Digital Commons Network^™

Deep Learning Approaches For Voltammetric Analysis Of Coffee, Ryan Koes

Honors Theses

This thesis investigates deep learning approaches for voltammetric analysis of brewed coffee using a low-cost electrochemical system and screen-printed electrodes (SPEs). Traditional analytical methods, such as high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), provide precise quantification of key compounds but require expensive instrumentation and specialized expertise, limiting accessibility. While SPEs offer a more accessible alternative, they yielded poor results with traditional processing; however, when combined with a neural network, the system proved more effective. In experiments with 132 coffee samples, mean errors for caffeine, CGA, and TDS predictions were 52.98 ppm, 70.48 ppm, and 0.08%, respectively. These findings …

A Web-Based Wizard-Of-Oz Platform For Collaborative And Reproducible Human-Robot Interaction Research, Sean O'Connor

Honors Theses

The Wizard-of-Oz (WoZ) technique is widely used in Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) research, but two persistent problems limit its effectiveness: existing tools impose technical barriers that exclude non-engineering domain experts (the Accessibility Problem), and the fragmented landscape of robot-specific implementations makes interaction scripts difficult to port across platforms (the Reproducibility Problem- concerning execution consistency and portability, not third-party replication). Through a literature review, I identified three design principles to address both: a hierarchical specification model, an event-driven execution model, and a plugin architecture that decouples experiment logic from robot-specific implementations. I realized these principles in HRIStudio, an open-source, web-based platform providing …

Combining Haptic Feedback With Electromyography To Study Knee Injury In Stationary Cycling, Christopher Kirby

Honors Theses

Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome (PFPS) is the most prevalent overuse injury in cycling, often linked to altered neuromuscular activation patterns of the quadriceps and hamstrings. While sensory feedback has successfully modified cyclists posture, there is a critical lack of evidence-based interventions targeting the underlying muscle activation imbalances associated with chronic knee pain. This study aimed to develop and validate a novel, real-time biofeedback system that utilizes electromyography (EMG) to trigger vibrotactile cues, aiming to shift muscle onset timing earlier in the pedal stroke to mitigate PFPS-related imbalances. A closed-loop system was engineered by integrating a Delsys EMG system with a SageMotion …

Design And Analysis Of Energy Recovery Methods For Reduced Aircraft Emissions, Joshua C. Hauck

Honors Theses

Aircraft flights are an increasingly popular mode of transportation. However, their harmful impacts on the environment are a growing concern. Many engineers have worked to develop fully electric aircraft to address this issue. Although they are much more sustainable than conventional aircraft, electric aircraft encounter severe limitations imposed by current battery technology. One alternative route engineers have taken is developing energy recovery methods (ERMs). These are marketed as devices that reduce aircraft fuel consumption without significantly changing their structure and functionality, making them an excellent short-term solution. However, there is little to no consideration of the tradeoffs induced by the …

Buckling Analysis Of Auxetic Composite Laminates And Optimal Design Using Lamination Parameters And Machine Learning, Hans Bendon Maria Tamil Selvan

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses

Composite materials are widely used as structural panels in aerospace, automotive, and civil engineering applications, where buckling is often a critical failure mode. This thesis focuses on the analysis and design of composite laminates that maximize buckling performance under prescribed stiffness and thickness constraints.

The first part of the study investigates the buckling behavior of auxetic laminates, which exhibit a negative Poisson's ratio. While previous studies suggest that auxetic laminates can achieve higher critical buckling loads than non-auxetic laminates under simply supported boundary conditions with lateral restraint, the influence of other boundary conditions and plate aspect ratios has not been …

Flood Damage And Social Vulnerability In Coastal New Hampshire, Mitchell S. Berry

Honors Theses and Capstones

This study investigates the relationship between flood-induced building damage and social vulnerability in coastal New Hampshire, with a focus on communities increasingly affected by sea-level rise, storm surge, and high tide events. Using a dataset of 2,528 single-family homes, the analysis integrates flood depth maps (coastal, pluvial, and fluvial), building-level damage estimates, and a housing-burden-based metric to assess how physical and social factors interact to shape flood impacts. Results show that flood depth is the primary driver of building damage, with the most severe impacts concentrated in coastal areas experiencing deeper inundation. However, when buildings are grouped by vulnerability, higher …

Assessment Of Advanced Glazing Systems For Building Energy Efficiency In Hot-Arid Climates, Ahmad I. Elshamy, Yousef Elgefly, Yara El-Metwally, Serag Salem

Architectural Engineering

The built environment is considered among the most contributing factors to energy consumption. The building envelope plays a crucial role in determining the building energy consumption, regulating heat transfer and maintaining adequate indoor environmental quality. Hence, optimizing the thermal performance of the building envelope by achieving optimal glazing solutions while fulfilling the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 7) is the main aim of this research. This study investigates the impact of various facade glazing systems on the building energy performance, focusing on the cooling energy consumption of an office building in a hot arid climate, Cairo, Egypt. The novelty of this …

Effects Of Metal-Modified Catalysts On The Desorption Performance Of Mixed Amine Solutions And Machine Learning Prediction, Xunxuan Heng, Zhenzhen Zhang, Longhua Zhu, Li Yang, Shugang Xie, Zeyu Wang, Dongtai Han, Fang Liu, Kunlei Liu

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

The high energy penalty associated with solvent regeneration is still a major bottleneck in amine-based CO₂ capture. In this work, the effects of five solid acid catalysts on the desorption performance of a mixed-amine solvent were compared, and the HY catalyst with superior desorption behavior was selected and further modified with four transition metals (Co, Mn, Gr and Ce) to enhance its catalytic activity. The findings indicate that the CO₂ desorption capacity and maximum desorption rate of the Co-modified HY catalyst reach 48.96 mmol and 0.02211 mmol/s, corresponding to increases of 36.80% and 35.39% relative to the blank …

Sewer Pipe Condition Assessment Using An Ensemble Machine Learning Framework For Infrastructure Decision Support, Mahnaz Rouhi

Civil Engineering Dissertations

Aging wastewater infrastructure presents significant challenges for municipalities across the United States, with many sewer networks approaching or exceeding their design life. Conventional inspection methods, such as closed-circuit television (CCTV), are limited by subjectivity, cost, and inefficiency. To address these challenges, this study develops an ensemble machine learning framework for assessing the structural condition of sewer pipelines using inspection records enriched with geospatial attributes.

The primary objective of this research is to enhance predictive accuracy, interpretability, and decision-support for risk-based asset management. The scope of the study encompasses 4,802 CCTV inspection records from Dallas, TX, and Tampa, FL, integrating physical, …

Videoscoop: A Non-Traditional, Domain-Independent Framework For Video Analysis, Umme Hafsa Billah

Computer Science and Engineering Dissertations

Due to the proliferation of cameras in handheld devices and the widespread use of CCTV, images and videos have become a preferred alternative for capturing and disseminating information. Automated analysis for understanding image or video contents (e.g., objects, activities, backgrounds, situations of interest, etc.) is critical for many applications such as Civic Monitoring, Surveillance (in general), monitoring activities in Assisted Living environments, and many more. Image and Video Analysis (IVA) research has been ongoing for several decades, resulting in numerous techniques for algorithmically analyzing and understanding image and video contents.

Image Analysis (IA) has advanced in several areas, including object …

Deep Learning For Wireless Communications, Swarada Ajit Kulkarni

Electrical Engineering Dissertations

The rapid evolution of wireless communication imposes stringent requirements for ultra-reliable, low-latency transmission in dynamic, interference-prone environments. Traditional model-driven signal processing struggles to adapt to nonlinear hardware effects, time-varying channels, and complex interference patterns. Deep learning (DL) offers a transformative, data-driven alternative, enabling end-to-end optimization and robust adaptation under uncertain propagation conditions.

This dissertation investigates deep learning architectures for intelligent and resilient wireless communication through three complementary contributions. The first introduces a Vision Transformer (ViT)-based modulation classification framework that leverages self-attention to capture local and global dependencies in spectrogram representations of Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) signals. The ViT achieves superior …

Artificial Sense-Making Dataset, Jason A. Bengtson, John Sandstrom, Nathan Camp

NMSU Library: Datasets

No abstract provided.

A Transdisciplinary Approach To Advancing Water Security And Public Health: The “Nurse + Engineer” Model For Achieving Sustainability In Wash Systems Using Community-Based Participatory Research, Daniel B. Oerther, Sarah Oerther

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Human health is linked to the health of the environment, a concept referred to as planetary health. As environmental challenges become increasingly complex, single-disciplinary approaches are insufficient to achieve sustainable solutions. This article presents a transdisciplinary framework, termed the "Nurse + Engineer" model, as a novel methodology for addressing complex problems at the nexus of environmental engineering and public health. The model integrates the technical design and systems-level thinking of environmental engineering with the community-based, patient-centered care of nursing. This work details the key lessons learned from the retrospective application of this framework to a series of multi-year, community-based participatory …

Environmental Engineers Develop Solutions To Problems Of Planetary Health: The Legacy Of Professor P. Aarne Vesilind, Daniel B. Oerther

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The principal ethical obligation of the engineering profession, to "hold paramount the health, safety, and welfare of the public," has been challenged for decades. Professor P. Aarne Vesilind identified two primary deficiencies: an anthropocentric bias that values nature only instrumentally and the use of non-mandatory, aspirational language for environmental protection, which resulted in the exclusion of enforceable environmental canons. This paper argues that two recent developments provide a comprehensive response to Vesilind's recommendations for engineering ethics. First, the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics has redefined environmental engineering as "developing solutions to problems of planetary health." Second, Oerther proposed a …

Sainik Vol 1 Issue 2, Sastra Deemed To Be University

SAINIK

No abstract provided.

Training A Cellpose Model For T-Cell Cytoplasm And Nucleus Segmentation, William Laws, Matthew Lindley, Irene Georgakoudi

Wetterhahn Science Symposium Posters

Accurate single-cell segmentation of cytoplasm from nucleus in autofluorescence images is critical for quantifying cellular metabolism using the optical redox ratio (FAD / FAD+NAD(P)H). However, automated cytoplasmic segmentation of T cell two-photon excitation fluorescence images remains challenging due to low signal-to-noise ratio, small cell size, and variability in cell brightness across imaging conditions. Here, we present a pipeline combining a custom-trained Cellpose-SAM model with an adapted cytoplasmic post-processing algorithm (CPPA) for automated single-cell metabolic analysis of T cell NAD(P)H autofluorescence images. Raw 2048×2048 pixel images were spatially binned 4×4 in MATLAB to improve signal-to-noise ratio and reduce processing time. A …

Powering The Machine, Draining The Planet: Whether U.S. Environmental Law Is Equipped To Regulate The Energy And Water Demands Of Ai Data Centers, Michael Marcu

Journal of Earth and Life Science

Artificial intelligence (AI) data centers have become one of the United States' fastest-growing and least-regulated sources of environmental stress. In 2024 alone, U.S. data centers consumed 183 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity more than the entire nation of Pakistan and consumed an estimated 17 billion gallons of water (IEA, 2025; Berkeley Lab, 2024). By 2030, electricity demand from these facilities is projected to reach 426 TWh, a 133% increase in six years (Pew Research Center, 2025). This paper examines whether the existing U.S. environmental regulatory framework put by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Clean Water Act (CWA), and the …

Fiber-Reinforced Composites For Vaginal Tissue Engineering Applications, Samyuktha S. Kolluru, Abir Hamdaoui, Annabella M. Mascot, Siobhan S. Sutcliffe, Jerry L. Lowder, Michelle L. Oyen, Samantha G. Zambuto

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

The vagina is a fibromuscular tube-shaped organ that plays critical roles in menstruation, pregnancy, and female sexual health. Vaginal tissue constituents, including cells and extracellular matrix components, contribute to tissue structure, function, and prevention of injury and pathology. However, much microstructural function remains unknown, including how the fiber-cell and cell–cell interactions influence macromechanical properties. A deeper understanding of these interactions will provide critical information needed to reduce and prevent vaginal pathologies. Our objective for this work is to design a novel tissue-mimicking biomaterial for vaginal tissue engineering, and characterize its biological and mechanical performance in the vaginal microenvironment. We successfully …

First Water-To-Ligand Substitution Dictates Co2+/Ni2+ Extraction Selectivity, Kailong Zhang, Yuxuan Zhang, Bin Ji, Rick Q. Honaker, Isabel C. Escobar, Jian Shi, Qing Shao

Mining Engineering Faculty Publications

Solvent extraction is a crucial technology for the large-scale recovery of critical metals. One key challenge is to develop ligands with high ionic selectivity, especially for ions with similar properties. Manipulating ionic solvation emerges as a viable approach to enhance the selectivity. However, such manipulation requires a thorough understanding of the thermodynamics underlying ligand-induced variation in ionic solvation. We investigated the thermodynamics governing the binding of two organophosphorus ligands (Cyanex 272 and D2EHPA) with Co²⁺ and Ni²⁺ at the aqueous-organic liquid–liquid interface using a combination of experiments and computations. UV-vis and IR spectroscopy confirmed that extraction induces solvation …

Field-Based Device To Test Possible Tbis, Colin Laidlaw, Lauren Powers

Student Research Design & Innovation Symposium

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) remains a major cause of death in the United States. In emergency field care, first responders must quickly assess neurological status and determine appropriate patient transport. The Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS), the primary neurological assessment used in the field, correctly identifies TBI only about 40 percent of the time. In Rhode Island, state protocols require all patients with suspected TBI to be transported to a Level I trauma center. This creates challenges when trauma resources are limited or when symptoms are subtle and difficult to evaluate in the field. To address this issue, a reaction time …

Story Builders, Jillian Mercer

Student Research Design & Innovation Symposium

The objective of this project was to create an engaging and educational game for children in the 1st - 3rd grade that strengthened reading comprehension skills and fostered positive associations with reading through collaboration, tactile learning, and fun. The COVID-19 pandemic forced the shutdown of schools and switched learning to online only, which caused a lasting negative impact to childhood literacy in America. Research and first-hand testimony revealed that children developed a more positive relationship to reading when it was a group activity, as opposed to solitary, screen-based learning. In the early stages of prototyping, words in colored blocks were …

Futura Type Book, Ava Nuckolls

Student Research Design & Innovation Symposium

This creative piece was the final project for GDES: 2000 Typography. The goal of the project was to create a book about a chosen font that consisted of at least 6 pages. The book would tell a brief history of the font, while showcasing weights, styles, and anatomy. Each book would have a cohesive theme throughout. The font chosen specifically for this project was Futura by Paul Renner. The theme was retro-futuristic and consisted of green text and graphics on top of a black background. The process of this piece started with choosing a font and creating thumbnail sketches. After …

One Product, One Hook, Thousands Of Views, Mackenzie Lauto

Student Research Design & Innovation Symposium

The video highlights how a single, well-positioned product, Cocokind lip balm, with a great discounted deal of running, can generate strong engagement through strategic short-form content. By combining a clear value proposition (a high-quality product at a discounted price) with a scroll-stopping hook, the video demonstrates how brands can quickly capture audience attention. This approach has urgency, relatability, and visual appeal to drive views, interaction, and potential conversions, showcasing the effectiveness of simplicity in social media marketing.

Burghi Variable Candy Land Type Book, Lily Guyon

Student Research Design & Innovation Symposium

This project showcases a comprehensive understanding of a chosen typeface by exploring its visual identity and emotional connection. The student developed a type book focused on the font's aesthetic and its creator, incorporating two artistic quotes that align with the project's overall theme. The book features a detailed analysis of both Burghi Big and Burghi Small, including a labeled breakdown of letter anatomy and a full display of the alphabet, numbers, and symbols. Concluding with a historical overview of the font and its designer, the project finishes with a formal references page containing the student's credentials and course information.

Standard Issue, Tyler Miles

Student Research Design & Innovation Symposium

Created for GDES 2000, STANDARD ISSUE explored the font Helvetica and rigid masculinity using archival military testing imagery. The project deconstructed the typeface's neutrality, personifying Helvetica as a clinical figure of, "structured, pervasive, and subverted" nature. By juxtaposing 1950s Swiss design with the physical vulnerability of military experimentation, the work examined the "bureaucracy of language," ultimately framing the "standard" as a form of armor that humans wear as much as it wears them.

Paraná Fiz, Cloey Dias

Student Research Design & Innovation Symposium

This project focused on the conceptualization and design of a beverage brand inspired by the Paraná River located in Argentina. The river, the second longest in South America, was used as both a cultural and visual reference, symbolizing movement, energy, and natural vitality. These characteristics guided the overall concept and aesthetic direction of " Paraná Fiz", a yerba mate-infused soda water brand. The product aimed to merge traditional Argentine influences with a modern beverage format through flavors inspired by popular Argentine fruits. The project involved extensive visual branding development, including the creation of a custom logo, four distinct flavor identities, …

6 Degrees Of Freedom Robotic Arm, Vansh Garg , ‘26, Eric Chen , ‘26, Kaw Moo , ‘26

Senior Theses, Projects, and Awards

This project involved the design, fabrication, and testing of a 6 degree of freedom robotic arm. The goal was to demonstrate that a low-cost, 3D-printed system could achieve useful strength, modularity, and basic manipulation for simple pick-and-place tasks. Potential applications include education, prototyping, hobbyist robotics, and low-precision automation.

The mechanical system uses 3D-printed arm links, cycloidal gearboxes, belt-driven transmission, bearings, and a modular end effector. These components were selected to balance cost, manufacturability, and performance, with gear reduction used to increase available joint torque. The electrical system provides motor actuation, power distribution, and controller integration, while the software enables command-based …

Cell-To-Pack Modeling Of Lithium-Ion Batteries: From Bayesian Parameterization To Pack-Level Optimization, Derek Slack

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

One of the major hurdles for electric or hybrid aviation is the comparative energy density between lithium-ion batteries and jet fuel. To help obtain maximal power-to-weight ratio in electric or hybrid powertrains the battery pack design should be optimized to be as light as possible while meeting thermal safety and power requirements. The proposed solution is an optimization routine beginning with a cell-level parameter estimation of lithium-ion battery cells, where data driven Bayesian Gaussian Processes replace empirically or analytically derived parameters in a first principles electrochemical model in PyBaMM, as functions of the transient state of the cell. The resulting …

Fairness Without Demographic Attributes In Medical Vision–Language Models, Ahsan Habib Akash

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Vision–language models (VLMs) and the embedding models that underlie them have become the default representation layer for multimodal artificial intelligence. Trained by contrastive alignment over enormous, loosely curated image–text corpora, they inherit the demographic skew of that data, and they encode it in the geometry of the shared embedding space itself. The consequence is a model that performs unevenly across demographic groups even when no protected attribute is ever supplied as an input. In consumer applications this is an equity problem; in medicine it is a safety problem, because an embedding that is systematically less discriminative for one subpopulation translates …

Dielectrophoretic Biomarkers For Cancer Detection And Cell Analysis: Integrating Microfluidics And Ai, Raphael Olumide Oladokun

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) carries a five-year survival rate of 13%, driven largely by late-stage diagnosis and the absence of sensitive noninvasive screening tools. Current diagnostic methods lack the sensitivity to detect disease-associated systemic changes at early and precancerous stages, representing a critical clinical gap. This dissertation addresses the central hypothesis that PDAC and its pathological subtypes induce measurable, disease-associated electrophysiological changes in circulating PBMCs that can serve as correlative liquid-biopsy biomarkers. To test this hypothesis, this work asks: can dielectrophoresis (DEP), impedance and zeta potential analysis with AI-assisted classification distinguish benign pancreatic conditions (non-malignant control), precancerous lesions (primarily IPMNs), …