Digital Commons Network^™

Construction Project Administration: Course Portfolio, Andre Messner

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

This portfolio presents a structured framework for the design and implementation of a construction project administration course within a Construction Management program. Emphasis is placed on aligning student learning objectives, instructional strategies, and assessment methods with current industry expectations and professional standards. The course is intentionally designed to bridge the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical application by incorporating real-world scenarios, collaborative learning environments, and experiential activities that mirror industry practices.

In addition to outlining the course structure, this paper examines the pedagogical foundations that support student-centered learning, including constructivism, scaffolding, and project-based learning. These approaches are used to foster …

Electrical Grid Architectures For Smart Cities From Digitalized Power Systems To Ai-Enabled Urban Energy Ecosystems, Ehab Bayoumi

Mechanical Engineering

Smart cities increasingly depend on electrical grid infrastructures capable of operating under high levels of digitalization, decentralization, and intelligence while maintaining reliability, security, and governance at the city scale. However, conventional power systems, historically designed for centralized generation and passive operation, are poorly aligned with the operational complexity, multi-actor coordination, and cross-sector integration characteristic of urban energy systems. This review develops an architecture-first perspective on smart-city electrical grids, tracing their evolution from digitalized power networks to decentralized and AI-enabled urban energy ecosystems. Rather than focusing on individual technologies, the study evaluates grid architectures using a multi-layer framework that integrates physical …

Data-Driven Lpv Modeling Via Parametric Dmd And Predictive Control Of Highly Flexible Aircraft, Larry Catalasan, Tianyi He, Weihua Su

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Student Publications and Presentations

This paper presents a method of data-driven parametric dynamic mode decomposition (p-DMD) to derive a linear parameter-varying reduced-order model (LPV-ROM) and predictive control for the nonlinear aeroelasticity of highly flexible aircraft. It directly uses the data snapshots obtained at varying flight conditions and encodes a nonlinear model’s polynomial dependency on flight conditions to produce a polynomial-dependent LPV-ROM. The modeling method can handle not only equilibrium flight conditions but also continuously varying flight conditions. In numerical studies, the proposed data-driven p-DMD modeling is applied to a highly flexible cantilever wing perturbed around equilibrium conditions and a flexible aircraft with time-varying angles …

Influence Of Polyvinyl Alcohol Content On Starch-Based Bioplastic Reinforced With Chitosan And Microcrystalline Cellulose, Bagus Kharisma Putra, Andoko Andoko, Mochamad Viky Afandy, Muhammad Faizullah Pasha, Riduwan Prasetya

Chimica et Natura Acta

Starch-based bioplastics are promising sustainable alternatives to petroleum-based plastics; however, their limited mechanical strength and stability restrict broader packaging applications. This study investigates the influence of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) content on the structural and functional properties of starch-based bioplastic films reinforced with chitosan and microcrystalline cellulose (MCC). Films prepared by solution casting with varying PVA compositions were characterized in terms of density, mechanical properties, thermal stability, biodegradation behavior, antibacterial activity, and structural features. Increasing PVA content produced denser film structures with improved tensile strength and thermal stability, while elongation at break reached its maximum at the intermediate formulation, indicating a …

Stoker-Fired Laboratory Boiler As A Tool For Optimising The Solid Fuel Combustion Process, Przemysław Rompalski, Justyna Guzy-Proc, Mariusz Kieczek

Journal of Sustainable Mining

This paper presents the results of quality testing performed on a stoker-fired laboratory boiler to present the technical potential of the boiler as a tool for optimising the combustion process of prepared solid fuels (granulate, energy blend) in the context of current demands related to the decarbonisation policy. The comprehensive testing of such fuels at a laboratory scale makes it possible to gain deep insights into the quality parameters of the fuel, flue gas and combustion waste, as well as to determine the combustion process parameters before the fuel is introduced for combustion in broader power engineering and household boilers. …

How Fe(Ii)/2-Oxoglutarate Oxygenase Chooses Chlorination Over Hydroxylation: Electric Field-Driven Ligand Exchange Governs C-Cl Formation, Simahudeen Bathir Jaber Sathik Rifayee, Midhun George Thomas, Anandhu Krishnan, Kritika Gupta, Carter Davis, Tatyana Karabencheva-Christova, Christo Z. Christov

Michigan Tech Publications

Non-heme Fe(II)/2-oxoglutarate (2OG)-dependent halogenases catalyze highly selective C-H halogenation. BesD is a non-heme Fe(II)/2OG halogenase that performs regio- and stereoselective chlorination of the l-lysine (l-Lys) substrate. Understanding the mechanism by which halogenation is favored over canonical hydroxylation is essential for guiding enzyme engineering efforts aimed at converting hydroxylases into halogenases. Here, we combine molecular dynamics (MD) and hybrid quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) calculations to elucidate the origin of chlorination selectivity in BesD and variants derived from a homologous hydroxylase. Our results indicate that, although the initial inline Cl-Fe(III)-OH intermediate is inherently predisposed toward hydroxylation, it undergoes a two-step isomerization in …

Field Monitoring And Geometric Representation Of A Uhpc-Repaired Bridge Structure, Robert Lawler

Honors Scholar Theses

Ultra-High Performance Concrete (UHPC) has shown promise in bridge rehabilitation broadly, but its application to steel gusset plate repair represents a novel use case with limited prior research. Therefore, when the Commodore Isaac Hull Bridge in Derby, Connecticut, was issued an emergency declaration due to gusset plate section loss, a UHPC repair was implemented. This project represented the first known field implementation of this type of UHPC gusset plate repair, marking a significant advancement in the rehabilitation of deteriorated steel bridge components. To support long-term performance assessment and ensure the success of the repair, field monitoring efforts were also incorporated …

Exploring Maximal Length Cellular Automata To Generate Primitive Polynomials In Gf(2), Sumit Adak, Subhrajit Deb, Anurag Ghosh, Angshuman Roy, Souvik Roy

Northeast Journal of Complex Systems (NEJCS)

We present a simple method that uses cellular automata (CAs) to find primitive polynomials over GF(2). We used maximal length CAs as tools to generate primitive polynomials. It is usually very difficult to find maximal length CAs or primitive polynomials since they require exponential time, and there is no linear time method. However, in our work, given an n-size specific sequence of CA with reasonable probability, our technique computes a cycle of length at most 2^n-1 (maximal length) in O(n) time. The characteristic polynomials of synthesized maximal length CAs are claimed to be primitive since it was previously established that …

Evaluating Optimal Capacity And Investment Strategies For Renewable Energy Projects: A Combined Technical And Financial Approach, Helen Josephine, Indhumathi Shanmugasundaram, Sharad Gupta, Manjari Sharma

Northeast Journal of Complex Systems (NEJCS)

The global shift toward clean energy is accelerating, and by 2050 renewable sources are expected to supply more than 85% of the world’s electricity. This transition, however, introduces new layers of complexity. Wind and solar energy behave as interconnected subsystems whose output fluctuates with weather, season, and geography. Their interaction with fixed hourly demand, capital-intensive investments, and financing structures creates a multi-dimensional system in which small changes can trigger significant operational and economic consequences.  This study presents a simulation-driven framework designed to understand and optimize this complex behaviour. The framework models hourly wind and solar generation alongside projected demand to …

Decision Making At Triage Classification Using Svm With Smote Technique, Mehanas Shahul, Pushpalatha Kp

Northeast Journal of Complex Systems (NEJCS)

The efficient functioning of triage gates in overcrowded emergency departments (EDs) occurs in the context of the complex adaptive system (CAS) framework, where diverse system elements – patients, medical personnel, resources, patients’ inflow patterns, and patients themselves – simultaneously and dynamically influence the decision process. This study addresses the automated incorporation of machine learning triage algorithms as part of the system triage process to support automated classified risk-level recognition based on a limited set of vital signs. Patients are dynamically subsumed under high and low-risk categories enhanced by sensitivity, which enables optimal diagnosis and triage response to the critical clinician …

Uncovering Discrete States From Multimodal Psychophysiological Data Using Gaussian Latent Dirichlet Allocation (Glda), Congyu Wu, Aaron Fisher, David Schnyer

Northeast Journal of Complex Systems (NEJCS)

In this article we explore and validate the utility of an unsupervised probabilistic model, Gaussian Latent Dirichlet Allocation (GLDA), for discovering discrete states from repeated, multimodal psychophysiological samples collected from multiple individuals. Psychology and medical research heavily involves measuring potentially related but individually inconclusive variables from a cohort of participants to derive diagnosis, necessitating clustering analysis for state identification. Traditional probabilistic clustering models such as Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) assume a global mixture of component distributions, which may not be realistic for observations from different patients. The GLDA model borrows the individual-specific mixture structure from a popular topic model Latent …

The Reliability Of Yolo Object Detection On The Amd Versal In A Proton Radiation Environment, Jacob D. Brown

Theses and Dissertations

Object detection is an important operation for satellites to be able to perform, and in outer-space missions it is crucial that machine learning models perform inference on satellite images accurately and reliably. Where size, weight, power, and other constraints exist, meeting this goal for accurate and reliable object detection is challenging. Additionally, soft errors caused by radiation further disrupt and degrade the operation of object detection in satellites. This thesis studies the performance of a deep learning model on an embedded device, the AMD Versal, in the presence of soft errors. The well-known and high-performing YOLO convolutional neural network was …

Replication And Architectural Enhancement Of Omni Aggregation Networks, Matteo Calviello

Rose-Hulman Undergraduate Research Publications

Single Image Super-Resolution (SISR) reconstructs high-resolution images from low-resolution inputs, a capability valuable across many application domains. This thesis focuses on the replication and architectural enhancement of the Omni Aggregation Network (OAN), a lightweight super-resolution architecture designed to balance reconstruction quality with computational efficiency through a novel omni-axis self-attention mechanism.

Independent replication remains a persistent challenge in machine learning research, and this work addresses that issue directly. Initial replication attempts trailed the original reported results by approximately 6-10% in performance metrics before several undocumented implementation details were identified. After correcting these discrepancies, the replicated implementation achieved results within 4% of …

Polymer-Derived Silicon Oxycarbide (Sioc) And Silicon Carbonitride (Sicn) Ceramics For Advanced Electrochemical Energy Storage Applications, Saja Al Ajrash, Erick S. Vasquez-Guardado

Chemical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications

Preceramic polymers, especially silicon oxycarbide (SiOC) and silicon carbonitride (SiCN) ceramics, have gained significant attention due to their wide range of applications in many fields, particularly in energy storage devices beyond conventional lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). This review focuses on the synthesis, structural characteristics, and properties of SiOC and SiCN ceramics as electrodes for battery applications. Furthermore, their promising applications as electrode materials for energy storage systems are explored, along with the most recent advances in the development of such materials and their use in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), lithium-sulfur batteries (LSBs), potassium-ion batteries (PIBs), sodium-ion batteries (SIBs), and supercapacitors. This review …

Accelerating Wound Healing Rates With Cucurbita Pepo Leaf Extract Loaded Electrospun Poly(Methyl Methacrylate)/Halloysite/Chitosan/ Caco₃ Composite Nanofibers Through In Vitro And In Vivo Assessments, Samar A. Salim

Nanotechnology Research Centre

Cucurbita pepo leaf extract (CPE) was incorporated into electrospun poly(methyl methacrylate)/ halloysite/chitosan/ CaCO₃ (PMMA/Hal/CS/CaCO₃) composite nanofibers to develop a novel biomaterial for accelerating wound healing rates. The different nanofibrous scaffolds were successfully fabricated and characterized through scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). SEM analysis revealed uniform, smooth nanofibers, while FTIR and XRD confirmed the integration of CPE into nanofiber matrix, indicating an amorphous structure and effective dispersion of the extract. In vitro agar well-diffusion and antibiofilm assays revealed that the optimized formulation exhibited potent antimicrobial activity against wound-associated pathogens. The nanofibers composite based on …

Real-Time Fraud Detection, Haidi Aly Fahmy, Abdelhadi Nait-Zerrad, Shiva Krishana Reddy Ravuula, Sangwhan Cha

Harrisburg University Other Works

Financial fraud detection is a high-volume, high-velocity analytics problem. Traditional rule-based systems are often easy to deploy, but they are limited by static thresholds, delayed response, high false-positive rates, and weak explainability. This report presents a formalized end-to-end Big Data architecture for real-time fraud and anomaly detection in financial transaction streams.

The proposed architecture ingests transaction events through AWS Kinesis, enriches them through an Apache Flink stream-processing layer, scores them with an XGBoost classifier, explains model outputs using SHAP, and converts structured evidence into human-readable summaries through a controlled GPT explanation layer. Results are persisted through a hybrid storage strategy …

Sentience, Sheetal Agrawal

Masters Theses

The increasing urgency for sustainable and adaptive systems has driven research toward embedding intelligence directly into materials rather than relying solely on external sensing and control systems. This thesis explores how smart material1 embedded systems can be designed to recognize and respond to environmental signatures, defined as measurable patterns such as temperature fluctuations and mechanical forces. Central to this investigation is the integration of shape memory alloys, particularly Nitinol, with geometry-based actuation mechanisms that amplify material behavior into functional system responses.

The central argument is that designing with smart materials is a design problem, not primarily a materials science problem …

Somatic Prosthetics For Planetary Resonance, Disha Dharesh Kumar R

Masters Theses

This thesis investigates how industrial design can transcend extractive technological paradigms in favor of relational interfaces that foster planetary attunement. Framing the climate crisis as a 'crisis of imagination', the research challenges the Western bifurcation of nature and culture by drawing on Indic cosmologies- which recognize stones, plants, and ecosystems as conscious at different levels and participants in a shared cosmic field. By synthesizing research in Biosemiotics, Quantum Information Pansycishm, and Neuroscience, the project redefines intelligence as a distributed, more-than-human phenomenon.

The research materializes as a speculative design artifact: a device that functions as a somatic prosthetic for planetary resonance. …

Material Costs, Karima Weinman

Masters Theses

This thesis investigates how migration fatality and disappearance data can be reinterpreted through material craft to create a more reflective encounter with information. Working with the Missing Migrants Project's dataset, this project asks how design can communicate dimensions of human loss that conventional data visualization cannot reach.

The work situates contemporary border violence within a longer colonial history, arguing that the logics of surveillance and quantification that structured European imperial expansion persist in the databases that govern mobility in the Mediterranean today.

Terrazzo is a 15th-century Venetian flooring technique built from discarded fragments bound together into a unified surface. This …

Power Consumption Prediction And Energy Forecasting Using Machine Learning Models, Sheik Mohideen Shah S Mr

Theses and Dissertations

Power consumption trends are essential to be identified in the energy grid areas to analyze the utilization, deficiency, and the measures to be taken for an effective and comfortable usage of energy. There are two scenarios in which the power consumption can be analyzed, namely identification and prediction. Identification deals with the post-utilization analysis of energy trends, whereas prediction deals with prior analysis of various factors of energy utilization, including the cost, supply details, shortages, and the need for new energy resources. In the existing models, the power consumption-related data are collected through smart meters, and the energy forecasting methods …

Les Grands Chantiers De La Transition Énergétique Au Maroc: Le Cas De Dakhla-Oued Eddahab Entre Réalisations, Facteurs De Réussite Et Perspectives, Limam Boussif, Jalila Ait Soudane

Journal of Maya Heritage

Résumé: Cet article examine la dynamique de la transition énergétique au Maroc à travers une analyse descriptive et analytique du cas de Dakhla-Oued Eddahab. Dans un contexte marqué par l’accélération des politiques de décarbonation à l’échelle mondiale, le Maroc s’impose comme un acteur stratégique en matière de développement des énergies renouvelables et de l’hydrogène vert. L’étude met en lumière les principaux chantiers structurants engagés dans la région de Dakhla, notamment le développement des énergies éolienne et solaire, les projets de production d’hydrogène vert, le dessalement de l’eau de mer, ainsi que la réalisation du port Dakhla Atlantique. L’analyse montre que …

Characterizing Stiffness Dynamics Of Normal And Malignant Breast Spheroids Using Brillouin Microscopy, Razanne Rafat Zaghloul, Karlin Hilai, Chenjun Shi, Jitao Zhang

Medical Student Research Symposium

Background: Breast cancer progression and metastasis are closely linked to alterations in the mechanical properties of tumor cells and their microenvironment. Softer, more deformable cells are often associated with higher metastatic potential. While atomic force microscopy (AFM) is the current gold standard for mechanical characterization, it is limited to surface measurements and can damage 3D cultures. It remains unclear how the mechanical properties evolve over time in normal versus malignant spheroids. This study utilizes Brillouin light-scattering microscopy, a non-contact and label-free optical technique, to assess stiffness changes in normal and malignant breast epithelial spheroids over time. Understanding these mechanical signatures …

The Analytic Hierarchy Process As A Tool For Architectural Quality Assessment: A Case Study On Municipal Facades, Gül Şebnem Tutal, Fatma Demet Aykal

HBRC Journal

This study evaluates the façade quality of three municipal buildings using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to identify strengths, weaknesses, and improvement priorities in public architecture. Although façade design has been widely studied, quantitative and integrated assessment frameworks for municipal building façades remain limited. To address this gap, the study integrates the Design Quality Indicator (DQI) with AHP within a Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) framework, proposing a systematic and replicable evaluation model. The research assesses three main DQI criteria-functionality, building quality, and impact-subdivided into twelve sub-criteria and analyzed through pairwise comparison matrices. Data were collected through structured expert interviews with …

Towards The Integration Of Living Plants In Urban Design For Desert Regions \Fontsize1213\Selectfont\Textcolorblack(A Dynamic Shading Unit Inspired By Plant Movements), Amira Medhat Ibrahim Gouda

HBRC Journal

With the rapid urban expansion of new cities in hot desert climates, the challenge of designing open urban spaces and public squares becomes evident, particularly in providing thermal comfort. These spaces are exposed to intense sunlight and temperatures exceeding 40°C for extended periods, limiting their usability and increasing reliance on traditional, non sustainable shading methods. Addressing this issue, the research explores the potential of bio-dynamic shading units that utilize plants with self-moving responses such as nyctinastic and heliotropic movements as sustainable alternatives that adapt automatically to climatic changes without mechanical systems or energy consumption. The study assumes that integrating plants …

Characterization And Potential Suitability Of Some Egyptian Clays For Ceramic Building Applications, Marwa Askar, Medhat Sobhy El-Mahllawy, Mohamed Hamed Abdel-Aal, Ali Mohamed Ali Abd-Allah, Safia Gaber Al Menoufy

HBRC Journal

This study investigates the suitability of five Egyptian clay deposits—Wadi El-Natrun, Qasr El-Sagha, Kafr Homied, Fayed, and Suez Road—for ceramic building applications. Representative samples were characterized chemically and mineralogically, with grain size distribution and Atterberg limits determined to assess their industrial potential. Mineralogical analysis identified montmorillonite, illite, and kaolinite as the dominant clay minerals. Grain size and plasticity data, plotted on industrial diagrams, revealed that all samples are highly plastic clays with elevated clay fractions and minimal sand content. Such properties, while beneficial for molding, require modification to reduce excessive plasticity. The addition of non-plastic materials is recommended to enhance …

Detection Method For Laboratory Ppe Compliance Wearing Based On Human Key Points, Lijun Peng, Tingqi Su, Peijin Liu, Lin He, Xiewu Zhou, Minxin Zhang

Journal of System Simulation

To address the problems of high missed detection rate and inaccurate judgment of wearing compliance when multi-scale and multi-category targets of laboratory personnel's safety protective equipment are detected in a complex laboratory environment, this paper proposes a laboratory personnel's standard personal protective equipment (PPE) wearing detection method (multi-scale multi- target joint key point detection method, MSMT-JKDM) that integrates multi-scale features and human keypoints. The multi-scale adaptive down sampling (MSA-Down) module and the cascaded group attention transformer (CGA Former) are introduced to enhance the feature representation ability of PPE (especially small targets such as goggles and gloves) in laboratory detection scenarios, …

Automatic Speed Guidance Method And Simulation Evaluation For Trams At Intersections, Jing Teng, Wencong Tong, Zhongjie Zhang, Xing Yao, Junxian Li

Journal of System Simulation

To address the lack of speed regulation mechanism and the high dispersion of operational time in the current manual driving mode, this paper proposes an automatic speed guidance method for trams at intersections. Considering the speed disturbances caused by potential traffic conflicts at intersections, an initial decision point for safe passage speed at an intersection is established, dividing the operational curve into deterministic segments and disturbance-response segments.To verify the effectiveness of the method, a case study of Songjiang Tram Line 1 is conducted.Driving simulation experiments are performed to obtain manual driving trajectories, and a dynamic trajectory simulation model …

Robot Trajectory Planning And Adjustment Method For Abnormal Pose Of Actuator, Lang Qin, Jiacheng Xie, Xiaojun Qiao, Xuewen Wang, Zhijie Xiao

Journal of System Simulation

To address the influence of the abnormal pose of the robot actuator on the robot trajectory, an adaptive planning and adjustment method of trajectory based on virtual-real fusion was proposed. AR technology was introduced to couple with the robot kinematics model, and the hardware dependence on multiple sensors was replaced by synchronous comparison of three-dimensional virtual and real poses; AR gestures and voice interaction were combined to simplify the operation process; based on the actual pose of the actuator, the trajectory of the robot terminal axis was dynamically adjusted. The experimental results show that this method breaks through the technical …

Sos Effectiveness Evaluation Method Based On Fuzzy Functional Dependency Network Analysis, Hongjia Su, Cheng Zhang, Fei Liu

Journal of System Simulation

Functional dependency network analysis (FDNA) enables modeling functional dependencies among equipment in a system of systems (SoS) and then computing the whole SoS effectiveness based on the effectiveness of each equipment, thus overcoming the deficiency of traditional SoS effectiveness evaluation based on tree-like index systems. However, critical parameters such as strength/criticality of dependency in this methodology currently rely on subjective empirical assignments, where the deviations resulting from subjectivity may compromise the accuracy of effectiveness evaluation. To address this limitation, this paper proposes a fuzzy FDNA (FFDNA)-based SoS effectiveness evaluation method. This method constructs a functional dependency network (FDN) model …

Research On Completion Method For Trajectory Based On Image Representation And Collaborative Feature Perception, Ye Tao, Jinhui Tang, Chen Zhou, Chong Wang

Journal of System Simulation

To address the constraints imposed by missing trajectory data in surveillance systems on the efficacy of civil aviation safety monitoring, as well as the limitations on the development and application of advanced technologies within trajectory-based operational frameworks, a completion method for trajectory based on image representation and collaborative feature perception was proposed. A conversion strategy for trajectory image representation was designed to reformulate the trajectory completion task as a deterministic image completion problem, effectively circumventing the cumulative error problem of traditional time-series data caused by the limitation of recurrent neural network inference mechanisms.A regression model fusing a multi-kernel hybrid …