Digital Commons Network^™

Automating Building Feature Recognition In Digital Twin Models Using Computer Vision, Jaron Harbison

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Standard 3D scans treat all surfaces as generic geometry, but Wi-Fi signals don't. A signal drops by a different magnitude through a wooden door than a concrete wall. Without labeling these materials, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) cannot accurately predict "dead zones". This project addresses that gap by creating a machine learning model that identifies structural and architectural features. This includes features such as walls, doors, windows, and columns directly from RGB-D (Red, Green, Blue, Depth) point cloud data. 

I constructed the model on a custom U-Net architecture featuring a symmetric encoder-decoder structure with skip connections, trained on the StructScan3D dataset …

Tau Beta Pi Engineering Mentorship Program, Tyler Black

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

The purpose of this project is to design and implement a student-led engineering mentorship program directed by the members of the Utah Gamma Chapter of Tau Beta Pi on the Utah State University (USU) Logan campus. Retention data show that many undergraduate students who start engineering programs change their degree before graduation due to academic and social challenges that may be mitigated by the support of a peer mentor. The Tau Beta Pi Engineering Mentorship Program selects and trains upperclassman mentors to effectively mentor underclassman engineering students.

The design of the mentorship program is an application of backward design, where …

Exploring Determinants Of Value For Money And Bundling Effects On Public–Private Partnership Projects: A Data-Driven Empirical Study, Gaurav Khadka

Department of Construction Engineering and Management: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Public–private partnerships (P3s) are widely used to deliver public infrastructure, yet current understanding of what drives variation in Value for Money (VfM) and the effectiveness of project delivery strategies such as bundling remains largely conceptual and grounded in perception-based evidence. Consequently, governments lack empirically validated guidance on which project, financial, and macroeconomic conditions meaningfully influence VfM outcomes and whether bundling improves project performance within the P3 context. This study addresses these gaps through an integrated analysis of 180 Canadian P3 infrastructure projects (1992–2020), one of the most comprehensive datasets of realized VfM internationally, incorporating project characteristics, financial arrangements, and macroeconomic …

Impact Of Biomass Type On Hydrocarbon Yield And Chain Length Distribution Produced Via Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis, Nicholas R. Hawe

Honors Scholar Theses

This paper investigates the relationship between biomass composition and hydrocarbon yield as well as chain length distribution produced by Fischer-Tropsch synthesis. Through an Aspen Plus model, the conversion of three different biomasses – digestate, sawdust, and corn stover – into hydrocarbon fuel was simulated. The model converts biomass into gaseous and liquid hydrocarbons via various unit operations and reactions. Simulation results highlight the product distribution and hydrocarbon output, allowing for an analysis of hydrocarbon yield and comparison of chain length distributions amongst the three biomasses. Overall, the simulation showed biomass composition had no significant impact on hydrocarbon yield or chain …

Factors Affecting Pedestrian-Vehicle Conflicts: An Empirical Analysis, Christo D. Jamo

Honors Scholar Theses

The number of pedestrian deaths increased by 78% between 2009 and 2023, while other motor vehicle crash deaths increased by 13% in the same period [1]. To identify potential pedestrian safety measures, this study analyzed the effects of location-based demographics, pedestrian phasing type, and other physical infrastructure and behavior variables on the probability of pedestrian-vehicle conflicts at signalized intersections, which is a surrogate measure of crash risk. Data were collected from 55 intersections in Connecticut, and the pedestrian-vehicle interactions were classified by severity based on the Swedish Traffic Conflict Technique: undisturbed passage, potential conflict, minor conflict, or serious conflict. Because …

Learning Adaptive Control For Safe Collaborative Autonomous Driving, Fabian Alexis Hernandez

Theses and Dissertations

Connected autonomous vehicles improve urban driving through collaborative perception via Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) communication. Frameworks such as V2Xverse leverage this collaboration for planning and perception, yet their controllers rely on fixed parameters that cannot adapt to varying traffic. Control Barrier Functions (CBFs) enforce safety by constraining actions within a safe set, but a fixed barrier gain imposes a single operating point: conservative settings reduce throughput while permissive settings under-react to hazards.

This research proposes an adaptive CBF framework that learns state-dependent, class-specific barrier gains via constrained Reinforcement Learning (RL). A compact policy outputs separate gains for vehicles, pedestrians, and bicycles, parameterizing …

Exit Topology Effects On Low-Mach Jet Impingement, Alejandro Garcia

Theses and Dissertations

Planar PIV characterizes a low‑Mach (M = 0.05) air jet impinging normally on a plate at fixed spacing H/D = 4.0. Four nozzles of equal hydraulic diameter (D = 50.8 mm) are compared: circular, rectangular (AR 3), diamond, and elliptical (AR 2); asymmetric exits are tested in major and minor orientations. Mean velocity, azimuthal vorticity, and turbulence kinetic energy reveal that exit topology strongly modulates the stagnation footprint and shear‑layer growth. The circular jet forms the canonical toroidal wall jet and a narrow stagnation core (dₛ = 0.9D). Orienting the rectangular major axis toward the plate elongates the core to …

The Role Of Operational Context In Shaping Energy Management Portfolios: A Comparative Case Study Of Two Manufacturing Facilities, Cynthia Aranda

Theses and Dissertations

Using two facilities as illustrative examples, this research investigates how a manufacturing plant's operational and financial context may influence its investment decisions in energy-efficiency measures. This challenges the primacy of the simple payback period (SPP) as a screening tool and instead demonstrates the role of operational context in investment decision-making. To this extent, this study is anchored to a qualitative comparative case study analysis of two ITAC energy assessments for two manufacturing plants in Texas: a higher value-added aerospace MRO plant (GE Aerospace, TR0060) versus a cost-sensitive automotive stamping plant (UMP Metal Stamping, TR0061). The two cases illustrate two different …

Sub-Ghz Propagation Along Freight Trains For Wireless Onboard Communications, Dario Hinojosa

Theses and Dissertations

With the increasing length of freight trains, maintaining reliable wireless communication for onboard sensors has become increasingly challenging. Sub-GHz communication bands are a promising solution due to their long-range capability and suitability for rural railway environments. This study analyzes radio wave propagation around freight railcars to evaluate path loss and determine how antenna polarization affects wireless communication performance.

Time-domain full-wave electromagnetic simulations were performed using simplified railcar models and later validated through field testing using a vector signal generator, vector network analyzer (VNA), and spectrum analyzer. Various antenna polarization configurations were evaluated within the Sub-GHz Long Range (LoRa) frequency band …

Building Services Engineering March/April 2026

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

Editorial: El Juego De Rol Como Instrucción Para La Inmortalidad, Romano Ponce Díaz

Journal of Roleplaying Studies and STEAM

El presente número del Journal of Roleplaying Studies and STEAM examina la convergencia entre las prácticas lúdicas, el diseño narrativo y los procesos de mediación sociocultural en la investigación contemporánea. Las contribuciones reunidas en este número abordan el juego de rol como un dispositivo de producción de conocimiento, intervención psicoeducativa y reelaboración de representaciones culturales. Nos podemos atrever a señalar que la educación es la convergencia entre la ludología, las ciencias sociales, los estudios visuales y el análisis cultural; entendiendo a la educación como la actividad consciente e intencionada de transmitir información y conocimientos a las siguientes generaciones.

The Functions Of Role- Playing Games: How Participants Create Community, Solve Problems And Explore Identity, De Sarah Lynne Bowman (2010) [Reseña De Libro], Cristo Leon

Journal of Roleplaying Studies and STEAM

The Functions of Role-Playing Games: How Participants Create Community, Solve Problems and Explore Identity, by Sarah Lynne Bowman, is an ambitious, wide-ranging, and still necessary work for role-playing game studies. Published in 2010, the book proposes that role-playing and roleplaying games fulfill three main social and psychological functions: creating community, facilitating problem solving, and enabling the exploration of identity. Bowman develops this thesis through a combination of theoretical review, cultural reflection, and participant-observer ethnography, based on interviews with players of tabletop role-playing games, live-action roleplaying games, and virtual environments. Organized into seven chapters, the book moves clearly from the …

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 …

Los Juegos De Rol Como Una Herramienta Psicoeducativa, Víctor E. Quintana Villarreal

Journal of Roleplaying Studies and STEAM

Los juegos de rol han funcionado durante mucho tiempo como un medio para compartir y crear historias en conjunto con colegas y amigos. De ellos, se desprenden también habilidades y herramientas fundamentales para la vida, por lo que un método para sistematizar estos juegos de tablero y dados a funciones educativas es necesario para potenciarlos como herramientas psicoeducativas.

La siguiente, es una propuesta planteada desde el marco constructivista para generar espacios con los juegos de rol como eje central del aprendizaje, y se relatan a través de un marco teórico, seguido de una proposición metodológica, una serie de pasos para …

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.

Journal Of Roleplaying Studies And Steam (Jrpssteam) Vol. 5 [2026], Número 1 (Issue 1), Romano Ponce-Díaz Phd, Cristo Leon, Ivan Avila, Sarah Lynne Bowman, Kjell Hedgard Hugaas, Alexandra Schreiber Ma, Jaime Eduardo García Maya, Víctor Emmanuel Quintana Villarreal Vic Emma, Francisco Gonzalez Ing., Daniel Romero Benguigui, Antonio Roda-Martínez

Journal of Roleplaying Studies and STEAM

El presente número del Journal of Roleplaying Studies and STEAM examina la convergencia entre las prácticas lúdicas, el diseño narrativo y los procesos de mediación sociocultural en la investigación contemporánea. Las contribuciones reunidas en este número abordan el juego de rol como un dispositivo de producción de conocimiento, intervención psicoeducativa y reelaboración de representaciones culturales. Nos podemos atrever a señalar que la educación es la convergencia entre la ludología, las ciencias sociales, los estudios visuales y el análisis cultural; entendiendo a la educación como la actividad consciente e intencionada de transmitir información y conocimientos a las siguientes generaciones.

Martin Heidegger …

A Novel Approach To Creativity Assessment: Forced Pairwise Ranking With Large Language Models, Phillip R. Gregory Jr

Master's Theses

Assessing creativity at scale remains a persistent challenge in cognitive science, as human raters are costly, slow, and often inconsistent in their judgments. This thesis introduced a novel framework for automated scientific creativity assessment using forced pairwise ranking, in which fine-tuned large language models compared response pairs and determined which was more creative. Five empirical studies were conducted using Llama-2-7B and Llama-2-13B models adapted via LoRA fine-tuning and benchmarked against human scored responses from the Scientific Creative Thinking Test. A regression baseline achieved Pearson �� = .74 on the test set, matching the human inter-rater ceiling reported in the literature. …

Spatial And Seasonal Concentrations Of Atmospheric Halogens Around The Great Salt Lake (2023/2024), Himalaya Sapkota

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

The Great Salt Lake (GSL), located in northern Utah, is one of the world's saltiest lakes and an essential resource for industry. It is also a significant hotspot for halogen emissions, including chlorine (Cl) and bromine (Br) from both natural and human sources. Although their concentrations in the atmosphere are low, they influence tropospheric chemistry by forming criteria pollutants such as ozone and particulate matter. These pollutants are detrimental to air quality, impacting public health and property. This study investigates the spatial and seasonal variability of halogen species (gas- and particulate-phase of Cl and Br) in the Northern Wasatch Front …

Investigation Into The Effects Of Moderate-Dose Radiation On Ligament Biomechanics, Andrew Landefeld

All Theses

Recent advances in arthritis treatment pin ionizing X-ray radiation as a useful tool in reducing joint pain and immune response. However, due to a lack of fundamental research in the effects of low-dose ionizing radiation on tendon and ligament biomechanics, the safety of these studies is rather unknown. While most related studies investigated cellular response to low dose treatment, surrounding tissue physiology is left out of the picture. Additionally, moderate range doses of irradiation are rarely studied, as most uses of radiation on tendons and ligaments are for sterilization of cadaver tendons for allografts. This study provides a preliminary investigation …

Feasibility Study Of Transitioning From Thick Plates (0.250”) Mounted On 30-Point Pvc Carriers To Thinner Plate Technologies Mounted On Recyclable Foam And Pet (0.155”) For Post-Print Corrugated, Nathaniel J. Poole

All Theses

In the United States, the most common press configuration for brown-box printing is a 0.280” undercut press. These press configurations have long relied on thick 0.250” plates mounted on 0.030” PVC sheets to print onto corrugated substrates. Each year, around twenty million pounds of waste are produced by the printing industry, through paper waste, plate waste, among other materials. One large factor of that waste is flexographic plate waste, which either ends its life in a landfill or is repurposed into other products. This study establishes a comparison between traditionally used 0.250” plates on 30pt PVC versus 0.155” plates mounted …

Robust Hardware Trojan Detection Leveraging Dual‑Domain Features And Stacked Ensemble Learning, Sefatun-Noor Puspa

All Theses

In Cyber-physical systems rely on sensors, communication, and computing, all powered by integrated circuits (ICs). These ICs are vulnerable to malicious hardware attacks, with hardware Trojans being one of the stealthiest threats. Trojans are malicious implants in the circuitry, which are often inserted during design or fabrication stages. This stealthy addition remains dormant until triggered and might cause functional disruptions or sensitive information leakage once triggered. Traditional IC validation methods, such as functional testing and logic analysis, usually fail to capture these subtle anomalies because hardware Trojans are intentionally designed to mimic normal circuit behavior. They often remain dormant under …

Laser-Induced Acoustic Signal Generation, Resonance Characterization, And Optical Sensing In Metallic Plates, Xinghang Zhao

All Theses

This thesis investigates laser-induced acoustic signal generation, resonance characterization, and optical sensing in metallic plates as a foundational study for damage-sensitive inspection. Rather than presenting a complete defect-detection system, the work focuses on how measurable acoustic responses can be generated, amplified, and interpreted in a controlled laboratory setting. Experiments showed that pulsed-laser excitation can produce strong and repeatable acoustic responses in metallic structures. Repetition-rate sweeping identified narrow resonant responses, including a cantilever resonance at 57.862 kHz and a maximum circular-disk response at an FFT frequency of 48.8 kHz with a laser repetition rate of about 49.1 kHz. High-Q resonances exceeding …

Field Testing Of Retrofits To Improve The Structural Behavior Of South Carolina Flat-Slab Bridges, Jacob Bowers

All Theses

The South Carolina Department of Transportation manages approximately 2,300 “flat-slab” bridges statewide, with an average age of 58 years, according to the National Bridge Inventory (NBI 2024). Many of these structures were originally designed for H10 or H15 truck loadings, which are significantly below current design standards. As a result, numerous bridges have been load-posted, restricting freight movement, emergency response, and local connectivity. While full replacement provides a long-term solution, it is often cost-prohibitive and disruptive. Accordingly, the South Carolina Department of Transportation is seeking cost-effective retrofit strategies that improve performance and extend the service life of these bridges. Implementing …

Multimodal Aerial Image-Based Ground Object Detection And Classification Using Yolo, Erik Nielsen

All Theses

Object detection in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) present a unique challenge due to small object sizes, varying viewpoints, and changing environmental conditions. These challenges are exacerbated when operating during daytime and nighttime scenarios where illumination differences can heavily impact detection performance. This work is motivated by military object detection applications where the ability to reliably identify small objects such as landmines or unexploded ordnance from aerial imagery presents a critical safety need and a significant technical challenge. In this paper, we investigate object detection using both visible (RGB) and infrared (IR) imagery to improve robustness and reliability across diverse operating …

The Impact Of Dipeptides On Product Quality In Chinese Hamster Ovary Cells, Louise C. Herman

All Theses

Biopharmaceuticals are medicines produced in cells which are used to treat diseases such as cancer. Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) represent the majority of approved biotherapeutics. MAbs are mostly produce using Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells. CHO cells are favored for resiliency, scalability, and established safety, and are considered the “workhorse” organism for biopharmaceuticals.  Amino acids are a key component of cell culture media, however several amino acids have solubility limits, such as cysteine, cystine, and tyrosine.  At neutral pH, these amino acids are poorly soluble.  However, dipeptides, such as N,N'-di-L-Alanyl-L-Cystine (ACCA) have been reported to increase cysteine and cystine availability. Further, …

Fluorescence-Based Quantification Of Hepatic Ldl Uptake And Donor Hepatocyte Engraftment Using Atto 700–Labeled Ldl, Victor Agustin Cortes Flores

All Theses

Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is an inherited disorder characterized by elevated low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) that increases the risk of premature atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. In severe FH, including low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR), hepatic LDL clearance is profoundly impaired and many lipid lowering treatment strategies have limited effectiveness. Current advances in ex vivo CRISPR–Cas9 hepatocyte gene editing in vivo and ex vivo approaches for treatment of FH are under development.

However, a central barrier to translation is the ability to quantitatively measure the percentage of healthy gen edited hepatocytes in the liver while simultaneously assessing functional hepatic LDL handling. This thesis establishes …

Increasing The Number Of Injections Per Cycle In A Gasoline Compression Ignition Strategy: An Experimental Study, Joshua Murray

All Theses

Gasoline Compression Ignition (GCI) is an advanced compression ignition strategy which utilizes the high octane number of gasoline to improve diesel soot and NOx emissions by enabling partially premixed injections of fuel. GCI work in the literature typically uses single, double, or triple injection strategies, with higher numbers of injections noted for their ability to achieve low MPRRs, improved soot and NOx emissions, and higher efficiency. Thus, this study extends the literature by evaluating quadruple and quintuple injection strategies for continued improvement in engine efficiency and emissions.

The experiments in this work are conducted on a heavy-duty Detroit Diesel DD13 …

Exercise-Induced Muscle Damage As A Model For Exploring The Effects Of Pain On Gait, Sydney Savage

All Theses

Persistent gait asymmetry following anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR) is a recognized contributor to post-traumatic knee osteoarthritis, yet the independent role of pain in driving altered movement patterns remains poorly understood due to confounding factors inherent to clinical populations. This study used exercise-induced muscle damage (EIMD) as a controlled experimental model to isolate the effects of musculoskeletal pain on gait, independent of kinesiophobia, structural damage, and proprioceptive disruption. Eighteen healthy adults underwent unilateral eccentric calf-raise protocols to induce delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), with gait assessed at baseline, 48 hours, and 168 hours post-exercise using bilateral inertial measurement units. Outcomes …

Design And Development Of A Perfusable Hydrogel Platform With Bioprinted Human-Endothelialized Microvascular Channels, Calvin A. Chernyatinskiy

All Theses

We developed an integrated bioprinting and perfusion platform to generate vascularized hydrogel constructs that support perfusable microchannel networks. Multiple hydrogel formulations, sacrificial ink systems, device geometries, and perfusion conditions were systematically evaluated to optimize print fidelity, mechanical stability, and cellular compatibility. Internally gelling alginate–calcium carbonate hydrogels were identified as a robust matrix, providing tunable gelation kinetics and structural stability during embedded printing. In parallel, Pluronic F-127 fugitive ink enabled reliable fabrication of continuous hollow channels due to its shear-thinning behavior and efficient post-print removal.

The finalized platform integrates stereolithographically fabricated perfusion chambers with extrusion-based bioprinting to produce three-dimensional, perfusable vascular …

Undergraduate Design Spine For Biological Systems Engineering And Agricultural Engineering, David Mabie, Derek M. Heeren, Deepak R. Keshwani, Heidi A. Diefes-Dux, Nicole M. Iverson, Rachel Padrnos, Greg Bashford, Taryn King, Jenna Hefley, Curtis L. Tomasevicz

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Presentations and White Papers

Engineering education is undergoing a shift toward preparing graduates with demonstrated capabilities that integrate technical knowledge, durable skills, and the ability to adapt in a rapidly evolving professional landscape. This paper describes a comprehensive redesign of the undergraduate curriculum in Biological Systems Engineering (BSEN) and Agricultural Engineering (AGEN) at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. The redesign is grounded in a “Design Spine” framework, which distributes and scaffolds design experiences across all four years of the program to support progressive development of problem solving, systems thinking, communication, and professional skills. The curriculum is organized around clearly defined capabilities and threads that connect …