Digital Commons Network^™

Decoding Emt Heterogeneity In Pancreatic Cancer, John David Slowikowski, Julienne L. Carstens

Expo Student Presentations

2025 Summer Expo Poster Presentation

• Biological & Life Sciences
• Works in Progress

Building The Future: How Fault Managed Power Systems Are Transforming Electrical Contracting, Deniz Besiktepe

Bowen School of Construction Faculty Publications

There are several emerging types of digital electricity technologies, each designed to address specific applications within smart building systems. This study focuses specifically on Fault Managed Power Systems (FMPS), a rapidly advancing digital electricity technology with significant potential for smart building applications. The study’s findings and recommendations provide a quick reference guide for the electrical contracting industry.

Politics And Institutional Change: The Water Commission Act Of 1913, Mark Kanazawa

Department of Economics Working Paper Series

Economists have long argued that increasing resource scarcity can lead to more clearly defined individual property rights, but the precise mechanism whereby this occurs remains unclear to this day. This paper documents the role of politics in shaping the creation of individual property rights within the context of appropriative water law in early 20th century California, finding evidence of both party ideology and interest group influence in establishing a new system for administering appropriative water rights.

Jme4110: Hydro-Excavator Robot, Diane L. Evans, Nathan Fenton, Grant Cole, Nicholas Sipe

Washington University / UMSL Mechanical Engineering Design Project JME 4110

In an environmental situation wherein, diesel has leaked into soil surrounding high voltage lines in an underground confined space where workers cannot access physically and for safety reasons. To alleviate the situation, the project goal is to create a remotely controlled robot, with umbilical attachments. Due to the nature of the environment containing sensitive and electrically charged equipment, mechanical means of removing the soil are not feasible. For this reason, the robot is to remove contaminated soil by using a powerful water sprayer and vacuum combination. Other options for features of this robot are that it uses tracks for movement, …

Jme 4110: Automatic Umbrella Opener, Sam Nieder, Adam Freeman

Washington University / UMSL Mechanical Engineering Design Project JME 4110

Manually opening and closing a patio umbrella can be time consuming and laborious. While there are remote controlled umbrellas for sale, they are expensive and may not be a reasonable option for most people. Our task was to create a device that can be retrofitted onto any patio umbrella, that allows it to be opened and closed remotely.

Jme 4110: Remotely Actuated Rail Switch, Calysta Yalew, Chibale Anwisye, Ron Almira, Andy Sengsavang

Washington University / UMSL Mechanical Engineering Design Project JME 4110

This project focuses on developing a device that will switch the direction of rail by moving the manual rail switch itself. This design consists of two winches strategically placed on either side of the rail switch. It is then attached to a beam clamped to the manual switch and via a button on a phone, can pull the handle left and right. With this device patrons are able to keep safe and railway operations would be more efficient.

Jme 4110: Design And Evaluation Of A Remote-Operated Tool For High-Ceiling Light Bulb Maintenance, Faiq Kureshi, Austin Carr, Phuc Truong, Klevis Malaj

Washington University / UMSL Mechanical Engineering Design Project JME 4110

Changing light bulbs in high ceilings is a common but hazardous task. Existing tools are awkward, unstable, and often lead to dropped bulbs, damaged fixtures, or the need for ladders, increasing both risk and effort. There is a clear need for a safe, accurate, and efficient solution that allows bulb replacement from the ground without compromising speed or precision

Mitigating Regression Faults Induced By Feature Evolution In Deep Learning Systems, Hanmo Yu, Zan Wang, Xuyang Chen, Junjie Chen, Jun Sun, Shuang Liu, Zishuo Dong

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Deep learning (DL) systems have been widely utilized across various domains. However, the evolution of DL systems can result in regression faults. In addition to the evolution of DL systems through the incorporation of new data, feature evolution, such as the addition of new features, is also common and can introduce regression faults. In this work, we first investigate the underlying factors that are correlated with regression faults in feature evolution scenarios, i.e., redundancy and contribution shift. Based on our investigation, we propose a novel mitigation approach called FeaProtect, which aims to minimize the impact of these two factors. To …

Dual-Target Disjointed Cross-Domain Recommendation Mediated Via Latent User Preferences, Dinh Hieu Do, Hady Wirawan Lauw

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Users often navigate multiple platforms online, each characterized by its own set of scarce data. Recommender systems face a significant challenge in such fragmented environments. This paper proposes a novel approach to enhance recommendation systems by leveraging connections across distinct yet conceptually similar datasets from multiple platforms. We introduce a unique scenario of dual-target overlapping-free cross-platform recommendation, presenting a bridging mechanism to mutually improve across platforms and learn latent user preferences. Our approach addresses the data sparsity prevalent in each platform and enhances recommendation quality by harnessing redundant, rich, and similar domain data. Experiments validate the effectiveness of our method, …

Advancing Food Nutrition Estimation Via Visual-Ingredient Feature Fusion, Huiyan Qi, Bin Zhu, Chong-Wah Ngo, Jingjing Chen, Ee-Peng Lim

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Nutrition estimation is an important component of promoting healthy eating and mitigating diet-related health risks. Despite advances in tasks such as food classification and ingredient recognition, progress in nutrition estimation is limited due to the lack of datasets with nutritional annotations. To address this issue, we introduce FastFood, a dataset with 84,446 images across 908 fast food categories, featuring ingredient and nutritional annotations. In addition, we propose a new model-agnostic Visual-Ingredient Feature Fusion (VIF2 ) method to enhance nutrition estimation by integrating visual and ingredient features. Ingredient robustness is improved through synonym replacement and resampling strategies during training. The ingredient-aware …

Do Supplier Ceo's National Cultural Origins Affect Supplier-Customer Relationships?, Peng Liang, Hasan Cavusoglu, Nan Hu

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

This study investigates how the national cultural origins of supplier chief executive officers (CEOs), as characterized by Hofstede’s cross-cultural dimensions, influence the duration of supplier–customer relationships. By analyzing the cultural origins of supplier CEOs from 20 countries over a 25-year period, we find that supplier CEOs with high long-term orientation (LTO) and high uncertainty avoidance (UNA) are associated with longer lasting supplier–customer relationships, while those with high individualism (IND) are associated with shorter relationship durations. These findings are robust to several alternative explanations of customer and supplier CEO variables. To address potential endogeneity—specifically, the concern that CEOs with certain cultural …

Wa-Fdnet: A Unified Weight Adaptation Network For Multimodal Image Fusion And Object Detection, Yanyin Guo, Ying Luo, Junwei Li, Zhiyuan Zhang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Multimodal image fusion and object detection are critical tasks in computer vision, particularly in scenarios requiring robust perception under low illumination conditions. Existing approaches that attempt to combine these tasks often rely on cascaded or loosely coupled designs, which can result in suboptimal performance due to gradient conflicts and task imbalance. In this paper, we propose WA-FDNet, a novel Weight Adaptation Fusion Detection Network that unifies multimodal image fusion and object detection into a single end-to-end framework. WA-FDNet adopts a shared encoder–private decoder architecture, enabling efficient feature sharing while preserving task-specific characteristics. The image fusion branch employs a spatial attention-based …

Guardrails For Discretionary Powers: A Case Comment On The State Of Tamil Nadu V The Governor Of Tamil Nadu And Another, Pranav Verma

National Law School Journal

This Case Comment argues that by prescribing timelines for the president and the governors to grant or withhold assent to bills in The State of Tamil Nadu v the Governor of Tamil Nadu, decided in April 2025, the Supreme Court did not exceed its constitutional role, as argued by some critics. Instead, it applied established administrative law principles—relevant considerations, natural justice, and absence of mala fides—to the specific power of granting or withholding assent to bills. These principles have been long used to guide the other powers of the president, the governors, and the speaker/chairman. The court thereby reinforced …

The Indian Pharmacopoeia: Enabling Open Access And Crafting A ‘Sovereign Function Exception’ For Government Works, Aparajita Lath

National Law School Journal

Standardisation of drugs and access to such standards are important levers for effective drug regulation. The Indian Pharmacopoeia, the official book of standards for drugs in the country prescribed by the Union government under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act 1940, are legally binding and enforceable. Not only do the standards have the force of law but are also government-created. The Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission (IPC), a division of the Union Department of Health and Family Welfare, has a legal monopoly over creating and publishing this compendium. Though it is legally binding, the Indian Pharmacopoeia is neither in the public domain …

A Study Of Quasigroups, A Computational Approach On Isotopism And Isomorphism Hierarchical Structure, Runaldo Montrose

Theses and Dissertations

Quasigroups morphism classification can present a real computational challenge. As of today, the number of quasigroups that can be generated from a finite set S of cardinality n is known for very small value of n. Though we know the number of quasigroups for small n, generating them in real time is a whole other issue that leads to a bigger challenge of building their isomorphy classes, because the algorithm used required large computing memory resources. In this paper we will expose the computational complexity of constructing their hierarchical morphism structure from isotopism to isomorphism. As an improvement, …

Predicting Enzyme-Substrate Association Using Heterogeneous Knowledge Graph, Jannatul Ferdaus

Theses and Dissertations

Phosphorylation and dephosphorylation are dynamic processes that control many aspects of cellular activity, such as metabolic pathways, cell cycle progression, and signal transduction. Protein activity and interactions are modulated by the reversible addition or removal of phosphate groups, which allows cells to react abruptly to evolving conditions. Although kinase-specific phosphorylation site prediction has advanced, phosphatase-specific dephosphorylation site computational prediction is still a major obstacle that prevents us from fully comprehending the extent of cellular regulation. In this study, we constructed a knowledge graph for the prediction of enzymes (kinases and phosphatases) and their associated substrates with specific phosphosites. As part …

Optimization Of Thermoelectric Energy Harvester To Power Wireless Onboard Bearing Health Sensors During Rail Service, Danna Cecilia Capitanachi Avila

Theses and Dissertations

This work presents the optimization of a thermoelectric energy harvester designed to supply power to a wireless onboard bearing health monitoring device for critical freight rail components. The study demonstrates an enhancement in the circuitry through the integration of an energy management subsystem (E-Peas AEM20940), which features a boost converter with lower self-start voltage. The harvesting system was tested on dynamic bearing test rigs to closely replicate field service conditions. Test plans were conducted using common freight speeds and loads to simulate a representative urban route. The thermoelectric energy harvester was able to operate at temperature differentials as low as …

Nantucket Eelgrass Management Plan, Kimberly Starbuck, Kristin Uiterwyk, Shannon Hogan

Urban Harbors Institute Publications

Eelgrass is a critical component of our coastal ecosystem, supporting marine biodiversity, improving water quality, and helping to stabilize the shoreline. This planning effort aims to support the long-term health and sustainability of eelgrass habitats in our local waters.

Eelgrass (Zostera marina L.) is a subtidal seagrass found on both the east and west coasts of North America. Over the last 40 years, eelgrass has declined worldwide as a result of increased turbidity, algal blooms, physical disturbances, disease, and a host of other stressors. Specifically, in Massachusetts, the eelgrass population has declined approximately 50% in the last 30 …

L-Quebrachitol Modulates The Anti-Convulsant Effects Of Carbamazepine Possibly Through Voltage-Gated Sodium Channel Blocking Mechanism In Chicks: In Vivo And In Silico Studies, Asifa Asrafi, Mohammad Aslam, Ali G. Alkhathami, Md. Sakib Hossain, Imam Hossen Rakib, Md. Sakib Al Hasan, Feroz Khan Nun, Md. Faisal Amin, Muhammad Torequl Islam

School of Integrative Biological & Chemical Sciences Faculty Publications

Introduction: L-Quebrachitol (LQB), a naturally occurring bioactive compound, exhibits anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, anti-cancer, and anti-diabetic properties. However, its therapeutic potential in convulsant management remains largely unexplored. The objective of this study was to investigate the anticonvulsant effects of LQB in an In Vivo model and to examine its molecular interactions via In Silico docking simulations.

Methods: In the In Vivo study, pentylenetetrazol (PTZ) was administered intraperitoneally (i.p.) at 80 mg/kg to induce convulsions, and the test animals were treated orally with three doses of LQB (1, 5, and 10 mg/kg), with carbamazepine (CBZ) at 80 mg/kg as a standard drug.

Results: …

The Relationships Between Expectancy-Value Beliefs, Communal Value Beliefs, Family Identity, And Academic Persistence Among First- And Continuing-Generation College Students, Douglas W. Snuffer

STEMPS Theses & Dissertations

First-generation college students (students for whom neither parent has a 4-year college degree) have lower college graduation rates than their continuing-generation peers (Cahalan et al., 2021; Fry, 2021). First-generation students may experience barriers to higher education, leading to lower levels of academic achievement motivation for college. Two of these barriers may include 1) cultural mismatch (Stephens, Fryberg, et al., 2012) with colleges via communal value (a value set that emphasizes community and family over the self) and 2) a strong sense of family identity, which lends itself to perceived family obligations (Fuligni et al., 2007). To examine the relationships between …

Towards Accountability: A Primer On The Space Debris Problem And An Overview Of The Legal Issues Surrounding It, William Schonberg

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Since 1957, the near-Earth population of trackable space objects has grown in number to over 36,000. Of these 36,000+ trackable objects now in low Earth orbit, just a few thousand are working spacecraft. The rest are Earth-orbiting objects which are no longer operational and are considered to be space junk. Because this junk can no longer receive maneuvering commands from its Earth-based owners, the survivability of other spacecraft traveling through or operating in Earth orbit can be jeopardized by the impacts of any number of pieces of this space junk, whose origins can usually be traced back to defunct satellites. …

From Palimpsest To Prompt: Rewriting Shakespeare, Creative Authorship, And The Generative Logics Of Large Language Models In Contemporary Theatre, Michael Harding, James Hutson

Faculty Scholarship

This article examines the convergence of creative authorship, adaptation, and generative artificial intelligence within contemporary theatre, taking Michael Harding‘s Awake, Young King as a central case study. Through the rewriting of Shakespearean drama, Harding‘s creative process demonstrates how theatrical meaning emerges through ongoing negotiation among playwright, performer, and audience, with scripts historically subject to revision, improvisation, and reinterpretation. Concerns regarding copyright, intellectual property, and the role of AI in the performing arts are reframed as extensions of enduring debates over originality and authorship, rather than novel threats. Tracing the evolution from The Rise of James VI to Awake, Young King, …

Electron Beam Irradiation Effects On Bulk Metals And High Entropy Alloys (Crmnv And Crmntiv) And The Synthesis And Characterization Of Irradiation-Induced Damage In Polycrystalline Metal And High Entropy Alloy Thin Films, Najmin Ara Sultana

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Accelerator beam exit windows are designed to withstand intense radiation and mechanical stress while preserving beam transmission and structural integrity. This dissertation explores the structural and mechanical responses of pure metals and high-entropy alloys (HEAs), in both bulk and thin-film forms, under high-dose electron beam (e-beam) irradiation to identify optimal materials for next-generation accelerator exit windows. Monte Carlo simulations using FLUKA, conducted at Jefferson Lab, revealed that amongst Ni, Ti, Cr, and V, Ni exhibits the highest power dissipation, while Ti depicts the lowest power dissipation, with Cr and V demonstrating intermediate characteristics. Bulk polycrystalline (PC) and single-crystalline (SC) samples …

Unique Architecture: In Praise Of Paradox Persistence, Odaly Plancarte

Theses

This thesis explores how bold and unconventional architectural designs are first rejected and later embraced by the public. Through a comparative study of the Sydney Opera House, the Louvre Pyramid, and the Walt Disney Concert Hall, it examines how public opinion shifts over time. Using media reports, interviews, and public comments, the study tracks emotional responses (positive, neutral, or negative) assigned a score to measure change over the years. The research applies Everett Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovation Theory to explain this shift in five stages: knowledge, persuasion, decision, implementation, and confirmation. Each building faced early backlash, but eventually became a …

Characterizing Tcap Set-Ups For Effective Separation On Hydrogen Isotope Species, James R. Hanby

Theses

Hydrogen isotope separation was investigated using a series of thermal cycling absorption process (TCAP) experiments. Pulse tests were conducted using deuterium injected into a protium flow over a range of superficial velocities, temperatures, particle sizes, and column diameters to quantify the efficiency of this process for a palladium on kieselguhr catalyst. The resulting response curves, obtained from residual gas analysis, were used to calculate the height equivalent to a theoretical plate (HETP) in each case. These values were then fit with van Deemter curves to illustrate the change in HETP over gas velocity. A strong positive correlation with temperature was …

Quantifying Marine Carbon Dioxide Removal Via Alkalinity Enhancement Across Circulation Regimes Using Ecco-Darwin And 1d Models, Kay Suselj, Dustin Carroll, Daniel Whitt, Bridget Samuels, Dimitris Menemenlis, Hong Zhang, Nate Beatty, Anna Savage

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement (OAE) is emerging as a viable method for removing anthropogenic (Formula presented.) emissions from the atmosphere to mitigate climate change. To achieve substantial carbon reductions, OAE would need to be deployed at scale across the global ocean. Hence, there is a need to quantify how the efficiency of OAE varies globally across a range of space-time scales in preparation for field deployments. Here we develop a marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR) efficiency evaluation framework based on the data-assimilative ECCO-Darwin ocean biogeochemistry model, which separates and quantifies two key factors over seasonal to multi-annual timescales: (a) mCDR potential, …

Benjamin Ferencz In The Cold War, Noah Weisbord

Cardozo International & Comparative Law Review

The article explores Benjamin Ferencz's advocacy for international law and his role in shaping the legal frameworks of the post-World War II era, particularly his efforts to define aggression and establish the International Criminal Court. It contrasts Ferencz's idealism with the pragmatic approaches of Henry Kissinger and the diplomatic strategies of Dag Hammarskjold, highlighting the challenges of the Cold War international order and its failure to address individual threats, exemplified by A.Q. Khan's nuclear proliferation.

Secure Query On Encrypted Data By Using Fully Homomorphic Encryption, Mrinmoy Bera

Master’s Dissertations

Cloud service providers typically store user data in an encrypted form (data at rest). However, when a user performs a query, the server first decrypts the data, processes the query on plaintext, and then sends the result back to the user (data in transit). This process exposes a critical vulnerability—if the cloud server is ever compromised, the decrypted data becomes accessible to the attacker. To address this security gap, we design a secure query protocol that eliminates the need to decrypt data on the server side. Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) offers a groundbreaking solution by enabling arbitrary computations directly on …

Federated Learning Using Fully Homomorphic Encryption, Sk Golam Kuddus

Master’s Dissertations

Traditional machine learning approaches require centralizing data for training, which raises significant privacy concerns when dealing with sensitive information. Federated learning (FL) addresses this by keeping data local and enabling multiple users to collaboratively train a shared machine learning model. In spite of this, FL remains vulnerable to inference attacks, as sensitive information can still be extracted from the model’s learned parameters. While traditional privacy-enhancing techniques such as di!erential privacy introduce noise to model updates to obscure individual data points, they often present a fundamental trade-o! between privacy and utility. Furthermore, these approaches still carry risks of data leakage if …

The Impact Of Utilizing Injectable Platelet-Rich Fibrin And Collagen Plugs For Maintaining The Tooth Extraction Socket: A Review Study, Esraa Hameed Hassan, Ali H. Abbas Alhussaini

Al-Esraa University College Journal for Medical Sciences

Tooth extraction initiates a cascade of biological changes that result in alveolar bone resorption, compromising both the esthetic and functional outcomes of future dental rehabilitations, particularly implant placement. Socket preservation strategies have emerged as crucial interventions aimed at minimizing post-extraction ridge collapse. This review explores the synergistic effects of injectable platelet-rich fibrin (I-PRF) and collagen plugs in enhancing socket preservation outcomes. Collagen plugs serve as biocompatible scaffolds, promoting hemostasis, cellular migration, and angiogenesis, while supporting soft tissue healing and bone regeneration. Concurrently, I-PRF-an autologous, growth factor-rich biomaterial-provides a dynamic reservoir of platelets, leukocytes, and key cytokines such as Platelet-Derived Growth …