Digital Commons Network^™

Optimal Slotting In Hybrid Warehousing For Industry 4.0, Teng Yang

Masters Theses

In the era of Industry 4.0, the warehouse management system (WMS) employed by many firms prescribes hybrid storage, i.e., products with high turnover, called fast movers, are kept in random storage for a short time duration before being shifted to a dedicated storage area, while products with low turnover, called slow movers, remain in random storage. From dedicated storage, the products are dispatched to the customer. The challenge for managers is selecting the slot in dedicated storage to assign to each product while demand data change because of fluctuating market conditions; this problem is referred to as slotting in the …

Public Preferences And Trade-Offs In Critical Mineral Mining Development In The United States, Bamidele Joseph Ajiga

Masters Theses

Rising demand for battery-critical minerals has increased U.S. mining efforts, but projects often face public opposition. There is limited work on how individuals in affected regions evaluate trade-offs between economic and environmental risks.

This research applies a discrete choice experiment to examine individual preferences for proposed battery-critical minerals mining projects in Missouri, Minnesota, and Idaho. 1908 respondents evaluated hypothetical mining projects defined by jobs, state tax revenue, the proportion of tailings reprocessed, groundwater impacts, and surface water impacts, under gold and silver versus battery-critical mineral framings.

Conditional and mixed logit models were used to assess the importance of attributes, demographic …

Investigating The Dynamic Rating Method: Effects Of Flood Wave Geometry On Discharge Estimation, Daniel James Read

Masters Theses

Rating curves are a vital tool to convert from observed stage to discharge in streamflow monitoring. Most gaging sites utilize a simple rating curve, which assumes a monotonic relationship between stage and discharge. In most cases, this assumption is valid; however, dynamic effects of flood waves often cause significant error in discharge estimation for mildly sloped streams. The dynamic rating method utilizes a numerical solution of the St. Venant Equations applied to time series stage data to compute discharge. Within this method, there is a flood wave parameter called the flood wave factor. The researchers designed a formal computational model …

Calcium Based Carbon Negative Fillers And Additives: Effects On Hydration And Performance Of Low-Carbon Cement Systems, Smita Bhowmick Shithi

Masters Theses

Cement production is a major source of global CO₂ emissions creating an urgent need for carbon-negative fillers and functional additives that lower clinker use while maintaining cement performance. This thesis investigates the effects of organic mineral salts as fillers and additives on cement hydration, fresh properties, compressive strength and pore structure. In the first study, ordinary Portland cement (OPC) was partially replaced with calcium carbonate or calcium oxalate to enable a direct comparison under controlled particle size distribution (PSD). Rheology, flowability, hydration kinetics, phase evolution, mechanical performance and water absorption were evaluated. Calcium carbonate promoted early hydration through nucleation and …

Developing Discharge Estimation Algorithm Using Low-Cost Velocity Sensor And Machine Learning, Barkha Gautam

Masters Theses

Accurate river discharge estimation is essential for flood forecasting, water resources management, and hydraulic decision-making; however, continuous discharge records are unavailable at many river locations. Traditional stage-discharge rating curves are widely used but their reliability may decrease when channel conditions change or flow conditions vary rapidly. This study develops and evaluates Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) models for discharge prediction using 15-minute time-series data from river monitoring stations in Missouri. Two model configurations, a baseline stage-only model and an enhanced stage-plus-velocity model, are developed and evaluated independently at two river sites to determine whether the inclusion of surface velocity improves discharge …

Examination Of Laser Microwelding As A Technique For The Repair Of Steel Castings, Allan John Woldow

Masters Theses

"Metal castings have long been plagued with minor defects caused by various process and design conditions. Commonly, minor defects are not seen until after machining operations have been completed, and by the time they are identified, they cannot be salvaged in a manner that is structurally sound and does not have other detrimental effects on the product. Detrimental effects may include warping from high heat input in traditional welding, warping from reheat treatment, oxidation of machined surfaces, microstructural anomalies, and reduced mechanical properties. Micro laser welding has the potential to provide a solution to these issues by providing a low …

Specialty Glass Fibers For Optical Applications, Theodore Carver Lewis

Masters Theses

"Fibers were draw from melts of a commercial Na-aluminosilicate for ion-exchange treatments. A process was developed to draw 100-meters of fiber with a diameter of 100±10m. The fibers were sectioned for ion exchange treatments. SEM analysis showed an ion penetration depth of 45um after 4 hours of ion exchange in a 400°C KNO3 salt bath. The pristine and ion-exchanged fibers were characterized by a two-point bend test in room temperature air with controlled relative humidity (RH) and faceplate velocities between 100 and 4000 μm/s to characterize fatigue effects. Pristine fibers tested in air (40% RH) at 4000 μm/s had failure …

Validating A Low-Cost Radio Frequency Characterization Framework For Development-Grade Software-Defined Radios In Short-Duration Cubesat Missions, Thomas Wayne Francois

Masters Theses

Software-defined radios (SDRs) and CubeSat platforms have reduced the cost and complexity of space-based communication systems, enabling broader participation in satellite missions. While low-cost radio hardware is increasingly accessible, the ability to characterize and validate its performance remains constrained by the high cost and limited access to traditional RF test equipment. This disparity creates a challenge for small satellite development teams, which must characterize communication-system technical performance with limited access to laboratory-grade instrumentation.

This thesis presents a low-cost RF characterization framework for assessing key radio-frequency performance metrics using readily available hardware and measurement techniques. The approach integrates frequency translation, SDR-based …

Aura-Visionpose: Creating Datasets For Vision-Based Pose Estimation, Mohanad Alameer

Masters Theses

"Spacecraft rendezvous is an integral part of many orbital missions, including active space debris removal (ADR) and in-orbit servicing, assembly, and manufacturing (ISAM). Traditionally, rendezvous missions rely mainly on manual ground-based control to perform rendezvous and docking. While this can be effective on an individual basis, it becomes less practical at scale. Autonomous vision-based methods can reduce reliance on human control, and may improve scalability, response time, and reduce the possibility of human error for both ADR and ISAM. This work lays the necessary groundwork for developing a machine learning (ML) model for autonomous rendezvous by creating a labeled image …

Near-Field Scan Method For Radiated Susceptibility Analysis And The Design And Optimization Of A Miniaturized Spiral Antenna For Ultra-Wideband Applications, Mckennan Edward Starkey

Masters Theses

"The work presented in this thesis consists of two separate topics. The first topic is a new method for the characterization of radiated susceptibility of electronic devices, while the second topic is on antenna design. The first topic proposes an approach to experimentally determine locations within an electronic system that are well coupled to external far-field radiators. This method is performed by using a differential magnetic field probe to sweep across the target device while measuring the total radiated power (TRP) produced by the device in a mode stirred tent. Scan locations where the TRP is larger than the background …

Design For Extrusion-Based Additive Manufacturing: Generation Of Guidelines For Ceramics With Comparison To Thermoplastics, Hollis Hervey Waites

Masters Theses

"Design for Additive Manufacturing (DfAM) has made much progress for polymer material extrusion processes (MEX-P), like Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM), but very little progress for ceramic MEX processes (MEX-C) like Direct Ink Writing (DIW). This thesis leverages MEX-P design guidelines to create an initial set of design guidelines for DIW. FDM and DIW processes and material properties are compared, and the effect of these factors on the differences in rules is discussed. Five design guidelines are identified as applying to all MEX. For three of these, an exact limit for DIW of alumina is studied: minimum corner radius in the …

Transformer-Based Language Models For Bitcoin Market Prediction And Interpretation, Erich Gozebina

Masters Theses

"In the context of a Master's thesis in applied mathematics, this work investigates compact transformer-based language models as an instrument for Bitcoin-related predictions and decision support. The work connects three topics: the structure of the Bitcoin system and its data, the mathematical and algorithmic foundations of deep autoregressive transformers, and the design of practical training pipelines for financial applications. On this foundation, a reproducible ETL pipeline for Bitcoin data is developed and two forecasting experiments are conducted with the compact language model nanochat. The first experiment approaches the prediction of next-day price movements through autoregressive next-token generation based on structured …

Characterizing A Delay-Programmable Two-Color Femtosecond Light Source For Coherent Control Of Atomic Multi-Photon Ionization Processes, Mason Tanner Toombs

Masters Theses

"In this work a delay-programmable two-color femtosecond laser based on a chirped-seed noncollinear optical parametric amplifier was characterized. This design utilizes a titanium-sapphire crystal oscillator to generate broadband pulses of light spanning approximately 600-1200 nm, with a pulse duration of ~5 fs, repetition rate of 80 MHz, and pulse energy of ~2.5 nJ. An infrared portion of the light, spanning approximately 1020-1060 nm, is split off from the pulse and used to generate a pump beam. By dispersing the remaining seed beam and controlling the relative timing delay between the seed and the pump, tunable frequencies within the seed can …

Castrip Process Technology: Non-Grain Oriented (Ngo) Si Steels Extension And Carbide-Free Bainitic (Cfb) For Flat Products, Naram Naidu Meesala

Masters Theses

"This research explores the development of advanced steel grades manufactured through Castrip® twin-roll thin strip casting technology, with particular attention to non-grain-oriented electrical Si-Steels (NGOES) and carbide-free bainitic (CFB) steels. The Castrip® process offers a near-net-shape route for producing thin steel strips, which greatly decreases the number of processing stages, lowers energy demand, and reduces carbon dioxide emissions when compared with traditional steel production methods.

In the NGOES part of the study, several industrial Fe–Si steel compositions were cold rolled to final thicknesses ranging from 0.35 mm to 0.15 mm. These materials were then exposed to short-duration continuous annealing at …

Structured Decomposition And Efficient Adaptation For Scientific Data Movement: From Transfer Concurrency To Genomic Data Acquisition, Rasman Mubtasim Swargo

Masters Theses

"The end-to-end performance of scientific data movement is increasingly limited not by raw network capacity but by whichever resource along the path is momentarily slowest, a bottleneck that no single static configuration can track. This thesis argues that the right response is to decompose each problem along the resource or workflow axis where bottlenecks vary, adapt only the genuinely dynamic control variables at runtime, and make that adaptation efficient through utility-guided or offline-learned control rather than expensive online search. The thesis develops this principle through four systems of widening scope. AutoMDT decomposes a transfer by operation, assigning separate concurrency levels …

Optical Fiber Eaf Refactory Lining Temperature Monitoring For Safety And Operating Efficiency, Manoj Kumar Pullagura

Masters Theses

"Electric arc furnace (EAF) sidewalls experience severe thermal, chemical, and mechanical loading, especially near burner and injector regions where refractory wear and water ingress from damaged cooling components pose safety risks. Conventional thermocouples and resistance temperature detectors provide reliable point measurements but lack the spatial resolution needed to capture steep gradients and localized anomalies. This research investigates embedded optical fiber sensors for high-resolution temperature monitoring of EAF refractory safety linings to support early water-leak detection and assessment of refractory thermal behavior. A combined Rayleigh backscattering-based optical frequency domain reflectometry (OFDR) and fiber Bragg grating (FBG) approach was evaluated through laboratory …

Moth Assemblages Of Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, Kimberly Anne Steese

Masters Theses

"Moths (Lepidoptera) are ecologically important insects that function as herbivores, pollinators, prey resources, and indicators of ecosystem integrity. Despite their ecological significance, moth communities in the Missouri Ozarks remain poorly documented, particularly within military-managed landscapes. This thesis examined patterns of moth diversity, assemblage structure, and environmental drivers at Fort Leonard Wood (FLW), Missouri, while also assessing the distribution and genetic diversity of species within the genus Papaipema.

Field surveys were conducted from 2019 through 2021 across prairie, savanna, forest, and restoration habitats at FLW using UV bucket traps, sheet trapping, and targeted larval surveys. Across all sampling efforts, 29,116 individual …

Fpga-Based Data Processing Using High-Level Synthesis On The Antarctic Demonstrator For The Advanced Particle-Astrophysics Telescope (Adapt), Marion Sudvarg, Marion Sudvarg, Longhao Huang, Boran Yang, Blake Bal, Roger Chamberlain, Jeremy Buhler, Leonardo Di Venere, Leonardo Di Venere, Davide Serini, James Buckley, Matthew Andrew, Blake Bal, Elisabetta E. Bissaldi, Richard G. Bose, Dana Braun, James H. Buckley, Jeremy Buhler

Computer Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

FPGAs are widely deployed on high-energy astrophysics telescopes to read out sensor data from front-end electronics. To support continuous data streams or high trigger rates, FPGA logic may be employed to process raw sensor readout values, reducing the volume of data transmitted, processed, and stored by downstream CPU-based computational platforms. Across instruments, these FPGA-based processing pipelines often have similar semantics and share common stages. However, diverse telescope designs require unique implementations of the constituent algorithms, and the logic is often rewritten from scratch for a new instrument. Writing, simulating, and debugging firmware is difficult and time consuming. However, High-Level Synthesis …

Real-Time Likelihood Map Generation To Localize Short-Duration Gamma-Ray Transients, Jeremy Buhler, Marion Sudvarg

Computer Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

High-energy transient astrophysical phenomena, such as supernovae and binary neutron star mergers, benefit from a multi-wavelength investigation in which a space- or balloon-based omnidirectional telescope detects and localizes early high-energy emissions (such as a gamma-ray burst), then alerts a narrow-field follow-up instrument to observe the source. The high-energy telescope must provide a map that assigns to each sky location a likelihood that the source appears there. To issue prompt alerts despite limits on communication bandwidth and latency, it is desirable to compute this map aboard the high-energy telescope, but doing so requires rapid response while computing under stringent size, weight, …

Performance Modeling And Improvements On The Grb Source Localization Streaming Pipeline Aboard The Antarctic Demonstrator For The Advanced Particle-Astrophysics Telescope (Adapt), Ye Htet, Ye Htet, Marion Sudvarg, Marion Sudvarg, Honghao Yang, Jeremy Buhler, Roger Chamberlain, Wenlei Chen, Wenlei Chen, James Buckley, Matthew Andrew, Blake Bal, Elisabetta E. Bissaldi, Richard G. Bose, Dana Braun, James H. Buckley, Jeremy Buhler, Eric Burns

Computer Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

The Advanced Particle-astrophysics Telescope (APT) is a mission concept for a space-based gamma-ray telescope whose capabilities include prompt localization of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) to support multi-wavelength and multi-messenger astrophysics. ADAPT — APT's balloon-borne prototype — can localize GRBs in well under a second using on-board computing hardware. ADAPT will partner with ground-based, fast-slewing optical telescopes, rapidly providing alerts that enable the partner to observe a short-duration burst within a few seconds of detection. In this work, we investigate the utility of having ADAPT issue progressively more accurate location estimates for a GRB as detected Compton events from the burst accumulate …

Tunable Phase-Change Metasurfaces Coupled With Mid-Infrared Molecular Vibrations, Haotian Tang, Liliana Stan, David A. Czaplewski, Xiaodong Yang, Jie Gao

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Chiral optical meta surfaces have emerged as a promising platform in coupling with molecular vibrational fingerprints through the enhanced light-matter interaction under different circularly polarized light illumination. This work reports the mode coupling between the mid-infrared phonon vibrations of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) molecules, and the thermally tunable chiral meta surfaces based on the phase-change material Ge₂Sb₂Te₅ (GST-225). Phase-change chiral meta surfaces with high circular dichroism (CD) in absorption and tunable plasmonic resonance in the frequency range of 48-56 THz are demonstrated, which covers the phonon vibrational frequency of PMMA molecules at 52 THz. The mode splitting features are observed in …

Engineered Multifunctional Drug-Loaded Dendrimer Nanoparticles For Glaucoma: Triple Mechanism Via Antioxidant Activity, Iron Chelation, And Enhanced Ocular Transport, Burhan Ates, Ashish Trital, Vimalin Jeyalatha Mani, Lei Xu, Jonathan Kenlee, Nuran Ercal, Hu Yang

Chemistry Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this study, we developed multifunctional nanoparticles based on polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimers functionalized with caffeic acid (CA) and poly (ethylene glycol) maleimide (PEGM) for the topical delivery of hydrophobic antiglaucoma drugs brimonidine (BM) and betaxolol (BX). The PAMAM-CA and PAMAM-CA-PEGM conjugates exhibited antioxidant and iron-chelating activities in a dose-dependent manner. BM- and BX-loaded dendrimer nanoparticles produced using a multi-inlet vortex mixer showed uniform spherical morphology (∼80 nm by TEM) and hydrated sizes of ∼135-144 nm by DLS. Both nano formulations demonstrated high cytocompatibility with human corneal epithelial cells and were nonirritant in the HET-CAM assay, with PEGM further improving cytocompatibility. …

Micro/Nanomechanical Properties Of Top-Seeded Melt Grown Ybco Single Crystals Determined Using Depth Sensing Indentation, Ugur Kolemen, Cafer Mert Yesilkanat, Fikret Yilmaz, Fatih Dogan, Orhan Uzun

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Mechanical properties of the bulk YBa2Cu3O7-x (YBCO) single crystal superconductor, prepared by using the Top Seeded Melt Growth (TSMG) method, were determined. Property measurements were conducted by the nanoindentation method under various loads and the micro indentation method at different temperatures. Hardness (H) and reduced elastic modulus (Er) values were calculated by using the Oliver–Pharr method. According to hf/h max values found from load- displacement curves, there is a sink in behavior around outer rim of the indents that was confirmed by atomic force microscopy (AFM) analysis. Nanoindentation analyses conducted on upper section, middle section and subsection revealed that all …

Application Of Natural Language Processing And Machine Learning For Analyzing Mining Accident Reports And Automating The Process Of Root Cause Analysis, Siddhartha Agarwal, Y. P. Chugh, Atul Singh, Vikram Sakinala, Ayan Mukherjee, Balbir Prasad, Cihan Dagli, Yuhao Zou

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Coal mining accidents are a major concern worldwide, necessitating effective safety measures and comprehensive analysis to prevent future accidents. Our proposed solution is the first attempt for Indian mines, inspired by the potential of Natural Language Processing (NLP) that can read and analyze vast repositories of accident records in seconds. In combination with machine learning (ML), NLP algorithms can extract unstructured text by eliminating manual data entry errors, reading poorly scanned reports, and understanding multiple versions of the event and cluster documents based on types that would otherwise take months to collate. In the case of accident records, it can …

Local Hydrodynamics And Phase Distribution In Large-Scale Trickle Bed Reactors Using Multi-Detector Γ-Ray Densitometry, Sebastián Uribe, Ahmed Jasim, Saba A. Gheni, Nora Selem, Nouhaila Filali, Tiberiu M. Leib, Sourav Sengupta, Muthanna H. Al-Dahhan

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This study presents a new approach of using gamma ray computed tomography (CT) in a form of arc multi-detector γ-Ray Densitometry (Arc MD-GRD) Technique where it measures the line averaged holdups of the phases which are projected on the diameter of the column to obtain their diameter profiles. This technique then was used to investigate the diameter profiles of the phases' holdups in a 12-inch diameter trickle bed reactor (TBR) using sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) as the gas phase to represent to a certain extent the industrial higher density of the used gas phase due to either the type of the …

Draft Genome Sequences Of Four Phosphate-Solubilizing Microbes Of The Family Burkholderiaceae Isolated From Tailings From The Former Pea Ridge Mine In Washington County, Mo, Usa, Prince Oppong Amoh, Abiodun E. Idowu, Elizabeth R. Grube, Melanie R. Mormile, Hunter W. Schroer

Biological Sciences Faculty Research & Creative Works

We present draft genome sequences of four Gram-negative phosphate-solubilizing microbes isolated from Pea Ridge Mine tailings in Missouri, USA. Belonging to the family Burkholderiaceae, these isolates exhibit a phosphate-mineral-dissolving phenotype in liquid and solid cultures. Genome sizes span 5.6–9.7 Mb, with GC contents of 61.6%–67.0%.

Identifying Influential Assets In Higher Order Interdependent Infrastructure Networks Through Population Impact, Akshat Chulahwat, Emad M. Hassan, Mersedeh Tariverdi, Miguel Nunez-Del-Prado, Hussam Mahmoud

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A significant increase in catastrophic events worldwide has had a disastrous impact on the built environment, as these disruptive events devastate critical infrastructure lifelines, resulting in a substantial reduction of services across a community. Management of critical infrastructure assets is essential, and this can be achieved by optimal resource allocation to key assets within interconnected systems. The majority of current literature focuses on capturing the behavior of infrastructure systems individually, which presents a computational problem when dealing with complex, interdependent infrastructure systems. In this study, a comprehensive framework to evaluate a type of influence metric for ranking node and edge …

Evaluating Crumb Rubber Modified (Crm) Asphalt As A Sustainable Binder Alternative For High-Friction Surface Treatments, Abdallah Aboelela, Alireza Roshan, Magdy Abdelrahman

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

High-friction surface treatments (HFSTs) are widely applied to improve pavement safety by enhancing long-term skid resistance. Although epoxy resins are commonly used due to their strength and durability, their high cost, susceptibility to delamination, incompatibility with substrates of flexible pavements, and adverse environmental concerns limit their long-term performance. This study presents crumb rubber modified (CRM) asphalt as a sustainable alternative binder for HFST applications. CRM binders offer high performance and compatibility with existing pavement surfaces, cost effectiveness and reduced environmental impacts as compared to epoxy binders. In addition, the binder development utilizes enhanced recycling technologies for interacting with used tire …

Investigating The Correlation And Synergy Of Artificial Intelligence Techniques, Construction Technologies, And Their Key Benefits, Fareed Salih, Islam H. El-Adaway

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Despite its reputation as one of the least digitized sectors, the construction industry increasingly adopts artificial intelligence (AI) and construction technologies. However, previous research has not adequately explored the benefits of AI techniques and construction technologies nor the correlations between them. This study aims to fill this knowledge gap. To this end, the authors used a multistep research methodology. First, a systematic literature review of studies published between 1985 and 2022 was conducted to identify AI techniques and construction technologies. Second, content and frequency analysis were performed to determine the benefits associated with AI and technology adoption. Finally, a survey …

Friction And Texture Evaluation Of Asphalt-Based Binders As Alternatives To Epoxy-Based High-Friction Surface Treatments, Alireza Roshan, Magdy Abdelrahman

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

High-friction surface treatment (HFST) is a safety-focused pavement treatment that restores and maintains pavement friction to reduce road accidents. Traditional epoxy-based HFSTs, while widely used, face challenges such as high costs, potential compatibility issues with the substrate pavement, and long-term durability under specific conditions. This study investigates asphalt-based alternative HFST, which is compatible with various pavement types and cost-effective and versatile solutions for a wider range of pavement applications. Performance and friction testing, including the British pendulum test, British wheel test, and dynamic friction test, were performed to examine the coefficient of friction (COF) before and after polishing with a …