Digital Commons Network^™

Simulating The Movement Of A Major League Fastball, Max M. Moss

Graduate Masters Theses

The orientation of the seams on a baseball may seem arbitrary in nature; however, they play an enormous role in the aerodynamics of the ball during its short flight to home plate. This thesis aims to model the movement of a four-seam fastball as accurately as possible using the fourth order Runge-Kutta method. The model incorporates the effect of the seams on the path of the ball by utilizing the oscillating cross-sectional area, which varies for each angle of rotation. The simulated results demonstrate a strong agreement with the observed pitch trajectories, accurately reproducing both induced vertical break and horizontal …

Streamlined Biomedical Image Processing Pipelines, Jiehyun Kim

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation focuses on advancing carotid artery analysis through a series of visualizations and deep learning tools for calcified plaque assessment and related biomedical imaging tasks. Accurate plaque evaluation is essential, but current workflows depend on slow, clinician-dependent manual review. To address these limitations, this work introduces the CACTAS framework, a set of tools and methods that enable fast and reliable plaque segmentation for clinicians.

The first study, the CACTAS-Tool, provides a web-based labeling tool that enables clinicians to label plaque directly in three dimensions through a streamlined one-click interface. This tool significantly reduces the effort required to generate high-quality …

Static Data-Race Detection For Gpu Programs: Behavioral Types With Partial Completeness Guarantees, Zhen Rong Liew

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

GPUs are essential to modern computing but notoriously difficult to program correctly. Static analysis tools can verify data-race freedom, but their over-approximations produce spurious reports of data races that do not occur, limiting their practical usefulness. This dissertation establishes when Memory Access Protocols (MAPs), a compositional abstraction modeling memory access behavior between synchronization barriers, can be simultaneously sound and complete. We first prove that MAP-based analysis is sound and complete for well-typed Jaminan programs---those without data-dependent array indexing. This result establishes the theoretical boundary: completeness is achievable when data-dependent control flow and indexing are absent. Jaminan extends MAPs with symbolic …

Computer-Aided Development Of Novel Antioxidants, Rita Bernadett Vlocsko

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Physiological redox homeostasis is a fine balance between prooxidants and antioxidants that are integrated elements of several reduction-oxidation mechanisms at molecular, organellar, cellular and tissue levels. When this equilibrium is disrupted and prooxidants become dominant, the body relies on endogenous and exogenous antioxidants to counterbalance the dysregulation and ultimately prevent the progression of oxidative stress. Reactive species (reactive oxygen species, reactive nitrogen species, or reactive sulfur species) are significant contributors to prooxidant activity. Over the years, substantial knowledge has been accumulated regarding their origin and roles in disease development, leading to the discovery and development of antioxidants that effectively target …

Electrospun Nanofiber Scaffolds For In Vitro 3d Tissue Engineering, Victoria E. Santillan, Samerender Nagam Hanumantharao, Stephanie Bule, Ronish M. Shrestha, Carter Rodzik, Alan Mendoza Estrada, Stephen L. Farias, Marina Tanasova, Smitha Rao

Michigan Tech Publications

Tissue engineering is widely used in research for investigating cellular proliferation, behavior, and responses to various stimuli. However, the predictive value of preclinical studies using cell culture plates is limited by the inability to recapitulate the complexity of the physiological microenvironment. Synthetic three-dimensional (3D) scaffolds can be engineered to mimic the complex morphology of the extracellular matrix of native tissues and can serve as physiologically relevant platforms for preclinical studies. In this study, 3D electrospun scaffolds were characterized to aid in breast cancer research. Unlike previous studies that focused primarily on scaffold fabrication or cell viability, this work systematically evaluates …

Re: Conditional Approval Letter For The Butte Priority Soils Operable Unit (Bpsou) 2026 Revised Draft Final Backfill And Cover Soil Quality Assurance Project Plan (Qapp) (Dated May 13, 2026), Molly Roby

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Pypitfall: Dependency Chaos And Supply Chain Vulnerabilities In Python, Jacob Mahon

Theses

Python software development heavily relies on third-party packages. Direct and transitive dependencies create a labyrinth of software supply chains. While it is convenient to reuse code, vulnerabilities within these dependency chains can propagate through dependencies, potentially affecting downstream packages and applications. PyPI, the official Python package repository, hosts many packages and lacks a comprehensive analysis of the prevalence of vulnerable dependencies. PyPitfall, a quantitative analysis of vulnerable dependencies across the PyPI ecosystem, is introduced. The dependency metadata of 378,573 PyPI packages is analyzed. 4,655 packages that explicitly require a known vulnerable package version and 141,044 packages that permit a vulnerable …

Mri-Based Deep Learning Radiomics Model For Automated Classification Of Disc Degeneration In The Lumbar Spine, Shiv Patil, Om Gandhi, Mert Karabacak, Matthew Carr, Konstantinos Margetis

Student Papers, Posters & Projects

Disc degeneration in the lumbar spine is a major cause of low back pain (LBP). The accurate grading of disc degeneration on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is critical for clinical management and patient selection for spine surgery. This study aims to develop and evaluate machine learning (ML) models that combine features from deep learning (DL) and radiomics for the automated prediction of Pfirrmann grade (PG), a measure of disc degeneration, using multi-parametric lumbar spine MRI. Sagittal T1, T2, and T2 SPACE MRIs of 218 patients with LBP were acquired from the SPIDER dataset. For each intervertebral disc and available sequence, …

Soil Nutrient Constraint For Legume-Based Pastures In The Brazilian Cerrados, W Couto, C Sanzonowics

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Soil-nutrient deficiencies in two cerrados soils have been investigated as a preliminary to small-plot research oriented to estimate fertilizer requirements for establishment of legumes in grass-legume associations. The studies were conducted in the greenhouse, in 2-kg pots, with surface-soil samples taken from two sites representative of the dominant soils in the region. These are the dark red latoso1 (DRL) and the red-yellow latosol (RYL), which qualify as Haplustox and Acrusto:,:, respectively. Two kinds of e:,:periments were carried out. One consisted of a 1/4 replicate of a 28 factorial including potassium (K), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), sulfur (S), zinc (Zn), molybdenum …

Phytotoxic Response Of Five Range-Grass Species To Six In-Situ Fossil-Fuel Retort Waters, O D. Skinner, J C. Sexton, T S. Moore, D S. Farrier

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Oil shale, tar sands, and undergrowid coal gasification represent viable sources of fossil fuel to assist in meeting U.S. energy needs. Development of fossil-fuel-processing technologies has progressed to a point where commercialization may soon become a reality. Concurrent with this development must be the assessment and solution of environmental problems. A particular and significant problem resides in the handling, containment, treatment, disposal, use, and eventual fate of waters recovered with the oil, gas, and subsurface waters associated with synfuel-processing techniques. The magnitude of plant responses and poten­tial phytotoxic effects resulting from exposure to these produced waters have not been evaluated, …

Liming For Tropical Legume Establishment And Production, G H. Snyder, A E. Kretschmer Jr

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Liming has been declared unnecessary for tropical legume production because tropical legumes (1) are efficient in extracting Ca from soils and are tolerant of excess Al, Fe, and Mn, and (2) are readily nodulated by alkali-producing Rhizobium that can function in acid soils. Numerous research reports from Australia, Uganda, Brazil, and Colombia lend credence to this thinking, since no lime responses were observed in those studies. In other work, liming actually depressed tropical legume growth. However, positive responses have been reported in Australia, Hawaii, and Brazil. In Florida, we have observed considerable improvement in the production of Siratro (Macroptilium atropurpureum …

Classical Motion Of Bounded Orbits In Two-Body Problems, Dina F. Stein

Physics and Astronomy Undergraduate Senior Theses

The study of bounded and periodic motion in classical systems is of central importance in celestial mechanics, atomic models, and the theory of integrable systems. Central-force problems are of particular importance due to their rich geometric structure and the existence of conserved quantities that strongly constrain orbital behavior. In this thesis, we investigate the classical motion of bodies subject to two central-force potentials: the inverse-square and the pseudo-harmonic. For each system, explicit solutions for the radial and angular equations of motion are derived and analyzed. The resulting trajectories are classified according to whether they are bounded, unbounded, open, closed, or …

Butte Priority Soils Operable Unit Diggings East Final 100% Remedial Design Package Submittal, Josh Bryson

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

White Clover: An Olde Crop With A Promising Future, P B. Gibson, W E. Knight, G W. Barnett, W A. Cope, J D. Miller

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

White clover (Trifolium repens L.) is a widely adapted, important forage legume for grazing in the U.S. The palatability and quality of the forage, the wide adaptation of the plants to growth in different climates and under various grazing conditions and the role it plays in supplying nitrogen to pastures make white clover our finest pasture legume. The use of adapted white clover cultivars should result in large economic gains to the livestock industry in the U.S .A. Beef and dairy farmers would profit from reduced need for nitrogen fertilizer, an extended grazing season, increased forage pro­duction and quality, better …

Preliminary Evaluation Of Legume Germ Plasm In The Cerrados Of Brazil, D Thomas, R P. De Andrade

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

In 1978 an evaluation program was initiated to select legumes that (1) grow and produce seed on acid soils under aluminum and water stress, (2) persist under grazing, and (3) tolerate pests and diseases. The work is being conducted at the Cerrados Agricultural Research Center, near Brasilia, at lat 15°S and altitude 1,000 to 1, 100 m . Annual rainfall is 1,500 mm, mostly distributed in a 6-month wet season, and mean annual temperature is 21°C. Nine hundred legume accessions from thirteen genera have now been established as spaced plants on the 2 major soil types of the region. The …

Panda-Plus-Bench: A Clinical Benchmark For Evaluating The Robustness Of Ai Foundation Models In Prostate Cancer Diagnosis, Joshua L. Ebbert, Dennis Della Corte

Faculty Publications

Artificial intelligence foundation models are increasingly deployed for prostate cancer Gleason grading, where GP3/GP4 distinction directly impacts treatment decisions (active surveillance vs. intervention). However, these models may achieve high validation accuracy by learning specimen-specific artifacts rather than generalizable biological features, limiting real-world clinical utility. We introduce PANDA-PLUS-Bench, a curated benchmark dataset derived from expertly annotated prostate biopsies designed specifically to quantify this failure mode. The benchmark comprises nine carefully selected whole slide images from nine unique patients containing diverse Gleason patterns, with non-overlapping tissue patches extracted at both 512 × 512 and 224 × 224-pixel resolutions across eight augmentation conditions. …

Predicting The Outcome Of Ischemic Hepatitis With Real-Patient Data Using Machine Learning Tools, Christiana Beard, Madison Utterback, Olcay Akman, Priya Kohli, William M. Lee, Aditi Ghosh

Spora: A Journal of Biomathematics

Ischemic hepatitis (IH) results from shock-related conditions that impair oxygenated blood flow to the liver, causing hepatocyte death. Diagnosis relies largely on clinical history due to the absence of specific diagnostic tests and limited ability to predict outcomes. This study applies machine learning methods to real-world IH patient data to improve outcome prediction. Biomedical indicators analyzed include creatinine, international normalized ratio (INR), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine transaminase (ALT), and bilirubin. Data were collected from multiple U.S. centers through the Acute Liver Failure Study Group (ALFSG), a multicenter network focused on this rare condition. We implemented logistic regression, regression tree methods …

Measuring Modulation Envelope Of A Pound Drever Hall Feedback Loop, Josh S. Lee

Physics and Astronomy Undergraduate Senior Theses

From improving qubit readout to real world medical technology, fast and ultrasensitive electrometry has many real world applications. The primary goal of the overarching project is to improve ultrasensitive charge detection using methods involving cavity-embedded Cooper pair transistor (cCPT) devices. This project hopes to accomplish this by using the gate-tunability of the cCPT to reduce the 1/f-noise, a type of low-frequency noise that can interfere with the cCPT’s measurement operability. By using a Pound-Drever-Hall (PDH) feedback loop-inspired scheme that can adjust the cCPT gate, this project hopes to improve the stability of the cCPT’s resonant frequency against the 1/f-noise, in …

Re: Comment Letter For Bpsou Blacktail Creek Riparian Actions Uniform Federal Policy Quality Assurance Project Plan Addendum (Dated April 24, 2026), Emma Rott

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Evaluating Soil Health And Crop Yield In Louisiana Agricultural Systems: Impacts Of Best Management Practices And Prediction Models, Hector J. Mendoza Lagos

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The adoption of conservation management practices is critical for improving soil health, enhancing nutrient use efficiency, and sustaining crop productivity in row crop systems in Louisiana. This study evaluated the role of conservation agronomic practices, soil biochemical indicators, and machine learning predictive models to improve soil nutrient dynamics, soil health indicators, microbial communities (MC), and crop productivity on a corn (Zea mays L.) research plot scale and in a commercial forty-hectare cotton (Gassypium hirsutum L.)-corn-soybean (Glycine max L.) rotation system in northeast Louisiana. The objectives of the study were to evaluate soil nutrient dynamics and MCs under …

Measuring Stock Market Inefficiency Using A Multilayer Composite Efficiency Index: A Case Of The Egyptian Exchange, Patrick K. Owido, Hiroki Sayama

Northeast Journal of Complex Systems (NEJCS)

Financial markets play a critical role in resource allocation. Their performance depends on the decisions of millions of independent investors constantly reacting to one another. Their informational efficiency remains a subject of debate across economic systems. When informational efficiency is present at the weak form, historical price information should not consistently predict future returns. Several empirical tests of this hypothesis often focus on the behavior of aggregate market indices, and use individual efficiency proxies such as autocorrelation, GARCH-type volatility, or entropy-based measures to measure efficiency. This has often yielded mixed results, particularly in emerging markets. Here we show that testing …

Ai-Infused Writing-Intensive Problems For Introduction To Programming In C++, Esma Yildirim

Open Educational Resources

This exercise book uses Writing-Intensive (WI) pedagogy in an introductory programming course setting, because I believe WI can help students engage in deeper analysis of programming problems while strengthening their critical and analytical thinking skills. In computer science, a single problem can often be solved using multiple algorithms, designs, and implementation strategies. Exploratory thinking and reflective writing can improve students’ ability not only to read and write computer programs, but also to evaluate the efficiency, readability, and maintainability of algorithms and code. Students must learn not only how to design solutions, but also how to compare alternatives and determine the …

Short Peptoid Capping Ligands Stabilize Dispersion Of Gold Nanospheres In Aqueous Solutions, Hanna G. Goldberg, Isabella K. Matusich, Jack M. Petersen, Nikhila Raman, Joseph C. Hong, Gabriela Edler, Daniel K. Tanaka, Jwwad M. Javed, Amelia A. Fuller

Chemistry and Biochemistry

Surface functionalization of colloidal gold nanoparticles with capping ligands is critical for controlling their dispersive stability and for introducing application-specific moieties. Peptoids (N-substituted glycine oligomers) are useful candidates for study as capping ligands owing to their straightforward preparation and their biocompatibility. In this work, we have prepared a library of five-residue peptoids and evaluated them as capping ligands for 10 nm gold nanospheres. Our findings revealed important sequence features of peptoids that stabilize nanosphere colloidal dispersions in a range of aqueous conditions that vary in ionic strength and pH. We have also characterized the sizes and surface charges of peptoid-capped …

Distributed File Carving, Brad J. Baudin

LSU Master's Theses

File carving is a fundamental technique in the digital forensics community, enabling analysts to recover deleted files from disk images without relying on filesystem metadata; however, as storage capacities continue to increase, modern file carving tools face significant scalability challenges, with carving time growing substantially alongside disk image size, particularly in the presence of file fragmentation. Fragmentation, a common behavior in modern filesystems, distributes file data across non-contiguous disk blocks to maximize space utilization, and in large disk images this distribution can span wide logical distances, increasing the search space and reducing carving efficiency, causing traditional approaches to struggle within …

Mining And Sustainable Development In Sierra Leone: The Role Of Institutional Quality, Ibrahim Massaquoi

Journal of Sustainable Mining

While mining can drive economic growth, create jobs, and promote infrastructural development, it also poses risks to the environment, human health, and social well-being. Therefore, to achieve sustainable development, responsible mining is crucial. This study empirically examines the role of institutional quality in the mining-sustainable development nexus in Sierra Leone. With the use of the planetary pressures-adjusted human development index (PHDI) as a comprehensive measure of sustainable development, the study is able to integrate economic, social, and environmental dimensions. The autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model confirms the existence of both short-run and long-run dynamics. The results of the study show …

Distributed Self-Control Of Dynamical Networks By Adaptive Link Weight Adjustments, Hiroki Sayama

Northeast Journal of Complex Systems (NEJCS)

Conventional control theory considers controlling the behavior of a dynamical system toward a desired state by injecting externally designed inputs into the system. Meanwhile, most complex systems exhibit self-organization through local information exchanges among individual dynamical components that are embedded within a complex network of interactions. The self-organizing dynamics of those systems are realized in a highly distributed manner using locally available information only, and therefore, their behaviors have not been discussed much from a control theoretic viewpoint. Meanwhile, adaptive networks, i.e., dynamical networks whose states and topologies coevolve at similar time scales, can offer a promising theoretical framework in …

Advances In Research On Eco-Geological Environment Monitoring Of Underground Coal Mining Areas Based On Airborne Remote Sensing, Li Jun, Zou Zhaohui, Zhang Chengye, Wang Yi, Cheng Yang, Xu Lianhang, Zhang Jinhe, Liu Chuanrui, Liang Lixia

Coal Geology & Exploration

Background Timely and effective monitoring of the current status of eco-geological environment holds great significance for scientific decision-making regarding both geological environment protection and ecological restoration in underground coal mining areas. Owing to its advantage of large-scale and rapid monitoring, airborne remote sensing technology has emerged as an important approach to the eco-geological environment monitoring of mining areas. Advances This study first clarifies relevant concepts of eco-geological environment monitoring, as well as the monitoring requirements and contents specific to underground coal mining areas. Accordingly, it presents a summary of the advances in research on airborne remote sensing technology for the …

Epileptic Seizure Prediction From Eeg Using Continual Learning With Cnns, Adnan Amin, Ammar Bathich, Feras Al-Obeidat, Safa Naes, Maria Jose Sousa

All Works

Epilepsy is a persistent neurological disorder that affects over 50 million people worldwide, with nearly one-third of patients remaining unresponsive to conventional therapeutic treatments. This study introduces a progressively adaptive seizure prediction framework designed to enhance early detection and clinical decision-making. The proposed model employs a deep learning strategy grounded in continual learning (CL) principles, using Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) in combination with knowledge distillation techniques. This enables the model to assimilate new data while retaining previously learned information. The approach was evaluated on the publicly available Bonn University EEG dataset, following a sequential learning process in which each successive …

Key Techniques And Application Of The Zdy15000ldk High-Power Automatic Directional Drilling Rig, Li Quanxin, Zhang Gang, Fang Peng, Xing Wang, Yao Ke, Zhang Rui, Zhang Boyang, Zhao Xuefeng, Shi Yang, Sun Hanyu, Jia Qian

Coal Geology & Exploration

Objective For deep mining of coal mines, conventional directional drilling rigs face challenges including high labor intensity, limited control accuracy, a low intelligence level, and failure to meet the demand for efficient gas drainage. Meanwhile, high-power automatic drilling rigs encounter technical bottlenecks in automation, control accuracy, and process intelligence in this context. To address these issues, this study proposed an integrated and systematic solution—the ZDY15000LDK high-power automatic directional drilling rig. Methods Using a compact structural layout, a drill rod handling system was developed, consisting of a drill rod loading/unloading manipulator with four degrees of freedom and an automatic drill rod …

Vigor: Virtual Intelligence For Gaze Observation And Representation, Meherun Nesa Shraboni

Theses and Dissertations

Eye tracking in modern XR head-mounted displays can capture high-frequency gaze data at 90–120 Hz, generating thousands of samples within a single 30-second interaction. At the same time, the XR market has grown to millions of active users worldwide, with major platforms such as Meta investing heavily in eye-tracking-enabled devices. Despite this large-scale adoption and data availability, most applications still rely on hand-controller input, with gaze either processed offline or reduced to a simple pointing signal. As a result, the majority of temporally rich gaze information remains unused in real-time interaction, limiting system responsiveness, reducing interaction fidelity, and preventing effective …