Digital Commons Network^™

Synthesis And Characterization Of Polymethylhydrosiloxane-Based Materials: Environmental Remediation, Unusual Oxidative Behavior, And Kinetic Analysis, Hannah M. Hayes

Chemistry & Biochemistry Dissertations

Porous materials have a wide range of applications. One of which is environmental remediation as a sorbent. Synthetic materials are beneficial as they have more selectivity compared to natural sorbents however, they are more costly. Recently, a publication produced an ambiently dried gel using a copolymer of polymethylhydrosiloxane (PMHS) and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) after modification with vinylmethyldimethoxysilane (VMDMS). PMHS is a byproduct of the silicone industry which makes the synthesis cheaper and more environmentally friendly. The precursor ratio must be tailored to account for the change in polymer used. In this study, various ratios of PMHS and VMDMS as well as …

Labor Savings From Mechanical Rice Transplanting In Bangladesh, India, Nepal, And The Philippines: A Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis, Rodrigo S. David

ASEAN Journal on Science and Technology for Development

Rice production in South and Southeast Asia faces serious challenges, including acute labor shortages and rising wages, which threaten regional food security. Mechanical rice transplanting offers a promising solution; however, evidence on labor savings, especially region-specific data, remains inconsistent. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to quantify labor savings from mechanical versus manual transplanting across Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and the Philippines.

Following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, a systematic search was conducted across four major scientific databases (2000–2026) using Boolean search terms for mechanical transplanting and labor outcomes. Of 284 initial records, 52 met eligibility …

Climate And Seasonal Influences On Indo-Pacific Sea Level: Insights From 30 Years Of Satellite And Tide Gauge Data, Karlina Triana

ASEAN Journal on Science and Technology for Development

We analyze Indo-Pacific sea-level variability using monthly satellite altimetry (1993–2025) validated against records from 16 tide-gauge stations. Cross-comparisons show strong agreement, especially in the western Pacific, confirming the reliability of altimetry for regional assessments. Seasonal SLA variability is largest in the Bay of Bengal and South China Sea and reflects monsoonal forcing, whereas interannual fluctuations in the eastern Indian and western Pacific oceans are dominated by ENSO and modulated by PDO. Harmonic decomposition isolates annual and semi-annual cycles, and an EOF/PCA framework identifies the leading modes: EOF1 (30.8%) captures basin-scale interannual variability and EOF2 (20.9%) reflects the seasonal cycle. Spectral …

Pullulan Production From Lignocellulosic Plant Biomass Or Starch-Containing Processing Coproduct Hydrolysates, Thomas P. West

Faculty Publications

The complex polysaccharide pullulan is characterized as a glucose-containing biopolymer that is both water-soluble and neutral in polarity. A variety of commercial applications exist for pullulan, including its utilization as a flocculant, a blood plasma substitute, a food additive, a dielectric material, an adhesive, or a packaging film. The fungus Aureobasidium pullulans has used several hydrolysates derived from plant biomass or starch-containing processing coproducts to support polysaccharide production. These include various plant biomass or processing coproduct streams such as lignocellulosic-containing peat, prairie grass, stalks, hulls, straw, shells, and pods or starch-containing coproducts from the processing of corn, rice, jackfruit seeds, …

A Simple Statistical Tool To Correct The Daily Temperature Effect On Dielectric Soil Matric Potential Sensor Readings, Sebastián Bravo Peña, Meindert Commelin, Ole O. Wendroth

Plant and Soil Sciences Faculty Publications

High-resolution time series recorded by soil water dielectric sensors are often affected by other processes. Dielectric soil matric potential sensors, such as the TEROS 21, exhibit temperature sensitivity, resulting in deviations of readings from the true value due to soil temperature fluctuations. However, methods for correcting this effect remain limited. The objective of this study was to create a straightforward, scale-based statistical approach to mitigate the influence of daily temperature oscillations on matric potential dielectric readings. The temperature sensitivity correction function (TSCF) identifies, quantifies, and smooths diurnal fluctuations caused by soil temperature dynamics. We provide a detailed description of the …

Adversarial Robustness In Biomedical Time-Series Models, Rohan Tiwari

Bioengineering Theses

This study investigates adversarial vulnerabilities in deep learning models for biomedical time-series classification across two clinically important modalities: electrocardiography (ECG) and electroencephalography (EEG). Using the MIT-BIH Arrhythmia and CHB-MIT seizure datasets, I evaluate time-domain attacks (FGSM, PGD), Fourier-domain constrained attacks, and learned spectral perturbations designed to reveal modality-specific sensitivity patterns. Across both tasks, a consistent trend emerges low-frequency components (0–5 Hz) constitute a dominant axis of adversarial vulnerability, with perturbations in this range producing the steepest degradation in classification performance. In ECG models, protecting the physiologically relevant QRS band (5–20 Hz) significantly improves robustness, whereas EEG models remain highly sensitive …

Results Of The Second Ice Shelf-Ocean Model Intercomparison Project (Isomip+), Claire K. Yung, Xylar S. Asay-Davis, Alistair Adcroft, Christopher Y. S. Bull, Jan De Rydt, Michael S. Dinniman, Benjamin K. Galton-Fenzi, Daniel Goldberg, David E. Gwyther, Robert Hallberg, Matthew Harrison, Tore Hattermann, David M. Holland, Denise Holland, Paul R. Holland, James R. Jordan, Nicolas C. Jourdain, Kazuya Kusahara, Gustavo Marques, Pierre Mathiot, Adele K. Morrison, Yoshihiro Nakayama, Olga Sergienko, Robin S. Smith, Alon Stern, Ralph Timmermann, Qin Zhou

CCPO Publications

Ocean-driven basal melting of Antarctic ice shelves plays an important role in the mass loss of the Antarctic Ice Sheet. Ice shelf cavity-resolving ocean models are a valuable tool for understanding ice shelf-ocean interactions and for simulating projections of ice shelf and ocean states under future climate. Designed to assess the current state of ice shelf–ocean modelling, the second Ice Shelf–Ocean Model Intercomparison Project, ISOMIP+, consists of 12 ocean model configurations submitted with a common, idealised experimental setup. Here, we focus on the experiments Ocean0–2 (Asay-Davis et al., 2016), which are ocean models with idealised, static ice …

An Analysis Of Volcanic Lightning And Its Controlling Factors, Nathan Stamford

Honors Theses

Volcanic lightning, first documented during the 79 AD eruption of Mount Vesuvius, includes any electrical discharge that is generated during a volcanic eruption rather than a thunderstorm. By analyzing individual eruptions and performing laboratory experiments, previous research has identified multiple controlling factors that influence the charging mechanisms and generation of volcanic lightning. While the previous research has made significant discoveries about the phenomenon, the exact relationship between many of these controlling factors and volcanic lightning generation has been poorly quantified. In this study, we investigate these controlling factors and show that they have a wide range of influence over volcanic …

Marine Sentinels Of The Past: Holocene Trace Element Records From North Pacific Pinnipeds, Aidan M. Pflieger

Honors Theses

Since the Last Glacial Maximum (20,000 years ago), the North Pacific has remained geologically dynamic and biologically diverse. Natural fluctuations in island arc volcanism and climate likely continue to influence the inputs of trace elements (TEs) to the Aleutian Island Archipelago. Bioaccumulation of these TEs in the region’s marine food webs provides a proxy for long-term environmental variability. In this study, 95 tephra-preserved pinniped bone samples from temporally identified archeological Aleut midden sites on Unalaska Island (5500-200 BP; BP=years before present, c. 1950), were analyzed for 20 TEs using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Elemental concentrations were compared temporally …

Toward Efficient And Scalable Scientific Data Management Through Quality-Oriented Data Compression, Pu Jiao

Theses and Dissertations--Computer Science

Scientific simulations and instruments now produce data at rates that overwhelm the storage, memory, and network subsystems of modern high-performance computing (HPC) facilities. Error-bounded lossy compression reduces data movement costs while bounding reconstruction error, yet three barriers limit its adoption in mission-critical workflows: existing compressors cannot guarantee the accuracy of domain-specific quantities of interest (QoIs) derived from compressed data; compression-induced artifacts such as posterization, blocking, and interpolation banding erode user confidence in decompressed fields; and significant compressibility in the quantization index arrays of interpolation-based pipelines remains unexploited. This dissertation addresses all three barriers through four contributions, with the artifact barrier …

A Literature Review On Ethics In Medical Diagnostic Ai & Analysis Therein, Connor J. Turetzky

Master's Theses

Artificial Intelligence presents a very promising future in medicine. Being able to diagnose and recommend treatments quickly is vital in ensuring positive patient outcomes. However, the new technology is not without risk. In this narrative literature review, the risks of AI in terms of bias, ethics, and environmental impact will be explored through existing research. This paper will focus on research published between 2019 and 2026, highlighting the major ethical and systematic problems currently facing diagnostic AI. Historical bias in medical data has led to AI that share those biases, and humans inherit that bias creating a potential negative feedback …

Mat 1500 Calculus I Syllabus, Tian Cai

Open Educational Resources

No abstract provided.

Mat 1600 Syllabus Ii Syllabus, Tian Cai

Open Educational Resources

No abstract provided.

Laser Beam Shaping Using A Neural Network, Azeem A. Hakim

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Multiphoton lithography (MPL) is a method of laser-based 3D-printing for fabricating micron-scale structures point-by-point in a photopolymerizable medium. MPL’s high-resolution capabilities have made it a powerful method for the fabrication of many devices, such as microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and tissue scaffolds.  The throughput of MPL processes can be increased by using spatially shaped laser beams that expose large areas or volumes simultaneously. A laser beam can be reshaped by passing it through a spatial light modulator (SLM) displaying a pre-designed phase mask. One type of laser beam profile used for this purpose is the Bessel beam, a type of structured …

Machine Learning-Based Lifetime Prediction Of Lithium Batteries: A Comparative Assessment For Electric Vehicle Applications, Abdelilah Hammou, Raffaele Petrone, Demba Diallo, Boubekeur Tala-Ighil, Philippe Makany Boussiengue, Hicham Chaoui, Hamid Gualous

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

This paper evaluates and compares four data-driven methods (Gaussian Process Regression (GPR), echo state network (ESN), gated recurrent unit (GRU), and long short-term memory (LSTM)) for lithium-ion capacity prognostics adapted to electric vehicle conditions. This comparison aims to find the most efficient prognosis method considering two constraints: the limitation of computational power and the unavailability of on-board capacity measurement that requires full charge and discharge conditions. The machine learning models are trained using capacity values estimated under vehicle conditions. The ageing data is collected from cycling tests of two battery chemistries, Lithium Fer Phosphate (LFP) and Nickel Manganese Cobalt (NMC), …

Ultrafast Vibrational Dynamics In Important Wide-Bandgap Semiconductors, Dielectrics And Energetic Materials, Dinusha Madushanka Senarathna

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation applies time-resolved coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (tr-CARS), to measure ultrafast vibrational dynamics in technologically important solid-state and van der Waals molecular systems. The central goal is to use time-domain Raman methods to resolve mode-specific phonon and vibrational dephasing processes with high temporal precision, high spectral selectivity, and sufficient experimental flexibility to probe materials ranging from wide-bandgap semiconductors and oxide crystals to energetic molecular crystals. Across the work, I show that carefully designed tr-CARS measurements can access vibrational lifetimes from hundreds of femtoseconds to several picoseconds, enabling direct observation of decay pathways, relaxation mechanisms, and dispersion effects that shape …

Volatiles In Mantle Sources At Mid-Ocean Ridge And Intraplate Settings, Rebecca Lippitt

Open Access Dissertations

Volatiles play an integral role in upper mantle processes and the eruptive styles of volcanoes. Although we know the importance of volatiles to volcanic systems, processes like melting, crystallization, and degassing alter the volatile abundances of mantle melts, making it difficult to quantify mantle source compositions and the extent to which volatiles influence melting processes. Additionally, volatile content may be a key factor in setting the oxidation conditions of mantle source rocks and subsequently changing those conditions in a body of magma as it ascends through the crust and is erupted at the Earth’s surface. Recent work, however, has identified …

Impact Of Water Quality And Gear Type On Eastern Oyster (Crassostrea Virginica) Growth In Narragansett Bay, Ri, Jacqueline Rosa

Open Access Master's Theses

Oyster aquaculture is expanding in Rhode Island, yet key farming regions in the lower West Passage of Narragansett Bay (WPNB) lack the in-situ, high-temporal resolution monitoring needed to evaluate emerging stressors and support production. At the same time, the industry is undergoing rapid technological development aimed at improving production while reducing labor and overall costs. In recent years, a low-maintenance, alternative surface gear was introduced in WPNB; however, its impact on oyster performance relative to traditional cultivation methods has not been quantified. This study established a 1.5-year continuous water quality time series in WPNB and paired these observations with …

Assessment Of Local Amplification Causes At Coastal Strong Motion Stations With Elevated Ground Motion Residuals From The 2024 Tewksbury, New Jersey Earthquake, Patrick Daniele

Open Access Master's Theses

Elevated ground motion amplitudes at individual stations are commonly observed in earthquake datasets, yet the physical causes of these residuals are often not explicitly identified. This study investigates two seismic monitoring stations in southeastern New York that recorded amplified motions during the 2024 Mw 4.8 Tewksbury, New Jersey earthquake. A consistent set of established geophysical methods -- including multichannel analysis of surface waves (MASW), passive ambient noise arrays (MAM), stochastic inversion, horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratio (HVSR) analysis, and directional spectral ratio techniques -- was applied to directly characterize site conditions and identify the mechanisms contributing to amplification.

Results show that elevated …

Data Improved Models Applied To Essential Oceanographic Processes In Rhode Island Coastal Waters, Ainsley Fruhwirth

Open Access Master's Theses

The Ocean State Ocean Model (OSOM), funded and developed through the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), was designed to simulate the physical dynamics of Rhode Island’s estuaries and shelf waters. However, the model struggled to capture key features of summer circulation in Rhode Island Sound (RIS), most notably the westward flowing coastal current and vertical stratification profile found in May through September. Significant errors in modeled lateral and vertical density gradients indicated that the thermohaline structure, physical mixing parameters, and forcing inputs required comprehensive revision. Using historical datasets from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric …

Amino Acid Isotope Dynamics And Associated Ecological Metrics Across Accretionary Tissues Of Marine Fishes, Sofia Piccone

Open Access Master's Theses

Compound-specific isotope analysis of amino acids (CSIA-AA) applied to the organic growth layers of accretionary fish tissues, including eye lenses, otoliths, and scales, has made it possible to reconstruct histories of fish physiology, ecology, and environmental conditions. Yet it remains uncertain whether amino acid isotope values, and the ecological information they contain, are conserved across these archival tissues or if differences in tissue composition, growth, protein structure, and metabolic routing produce tissue-specific offsets that alter inferred carbon sources, d¹⁵N_Baseline, and trophic position. We tested this question with individually paired CSIA-AA of eye lenses, otoliths, and scales …

Hydrogeochemical And Redox Controls On Nitrate And Arsenic Co-Occurrence In The Western Kansas High Plains Aquifer (Usa): A Composite Health Risk Assessment And The Case For Risk-Informed Private Well Governance, Jonathan Kuffour Owusu

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

Fifty-one private domestic wells across western Kansas were sampled to quantify nitrate and arsenic occurrence, identify geochemical controls, and evaluate carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic health risks for adult and child receptors in a region where groundwater serves as the primary drinking water source with no routine regulatory oversight. Samples were analyzed for major ions, nutrients, and trace elements by ICP-MS, ion chromatography, and UV-Vis spectrophotometry. Shapiro-Wilk testing confirmed non-normal distributions for both contaminants; inter-county comparisons were therefore conducted using Kruskal-Wallis tests with Dunn's post-hoc correction. Health risk was quantified via chronic daily intake (CDI), hazard quotient (HQ), HQ-based Water Quality Index …

Electronic Bills Of Lading And Blockchain Technology: A Regulatory Perspective, Hsin-Hua Tsai

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

Information and communications technology (ICT) systems are increasingly relevant to the maritime sector. Regarding the revolution of the bill of lading, many shipping lines and other technology startups have been looking into developing viable electronic transport documents that have the same functions as paper bills of lading to reduce supply chain risks. The limitations of the paper-based process have become increasingly visible in the COVID-19 crisis. The main purpose of the article is to analyze the application of blockchain bills of lading, which utilizes computational logic to create the digital ledger, and users can set up algorithms and rules to …

Intelligent Formation Control Using Orfbls And Adaptive Backstepping Sliding-Mode Control To Address Uncertain Tilting In Multi-Quadrotors During Wind Gusts, Ching-Chih Tsai, Chun-Fu Mao, Kumail Hussain

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

In terms of aerial robotics, stable and precise formation control is a significant challenge for tilting multi-quadrotors during disturbances. This paper proposes a fixed-time formation control strategy for tilting multi-quadrotors to address the effect of external wind gusts. The observer accurately predicts environmental disturbances and an adaptive backstepping sliding-mode control (ABSMC) method with an output recurrent fuzzy broad learning system (ORFBLS) addresses these disturbances within a finite time. ORFBLS dynamically adjusts its structure through a growing ORFBLS structure to allow nodes to be added as needed. The method's stability is validated using Lyapunov stability theory and ensures the convergence of …

Visually Guided Landing System On Ship Deck For Multicopter, Dong-Lin Li, Shih-Kai Lee, Tzu-Hsiang Chou

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

Traditionally, high-value fish have been located at sea using helicopters. However, with advancements in technology, maritime drones have become increasingly important in recent years. Compared to traditional helicopter-based methods, drones offer significantly lower operational costs, making them cost-effective. However, the challenging sea conditions, including strong winds and the swaying motion of vessels, pose significant challenges for drone landings.

This paper proposes a stable approach for multicopter landing on ships at sea, incorporating improved marker detection, enhanced wind resistance control, and more accurate deck motion prediction. In the marker detection phase, we introduce a method to improve the accuracy of ArUco …

Using Remote Sensing Technology To Develop A Framework For Improving Hydrologic Models, Marissa Cook

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

With increased storm intensity due to climate change and urbanization, flash flooding has become an increasingly significant issue globally and regionally. Although the factors influencing urban flash flooding are well-known, there is a growing need for technology to accurately and remotely predict the chance of a flash flood occurring from any given rain event to give people time to prepare. This study aims to use multispectral satellite imagery to provide a framework for improving near real-time flood predictions in an urban area of a high gradient, fourth order stream impacted by flooding. Specifically, we utilize satellite imagery to create the …

A Variance Decomposition Approach To Inconclusives In Forensic Black Box Studies, Amanda Luby, Joseph B. Kadane

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Work

In the USA, ‘black box’ studies are increasingly being used to estimate the error rate of forensic disciplines. A sample of forensic examiner participants is asked to evaluate a set of items whose source is known to the researchers but not to the participants. Participants are asked to make a source determination (typically an identification, exclusion, or some kind of inconclusive). We study inconclusives in two black box studies, one on fingerprints and one on bullets. Rather than treating all inconclusive responses as functionally correct (as is the practice in reported error rates in the two studies we address), irrelevant …

The Geomorphology And Hydrogeology Of Pre-Restoration West Fork Teanaway River, Wa, Usa, Shana M. Egan

All Master's Theses

The West Fork Teanaway (WFT) River in Kittitas County, WA is an entrenched bedrock river channel with disturbed floodplain geomorphology and degraded riparian ecology. Two stream restoration approaches, “stage 0” valley bottom reset and engineered logjam installation, will be installed at the WFT in summer 2026 by collaborators at the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife and Mid-Columbia Fisheries Enhancement Group. The objective of this study was to constrain the pre-restoration geomorphic and hydrologic conditions of the WFT. The WFT has an unconsolidated floodplain aquifer of predominantly coarse-grained fluvial deposits. Monitoring of groundwater and surface water levels began in …

Understanding The Cost Of Catastrophe: Wildfire Suppression Costs Drivers By Fire Size Class, Stephanie Overla

All Master's Theses

While most wildfires burn less than 100 acres, the western United States experiences much larger fires annually, placing increasing pressure on suppression resources. Changes in weather patterns, fuel composition, and the spatial complexity of human development have rapidly altered historic fire regimes, increasing both the frequency of large wildfires and the challenges of managing them. This study compares two wildfire classes—Fires of Unusual Size (FOUS, >90,000 acres with at least one rapid growth event), and Large Fires (LF, 25,000–90,000 acres), —to identify differences in how size- and growth-based fire classes influence wildfire suppression costs. Suppression cost data for 60 …

Future Mining: Learning For Safety And Security, Md Sazedur Rahman, Mizanur Rahman Jewel, Sanjay Madria

Computer Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

Mining industry is rapidly transforming into an AI-driven cyber-physical ecosystem where safety and operational reliability depend on robust perception, resilient communication, trustworthy distributed intelligence and continuous monitoring of miners and equipment. Real-world mining environments impose severe constraints like poor illumination, dust, occlusion, GPS-denied conditions, irregular underground topologies, and intermittent connectivity. These factors degrade perception quality, disrupt situational awareness, impair trajectory prediction and weaken the reliability of distributed learning systems. Emerging cyber-physical threats, including backdoor triggers, sensor spoofing, label-flip attacks and poisoned model updates, further jeopardize operational safety, particularly as mines increasingly adopt autonomous vehicles, humanoid assistance, and federated learning for …