Digital Commons Network^™

Advancing Cislunar Space Domain Awareness Through Robust Optimization Framework For Optical Sensors-Based Autonomous Satellite Systems, Smriti Nandan Paul, Siwei Fan, Igor Panfil

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The number of cislunar resident space objects is expected to proliferate rapidly because of strategic interests targeting long-term presence on the Moon and exploration of other planets (e.g., Artemis Accords) and liberalization of space through the entry of private space players (e.g., Intuitive Machines). It necessitates expanding current near-Earth space domain awareness (SDA) operation systems and knowledge to the relatively unexplored cislunar region. Besides the traditional complexities, xGEO orbits (orbits beyond the geosynchronous Earth orbit (GEO) region) face additional challenges because of highly non-linear and non-Keplerian dynamics, which results in inaccuracies in uncertainty propagation and state estimation. Further challenges include …

Utilizing Recommendation Systems To Achieve More Personalized Themed Experiences, Bryan P. Mcgowan

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Digital platforms such as Amazon, Netflix, and YouTube demonstrate the effectiveness of recommendation systems to personalize content and drive revenue, yet themed attractions have historically offered limited personalization. This thesis explores how recommendation systems can enhance adaptive themed experiences, focusing on branching narratives and dynamic environments that respond to guest behavior. Research from literature relevant to recommendation systems, along with analyses of successful attractions and digital experiences, informed the creative solutions developed for The Nexus. In this immersive walkthrough attraction, guests pass through a magical portal into a multiverse that adapts to their preferences and actions. This research shows how …

Field-Resolved Metrology For Attosecond Timing, Christopher A. Lantigua

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Ultrashort pulses of light have opened new frontiers in both fundamental science and applied technology. The short duration and large bandwidth of these pulses has enabled time-resolved spectroscopy of atomic and molecular dynamics at their natural timescales, allowing direct observation of ultrafast processes in these systems which is essential to our fundamental understanding of material behavior. Alongside these optical developments, free-electron lasers (FELs) have advanced the generation of attosecond X-ray pulses. These state-of-the-art facilities allow scientist to probe even deeper into the atomic nature of matter. To access these dynamics, pump-probe experiments are run in which a short optical pulse …

Hands-Free Uav Control: Real-Time Eye Movement Detection Using Eog And Lstm Networks, Niloofar Zendehdel, Khosro Ghorbani Zadeh, Haodong Chen, Yun Seong Song, Ming C. Leu

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Industry 4.0 has created a growing need for effective human-robot collaboration (HRC). As robots and humans work more closely together, efficient communication becomes essential for coordinating their actions seamlessly. While speech may seem like the obvious choice for communication, noisy factory environments can render it impractical. Additionally, workers often have their hands occupied with assembly tasks, making hand-controlled interfaces less practical for controlling robots. To address these challenges, this paper presents a novel, hands-free method for robot control using electrooculography (EOG) signals–specifically, eye movements and blinks–with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) used as the demonstration platform. We developed a real-time system …

Correction: Advancing Cislunar Space Domain Awareness Through Robust Optimization Framework For Optical Sensors-Based Autonomous Satellite Systems (American Institute Of Aeronautics And Astronautics Inc, Aiaa), Smriti Nandan Paul, Siwei Fan, Igor Panfil

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

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Study On Field Emission Characteristics Of Carbon Nanotube Arrays Patterned Via Laser Welding Of Dissimilar Materials, Hung Yin Tsai, Yi Hung Chen, Kuan Ching Wang, Paul W. Leu, Ming C. Leu

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This paper describes a new method of growing carbon nanotube (CNT) arrays using laser welding of a catalyst metal onto the surface of a quartz substrate, followed by CNT growth through the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process. A major advantage of this method is its ability to pattern the catalyst before growing the CNTs, thus allowing for the formation of CNTs at specific locations. The laser pre-treatment method minimized structural damage to CNTs in comparison to the laser post-processing method, achieving a lower ID/IG value of 0.72 in Raman spectroscopy analysis. Using hexagonally patterned CNT arrays on quartz, we achieve …

Exploring Segmentation, Detection And Tracking In Videos, Jyoti Kini

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Perception is the cornerstone of autonomy, enabling agents to interpret complex environments through segmentation, detection, and tracking. These perception capabilities are fundamental to intelligent systems, whether guiding self-driving vehicles along urban roads, aerial robots mapping diverse terrains, or embodied AI agents interacting naturally with people and objects. Despite sustained research efforts, current perception models remain constrained by fragmented architectures, heavy annotation dependence, and poor generalization to unseen viewpoints, which hinder scalability and reliability. This dissertation advances scene understanding through innovations in segmentation, detection, and tracking, with contributions spanning four key directions that emphasize scalability through end-to-end formulations in 2D and …

Firefighter Syndrome: Improving The Identification And Classification Of Firefighters In Need, Michael A. Schlenk

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Firefighters (FFs) exhibit a multitude of behavioral and physical health concerns as well as fluctuating social support due to their occupation. Despite the fire service enacting preventative approaches to health and wellness, FFs still report increased prevalences of health concerns at the end of their career. Firefighter syndrome was created to identify FFs in need of medical care (e.g., behavioral and physical health services, Frueh et al., 2022b). The purpose of this study is to validate the construct of FF Syndrome by using statistical classification techniques to investigate whether there is a latent group of firefighters that have the symptoms …

The Marginalization Of The Malgre Nous In French Society From Its Roots To The 1960s, Marie Oury

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

This thesis examines how young Alsatians found themselves on the margins of postwar France. The illegal annexation of their region by Germany in 1940 led them into a bitter paradox: within months, they had to support their enemy's war effort. The National Socialist (Nazi) regime's coercion reached its height between 1942 and 1945, when 130,000 young men and women from Alsace and Moselle were conscripted into the German army against their will. After the war, this generation bore the weight of that history, struggling to reintegrate into France, a nation that sought to avoid grappling with the complex experiences of …

Robust Multiple Change Point Detection For Streaming Data, Randyll Pandohie

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

The growing prevalence of high-frequency, high-dimensional data streams in domains such as finance, cybersecurity, and industrial monitoring has intensified the demand for real-time multiple change point detection methods. These methods are expected to identify distributional shifts as they occur while also determining the number and locations of change points—even in the presence of noise, outliers, and limited labeled data. Traditional batch-based approaches and many existing machine learning models fall short in streaming contexts due to their reliance on static datasets and sensitivity to contamination.

This thesis proposes a unified framework for robust multiple change point detection in streaming environments. The …

Design Tool For Ammonia Cracker Hardware, Andrew Menendez

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Ammonia is a promising carbon-free fuel for commercial aviation and represents a viable pathway toward net-zero emissions. However, direct ammonia combustion is inefficient, creating the need for onboard cracking to generate hydrogen for improved combustion characteristics. One pathway for onboard cracking is to have the hardware live around the combustor liner where heat generated from the combustion process can be used to sustain the reaction. This study aims to develop a design tool for the ammonia cracking reactor hardware. A simplified, single-step surface reaction mechanism was implemented using ANSYS FLUENT and CHEMKIN PRO R1, demonstrating strong agreement with experimental data …

Everglades Restoration: Interdisciplinary Analysis And Pluralist Approaches, Sarah Swiersz

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

This study uses interdisciplinary methods to analyze ecological restoration of the Florida Everglades (Everglades Restoration). Everglades Restoration is considered one of the largest ecosystem restoration projects in the world, relying on complex intergovernmental and sociopolitical relationships. Framing Everglades Restoration as a quintessential “wicked problem”, a problem that is inherently complex and unsolvable, provides grounds for interdisciplinary analysis. This study analyzes two epistemological approaches to Everglades Restoration: Western-scientific knowledge, the epistemological foundation of Everglades Restoration, and Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge, which challenges the foundations of Everglades Restoration. Interdisciplinary analysis within a decolonial framework identifies limits to integration of knowledge, a core …

A Multivariable Feedback Approach To Individual Pitch Control For Fatigue Load Reduction In Wind Turbines, Kazi Ishtiak Mohsin Mr.

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

This dissertation investigates advanced control strategies to improve performance and reduce fatigue loads in both land-based and floating offshore wind turbines. The proposed approaches target fatigue load mitigation at critical component frequencies while ensuring rotor speed regulation and efficient power generation. The control strategies are implemented and validated using both our in-house modeling and simulation platform, CRAFTS (Control Oriented Reconfigurable Acausal Floating Turbine Simulator), and the industry-standard OpenFAST model.

For land-based turbines, torque actuation and collective blade pitch control are incorporated into a nonlinear controller for rotor speed regulation and power generation. To address fatigue load reduction, individual pitch control …

Digitally-Mediated Nature-Connectedness?: Listeners’ Emotional Responses To And Perception Of Digitized Nature Sounds, Marissa Salas

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

• Faced with the potential closure or privatization of the U.S. National Park Service (NPS), it is important to reflect on the conservation efforts using soundscapes. This dissertation explores the gap between experts and lay listeners in listening to soundscapes through the digitally-mediated spaces (e.g. YouTube). In a pilot project conducted in 2024 that used facial emotional recognition software and a talk-aloud protocol, data on emotions was collected. Using NPS video recordings on its webpages, social media accounts and via other digital channels (YouTube, etc.) created by NPS experts, this project employed an innovative, interdisciplinary, mixed-methods experimental design to investigate …

Influencing Sustainability: The Impact Of Digital Influencers On Sustainable Tourism Behaviors, Karen C. N. Tavares

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

This dissertation investigates how digital influencers shape sustainable tourism communication and behavioral intentions through a multi-method research approach. As influencer marketing increasingly drives destination visibility and traveler decision-making, understanding its role in advancing sustainability is essential for aligning economic growth with environmental and social responsibility. To address this gap, two complementary studies were conducted.

Study 1 applied social media content analysis to examine sustainable tourism discourse, identifying trends in topics, message framing and content. The analysis revealed a largely positive and gain-framed conversation, emphasizing lifestyle identity, collective values, and all three pillars of sustainability. Influencer analysis showed that while institutional …

The Effects Of Camera, Environmental, And Motion Properties On Simultaneous Localization And Mapping, Esteban Segarra Martinez

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) is the process of estimating the pose of a robot within an unknown environment. A variant, visual SLAM (V-SLAM), estimates the pose only using visual information from a camera. In recent years, the importance of V-SLAM has increased and expanded to applications such as robotics, virtual reality, augmented reality, and autonomous driving. Accurate estimation of poses is critical as these applications need to quickly perceive an environment and update its pose under complex scenarios. V-SLAM is composed of algorithms that utilize robot vision to distinguish landmarks in the environment in order to estimate the geometric …

Modeling A Moving Manipulator Platform In Ros 2 For Space Robotics, Bastian S. Weiss

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

The control of mobile manipulators presents a unique challenge as the complexity of motion increases. ROS 2 provides the ability to create a digital twin of a physical system and control both simultaneously. This can be applied to mobile manipulators, allowing us to plan out complex movements and then simulate them virtually or physically. The Space ROS software is adapted for our Rapid Orbital Motion Emulator which is a 6 Degree of Freedom manipulator on top of a holonomic mobile base platform. Our custom Omni wheel controller running within the ROS 2 control package handles the kinematics for the base, …

Cross-Layer Optimization In C-V2x Towards Level-5 Vehicular Automation, Mahdi Zaman

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs) necessitate highly reliable, scalable, and responsive Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) communication systems. Despite recent advancements, Cellular-V2X (C-V2X) in its state-of-the-art form exhibits limitations in managing resource allocation and communication robustness, particularly in dense vehicular scenarios. Additionally, C-V2X standards have been tailored to particularly support periodic broadcasts; whereas true vehicular autonomy demands service-focused communication which differs in transmission behavior compared to periodic safety messages. This document addresses critical bottlenecks within C-V2X by developing cross-layer optimizations across physical, MAC, and application layers. This thesis proposes enhancements on C-V2X resource scheduling protocol with proposing novel adaptive and selective power control …

Assessment Of The Safety Culture In Petrochemical Industries In Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Study, Ahmed Mohammed Alqarfi

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Given the inherently hazardous nature of petrochemical operations, an effective safety culture is critical. Following PRISMA 2020 guidelines, 29 peer-reviewed articles published in open access between 2014 and 2024 were selected to evaluate the status of safety culture dimensions employed in the petrochemical sector. This cross-sectional study assessed safety culture in the Saudi Arabian petrochemical industry and examined the relationships among safety culture dimensions, safety motivation (SM), and safety performance. Safety performance was operationalized as personal error behavior (PEB) and attitudes toward violations (ATV), with SM modeled as a mediating factor. After obtaining IRB approval, a total of 482 employees …

Advancing Drug Discovery With Structural And Representation Learning Of Biological Systems, Mehdi Yazdani-Jahromi

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

The rapid emergence of global health crises, exemplified by the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, underscores the profound limitations of conventional drug discovery methods, which are inherently protracted and resource-intensive. A robust, accelerated response framework demands the sophisticated deployment of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) across the entire therapeutic pipeline. We propose a unified approach centered on \textbf{Structural and Representation Learning} to capture the intricate topological and chemical nuances of biological systems, thereby transforming complex molecular and genomic data into effective vector embeddings suitable for deep learning, enhancing predictive power, and crucially, interpretability. This dissertation details advancements across …

Nonfiction Forms In Contemporary Poetry By Black And Asian American Writers, Elizabeth J. Mitchell

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Writers experiment with form inside poetry for various reasons, including a desire for play. Creating poetry is a creative process that involves experimentation. This research highlights poetry that adapts established nonfiction forms into poetry forms, examining poetry published in 2000-2024 by Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander American (AANHPI) writers and Black writers (writers of African ancestry) within the United States. For writers of color especially, nonfiction forms can provide a different way of entering into conversations about race, ethnicity, gender, identity, power, privilege, and authority. This research examines poetry by A. Van Jordan, Franny Choi, Alison C. Rollins, …

Patient-Centric Barriers To Clinical Trial Participation In Developing Countries: A Retrospective Analysis, Kirandeep Kaur

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The underrepresentation of developing countries in clinical trials limits the applicability of research findings to a significant portion of the global population. This study addresses this gap by conducting a retrospective analysis of published literature to identify patient-centric barriers to clinical trial participation in developing countries. A comprehensive search of PubMed, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library databases yielded four relevant studies, which were subjected to thematic analysis. The study identified 12 key emerging themes, with safety and efficacy concerns and trust issues being the most prevalent. The thematic analysis partially supported the hypothesis: While trust issues were found in …

Language Barriers In Clinical Trials: Exploring Impacts On Continuity And Participants’ Engagement And Effective Mitigation Strategies, Harsha Ani Das

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Clinical trials are crucial for advancing medical knowledge and developing new treatments. However, language barriers can pose significant challenges for participants, particularly in understanding trial procedures, risks, and benefits. Existing policies, guidelines, and studies from 2020 to 2024 identify key challenges in recruiting and retaining non-English-speaking participants. The lack of data on dropout rates highlights the need for improved language services and culturally sensitive communication methods. Findings demonstrate the importance of addressing linguistic disparities to enhance trial inclusivity and success. Innovative strategies to overcome language-related hurdles include the use of professional interpreters, translated materials, and community engagement initiatives. By addressing …

Latent Classes Of Comorbid Clinical Presentations For Patients With Psychogenic Non-Epileptic Seizures, Joseph W. Tu

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (PNES) are episodes of motor, sensory, and/or cognitive seizures without detectable epileptic activity. The integrative cognitive model conceptualizes PNES as an activation of learned mental representations of a seizure often combined with concurrent physiological arousal. PNES are not treatable by antiepileptic medications and are often accompanied by psychiatric and medical comorbidities, complicating treatment following diagnosis. Further, individuals with PNES often incur greater medical costs through hospital admissions and emergency department visits. Multidisciplinary care including behavioral health interventions like cognitive behavior therapy have demonstrated initial success at reducing seizure frequency but impacts on healthcare utilization are unknown. Patients …