Digital Commons Network^™

Beyond Catalysts And Membranes: Using Cell Assembly And Operating Strategies To Significantly Improve The Performance Of Aem Electrolyzers, Mahmoud Amirsalehi, Venkata Sai Sriram Mosali, Mohammed Al-Murisi, Shaghayegh Bashiri, Hari Gopi, Pongsarun Satjaritanun, Benjamin Britton, Karen Swider-Lyons, Mustain E. William

Faculty Publications

Green hydrogen, produced through water electrolysis, is a key enabler of a low-carbon energy future, and anion exchange membrane electrolyzers (AEMELs) have emerged as a promising technology due to their potential for ultra-low-cost operation. However, achieving low cell voltage at high current densities and maintaining long-term durability remain key AEMEL challenges. To address these issues, most research efforts to date have focused on developing advanced catalysts and membranes. In contrast, the influence of non-material factors, such as cell assembly parameters and operating conditions, remains underexplored, even though they can significantly impact performance. This study investigates how such variables affect AEMEL …

Impediments To Transforming The Healthcare Delivery System: Shifting The Paradigm From Provider Centric To Patient Centric, Elizabeth A. Regan, Manasa Devi Chinta

Faculty Publications

Introduction: 

Stated aims for digital healthcare transformation frequently cite goals for better coordinated patient-centric systems. However, despite advances in medical science, digital technologies, health policies, and billions of dollars invested over the past 25 years, most healthcare providers are far from fully realizing the demonstrated benefits of today's digital technologies for improving patient care. Sharing information across healthcare systems remains challenging. Problems with fragmentation, quality, inequities, and rising costs of care delivery persist. A recent study of 1,026 U.S. hospital systems found that only 15.8 percent achieved a digital maturity level needed to provide digitally enabled healthcare services to better …

Hybrid Cnn–Gru-Based Demand–Supply Forecasting To Enhance Sustainability In Renewable-Integrated Smart Grids, Süleyman Emre Eyimaya, Necmi Altin

Faculty Publications

The rapid integration of renewable energy sources in smart grids has introduced significant uncertainty in both power generation and consumption patterns, posing challenges to environmental, economic, and operational sustainability. Accurate short-term forecasting of energy demand and supply is essential for achieving optimal scheduling, grid stability, and resilient operation in renewable-integrated power systems. This study proposes a hybrid deep learning framework combining Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) and Gated Recurrent Units (GRU) for intelligent joint demand–supply forecasting in smart grids. The model was developed and implemented in MATLAB using real-world datasets comprising electricity consumption, photovoltaic (PV) generation, temperature, and irradiance variables. Comparative …

Influence Of Pulse Width On Energy Deposition And Temperature In Nanosecond-Pulsed Discharges, Christopher B. Reuter, Joshua B. Sinrud, Tanvir I. Farouk, Nicholas S. Dewey, Dmitri Kaganovich

Faculty Publications

Nanosecond-pulsed discharges are a promising method to enhance combustion but can generate significant levels of electromagnetic interference (EMI). Modifying the discharge pulse width is an unexplored option to reduce EMI, but few studies have examined how changing the pulse width affects discharge parameters such as energy and temperature. This study addresses this issue by systematically investigating how the pulse width affects the energy per pulse, breakdown time, rotational temperature, and vibrational temperature in air across different frequencies, flow velocities, and gap distances in a plasma-assisted flow tube. It is observed that the pulse width has a substantial impact on the …

Delta-X: An Airborne Remote Sensing Framework To Calibrate Hydrodynamic And Ecogeomorphic Processes Responsible For Land Building In Coastal Deltas, Marc Simard, Cathleen E. Jones, Robert R. Twilley, Edward Castañeda-Moya, Sergio Fagherazzi, Cédric G. Fichot, Michael P. Lamb, Paola Passalacqua, Tamlin M. Pavelsky, David R. Thompson, Saoussen Belhadj-Aissa, Pradipta Biswas, Alexandra Christensen, Luca Cortese, Michael Denbina, Carmine Donatelli, Sarah Flores, Andy Fontenot, Joshua P. Harringmeyer, Daniel Jensen, John Mallard, Justin Nghiem, Talib Oliver-Cabrera, Ali Reza Payandeh, Andre S. Rovai, Elena Solohin, Antoine Soloy, Bhuvan Varugu, Dongchen Wang, Kyle Wright, Xiaohe Zhang, Yang Zheng

Faculty Publications

Coastal river deltas are highly dynamic regions with hydrological processes that vary on hourly, daily, and seasonal timescales. Soil formation in deltas relies on the balance between mineral sediment deposition, erosion, and organic matter production, which are intricately controlled by vegetation and hydrodynamic conditions. The spatial complexity and rapid variations in flow, particularly due to tides, present a major challenge to spaceborne remote sensing achieving the required spatial resolution and temporal sampling. Here, we present an airborne remote sensing and in situ framework that measures parameters that are critical to calibrate and validate hydrodynamic, sediment transport, morphodynamic, and ecogeomorphic models. …

Potential Impacts Of Climate Interventions On Marine Ecosystems, Kelsey E. Roberts, Tyler Rohr, Morgan R. Raven, Michael S. Diamond, Daniele Visioni, Ben Kravitz, Ryan Heneghan, Colleen M. Petrik, Daniele Bianchi, Kelly Ortega-Cisneros, Monica A. Morrison, Vanessa Van Heerden, Nicola A. Wiseman, Gouri Anil, Zachary J. Cannizzo, Marta Coll, Joshua Coupe, Ryan Freedman, Kristen Krumhardt, Lester Kwiatkowski, Nicole S. Lovenduski, Jessica Y. Luo, Holly C. Olivarez, Alan Robock, Jeroen Steenbeek, Cheryl S. Harrison

Faculty Publications

Rising global temperatures pose significant risks to marine ecosystems, biodiversity, and fisheries. Recent comprehensive assessments suggest that large-scale mitigation efforts to limit warming are falling short, and all feasible future climate projections, including those that represent optimistic emissions reductions, exceed the Paris Agreement's 1.5°C or 2° warming targets during this century. While avoiding further CO2 emissions remains the most effective way to prevent environmental destabilization, interest is growing in climate interventions—deliberate, large-scale manipulations of the environment aimed at reducing global warming. These include carbon dioxide removal (CDR) to reduce atmospheric CO2 concentrations over time, and solar radiation modification (SRM), which …

Levers Of Default: Can The President Unilaterally Alter The Terms Of The National Debt?, Lev E. Breydo, Nathan B. Oman

Faculty Publications

The inviolability of America’s $30 trillion debt is a cornerstone of global markets and the U.S. economy. This Essay identifies a critical loophole: the President’s underappreciated power to dramatically change its legal structure—and argues that Congress should act to prevent a potential catastrophe.

The Essay details, for the first time in the literature, the arcane legal architecture underpinning America’s sovereign borrowings. Our analysis finds that although the President lacks authority to change the terms of outstanding debt retroactively, the President can accomplish similar goals by issuing new debt instruments that embed unprecedented powers. In surprisingly short order, a determined Executive …

Bridging 2d And 3d Computational Modeling Of Vacuum Arc Remelting: Capturing Rotating Arc Dynamics In Axisymmetric Simulations, Zilong Zhang, Elaheh Dorari, Ramesh Minisandram, Shakarjee Krishnamoorthi, Lang Yuan

Faculty Publications

Computational modeling of the Vacuum Arc Remelting (VAR) process has been developed to provide a deeper physical and metallurgical understanding and assist in the manufacture of defect-free ingots. While fully 3D, time-resolved arc models capture arc–melt interactions with high fidelity, their high computational cost makes 2D steady arc models still the preferred option in industrial applications. In this study, a multi-physics VAR model, which accounts for magnetohydrodynamics, heat transfer, fluid dynamics, and melting/solidification, was established in ANSYS Fluent for Alloy 718 in 3D with a rotating arc. It was validated against measured melt pool morphology. A new 2D axisymmetric oscillating …

Disciplining Mechanisms: Governing Data Markets With Competition And Regulation, Peter Ormerod

Faculty Publications

The past decade has witnessed conceptual renewals in both competition law and information privacy law. These regulatory movements—Neo-Brandeis antitrust and structural data governance—share the objective of recalibrating the balance of power between individuals and the massive data-processing firms that now dominate modern life.

Despite their common ends, policy interventions drawn from these schools of thought can work at cross purposes: competitive pressure can induce data exploitation, and privacy rules tend to benefit the largest firms.

This Essay exposes the friction in their relationship and offers guidance on how to mediate their tension. Competition policy alone will prove ineffective at indirectly …

Online Age Gating: An Interdisciplinary Evaluation, Noah Apthorpe, Brett Frischmann, Yan Shvartzshnaider

Faculty Publications

The recent surge in regulation seeking to establish age-based governance online is part of a decades-long attempt to establish online zoning. It is driven by active development of technologies to estimate or verify user age based on various characteristics of users, their credentials, or their activities. However, these developments have heightened prevailing concerns that online age gating technology will inevitably be abused and misused to cause a variety of privacy harms and rights infringements. This paper examines this ongoing debate by bridging technical and legal scholarship to explore the current state of online age-based governance. We discuss the current legal …

Mermaids In Pools: Ex-Situ Conservation As A Cornerstone For Sirenian Management Worldwide, D. N. Castelblanco-Martínez, E. A. Ramos, A. Alvarez-Alemán, F. L. N. Attademo, L. J. Cabrias-Contreras, D. Caicedo-Herrera, S. S. Landeo-Yauri, F. O. Luna, Miriam Marmontel, J. Sanchez, Carlos J. Silva, Vera Da Silva, Diogo Londero Da Silva, A. A. Mignucci-Giannoni

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Transfer Learning Neural Networks For Nuclear Forensic Image Morphology Using Image Splitting Techniques, Niko A. Petrocelli, Lee C. Lambert, Brett J. Borghetti, Abigail A. Bickley

Faculty Publications

Manual morphological analysis of actinide particles from scanning electron microscope (SEM) imagery is a critical component of nuclear forensics but is prone to significant inter-analyst variability. To address this challenge, this work develops and evaluates an automated classification method using deep learning. We introduce a methodology based on partitioning 1906 SEM images, representing 13 classes of uranium compounds, into smaller patches for analysis. Three convolutional neural network (CNN) architectures of increasing complexity were compared: a custom baseline CNN, a simple transfer learning model using ResNet50v1, and a complex model featuring hierarchical feature extraction and a spatial attention mechanism built upon …

Rapid-Response Reconnaissance Architecture Design For Planetary Defense With Nested Trajectory Optimization, Adam P. Wilmer, Justin A. Atchison, Marcus J. Holzinger, Robert A. Bettinger

Faculty Publications

Reconnaissance is a vital component in a comprehensive planetary defense mitigation strategy—aimed at preventing or reducing the impact threat posed by celestial objects on close-approach trajectories to Earth. It provides decision-makers with critical information on the physical and orbital properties of a near-Earth object (NEO), enabling better assessment of size, composition, and trajectory. This study investigates how to optimally pre-position a fleet of reconnaissance spacecraft prior to the discovery of a specific hazardous NEO. It evaluates response timelines and mission success rates for combinations of spacecraft launched from Earth and those maneuvering from pre-deployed locations within the Sun-Earth system. A …

Exosome Engineering For Blocking Gut Dysbiosis And Inducing Cell Death Mechanisms In Glioblastoma Multiforme, Ahalya Muraleedharan, Karthik Rangavajhula, Swapan K. Ray

Faculty Publications

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most lethal primary brain tumor in adults. Emerging evidence endorses that gut dysbiosis contributes to GBM progression through the gut–brain axis (GBA), promoting inflammation and therapeutic resistance via abnormal short-chain fatty acid production and cytokine dysregulation. Exosomes, naturally occurring nanovesicles (30–150 nm), offer promising therapeutic potential due to their blood–brain barrier permeability, biocompatibility, and versatile cargo capacity. This review examines exosome engineering strategies for dual targeting: inhibiting alterations in gut microbiome and inducing regulated cell death mechanisms such as apoptosis and ferroptosis in GBM. We describe exosome engineering with detailed focus on cargo loading approaches …

Egain Tube Memristors Offering Reliable Switching On A Biological Time Scale, Yuriy V. Pershin, Liya Patel, Bapi Bera, Doug Aaron, Stephen A. Sarles

Faculty Publications

Memristive devices have been considered promising candidates for nature-inspired computing and in-memory information processing. However, experimental devices developed to date typically show significant variability and function at different time scales than biological neurons and synapses. This study presents a memristive device comprised of liquid-metal eutectic gallium indium (EGaIn) contained within a mm-scale tube that operates via a bulk, voltage-dependent switching mechanism and exhibits distinct unipolar resistive switching characteristics that occur on a biological time scale (tens of milliseconds). The switching mechanism involves voltage-controlled growth and dissolution of an oxide layer on the surface of the liquid metal in contact with …

The Northeast Snow Survey (Ness) Feasibility Study Interest Holder Engagement Report, Sarah Nelson, G. Murray, B. Lineman, Franklin B. Sullivan, Elizabeth Burakowski, J. Beneš, J. Clayton, Alexandra R. Contosta, A. Grunes, H. Hofman, S. Koehler, C. Mccarthy, S. Mckim, C. Nadeau, K. Phillips, C. Schmitt, M. Stewart, D. Tappa, M. Webb, L. Zukiewicz

Faculty Publications

The Northeast Snow Survey (NESS) Feasibility Study was launched to address a critical gap in snowpack and weather monitoring across the northeastern United States. Unlike the western U.S., which benefits from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Snow Telemetry (SNOTEL) network, the Northeast lacks a coordinated, automated, real-time snow monitoring system—particularly at higher elevations where snowpack dynamics most strongly influence flooding, water supply, ecosystems, outdoor recreation, and working lands.

Funded through the FY2023 federal omnibus bill, the NESS Feasibility Study includes two phases: Phase 1–the content of this report–focused on interest holder engagement and …

The Detection Of Marine Microseismic Activity With The Cuore Tonne-Scale Cryogenic Experiment, D. Q. Adams, C. Aldunio, K. Alfonso, A. Armatol, Frank Avignone Iii, O. Azzolini, G. Bari, F. Bellini, G. Benato, M. Beretta, C. Bucci, J. Camilleri, A. Caminata, A. Campani, J. Cao, C. Capelli, S. Capelli, L. Capelli, J. Capelli, A. Caminata, Et. Al.

Faculty Publications

Vibrations from experimental setups and the environment are a persistent source of noise for low-temperature calorimeters searching for rare events, including neutrinoless double beta (0νββ) decay or dark matter interactions. Such noise can significantly limit experimental sensitivity to the physics case under investigation. Here, we report the detection of marine microseismic vibrations using mK-scale calorimeters. This study employs a multi-device analysis correlating data from CUORE, the leading experiment in the search for 0νββ decay with mK-scale calorimeters, and the Copernicus Earth Observation program, revealing the seasonal impact of Mediterranean Sea activity on CUORE’s …

Rapid Single-Cell Measurement Of Transient Transmembrane Water Flow Under Osmotic Gradient, Hong Jiang, Jinnawat Jongkhumkrong, Y. J. Chao, Qian Wang, Guiren Wang

Faculty Publications

Aquaporins (AQPs) are critical for transmembrane water transport in response to osmotic gradients, but their gating and regulatory mechanisms remain poorly understood. A central challenge is the lack of methods to measure water flow across AQPs from individual cells with the spatiotemporal resolution and sensitivity equivalent to patch-clamp recordings of ion fluxes—a limitation stemming from the electrically silent nature of water flow. Here, we present a novel optical technique—Flow-Induced Fluorescence Increase Velocimetry (FIFIV) based on Laser-Induced Fluorescence Photobleaching Anemometry (LIFPA)—that enables direct, real-time monitoring of cytoplasmic flow induced by transmembrane water transport under osmotic pressure gradients. Using small molecular fluorescent …

Discovery Of Dynamical Structures Mapping Chaotic Transport Pathways In The Earth–Moon Cr3bp, Tyler J. Kapolka, Christina E. Paljug, Robert A. Bettinger, Rachel Oliver, Bruce A. Cox, Jeremiah A. Specht

Faculty Publications

Chaos; Deterministic chaos; Earth–Moon system; Poincaré map; Quasi-chaotic; Surface of section /// For the Circular Restricted 3-Body Problem (CR3BP), the topologies present within a Poincaré map enable the extraction of useful information regarding periodic, quasi-periodic, and chaotic trajectory behavior. Aside from the prominent topologies that follow distinct concentric patterns around fixed points, indicative of the periodic and quasi-periodic motion that is often the central focus of CR3BP research, there are also many “dusty” regions on the Poincaré map that appear random without an apparent structure and are indicative of chaotic motion. This paper, for the first time in literature, identifies …

Post-Fire Inspection, Material Testing, Repair, And Field Load Testing Of A Full-Scale Concrete Box Girder Bridge: Delta Bridge Case Study, Ahmed S. Eisa, Hilal Hassan, Mohamed A. Badran, Ayman El-Zohairy

Faculty Publications

Bridges are critical components of transportation networks, and fire accidents can significantly impair their structural integrity, leading to safety risks and major economic losses. This study presents a comprehensive inspection, materials testing, repair, and field load testing program for a full-scale concrete box girder bridge (Delta Bridge, Alexandria, Egypt) following a fire exposure on two spans. A total of 28 concrete core samples were extracted and tested, revealing average compressive strengths of 48.50 MPa (slab), 53.90 MPa (web), and 45.88 MPa (columns), representing moderate reductions of approximately 8.5%, 7.9%, and 10.8%, respectively, relative to the original in situ concrete strength …

A New Highly Oxygen-Deficient And Cubic Pr3Zro8-Δ For Intermediate-Temperature Thermochemical Production Of Oxygen And Hydrogen, Jiaxin Lu, Yongliang Zhang, Luhong Chen, Yan Chen, Ke An, Yasser Shoukry, Xinfang Jin, Zhi-Hao Wang, Sai Mu, Kevin Huang

Faculty Publications

Two-step thermochemical cycles offer a clean route for hydrogen and oxygen production but are typically limited to high temperatures exceeding 1500 °C. Lowering operating temperatures would enable the use of alternative heat sources such as industrial waste heat. Here, we report Pr₃ZrO₈ as a new enabling material for efficient intermediate-temperature redox cycling, with thermal reduction at 900 °C in argon and steam oxidation at 400 °C. Pr₃ZrO₈ adopts a face-centered cubic structure similar to CeO₂ but exhibits significantly greater oxygen deficiency, achieving average oxygen and hydrogen fluxes of 331.7 and 70.3 µmol·g-1, respectively, …

Digital Twin Enabled Robot Collision Detection Using Time Series Forecasting, Fadi El Kalach, Mojaba A. Farahani, Philip Samaha, Thorsten Wuest, Ramy Harik

Faculty Publications

The advent of Industry 4.0 has reshaped modern manufacturing, driven by breakthroughs in cutting-edge technologies. A key example is the widespread deployment of sensors, which capture and transmit large volumes of operational data. This data surge has fueled the development of advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications, enhancing manufacturing intelligence and efficiency. A key enabler of such intelligence is Time-Series Forecasting (TSF), which leverages historical data to predict future trends and events, thereby providing actionable insights for proactive decision-making. In parallel, Digital Twin (DT) technology has gained significant prominence due to its capacity for bidirectional communication with physical manufacturing systems, enabling …

Approaching Lower Bound Of Lattice Thermal Conductivity By Simultaneously Suppressing Diagonal And Off-Diagonal Phonon Contributions, Alejandro David Rodriguez, Riccardo Rurali, Changpeng Lin, Joshua Ojih, Mohammed Al-Fahdi, G. Jeffrey Snyder, Ming Hu

Faculty Publications

Pushing the intrinsic lattice thermal conductivity (LTC) in crystalline materials to lower bounds is crucial for fundamental materials research towards emerging technologies including thermoelectric energy conversion and thermal management in both hypersonic aircraft and next-generation turbine systems. However, in the ultralow LTC regime ( <  1 Wm-1K-1), the competition between propagative (particle-like) and coherent phonons—arising from off-diagonal components—poses a significant challenge in further reducing LTC. We perform quantitative analysis of 4700 materials using density functional theory (DFT), spanning all crystallographic groups, to elucidate the interplay between diagonal and off-diagonal phonon contributions. We identify a critical balance between these transport mechanisms, where intermediate phonon lifetimes ( ~ 1 ps) and slow group velocities ( ~ 1 km/s) collectively suppress both contributions, enabling ultralow LTC. Results from a large dataset of 31,058 structures by machine learning models strongly resemble the DFT trends of two-channel phonon transport. Leveraging these models, we screen 25,882 additional materials and confirm their properties with DFT, identifying 12 candidates with ultralow room-temperature LTC—including a record-low value of 0.132 Wm-1K-1. Our large-scale analysis reveals fundamental insights into dual-channel phonon transport, enabling rational design of ultralow LTC materials and accelerating the discovery of advanced phononic crystals with tailored thermal transport properties.

Analysis Of The Potential Of Urban Surfaces For Energy Use By Applying Solar Energy Or Green Roofs, Kristin Dietrich, Jose Ambrosini, Fabio Capra-Ribeiro, Juan Raul Massipe Hernandez, Alberto Tama Franco, Fernando Mayor-Vitoria

Faculty Publications

Renewable energy is rapidly increasing in importance in the energy mix in many countries worlwide. They are a key part of the energy transition to more sustainable energy systems. Green roofs are multi-layered systems covered with plants, grasses or turf that are placed on terraces and roofs of different types. Energy savings and reduced urban heat-island effects are among the most notable benefits of green roofs. Traditionally, green roofs and photovoltaic (PV) or solar-thermal installations have been competing systems, but several studies and actual installations have shown that synergistic effects predominate. For example, vegetation has a cooling effect on green …

Integrating Future Factory-To-Factory (F2f) Manufacturing Through System Of Systems Engineering (Sose): A Framework For Capability Beyond Constituent Systems, Polinpapilinho F. Katina, Hengtao Tang Ph.D., Anouar Hallioui

Faculty Publications

System of Systems Engineering (SoSE) is an emerging discipline focused on the design, integration, and evolution of metasystems—composed of multiple autonomous yet interdependent systems. These systems of systems (SoS) offer capabilities that exceed those of any individual constituent systems by enabling synergistic coordination, interoperability, and dynamic adaptation across diverse operational contexts. This study pursued three primary objectives: (i) to examine the role of integration in enabling emergent capabilities beyond those of individual systems, (ii) to explore SoSE as a framework for orchestrating Future Factory-to-Factory (F2F) Manufacturing, and (iii) to assess the implications of SoSE to address volatile, uncertain, complex, and …

Intravascular Ultrasound Is More Accurate Than Angiography In Arteriovenous Vascular Access Lesions, James W. Decker, Dima Banihani, Curtis Honshideler, Saran Lotfollahzadeh, David Jasen Wu Wong, Alik Farber, Jeffrey J. Siracuse, Najia Idrees, Laura Dember, Mohammad Bader, Suvranu Ganguli, Vijaya Kolachalama, Tarek Shazly

Faculty Publications

Background:

Conventional angiography remains the standard diagnostic modality for arteriovenous (AV) access dysfunction in hemodialysis patients, but its geometric accuracy is limited. Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) offers superior lesion detection, yet its absolute measurement accuracy remains uncertain. Using three-dimensional (3D) printed vascular conduits as reference standards, we assessed the accuracy of IVUS versus angiography, hypothesizing that complex conduit geometry, quantified by Gaussian curvature, would exacerbate angiographic error.

Methods

Clinically relevant AV access geometries were modeled with computer-aided design (CAD) and fabricated using 3D printing. Lumen diameters were measured by contrast angiography and IVUS and compared with CAD dimensions. Conduit geometry was …

Albumin-Binding Domains In Therapeutic Protein Engineering: A Structural And Computational Perspective On Rational Design, Matthew Argyle, Dallin M. Chipman, Anna Claire Woolley, Bradley C. Bundy, Dennis Della Corte

Faculty Publications

Therapeutic proteins face a critical pharmacokinetic challenge: rapid clearance from circulation limits their clinical efficacy. Albumin-binding domains (ABDs) offer an elegant solution by enabling therapeutic proteins to “hitchhike” on serum albumin’s favorable 19-day half-life through FcRn-mediated recycling. Clinical validation through approved therapeutics like ozoralizumab demonstrates the success of this approach, with preclinical studies showing fusion to an ABD extended half-life to 18 days. This review provides an analysis of ABD-fusion protein design, integrating structural biology, computational prediction, and rational engineering principles. We catalog the major classes of albumin-binding modalities, including bacterial three-helix bundle domains, engineered peptides, antibody-derived binders, and alternative …

Uav-Deployable Open-Source Sensor Nodes For Spatial And Temporal In Situ Water Quality Monitoring And Mapping, Matthew Burnett, Mohamed Abdelwahab, Joud N. Satme, Austin Downey, Gabriel Barahona Smith, Antonio Fonce, Jasim Imran

Faculty Publications

Cost efficient, spatially resolved water quality monitoring is essential for managing pollution and protecting aquatic ecosystems. This study presents a low-cost (approximately USD 200), open-source, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-deployable in situ sensor node for real-time assessment of surface-water conditions. The system integrates sensors for pH, turbidity, temperature, and total dissolved solids (TDSs), with onboard data logging and real-time clock (RTC) synchronization. Bench validation of the sensor package yielded mean absolute percentage errors of 1.34% for pH, 5.23% for TDS, and 0.81% for temperature, and the device operated continuously for 42 h. Field deployment demonstrated its ability to resolve spatial gradients, …

Structural And Mechanical Properties Facilitate Shock Wave Damping By Helmet-Like Orbital Hoods In Snapping Shrimp, Mia Kazel, Rebekah E. Cammack, Alexandra C.N. Kingston, Ahmed A. Alshareef, Tarek Shazly, Daniel Isaac Speiser

Faculty Publications

Snapping shrimp damp the shock waves they produce and use as weapons with a helmet-like structure termed the orbital hood. Here, we ask how structural and material properties contribute to shock wave damping by orbital hoods in Alpheus heterochaelis. Using tensile mechanical testing, we find orbital hoods are approximately half as stiff as carapace and have twice the capacity for viscous energy dissipation. Microstructural features probably contribute to tissue-specific mechanical properties: the endocuticles of orbital hoods have almost twice as many lamellae as those of carapaces despite being half as thick, suggesting a mechanism for enhanced material mobility underlying …

Experimental And Computational Study Of Nearly Half-Metallic V2coga, Parashu Kharel, Caden Sadler, Ty Porter, Cole Brown, Mohd Anas, Paul M. Shand, Pavel V. Lukashev

Faculty Publications

Here, we present the results of a combined computational and experimental study of electronic, magnetic, and structural properties of V2CoGa, a Heusler alloy that exhibits high spin polarization values in an ordered crystal structure. Our calculations indicate that this compound crystallizes in an inverted cubic structure. The magnetic alignment is ferrimagnetic, due to the anti-aligned magnetic moments of two vanadium sub-lattices. The calculated magnetization value for the ordered structure is 1.97 μ B/f.u. at the equilibrium lattice constant of 5.898 Å. Our calculations indicate that V2CoGa in its ordered crystal structure retains high spin polarization values of around 90% under …