Digital Commons Network^™

Information Management / Bim Public Sector Adoption Business Case, Robert Moore

Tools

This business case sets out the value of adopting Information Management and BIM in line with ISO 19650 and the Irish CWMF. It shows how a structured approach to managing information across the asset lifecycle can improve collaboration, reduce risk and rework, and deliver measurable returns on investment. Evidence indicates that early adoption delivers the greatest benefit, supporting better cost control, compliance, and long-term asset performance. Overall, Information Management and BIM are positioned as essential enablers for efficient, sustainable, and future-ready delivery of public works

Information Management / Bim Adoption Strategy, Robert Moore

Tools

This adoption strategy sets out a structured approach for organisations to plan, govern, and deliver the adoption of Information Management and Building Information Modelling (IM/BIM). It focuses on aligning leadership intent with clear objectives, defined actions, and measurable outcomes, ensuring that people, processes, and technology are developed in a coordinated way. The strategy supports a phased and proportionate approach to adoption, enabling organisations to build capability over time, respond to client and market requirements, and embed continuous improvement. Overall, it provides a clear framework for translating strategic intent into practical, repeatable actions that support consistent, standards-aligned delivery and long-term organisational …

Inelastic Behavior Of Three-Story Buildings With Concrete-Filled Composite Plate Shear Walls Subjected To Wind Loads, Joshua John Blom

Theses and Dissertations

Although elastic design of the main wind force resisting system in a building is the conventional approach it is not always desirable. In this study, nonlinear static and dynamic analyses are used to predict the inelastic behavior of a three-story building with concrete-filled composite plate shear walls subjected to wind loads. To explore the potential for inelastic design, two types of planar composite shear wall buildings are examined: individual shear walls designed using an elastic approach, and coupled shear wall pairs designed using an inelastic approach adopted from seismic design provisions. Nonlinear static "pushover" analyses are run using an assumed …

Experimental Testing Of Axially Loaded Fuse Plates Without Continuous Buckling Restraint, Rebekah Elizabeth Higgins

Theses and Dissertations

Current seismic design practice is to design structures to avoid collapse and protect life. Buildings are designed to resist seismic loading through strength and ductility. In moment frames, this ductility traditionally comes from inelastic deformation of beams. Moment frame connections move inelastic deformation away from the column and allow a plastic hinge to form in the beam. This plastic hinge prevents collapse but leaves the building difficult to repair. Some proprietary moment frame connections address this issue with replaceable fuse plate connections. These fuse plate connections move the plastic hinge out of the beam and into the replaceable fuse, allowing …

Fundamental Hydraulics Principles For Agricultural Systems Management And Technology, Robert M. Stwalley Iii, Roger Tormoehlen

Purdue University Press Books

Hydraulic systems have spread throughout modern technology, particularly in mobile equipment. The exercises presented in Fundamental Hydraulic Principles for Agricultural Systems Management and Technology are designed for the second-generation Parker Hydraulic Trainer to provide a basic understanding of hydraulic components and systems for technology and engineering students. Readers will learn how hydraulic pumps function, how linear actuators and their control circuits work, and how hydraulic motors operate and are controlled. Readers are also provided with the opportunity to attempt more advanced exercises. Aligned with beginning technology-based experiential hydraulics courses, this book emphasizes familiarity with common hydraulic components and circuit diagrams, …

Ankimedbench: Evaluating Hierarchical Medical Knowledge In Language Model Embeddings, Neel Patel

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Despite achieving over 90% accuracy on medical benchmarks, recent studies show physicians cannot effectively leverage language models to improve clinical reasoning. Current benchmarks test isolated factual recall, but clinical practice requires hierarchical navigation through diagnostic categories—starting broad and narrowing systematically from chest pain to cardiovascular pathology to myocardial infarction to specific STEMI types. Existing evaluations cannot measure whether models preserve this taxonomic structure essential for clinical reasoning.

We introduce AnkiMedBench, built from 16,512 medical flashcards used by students preparing for licensing exams. Cards are organized across six hierarchy levels spanning 16 broad medical specialties to 672 specific diseases and conditions. …

Applied Research In Field Crop Pathology For Indiana, 2022, Darcy E. P. Telenko, Sujoung Shim

Purdue University Press Books

Applied Research in Field Crop Pathology for Indiana, 2022 serves as a summary of the applied field crop pathology research trials conducted in 2022 under the direction of the Purdue Field Crop Pathology program in the Department of Botany and Plant Pathology at Purdue University. In Indiana, there are more than 57,600 farms, 16,000 crop producers, and 900 certified crop advisers, Extension educators, and crop-protection industry representatives who manage more than 11.4 million crop-production acres with a total value of $6.3 billion annually. There are more than twenty diseases affecting corn, soybeans, and wheat that may decrease crop production and …

Stability Analysis Of Thermohaline Convection With A Time-Varying Shear Flow Using The Lyapunov Method, Kalin Kochnev

Honors Scholar Theses

This work applies the Lyapunov method to identify instabilities and compute the growth rate of a linear time-varying system. The linear system studied describes cold fresh water on top of hot salty water with a periodically time-varying background shear flow. A time-dependent weighting matrix is employed to construct a Lyapunov function candidate. The resulting linear matrix inequalities are discretized in time using the forward Euler method. As the number of temporal discretization points increases, the growth rate predicted by the Lyapunov method or Floquet theory, used for comparison, will converge to the same value obtained from numerical simulations. Furthermore, the …

Automated Spectrum Analysis And Radionuclide Identification For Robot-Based Gamma Probes, Kennedy Ochieng Mengoh Alila

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Gamma spectroscopy is a technique used for the detection and identification of nuclear materials. Gamma-ray emission by radio nuclides is detected using scintillation detectors or semiconductor detectors such as NaI and CZT. Robot-based gamma probes enable radiation measurements in large areas and hard-to-reach cluttered hazardous environments, which significantly reduces radiation risks to personnel. The robotic probes require automated on-board gamma spectrum analysis and capabilities with platforms (unmanned aerial vehicles and unmanned ground vehicle systems) which use Robot Operating System (ROS). The aim of this thesis was to develop a method of an automated spectral analysis and isotope identification for robot-based …

Applied Research In Field Crop Pathology For Indiana, 2021, Darcy E. P. Telenko, Sujoung Shim

Purdue University Press Books

Applied Research in Field Crop Pathology for Indiana, 2021 serves as a summary of the applied field crop pathology research trials conducted in 2021 under the direction of the Purdue Field Crop Pathology program in the Department of Botany and Plant Pathology at Purdue University. In Indiana, there are more than 57,600 farms, 16,000 crop producers, and 900 certified crop advisers, Extension educators, and crop-protection industry representatives who manage more than 11.4 million crop-production acres with a total value of $6.3 billion annually. There are more than twenty diseases affecting corn, soybeans, and wheat that may decrease crop production and …

Lattice Thermal Transport Beyond The Quasiparticle Approximation: Nontrivial Spectral Competition Between Three- And Four-Phonon Interactions, Yi Xia

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

The breakdown of the quasiparticle approximation (QPA) for phonons in strongly anharmonic materials necessitates advanced first-principles frameworks for accurate lattice dynamics and thermal transport predictions. We develop a comprehensive beyond-quasiparticle approximation (BQPA) approach incorporating both three- (3ph) and four-phonon (4ph) interactions and apply it to investigate lattice thermal conductivity (κL) in MgO, PbTe, and AgCl – materials that span a broad spectrum of anharmonicity, from weak to severe anharmonic regimes with overdamped phonons. We reveal that while BQPA consistently increases κL relative to QPA due to phonon softening when considering only 3ph interactions, the inclusion of additional 4ph interactions hardens …

Puf-Based Digital Money With Propagation-Of-Provenance And Offline Transfers Between Two Parties, Benjamin Bean, Cyrus Minwalla, Eirini Eleni Tsiropoulou, Jim Plusquellic

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

Building on prior concepts of electronic money (eCash), we introduce a digital currency where a physical unclonable function (PUF) engenders devices with the twin properties of being verifiably enrolled as a member of a legitimate set of eCash devices and possessing of a hardware-based root-of-trust. A hardware-obfuscated secure enclave (HOSE) is proposed as a means of enabling a PUF-based propagation-of-provenance (POP) mechanism, which allows eCash tokens (eCt) to be securely signed and validated by recipients without incurring any third party dependencies at transfer time. The POP scheme establishes a chain of custody starting with token creation, extending through multiple bilateral …

Comprehensive Risk Assessment For Construction Site Managers In Kosovo: A Mixed-Method Approach, Muhamet Ahmeti, Besian Sinani

Journal of Sustainable Construction Materials and Technologies

This study developed and validated a hybrid ISO 31000:2018 Kosovo-compliant risk assessment framework tailored for construction site managers operating within transitional economies. The research employed audits of 20 ISO-certified contractors in Pristina, Kosovo, along with field observations, interviews, and quantitative risk matrices. The findings indicate a critical concentration of risk, with 70% of firms classified as "High" or “Very High” risk. The most prevalent hazards identified were working at height without collective protection, unprotected electrical systems, and manual handling of heavy materials. Regression analysis revealed that firms with a designated safety champion achieved significantly lower risk scores, whereas those with …

Retracted: Fuzzy Backstepping Approach To Stabilizing Fuzzy Parabolic Partial Differential Equations, Zainab John, Fadhel S. Fadhel, Samsul Ariffin Abdul Karim, Teh Yuan Ying

Iraqi Journal for Computer Science and Mathematics

In this work,\floatquery[-14pc]AU: Please provide ORCID ID for remaining authors. we study the solvability and stability of the fuzzy reaction-diffusion equation and the fuzzy diffusion equation with nonhomogeneous boundary conditions. Firstly, we derive the fuzzy exact solutions by converting the nonhomogeneous boundary condition to a homogeneous condition, then we prove the instability of the solution by using simulation approach with the help of Maple program. From this, we have decided to implement the fuzzy backstepping approach to developed the stabilization of the fuzzy parabolic partial differential equations. By using this approach together with the generalized Hukuhara (gH) derivative, we were …

Dynamic Admittance Parameterization For Non-Prehensile Multi-Robot Transport With Optimal Coordinated Planning, Calvin J. Stahoviak

Computer Science ETDs

The Dynamic Admittance Parameterization of Non-Prehensile Multi-Robot Trans- port with Optimal Coordinated Planning (DYNAMO) architecture offers a practical framework for cooperative payload transportation using two robots equipped with nonholonomic mobile bases and four-degree-of-freedom manipulators. Coordinated mobile manipulation is a difficult problem in robotics, and the non-prehensile case is even more challenging than its prehensile counterpart because the robot bases and the payload are dynamically coupled. DYNAMO adapts arm motion in response to interaction forces and generates coordinated base trajectories that account for this coupling. Robust payload transport is achieved through the combination of opti- mal planning and adaptive compliant control, …

Irregularities In The Dynamics Of Large Networks: Cases On Social Networks And The Internet, Dheeman Saha, Abdullah Mueen, Shuang Luan, Afsah Anwar, Yangsun Hong

Computer Science ETDs

Dynamic networks capture evolving relationships among entities, and irregularities in their behavior often signal significant events. This dissertation investigates such irregularities across social and infrastructural networks. First, we analyze Twitter (prior to its rebranding to X) to characterize influencers, introducing a follower-overlap similarity measure that identifies micro-influencers beyond content-based methods.

We then examine election-related irregularities by comparing suspended and non-suspended accounts during the 2020 U.S. presidential election, revealing behavioral patterns linked to misinformation and coordinated manipulation.

Next, we develop an algorithm to infer post-specific diffusion networks, reconstructing who-saw-from-whom pathways for tweets at scale. This method uncovers structural differences in diffusion …

Thermally Stable And Regenerable Catalysts For Alkane Dehydrogenation, Ryan Alcala

Chemical and Biological Engineering ETDs

Shale gas upgrading reactions have gained much interest since production dramatically increased around 2010. These reactions occur at high temperatures (600°C +) where undesired processes like sintering and/or coking often occur. It is of interest to use materials like ceria as a catalyst support in these alkane conversion reactions, but ceria is prone to losing active surface area through sintering. It is also of interest to understand the behavior of PtMn and PtZn intermetallics for propane dehydrogenation as they have been identified as some of the best catalysts by theory-based prediction in literature. This manuscript explores ways of utilizing ceria’s …

Parameter-Efficient Multimodal Adaptation: Ocr-Integrated Lora For Textvqa And Captioning, Karthik Ganesh Malini

Master's Theses

Vision-Language Models (VLMs) have emerged as transformative technologies for multimodal AI, yet they face significant hurdles in processing text-rich images required for enterprise applications like document understanding, medical imaging, and industrial inspection. Current VLMs struggle with accurate text extraction and reasoning, often exhibiting high hallucination rates and poor Optical Character Recognition (OCR) token utilization. To address these limitations, this research presents a comprehensive framework for optimizing parameter-efficient Low-Rank Adaptation (LoRA) fine-tuning strategies on state-of-the-art architectures, including LLaVA-1.5 and BLIVA-FlanT5. Our methodology integrates enhanced OCR token utilization, faithful caption generation, and specific hallucination mitigation techniques. We employ a multi-dimensional evaluation protocol …

Emulation Of Orbital Dynamics And Control Of Fully Actuated Seven-Axis Prismatic Joint Systems, Bennett Russell

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

This thesis details the system modeling, design, control, simulation, construction, and testing of a fully-actuated seven axis prismatic joint system created for the primary purpose of emulating on-orbit maintenance tasks. Additionally, it seeks to further research of space-based control schemas and investigate stiction as a case study with a mountable hybrid hinge system that emulates stiction. Controllers are evaluated under common limits and metrics, including time to escape, overshoot, mechanical work, and limit-exceedance counts. Comparisons span a PID baseline, deterministic MPC/MPPI, and a probabilistic POMDP policy. Results verify the emulator and hybrid hinge meet the intended design criteria and show …

“Bridging The Gap To Midwave Infrared Event-Based Sensors: Design, Sensitivity, And Radiation-Hardness Characterization Of A Single-Pixel Iii-V Event-Based Infrared Sensor For Space Applications, Zinah M. Alsaad

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

Event-based sensing presents a revolutionary paradigm shift for next-generation space surveillance systems, where power consumption is an ever-worsening constraint as temporal resolution demands increase. In addition to reduced power consumption, low latency, and wide dynamic range, the event-based sensor fundamentally only produces data when there is a change in illumination from which events are generated; no data is produced if the scene remains static. With their event-based datastream being inherently focused on the dynamic information of the scene, they are particularly well-suited to machine vision and autonomous sensing applications. While these sensors have many compelling advantages, there are presently no …

Recreating Fiber Recruitment With Fiber Recruitment Using Additive Manufacturing, Natalia D. Mciver

Biomedical Engineering ETDs

Injured ligaments are often repaired with tendon grafts which may over or under constrain the joint; there is a need for an artificial graft option with the mechanical properties of a native ligament. Crimped fibers within ligaments allow for recruitment which means the viscoelastic properties of stress relaxation and creep are not inversely related. A feasibility study using ACLs and large-scale crimp models to study viscoelasticity, led to an in-depth analysis of the scapholunate interosseous ligament. Using the Modified Kelvin spring-dashpot model, for describing viscoelasticity with a variable stiffness property (time dependent fiber recruitment), we defined the relationship between creep …

Empowering Wireless Mesh Uav Networks Through Software-Defined Networking, Hieu Quang

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have been widely deployed in applications such as environmental monitoring, disaster response, and surveillance. Effective coordination between UAVs depends on low-latency inter-UAV communication to exchange state information, decisions, and other critical data. UAV networks are inherently dynamic which necessitates a framework capable of handling scenarios such as traffic re-routing, and resilience to communication failures. To address the challenges of managing dynamic UAV networks, this thesis proposes a dual network approach composed of three main components. First, the Better Approach to Mobile Ad-hoc Networking (BATMAN) protocol is used to enable communication among UAVs. Second, the OpenFlow protocol …

Design And Evaluation Of The Influence Of Mutual Induction On Microbial Electrolysis Cell Performance And Biogas Production, Ashley L. Blackwell

Civil Engineering ETDs

Microbial electrolysis cells (MECs) present a pathway for energy recovery in wastewater treatment by converting organic substrates into methane or hydrogen. Traditional MEC designs typically rely on physical electrode contacts and expensive materials, which restrict their scalability. This study introduces the first induction-based MEC that uses mutual inductance between an external copper wrap and an internal coil to generate a fluctuating electrical potential, removing the need for expensive electrodes. The induction-stimulated reactor showed faster total organic carbon removal and a higher CH4/CO2 ratio compared to a conventional anaerobic digester, indicating improved carbon-to-methane conversion, although total gas yield remained similar. Microbial …

Graph Based Planning With Guarantees, Trazon Tyrik Jimerson

Mechanical Engineering ETDs

This thesis presents two graph-based methods with formal guarantees for motion planning and routing. First, the invariant-set motion planner (ISMP), which uses constraint admissible positive invariant (CAPI) sets of closed-loop dynamics, is adapted for spacecraft attitude planning to avoid moving keep-out zones. Contributions include time bounds for maneuvers via exponential stability, a single-stage reachability graph from one-step backward reachable CAPI sets, and its multi-stage expansion to certify node safety over time. Simulations verify safe attitude control with moving obstacles. Second, we formulate a convex optimization problem over a network for evacuation planning with operational constraints such as helicopter capacity and …

Simulation Of Stress Induced By Laser Heating Of Glass, Austin Marsh Schuberth

Mechanical Engineering ETDs

The purpose of this work is to create a method for accurately simulating the stresses due to heating from femtosecond laser pulses. Our work aims to calculate stress and strain in glass exposed to laser pulses used for laser welding. We simulate the effects of thermal heating, thermal expansion, and the viscoelasticity of glass for a single straight weld bead. The laser heating of K9 borosilicate glass was simulated using Finite Element Analysis (FEA). Thermal models developed by other researchers in earlier work were utilized in calculating the temperatures due to the laser exposure to the glass material. 2D simulations …

Real-Time Frequency Tuning Of Kinetic Energy Harvesters Via System Mass Adjustment, Rahul Adhikari

Mechanical Engineering ETDs

This research presents a method for real-time frequency tuning of piezoelectric kinetic energy harvesters through system-mass adjustment. Custom 3D-printed proof masses with cavity arrays were used to redistribute solid or liquid mass, enabling controlled modification of resonant frequency. Experimental studies using microparticles and liquids—including water, silicone oil, and sodium polytungstate—demonstrated an achievable tuning range of 115.27 Hz with sub-hertz resolution (< 0.1 Hz), confirming precise and repeatable frequency control. Finite-element modeling guided design optimization, while a microfluidic channel system enabled automated liquid filling for real-time operation. A MATLAB-based EH_Tuning application was developed to visualize and predict frequency responses. The combined …

Design And Development Of Evacuated Photovoltaic-Thermal Systems For Efficient Cogeneration Of Heat And Electricity, Behnam Roshanzadeh

Mechanical Engineering ETDs

In conventional PV systems, most of the solar energy is dissipated into the environment as heat. Accordingly, hybrid Photovoltaic-thermal systems have been developed to utilize the waste heat from PV cells for various thermal applications. However, most PVT systems suffer from low thermal performance compared to solar thermal collectors, as the absorber plate in PVT systems is partially or fully covered by PV cells. This dissertation focuses on improving the thermal performance of PVT systems by introducing the evacuated PVT systems.

An evacuated-tube PVT system was designed and simulated for domestic hot water supply. The evacuated-tube PVT system demonstrated 40% …

Application Of Bimetallic Transition Metal Oxides Electrocatalysts For Li-Co2 Batteries And Li-O2 Batteries, Jianda Wang

Chemical and Biological Engineering ETDs

Li-ion batteries are the dominant commercial rechargeable batteries nowadays, which are used in electronic devices and electrified transportation widely. However, undesirable energy density of Li-ion batteries prohibits them from meeting requirements of new generation electronic devices. Therefore, it is important to find more alternative electronic energy storage systems with higher capacity. Fortunately, Li-CO2 batteries, featured high capacity and ability to convert CO2, have become a promising candidate to replace Li-ion batteries. In addition, Li-O2 batteries also attract people’s attention due to their high energy density and low cost. However, Li-CO2 batteries and Li-O2 batteries both face challenges of terrible cycle …

Analysis Of Heat Transfer And Pressure Drops Associated With Twisted Tube Heat Exchangers, Braden Foderaro

Nuclear Engineering ETDs

Several studies have been done on the effects of twisted tubes in heat exchangers, including the correlations that relate the flow parameters to the heat transfer and pressure drop experienced. These studies are new, with the earliest being performed in 1982. As such, there are many correlations covering only certain flow parameters and geometrical configurations such as the Reynolds number and modified Froude number.

This thesis attempts to cover flow regimes and tube geometries not yet studied and yield correlations. Data are gathered from heat exchangers featuring twisted tubes with water as the working fluid. It is noticed that the …

Non-Destructive Characterization Of Ion Irradiated Yttrium Hydride For Microreactor Applications, Ryan E. Pena

Nuclear Engineering ETDs

As energy demands increase, nuclear reactors, especially microreactors, become a promising energy source. These reactors run at high temperatures (>280°C), requiring moderators that can endure these environments. Yttrium hydride is a possible moderator, but little is known about the material’s phase stability and hydrogen retention under irradiation. Through the use of a gold ion beam, samples with stoichiometries ranging from 1.6 to 2.0 were irradiated and tested. Through Vickers hardness testing, a model was created showing a correlation between hydrogen content and hardness. Raman spectroscopy showed high temperature and irradiated samples have significant hydrogen loss. XRD quantified this hydrogen …