Digital Commons Network^™

A Qualitative Analysis Of Human-Ai Interaction Through Animated Shapes, Kavya Dipen Shah, Angel Hinojosa, Caroline Deck

Discovery Day - Daytona Beach

As technology becomes more advanced, it is important to understand how people perceive the intentions and abilities of machines. This project, conducted in the InTeRACT Lab, explores how we attribute humanlike qualities to different types of agents, ranging from animals to robots. The study analyzes data from an experiment where participants watched animations of moving triangles. Although the videos were identical, participants were told the shapes represented either humans, robots, dogs, or inanimate objects. While previous math-based data showed that these labels changed how people felt, those structured scales didn't allow for a natural, unbiased explanation of what people actually …

Social Attributions Of Moving Shapes: Comparing Qualitative Analyses Of Humans Vs. Ai, Angel Hinojosa

Discovery Day - Daytona Beach

As technology becomes more intelligent, the relationship between humans and machines is rapidly shifting. Whether a machine is perceived as a capable partner or a source of wariness often depends on the intentions and abilities, we attribute to it. My research in the InTeRACT Lab seeks to empirically assess these perceptions by comparing how we view different nonhuman agents, ranging from animals to robots.   This study analyzes qualitative data from a task where participants viewed animations of moving triangles. While the videos remained the same, participants were told the shapes represented either humans, robots, dogs, or inanimate shapes. Previous quantitative …

Investigating The Spatial Scales Of Ionospheric Irregularities Using Wavelet Analysis, Nash Mcleod

Discovery Day - Daytona Beach

Investigating the Spatial Scales of Ionospheric Irregularities Using Wavelet Analysis:   Ionospheric radio wave scintillation arises from plasma density irregularities in Earth’s ionosphere. Consequently, rapid fluctuations occur in the phase and amplitude of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signals and can impact communication and navigation systems. These irregularities span from a wide range of spatial and temporal scales and evolve dynamically under the influence of magnetosphere-ionosphere (MI) processes. We investigate phase and amplitude scintillation events using Continuous Wavelet Transform (CWT) to study the spatial evolution of ionospheric irregularities. These irregularities are thought to be formed via different plasma mechanisms such as …

Bounded Thunderstorm Tracking Of Lightning Events With Muon Detection, Skylar Wardlaw, Ainsley Helgerson, Maria Kaminska, Logan Velvet, Georgii Dubrov, Jackson Stewart, Aaron Jung, Nathaniel O’Hara, Amelia Koth, Nash Mcleod, Emaleth Wyckoff

Discovery Day - Daytona Beach

The muon is a high-energy particle that can be produced by cosmic rays and trigger upper-atmospheric particle cascades and energetic processes. It has been hypothesized that such cascades are at the onset of lightning. As such, muons serve as a valuable probe for investigating the underlying mechanisms of its initiation, whose full governing dynamics remain vastly unknown despite extensive research. Traditional approaches to lightning research involve simulations and observations of the discharge itself, but the role of high-energy particle interactions has yet to be fully constrained. The CosmicWatch Muon Detector design enables the detection of atmospheric muons through scintillation events, …

Effect Of Anode Size On The Properties Of Constricted Hollow Anode Pulsed Plasma Source, Nirav Patel, Garret Seckinger

Discovery Day - Daytona Beach

With the advent of ion thrusters, burns requiring large velocity changes can be performed with a fraction of the propellant required by traditional chemical rocket engines. However, current ion thrusters produce thrust in the order of millinewtons and thus cannot be viable for launching vehicles or burns requiring velocity changes in a small amount of time. Furthermore, current ion thrusters experience grid and component erosion, where the two grids at the termination of the nozzle slowly erode due to particle impact, and the hot electrodes degrade due to high thermal load. This limits the life of ion engines, which require …

Polymer Degradation And Their Environmental Impact, Addison Orr, Vanessa Gilbert

Discovery Day - Daytona Beach

Synthetic polymer material usage has increased significantly within the last several decades due to their durability, resistance to mechanical wear, low density, and inexpensiveness. Despite these advantages, most synthetic polymers are not biodegradable and instead undergo slow degradation processes. The processes are multifaceted, involving physical, chemical, and biological mechanisms influenced by material properties and environmental conditions, such as soil, light, temperature, and moisture levels. As a result, the polymers break into microplastics and contaminate air, water, and soil, posing risks to human health and surrounding ecosystems. Additionally, polymer degradation can release harmful substances that disrupt food chains and can lead …

Production And Analysis Of Lavender Essential Oil: Extraction, Composition, And Applications, Mary Zoeller

Discovery Day - Daytona Beach

Steam distillation was performed to extract essential oil from lavender and analyze its chemical composition. Lavender is known to contain several compounds such as linalool, terpinen-4-ol, and linalyl acetate, which contribute to its characteristic aroma and biological activity. The purpose of this experiment was to isolate these compounds without decomposition and identify them using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Approximately 14.851 g of lavender was heated with water to generate steam, which carried the volatile compounds into a condenser where the vapor was cooled and collected. The distillate was transferred to a separatory funnel to isolate the organic layer from the …

Bridging Discrete And Continuous Systems: Fibonacci Sequences And Exponential Growth From Odes, Martyna Wojcik

Discovery Day - Daytona Beach

Bridging Discrete and Continuous Systems: Fibonacci Sequences and Exponential Growth from Ordinary Differential Equations       It has been observed that nature often exhibits specific patterns of growth and structure in biological systems and spiral formations. The Fibonacci sequence, defined as a discrete recursive sequence where each term is generated as the sum of the two preceding terms, “has been applied extensively to understand some natural phenomena” (Pakdemirli, 2023). In contrast, exponential growth describes a continuous process in which the rate of change of a quantity is proportional to its current value. Such behavior is modeled using differential equations that “produce solutions …

Application Of Navier Stokes In Cfd, Hayden Kerkhoff, Gavin Palmer, Garret Seckinger

Discovery Day - Daytona Beach

This project investigates the use of 2-Dimensional Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) to analyze aerodynamic behavior, then compare data with the numerical solution of the Navier–Stokes equations run by MATLAB. By leveraging open‑source and possible industry CFD platforms—including OpenFOAM and commercial solvers such as ANSYS Fluent and Inventor Professional—the study evaluates how computational methods simulate, optimize, and predict key aerodynamic quantities such as lift, drag, stall angle, and Reynolds number.   The project focuses on modeling an airflow over specific parameters, such as different angles of attacks and ISA Atmospheric Conditions. Parametric variations in density, angle of attack, chord length, and temperature …

Numerical Modeling Of Badminton Shuttlecock Trajectories, Lola G. Torres, Cassandra Pumphrey, Jadyn Peterson, Domenic Barsotti

Discovery Day - Daytona Beach

The Trajectory of a badminton Shuttlecock can vary significantly when compared to a classic projectile motion, primarily due to aerodynamic drag. This project aims to model the flight of the shuttlecock using Newton's second law for gravitational and drag related forces, resulting in a nonlinear system of a first order differential equation. The given parameters include the shuttlecock mass, cross-sectional area, air density, as well as the drag coefficient, determining the overall magnitude of the drag force. The resulting initial value problem is solved numerically using a multitude of Runge_Kutta methods to compare the accuracy and stability across different computational …

Motion With Air Resistance, Gauge Mccain, Jacob Bealefeld, Francesca Wise

Discovery Day - Daytona Beach

The motion of objects moving through air is influenced not only by gravity but also by air resistance, which affects the speed and acceleration of the object over time. This project examines the motion of a falling object by modeling it with an ordinary differential equation that accounts for both gravitational force and a resistive drag force proportional to velocity. Using Newton’s Second Law, a first-order differential equation is derived to describe how the velocity of the object changes as it falls. The solution of this equation demonstrates how the velocity increases initially and gradually approaches a constant value known …

Simulating Pacemakers And Heartbeat Recovery Through Mathematical Modeling, Thomas Estrada, Jayla Edwards

Discovery Day - Daytona Beach

Title: Simulating Pacemakers and Heartbeat Recovery Through Mathematical Modeling   This study utilizes the Fitzhugh-Nagumo model to simulate cardiac electrical activity and the regulatory role of pacemakers through ordinary differential equations (ODEs). By defining the rate of change for membrane voltage, 𝑑𝑣/dt, and a recovery variable, 𝑑𝑤/dt, the model captures the heart's excitability and resting states. Central to the analysis is the stimulus current parameter, which represents the "kick" provided by a pacemaker to correct flatline conditions or weak heartbeats. Using Euler’s method for numerical integration, the research compares unstable cardiac rhythms against corrected periodic oscillations. Additionally, the project implements vector …

Understanding The Long-Term Patterns Of Change Of A Tidal Marsh In Mission Bay, San Diego, California, Carrie A. Shuster, Theresa Sinicrope Talley Ph.D., Drew Talley Ph.D., Zhi-Yong Yin Ph.D., Kellie Uyeda Ph.D.

Theses

Coastal marshes are among California’s most productive ecosystems and the most impacted, having been extensively modified by dredging, filling, and urban development. This thesis investigates over a century of change for a marsh in Northern Mission Bay, San Diego, California using ecological and spatial analyses.

Chapter 1 provides an overview of the environmental history and current land use of the Northern Mission Bay marsh, tracing changes from pre-contact Indigenous stewardship through colonial and modern urban development. It also introduces a restoration plant palette derived from historical and contemporary species occurrences, ecological functions, and documented cultural uses. By integrating ethnobotanical knowledge …

Hidden Symmetries Of The Classical 3×3 Magic Square, Vijender Nallapu, Mrinal Kanti Roychowdhury

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

The classical 3×3 magic square is one of the most famous objects in recreational mathematics. Its defining feature is that every row, every column, and the two main diagonals have the same sum. However, beyond this well-known property, the square contains several hidden symmetries involving rotations, reflections, complementary pairs, parity, and balance around the central entry. In this article, we present an elementary exploration of these symmetries and show how the classical magic square provides a beautiful introduction to mathematical structure and pattern recognition.

Vedic Mathematics And Mental Computation: Fast Multiplication Techniques, Algebraic Foundations, And Historical Perspectives, Rakesh Bhatia, Mrinal Kanti Roychowdhury

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

Mental computation has fascinated mathematicians, educators, and students for centuries. Various computational techniques allow arithmetic calculations to be performed rapidly without the use of calculators or computers. Among these methods, several popular techniques are associated with what is commonly known as Vedic Mathematics. In this article, we examine a collection of fast multiplication techniques, including multiplication near powers of ten, multiplication by eleven, squaring numbers ending in five, and the vertical-and-crosswise method. For each technique, we provide elementary mathematical explanations based on algebraic identities and place-value representations.

Curious Patterns And Identities Involving Consecutive Integers, Carlo Cattani, Mrinal Kanti Roychowdhury

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

Consecutive integers exhibit numerous surprising patterns and elegant identities. In this article, we investigate several classical properties involving products, sums, divisibility, perfect squares, cubes, pronic numbers, triangular numbers, sums of squares, and Pythagorean triples. Using only elementary algebra, symmetry arguments, and mathematical induction, we establish a collection of identities that reveal rich connections among these classical topics. The exposition is intended for students, teachers, and recreational mathematicians, illustrating how simple observations about consecutive integers can lead to beautiful mathematical patterns and deeper insights into elementary number theory.

A Modeling Scenario For Cooling A Hot Vehicle In Florida, Jared Bunn, Bernadette Mullins, Elizabeth Hale, Jaeyoun Oh

CODEE Journal

This paper presents a group project assigned in a Calculus 2 course that has students work to develop, analyze, and draw conclusions about a modeling scenario for cooling a hot car. Using a modeling-first approach, instructors supported the students in class throughout the beginning of the project, enabling the groups to complete the remainder of the project on their own. Students used parameter estimation to tune their models to provided data: one for windows being up, and one for windows being down. This project provides an example of how modeling can be introduced early in a calculus course, rather than …

Measuring The Tokenization Premium: A Cost Audit For Underserved Language Communities, Avijit Roy, Proma Roy, Hrishitva Patel

Publications and Research

Large language models are increasingly deployed as general-purpose educational and technical assistance systems, but their basic infrastructure does not treat languages equally. One underexamined source of disparity is tokenization: semantically equivalent content can require substantially different token counts across languages, affecting API cost, latency, and usable context length before a model is even invoked. We introduce the Tokenization Equity Audit (TEA), a reproducible benchmark for measuring tokenization premiums in technical tutoring content. TEA evaluates three widely used tokenizers, GPT-4o’s o200k base, Qwen2.5-7B, and Mistral-7B, on a 120-item Python debugging corpus translated from English into Bengali, Hindi, Arabic, Tamil, and Yoruba. …

Effective Visibility In The Infrared Bands, Peter L. Dean-Erlander, Steven T. Fiorino, Ronald G. Driggers

Faculty Publications

Visibility is an atmospheric metric for the comparison of terrestrial imaging conditions and locations. A limitation of visibility is that it is defined for the visible spectrum only, and there is no simple infrared equivalent. This study compares three reflective infrared wavebands: near-IR (NIR), shortwave IR (SWIR), and extended shortwave IR (eSWIR), to the visible band across a global set of cities to develop three rule-of-thumb functions for IR effective visibility. To accomplish this, a radiometric sensor model is combined with the Laser Environmental Effects Definition and Reference (LEEDR) software package to calculate the visibility of a black-and-white contrast target …

The Mathematics Of Calendar Patterns: Day-Of-Week Phenomena, Number Patterns, And Recreational Investigations, Vijender Nallapu, Mrinal Kanti Roychowdhury

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

Calendars are among the most familiar mathematical structures encountered in everyday life. Beyond their practical use in organizing dates and measuring time, calendars contain a rich collection of numerical patterns, symmetries, and arithmetic relationships. Many of these patterns can be explored using only elementary mathematics, making calendars an attractive subject for recreational investigation and mathematical enrichment.

In this article we examine several mathematical properties arising from the structure of monthly calendars. We investigate arithmetic patterns associated with rows, columns, and rectangular blocks of dates, establish properties of calendar squares, and explore connections with modular arithmetic through day-of-week calculations. We also …

Gwtc-4.0: Constraints On The Cosmic Expansion Rate And Modified Gravitational-Wave Propagation, A. G. Abac, I. Abouelfettouh, Teviet Creighton, Mario C. Diaz, Raul Alberto Espinosa Perez, J. Lawrence, Francisco Llamas Villarreal, Soma Mukherjee, Volker Quetschke, Miriam Ramos Arevalo, Wenhui Wang

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Publications

We analyze data from 142 of the 218 gravitational-wave (GW) sources in the fourth LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA Collaboration (LVK) Gravitational-Wave Transient Catalog (GWTC-4.0) to estimate the Hubble constant H0 jointly with the population properties of merging compact binaries. We measure the luminosity distance and redshifted masses of GW sources directly; in contrast, we infer GW source redshifts statistically through (i) location of features in the compact object mass spectrum and merger rate evolution, and (ii) identifying potential host galaxies in the GW localization volume. Probing the relationship between source luminosity distances and redshifts obtained in this way yields constraints on cosmological parameters. …

Moss Biomonitoring And Isotopic Signatures Reveal Aviation Fuel As Local Lead Source Near Oregon Airports, Oluwaseyi E. Aderinboye, Alyssa E. Shiel, Lauren Stalford, Christina J. Murphy, Dean B. Atkinson

Chemistry Faculty Publications and Presentations

Lead emissions from piston-engine aircraft using leaded aviation gasoline (avgas) remain a significant source of environmental contamination near regional airports, posing potential health risks to nearby communities. Passive biomonitoring using the epiphytic moss Orthotrichum lyellii was combined with lead isotope fingerprinting to quantify lead concentrations and distinguish between legacy leaded gasoline and current avgas emissions near Hillsboro and Troutdale airports in Oregon. Here we show that lead levels are elevated by up to 50 times the rural background near airports, with isotopic signatures confirming avgas as a dominant local source. These findings indicate that avgas use contributes substantially to environmental …

Building Agentic Ai Systems With Langgraph: From Llm Pipelines To Multi-Agent Decision Workflows, Mohammad Amin Kuhail

All Works

Recent advances in large language models (LLMs) have enabled the development of increasingly sophisticated agentic AI systems capable of reasoning, planning, tool use, memory management, and collaborative problem solving. Agentic AI refers to AI systems that can autonomously pursue goals and execute tasks by combining reasoning, decision-making, memory, interaction with external tools, and adaptive workflows. Unlike traditional LLM applications that primarily rely on single-prompt interactions or fixed sequential pipelines, agentic AI systems can iteratively analyze problems, coordinate multiple steps, invoke external resources, refine intermediate outputs, and dynamically adapt their behavior in response to evolving context and feedback. Recent developments in …

Adaptive Phishing Url Detection Using Hybrid Fuzzy C-Means Clustering And Xgboost, Muntadher Mohammed Kareem, Rawaa I. Farhan

Karbala International Journal of Modern Science

Phishing attacks continue to evolve in sophistication, rendering static detection methods increasingly ineffective. Existing URL-based approaches suffer from limited adaptability to emerging phishing patterns, mislabeled training data, and insufficient validation protocols. This paper proposes a hybrid phishing URL detection system that integrates Fuzzy C-Means (FCM) clustering with XGBoost classification, enhanced by a novel Micro Adaptive Feature Extractor (MAFE). The system employs a multi-stage pipeline: feature engineering generating 36 statistical and interaction features, MAFE producing 15 adaptive features through class-aware dynamic weighting, micro-pattern detection, and entropy analysis, and FCM with K=2 clusters providing soft membership features to XGBoost. A two-pass confidence-based …

Learning, Abstraction, And Creative Search For Interactive Agents, Jonathan Demke

Theses and Dissertations

Artificial intelligence systems are increasingly deployed as autonomous agents that interact directly with complex environments. Ensuring these agents remain reliable, adaptable, and useful presents an ongoing practical challenge. This dissertation studies agent-environment interactions through a progressive lens, examining behavior from foundational training stability and abstraction discovery to adaptation in unpredictable settings and open-ended creative search. The investigation begins by analyzing how hyperparameter settings affect early-stage Deep Q-Network performance, yielding practical guidelines for debugging reinforcement learning implementations. To address the challenge of long-horizon planning, the discovery of temporally extended options is formalized as the Minimum Shortcut Problem, demonstrating how agents can …

Development Of Minimalist Trifunctional Building Blocks For Chemical Biology Probe Synthesis, Luke E. Bohrer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The completion of the Human Genome Project in 2003 generated expectations that genomic information would accelerate the discovery of new protein drug targets and FDA-approved therapies. However, many small-molecule drug candidates continue to fail in clinical trials, and much of the human proteome remains undercharacterized in terms of structure, function, and disease relevance. Chemical tools are therefore essential for defining protein function, mapping protein interactions, and identifying disease-associated molecular mechanisms. Among these tools, small-molecule chemical probes provide a powerful strategy for connecting biological activity with target identification, functional analysis, and the development of effective therapies.

This dissertation describes the development …

Wip: Developing A Generative Ai Autoethnography Assistant, Jyoti Suhag, Jennifer Drewyor, Kathryn Bugbee, Michelle Jarvie-Eggart, Lynn Albers, Leo Ureel

Michigan Tech Publications

Background: Generative AI (genAI) is transforming educational research, offering new possi-bilities for conducting interviews while local sandboxing minimizes data privacy risks and hallucinations. Purpose: This work-in-progress presents the AI Autoethnography Assistant, a project investigating how large language models (LLMs) can support autoethnographic interview design and execution. Approach: Using prompt engineering grounded in Interpretative Phenomenological Anal-ysis, paraphrasing techniques, and structured follow-up questions, we developed protocols that incorporate po-sitionality and prompt reflection on origin stories and pivotal life moments. Outcomes: Conversations conclude at the user’s discretion, with the AI generating a thematic summary. We tested refined prompts across four platforms (Gemini, Claude, …

Fragberta: A Fragment-Aware Molecular Representation Model With Sequential Attachment-Based Fragment Embeddings, Neerav Kaushal, Ajay M.N.V. Penmatsa

Michigan Tech Publications

Automated exploration of chemical space through machine learning has become a central strategy in modern drug discovery, where the ability to learn transferable molecular representations directly impacts predictive modeling performance. Recent advances in chemical language models have primarily relied on atom-level string encodings such as SMILES or SELFIES, treating molecules as sequences of individual atoms or characters. However, medicinal chemistry reasoning is often fragment-centric, emphasizing scaffolds, functional groups, and modular substructures rather than isolated atoms. In this study, we introduce FragBERTa, a molecular fragment-aware transformer-based representation language model pretrained using masked language modeling on Sequential Attachment-based Fragment Embedding (SAFE) representations. …

Modeling And Simulation Of Solar Battery Charge Controller Using Adaptive Particle Swarm Optimization Mppt Algorithm, Mustafa Sacid Endiz, Göksel Gökkus

Mathematical Modelling and Numerical Simulation with Applications

Implementing an effective Maximum Power Point Tracking method is crucial for optimizing solar energy harvesting against environmental fluctuations like solar radiation and temperature. This paper introduces a novel approach for modeling and simulating a solar battery charge controller, using a modified Particle Swarm Optimization algorithm. The power stage of the system is based on a SEPIC converter, which is employed to manage the power conversion and improve the energy transfer to the battery. The developed circuit model is evaluated under various radiation levels at a constant temperature, as well as under different temperature levels at a constant radiation. Simulations are …

Technical Reliability As Foundation Of Mobile Self-Checkout Experience, Pumezile O. Dyantyi, Fazlyn Petersen

African Conference on Information Systems and Technology

Although mobile self-checkout (MSCO) apps are becoming more common in retail stores, their long-term success in emerging markets depends heavily on the system’s technical reliability. This qualitative thematic study of 888 user reviews for four established MSCO apps investigates how technical reliability shapes the user experience (UX) after app adoption. Using an integration of the UX Honeycomb model and the UTAUT2 framework, this paper demonstrates that technical reliability is a core UX element that affects usability, performance, trust, value, satisfaction and continued use. Technical reliability problems such as system outages, login challenges and transaction difficulties negatively impact several core UX …