Digital Commons Network^™

Recovery And Evaluation Of A Germanium Infrared Camera, Michael Paszek

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Short-wave infrared imagers made of germanium are a promising way to extend silicon-compatible imaging beyond the visible spectrum. They also use mature CMOS fabrication and readout electronics. This thesis details the recovery, initialization, and evaluation of a germanium focal plane array (FPA) infrared camera system using both a sealed TriWave camera and a modular prototype platform. Functionality was restored to this legacy hardware, and repeatable testing workflows were established for evaluating packaged infrared imagers under controlled indoor and outdoor conditions. The prototype used a custom software interface named Merlott for evaluation, and it followed a standard sequence that included checking …

Electrical Resilience In Water Treatment Plants: An Extreme Weather And Lightning Protection Study, Genesis Martinez

Theses and Dissertations

Water treatment plants (WTPs) are vital infrastructure systems that depend on sensitive electrical, electronic, and control equipment to ensure the continuous supply of safe drinking water and effective wastewater treatment. As global temperatures rise and climate change accelerates, the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events—such as hurricanes, flooding, and increased lightning activity—are becoming more pronounced. These events pose significant risks to the electrical resilience of water treatment facilities, often leading to power outages, equipment failures, grid instability, and prolonged service disruptions. This report explores the impacts of extreme weather, with a particular focus on lightning and electrical surges, on …

Simulation Of A Buried Hydrogen Pipeline In Kansas State Soil, Sidney Hines

Master's Theses

Underground pipelines can be used to transport large amounts of pressurized hydrogen gas over several hundred kilometers. The design will be sensitive to the pipe material, diameter, and trench construction, and traffic loads above the pipe. The purpose of this paper is to conduct various geotechnical engineering analyses (seepage, stress, and slope stability) using the software program GeoStudio (version 2025.2.0) on a buried steel or FRP pipe section in a specific soil type, Harney Soil. Harney soil is of particular interest, because it is the Kansas State Soil and the analysis is for a buried gas pipe to run through …

Design And Development Of A Passive Dust Protection System For Lunar Docking Operations, Simon Thengvall

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Lunar docking systems face a unique set of environmental conditions that can create significant challenges for mechanical design. Among these, the abrasive nature of lunar regolith can impair the kinematic function of traditional terrestrial mechanisms as well as contaminate critical spacecraft components such as environmental seals, causing them to fail. For crew-rated docking systems, failure of these systems not only threatens mission success, but also crew safety, so dust protection is crucial for docking components. To address the concerns of regolith intrusion, the Simple External Attachment for Lunar Openings (SEALO) is developed as a key architecture for mechanism evaluation when …

Investigation Of Low-Pressure Mercury Lamp System Configurations And Xenon Excimer Lamp System Development As Vacuum Ultraviolet Sources For Optimal Photolytic Degradation Of Poly-/Perfluoroalkyl Substances, Eman Zuhair Alhamdan

All Dissertations

PFAS are persistent synthetic chemicals, with unique properties that enable them to easily enter and accumulate in water sources. Their public health impacts have raised concern and highlighted the need for effective treatment. Numerous techniques for PFAS removal from water have been studied, few have proven the ability of breaking down PFAS rather than separating and concentrating it. Many of these methods are chain-length dependent, showing slower degradation rate of short-chain PFAS and requiring substantial amounts of energy, and chemical agents that may produce byproducts.

Among available PFAS destruction methods, direct photolysis by high-energy UV with wavelength below 200 nm …

Learning Global Context For Sparse Activity Recognition In Lengthy Recordings With Limited Dataset Size, Zeyu Tang

All Dissertations

This dissertation describes methods to analyze lengthy recordings of data in order to detect sparsely occurring activities. The narrative below describes the progression of research that led to the development of these methods and their generalization into a unified framework. My research started with designing models for dietary monitoring, including detecting meals from day-long recordings and detecting intake gestures from meal-length recordings. Both tasks share some common characteristics: (a) the target event takes only a small portion of data recordings, and (b) there is global context within full-length data recordings that can help a model make better decisions. After finishing …

Experimental And Computational Investigation Of The Effects Of Neck Musculature During Head Impacts In American Football, Anthony P. Marino

All Dissertations

Anthropometric test devices (ATDs) are human surrogate models used to represent the human body response in the context of compliance and safety testing. These devices are used in multiple industries, including automotive and aerospace, and have recently been incorporated into impact testing for the evaluation of helmet performance in American football. The Hybrid III 50^th percentile male ATD head and neck assembly is the most commonly used surrogate for these tests, although it was developed for automotive frontal crash scenarios that induce an inertial force on the body, leading to head and neck motion primarily in the sagittal plane. …

Versatile Exoskeleton Control Paradigms For Agile Human Locomotion: Task-Agnostic And Stability-Augmented Assistance, Miao Yu

All Dissertations

Lower-limb exoskeletons have shown great potential for assisting human locomotion, but designing controllers that provide assistance across diverse locomotor tasks and under external perturbations remains a major challenge. Many existing controllers for steady-state walking rely on pre-defined reference trajectories, which constrain voluntary human motion and limit adaptability across tasks. Moreover, they usually assume stable walking, while their performance under unstable conditions remains largely unexplored. In addition, existing gait stability augmentation controllers are often reactive rather than proactive to unstable conditions. In this dissertation, we propose control frameworks that preserve voluntary human motion while addressing two major challenges: providing task-agnostic assistance …

Quantifying The Value Of Adaptability: Bridging Real Options Analysis And Adaptable Building Design, Miranda Grice

All Dissertations

As the demands of the built environment continually evolve, buildings are expected to meet changing occupancy needs, or otherwise they become obsolete. Despite positive research on the benefits of adaptable building design, there is a knowledge gap regarding the long-term economic benefits of these designs. Practical methods are needed to determine if premium costs associated with adaptable designs are justified by the economic benefits inherent in adaptability. Therefore, this dissertation provides a discussion on the application of the financial theory of options analysis to the design of adaptable buildings. Additionally, a model and accompanying tool are presented as a solution …

Modernizing Plastics And Composites Manufacturing Using Hybrid Modeling Techniques, Luke Shannon

All Dissertations

Plastics and composites manufacturing encompasses a broad family of processes, including injection molding, resin transfer molding, compression molding, and extrusion, that together account for the vast majority of polymer and composite component production worldwide. These processes are inherently challenging due to the multi-physics nature of polymer processing, the vast possible combinations of resins, reinforcements, and additives, and the strong dependence of final part properties on process history. Among these processes, injection molding is one of the most widely deployed, producing high-volume components across automotive, medical, consumer electronics, and packaging industries. However, accurately monitoring and predicting process behavior in injection molding …

Development Of A Mixing-Controlled Combustion Model For 0d Engine Modeling: Using High-Order Models To Guide The Formulation Of Reduced-Order Models, James Gohn

All Dissertations

Vehicles are becoming increasingly complex to comply with the increasingly stringent regulations placed on all market sectors while still maintaining performance requirements. This increased complexity leads to increases in the cost and time it takes to develop and produce these next generation vehicles. To meet demand therefore, it becomes necessary to evaluate numerous design iterations using computer models. There are multiple levels of models that may be necessary for different purposes or use cases. All levels of modeling for virtual prototyping, however, require a level of validation and predictive ability to be useful. To this end, the following thesis presents …

Design Of An Extensible And Scalable Data Acquisition System For Pulse Shape Discrimination, Prince John

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

This thesis presents the design and development of a highly scalable, end-to-end data acquisition (DAQ) system for nuclear physics experiments that can be deployed in configurations ranging from a few to thousands of detector channels. The system is built as an extensible platform composed of modular 16-channel chipboards that support a wide range of scintillator and detector types and perform real-time, on-board data sparsification and pulse-shape processing. Three versions of the chipboard have been fabricated to date.

The DAQ architecture is based on a family of analog pulse-shape-processing application- specific integrated circuits (ASICs) developed by the IC Design Laboratory at …

Evaluation Of Radar-Derived Polarimetric Precipitation Estimates For Extreme Rain Events Using A Dense Network Of Rain Gauges, Bong Chul Seo, Witold F. Krajewski, James A. Smith, Alexander V. Ryzhkov

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The study evaluates radar-based quantitative precipitation estimations (QPEs) for 10 extreme rain events that occurred between 2013 and 2019 in the Kansas City metropolitan area, United States. These precipitation estimates were derived at hourly and approximately 0.5-km scales using two polarimetric QPE algorithms}one based on specific attenuation (A) and the other on specific differential phase (KDP)} for the study area covered by two overlapping radars in Topeka, Kansas, and Kansas City, Missouri. The polarimetric QPE assessment for extreme rain events was motivated by improved flood forecasting and precipitation frequency analysis. The analysis utilizes ground reference observations from a dense network …

Dynamic Mechanical Insertion Analysis Of Gelatin Methacryloyl Microneedles Under Realistic Insertion Conditions, Moloud Amini Baghbadorani, Masoumeh Zargar, Abdellah Shafieian, Majid Tolouei-Rad

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Despite the great potential of Gelatin Methacryloyl (GelMA) microneedles (MNs) for minimally invasive drug delivery and interstitial fluid extraction, their performance under realistic insertion conditions and across diverse geometrical and mechanical parameters has remained uncharacterized. In this study, dynamic and static finite-element analyses were conducted for the first time to compare three types of crosslinked GelMA MNs: conical, pyramidal, and tapered-conical with and without base support. Insertion force, von Mises stress, and safety factors were evaluated at insertion velocities of 2-6 m/s under varying crosslinking times and polymer concentrations. The tapered-conical geometry demonstrated the best overall mechanical reliability, combining moderate …

Dynamic Load Assessment Of Pem Fuel Cell Systems Under Pid-Based Control Strategies For Sustainable Operation, Tarek Abedin, Paw, Normy Norfiza Abdul Razak, Chen Chai Phing, Yaw Chong Tak, Monowar Mahmud, Manzoore Elahi M. Soudagar, T. M. Yunus Khan, Mohammad Tariqul Islam, Mohammad Nur-E-Alam

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) systems’ reliable operation under variable load conditions is a significant challenge because of voltage fluctuations, transient variations, and the high computational requirements of sophisticated control techniques like intelligent and model predictive controllers. Even while these state-of-the-art methods provide great precision, complexity and cost often limit their real-time applicability, underscoring the need for a simpler but efficient control solution. To achieve effective voltage regulation in PEMFC systems, this study suggests a DC–DC buck converter in conjunction with a comparator-based proportional–integral–derivative (PID) control technique. In order to provide stable operation under both constant and changing load …

A Comparative Analysis Of Macro-Scale And Micro-Scale Pcswmm Models For Urban Flood Simulation In The Ormond Drainage System, Binit Gautam

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This research utilized an existing SWMM modeling framework of the Ormond area within St. Charles Parish, Louisiana. A micro scale PCSWMM model was updated using GIS Derived values for CN, percent imperviousness, and subcatchment slope and compared to an macro-scale model. Models were compared under several storm events, which included the recent May 14, 2020 storm as well as 2-, 10-, and 100-year design storms. Peak flow, total inflow volume, and hydrograph characteristics were analyzed to assess response of each model.

The results show that the macro-scale model generally produces higher peak flows and total volumes, while the micro-scale model …

A Federated Learning Framework For Data-Sovereign Predictive Maintenance In Distributed Smart Manufacturing, Md Sazol Ahmmed, Sriram Praneeth Isanaka, Frank Liou

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Featured Application: The proposed federated learning framework can be applied in distributed smart manufacturing environments where multiple factories or production facilities collaboratively develop predictive maintenance models without sharing sensitive operational data. This approach is particularly useful for industrial networks involving geographically distributed plants, contract manufacturing partners, and multi-site production systems where data sovereignty and avoidance of raw data sharing are critical. Predictive maintenance enables early detection of machine failures and reduces unexpected production downtime. However, conventional approaches typically rely on centralized data collection and model training which introduce challenges related to data sovereignty, communication overhead and data ownership. To address …

Machine Vision For In Situ Measurement And Control Of Wire Stickout In Lwded Process, Braden Mclain, Remy Mathenia, Todd Sparks, Frank Liou

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This work presents a machine-vision–based measurement and control framework for laser wire directed energy deposition (LWDED) processes. A visible-light camera system is used to capture meltpool images, from which a novel vision algorithm extracts the wire–meltpool interface location. By utilizing a camera that is rigidly mounted to the deposition head, the vision algorithm provides a relative measurement of the distance between the nozzle tip and the workpiece, also referred to as wire stickout. A proportional-derivative (PD) control strategy is implemented using the measured stickout as feedback to adjust deposition feedrate. Results show that the control system successfully compensates for improper …

Integrated Geophysical, Geotechnical, And Mineralogical Characterization Of Expansive Weches Formation Soils In East Texas: Implications For Infrastructure Design, Samuel Annobil

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates the geotechnical, geophysical, and mineralogical characteristics of soils derived from the Weches Formation in Nacogdoches County, East Texas, with emphasis on the relationships among electrical resistivity, moisture condition, compaction state, and mineralogical composition. The Weches Formation is well known for producing clay-rich, moisture-sensitive soils that pose challenges to subgrade performance because of their plasticity and swelling behavior. Representative soil samples were collected and subjected to laboratory testing, including particle size analysis, Atterberg limits, Standard Proctor compaction, free swell tests, electrical resistivity measurements, and X-ray diffraction (XRD) mineralogical analysis. The soils are predominantly fine-grained and clay-rich, with USCS …

Board-Level Operating System Infrastructure In Rust, Lydia Klaus

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Memory and multi-threading problems are the cause of many exploits and security vulnerabilities, and errors of this nature are easy to cause in programming languages such as C and C++. Despite this, these languages are still heavily used for systems programming and underpin the majority of operating system kernels. This is partially due to a lack of suitable replacements; however, Rust is becoming more prominent as an option for systems programming. This language features a much more stringent approach to memory and multi-threading safety. It also aims to support a wide range of hardware targets, including microcontrollers, which have long …

Practicing Conflict Transformation Skills Through Role-Playing Games For Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion In Higher Education, Alexandra Schreiber, Kjell H. Hugaas, Sarah L. Bowman

Journal of Roleplaying Studies and STEAM

No abstract provided.

3d: Dragones, Dados Y Deseos. Rituales En Las Comunidades Roleras De Bogotá, Francisco Gonzalez Buitrago

Journal of Roleplaying Studies and STEAM

¿Qué ocurre cuando la ficción deja de ser solo entretenimiento y se transforma en refugio, ritual y espacio de transgresión? Este artículo analiza los hallazgos de una etnografía y un ejercicio de cartografía social en torno a comunidades roleras de Bogotá, mostrando cómo jóvenes y adultos reconfiguran sus vidas cotidianas a través del juego de rol.

Lejos de limitarse al escapismo, las partidas se convierten en escenarios simbólicos donde caben la negociación, la crítica y la catarsis. En una ciudad marcada por la incertidumbre generacional y las tensiones entre género, clase y territorio, las campañas de rol permiten reimaginarse a …

A Study Of Visualized Diagnostics In Early Stage Digital Twin Implementation Of An Industrial Control System, Michael R. Kinzel

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Industrial Control Systems (ICS) are used for process control in almost all industries. An ICS combines Operational Technologies (OT) with Information Technologies (IT) to allow human supervision of a process through surveillance of process variables and manipulation of controlling elements such as valves to maintain stable process conditions. ICSs have been in-service for several decades and may remain operational past their technological service life. Organizational personnel interact with the ICS through visual displays that both indicate the process variables and also the controlling elements. The Human Machine Interface (HMI) allows visibility of the process and the ability to manipulate controlling …

Skip The Grid: Turning Solar Planning Into Power For Navajo Nation Homes, Alexandr B. Miller

Construction Management

Skip the Grid is a cross-disciplinary experiential learning initiative that delivers clean energy infrastructure to households with school-age children residing in the Navajo and Hopi Nations. In March 2026, a cohort of 23 students drawn from five academic programs at California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) joined forces with Heart of America (HOA), SOLV Energy, and NextPower to carry out the initiative's fifth consecutive year. The program aimed to enhance living standards and bolster academic achievement by ensuring dependable access to power, illumination, and food preservation in resource-limited communities. Participants were divided into five installation teams comprising Cal Poly students, …

Sb 1953 Field Execution Under Hcai Oversight: Seismic Retrofit At Zsfg Building 5, Victor Lucas

Construction Management

Every hospital in California must be seismically compliant by 2030 under Senate Bill 1953, which is enforced by the Department of Health Care Access and Information (HCAI). HCAI approves and inspects all hospital construction in the state, and its authority reaches into the field, so a contractor cannot simply build to an approved drawing the way it would on a commercial job. This paper explains how that approval system governs the work, written for construction professionals entering hospital work in California whose experience to that point has been commercial. It uses the ZSFG Building 5 Voluntary Seismic Upgrade, a 1976 …

Preconstruction Services For Slo Youth Baseball Bull Pen And Batting Cage, Sofia E. Cuevas

Construction Management

San Luis Obispo Youth Baseball is a nonprofit organization servicing the local youth of San Luis Obispo, California. Offering recreational, all-star, and club programs, SLO Youth Baseball provides the experience of baseball to all levels of skill in the community. In preparation for the Spring 2026 season and beyond, SLOYB has proposed the construction of a bull pen and batting cage on the third base line at their very own Stockton Field. In order to service the community at large, this design came with a set of strict parameters: accessibility, longevity, and serviceability. In doing so, SLOYB has requested flexibility …

Ai Institute Summer Camp Webinar Summary, Dora Nguyen

Paul English Applied Artificial Intelligence (AI) Institute Publications

This report summarizes the AI Institute Summer Camp informational webinar hosted by the Paul English Applied Artificial Intelligence Institute (PEAAII) at the University of Massachusetts Boston. The webinar introduced the structure, curriculum, learning objectives, and student outcomes associated with the 2026 AI Institute Summer Camp. In addition to summarizing the webinar content, this report analyzes participant questions, engagement trends, and areas of audience interest. Findings indicate strong interest in coding accessibility, mentorship opportunities, student outcomes, research experiences, and program flexibility. The report also identifies opportunities for improving future webinar delivery, including expanded eligibility guidance, pre-camp learning resources, enhanced presentation of …

Mechanisms Of Synergy Between Nanosecond Pulsed Electric Field (Nspef) And Cold Atmospheric Pressure Plasma Discharge (Cap) In Pancreatic Cancer: The Role Of Ros-Mediated Oxidative Stress And Apoptosis, Zobia Minhas

Biomedical Sciences Theses & Dissertations

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma is a highly lethal malignancy characterized by poor prognosis and resistance to conventional therapies. Novel treatment strategies are needed to overcome this resistance. Non-thermal physical modalities, including nanosecond pulsed electric field (nsPEF) and cold atmospheric pressure plasma discharge (CAP), have emerged as potential anticancer approaches; however, the mechanisms underlying their combined effects remain unclear.

This study evaluated whether nsPEF enhances CAP-induced cytotoxicity and investigated the associated molecular mechanisms using the murine Pan02 pancreatic cancer cell line. Cell viability was assessed by WST-1 metabolic activity assays and electric cell–substrate impedance sensing (ECIS). Intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) were …

A New Approach To Generate Combinatorial Patterns In Logical Analysis Of Data And Its Application To Predict College Retention, Salihah Ahmed E. Jaafari

Theses and Dissertations

Student retention and degree completion remain central challenges for higher-education institutions, with significant implications for student success, institutional effectiveness, and public accountability. While advances in predictive analytics have enabled earlier identification of students at risk of withdrawal, many commonly used machine learning approaches suffer from limited interpretability, constraining their practical usefulness for advising, intervention, and policy decision making. This dissertation addresses the problem of predicting student persistence by developing and evaluating optimization based, interpretable classification models within the Logical Analysis of Data (LAD) framework. Building on existing LAD formulations, this research introduces two novel pattern generation models, the Best Term …

Manned Exploration Of Satellites Of The Outer Planets: An Analysis Of Current Technologies And A Discussion Of Advancements Required, Joshua Carson Meador

Theses and Dissertations

The Solar System’s outer planets have many satellites, some of which are known to be the most likely places to find extraterrestrial life in our celestial backyard. Multiple scientific missions have been sent to glean information from these satellites, yet the possibility of a manned expedition has long been exclusive to science fiction stories. This paper intends to collect and analyze the current state of space travel technology to explore the feasibility of such a mission with modern technology and to discuss which future advancements should be the focal point for making such missions a reality. To begin, data on …