Digital Commons Network^™

Quadrotor Uav Flight Control With Integrated Mapping And Path Planning Capabilities, Jason A. Gauthier

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Quadrotor UAVs have become a common and easily acquirable hardware platform for research and development with control laws, mapping systems, and path planning. In this research, a non-linear model of a quadrotor UAV is linearized with model parameters being identified using collected flight data. The PID, LQR, and backstepping control laws are implemented. An adaptive control law is also implemented to handle the loss of effectiveness in motor actuation. Additionally, this research also implements a laser-based SLAM algorithm for mapping and localization in an unknown two-dimensional environment. Path planning and obstacle avoidance algorithms are implemented onboard using the Robot Operating …

Growth Vs. Fixed Mindsets In College Mathematics Education, Bryan Yaeger, Lynne Pachnowski

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The purpose of this research is to investigate the relationship between college mathematics professors and whether they have a growth or fixed mindset towards the students in their classrooms. This paper will share the results from a survey that was constructed with 38 participants - all of which are college mathematics professors in the state of Ohio. This survey focused on asking questions that would relate the professors to either having growth or fixed mindset traits. The survey also asked for the demographics of the participants, which helped classify similarities between those with growth or fixed mindset ideals. After analyzing …

Extracting Information From Subroutines Using Static Analysis Semantics, Luke A. Burnett

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Understanding how a system component can interact with other services can take an immeasurable amount of time. Reverse engineering embedded and large systems can rely on understanding how components interact with one another. This process is time consuming and can sometimes be generalized through certain behavior.We will be explaining two such complicated systems and highlighting similarities between them. We will show that through static analysis you can capture compiler behavior and apply it to the understanding of a function, reducing the total time required to understand a component of whichever system you are learning.

Predicting Subjective Sleep Quality Using Objective Measurements In Older Adults, Reza Sadeghi

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Humans spend almost a third of their lives asleep. Sleep has a pivotal effect on job performance, memory, fatigue recovery, and both mental and physical health. Sleep quality (SQ) is a subjective experience and reported via patients’ self-reports. Predicting subjective SQ based on objective measurements can enhance diagnosis and treatment of SQ defects, especially in older adults who are subject to poor SQ. In this dissertation, we assessed enhancement of subjective SQ prediction using an easy-to-use E4 wearable device, machine learning techniques and identifying disease-specific risk factors of abnormal SQ in older adults. First, we designed a clinical decision support …

Identifying Knowledge Gaps Using A Graph-Based Knowledge Representation, Daniel P. Schmidt

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Knowledge integration and knowledge bases are becoming more and more prevalent in the systems we use every day. When developing these knowledge bases, it is important to ensure the correctness of the information upon entry, as well as allow queries of all sorts; for this, understanding where the gaps in knowledge can arise is critical. This thesis proposes a descriptive taxonomy of knowledge gaps, along with a framework for automated detection and resolution of some of those gaps. Additionally, the effectiveness of this framework is evaluated in terms of successful responses to queries on a knowledge base constructed from a …

Single-Pixel Camera Based Spatial Frequency Domain Imaging For Non-Contact Tissue Characterization, Alec M. Petrack

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Optical imaging has demonstrated potential as a medical imaging modality for measuring tissue functionality. Recently, interest in fluorescence guided surgery has emerged from improvements in optical imaging that have allowed real-time feedback. Of the optical imaging modalities, spatial frequency domain imaging (SFDI) has gained a lot of interest. Unlike spectroscopic techniques, such as functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) and frequency domain spectroscopy that measure bulk tissue properties, SFDI quantifies tissue functionality locally and wide field making it practical for clinical applications. Unfortunately, traditional SFDI systems use multi-pixel detectors, which may not exhibit ideal spectral characteristics, have limited sensitivity, be expensive, …

Determination Of Iron-Reducing Bacterial Activities In Lake Sediments., Alexandra Kahn

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Algal blooms are growing rampantly in lacustrine systems due to an increase of phosphorus, a nutrient for algae. Phosphorus is being released into the environment causing overpopulation and eutrophication which damages the ecosystem. The availability of phosphorus is affected by the solubility of iron which is regulated through iron reducing and iron oxidizing bacteria. Phosphorus adheres to insoluble Fe(III), which prohibits algae from utilizing it, while phosphorus does not attach to soluble Fe(II) and therefore it remains available to algae. The purpose of this study was to determine how bacteria influence iron solubility and what are the ideal environmental conditions …

Claw Morphology Impacts Clinging Performance On Rough Substrates, Alexandra Pamfilie

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The digits of anoles and geckos have been extensively investigated for their adhesive pads, which allow them to adhere effectively to smooth surfaces. Many pad-bearing lizards also possess claws, which have been posited as the principal contributor to clinging on rough surfaces. Previous studies have found correlations between habitat use and claw morphology, but whether variation in claw morphology impacts function or not has remained relatively understudied. In addition, it is reasonable to suggest that abrasive wear of the claws may impact clinging ability. I examined both natural and induced variation in the claw morphology of Cuban knight anoles ( …

Technological Software In Mathematics, Courtney Kish

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Technology has been advancing significantly over the years. One area that has been affected is mathematics. Technological software has been developed that has allowed for mathematics to be done using software programs. For example, WebAssign allows students to complete online math homework and example practice problems, as well as watch videos to explain topics in math. However, like all things, this is not without downfalls. While this technology offers students access to online lectures and instant feedback, cheating and costly expenses also come with it.

In this research paper, I will discuss the benefits and shortcomings of different technological software …

Mini Baja Frame Analysis, Jacob Swanson

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The purpose of our senior design project is to optimize the Baja frame to reduce its weight and material cost while keeping the required rigidity. Through force analysis we will be able to determine if any rigidity is lost by removing a set of tubes (figure 1), along with the other forces seen by the frame. If it is found that the frame rigidity is still within the determined factor of safety, 2, then we will be able to reduce the frame weight and the number of tubes that make up the frame. Along with force analysis, we will use …

Analysis Of Deformation Mechanisms That Formed The Shear Zones Found In The Scituate Granite, Rhode Island, Usa, Jacob Waller

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The rheology of the ductile middle and lower crust affects the rate and intensity of aftershocks following major seismic events. This ductile deformation in the middle crust is commonly localized in narrow shear zones, which requires a process that causes strain weakening to operate in order to form these shear zones. In order to determine the mechanisms that cause strain localization in a common crustal rock, microstructures were analyzed in and around a shear zone found in a granite, Scituate, RI, deformed during the Alleghenian orogeny. Evolution of shear zone growth was observed through optical and scanning electron microscope (SEM) …

Augmented Reality Billiards Assistant, Sarah Medved

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The game of pool is an extremely popular activity, with approximately 36 million participants yearly. As with any game of pool, the most basic skill the player must possess is the ability to accurately aim and hit the cue ball. It would be helpful to the player if they had a system which would assist with aiming by predicting the trajectories of a shot before the shot is actually made. These trajectory predictions can serve as a guide to the player and allow them to adjust their cue position before each shot. This lets the player explore many different options …

Synthesis Of Bio-Based Polymer Products, Joshua Sukie

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The project covers the synthesis of two bio-based polymers. One aspect of the research investigates the synthesis of materials for use in vegetable oil-based UV-curable coating, and the subsequent polymerization of the materials into a coating film. The second aspect of the research follows the synthesis of a functionalized cellulose material for use as a reinforcer in a vegetable oil-based composite. Both products are subsequently analyzed by various methods.

Development Of A Synthesis Method For O2-Releasing Compound For Microbiological Experiments, Danae Greco

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Many celestial bodies within our solar system may have habitable environments due to the presence of liquid water. Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons, may be habitable because of its liquid ocean and other potentially biologically favorable conditions. The ocean on Europa is hypothesized to contain large amounts of oxidants and low pH due to the radiolytically processed icy ocean shell. This suspected environment on Europa is similar to the composition of acid mine drainage on Earth, which can house microbial communities in environments of extreme acidity. Similar chemical reactions in Europa’s ocean may occur to produce the appropriate reduction-oxidation gradients …

Android Game, Ryan Weston

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The purpose of this project was to create an endless runner game for Android coded in Java and XML and developed in Android Studio. In the game, the player controls a frog that jumps from lily pad to lily pad to avoid logs moving toward the player. The player must also maneuver the lily pads as they can randomly disappear. There are three difficulties in the game that vary the disappearance rate of lily pads as well as the frequency and acceleration rate of the log obstacles. The game also has a scoring system and saves the high score locally …

Design Of Pigments For Use In “Cool” Coatings, Tyler Laughorn

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This project was focused on the development and testing of several novel pigments that exhibit high NIR-reflectance and therefore show potential for use in “cool” coatings. A “cool” coating will reflect more solar radiation than other standard coatings, and so a coated structure would require less energy to keep cool. Four sets of pigments were synthesized: Co_1-xMg_xCr₂O₄ (teal), Co_0.25Mg_0.75Cr_2-yAl_yO₄ (blue), Ti_1-x-yNi_xSb_yO₂ (yellow), and Cr_2-xFe_xO₃ (black). NIR and TSR values were then measured …

Filtration Apparatus Design For Oil-Water Separation Using Membranes And Sponges, Alec Jerger

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

It can be difficult to separate water and oil emulsions through traditional filtration. Therefore, investigations of filtering using thermo-responsive (TR) polymers, in this case poly(vinyl methyl ether) (PVME), was conducted. It’s hypothesized that below its lower critical solution temperature (LCST), PVME has an affinity for water while oil substances do not. Above the LCST the opposite will be true. To verify this hypothesis, iterations of filtration designs were created to provide optimum control over the parameters to measure flow. The final optimized experimental apparatus was a Chromaflex glass column which was air tight and controlled all parameters besides fluid flow. …

Use Of Calculators In High School Mathematics, Alex Mcdaniel

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

For many collegiate level mathematics courses at universities across the country, students are not allowed to use calculators. This is often a huge adjustment for students who have spent their entire high school career using calculators. Whether it is graphing or simple arithmetic, students relied on calculators in high school, but for college, the tool of a calculator may not be available for them. This leads to a multitude of questions: Should calculators be used in high school? Do calculators help students learn or are they simply a tool to get answers? Are calculators beneficial in some courses, but not …

Best Practices For Student-Led Publishing, Victoria Corwin

Dartmouth Library Staff Publications

The Dartmouth Library engages with student writers and editors to support and advise publications. This guide was written by Victoria Corwin, Edward Connery Lathem Digital Library Fellow, in June 2020 after extensive literature reviews, interviews, and personal experience as a student Editor in Chief for three years.

This document covers some best practices for many aspects of student publishing at Dartmouth, including starting a publication, finding support, securing funding, publishing content, increasing visibility, copyright advice, and much more. The resources listed here apply to all types of publications, such as literary magazines, science journals, newspapers, blogs, and zines. This guide …

The Compass, Summer 2020

The Compass, 2018-

The Compass is an annual orientation guide for VCU students produced by the Student Media Collective in the VCU Student Media Centered. The guide is distributed physically during summer orientation sessions for new and transfer students. The publication includes short articles, illustrations, letters of welcome from students and administrators, comics, and advertisements from VCU and Richmond organizations.

Report On The Use Of Assistive Robotics To Aid Persons With Disabilities, Brittany Allen, Christina Bagnati, Erika Dow, Alexander Friel, Sahar Ibrahim, Haley June, Nicholas Laten, Vy Le, Elizabeth Manes, Maria Mccoy, Joseph Mcgow-Russell, Maryam Nuru, Jessica Payne, Esther Roselaar, Tommy Sanders, Julia Schwieterman, Natalie Scott, Kelli Stanton, Kathleen Van Antwerp, Shulin Wang, Lakmini Wilson, Bradley S. Duerstock

Undergraduate Coursework

No abstract provided.

Transport Mechanisms During Water Droplet Evaporation On Heated Substrates, Z. Pan, J. A. Weibel, S V. Garimella

CTRC Research Publications

The evaporation of water droplets placed on heated hydrophilic, hydrophobic, and superhydrophobic sub- strates is numerically investigated. Simplified analytical models for droplet evaporation only include va- por diffusion transport in the surrounding gas domain and assume an isothermal droplet interface at the substrate temperature. The comprehensive model developed in this study accounts for all of the per- tinent transport mechanisms. The interface is cooled via absorption of latent heat during evaporation, and the saturated vapor concentration is coupled to local temperature at the droplet interface. Conjugate heat and mass transfer are solved throughout the system using temperature-dependent physical prop- erties. …

Fully Dried Two-Dimensional Paper Network For Enzymatically Enhanced Detection Of Nucleic Acid Amplicons, Kristin M. Byers, Anna R. Bird, Hyundae D. Cho, Jacqueline C. Linnes

Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering Faculty Publications

Two-dimensional paper networks (2DPNs) have enabled the use of paper-based platforms to perform multistep immunoassays for detection of pathogenic diseases at the point-of-care. To date, however, detection has required the user to provide multiple signal enhancement solutions and been limited to protein targets. We solve these challenges by using mathematical equations to guide the device design of a novel 2DPN, which leverages multiple fluidic inputs to apply fully dried solutions of hydrogen peroxide, diaminobenzidine, and horseradish peroxidase signal enhancement reagents to enhance the limit-ofdetection of numerous nucleic acid products. Upon rehydration in our unique 2DPN design, the dried signal enhancement …

Comparative Evaluation Of Algorithms For Achieving Ultrapacked Thermal Greases: Microstructural Models And Effective Behavior, S. Achar, H. Liao, G. Subbarayan

CTRC Research Publications

No abstract provided.

Reconsideration Of Energy Balance In Jiles–Atherton Model For Accurate Prediction Of B–H Trajectories In Ferrites, Harshita Singh, Scott D. Sudhoff

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

In this article, the energy balance equation in the original Jiles-Atherton model is revisited. In particular, the assumption that the energy stored in a lossy material is equal to that stored in a lossless material is removed. This modification results in more accurate prediction of B -H trajectories. A new approach to characterize material parameters based on resonant response is also set forth. Extensive experimental validation is provided and model parameters for several common materials are given.

Non-Linear Non-Iterative Transient Inverse Conjugate Heat Transfer Method Applied To Microelectronics, David Gonzalez Cuadrado, Amy Marconnet, Guillermo Paniagua

CTRC Research Publications

Solving for temperature profiles given boundary conditions, geometry, and material properties is rela- tively straightforward given the wealth of analytical and computational techniques available. However, experimentally we often measure temperatures and seek to understand unknown boundary conditions or material properties. This problem is generally ill-posed. Thus, to get the value of these input param- eters, we use inverse methods: knowing the output of the system ( i.e. , temperature), we can compute the value of the unknown parameters ( e.g. , thermal conductivity or heat fluxes). In microelectronics, the location and magnitude of the boundary conditions including local heat generation …

Pinch-Off Of A Surfactant-Covered Jet, Hansol Wee, Brayden W. Wagoner, Vishrut Garg, Pritish M. Kamat, Osman Basaran

School of Chemical Engineering Faculty Publications

Surfactants at fluid interfaces not only lower and cause gradients in surface tension but can induce additional surface rheological effects in response to dilatational and shear deformations. Surface tension and surface viscosities are both functions of surfactant concentration. Measurement of surface tension and determination of its effects on interfacial flows are now well established. Measurement of surface viscosities, however, is notoriously difficult. Consequently, quantitative characterization of their effects in interfacial flows has proven challenging. One reason behind this difficulty is that, with most existing methods of measurement, it is often impossible to isolate the effects of surface viscous stresses from …

Biomechanical Models Of Cough Sounds In Pneumonia: Mechanisms Underlying Sound-Based Diagnosis In Low-Resource Settings, Charles F. Babbs

Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering Faculty Working Papers

Objective. This paper describes a theoretical study of physical mechanisms underlying the generation of cough sounds and the expected differences in such sounds caused by anatomically localized pneumonia. Methods. A fresh, first-principles, physics-based analysis is done, describing radial motion of bronchi after sudden decompression of intrathoracic pressure during the early and middle phases of a cough. The mechanical model of each bronchus is a spring-mass-damper system, in which the spring force comes from elastic properties of the bronchial wall, the mass term comes from the bronchial wall and any surrounding fluid or pus in pneumonia, and the damping term comes …

Using Qualitative Methods To Supplement Quantitative Research: A Case Study In Evaluating Student Usage Of Facilities, Thom Gerrish, Matthew M. Benzing, Susan Hurst

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Quantitative research is an important tool in understanding library users; quantifiable data is objective and can be processed and analyzed in ways that bring about new insights. Unfortunately, it is better at telling us where and when than it is at telling us the whys. Our library, the Business, Engineering, Science, and Technology library at Miami University, did a headcount study to see how many people were using which rooms at what times of the day and night. There were many things we learned from that data, but in order to flesh it out and make it more of a …

The Influence Of Connecting Funds Of Knowledge To Beliefs About Performance, Classroom Belonging, Dina Verdín, Jessica Smith, Juan Lucena

School of Engineering Education Graduate Student Series

First-generation college students in engineering accumulate bodies of knowledge through their working-class families. In our ethnographic data of first-generation college students, we identified tinkering knowledge from home and from work, perspective taking, mediational ability, and connecting experiences as knowledge sources brought to engineering. The purpose of this paper was to understand how first-generation college students’ accumulated bodies of knowledge (i.e., funds of knowledge) support their beliefs about performing well in engineering coursework, feeling a sense of belonging in the classroom, and certainty of graduating. Data for this study came from a survey administered in the Fall of 2018 from ten …