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Effects Of Ball Milling Duration And Sintering Temperature On Mechanical Alloying Fe3si, Varistha Chobpattana, Chakansin Phoomkong, Peerawat Nutnual, Kritsada Thaengthong, Wanchai Pijitrojana

Journal of Metals, Materials and Minerals

Fe3Si is under interest as a ferromagnetic electrode of magnetic tunneling junctions (MTJs). Its crystalline structure is important for achieving high device efficiency. This work focuses on mechanical alloying of 3:1 ratio of 99% pure Fe and Si powder mixtures by ball milling and sintering. The mixtures were ball-milled for various durations up to 20 h. Then, they were sintered from 400°C  to 800°C for 4 h in Ar.  SEM images and particle size analysis show significant reduction in average particle size of the mixtures after ball milling for 20 h. The longer duration of ball milling process promotes powder …

Elevate Hardcase, Caleb J. Bailey, Colby M. Cordoba, Marissa Mccleod, Shaan Sandhu

Mechanical Engineering

The Elevate Hardcase project developed a portable mechanical elevation system that allows users to access rugged hard cases at a comfortable working height without needing a separate table or placing the case on uneven ground. The design focuses on improving ergonomics, portability, stability, and quick setup for users in field environments such as photography, hunting, and maintenance. Through customer research, concept development, prototyping, analysis, and testing, the final system was designed to support a loaded hard case, provide height adjustability, remain stable on uneven terrain, and be deployed by a single user in under five minutes. The final prototype demonstrates …

Design And Production Of A Carbon Fiber Longboard, John R. Beebe, Jacob Williams, Julia Stradinger, Vince Fitchtel, Jordan Cochran

Honors Theses

This thesis contains an overview of the design, prototyping, and manufacturing of a carbon fiber long board. The purpose of this capstone was to create a viable product for the real-world market and then determine how to manufacture it at scale with sustainable financial practices. In order to accomplish this task, engineering, accounting, and manufacturing challenges had to be overcome throughout all stages. The production process involved the carbon fiber layup, baking, water jet cutting, and assembly of the carbon fiber longboard. In order to optimize this process, continuous improvement and lean manufacturing problem solving techniques were applied. After a …

What Types Of Uncertainty Emerge In Instructional Aviation Incidents?, Abigail Henson

Mechanical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

This study utilized narrative reports from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS) database to examine the types of uncertainty present in near-miss instructional aviation incidents occurring within the United States between 2015 and 2025. The final dataset consisted of 86 reports, with each report containing a set of narrative accounts from both the student pilot and the flight instructor operating under Part 91 regulations. Each instructional event was classified using a combined framework incorporating uncertainty categorizations and the Human Factors Analysis and Classification System (HFACS). Results indicate that epistemological uncertainty was the most common …

Simulation-Based Assessment Of Operational And Retrofit Solutions For Effluent Compliance Of A Capacity-Limited Oxidation Ditch Wwtp, Ahmed Sameh Harash

Theses and Dissertations

Oxidation-ditch wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) across Egypt's Nile Delta are increasingly carrying hydraulic and organic loads beyond what they were designed for. This work can be considered pioneering as this work compared operational and structural retrofit alternatives for such a plant within a single verified simulation framework. The present study fills that gap by building a digital twin of the Qaha WWTP, a dual-train Carrousel oxidation ditch in Qalyubia Governorate, calibrated to a baseline flow of 7,420 m³/day in the SUMO24 platform (a third-generation, open-source wastewater treatment process simulation software) using the SUMO2c biokinetic model (a simplified variant of Activated …

Dynamic Baseline Schedule Updates Using Digital Twinning: A Case Study On Aluminum Formwork Construction, Ahmed Hamdi Sweilam

Theses and Dissertations

Repetitive high-rise construction using aluminum formwork couples consecutive floor cycles through a reused panel set and a floor-level inspection and pour barrier, so productivity loss compounds upward rather than being absorbed locally. The baseline schedule is nevertheless fixed before execution and is not revised as evidence of realized productivity accumulates. This thesis develops a simulation-based digital twin that updates the baseline from observed as-built durations and acts on its own forecast. A discrete-event simulation of a ten-story residential tower is built in AnyLogic® and verified analytically at 180.00 hours per floor. After each completed floor the twin infers activity productivity …

A Maximum Energy Release Rate Computational Framework For Fatigue Crack Trajectory And Life Prediction Under Mixed-Mode Proportional And Nonproportional Loading, Nahla Helmy Matar

Theses and Dissertations

The problem of mixed-mode fatigue crack growth has been a persistent research challenge. The determination of fatigue crack propagation direction directly impacts the safety and integrity of components and structures, making it crucial in various industrial applications, including welded drilling pipes, aerospace, and automotive engineering. Unlike uniaxial loading, mixed-mode cracks tend to change direction frequently (kinking), and nonproportional loading adds to the complexity of the problem. This research aims to estimate the crack propagation direction and fatigue crack life in linear elastic materials subjected to mixed-mode (I+II) loading conditions under proportional or non-proportional cyclic loading. Numerical software was developed based …

Sustainable – Low-Cost - Upgrade Of Activated Sludge Process For Nitrogen And Phosphorus (N&P) Removal From Wastewater, Abanoub N. Basta

Theses and Dissertations

Many municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in developing countries were designed primarily for organic matter and suspended solids removal and therefore face increasing difficulty in meeting modern nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) discharge requirements. Conventional biological nutrient removal upgrades commonly require additional reactor volume, recirculation systems, aeration energy, and capital investment. Accordingly, sustainable retrofit strategies that improve nutrient removal within existing treatment footprints are increasingly needed, particularly in water-scarce and land-constrained regions.

This study investigated the integration of water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) into the aeration stage of an activated sludge process as a hybrid nature-based enhancement for nitrogen and phosphorus …

A Comparative Study: Force Majeure And The Theory Of Unforeseen Circumstances Across Different Jurisdictions In The Middle East, Omar Hamed Sawan

Theses and Dissertations

The motivation behind this study stems from recent global disruption events that impact construction projects worldwide. These events vary across a wide spectrum, whether they are political events such as the Russo-Ukraine war or the war in the Middle East, economic events such as inflation or currency devaluations; or environmental events such as climate change and the emergence of public health crises like the Covid-19 pandemic. These series of events underscore the growing importance of understanding how the different legal frameworks address unforeseeable events in the construction industry. In this context, force majeure and the theory of unforeseen circumstances (also …

Enhancing Shipboard Safety Management Under The Ism Code: An Innovative Risk Assessment Framework With A Stern Tube Case Study, Pi-Yen Lin

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

The shipboard safety management system (SMS) is designed to enhance safe operations, risk management, and emergency response to improve overall ship safety and efficiency. This paper demonstrates the use of an engine room simulator (ERS) for collecting failure modes and applies it to a comprehensive failure analysis of the stern tube lubricating oil system. A new risk closeness coefficient method was developed, integrating expert background knowledge and weighted risk assessments. The analysis, based on multiple expert evaluations, covered five subsystems, eight main components, 23 failure modes, and 112 failure causes. This study presents 26 recommendations for maritime practitioners and onboard …

Port And Vessel Communication Traffic Intrusion Detection: A Variational Autoencoder‑Enhanced Multilayer Perceptron Approach, Chien-Lin Chiang, Hsien-Cheng Chou, Ming-Yuan Peng, Yi-Yuan Chiang, Yu-Shun Liu

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

Port and vessel networks increasingly operate on IP/Ethernet backbones with high‑noise, high‑dimensional traffic. We present a lightweight hybrid intrusion‑detection model that couples a variational autoencoder (VAE) with a multilayer perceptron (MLP) and augments training with a boundary‑oriented latent‑space mixup strategy. The VAE models the distribution of normal traffic and identifies anomalies through reconstruction errors. Subsequently, it generates robust latent vectors, enabling the MLP to perform highly accurate supervised classification. On the UNSW‑NB15 dataset, the proposed pipeline attains ≥97% accuracy and an outstanding recall of 99.56% in binary intrusion detection, and visualization of the latent space (PCA) together with reconstruction‑error analyses …

Sar Ship Detection Based On Shallow Feature Guidance, Chenxu Xia, Peng Chen, Ya Zhang, Ying Li

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

Maritime ship detection is of great significance for both military security and civilian applications. Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), with its all-weather and all-day imaging capability, plays a vital role in maritime surveillance. Nevertheless, SAR ship targets typically appear small in scale, embedded in complex backgrounds, blurred at boundaries, and easily confused with near-shore features, which pose substantial challenges for accurate detection. To address these issues, we propose a SAR ship detection network that integrates dual enhancements of small-object representation and edge information. The network introduces two key components: the Small Target Refine Pyramid (STRP) to strengthen shallow feature representation for …

Comparative Assessment Of Agmd And Vmd Systems Configured With Flat Sheet And Hollow Fibre Membranes: An Energy And Exergy, Thermo-Economic, And Environmental Analysis, Hamed Kariman, Mehdi Khiadani

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Membrane Distillation (MD) systems, particularly Air Gap Membrane Distillation (AGMD) and Vacuum Membrane Distillation (VMD) in Flat Sheet (FS) and Hollow Fibre (HF) configurations, demonstrate strong potential for freshwater production, Yet, there remains a lack of comparative studies evaluating their energy, exergy, economic and environmental performance under similar conditions. This study presents a comparative analysis of four MD systems under similar operating conditions: FS-AGMD, HF-AGMD, FS-VMD and HF-VMD, and considers their respective costs and operation in Western Australia. The analysis was performed for single-stage and multi-stage configurations of up to ten modules, both with and without Heat Recovery (HR), to …

Enhancing Agricultural Sustainability Under Climate Change: A Multi-Scale Framework Integrating Climate Extremes, Resource Efficiency, And Data-Driven Modeling, Shahryar Fazli

Computational and Data Sciences (PhD) Dissertations

Agricultural systems are increasingly challenged by climate variability, where shifting temperature regimes, hydrological variability, and the rising frequency of compound and cascading extremes threaten global food security and resource sustainability. Addressing these challenges requires integrated frameworks that bridge biophysical monitoring, predictive modeling, and adaptive decision-making. This dissertation develops a data-driven, multi-scale framework to quantify and enhance agricultural resilience by integrating remote sensing, climate analytics, and machine learning across the United States, with a focus on California and the Western U.S.

First, hyperspectral and thermal remote sensing data from EMIT and OpenET are integrated to characterize crop nitrogen–water interactions and assess …

Long Range Battery-Free Wireless Power Transfer Testbed For Underground Mines Iot And Lpwan Devices, Anabi Hilary Kelechi, Samuel Frimpong, Sanjay Madria

Mining Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Underground mines are susceptible to occasional roof falls and cave-ins, temporarily destroying the existing wireless communications and telemetry infrastructure. During this temporary outage, intermittent provision of electrical energy wirelessly to the already deployed low-power wireless area networks (LPWAN) and Internet of Things (IoT) devices assumes a fundamental requirement. In this article, we propose and design a long-range far-field radio frequency (RF) wireless power transfer (WPT) testbed to power LPWAN and IoT devices at 35 m in an underground mines facility. Class AB external power amplifier (PA) was introduced to achieve a long-distance RF WPT, in the 880 MHz band. Thus, …

Evaluating The Impact Of Research Equipment Availability On Scientific Rigor, Reproducibility, And Innovation Across Stem Disciplines, Lyndi G. Hraban

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Research infrastructure plays a central role in shaping the quality and innovative capacity of scientific research. This study evaluates how the availability of research equipment influences scientific rigor, reproducibility, and innovation across STEM disciplines. Drawing on literature from science-to-science research, policy studies, and discipline-specific analyses, this project synthesizes existing scholarship to explore the relationship between access to infrastructure and key research outcomes. Findings across the literature indicate that access to advanced and well-maintained equipment can strengthen scientific rigor by enabling more precise measurements, improved experimental control, and the implementation of standardized research protocols. Shared and centralized facilities are also associated …

Power At Sea Develop Phase, Jake Lauer, Isabella Heinemann, Bailey Gargasz, Zachery Boyer

Mechanical Engineering

This project develops a renewable, wave-powered charging system designed to extend the mission duration of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles by eliminating the need for frequent manual battery replacement. Building upon a prior oscillating water column prototype from the CONCEPT phase, the team redesigned and tested an improved system capable of converting wave-induced air motion into electrical power using a Wells turbine. Key enhancements include doubling the column diameter to increase displaced air volume, integrating a flared inlet and bi-directional nozzle to improve airflow, and selecting corrosion-resistant materials suitable for long-term deployment in marine environments. Multiple prototypes were constructed and evaluated through …

Scalable And Interpretable Fraud Detection In Fintech: Evidence From A Hybrid Tabnet–Graph Neural Network Framework, Haseeb Ahmad, Istiaque Bhuiyan, Tanvir Bhuiyan, Ariful Hoque

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

This study proposes a fraud detection framework for FinTech that integrates tabular deep learning with relational graph reasoning. We address a key limitation of state-of-the-art tabular fraud models: their assumption that transactions are independent, despite evidence that modern fraud often arises from coordinated infrastructure reuse (e.g., shared devices, email domains, accounts, and addresses). Using the IEEE-CIS Fraud Detection dataset (≈590,540 e-commerce transactions), we develop a hybrid architecture that combines TabNet, chosen for its built-in interpretability on tabular data, with a GraphSAGE encoder trained on a leakage-free heterogeneous entity graph constructed strictly from historical training transactions. Unseen entities in validation and …

Engineering Sulfur Concrete Mixes: A Data-Driven Approach To Aggregate Packing And Binder Efficiency, Vasilia Al Khaldi, Abdel Hamid I. Mourad, Maisa El Gamal

All Works

Processing window (mass loss < 3%). A first-order, order-of-magnitude carbon-footprint estimate—presented with explicit caveats rather than as a full life-cycle assessment—indicates that replacing Portland cement with by-product sulfur is the dominant contributor to a substantial reduction in embodied CO₂ per cubic metre relative to equivalent-strength Portland cement concrete. The valorization of steelmaking by-products aligns with circular economy principles, enabling high-performance, recyclable, and low-carbon construction materials without chemical binder modification.

Reimagining Sustainable Sulfur Concrete: A Systematic Review Of Sulfur, Waste Integration, And Durability, Vasilia Al Khaldi, Abdel Hamid I. Mourad, Maisa Elgamal

All Works

Sulfur concrete (SC) - a thermoplastic, waterless composite in which molten sulfur-based binder replaces Portland cement - is attracting growing research attention as a sustainable construction alternative capable of superior performance in chemically aggressive environments. This systematic literature review synthesises evidence from 127 sources (2000–2025), examining three interlinked dimensions: (i) the role of waste and industrial by-product materials as aggregate and filler substitutes; (ii) the influence of aggregate type, morphology, and grading on mechanical and microstructural performance; and (iii) durability under acid, saline, and freeze-thaw exposures. A transparent, PRISMA-aligned screening and classification protocol - here used as a structured review …

Robust Hybrid Tree-Based Machine Learning-Assisted Optimization Of Well Parameters To Reduce Asphaltene Precipitation Risk In Oil Fields, Malek Jalilian, Madani, Alireza Keshavarz, Stefan Iglauer, Abbas Khaksar Manshad, Amir H. Mohammadi

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Asphaltene precipitation is a persistent flow-assurance issue in carbonate oil wells, leading to increased intervention frequency and production losses. This study utilizes multi-decade surveillance and operational data from a mature carbonate field (1983–2023) to train and optimize five tree-based models: Decision Tree, Random Forest, Extra Trees, Gradient-Boosting Decision Tree, and CatBoost, employing a Tree-Structured Parzen Estimator. These models, constrained by operational parameters, were integrated to identify optimal settings that can minimize the frequency of asphaltene precipitation and the subsequent cleanups. The novelty of this research lies in the direct integration of interpretable tree ensembles with an optimizer that adheres to …

Thermophysical Characteristics Evaluation Of Carbon And Metal Oxide-Based Hybrid Phase Change Materials For Thermal Energy Storage Applications, Utpol K. Paul, Md Shahriar Mohtasim, Md Golam Kibria, Barun K. Das

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Phase change materials (PCM) have limited practical applications due to their low heat conductivity. The main goal of this work is to improve the thermophysical properties of PCM by adding different compositions of hybrid carbon and metal oxide-based nanoparticles for incorporation into hybrid photovoltaic/thermal solar systems to accommodate the built environment and thermal energy storage as a building envelope for thermal comfort. Three types of nanoparticles have been selected including Graphene, Al2O3, and ZnO and synthesized samples with the combinations of 0.5 wt% Al2O3 + 2 wt% ZnO, 0.75 wt% Al2O3 + 2 wt% ZnO, 1 wt% Al2O3 + 2 …

Evolving Ai Integration In Complex Medical Decision-Making And Multidisciplinary Transplant Care: A Systematic Review Of Human-Ai Collaboration, Rachel L. Dzieran, Cihan H. Dagli, Robert J. Marley

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Purpose of Review: Artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare has evolved dramatically from early expert systems, which were initially considered replacements for clinical judgment, to today's collaborative frameworks that aim to augment physician decision-making. This evolution is particularly crucial in domains such as transplant surgery, where decisions carry irreversible consequences and require the integration of complex, often ambiguous data. Drawing on peer-reviewed literature from 2019 to 2025, we conducted a systematic review that analyzed key elements distinguishing successful human-AI partnerships from those that fail. Recent Findings: The ideal balance incorporates human expertise into AI systems through weighted integration approaches, rather than …

A Consolidated Mössbauer Spectrum For Undisturbed Soils From Gusev Crater, Mars, Paulo De Souza

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Mossbauer analyses from MIMOS II data collected on Mars provided breakthrough insights into iron mineralogy of the planet’s surface. Resulting from limited measurement time, science operations were divided among multiple instruments, restricting the detection of minor Fe-bearing mineral phases (below 5% WSA). MIMOS II records Mössbauer spectra at 10 K intervals, and to enhance signal to noise ratios, spectra from different intervals were combined, when applicable. For instance, temperature variations between 190 K and 270 K in basaltic samples do not significantly impact the spectra, allowing data from all intervals to be integrated. By combining MIMOS II data from various …

Green Waste Biochar And Plant Growth-Promoting Bacteria Enhance Tomato Growth Under Combined Nutrient Deficiency And Salinity Stress, Soumaya Tounsi-Hammami, Munawwar Ali Khan, Mahra Alqemzi, Salama Ali Almehairi, Aneesa Rasheed Anwar

All Works

This study characterized a green-waste-derived biochar from date palms and ghaf trees and investigated its potential as a soil amendment with halotolerant Bacillus spp. to improve tomato seedling quality under dual stress of salinity and nutrient deficiency. Biochar was produced through pyrolysis at 450 °C and then characterized for yield, pH, electrical conductivity, proximate analysis, surface morphology, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and heavy-metal content. Its effectiveness was tested both alone and in combination with a Bacillus sp. mix, using a completely randomized design with varying NPK fertilizer levels and saline irrigation. Tomato seedlings were evaluated 45 days after planting for various …

Thermally-Driven Equiaxation Of Columnar Grains And Α″ Nanoparticles Enabling Isotropic Β-Ti Alloys With Strength–Ductility Synergy Manufactured By Laser Powder Bed Fusion, Lei Qin, Shengfeng Zhou, Jianbo Jin, Huan Yang, Kunmao Li, Cheng Deng, Yujie Yuan, Lai-Chang Zhang

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

The transient thermal cycling characteristics during laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) induce elemental segregation and columnar growth, resulting in significant mechanical anisotropy and strength–ductility trade-off in titanium alloys. In order to break through this bottleneck, this work proposes a strategy of inducing equiaxation of columnar grains through recrystallization and regulating the morphology of the α″ phase (from an acicular shape to nanoparticles) to synergistically optimize the uniformity, strength and ductility of LPBF-fabricated Ti-35Nb-5Cu-xMo (Ti355x, x = 0, 1, 2, 4 wt%) alloys. The results demonstrate that LPBF-fabricated Ti355x alloys display equiaxed/columnar microstructures with significant mechanical anisotropy and strength–ductility trade-off. After …

Aluminium Based Hydrotalcite Like Compounds For Direct Lithium Extraction: A Critical Review On Crystallography And Structure Selectivity Design, Amin Sarmadi, Yasaman Boroumand, Mohammad Mahdi A. Shirazi, Magdalena Wajrak, Shayan Abrishami, Matthew Myers, Muhammad Rizwan Azhar, Amir Razmjou

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

The accelerating demand for lithium is intensifying interest in direct lithium extraction (DLE) technologies that minimise the environmental footprint of conventional solar evaporation ponds. Among sorbent-based DLE concepts, aluminium based hydrotalcite like compounds (Al-HTlc), particularly lithium aluminium layered double hydroxide (LiAl-LDH), are considered the most mature sorbent options, offering facile lithium (Li+) recovery and high selectivity in highly saline chloride based solutions. Both properties arise from a distinct intercalation mechanism wherein Li+ and its counter-anions (e.g. Cl− or SO42−) are co-intercalated into the crystal structure upon brine exposure. Li+ selectivity arises partly from a steric match between Li+ (ionic radius …

Scalable Quality Assessment Of Ground Motion Records Via Interpretable Deep Learning Architectures, Ali Montazeri Namin

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Earthquake engineers rely on accurate recordings of ground shaking to design safe and resilient buildings. However, sorting through thousands of these recordings to find the reliable ones and throwing out those ruined by sensor errors or background noise is traditionally done by hand. Because modern seismic networks collect massive amounts of earthquake data every day, this manual checking process is much too slow. To fix this, researchers are turning to artificial intelligence to automatically check the quality of these recordings.

While artificial intelligence offers a fast solution, there are limitations. These computer models can become massive and expensive to run, …

Cascaded Pid Control Of A Passive Bio-Inspired Rotating Empennage Aircraft, Zachary T. Jenkins

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

This thesis presents an autopilot for a Bio-Inspired Rotating Empennage (BIRE) aircraft. Most airplanes control yaw using a vertical stabilizer and a moving rudder, a design that has stayed essentially unchanged for nearly a century but adds weight, drag, and surface area to the aircraft. The BIRE removes the vertical tail entirely and instead allows the horizontal tail to rotate about the body x-axis of the airplane; tilting the horizontal tail produces a yaw force, doing the job of a rudder. This thesis first develops a controller for the BIRE where the empennage angle is commanded directly, then extends …

Flight System Development For A Bio-Inspired Rotating Empennage Experimental Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, Ashton Gilbert

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Unmanned aerial systems, commonly known as drones, are increasingly used for research, environmental monitoring, and testing new aircraft concepts. Many commercially available drone flight controllers work well for standard aircraft designs, but they can be difficult to adapt for experimental vehicles that use unconventional control methods or require detailed monitoring during testing. This creates challenges for researchers who need flexible and reliable tools to safely evaluate new flight technologies. This work presents the development of a custom drone flight control system designed specifically for experimental research. The system integrates custom electronics and software that allow researchers to easily modify control …