Digital Commons Network^™

Transition Metal Chalcogenide As Multifunctional Biosenser To Detect Neurochemicals, Amitav Sen

Miners Solving for Tomorrow Research Conference

The development of highly sensitive real-time sensing platforms for selectively detecting dopamine (DA) and norepinephrine (NE) is of significant clinical importance since these are closely associated with several neurodegenerative disorders. Herein, we report copper telluride (Cu₂Te) nanostructure as a bifunctional electrocatalyst for the simultaneous detection of dopamine and norepinephrine. Cu₂Te exhibits excellent electrocatalytic activity toward both DA and NE oxidation, as demonstrated by detailed electrochemical measurements. High sensitivities of 24 and 40 µA cm⁻² µM⁻¹ for DA and NE, respectively, were obtained with a wide linear detection range of 10–200 nM and low limit of detection (LOD), 31 nM for …

Robust Federated Learning With Strategic Adversaries, Manoj Twarakavi

Miners Solving for Tomorrow Research Conference

Federated Learning (FL) leverages the intelligence of untrusted distributed devices through collaborative training. This makes the training process susceptible to malicious behavior. Existing defense mechanisms largely consider an adversary who attacks a proactive FL server without any adaptability. However, they overlook the presence of a strategic adversary. To address this challenge, our work proposes a Robust Game-theoretic framework where the adversary is both strategic and is equipped with the capability of performing large-scale poisoning attacks.

Variational Data Assimilation With Steepest Descent Method For Coupled Time-Dependent Stokes-Darcy Model With Bjsj Interface Condition, Yafang Hei

Miners Solving for Tomorrow Research Conference

Variational data assimilation (VDA) determines the initial condition of a dynamical system by minimizing the mismatch between model predictions and observed data. This work studies VDA for the time-dependent Stokes–Darcy system with the BJSJ interface condition. The problem is formulated as a PDE-constrained optimization problem, and the first-order optimality system is derived using the Gâteaux derivative and adjoint variables. A steepest descent method is applied for efficient computation. Spatial and temporal discretizations are carried out using the finite element method and backward Euler scheme, respectively. Numerical results confirm accuracy and convergence.

Human Intention Prediction Using Cnn And Lstm Networks In Physical Human–Robot Interactions, Khosro Ghorbani Zadeh

Miners Solving for Tomorrow Research Conference

Advances in robotics and artificial intelligence have increased expectations for interactive robots in eldercare and assistive applications. A key challenge in creating safe and effective systems is accurately recognizing human intent and translating it into meaningful commands for robots to follow. Traditional physics-based models often fail to fully represent human force interactions due to their dynamic nature, while neural networks provide a promising alternative for predicting force-movement intentions. Multi-layer perceptrons (MLPs) show potential, however, they struggle with temporal dependencies and generalization. Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) networks and Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) help address these limitations. This study compares these architectures …

Ai-Driven Frameworks For Mitigating Rockfall Hazards, Unstable Ground Condition And Improving Safety In Underground Mine Through Thermal Imaging, Akhrorbek Narmatov

Miners Solving for Tomorrow Research Conference

Scaling, the removal of loose rocks from excavation walls to prevent rockfalls is a critical safety procedure in underground mining operations. Approximately a quarter of fatal mining accidents are due to rockfalls. Detecting unstable rocks during scaling and assessing ground stability remain challenging due to limited visibility, dust, and environmental conditions.

Excavation disturbs the in-situ stress state, causing stress redistribution, fracture propagation, and the formation of discontinuities that lead to loose rock blocks. Ventilation airflow affects heat transfer at exposed surfaces, amplifying temperature contrasts between intact rock and fractured blocks associated with instability.

Current practices rely on manual inspection, requiring …

Scenario-Based Pareto Analysis For Multi-Objective Optimization Of Process Parameters To Improve Life Cycle Impacts: Case Study Of Ge Production, Dennis Dadzie

Miners Solving for Tomorrow Research Conference

Growing demand for critical minerals increases the need for clear evidence on the environmental burdens of their production. Life‑cycle assessment (LCA) quantifies impacts, but it does not by itself show how to navigate competing environmental performance improvement goals. We examine 63 process configurations for single‑crystal germanium made via chlorinated distillation using five indicators: global warming potential (GWP), water consumption (WC), fine particulate matter (FPM), terrestrial acidification (TA), and cumulative energy demand (CED). Across scenarios, WC is negatively correlated with GWP, weakly related to FPM, TA, and CED, while the other four indicators are strongly positively correlated. Pareto analysis highlights a …

2nd Annual Miners Solving For Tomorrow Research Conference - Graduate Schedule, Antai Dong, Connor Bell, Dennis Dadzie, Joshua Gary, Adebayo Olayinka Oke, Deeshani Mitra, Yejun Kim, Josiah Mcdermott, Samiksha Aryal, Nicholas Benner, Timothy Ennis, Maryam Sharifi Paroushi, Sujan Maharjan, Md Saiduzzaman, Hari Dhital, Manuela Isabel Arenas Alvarez, Eyuel A Getahun, Lucas Greiner, Amaneh Babaee, Shane Cairns, Nazish Khalid, Joseph Walton, Jie Shi, Ehsan Asheghianamiri, Mariam Elazhary, Makuach James Makeny Panther Athach, Rasman Mubtasim Swargo, Shiva Kumar Goud Kasani, Pablo Jara, Sara Mccauley, Hartzell Weston, Al Mojahid Afridi, Matik Heskin, Nima Mahmoudzadeh, Effat Eskandari, Amitav Sen, Rabin Pandey, Amirhossein Habibi, Nuzaer Omar, Mizanur Rahman Jewel, Nathan Tibbetts, Manoj Twarakavi, Farhana Bristy, Akhrorbek Narmatov, Mahnaz Asgari Sooran, Yafang Hei, Nathan Roberts, Khosro Ghorbani Zadeh

Miners Solving for Tomorrow Research Conference

No abstract provided.

Assessing Radon And Radon Progeny Deposition On Simulated Lung Filter System: Effects Of Cigarette And E-Cigarette Use Based On The Icrp Model, Manuela Isabel Arenas Alvarez

Miners Solving for Tomorrow Research Conference

This project investigates the potential interaction between radon exposure and e-cigarette aerosols, focusing on how radon progeny deposit in the lungs under combined conditions. An experimental system was developed to simulate regional lung deposition based on the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) model. The setup uses a filter-based design and a custom modular atomizer to generate stable aerosols, with four commercial plastic filters evaluated. Initial results demonstrate reproducible filtration behavior and a total deposition pattern matching ICRP predictions within 21% error. Ongoing work aims to improve agreement with regional deposition curves and enable combined radon–aerosol exposure experiments. This platform …

Assessing The Effects Of Scale-Dependent Representation Of River Networks On Hydrologic Prediction, Hari Dhital

Miners Solving for Tomorrow Research Conference

Accurate hydrologic prediction at relevant spatial scales is essential for flood risk management. This study explores how spatial scale affects model parameters and simulation outcomes in the Hillslope Link Model (HLM). This was motivated by HLM implementation within the Next Generation Water Resources Modeling (NextGen) framework for the U.S. National Water Model. Since NextGen alters HLM's spatial scale from hillslopes to catchments, we assess how this change affects runoff generation and routing. We implement HLM at both scales using identical, predetermined parameters without calibration to isolate spatial discretization effects. Using approximately ten years of precipitation and streamflow data from watersheds …

Controlled Gelation Of Co₂-Resistant Polymer Systems For Improved Conformance In Co₂-Eor, Maryam Sharifi Paroushi

Miners Solving for Tomorrow Research Conference

This presentation introduces a CO₂-resistant hydrogel developed to control fluid movement and improve CO₂ injection performance in subsurface reservoirs for Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) and Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS). Conventional polymer gels often lose strength in CO₂-rich environments, resulting in weak plugging, early breakdown, and ineffective flow control. To address this limitation, a sulfonated HPAM-based gel system crosslinked with chromium was developed. The effects of polymer concentration, molecular weight, crosslinker ratio, ionic strength, and pH were investigated to better understand gelation behavior and performance. The formulation exhibited controlled gelation, strong resistance to temperature and CO₂, and minimal shrinkage over …

Structural Analysis On Iron Phosphate Glasses After Dechlorination Of Mixed Chloride Waste Forms, Lucas Greiner

Miners Solving for Tomorrow Research Conference

Molten salt reactors (MSRs) require durable waste forms for immobilizing halide-rich salts. This study examines iron phosphate glasses derived from a simple salt mixture (SSM), focusing on the effect of Fe₂O₃ additions (2.5–10 wt%) on structure and phase stability. Intermediates were processed at 300–600 °C and vitrified at 1050 °C. Raman spectroscopy and HPLC show that increasing iron content depolymerizes the phosphate network, shifting from Q² toward Q¹ species and reducing chain length. XRD confirms amorphous behavior for ≤7.5 wt% Fe₂O₃, while 10 wt% shows crystallization, with KFeP₂O₇ observed in samples processed at 400 °C. Despite reduced connectivity, iron enhances …

Robustness Of Fuzzy Artmap To Adversarial Attacks And Progressive Adversarial Training For Streaming Learning, Shane Cairns

Miners Solving for Tomorrow Research Conference

Incremental learners deployed on streaming data must remain robust to evolving adversarial perturbations, yet most adversarial-robustness studies assume offline multi-epoch training with repeated access to historical data. We investigate adversarial robustness in Fuzzy ARTMAP, a prototype-based Adaptive Resonance Theory model that supports single-pass learning without replay. We propose WB-Softmax, a differentiable relaxation that aggregates category-level activations into class-level scores for gradient-based attacks. WB-Softmax PGD achieves 89–100% attack success on vanilla models, exceeding transfer and query-based baselines. We then study adversarial training under true streaming constraints by comparing offline versus online adversarial example generation and standard versus selective updates. Offline adversarial …

Direct Energy Cascade Of 2d Quantum Turbulence In Supersolids, Lukas Farthing

Miners Solving for Tomorrow Research Conference

The non-equilibrium turbulent response of periodically driven three-dimensional ultracold dipolar gases is induced by an external time-dependent ring potential. To model this system and monitor its non-equilibrium quantum dynamics, we invoke an extended Gross-Pitaevskii framework containing the first-order quantum correction to the mean-field energy functional. The shape of the external perturbing potential is chosen to trigger angular roton excitations, driving the supersolid configuration out of equilibrium and attaining a turbulent state. Following the generation of shallow vortical defects in the bulk, a direct cascade front manifests, transporting energy from larger to smaller length scales. This leads to a non-equilibrium quasi-steady …

Triple Active Bridge Implementation And Control, Nehemiah Milton

Miners Solving for Tomorrow Research Conference

The Triple Active Bridge (TAB) is a three-port power converter that allows power flow in both directions with galvanic isolation. This has a wide range of applications, like high-frequency DC-DC conversion, electric vehicles, microgrids and renewable energy systems. To control the TAB during operation, two phase shift parameters between the bridges are adjusted. In this presentation, I will showcase the software and simulation optimizations which extend previous work by reproducing hardware results which align with simulations. I will also go over the knowledge I’ve gained and the skills acquired through this project.

Cytokinesis And Dbf2, Katharine Gray

Miners Solving for Tomorrow Research Conference

The Mitotic Exit Network (MEN) is a signaling pathway that allows a dividing cell to exit cytokinesis. Dbf2 is a MEN protein kinase in yeast, which provides a simplified model for studying this pathway. By altering Dbf2’s activity through phosphorylation mutants, its effect on cytokinesis can be studied. Transformed cells with a mutant and degron Dbf2 allele are prompted to destroy the degron Dbf2 protein, leaving only mutated Dbf2 behind. This allows for clear analysis of the effect of the phosphorylation mutant on division. Fluorescence microscopy can be used to visualise this degradation, and the impact on actin ring formation …

Vortex Generation In Dipolar Supersolids, Jacob Harl

Miners Solving for Tomorrow Research Conference

Ultracold atomic gases offer highly tunable platforms for exploring complex quantum many-body phenomena. In addition, dipolar quantum gases of magnetic atoms featuring long-range anisotropic interactions are exquisite systems for realizing exotic phases-of-matter in an experimentally controlled way. A prototypical example is the supersolid state which simultaneously exhibits frictionless flow of superfuids and crystalline density modulation of solids. In this realm, we investigate the dynamical generation of vortex topological defects by imprinting a suitable phase jump in quasi-two-dimensional dipolar supersolids. This protocol enables the nucleation of a dark soliton which consecutively becomes unstable via the eponymous snake instability due to its …

Elucidating Complex H Behavior In Amorphous Oxide Semiconductors By Machine Learning, Lucas Ethington

Miners Solving for Tomorrow Research Conference

In this project, the disordered oxide structures will be mapped by a machine-learning algorithm (e.g., HDBSCAN) to identify characteristic behaviors of the proton across different material densities and defect types. This should help identify the under-coordinated, highly distorted, weakly-bonded, and dynamically unstable atoms to predict the most probable H locations. This fast and accurate prediction of energetically favorable H distribution will enable a reliable and fast screening of a large number of AOSs with variable cation and/or anion compositions. The approach will help find AOSs with suppressed numbers of M-OH defects (that form deep electron traps, limiting the number of …

The Structure Of Amorphous Alox And Its Role In H Distribution And Dynamics, Lana Herkenhoff

Miners Solving for Tomorrow Research Conference

Hydrogen is known to be the culprit of electron decoherence in Josephson junctions, greatly affecting the performance of superconducting quantum circuits. For Al/AlOx interfaces, the challenge is two-fold: 1) similar Al-Al and Al-H bond strength promotes bond switching and, hence, facilitates vigorous H motion; whereas 2) oxygen has only a slight preference to form Al-O rather than H-O bond, implying that (meta)stable Al--O-H are likely to occur, especially in a disordered oxide. In this project, ab initio molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are employed to generate the atomistic models of Al2O3-x with oxygen vacancy defects and to quantify the H diffusion, …

Wheel-Spoke Encoding: A Product Quantization-Compatible Radial Encoding Scheme For Convex Polygonal Data, Maris Reinkemeyer

Miners Solving for Tomorrow Research Conference

Product quantization has historically been unapplied to GIS datasets, likely due to a mismatch between quantization’s input precondition of fixed, equal length vectors and GIS data’s inherent variability in the number of data points. Therefore, any quantization-compatible encoding method must operate independently of the data points within GIS records. The challenge is to balance the guarantee of producing fixed, equal length vectors with the preservation of semantic meaning present in the raw data. Here, we develop a radial polygon encoding method that achieves this balance while providing acceptable recall in a time complexity of O(nrv), where n is the number …

Dynamical Transition From A Two-Dimensional Soliton To A Rogue Wave In Quantum Droplets, Punit Sesha Sai Turlapati

Miners Solving for Tomorrow Research Conference

We investigate the nonequilibrium dynamics of two-dimensional quantum droplets: ultracold self-bound many-body states stabilized by the interplay of mean-field attractive interactions and repulsive quantum fluctuations. Flat-top ground state droplets are subject to an external potential, an attractive well and a repulsive barrier. Under the influence of the attractive well, we observe signatures of a Townes soliton formation, which for increasing strength of the well transitions into a two-dimensional rogue wave structure, a time-periodic highly localized configuration with amplitude three times larger than the background. The barrier instead favors a dynamical splitting of the droplet. We have developed a parallelized simulation …

Analysis Of Autonomous Vehicle Survivability To 5g Communication Errors, Sydney Clark

Miners Solving for Tomorrow Research Conference

Autonomous vehicles rely on low-latency, high-reliability data exchange for real-time perception and control. Disruptions such as packet loss, latency variation, protocol-level errors, and malicious interference can pose significant safety risks to both passengers and surrounding environments. This project aims to evaluate, quantify, and predict the survivability of autonomous vehicle systems to communication errors, with focus on 5G network environments. The impact of these communication impairments on vehicle stability and control will be investigated through high-fidelity cyber-physical simulation of the vehicle and its surrounding environment. Experiments designed to capture varying network conditions will be used to assess a broad range of …

A Wearable Mxene-Based Sweat Sensor For Real-Time Monitoring Of Inflammatory Biomarkers, Ariel Pilger

Miners Solving for Tomorrow Research Conference

Many conventional biosensing approaches rely on invasive sampling or bulky benchtop instrumentation, limiting their use in continuous and portable applications. This project focuses on the development of wearable sweat-based biosensors that enable non-invasive, continuous, and portable monitoring of physical, chemical, and biological markers. The system will be designed to target markers present in sweat and transduce the biochemical interactions into measurable electrical signals. These signals will be processed through integrated electronics to produce clear, interpretable outputs for users and medical professionals. Supporting circuitry including filters, amplifiers, and an independent power supply will be implemented as necessary to ensure signal accuracy, …

Lay Summarization For Medical Patents, Manav Raja Vinotha

Miners Solving for Tomorrow Research Conference

Technical documents, such as medical patents, are often inaccessible to non-expert audiences due to specialized terminology. This paper presents a multi-agent system for automated lay summarization that optimizes both quality and computational efficiency through strategic task decomposition. The proposed pipeline utilizes four specialized stages: autonomous medical entity retrieval from the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS), context distillation into lay conceptualizations, and a structured writer-critic loop for iterative refinement. By distributing cognitive load across specialized agents, this architecture effectively leverages smaller, cost-effective language models while maintaining the performance of SOTA LLMs. Evaluated against single-agent baselines using an LLM as a Judge …

The Effects Of Preventing Dephosphorylation Of Lqg1 On Cytokinesis, Jenna Mueller

Miners Solving for Tomorrow Research Conference

Iqg1 plays crucial roles in cytokinesis, including the assembly, contraction, and disassembly of the actomyosin ring, as well as the coordination of contraction and septation. Given that cytokinesis must occur post-mitosis, Iqg1 is regulated by the cell cycle. This study explores hypotheses regarding Iqg1 regulation: it’s binding to action is negatively influenced by the cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) Cdc28 and positively influenced by dephosphorylation via Cdc14. Newly developed yeast degron tagged strains allow for rapid depletion of specific proteins. Iqg1 mutations that alter serine to threonine, which allows phosphorylation but not dephosphorylation, in the degron strain allow testing of mutant phenotypes. …

The Stability Study Of Dna-Polymer Hybrids For Nanotechnology Applications, Ethan Kuehn, Milan Jebaraj

Miners Solving for Tomorrow Research Conference

DNA nanostructures have garnered increasing interest in their application as drug delivery vehicles. However, DNA is susceptible to degradation under physiological conditions. To remedy this, we have devised a novel method to coat DNA nanostructures with the polysaccharide chitosan (a natural derivative of chitin). Chitosan binds to DNA electrostatically and inhibits nuclease activity that would normally degrade DNA in a physiological environment. We used both agarose gel electrophoresis (AGE) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) to determine the stability of DNA before and after immersion in a simulated biological environment. Physiological conditions were mimicked by incubating the DNA in cell culture …

Asphalt Pavement Rejuvenation Investigated By Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Relaxometry, Catherine Skaggs

Miners Solving for Tomorrow Research Conference

Asphalt is a relatively inexpensive material commonly used for road pavements; however, asphalt ages from exposure to oxygen and UV radiation, leading to loss of elasticity, which leads to cracks and potholes. To slow or reverse asphalt aging, pavement preservation treatments are in use. It’s unclear whether these treatments truly rejuvenate the pavement structure or merely offer a short-term benefit. Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) relaxometry is an analytical technique that uses the recovery of excited nuclear magnetization as a parameter to gain insights into molecular environments. Recovery-time distributions gathered from asphalt materials show differences between regular and rejuvenated asphalt samples, …

2nd Annual Miners Solving For Tomorrow Research Conference, Blake Bowman, Carter Lawson, Celia Freed, Adam Merchiori, Allie Dingfield, Catherine Skaggs, Drake O'Leary, Quinten Bachman, Elizabeth Bone, Joely Grace Hall, William Wisnasky, James Meyer, Sindhujaa Jaiganesh, Sophia Nicolette Petilla Militante, Brantley Carter, Adrianna Sasser, Alec Gamache, Keagan Miller, Uma Adrianna Misra, Collin Gentry, Christy Johnson, Brady Carlson, Logan Williamson, Jivanji Sumariwalla, Hayden O'Dell, Elijah Brakensiek, Katharine Gray, Lukas Farthing, Jacob Harl, Landon Meyer, Nehemiah Milton, Lana Herkenhoff, Jenna Mueller, Lucas Ethington, Maya Southard, Aster Davidson, Ethan Beane, Jacob Penn, Connor Jordan, Amanda Hodges, Ethan Keuhn, Milan Jebaraj, Ariel Pilger, Sydney Clark, Maris Reinkemeyer, Manav Raja Vinotha, Punit Sesha Sai Turlapati, Benjamin Sullins, Benjamin Biehl, Jamie Koester, Aidan Sengupta, Antai Dong, Connor Bell, Dennis Dadzie, Joshua Gary, Adebayo Olayinka Oke, Deeshani Mitra, Yejun Kim, Josiah Mcdermott, Samiksha Aryal, Nicholas Brenner, Timothy Ennis, Maryam Sharifi Paroushi, Sujan Maharjan, Md Saiduzzaman, Hari Dhital, Manuela Isabel Arenas Alvarez, Eyuel A Getahun, Lucas Greiner, Amaneh Babaee, Shane Cairns, Nazish Khalid, Joseph Walton, Jie Shi, Ehsan Asheghianamiri, Mariam Elazhary, Makuach James Makeny Panther Athach, Rasman Mubtasaim Swargo, Shiva Kumar Goud Kasani, Pablo Jara, Sara Mccauley, Hartzell Weston, Al Mojahid Afridi, Matik Heskin, Nima Mahmoudzadeh, Effat Eskandari, Amitav Sen, Rabin Pandey, Amirhossein Habibi, Nuzaer Omar, Mizanur Rahman Jewel, Nathan Tibbetts, Manoj Twarakavi, Fahara Bristy, Akhrorbek Narmatov, Mahnaz Asgari Sooran, Tafang Hei, Nathan Roberts, Khosro Ghorbani Zadeh

Miners Solving for Tomorrow Research Conference

No abstract provided.

The Kaczmarz Algorithm In Hilbert C∗-Modules, Daniel Alpay, Chad Berner, Eric S. Weber

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Research & Creative Works

The Kaczmarz algorithm in Hilbert spaces is a classical iterative method for stably recovering vectors from inner product data. In this paper, we extend the algorithm to the setting of Hilbert C^∗-modules and establish analogues of its effectiveness in both finite-dimensional and stationary cases. Consequently, we demonstrate that continuous families of elements in a Hilbert space can be uniformly recovered using the Kaczmarz algorithm. Additionally, we develop a normalized Cauchy transform for continuous families of measures and use it to provide sufficient conditions under which standard frames in Hilbert C(X)-modules can be generated by the Kaczmarz algorithm and …

A Fully Discrete Decoupled Scheme And Applications For Non-Isothermal Two-Phase Flow Model With Different Viscosities And Thermal Diffusivities, Jian Li, Chunhao Chen, Xiaoyong Chen, Rui Li, Xiaoming He

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Research & Creative Works

To study natural convection problems in two-phase flows, a non-isothermal two-phase flow model incorporating differential viscosities and thermal diffusivities is considered and analyzed via the phase-field method. This modeling framework involves the Multiphysics coupling of the Cahn-Hilliard phase field equations, heat transfer equation, and Navier-Stokes equations, resulting in a strongly nonlinear system. To efficiently solve the sophisticated system, we develop, analyze, and demonstrate a decoupled linear fully discrete scheme, which leverages the invariant energy quadratization strategy for the Cahn-Hilliard phase field system, the artificial compressibility method without artificial pressure boundary condition, an explicit-implicit treatment of nonlinear terms, and the addition …

Sequences That Do Frame Reconstruction, Chad Berner

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Research & Creative Works

Frames allow all elements of a Hilbert space to be reconstructed by inner product data in a stable manner. Recently, there is interest in relaxing the definition of frames to understand the implications for stable signal recovery. In this paper, we relax the definition of a frame by allowing the operator in the frame decomposition formula to not be invertible. We provide a complete classification of sequences that allow this decomposition via a type of frame operator. In addition, we provide several examples of sequences that allow this reconstruction property that are not frames and illustrate in which ways they …