Digital Commons Network^™

Inclusion Engineering Through Deoxidation Practice Optimization For Enhanced Mechanical Properties Of Cast Cr-Ni-Mo Steel, Kingsley T. Amatanweze, Viraj A. Athavale, Simon Lekakh, Ronald J. O'Malley, Laura N. Bartlett

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Deoxidation is an integral part of steelmaking, as it determines steel castability, cleanliness, and porosity levels of the final product. Steel quality is critical to its performance and can be sabotaged by impurities such as non-metallic inclusions and porosity. This study investigates the effects of four distinct deoxidation practices, using Al, Al-Ca, Zr-Ca, and Mn-Si respectively, on tensile strength, tensile ductility and impact toughness of a Cr-Ni-Mo steel. These deoxidation reactions were modeled on a commercially available thermodynamic software and possible inclusion product phases were predicted. The casting samples were studied on a scanning electron microscope (SEM) utilizing energy dispersive …

Post-Calcium Treatment Evolution Of Alumina (Al2o3) Inclusions Morphology, Naziru I. Fuseini, Ronald J. O'Malley, Todd P. Sander, Jeffrey D. Smith, Haiming Wen, Laura N. Bartlett

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The post-calcium morphological evolution of Al₂O₃ inclusions formed under high-oxygen supersaturation (~1000 ppm) was investigated through time-resolved sampling and quenching of aluminum-killed, calcium-treated steel. SEM-EDS analysis revealed the formation of angular two-phase CaO·Al₂O₃–CaS inclusions within 1 minute, gradually transforming into spherical liquid 12CaO·7Al₂O₃ and CaO·Al₂O₃ with a thin CaS layer around it. The 3D morphology of the CaS phase of the complex CaO·Al₂O₃–CaS inclusions observed at 1 minute appeared as a cone-cap attached to the partially modified CaO·Al₂O₃. This …

Hybrid Sensing For Near-Earth Space Domain Awareness: Leveraging Space-Based Assets For Augmenting Optical Ground Observations, Smriti Nandan Paul, Hang Woon Lee

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Because of recent advancements in space technologies, easier and more economical access to space, and an increase in commercial interests, the near-Earth space environment has witnessed an exploding number of objects being put into orbit. In particular, the low Earth orbit (LEO) region is at an increased risk of orbital collisions from large satellite constellation projects. Thus, monitoring LEO objects for space domain awareness and space traffic management has become increasingly imperative. In this paper, we use the concept of limited-CDF (cumulative distribution function) surface and mutual information for designing sensor tasking algorithms focusing on regular observation of known catalog …

Generative Artificial Intelligence In Aircraft Design Optimization, Xiaosong Du

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Aircraft design optimization is essential for improving aircraft performance (such as reduced fuel consumption and lowered noise), which leads to more efficient, sustainable, and affordable aircraft. Conventional aircraft design adopts physics-based simulation models, but iteratively evaluating simulation models is computationally intensive, or even practically impossible. Meanwhile, artificial intelligence (AI) emerges as a revolutionary game changer in the modern engineering industry, including aircraft design optimization. Generative AI (genAI), one of the groundbreaking AI methods, has been advancing aircraft design optimization from various aspects, including intelligent parameterization, predictive modeling, training facilitation, and constraints handling. However, there is a lack of a review …

Machine Learning In Peak Demand Forecasting: Foundations, Trends, And Insights, Shuang Dai, Fanlin Meng, Hongsheng Dai, Qian Wang, Xizhong Chen, Wenlei Bai, Peizhi Shi, Richard Allmendinger, Yuchen Zhang, Jian Liu

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Peak demand forecasting involves predicting the maximum electricity demand within a specific period, which plays a key role in maintaining the efficiency and stability of power systems. The rapid evolution of power systems, driven by advanced metering infrastructure, local energy applications such as electric vehicles, and the increasing adoption of intermittent renewable energy, has introduced greater randomness and reduced predictability in peak demand. Given the pressing need to address more diverse implementation requirements across different contexts, accurate and reliable peak demand forecasting has become increasingly important. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to provide a …

Reflections On Linear B (Part 14) – Sign 76 (With Two Parallel Wavy Lines Pronounced /Ra/); Possible Derivation From The River Traveled Nightly By The Sun God Ra., Gerald Leonard Cohen

Arts, Languages and Philosophy Faculty Research & Creative Works

This article suggests that the two parallel wavy lines in Linear B sign 76 depict the river traveled nightly by the Egyptian sun god Ra. Also:

1. The Egyptian influence was likely exerted already on the Linear A and Cretan hieroglyphic antecedents of Linear B sign 76.

2. Variants of Linear B sign 76 contain a horizontal line across the two wavy vertical lines. The present article suggests the horizontal line might indicate one of the river’s twelve gates that Ra had to navigate through in his nightly journey.

3. But the single line for that one gate was likely …

Electric Dipole Forbidden, Quadrupole Allowed Transitions In The Pure Rotational Spectrum Of Cyclopropylchloromethyldifluorosilane, Alexander R. Davies, Abanob G. Hanna, Alma Lutas, Gamil A. Guirgis, S. A. Cooke, Garry S. Grubbs

Chemistry Faculty Research & Creative Works

In a recent publication, some electric dipole forbidden, quadrupole allowed ΔJ = +2 and x-type transitions were observed in the chirped-pulse Fourier transform microwave spectrum of two conformations of cyclopropylchloromethyldifluorosilane. Many of these transitions arise from a handful of mixed states and mechanisms are proposed through which these transitions become weakly allowed. Observations of electric dipole forbidden, quadrupole allowed transitions in rotational spectra are unusual for molecules which contain a chlorine nucleus owing to the small quadrupole moment of ³⁵Cl and ³⁷Cl; thus, we believe we are the first to observe x-type transitions arising from perturbations caused by …

Full Core Fuel Burnup Assessment Of The Itu Triga Mark Ii Research Reactor Using Gamma Spectroscopy, Z. Boduroglu, A. Kaya, O. Erbay, I. A. Reyhancan, M. S. Kiziltas, T. Akyurek

Nuclear Engineering and Radiation Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

This study investigates the burnup distribution of fuel elements in the ITU TRIGA Mark II research reactor core through gamma spectroscopy using¹³⁷Cs as a burnup indicator. Non-Destructive Assay (NDA) techniques were employed to analyze fuel depletion, utilizing a specialized fuel investigation system installed above the reactor pool. The results indicate that the highest burnup values, exceeding 5 %, were concentrated in the inner core rings (B and C) due to intense neutron flux exposure, while the outer rings (D, E, F) exhibited lower burnup levels. To address this asymmetric distribution, a proposed fuel reshuffling strategy was analyzed, aiming …

An Improved United-Atom Potential For Molecular Dynamics Simulation Of Saturated Properties Of N-Alkanes, Wazih Tausif, Jordan Hartfield, Alex George, Zhi Liang

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Multiple united-atom (UA) potential models have been developed in the literature to reproduce experimental saturated properties of n-alkanes using Monte Carlo simulations. When these UA potentials are employed in molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, MD simulations often give relatively poor predictions of saturated properties of n-alkanes, particularly the saturated vapor densities, due to the challenges in accurate calculation of long-range intermolecular forces beyond the cutoff distance in an inhomogeneous system. In this work, a new set of UA Lennard-Jones (LJ) interaction parameters for n-alkanes is proposed to reproduce the saturated properties, including saturated liquid and vapor densities (ρ_f and ρ …

Recent Advances Toward Damage-Tolerant 3d-Printed Titanium Alloys: Alloy Design Perspective, Saeid Alipour, Arezoo Emdadi, Ju Li

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Twenty-year uninterrupted endeavor of titanium alloys printing has opened up a new paradigm in metal additive manufacturing (AM) to fabricate engineering components with required strength–density–corrosion combinations. Despite the remarkable advances in titanium AM, controlling the grain structure to print the parts with engineered microstructures, tailored mechanical properties, and minimum anomalies remains challenging. Numerous approaches have been implemented to address this challenge, such as printing parameter control, post-AM heat treatments, and thermomechanical processing. In addition to the aforementioned conventional approaches, novel techniques have been proposed that require employing hybrid manufacturing or developing the printer itself. One of the novel pathways in …

Heterogeneous Catalysis Of Large Biomolecules: Insights From Platinum Particle Size In Nad+Regeneration, Jianwei Li, Samuel Robertshaw, Shouying Huang, Shelley D. Minteer, Xiaodong Wang

Chemistry Faculty Research & Creative Works

Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD⁺) cofactor regeneration is essential for enabling dehydrogenase-promoted biosynthesis for value-added chemicals. Heterogeneous catalytic cofactor regeneration, using supported metal catalysts, is an emerging approach and has shown great promise. However, mechanistic insight remains largely unexplored. In this work, a series of silica-supported platinum (Pt) catalysts have been prepared for NAD⁺ cofactor regeneration, to understand the roles of Pt particle size and structure. A turnover frequency (TOF) 'volcano plot' was obtained for Pt clusters in the range of 2.2–7.1 nm, with the maximum TOF (136 h⁻¹) observed at 5.6 nm. Selective Pt site …

Ultrasonic Extraction-Based Analysis Of Persistent Organic Pollutants In Blubber From False Killer Whales, Michael O. Eze, Eva Borras, Mitchell M. Mccartney, Don R. Bergfelt, Kristi L. West, Sarah E. Hooper, Cristina E. Davis

Chemistry Faculty Research & Creative Works

In view of the toxic effects of persistent organic pollutants (POPs), fast and effective assessment of their concentrations in marine mammals is important for understanding individual and population-level health impacts. This study developed an ultrasonic-based method that is less time-consuming, uses minimal solvent, and thus is more sustainable than the gold standard Soxhlet method for accurate analysis of organochlorine pesticides (OCs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and benzene hexachlorides (BHC) in false killer whale blubber. This method was developed by comparing concentrations of POPs obtained using the traditional Soxhlet and novel ultrasonic extraction methods using blubber from false killer whales (n = …

Energetics Analysis Of Solitary Waves Using A Multi-Layer Model, Hunter Boswell, Frank D. Han, Guirong Yan, Wouter Mostert

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This study investigates the performance of a vertically-Lagrangian multi-layer model on numerically simulating shoaling and breaking two-dimensional solitary waves during both the breaking and post-breaking processes. The energy dissipation of the breaking event for the multi-layer waves is analyzed and compared to prior direct numerical simulation work with the same bathymetric and wave cases. It shows very similar data collapse to shallow-water inertial theory. For post-breaking behavior, bore characteristics are compared to an experimental study of bores formed from breaking solitary waves and similar results are found. While the multi-layer method was not found to behave sufficiently well for direct …

Synergistic V2ctₓ Mxene–Pani Hybrid With Expanded Interlayers For Ultrastable And High-Rate Pseudocapacitive Energy Storage, Amideddin Nouralishahi, Maryam Sharifi Paroushi, Mansour Razavi, Amarachi Clare Nnachor, Harish Singh, Manashi Nath

Chemistry Faculty Research & Creative Works

Recently, MXene-conducting polymer hybrids have emerged as promising electrode materials for sustainable energy storage applications, owing to their impressive electrochemical properties. Herein, we report the synthesis of vanadium carbide MXene nanoparticles (V2CT_x-MXene) using innovative Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS) technology followed by exfoliation steps. The V2CT_x nanoparticles were incorporated with PANI (MXene-PANI) by electrochemical polymerization of aniline monomers in the presence of V2CT_x nanolayers, to be used as a highly efficient material for charge storage application. PANI nanofibers form a conductive and porous architecture, which intercalates the V2CT_x nanoflakes. The resulting structure increases the interlayer spacing …

Influence Of Co2 Curing On Carbonation Depth, Phase Composition, And Micro-Mechanical Properties Of Fbc Ash-Blended Cementitious Materials, Heejung Jun, Seongho Han, Sanghwon Wi, Jinyoung Yoon

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This study investigates the physicochemical and mechanical performance of cementitious composites incorporating fluidized bed combustion (FBC) ash under accelerated carbon dioxide (CO₂) curing. FBC ash, due to its high contents of free calcium oxide (CaO) and sulfate (SO₃), has been reported to cause challenges, such as volume instability and lower early-age strength. To address these limitations, CO2 curing was applied to promote accelerated carbonation and stabilize the hydration products. Cement paste and mortar samples, made with up to 40 % by cement weight replacement with FBC ash (labelled CF), were subjected to either CO₂ curing …

Insight Into The Decalcification Mechanism Of Calcium Silicate Hydrate Under A Water–Heat–Salt Environment, Wei Zhang, Boya Zhang, Jia Sun, Juntao Dang, Xiangke Guo, Keliang Li, Bo Tao Huang, Biqin Dong, Hongyan Ma, Dongshuai Hou

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Understanding the decalcification mechanism of calcium silicate hydrate (C–S–H) under marine environments is crucial for concrete durability. In this study, the decalcification behavior of C–S–H under a water–heat–salt environment was systematically investigated through immersion experiments and reactive molecular dynamics simulations. Experimental results showed that elevated temperature and NaCl solution significantly accelerated Ca leaching and reduced the Ca/Si ratio of C–S–H. Simulation results further revealed that both high temperature and NaCl reduce the dissolution free energy of Ca, making its release more thermodynamically and kinetically favorable. Local structure analysis indicated that Cl^– disrupts Ca–Os (O atoms in silicate tetrahedra) connection …

Robust And High-Efficiency Demodulation Of Ultra-Weak Fbg Arrays In Ofdr-Based Distributed Sensing, Zhaopeng Zhang, Yuxuan Cao, Xu Liu, Dingcheng Wang, Bo Liu, Chen Zhu

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A robust and high-efficiency demodulation scheme for optical frequency domain reflectometry (OFDR) based ultra-weak fiber Bragg grating (UWFBG) array detection system, originating from the Buneman frequency estimation (BFE) algorithm, is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. Due to the current limitations and imperfections of FBG inscription technology, the quasi-continuous inscription approach, along with its less-than-ideal outcomes, gives rise to problems of grating spectrum splitting and spectral distortion during the grating demodulation process. This renders the traditional approach of directly applying the BFE algorithm for grating demodulation ineffective, despite its significant enhancement of demodulation efficiency. To address this issue, we propose utilizing the …

Rogue Waves In Extended Gross-Pitaevskii Models With A Lee-Huang-Yang Correction, Sathyanarayanan Chandramouli, S. I. Mistakidis, G. C. Katsimiga, D. J. Ratliff, D. J. Frantzeskakis, P. G. Kevrekidis

Physics Faculty Research & Creative Works

We explore the existence and dynamical generation of rogue waves (RWs) within a one-dimensional quantum droplet-bearing environment. RWs are computed by deploying a space-time fixed point scheme to the relevant extended Gross-Pitaevskii equation (eGPE). Parametric regions where the ensuing RWs are different from their counterparts in the nonlinear Schrödinger equation are identified. To corroborate the controllable generation—relevant to ultracold atom experiments—of these rogue patterns, we exploit two different protocols. The first is based on interfering dam break flows emanating from Riemann initial conditions, and the second refers to the gradient catastrophe of a spatially localized waveform. A multitude of possible …

Datamut: Deterministic Algorithms For Time-Delay Attack Detection In Multi-Hop Uav Networks, Keiwan Soltani, Federico Corò, Punyasha Chatterjee, Sajal K. Das

Computer Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), also known as drones, have gained popularity in various fields such as agriculture, emergency response, and search and rescue operations. UAV networks are susceptible to potential security threats, such as wormhole attacks, jamming, spoofing, and false data injection. Time-Delay Attack (TDA) is a unique attack in which malicious UAVs intentionally delay packet forwarding, posing significant threats, especially in time-sensitive applications. It is challenging to distinguish malicious delay from benign network delay due to the dynamic nature of UAV networks, intermittent wireless connectivity, or the Store-Carry-Forward (SCF) mechanism during multi-hop communication. Some existing works propose machine learning-based …

Pciafl: Personalized And Class Imbalance-Aware Federated Learning For Driver Behavior Classification, Osho Osho, Shubh Garg, Suchetana Chakraborty, Sajal K. Das

Computer Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

Automated understanding of driver behavior from vehicular kinematics is vital for safety-aware intelligent transportation systems. However, centralized cloud processing suffers from latency, scalability, and privacy issues. Federated Learning (FL) provides a decentralized alternative but faces two major challenges: (i) non-IID client data due to heterogeneous driving styles and sensors, and (ii) severe class imbalance, as risky behaviors are inherently rare. In this work, we propose a personalized FL framework that uses a shared CNN-LSTM backbone with client-adaptive classifiers and incorporates a cost-sensitive loss to address behavior skew. Evaluated on the UAH-DriveSet dataset, our method achieves 92.60% accuracy and 91.68% macro-F1, …

Rescue: Routing Under Evolving Stochastic Congestion And Uncertain Spread In Wildfire Emergencies, Sowjanya Tammali, Arindam Khanda, Anurag Satpathy, S. M. Shovan, Sajal K. Das

Computer Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

Wildfires cause unpredictable spread and panic-driven congestion, posing severe challenges to evacuation planning. We present RESCUE (Routing under Evolving Stochastic Congestion and Uncertain Spread in Wildfire Emergencies), a dynamic, risk-aware framework that models the road network as a time-varying weighted graph. RESCUE operates in two stages: (i) a preprocessing phase integrating fire forecasts, traffic density, and distance to assign edge weights, and (ii) a real-time routing phase that adaptively updates paths using a multi-granular strategy distinguishing macro-level disruptions (e.g., rapid spread) from micro-level changes (e.g., local congestion). Two stochastic edge-cost functions are introduced: the Edge-Fire Risk Function (EFRF), estimating road …

Enhanced Superconductivity And Vortex Dynamics In Quasi-1d Tas2 Nanowires, Mathew Pollard, Visakha Ho, Clarissa Wisner, Eric W. Bohannan, Yew San Hor

Chemistry Faculty Research & Creative Works

We report the synthesis of high-quality 2H-TaS₂ nanowires via a controlled two-step conversion process from TaS₃ precursors, achieving robust superconductivity with a transition temperature T c ≈ 3.6K, which is significantly higher than bulk 2H-TaS₂ (T c ≈ 0.8K). Structural and compositional analyses confirm phase purity and preserved one-dimensional morphology, while magneto transport measurements reveal an enhanced upper critical field μ 0 H c2 (2K)≈5 T, far exceeding the bulk value (_μ0H_c2 (0)≈1.17T), attributed to dimensional confinement and suppression of charge-density wave order. Magnetic characterization demonstrates complex vortex dynamics, including flux jumps and a …

Consumer Responses To Ethical And Privacy Concerns In Ai Chatbots: Evidence From Offensive Language, Gender Bias, And Digital Privacy, Jikhan Jeong

Economics Faculty Research & Creative Works

Due to the rapid innovation of artificial intelligence (AI) and big data, AI chatbots have become increasingly influential computational social systems (CSS) in everyday life. However, the expansion of interactions between AI chatbots and consumers has raised significant ethical and privacy concerns. Using data from an online survey, this study empirically examines how consumer concerns about AI ethics and privacy influence their intention to use AI chatbots. These concerns are categorized into three types: 1) offensive language (generated by AI chatbots or users); 2) gender-biased language (from either source); and 3) digital privacy violations. The findings suggest that prior experience …

A Literature Review And Conceptual Framework For Sustainability In Open-Pit Mine Planning, Raymond Kudzawu-D'Pherdd, Kwame Awuah-Offei, Esteban Koberg De La Cruz, Marcos Goycoolea, Andrea Brickey, Alexandra M. Newman

Mining Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This paper presents a comprehensive literature review and a conceptual framework for integrating environmental sustainability into strategic mine planning, focusing on open pits. Despite growing interest, easily discernible sustainability metrics remain elusive in early mine-planning stages, and are included as a post-processing step, if at all, rather than integrated a priori into a mine plan via, e.g., optimization. Through a literature review, we identify efforts regarding how environmental dimensions, such as emissions, water use, and land rehabilitation, are addressed across mine planning phases. We propose the Environmental Stewardship and Sustainability Framework for Mine Planning, which: (i) embeds sustainability into decision …

Meshless Collocation Methods For Time-Dependent Nonlocal Problems Based On Radial Basis Functions, Qiao Zhuang, Yanzhi Zhang, Zhongqiang Zhang

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Research & Creative Works

We present radial basis function (RBF) collocation methods for time-dependent space fractional problems on general bounded domains. Building on a recently developed approach for accurately computing the integral fractional Laplacian of any RBF, we design collocation schemes for fractional heat and Stokes equations using extended-domain techniques. In particular, we propose a numerical Leray projection method for fractional Stokes problems, where both the discrete projection operator and the collocation scheme are formulated on extended domains to handle complex domains. Numerical results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed methods in solving time-dependent nonlocal problems on complex domains.

January 2026 Cafe Newsletter - Special Events Edition, Missouri University Of Science And Technology

CAFE Faculty Newsletters

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A Coupled Thermo-Hydraulic Transfer Model For Soil Freezing, Antai Dong, Xiong Zhang

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Frost heave is a common challenge in cold regions, threatening infrastructure stability. Despite decades of research, numerical simulation remains difficult due to the complex nature of coupled processes. This study presents a coupled thermo-hydraulic model for soil freezing, developed within the framework of unsaturated soil mechanics. The model uses suction and temperature as primary variables and incorporates a method to estimate ice content. It employs a soil freezing characteristic surface (SFCS), previously developed in related work, to calculate unfrozen water content as a function of both suction and temperature in partially frozen soils. The model is implemented in COMSOL for …

The Effect Of Reviewer Heterogeneity Between One-Time And Multi-Review Reviewers, Price Sentiment, And Pre-Purchase Information On Star Ratings For Amazon Subscription Boxes, Jikhan Jeong

Economics Faculty Research & Creative Works

This study examines the presence, prevalence, and negative polarity of one-time reviewers compared to those who have left multiple reviews across all categories, based on an analysis of 571,544,746 Amazon product reviews. Since sellers and consumers may be interested in specific products relevant to their business or purchasing interests within a category rather than across all categories, this research focuses on the Subscription Boxes category for econometric analysis. This category exhibits an unusual rating distribution, likely presents fewer incentives for promotional reviews, and faces fewer constraints. However, price data is unavailable in this category. Therefore, this study develops price sentiment …

Soil Freezing Characteristic Surface For Partially Frozen Soils, Antai Dong, Xiong Zhang, Ming Xiao

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The soil freezing characteristic curve (SFCC), which relates unfrozen water content to temperature, is a fundamental constitutive relationship in frost heave simulations. However, the influence of soil suction, another critical state variable, is often neglected. This study highlights how the SFCC is significantly affected by suction conditions, with unfrozen water content varying markedly between saturated (suction = 0) and completely dried (suction = ∞) conditions at the same subfreezing temperature. Recognizing this limitation, the concept of the soil freezing characteristic surface (SFCS) is proposed to incorporate the impacts of both temperature and suction on unfrozen water content. After that a …

Managing And Accelerating The Circular Economy Transitions Within The Construction Value Chain Using Network Governance And Game Theory Systems Perspectives, Radwa Eissa, Islam H. El-Adaway

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The fragmented nature of the construction industry has hindered its transition toward circular economy (CE) practices. While game theory (GT) has been successfully applied to support the strategic decisions of CE transitions in other sectors, CE-GT models in the construction domain remain extremely limited. This paper addresses two research questions: (1) how are CE network governance activities currently modeled using GT across domains? (2) How can such models be transferred and adapted to solve strategic interactions within the construction value chain in a manner that enables CE practices to emerge as equilibrium outcomes? These questions are driven by the need …