Digital Commons Network^™

Communicating Uncertain Information From Deep Learning Models To Users, Harishankar Vasudevanallur Subramanian

Masters Theses

“The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) decision support systems is increasing in high-stakes contexts, such as healthcare, defense, and finance. Uncertainty information may help users better leverage AI predictions, especially when combined with domain knowledge. I conducted two human-subject experiments to examine the effects of uncertainty information with AI recommendations. The experimental stimuli are from an existing image recognition deep learning model, one popular approach to AI. In Paper I, I evaluated the effect of the number of AI recommendations and provision of uncertainty information. For a series of images, participants identified the subject and rated their confidence level. Results …

Computer Gamification: Addressing Symptoms Of Inattentive Adhd In Children, Shavonne Victoria Halterman

Masters Theses

“Computer gamification has the potential to help meet the educational needs of children with Inattentive Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The elements of computer gamification are mapped to distinct kinds of interventions for Inattentive ADHD and show certain types of computer gamified learning are better than others for those who experience Inattentive ADHD”--Abstract, page iii.

A Compact Wavelength Meter Using A Multimode Fiber, Ogbole Collins Inalegwu

Masters Theses

“Wavelength meters are very important for precision measurements of both pulses and continuous-wave optical sources. Conventional wavelength meters employ gratings, prisms, interferometers, and other wavelength-sensitive materials in their design. Here, we report a simple and compact wavelength meter based on a section of multimode fiber and a camera. The concept is to correlate the multimodal interference pattern (i.e., speckle pattern) at the end-face of a multimode fiber with the wavelength of the input lightsource. Through a series of experiments, specklegrams from the end face of a multimode fiber as captured by a charge-coupled device (CCD) camera were recorded; the images …

Research And Development Of A Laser Hot Wire Deposition Process, Christopher Croft

Masters Theses

“Laser hot wire directed energy deposition (DED) is an increasingly popular method for improving deposition rates and overall reduction of build times in DED processing. While there is clear benefit, it is important to fully understand the impact of preheating the wire. This work focuses on developing a model that describes bead geometry output using all factors including the wire preheat. The model was fit with over 150 data points that explored a large range of each factor. The resulting model was then leveraged to evaluate a process control variable. The technique chosen used feedback from the hot wire system …

Analysis And Design Of Dc-Link Capacitor In Cascaded H-Bridge Multilevel Active Front-End Converter, Muhammad Shehroz Malik

Masters Theses

Medium-voltage grid-tied systems often use a cascaded H-bridge multi-level active front-end. In this converter, dc link bus capacitors play an important role in stabilizing the converter and enabling both active and reactive power injections. The present work provides analytical expressions for the capacitor current, which are essential for optimizing system design (especially capacitor size vs. lifetime). Then, the expression is incorporated into the grid connected bidirectional power system model. Consequently, this work contributes to the guiding principles to choose accurate dc link capacitor ratings against grid-side power delivery requirements.

DC-link capacitors come with an expiration date which is dependent on …

Numerical Behavior Of Steel H-Plies Repaired Using Layered Concrete Jacket, Fareh Waleed Abudawaba

Masters Theses

“This study developed finite element models (FEMs), using LS-Dyna software, to investigate the repair of corroded steel H-piles using concrete jacket. The concrete modeled as a layered material simulating 3D printed concrete. 3DPC is a new technology that can be used to repair or build structures without formwork by depositing concrete mixture layer by layer. For the 3DPC, this study investigated the feasibility of using alkali-activated concrete (AAC) synthesized using class C fly ash as the main binder. The fresh properties, extrudability, and buildability of the proposed concrete were investigated through open time and deformation tests, respectively. Hardened properties were …

Neural Network Supervised And Reinforcement Learning For Neurological, Diagnostic, And Modeling Problems, Donald Wunsch Iii

Masters Theses

“As the medical world becomes increasingly intertwined with the tech sphere, machine learning on medical datasets and mathematical models becomes an attractive application. This research looks at the predictive capabilities of neural networks and other machine learning algorithms, and assesses the validity of several feature selection strategies to reduce the negative effects of high dataset dimensionality. Our results indicate that several feature selection methods can maintain high validation and test accuracy on classification tasks, with neural networks performing best, for both single class and multi-class classification applications. This research also evaluates a proof-of-concept application of a deep-Q-learning network (DQN) to …

Axial Performance Of Self-Consolidating Concrete-Filled Fiber Tubes, Joshua David Carter

Masters Theses

"Concrete filled fiber tubes can be used to increase ductility and strength of a concrete member and self-consolidating concrete is an ideal material to use in practical applications of concrete-filled fiber tubular columns. However, the propensity of self-consolidating concrete to autogenous shrinkage could reduce the effectiveness of the concrete confinement. This research investigates the use of self-consolidating concrete in pre-cast FRP tubes and various methods of shrinkage reduction and compensation to increase the axial performance of said self-consolidating concrete-filled fiber tubes. Axial compression tests were performed under monotonic and cyclic conditions to determine the stress-strain relationship of the self-consolidating concrete …

A Systematic Analysis Of Eye-Tracking Metrics For Sleepiness, Debasis Roy

Masters Theses

”Sleepiness or sleep deprivation is a serious hazard that can be life-threatening in carrying out certain tasks (e.g., when driving or executing attention-critical tasks). Eye movement can provide cues on sleepiness. Hence, eye-tracking metrics have the potential to detect sleepiness.

In this research, we used a systematic analysis approach to identify eye-tracking metrics for sleepiness. We used several databases to identify independent experimental studies that have used eye-tracking metrics to assess sleepiness. We identified 25 studies that included 674 participants where the participants’ data were captured both in an alert state and in a sleep-deprived state. In the analysis, we …

A Meta-Analysis: Gamification In Education, Yalin Wang

Masters Theses

“Gamification has been used in a variety of contexts including education. In order to understand the effects of gamification in education, a meta-analysis was conducted. A bottom-up approach was used to analyze the effects of game design elements on learning outcomes found in the literature search. The result suggests that gamification can enhance student learning outcomes. Elements such as points, leaderboards, competitions, progress bars, feedback, and collaboration have medium to large effect sizes. Gamification also has larger effects on young children in elementary education than learners at other education levels. The study offers suggestions and guidelines for educators on the …

In Vitro And In Vivo Response To A Novel Borophosphate Bioactive Glass, Nada Abokefa

Masters Theses

"Bioactive glasses have been widely used in several biomedical and tissue engineering applications since the late 1960s. Numerous families of bioactive glasses have emerged over the years, with each having its own advantage and disadvantage. One concern common to all families is that most bioactive glasses create a basic or acidic environment when degraded and, therefore, are toxic for cells. Recently, there has been an increased interest in borophosphate bioactive glass (BPBGs) because of their neutral pH, release of therapeutic ions, and biodegradable properties. Despite the growing interest, there is little reported on the bioactivity of BPBGs. The biological effects …

Relationships Among Mineralogy, Geochemistry, And Oil And Gas Production In The Tuscaloosa Marine Shale, Hayley Roxana Beitel

Masters Theses

"The Tuscaloosa Marine Shale (TMS) is an unconventional shale reservoir located in southeast Louisiana and southwest Mississippi. Limited mineralogical and geochemical data for the TMS have been published. The data that do exist indicate that the formation is heterogeneous. Consequently, previous investigators and oil and gas companies have not managed to effectively link mineralogical and chemical changes to oil and gas production in the TMS. These linkages are critical to establish for future exploration efforts. In this study, we attempt to establish these relationships by gathering all existing mineralogical and chemical data in the TMS, including newly acquired data from …

A Comparative Visual Content Analysis Of The Cdc And Who Covid-19 Infographics, Manushri Pandya

Masters Theses

"In this study, I conducted a comparative visual content analysis of the CDC and WHO COVID-19 infographics. I considered infographics as an important genre of communication during such times because they not only provided sufficient information to the audience but did so in an engaging manner. The goal of my study was to think about the role of infographics in the context of health and risk communication during a pandemic, and to emphasize on the rhetorical elements that constitute the creation of infographics by major health organizations. I specifically focused on three elements: the kinds of information communicated through infographics, …

Analysis Of Refracturing Activities In The Major Shale Plays In The United States, Faisal Shammam

Masters Theses

"Refracturing of existing horizontal multistage wells has increased over the past decade in the oil industry. This work aims to investigate all the refracturing operations in the most active shale plays in the united states (Bakken, Niobrara, Marcellus, Permian, Eagle Ford, Barnett, and Haynesville) in terms of completion technique, candidate selection, treatment types, and refracturing production efficiency. To collect the data of the refractured wells, an advanced data analytics approach was applied to separate the refractured wells from 170,000 wells reported in FracFocus, a public chemical registry for hydraulic fracturing in the United States, and combine it with DrillingInfo database, …

Projectile Generator Design For Underground Coal Mine Seal Testing, Ethan Allan Steward

Masters Theses

"Underground coal mines have several dangers, one of the most hazardous of which is the possibility of an explosion caused by the ignition of methane gas. To reduce ventilation costs, coal mines have the option to close off abandoned areas that are no longer active with structural seals to keep an explosion from propagating into working areas of the mine. Though seals have been designed to resist the overpressure, none have been evaluated for their resistance to the impact of heavy objects. Underground explosions produce high velocity gasses that, traveling through mine openings, may propel objects in the mine at …

Predator Scent And Presence Alter Mammal Assemblages In The Missouri Ozarks, Usa, Cara Jean Yocom-Russell

Masters Theses

"Species that are vulnerable to predation exhibit a host of behavioral and physiological adaptations toward the avoidance of this outcome: Heightened awareness of surroundings through visual, olfactory, and auditory senses are common ways in which these species avoid detection by predators. While links between direct predator-prey relationships are well established, less is known about how predators can shape overall community structure or the populations of secondary or less frequently consumed prey items. As humans expand into rural areas, the frequency of wildlife conflicts rises. In response, humans look to prevent these events with a variety of methods. One such method …

A Simple Background Elimination Method For Miniaturized Fiber-Optic Raman Probe, Bohong Zhang

Masters Theses

"Raman scattering is called a photonic - molecular interaction based on the kinetic model of the analytic. Due to the uniqueness of the Raman scattering technique, it can provide a unique fingerprint signal for molecular recognition. However, a serious challenge often encountered in Raman measurement comes from the requirements of fast, real-time remote sensing, background fluorescence suppression, and micro-environmental detection.

A new Miniaturized Fiber-Optic Raman Probe (MFORP) for Raman spectroscopy, used especially for eliminating background fluorescence and enhancing sampling, is presented. Its main purpose is to provide an overview of excellent research on the detection of very small substances and …

Optimization Of Transit Smart Card Data Publishing Based On Differential Privacy, Chenxi Chen

Masters Theses

“Privacy budget allocation is a key step of the differential privacy (DP)-based privacy-preserving data publishing (PPDP) algorithm development, as it directly impacts the data utility of the released dataset. This research describes the development of an optimal privacy budget allocation algorithm for transit smart card data publishing, with the goal of publishing non-interactive sanitized trajectory data under a differential privacy definition. To this end, after storing the smart card trajectory data with a prefix tree structure, a query probability model is built to quantitatively measure the probability of a trajectory location pair being queried. Next, privacy budget is calculated for …

Method Of Optimal Battery Scheduling With Optimal Battery And Photovoltaic Sizing, Gideon Hallman

Masters Theses

“Renewable energy generation is on the rise. One of the best ways to capitalize on this intermittent power supply is by using the renewable energy source in tandem with batteries. A joint photovoltaic (PV) and battery system model was created that implemented battery degradation and optimized battery usage using a Markov Decision Process (MDP). This system was then subjected to a series of tests to do a sensitivity analysis while optimizing the battery and PV sizing for the system at hand. Parametric sweeps of solar power and battery capital costs, the cost of energy taken from the grid, the cost …

A Physics-Based Pi Pre-Layout Tool For Pcb Pdn Design, Shuang Liang

Masters Theses

"With increasingly stringent requirements for lower voltage supply, and higher density in PCB PDN design, now integrity (PI) is an increasingly important aspect that must be considered. A pre-layout tool based on the Cavity Model and Boundary Element Method is built to automatically achieve a specified target impedance for a multi-layered Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Power Distribution Network (PDN) design with a minimal number of decoupling capacitors.

The pre-work about the post-layout design and analysis is proposed and the guidelines for creating a decoupling capacitors network with better performance has been built. With limit inputs, physical limitations for the minimal …

Design And Evaluation Of The 3d Printed Electromagnetic Absorber Built With Conductive Carbon-Filled Filament, Rui Mi

Masters Theses

"This research presents an application of the resistive frequency selective surface (FSS) fabricated with a 3D printed conductive material as an electromagnetic absorber for the EMI-reducing door. This solution allows to reduce radiated emissions of a router system. The resistive frequency selective surface has a three-layer structure. The top layer is a 3D printed FSS pattern, the middle layer is an air gap, and the bottom layer is a metal plane.

The first paper presents the methodology for manufacturing a frequency selective surface using the 3D printing technology, including the material characterization, design, fabrication, and evaluation.

The unpublished content presents …

The Effects Of Rigid Polyurethane Foam As A Confinement Material On Breaching Charge Detonations, Nathan Franz Paerschke-O'Brien

Masters Theses

"The effects of a rigid polyurethane foam used as a confinement material on four types of breaching explosives were tested, focusing on the changes in shockwave peak pressures, detonation load compression forces, and brisance cratering abilities. The Plate Dent testing procedure was modified to incorporate a load cell force sensor, and two air overpressure sensors were included adjacent to the blast to quantify each test result. The testing variables focused on the polyurethane foam cure times and thickness volumes around the breaching explosives to determine the breaching charges' optimal energy output capabilities when confined by the foam material. The rigid …

Early Wildfire Detection By Air Quality Sensors On Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: Optimization And Feasibility, Doaa Rjoub

Masters Theses

“Millions of acres of forests are destroyed by wildfires every year, causing ecological, environmental, and economical losses. The recent wildfires in Australia and the Western U.S. smothered multiple states with more than fifty million acres charred by the blazes. The warmer and drier climate makes scientists expect increases in the severity and frequency of wildfires and the associated risks in the future. These inescapable crises highlight the urgent need for early detection and prevention of wildfires. This work proposed an energy management framework that integrated unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with air quality sensors for early wildfire detection and forest monitoring. …

Transfer Function Measurement For Automotive Intentional Emi And Thermal Runaway Investigation Of Lithium-Ion Battery By Intentional Emi, Woncheol Song

Masters Theses

"With an increasing demand for electric vehicles and autonomous driving, many components of a vehicle are being replaced as electric components. This implicates the possibility of an increase in the malfunction of electric components due to unknown electromagnetic interferences. In this reason, malicious intentional electromagnetic interference (IEMI) is being considered as a growing threat for the current and next generation of automotive technology.

In the first topic, the transfer function between the IEMI attacker and the engine control unit (ECU) circuit in an automobile is extracted to analyze how the IEMI affects the vehicle.

In the second topic, to mimic …

Bond Graph Modeling Of Critical Infrastructures For Cyber-Physical Security Implementation, Michele Jane White

Masters Theses

“In developed societies, there exists infrastructure vital to everyday life. This includes water and power systems. Technology is quickly evolving and being implemented on these utilities. This technology can range from smart metering in neighborhoods to volume sensors in local waste water treatment facilities. When networking, sensing, monitoring, or control devices are integrated with infrastructure it is considered a cyber physical system, or CPS. When information about an important physical system is connected to the virtual world, it is opened up to security risks. Cyber security can be provided to the CPS by monitoring the physical state of the system …

Multiple-Site Fatigue Cracking Methodology To Assess Structural Integrity Of Aircraft Riveted Panels, Haroldo Chacon

Masters Theses

“Multiple Site Damage (MSD) is the most common source of Widespread Fatigue Damage (WFD) affecting structural integrity of aging aircraft fleets. Therefore, an understanding of its progression, the development of methods to prevent the onset, and the maintenance procedures precluding WFD are important to improve aircraft fleet longevity. A reliable and efficient numerical methodology to perform detailed Multiple Site Damage assessment in riveted structural joints was developed. A probabilistic methodology was employed in conjunction with Monte Carlo simulation technique; the fatigue initiation life at every potential crack initiation site was determined and initial damage scenarios were generated. Probabilistic crack growth …

Fabrication Of Silicon Nitride Parts By Ceramic On-Demand Extrusion Process, Sachin Choudhary

Masters Theses

“Ceramic On-Demand Extrusion (CODE) is a patented solid freeform fabrication method for manufacturing high-density monolithic ceramic parts. In the past 5-6 years, the technology has been successfully implemented to fabricate alumina and zirconia parts. The mechanical characterizations also show CODE’s high potential in achieving desired structural properties. The present study covers the fabrication of silicon nitride parts by CODE process, which entailed the design of paste formulation for achieving rheology suitable for dimensional control in fabricated parts and determining firing temperature and the content of sintering additives for silicon nitride green bodies fabricated by CODE. The density, hardness, and fracture …

Airbnbs In The Rural Midwest: Optimizing Listing Content For User’S Decision-Making Processes, Mary Catherine Kosacki

Masters Theses

This research examines the effectiveness of rural Airbnb listing content in influencing user decision-making. The peer-to-peer economy has been rapidly growing over the past decade, providing new opportunities for individuals to offer goods and services to other individuals through corporate platforms. Specifically, the Airbnb platform has rapidly grown, becoming the largest online platform for peer-to-peer property rentals, and one of the largest companies in the peer-to-peer sector of the economy. Previous research on the Airbnb platform has focused primarily on urban areas; however, Airbnbs have a proportionally large impact on local economies in rural areas.

Several methods were employed to …

Biochemical Assay Invariant Attestation For The Security Of Cyber-Physical Digital Microfluidic Biochips, Fredrick Eugene Love Ii

Masters Theses

“Due to the devastating global impact that infectious diseases have had, especially in developing countries, the demand for access to adequate resources to combat sickness continues to be a heavy burden. Reliable and affordable diagnostics is a vital first line of defense in fighting outbreaks and providing accurate treatment. Digital microfluidics biochips capable of running multiple diagnostic tests on a single platform are an emerging technology that are increasingly being evaluated as a viable platform for rapid diagnosis and point-of-care field deployment. Although these systems offer many benefits, processing errors are inherent. Therefore, cyber-physical digital biochips are being investigated that …

Effect Of Spike Anchors On The Bond Behavior Of Steel Reinforced Polymer Composite Externally Bonded To A Concrete Substrate, Keenan Lorence Mcburney

Masters Theses

Steel reinforced polymer (SRP) composites are a strengthening material that consist of continuous high-strength steel cords embedded in a polymeric matrix. SRP has demonstrated a high potential for providing additional flexural and shear strength in existing concrete structures when bonded to the concrete surface. However, premature debonding from the concrete substrate at low load levels is a major shortcoming of SRP composites. It has been demonstrated in previous studies that anchors can limit the effect of debonding in fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) composites by increasing the load capacity and ductility of the composite-concrete interface.

This study aims to investigate the …