved creating an algorithm to analyze dynamic student data and identify areas for improvement and then using OpenAI's GPT-4 to generate the multiple choice quizzes with elaborative feedback. Developed as a serverless application with AWS tools, the feature operates independently from the main platform. Despite the absence of applicable professional standards and constraints like limited data availability, the project met its functional requirements, demonstrating the potential to improve educational …

10 Meters To Disaster: The Challenges Of Premature Application Of Circular Economy Strategies In Jakarta’S Waste Management Structure, Almira Bowo

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Jakarta's complex issue of waste management encompasses a multitude of challenges that include inefficiencies in infrastructure, a lack of public awareness of the consequences of an inadequate waste system, socioeconomic disparities, and a deficiency in intersectoral collaboration. The urgency for holistic and sustainable solutions that prioritize proactive waste collection is underscored by the complexities of these dynamics. This field study paper argues that the attention that is being drawn towards trending waste management innovations, which are reactive strategies, could bring the waste crisis in Jakarta to an even more critical state. The sections will critically examine current waste management efforts …

Performing Information Extraction For Mission Engineering Applications, Samuel R. Koski

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The process of extracting structured data from unstructured and semi-structured text is manual, time consuming and error prone. Current natural language processing approaches for automating this process are difficult to verify for non-trivial and context-sensitive corpora. Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT have become a subject of considerable interest, opening a promising avenue of exploration. However, there is limited evidence on the performance of LLMs for information extraction.

In this dissertation, an approach is proposed to evaluate the accuracy of Stanford OpenIE and OpenAI's ChatGPT for this purpose. This includes comparing Resource Description Framework (RDF) triples extracted by each of …

Effect Of Lunar Magnetic Field And Lunar Regolith Simulant On The Growth And Bioactive Compounds Production Of Chlorella Vulgaris Microalgae, Jeries Philip Butros Abedrabbo

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Since humans last went to the moon on the Apollo missions, there has been a fascination with inhabiting and colonizing other planetary objects, starting with the Earth’s Moon, Mars, and recently Jupiter’s moon, Europa. However, there is still lack of knowledge and science behind many of the extraterrestrial environmental effects on biological organisms living on Earth. Therefore, there is a need to study how such environments would affect these organisms. Moreover, how can we attain sustainable living in such environments as well through self-providing life support systems (LSS), without the need to provide for additional necessities back and forth from …

Broadband Dielectric Spectroscopic Detection Of Volatile Organic Compounds With Zinc Oxide And Metal-Organic Frameworks As Solid-State Sensor Materials, Papa Kojo Amoah

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The industrial revolution drove technological progress but also increased the release of harmful pollutants, posing significant risks to human health and the environment. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which have various anthropogenic and natural sources, are particularly concerning due to their impact on public health, especially in urban areas. Addressing these adverse effects requires comprehensive strategies for mitigation as traditional gas sensing techniques have limitations and there is a need for innovative approaches to VOC detection.

VOCs encompass a diverse group of chemicals with high volatility, emitted from various human activities and natural sources. These compounds play a crucial role in …

A Trustworthy Self-Sovereign Data And Identity Management Framework, Efat Fathalla

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Data is a fundamental building block in the digital world, providing a basis for decision making and growth across numerous applications. In our modern world, we have become accustomed to collecting data on everything, including devices, machines, and people. The increased value of such data has led to aggressive harvesting mechanisms that prioritize data collection, storage, and pervasiveness while often disregarding security, privacy concerns, and compliance with regulations and standards. Such a pervasive attitude towards data has resulted in a loss of control, prompting concerns among individuals and mobilizing the scientific community towards advocating for data self-sovereignty.

Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI) …

Antibiotic Resistance In Urban Stormwater Runoff And Green Stormwater Infrastructure, Kassidy N. O'Malley

Dissertations (1934 -)

Antibiotic resistance in the environment poses significant risks to human health, especially through the transmission of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) and antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB) via pathways like food and water. Urban stormwater runoff has been identified as a significant contributor to the release and transport of ARGs in the environment but has remained under-researched. This dissertation aimed to address this gap by investigating the fate of ARGs in urban stormwater runoff to guide future stormwater management decisions. Two phases were completed; the first sought to investigate extracellular antibiotic resistance genes (eARGs) in stormwater runoff, and the second focused on quantifying …

Electric Vehicle Adoption Behavior And Vehicle Transaction Decision: Estimating An Integrated Choice Model With Latent Variables On A Retrospective Vehicle Survey, Fatemeh Nazari, Mohamadhossein Noruzoliaee, Abolfazl (Kouros) Mohammadian

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications

Electric vehicles (EVs) promise a sustainable solution to mitigating negative emission externalities of transportation systems caused by fossil-fueled conventional vehicles (CVs). While recent developments in battery technology and charging infrastructure can help evolve the niche market of EVs into the mass market, EVs are yet to be widely adopted by the public. This calls for an in-depth understanding of public adoption behavior of EVs as one dimension of vehicle decision making, which itself may be intertwined with other vehicle decision-making dimensions, especially vehicle transaction. This study presents an integrated choice model with latent variables (ICLV) to investigate households’—as a decision-making …

Voxart: Handcrafting Vocal Audio Effects, Samuel Stephen, Anthony Ryan

Electrical and Computer Engineering Senior Theses

Musicians, specifically vocalists, need new ways to integrate artistic expression into their craft. VoxArt is a system utilizing hand movements to control digital audio effects. Giving artistic expression into the hands of the vocalist as a conductor is to an orchestra emphasizing vocals with hand movements will have new meaning for vocalists. The development of the project aimed to use simple, easy to use off the shelf hardware such as a sensor on a glove to measure hand angle positions and in effect, alter audio effect parameters using a closed loop control system. Research and development has led to the …

Ai-Assisted Reconfiguration Of Battery Packs For Cell Balancing To Extend Driving Runtime, Yuqin Weng, Cristinel Ababei

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

State of charge (SoC) cell balancing is one of the most important roles of battery management systems (BMS). The performance and lifespan of a battery pack can be significantly degraded and reduced by the presence of imbalance in cells SoC. Recently, we have shown that using a machine learning driven battery pack reconfiguration technique based on a network of controllable switches, one can periodically change the battery pack topology to effectively achieve better cell SoC equalization. As a result, the driving runtime achieved with a better balanced battery pack is increased. In this paper, we build on these promising results …

Deciphering The Controlling Factors For Phase Transitions In Zeolitic Imidazolate Frameworks, Tao Du, Shanwu Li, Sudheer Ganisetti, Mathieu Bauchy, Yuanzheng Yue, Morten M. Smedskjaer

Michigan Tech Publications

Zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs) feature complex phase transitions, including polymorphism, melting, vitrification, and polyamorphism. Experimentally probing their structural evolution during transitions involving amorphous phases is a significant challenge, especially at the medium-range length scale. To overcome this challenge, here we first train a deep learning-based force field to identify the structural characteristics of both crystalline and non-crystalline ZIF phases. This allows us to reproduce the structural evolution trend during the melting of crystals and formation of ZIF glasses at various length scales with an accuracy comparable to that of ab initio molecular dynamics, yet at a much lower computational cost. …

Valorization Of The Polymeric Constituents In Plastic Wastes Through Thermo-Chemical Processes By Using Viable Metal Oxides Additives, Labeeb Hamad Ali

Dissertations

The rapid accumulation of different types of plastic waste necessitates the development of effective and economically viable waste management operations. Such a process should ideally not only mitigate associated environmental burdens but also recycle and recover value-added products. Through incineration or pyrolysis, thermal processing has emerged as a mainstream approach to waste management of the ever-increasing loads of different categorized plastic wastes. Throughout the work of the thesis, we have utilized a multitude of complementary techniques spanning material characterizations, catalysis, kinetic modelling, and density functional theory (DFT) to comprehend the complex chemistry that underpins catalytic chemical recycling of plastic wastes. …

Pulsed Electric Fields Sensitize Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus To Antibacterial Therapies And Stimulate Host Immune Responses, Alexandra E. Chittams-Miles

Biomedical Sciences Theses & Dissertations

This research explores the impact of nanosecond pulsed electric fields (nsPEF) on two fronts: their immune stimulatory effects and their potential as a novel strategy to enhance the sensitivity of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) to clinically relevant antibiotics. While pulsed electric fields have been reported to have an immune stimulatory effect, the mechanisms responsible for these effects have yet to be determined.

Our investigation addresses the rising concern of MRSA derived skin and soft tissue infections (SSTIs). Consistent with other publications, we found that nsPEF alone cause modest inactivation of planktonic MRSA. We then investigated the effects of nsPEF in …

Evaluating Flight Crew Decision-Making Through Part 121 Taxi Operations, Grant Marsh

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

With the mandate of Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) going into effect at the start of 2020, commercial companies have been able to log and store information on aircraft identification, airspeed, heading, and altitude all in one database.to Now, anyone can access previously hard-to-obtain flight data for analysis using a commercially available database. While ADS-B provides information on “what is happening,” information on “why” flight crews operate aircraft in a certain way is not incorporated into ADS-B.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS) collects reports written by flight crews, Air Traffic Control Specialists, and other …

Passenger Traits That Predict The Bystander Intervention Model Steps During An Inflight Assault On A Flight Attendant, Michael Pettit

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Every major U.S. airline has experienced a violent inflight assault on one of their flight attendants. The problem is becoming more widespread, but industry leaders have few coping strategies. The first step toward addressing the issue is understanding the various aspects of the event, including the actions of other passengers (bystanders) who may witness the assault. There is ample literature on bystander reactions to similar events such as bullying, medical emergencies, injuries, and violent attacks, but none dedicated to a flight attendant assault or passenger reactions to it.

At the core of bystander action is the bystander effect, which postulates …

From Visual Data To Auditory Landscapes In Arcgis Pro, Grace Hegland , '24

Senior Theses, Projects, and Awards

Data visualization is a central component to understanding spatial information in ArcGIS Pro. However, visualization creates an accessibility issue for visually impaired users. While ArcGIS supports two screen readers, JAWS and Microsoft Narrator, their ability to convey spatial relationships is limited to reading textual summaries and textual pop ups of spatial data [1]. This Senior Design project explores using data sonification to map ArcGIS data to piano pitches to create an auditory model of visually displayed map data. This auditory model allowed users to find facts and discover geospatial data trends. Ensuring fair access to information is essential for an …

Hybrid Method For User Review Sentiment Categorization In Chatgpt Application Using N-Gram And Word2vec Features, Husna Luthfiatun Nisa, Atina Ahdika

Knowledge Engineering and Data Science

The rapid development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has significantly influenced nearly all aspects of life. One AI product widely used by people worldwide is the Chat Generative Pre-Training Transformer (ChatGPT), which can respond to questions conversationally. Although data indicates that the use of ChatGPT in Indonesia is less widespread than in other countries, a Populix survey reveals that half of the respondents have utilized ChatGPT, using AI more than once a month. This indicates its crucial role among the Indonesian population. ChatGPT is not limited to browsers; it is also available as a downloadable application on the Google Play Store. …

Convolutional Neural Network In Motion Detection For Physiotherapy Exercise Movement, Dika Fikri Laistulloh, Anik Nur Handayani, Rosa Andrie Asmara, Phillip Taw

Knowledge Engineering and Data Science

Physiotherapy focuses on movement and optimal utilization of the patient's potential. Exercise Therapy is a physiotherapy procedure that specifically focuses exercises on active and passive movements. Cerebral Palsy (CP) patients are one of the sufferers of motor disorders of the upper extremities. Cerebral Palsy (CP) patients suffer from disorders in motor functions of the upper extremities. Physiotherapy Exercise Movement has 4 categories of movement exercises for the therapy of people with upper extremity body disorders: Elbow flexor strengthening in sitting using free weights, lifting an object up, reaching diagonally in sitting, and reaching from a low surface to a high …

Optimizing Malaria Control: Granular And Cost-Effective Mosquito Habitat Index In Endemic Areas Through Satellite Imagery, Nur Ainun Daulay, Salwa Rizqina Putri, Arie Wahyu Wijayanto, Ika Yuni Wulansari

Knowledge Engineering and Data Science

Malaria, classified as a tropical disease under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) indicator 3.3, remains a significant global health challenge. In this study, by taking advantage of multiple spectral composite indexes of multisource satellite imagery to capture various geospatial features relevant to the suitability of marsh mosquito habitat, we introduced the Mosquito Habitat Suitability Index (MHSI) to assess potential Anopheles mosquito breeding sites in terms of the vegetation density, water bodies, environment temperature, and humidity in any particular areas. The MHSI integrates the publicly accessible granular level of the normalized difference vegetation index, water index, land surface temperature, and moisture …

Innovation In Egyptian Linear Construction Projects: Enablers, Obstacles, And Suggested Improvements, Saeed Ahmed Elshinawy, Mohammed Elsayed Elsharkawy Assis. Prof., Adel Ibrahim Eldosouky Emeritus Professor

Journal of Engineering Research

Abstract- This research aims to investigate the obstacles, enablers, and suggested improvements for innovation in the Egyptian linear construction projects. The study is motivated by the need to understand the dynamics of innovation within these projects and identify practical approaches to overcome obstacles to innovation.

Owners, contractors, and consultants involved in linear construction projects constituted the target population of the study. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data from a representative sample of 70 participants.

It is found that time and budget constraints, along with traditional tendering and procurement methods were significant obstacles to innovation, while technological and technical …

Allocation Of Phasor Measurement Units In The Wide-Area Measurement System, Samir Dawoud, Mohamed Elnemr, Alyaa Yehia

Journal of Engineering Research

WIDE Area in the power system which has been introduced to power system literature in the late 1980s. They are now commercially in power systems for purposes of monitoring, operation, and control. The wide area is a combination between the phasor measurement unit (PMU) and communication infrastructure (CI). In this paper, the location of the PMU and the CI can be optimized to involve system observability. There are a lot of methods to solve the optimal placement of PMU. The communication infrastructure is designed and implemented to collect the data from PMU and transfer data to the control center. In …

Enhancing The Sustainability Of The Visual Scenery Elements Of Urbanism To Achieve Quality-Of-Life Standards, Sahar Said Gado, Henar A. Kalefa

Journal of Engineering Research

Abstract

The quality of life for urban areas is an idea that has recently been discussed in various studies as a response to the many problems facing cities around the world as well as in Egypt. As the city is the product of a reflection of its identity and cultural and civilised heritage that is growing and changing, and enhancing the sustainability of the elements of the visual image of the city is one of the changes that, in turn, seeks to create a suitable urban environment for the population and reach the highest rates of environmental comfort and complete …

A Soft Two-Layers Voting Model For Fake News Detection, Hnin Ei Wynne, Khaing Thanda Swe

Journal of Engineering Research

The proliferation of fake news has become a complex and challenge problem in recent year, and presenting various unsolved issues within the research domain. Among these challenges, a critical concern is the development of effective models capable of accurately distinguish between fake and real news. While numerous techniques have been proposed for fake news detection, achieving optimal accuracy remains elusive. This paper introduces a novel fake news detection approach employing a two-layered weighted voting classifier. In contrast to conventional methods that assign equal weights to all classifiers, our proposed approach utilizes a selective weighting approach to solve the current issue. …

Gigacollector: A Real-Time, Temporally Coherent Framework Forwi-Fi Environment Control, Data Collection, And Ml Inference, An Vu

Computer Science and Engineering Master's Theses

Wi-Fi is the primary wireless communication method for the majority of devices in both residential and commercial settings. The number of devices continues to increase, making latency, bandwidth, and security difficult to manage and balance to provide satisfactory performance for all users. Novel methods that rely on the collection of data from the networking stack have been developed in research settings to analyze and predict key parameters and network state to improve communication efficiency. However, crucial processes such as experimentation, data collection, and performance analysis have often been performed manually on offline data.

This thesis presents GigaCollector, a scalable end-to-end …

Casar Public Lecture: "Women & Stem Education In Egypt & The Us: Stepping Into A Man's World Of Science & Technology", The Prince Alwaleed Center For American Studies And Research Casar, Yasmeen El Ghazaly, Mark W. Deets

Performances, Events, and Presentations

In celebration of International Women's Day this Month, we held a public lecture titled: "Women & STEM Education in Egypt & the US : Stepping into a Man's World of Science & Technology " on Thursday March 28th, 2024 from 12:15 pm to 1:15 pm (assembly hour) – Conference and Visitor Center, Mary Cross Hall AUC New Cairo Despite a plethora of advances made by women in the world we live in today, they are still woefully underrepresented in the realm of STEM education and the associated career paths. At this event, we uncovered the history, reasons & challenges women …

Integrated Process Modeling, Techno-Economic Analysis And Life Cycle Assessment For Enhanced Biogas-To-Energy Sustainability And Efficiency, Rarosue Jennifer Amaraibi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation aims to enhance the cost competitiveness and minimize the environmental footprint of technologies that convert biogas to energy, contributing to global climate change mitigation efforts. Biogas, a by-product of the anaerobic decomposition of organic waste from various sources, is a renewable energy source with the potential to reduce carbon emissions and meet local energy needs. However, widespread adoption requires the development of economically viable and environmentally friendly technologies.The central hypothesis of this dissertation suggests that by adopting a holistic strategy that combines cutting-edge techniques to purify biogas and improve its conversion into valuable liquid fuels, we can substantially …

Electrospun Nanofiber Technology Based Energy Storage And Biosensor Devices For Wearable Electronics, Bianca Seufert

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As progress in the field of nanotechnology continues to evolve, it is becoming more and more prevalent to apply this small but powerful technology to portable wearable electronics. The unique scale of such a technology lends its expertise to the investigation of enzymes for biometric related diagnostics or in the development of light weight flexible energy storage devices. Furthermore, as the need for highly precise and durable wearable electronics grows, the next generation of electronics must keep pace with this development in terms of shape, flexibility, functionality, and performance.

The presented research reviews the current state of art of nanofiber …