Digital Commons Network^™

Sustainable Water Treatment Systems In The La Vega Region Of The Dominican Republic, Hannah Fulton, Justina Thomae, Jorge Del Angel, Ramin Ansari, Karina Peate, Rylan Elliott, Adam Spieth, Thalia May, Morgan Jung, Ernest R. Blatchley Iii, Rebecca C. Johnson

Graduate Industrial Research Symposium

Purdue University's service-learning course, Water Supply in Developing Countries (WSDC) is dedicated to ensuring access to safe drinking water in the La Vega region of the Dominican Republic. The focus in the current academic year is to enhance the functionality, sustainability, and independence of community-based water treatment systems installed by previous WSDC students. Despite the construction of four water systems since 2012, operational challenges ensued, rendering them currently inoperable. Our objective is to learn from past mistakes, restore the systems and ensure their continuous functionality. During the fall semester, class members assessed repair needs in two communities with existing systems, …

Sepsis Treatment: Reinforced Sequential Decision-Making For Saving Lives, Dipesh Tamboli, Jiayu Chen, Kiran Pranesh Jotheeswaran, Denny Yu, Vaneet Aggarwal

Graduate Industrial Research Symposium

Sepsis, a life-threatening condition triggered by the body's exaggerated response to infection, demands urgent intervention to prevent severe complications. Existing machine learning methods for managing sepsis struggle in offline scenarios, exhibiting suboptimal performance with survival rates below 50%. Our project introduces the "PosNegDM: Reinforcement Learning with Positive and Negative Demonstrations for Sequential Decision-Making" framework utilizing an innovative transformer-based model and a feedback reinforcer to replicate expert actions while considering individual patient characteristics. A mortality classifier with 96.7% accuracy guides treatment decisions towards positive outcomes. The PosNegDM framework significantly improves patient survival, saving 97.39% of patients and outperforming established machine learning …

Autonomous Roadside Mower Testing And Evaluation In Digital Twin Environments, Michael Mardikes, Ethan Brown, Timothy Wiegman, Nathan Sprague, Shreyas Supe, J. T. Evans

Graduate Industrial Research Symposium

Modern day roadside mowing operations in Indiana are performed by contractors operating tractors that pull flex-wing mowers. These mowing operations span over 11,000 miles of road across the state and create serious risk for human operators. Autonomous mowers can provide a safer alternative, but a replacement system must demonstrate an acceptable level of trust before large-scale deployment. A high-fidelity digital-twin environment can facilitate the capability to rapidly test and evaluate platforms in their desired application, while enabling zero real-world risk, a wide range of test variables, and repeatability of a test setup. The simulation environment must be at a level …

Online Class-Incremental Learning For Real-World Food Image Classification, Siddeshwar Raghavan, Jiangpeng He, Fengqing Zhu

Graduate Industrial Research Symposium

Food image classification is essential for monitoring health and tracking dietary in image-based dietary assessment methods. However, conventional systems often rely on static datasets with fixed classes and uniform distribution. In contrast, real-world food consumption patterns, shaped by cultural, economic, and personal influences, involve dynamic and evolving data. Thus, it requires the classification system to cope with continuously evolving data. Online Class Incremental Learning (OCIL) addresses the challenge of learning continuously from a single-pass data stream while adapting to the new knowledge and reducing catastrophic forgetting. Experience Replay (ER) based OCIL methods store a small portion of previous data and …

Modelling The "Bottom-Up" Development Pattern Of Tar Spot Disease In Corn, Brenden Lane, Joaquín Guillermo Ramírez-Gil, Carlos Góngora-Canul, Mariela Sofia Fernandez Campos, Andres Cruz-Sancan, Fidel E. Jiménez-Beitia, Alex G. Acosta-Guatemal, Wily Sic, C. D. Cruz

Graduate Industrial Research Symposium

In 2015, the corn-infecting pathogen Phyllachora maydis (causal agent of tar spot disease) was reported for the first time in the United States. The disease has since spread across the US, causing major yield losses. In 2021 alone, 5.88 million metric tons (231.3 million bushels) of US corn yield were lost to this disease, costing an estimated US$1.25 billion. Though fungicides can protect against these agroeconomic losses, application timing can be difficult to optimize because our understanding of tar spot dynamics is still evolving. The current view is that tar spot typically develops bottom-up through a repeating infection cycle. Because …

Mushrooom Production Without Solid Substrates, Alexander Baena, Marshall Porterfield

Graduate Industrial Research Symposium

Novel biotechnological approaches are needed to enhance renewable food production and waste recycling capabilities in resource-constrained environments. Edible mushrooms possess nutritious profiles and represent emerging opportunities to develop circular bioproduction by transforming waste organic materials into food and high-value products. However, traditional mushroom cultivation methods utilizing solid substrates have technical limitations like 1) uneven nutrient diffusion, 2) constant sterilization needs, 3) numerous intermediate steps that are energy and time-demanding, and 4) waste production from bags and jars. This work introduces an innovative hydroponic fungal cultivation system called Mycoponics™ using bioengineered ceramic materials. This liquid-nutrient-based technique optimizes fungal metabolism and facilitates …

A Machine Learning Model Of Perturb-Seq Data For Use In Space Flight Gene Expression Profile Analysis, Liam F. Johnson, James Casaletto, Lauren Sanders, Sylvain Costes

Graduate Industrial Research Symposium

The genetic perturbations caused by spaceflight on biological systems tend to have a system-wide effect which is often difficult to deconvolute it into individual signals with specific points of origin. Single cell multi-omic data can provide a profile of the perturbational effects, but does not necessarily indicate the initial point of interference within the network. The objective of this project is to take advantage of large scale and genome-wide perturbational datasets by using them to train a tuned machine learning model that is capable of predicting the effects of unseen perturbations in new data. Perturb-Seq datasets are large libraries of …

Analyzing Video And Isobus Data To Understand Risk And Safety Practices For Roadside Mowing, Nathan Sprague, Timothy Wiegman, J. T. Evans

Graduate Industrial Research Symposium

In Indiana, roadside mowing covers 11,200 miles, presenting significant risks. The Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) seeks safer methods, including automated evaluations and autonomous robots. Analyzing 120 hours of video and ISOBUS data, we quantify mower interactions with the road and obstacles, finding mowers on -road up to 91% of the time in rural areas and 57% on highways. Key obstacles identified include signs and posts. This research aids in developing risk assessment models and safety evaluations, aiming to improve mowing safety and efficiency, and it supports future development of autonomous mowing technologies.

Ai Tools For Literature Reviews, Jing Lu, Zoeanna A. Mayhook

Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

With the proliferation of AI tools, graduate students often ask themselves how these tools can be ethically used to bolster their research. ChatGPT has gained traction, but its utility is constrained by issues like outdated information, artificial hallucinations, and limited access to scholarly publications hidden behind a paywall. Fortunately, new AI tools have been developed that promote academic exploration and discovery, such as offering generative article summaries, citation chaining, and thematic literature mapping capabilities. This workshop will explore three AI tools—Perplexity, Research Rabbit, and Inciteful—designed to support the research and literature review process. This session will provide a demonstration showcasing …

A Review Of The Cambodian Family: Holocaust Survival By Cathy Long, Jalisa Sang

Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement

The Cambodian Family: Holocaust Survival, by Cathy Long, is a powerful memoir that recounts the darkest days or “Year Zero” in Cambodian history. It captures the story of how the author survived the harsh regime under the Khmer Rouge as a wife, mother and caregiver. Long’s memoir also touches on the horror, trauma, grief, family separation and the loss that occurred from 1975-1979 that was experienced by so many, shedding a light on the atrocities of the Cambodian people during this era. Through the hardships, Long instilled a pillar of hope, resilience and faith for a better future for her …

Integration Of Advanced Qualification Program Into Aviation Education, Jorge L. D. Albelo, Victor Fraticelli Rivera, Robert L. Thomas

Journal of Aviation Technology and Engineering

The Federal Aviation Administration places aviation safety as a top priority, continuously striving to improve safety standards within the National Airspace System. In 2004, the Federal Aviation Administration introduced the Advanced Qualification Program (AQP) as an alternative methodology for pilot training and evaluation. This study explores the impact of AQP-centered aviation education on student performance, particularly in the context of learning advanced jet transport systems. The AQP model, based on aligning training with operational aviation requirements, emphasizes cognitive skill training and evaluation. Theoretical foundations underpinning this study include Karp’s integrated aviation learning model, which seamlessly integrates various instructional approaches, fostering …

Educating Older Drivers To Improve Acceptance And Utilization, Ping Yi, Claudia Marovic, Reneé Whittenberger

Center for Connected and Automated Transportation

As the population of older drivers continues to grow, there is an increasing need to enhance their awareness and understanding of Connected and Automated Vehicles (CAVs). This study utilized an education program aimed at improving the knowledge and awareness of older drivers about CAVs, thereby preparing them to utilize the safety features of these technologies while effectively meeting the challenges that come with them. Through data collection and analysis from study participants, the research provides valuable insights for transportation agencies and technology developers to design and develop more adaptive technologies and associated education for older drivers. The findings from this …

Development Of A Safety Advisory System To Aid Senior Citizens In Gap Selection, Ping Yi

Center for Connected and Automated Transportation

Older drivers tend to suffer more from aging related issues concerning hearing and vision, the reaction time, and cognitive functions. This research aims to help older drivers select proper gaps by using connected vehicles technologies and an in-vehicle advisory system. A study was conducted on 79 old drivers (60 or older), among them 75.9% were male and 24.1% were females. The study was conducted at two unsignalized intersections in the Stow and Tallmadge in Ohio, and it included both a simulation and a field test. The field data showed that a safe gap of 7.4 seconds at the Stow location …

Impact Analysis Of Roadway Surface And Vehicle Conditions On Fleet Formation For Connected And Automated Vehicles, Ping Yi, Tariq Alqubaysi

Center for Connected and Automated Transportation

Taking advantage of the rapid development of vehicle control and communication technologies, many studies have suggested that operating vehicles in platoons in the future would help improve the safety and efficiency of the transportation system. Although vehicles in a platoon can share data from V2/V communication, a platoon model built on proper control laws is needed to keep the formation of the vehicle fleet and take the real advantage in platoon operations in an environment encompassing different pavement, roadway, and tire conditions. This research introduces a platoon model using a headway-based distance control policy to maintain stability and reduce errors …

Access Control At Major/Minor Road Intersection Through Cav In Mixed Traffc, Ping Yi

Center for Connected and Automated Transportation

Roadway intersections are among the major causes of traffic congestion besides lane reduction bottlenecks. When a major road intersects a minor road at an unsignalized intersection without the control of a traffic signal, the mainline vehicles are given priority over the minor road vehicles to go through the intersection, and the latter can only enter or cross the intersection when there is a sufficient gap between successive vehicles on the major road. Connected and automated vehicles (CAV) are packed with tracking and lane-keeping assistance and adaptive speed control to ensure that vehicles do not collide while reducing traffic congestion. This …

Quantifying Demand And Willingness To Pay For Local Food Production, Mario Ortez, Taylor Thompson, Valerie Kilders, Nicole Olynk Widmar

Department of Agricultural Economics Faculty Publications

The location of production and processing has had an increasingly prominent role in discussions regarding food systems today. Acknowledging the increasing importance, we study consumer preferences for and perception of local products with a particular focus on how willingness to pay (WTP) for local origin indication differs across products, types of designations, and rurality of the individual's geographic location. Using data collected through an online survey, we focused on Indiana residents’ preferences for sweet corn and Barbecue (BBQ) sauce with the sample representing both rural and urban consumers across all twelve economic growth regions in the state. Results reveal significant …

Towards A Posthumanist Sociomaterial Conceptualization Of Intercultural Rhetoric, Amir Kalan

Journal of Rhetoric, Professional Communication, and Globalization

Intercultural rhetoric has a human-centered view of culture and considers humans’ ethnicities, beliefs, and social practices as crucial components of rhetorical traditions. Conceptualizing a posthumanist sociomaterial approach to intercultural rhetoric, this article suggests that writing across cultures can be viewed as rhetorical transition between two sociomaterial networks with non-human, as well as human, factors. It explains that posthuman intercultural rhetoric can turn into a field where researchers study political, economic, and administrative networks in which texts are funded, constructed, regulated, disseminated, sold, bought, and cited. This area of writing studies would be interested in how rhetoric is constructed and used …

Dynamics Of Nanocluster Aerosol In The Indoor Atmosphere During Gas Cooking, Satya S. Patra, Jinglin Jiang, Xiaosu Ding, Chunxu Huang, Emily K. Reidy, Vinay Kumar, Paige Price, Connor Keech, Gerhard Steiner, Philip Stevens, Nusrat Jung, Brandon E. Boor

Purdue University Libraries Open Access Publishing Fund

Nanocluster aerosol (NCA: particles in the size range of 1–3 nm) are a critically important, yet understudied, class of atmospheric aerosol particles. NCA efficiently deposit in the human respiratory system and can translocate to vital organs. Due to their high surface area-to-mass ratios, NCA are associated with a heightened propensity for bioactivity and toxicity. Despite the human health relevance of NCA, little is known regarding the prevalence of NCA in indoor environments where people spend the majority of their time. In this study, we quantify the formation and transformation of indoor atmospheric NCA down to 1 nm via high-resolution online …

Classification Of Human Learning Stages Via Kernel Distribution Embeddings, Madeleine Shuhn-Tsuan Yuh, Kendric Ray Ortiz, Kylie Sue Sommer-Kohrt, Meeko Oishi, Neera Jain

School of Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

Adaptive automation, automation which is responsive to the human's performance via the alteration of control laws or level of assistance, is an important tool for training humans to attain new skills when operating dynamical systems. When coupled with cognitive feedback, adaptive automation has the potential to further facilitate human training, but requires precise assessments of human progression through various learning stages. This is challenging because of the underlying dynamics, as well as the stochasticity inherent to human action. We propose a data-driven approach to assess learning stages in a complex quadrotor landing task that is responsive to stochastic, human-in-the-loop quadrotor …

Granular Estimation Of User Cognitive Workload Using Multi-Modal Physiological Sensors, Jingkun Wang, Christopher Stevens, Winston Bennett, Denny Yu

Purdue University Libraries Open Access Publishing Fund

Mental workload (MWL) is a crucial area of study due to its significant influence on task performance and potential for significant operator error. However, measuring MWL presents challenges, as it is a multi-dimensional construct. Previous research on MWL models has focused on differentiating between two to three levels. Nonetheless, tasks can vary widely in their complexity, and little is known about how subtle variations in task difficulty influence workload indicators. To address this, we conducted an experiment inducing MWL in up to 5 levels, hypothesizing that our multi-modal metrics would be able to distinguish between each MWL stage. We measured …

Evaluation Of Fendiline Treatment In Vp40 System With Nucleation-Elongation Process: A Computational Model Of Ebola Virus Matrix Protein Assembly, Xiao Liu, Monica Husby, Robert V. Stahelin, Elsje Pienaar

Purdue University Libraries Open Access Publishing Fund

Ebola virus (EBOV) infection is threatening human health, especially in Central and West Africa. Limited clinical trials and the requirement of biosafety level-4 laboratories hinder experimental work to advance our understanding of EBOV and the evaluation of treatment. In this work, we use a computational model to study the assembly and budding process of EBOV and evaluate the effect of fendiline on these processes in the context of fluctuating host membrane lipid levels. Our results demonstrate for the first time that the assembly of VP40 filaments may follow the nucleation-elongation theory, as this mechanism is critical to maintaining a pool …

Log-Linear Dynamic Inversion Control With Provable Safety Guarantees In Lie Groups, Li-Yu Lin, James Goppert, Inseok Hwang

School of Aeronautics and Astronautics Faculty Publications

In this article, we use the derivative of the exponential map to derive the exact evolution of the logarithm of the tracking error for mixed-invariant systems, a class of systems capable of describing rigid body tracking problems in Lie groups. In addition, we design a log-linear dynamic inversion-based control law to remove the nonlinearities due to spatial curvature and enhance the robustness of the controller. We apply linear matrix inequalities to bound the tracking error given a bounded disturbance amplified by the distortion matrix and leverage the tracking error bound to create flow pipes. To demonstrate the usefulness of our …

Nature Of Occupational Incidents Among Roofing Contractors: A Data Mining Approach, Ikechukwu Sylvester Onuchukwu, Pouya Gholizadeh, Genian Liko, Behzad Esmaeili

Purdue University Libraries Open Access Publishing Fund

Given that roofing contractors in the construction industry have the highest fatality rate among specialty contractors, understanding the root cause of incidents among roofers is critical for improving safety outcomes. This study applied frequency analysis and decision tree data-mining techniques to analyze roofers’ fatal and non-fatal accident reports. The frequency analysis yielded insights into the leading cause of accidents, with fall to a lower level (83%) being the highest, followed by incidence sources relating to structures and surfaces (56%). The most common injuries experienced by roofing contractors were fractures (49%) and concussions (15%), especially for events occurring in residential buildings, …

Impact Business Courses And Beyond Through Collaborative Outreach, Neal Baker

Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

No abstract provided.

Dieta De La Milpa: A Culturally-Concordant Plant-Based Dietary Pattern For Hispanic/Latine People With Chronic Kidney Disease, Annabel Biruete, Gabriela Leal-Escobar, Angeles Espinosa-Cuevas, Luis Mojica, Brandon M. Kistler

Purdue University Libraries Open Access Publishing Fund

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) disproportionately affects minorities in the United States, including the Hispanic/Latine population, and is a public health concern in Latin American countries. An emphasis on healthy dietary patterns, including the Mediterranean and the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diets, has been suggested as they are associated with a lower incidence of CKD, slower CKD progression, and lower mortality in kidney failure. However, their applicability may be limited in people from Latin America. The Dieta de la Milpa (Diet of the Cornfield) was recently described as the dietary pattern of choice for people from Mesoamerica (Central Mexico …

A Review Of The Song Poet, Vikrant Chap

Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement

The Song Poet is a collection of Kwv txhiaj (Hmong songs) by Kao Kalia Yang and her father Bee Yang. The songs were the senior Yang’s way of honoring Hmong traditions and history. The collection symbolized his careful selection of language to communicate softly with family, even during the war. His nurturing words accompanied his family’s survival through those difficult moments. However, at one point in his life, the songs refused to unfold, disrupting the happy chapters. To honor her father’s legacy, Kao Kalia Yang completed his songs in The Song Poet. The album begins with a note on Bee …

Cultural, Psychosocial, And Educational Factors In Relation To Ethnic Identity Among Cambodian High School Students In The United States, Traci L. Weinstein, Khanh Dinh, Tamara Springle

Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement

This study examined the relationship between preferred ethnic labels an cultural, psychosocial, and academic variables in a sample of 174 Cambodian high school students in the U.S. Results indicated that participants who chose “American” ethnic labels reported higher scores on White/Anglo orientation and on English language usage and fluency, whereas participants who chose the “Cambodian” ethnic label reported more Khmer language usage and frequency. Students who chose the combined “Cambodian American” ethnic label reported stronger beliefs in the utility of education and higher academic aspirations. The findings from this study expand the research on ethnic identity by focusing on 2nd …

Book Review: Teaching Asian America In Elementary Classrooms, Jenna Cushing-Leubner

Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement

Book Review Rodríguez, N.N., An, S., & Kim, E.J. (2024). Teaching Asian America in Elementary Classrooms. New York: Routledge.

192 pp.

Pb. $23.96 ISBN-13: 978-1032597157

Lai Mi Ka Si (I Am Lai Mi): A Poetry Collection, Thang C. Lian

Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement

In this poetry collection, I combine oral history with official Burmese history to trace my family’s diasporic journey from the mountains of Myanmar to Kentwood, Michigan in 2008. To do so, I conducted interviews with my mother, father, grandmother, and grandfather over Zoom and accumulated dozens of hours of material. A rumination on refugee grief and displacement, this creative work expresses and investigates the multi-layered ritual of grief refugees conduct internally and externally—an intentional and powerful foray into the “affective.” Finally, this creative work intends to sift through the complications of transnational grief: how, when, and why do we grieve?

Teaching And Learning In Stem With Computation, Modeling, And Simulation Practices, Alejandra J. Magana

Purdue University Press Books

Computation, modeling, and simulation practices are commonplace in the STEM workplace, yet formal training embedded in disciplinary practices is not as standard in the undergraduate classroom. Teaching and Learning in STEM With Computation, Modeling, and Simulation Practices: A Guide for Practitioners and Researchers gives instructors a handbook to ensure their curriculum bridges the gap between the classroom and workplace by equipping students with computational skills and preparing them for a rewarding career in STEM. Grounded in theory and supported by fifteen years of education research at the undergraduate level, this book provides instructional, pedagogical, and assessment guidance for integrating modeling …