Digital Commons Network^™

A Complex Systems Integration Analysis Approach, Tamia Neal

Theses

It has been said that if the building blocks of a system were designed and implemented correctly, then their subsequent integration would be straightforward. The complex systems integration analysis approach presented in this thesis provides the mechanisms to construct those blocks. A spectral clustering algorithm is used to cluster elements into modules, and the normalized integrative complexity metric is used to evaluate the portion of structural complexity that can be attributed to integrating a system from its modules. Together, the algorithm and metric identify which aggregates of system elements reduce the complexity of the integration effort. The proposed integration analysis …

Spatially-Distributed Imu Array Navigation : Virtual Imu And Federated Approaches With Applications To Uncrewed Aerial Systems, Jackson Neese

Theses

This thesis investigated lever arm effects on distributed inertial measurement unit (IMU) array navigation and evaluated the performance of multiple fusion architectures with applications to uncrewed aerial systems (UAS). The Kalman Filters comprise of three filters: a naive baseline, a filter tracking lever arm as a filter state, and a filter constraining lever arm state estimates around known values. These filters feed into a virtual IMU fusing raw measurements and a federated filter combining output states. Each are evaluated with equal, static, and dynamic weighting based on lever arm and sensor noise. Experiments on indoor and outdoor UAS datasets reveal …

System-Level Analysis And Experimental Testing Of A Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine With Water Electrolysis Propellants, Justin M. Byers

Theses

This work explores the potential benefits and practical feasibility of a rotating detonation rocket engine (RDRE) spacecraft thruster using water electrolysis for propellant generation. Such a thruster can enable the use of liquid water as an easily storable and chemically inert propellant, as well as the volume and efficiency benefits associated with detonation combustion. A thermodynamic model is first developed to demonstrate the compounding advantages of both water electrolysis propellant generation and detonation combustion when compared to conventional isobaric combustion cycles. Comparisons are also drawn to alternative water-powered propulsion methods and the advantages of chemical propulsion are observed. The representative …

Enhanced Pulsar Timing Precision For The Era Of Nanohertz Gravitational Wave Astronomy, Sofia V. Sosa Fiscella

Theses

In 2023, several international collaborations comprising the International Pulsar Timing Array achieved a major scientific milestone with the first detection of a signal in pulsar timing observations consistent with the signature expected from a stochastic gravitational wave background, created by an ensemble of unresolved supermassive black hole binaries in the early Universe. The next breakthrough in the field is expected to be the first detection of a continuous wave from a single such binary, which would allow us to better understand their evolution and that of our Universe. However, this feat will require unprecedented precision in our timing measurements. To …

Dna Landscape Tool: An Interactive Webpage, Kerstyn Gay

Theses

Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is a molecule that carries genetic information that makes up every organism. DNA is typically introduced into the biology curriculum starting in high school and depending on an individual's educational path can continue through college. Although taught frequently during school, elements of DNA can be difficult for students to grasp, due to the different visual representations of DNA found in various resources. For instance, when comparing an illustration of a chemically accurate nucleotide base to an abstract visualization of a chromosome learners often aren’t given enough scaffolding to see how one representation relates to the other, which …

Predicting Undergraduate Fallout And Success, Ammar Ahmed Alzarooni

Theses

Universities need to uncover students who are likely to drop out early and do something about it. It should be easy to find and use this information. This thesis evaluated interpretable machine-learning models (MLMs) for predicting three final student outcomes including Dropout, Enrolled and Graduate, using solely demographic, administrative/financial and first-semester academic variables. Study employed publicly accessible Portuguese UCI student retention dataset (4,424 records) and incorporated end-of-Semester-1 feature window to prevent look-ahead leakage and align with actual advising cycles. We trained and compared models using stratified validation, explicit class-imbalance handling and decision-threshold optimization to make dropout detection most critical factor. …

The Impact Of Pre-Trial Attitudes And Educational Jury Instructions : Juror Decision-Making In Mens Rea Cases Involving Mental Illness, Victoria E. O'Connell

Theses

Juror decision-making in cases involving mental illness is shaped by legal understanding and subjective attitudes. This study examined how juror attitudes and jury instruction type influence the application of mens rea defenses—Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity (NGRI), Diminished Capacity (DC), and Guilty but Mentally Ill (GBMI)—in criminal case vignettes involving defendants with mental health presentations. Enhanced jury instructions improved understanding of mens rea concepts but did not improve the application of these concepts to verdict decisions. Biases against mens rea defenses were associated with DC verdict decisions, with more negative NGRI attitudes predicting less legally accurate but more confident …

Transformation Of Public Earth Datasets For 3d Narrative Visualization Of Disaster Events, Connor Bleisch

Theses

Communicating large datasets in ways that are appealing to non-scientific audiences has been a recent focus of big data visualization. Interest has grown for using 3D environments with game-like structures and immersive technology like AR and VR since they are more engaging. We introduce a method, based on the structure of the datasets and domain knowledge of the natural phenomena, for transforming public National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Earth datasets into 3D narrative data visualizations, specifically of disaster events. Two visualizations were created using this method: one of the KNP Complex Wildfire in 2021 and one of Hurricane Beryl …

The Influence Of Defendant Mental Illness Characteristics On Prosecutorial Decision Making, Claire Elise Martin

Theses

As most criminal cases are now resolved via plea-bargaining, research on legal decision making has extended beyond the jury to evaluate judges, defense attorneys, and prosecutors. Although legal actors are obliged to remain objective and dispassionate, extralegal factors regarding defendant characteristics (e.g., age, gender, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic class) can influence case outcomes. Extant research on the effect of defendant mental health status and defendant demeanor on sentencing outcomes in court hearings is limited. Therefore, the present experiment solicited 134 prosecutors in a vignette study designed to assess how extralegal characteristics, specifically those related to mental illness, may affect the punitiveness of …

Application Of A Scale-Resolving Turbulence Model To Supersonic Retropropulsion Flows In Earth And Martian Atmospheres, Rebecca Thompson

Theses

The Blended Partially-Averaged Navier-Stokes (BPANS) turbulence model was used to simulate complex turbulent compressible flows seen in supersonic retropropulsion (SRP). The model was incorporated in the OpenFOAM solver sonicFoam to investigate SRP flows in Earth and Martian atmospheres. The new sonicFoam with BPANS was first tested for subsonic flows using the shear flow benchmark case of flow around a cylinder. Results show good agreement of velocity profiles with experimental values. SonicFoam was then validated for compressible flows using an experimental SRP configuration. Pressure coefficient distribution along the forebody and aft body of the geometry show good agreement with experimental results. …

Nandworks : A Low-Cost Testbed For Interfacing Onfi-Compatible Nand Flash Memory Devices, Mark Scheidker

Theses

NAND flash memory is the basis for modern digital storage, but direct access to raw flash functionality remains difficult due to limitations in available interface tools. Industrial characterization systems can issue low-level commands but are prohibitively expensive for most researchers and students. USB-based bit-banging tools lack the timing fidelity needed for certain experiments. This thesis introduces NANDWorks, a testbed based on the Raspberry Pi 4 that provides direct access to ONFI-compatible NAND flash devices via GPIO bit-banging in Linux user space, building on prior work for the Terasic DE1-SoC platform. NANDWorks has a layered software stack that includes a hardware …

Development And Validation Of An Automated Image-Based Framework For Bubble Size And Velocity Measurement In Centrifugal Nuclear Thermal Rocket Experiments, Olivia Williams

Theses

Accurate measurement of bubble size and rise velocity is essential for characterizing multiphase flow behavior in Centrifugal Nuclear Thermal Rocket (CNTR) experiments, where dynamic imaging conditions complicate traditional analysis methods. This thesis presents the development and validation of an automated image-based framework for extracting bubble equivalent diameter and rise velocity from high-speed experimental videos of injected gas bubbles rising through controlled liquid-filled volumes. Representative datasets include air bubbles injected into water and Sodium Polytungstate (SPT-3). The framework employs a staged analysis workflow with instance-level bubble segmentation using a Mask R-CNN model, secondary classification for detection verification, multi-object tracking, and velocity …

Intercomparison Of Remote Sensing Methods For Calculating Cn² Profiles, Isaiah Joseph Montgomery

Theses

Propagation of electromagnetic waves through the atmosphere is affected by turbulence. The impact of turbulence on wave propagation is characterized by the refractive index structure function (Cn²), which characterizes the intensity of fluctuations of the refractive index of air due to turbulence. Observations of vertical profiles of Cn² are essential for evaluating numerical model predictions. This study presents an intercomparison of Cn² derived from multiple ground-based remote sensing systems, including 915 MHz profiler, sodar, and a parameterized method that uses doppler wind lidar and radiometer. Results indicate that the sodar is the most accurate near- surface Cn² profiler, but above …

What Correctness And Faithfulness Cannot Tell You : Counterfactual Behavioral Diagnosis Of Rag Systems, Saif Raza Khan

Theses

Correctness and faithfulness are standard metrics used for evaluating Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) systems, but they only describe the outcomes and do not surface the underlying behaviors behind them. The same scores can hide a number of underlying behaviors. They can hide whether a system relied on retrieval, answered from parametric knowledge, followed a near-miss context, missed the gold source or failed to use the retrieved evidence. The same scores can hide all of these. This thesis introduces a counterfactual behavioral evaluation framework that tests each query under five controlled context conditions and uses a gold-source coverage gate to identify whether …

Design And Characterization Of A Low-Power Bulk-Driven Two-Stage Ota In 65nm, 90nm, And 130nm Cmos Technologies For 0.4v-0.6v Biomedical Applications, Raihan Khan Akash

Theses

Biomedical instrumentation requires low-power amplifiers to maximize battery life. Due to threshold voltage limitations, standard gate-driven operational transconductance amplifiers (OTAs) require higher supply voltages. To overcome this, a differential bulk-driven two-stage OTA is introduced for low-power applications. The proposed topology is implemented in 65nm, 90nm, and 130nm complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS), with supply voltages ranging from 0.4V to 0.6V. Key metrics such as DC gain, gain-bandwidth product (GBWP), phase margin, common-mode rejection ratio (CMRR), slew rate, power, and noise are measured. The analysis confirms the robustness of the low-power solution provided by the proposed topology.

Uae Traditional Folklore Through Modern Media And Its Educational Potential: The Case Of Freej, Shahad Imad Mostafa

Theses

This mixed‑methods study examined how the Emirati animated series Freej preserves traditional folklore through vernacular language, dialect, and idiomatic expressions, and evaluated its educational potential. Guided by four questions on folklore representation, dialect/idiom use, the role of the characters, and curricular applicability, the research combined content analysis of selected episodes, interviews coding and a survey of 100 Emirati participants; survey data were summarized with descriptive statistics to triangulate qualitative insights.

Findings indicated that audiences overwhelmingly perceived Freej as linguistically and culturally authentic: 95% rated the dialect as very/somewhat authentic, 94% said it reflects elders’ speech, and 89% felt the series …

A Novel Nephron: 3d Visualization Of Glomerular Filtration In The Kidney, Cassie Young

Theses

Renal physiology, particularly the process of glomerular filtration, remains one of the most conceptually challenging topics in medical education due to its microscopic scale, dynamic pressure relationships, and structural complexity. Understanding how plasma passes through the glomerular filtration barrier requires spatial reasoning across multiple levels—from the gross anatomy of the kidney to the ultrastructure of capillaries, podocytes, and the glomerular basement membrane. This thesis addresses these challenges through the development of a scientifically accurate three-dimensional (3D) animation that illustrates glomerular filtration within its anatomical and physiological context. Designed as a visual teaching aid, the animation aims to improve comprehension of …

Cochlear Micropump Drug Delivery System: A Noninvasive Technique For Murine Intracochlear Drug Delivery, Janette Collins

Theses

In a 2018 World Health Organization (WHO) study, over 400 million people worldwide were affected by hearing loss (World Health Organization, 2023). Cochlear implants have provided a conventional route to aid inner ear issues but are ineffective either delivering to unintended targets or delivering unknown concentrations of a particular drug and create toxicity to the user. With medical advances and using 3-D printing technology, new opportunities to use programmable drug delivery systems to treat auditory disorders have been created. Borkholder Labs in Rochester, NY have created and improved a miniaturized implantable and scalable peristaltic micropump that provides programmable and accurate …

Predicting Student Academic Performance Using Behavioural And Parental Engagement Data From Learning Management Systems, Saeed Alfalasi

Theses

This paper explores how behavioral, academic, and parental engagement data provided within the xAPI-Edu-Data dataset can be used to predict the academic performance of students when training on machine learning models with supervised learning. Due to the developing demands of the data-driven initial selection of the learners under risk, the study will create a valid and explainable predictive model that can consider the most significant factors of student success in Learning Management System (LMS). The research is based on behavioral engagement and self-regulation learning theories; the observations included in the analysis of student interaction, i.e. resource usage, classroom engagement and …

Evaluating Datasets And Models For Offensive Language Identification, Skye Deson Morgan

Theses

Social media platforms enable people to easily communicate with one another, share ideas and express their opinions. Unfortunately, the anonymity provided by platforms such as Twitter and Facebook is more than enough to foster the spread of harmful content. Government agencies, as well as technology companies, are actively working towards finding better means of curbing offensive and objectionable content in social media and contributing to a more welcoming online environment. In this study, I first present a critical literature review on offensive language identification, exploring offensive language datasets and computational models using both machine learning and deep learning. Next, I …

Heathammer: Effects Of Thermal Stress On Dram Technology Reliability Using Rowpress And Rowhammer, Filip Roth Tronnes-Christensen

Theses

Modern DRAM scaling has reduced cell capacitance and increased thermal sensitivity, making disturbance-based faults such as RowHammer and RowPress increasingly significant reliability and security concerns. RowHammer induces bit flips through repeated row activations, while RowPress does so by holding a wordline open for an extended duration; both exploit inherent capacitive coupling and leakage mechanisms in dense DRAM arrays. This thesis introduces HeatHammer, a thermally assisted disturbance exploit that interleaves RowPress and RowHammer operations to amplify charge leakage and trigger row-traversing bit flips. Using the FPGA-based DRAM-Bender test platform, HeatHammer is evaluated on four commercially available DDR4 modules from different manufacturers …

Optimizing Crime Response Time Using Predictive Analytics Models, Mohammad Hassan Bin Yaqoob

Theses

Timely and efficient emergency response is essential for public safety, particularly in high- risk urban environments. However, existing dispatch systems often rely on reactive decision- making, leading to delays and inefficient resource allocation. This thesis explores how artificial intelligence (AI) and data modeling can enhance police response times through predictive analytics. A systematic review of 17 peer-reviewed studies identified key predictors such as dispatch behavior, crime history, temporal characteristics, and geographic location. Using real-world emergency response and crime data, predictive models were developed and evaluated through algorithms including XGBoost, Linear Support Vector Machine (LSVM), Generalized Linear Model (GLM), and Neural …

A Fish & A Bird, Deanna Moorehead

Theses

As a curtain of trees opens and dawn breaks over the glistening waters of Lake Ontario, a fish and a bird spot each other through the surface and fall madly in love. They dance and sing together from their respective atmospheres, yet each time the bird soars past the water's edge and onto the beach, the fish cannot follow. Night after night, by the light of the moon, the fish trains herself to leap out of the water, hoping to breach high enough to join her beau above. Late one afternoon, the fish approaches the shore, where the bird stands …

Relationship Between Muscle Activation And Kinematic Features During Baseball Pitching, Maxwell Skene

Theses

Background: Baseball pitching is a biomechanically complex, high-velocity movement that places substantial demands on the upper extremity. Inefficient coordination between muscle activation and kinematic sequencing has been associated with reduced performance and increased injury risk, particularly at the shoulder and elbow. However, the integrated relationship between muscle activation patterns and three-dimensional kinematic features during pitching is not well-documented. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between throwing-arm muscle activation patterns and three-dimensional kinematic characteristics during fastball pitching, with particular emphasis on segmental accelerations, proximal–distal sequencing, and the directional structure of movement quantified using Relative Dimensional Contribution …

Disposal, Yihan Su

Theses

Disposal is a mixed-media animated short film created as a graduate thesis project. The story explores the protagonist’s search for meaning in life and his defiance of a predetermined fate. At the beginning, he is an ordinary, guileless figure without remarkable qualities. In his world, life revolves around constant competition, and one’s worth is measured by their position on a ranking board. Only the top three may pass through the golden gate, a symbol of transcendence. Others must continue the endless cycle of contests, while the lowest seven face incineration in the Disposal. Despite his efforts, the protagonist falls into …

Home, Shania Rachel Mathews

Theses

Home is a film where I wanted to explore the idea of the phrase so where s home? being a confusing & spiraling phrase. This is something that hits really close to me. It is a phrase that always seems to catch me off guard. As an international student, I have been around a couple of states for studies. I have made homes in all these places. I have had core memories there that link me to those locations. However, the feeling of not truly belonging would always linger. I really wanted to create a film that captures the main …

A Search For Serotyping Candidates In The Streptococcus Sobrinus Genome, Ryan Schwendel

Theses

Streptococcus sobrinus (SSO) is a pathogenic microbe native to the human oral microbiome. SSO is historically implicated in carie formation, and may be involved in neurodegenerative disease progression. The study of SSO is challenged by a lack of access to a serotyping assay. This study aims to identify sero-specific candidates from available SSO genomes using sequence alignment and phylogenetic analysis. Three candidate genes were found that may be sero-specific: putative quinol monoxygenase, a hypothetical protein, and elongation factor Tu. To further assess the candidates the original antibodies or a list of proteins involved is required. Alternatively, a new classification system …

Assessment Of Mass Spectral Data For The Quantification Of Virion Components In A Giant Salmonella Phage, Trang Phan

Theses

Phages, as viruses that specifically target and eliminate bacteria, present as a promising treatment strategy against antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Giant phages, however, with longer genomes and a higher level of virion complexity, remain understudied. This research aims to evaluate the applicability of data-dependent acquisition mass spectrometry (DDA-MS) versus data-independent acquisition mass spectrometry (DIA-MS) to characterize and quantify the copy numbers of virion proteins of the giant Salmonella phage SPN3US.  Accurate copy number estimations require confirmation of protein sequences in the mature virion, as previous analyses showed nine SPN3US head proteins were shorter than their predicted lengths, as they had been cleaved …

Understanding Crime Through Harm: A Multi-Stage Study Of Rochester, Ny, Hayder Alhafedhi

Theses

This capstone project develops, critiques, and applies a Crime Harm Index (CHI) for the City of Rochester, New York, as an alternative to traditional crime measures that rely solely on raw counts. Rather than treating all offenses as equal “one crime = one unit,” the project weights crimes by the severity of harm they cause, using New York State sentencing guidelines as the core metric. Across four working papers, the project moves from conceptual foundations and limitations of harm-based metrics, to the construction of a Rochester-specific Crime Harm Index, and finally to a set of spatial regression models that link …

Understanding The Relationship Between Mental Health And Criminal Justice Involvement: Pathways, Disparities, And Improving System Responses, Haley Bly

Theses

This capstone project examines the complex relationship between mental health and involvement in the criminal justice system, emphasizing how pathways, external conditions, structural inequities, and system responses interact to shape long-term outcomes for persons with mental illness (PwMI). While mental illness alone is not a predictor of criminal behavior, the intersection between psychological disorders, social strain, stigma, and systemic failures significantly heightens the risk of criminal justice involvement. Combining four working papers, this capstone examines these relationships across individual, environmental, institutional, and community levels, ultimately arguing that treatment and rehabilitative-centered reforms are essential for improving the experiences of individuals with …