Digital Commons Network^™

Fungi To Form: Exploring Mushroom Mycelium As A Bio-Material For Zero-Waste Interior Furnishings And Forms, Drew M. Gobbi

Interior Design Undergraduate Honors Theses

This capstone explores new applications for mycelium, the root structure of mushrooms, in the architecture and interior design industry. Due to its naturally renewable and 100% compostable nature, mycelium proves itself to be a highly sustainable material. Through a combination of research, analysis, and hands-on experimentation, both the challenges and possibilities of mycelium are documented and defined in the context of solutions for fast-furniture waste, a phenomenon that includes mass-produced, low-cost items designed for short-term use. Following a foundation of literature reviews and case studies, this paper documents small-scale prototyping of mycelium-based models for the Ground-Up Chair, a simple yet …

Experiential Advertising: The Immersive Evolution Of Marketing, Julianna Ferguson

Interior Design Undergraduate Honors Theses

Experiential advertising is revolutionizing marketing by creating immersive, emotionally resonant brand environments that foster consumer engagement and loyalty. This thesis explores the integration of experiential design in commercial branding, emphasizing how sensory-driven storytelling enhances brand identity and consumer connections. Through case studies such as the Gucci Garden in Florence, this research highlights the effectiveness of flagship stores, pop-ups, and sensory campaigns in transcending traditional advertising methods. Employing firsthand observations and analytical frameworks, the study identifies critical design strategies, including interactive installations and curated spaces, that reshape retail environments into platforms for emotional connection and advocacy. Findings reveal that experiential design …

Analytics & Insights Internship At Market Performance Group, Ava Mccrary

Information Systems Undergraduate Honors Theses

An Honors Thesis discussing the growth of analytics in the corporate world.

Characterizing Heating And Resistance Properties Of Nichrome Burn Wire To Be Used In Cubesat Actuation, Noah Moix

Mechanical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis investigates the use of Nichrome 60 wire as a burn wire mechanism, commonly utilized in CubeSats and other aerospace engineering applications requiring precise, single-use release systems. The experiment focused on characterizing the thermal and resistive behavior of Nichrome 60 wire under Joule heating conditions. Four wire configurations were tested: 34-gauge and 36-gauge wires, each at lengths of 1 inch and 2 inches. Each configuration was subjected to a constant current until thermal failure occurred. During testing, real-time measurements of electrical resistance and wire temperature were recorded. This data was used to generate resistance vs. temperature profiles for each …

Validating An Electronics Cooler Experiment And Optimizing Its Performance Using Ansys Icepak, Daniel V. Curl

Mechanical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Researchers at the University of Arkansas' Mechanical and Electrical Engineering Research Departments have designed and built a cold plate and substrate design for a 10 kV SiC MOSFET power module. Many variables define the design of the cold plate and substrate system and have quantifiable effects on the device’s performance. These variables include but are not limited to geometry and material selection of the fins and substrate. Manufacturing many test designs, running experiments, and comparing their performance is a time-consuming and expensive design optimization method that may be effective for some low-cost applications. Still, simulation is often a more cost-effective …

Thermal Characterization Of 3d Printing Materials For Increasing Insulation Potential And Practicality, Jackson H. Minnick

Mechanical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

This study served as an exploration into the possible existence of a correlation between the infill lattice structure of a 3D printed wall section and the thermal performance of that sample as characterized by thermal conductivity measured in units of Watts per meter Kelvin. With the continual increase in the practicality, fidelity, and applicable fields of additive manufacturing, namely FDM 3D printing, research on specific print characteristics and their effects on the material and thermal characteristics of the part in question is steadily becoming more commonplace. Although the thermal conductivity of 3D printed wall sections as a function of infill …

Introduction To Building Energy Modeling And Analysis Using Energyplus, Jackson C. Burnett

Mechanical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Retail stores are dynamic environments where human activities significantly influence energy consumption patterns, particularly affecting heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) demands. Existing energy models, such as those developed using EnergyPlus, often rely on generalized assumptions about human occupancy and behavior, leading to discrepancies between predicted and actual energy usage. This research aimed to enhance the accuracy of energy modeling for retail stores by conducting a sensitivity analysis of occupancy using EnergyPlus simulations. The study investigated how variations in occupancy levels impact HVAC loads, cooling and heating demands, and overall energy use. Results showed that increasing occupancy leads to higher …

Exploration Of Polymorphic Gate-Based Watermarking In Asynchronous Circuits, Stephanie Stock

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

With the increasing demand for new state-of-the-art integrated circuits (ICs), intellectual property (IP) reuse has become more commonplace to both accelerate the design process and lessen the non-recurring engineering costs of a design. Reuseable IP poses significant security risks, not only to the creator of the IP, but also to the consumer purchasing the IP. For an IP vendor, this risk can come from illegal distribution, cloning, or overuse. For the purchaser, counterfeit IPs may be purchased from an unvetted vendor, leading to a substandard design, malfunctions, IP infringement, or security vulnerabilities. Hardware watermarking is a method to protect designers …

Ai Governance: Overcoming Policy Barriers To Fairness And Privacy, Michael Akinwumi

Connecticut Law Review

Artificial intelligence (“AI”) is increasingly influencing critical sectors such as housing and finance, and raising concerns about fairness, bias, and regulatory compliance. This Essay explores the policy considerations essential for operationalizing AI fairness, particularly in regulated industries. It examines the interplay between algorithmic transparency, privacy, and the responsible use of protected class data under existing legal frameworks such as the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (“ECOA”) and the Fair Housing Act (“FHA”). The Essay identifies key policy gaps and challenges in implementing fairness-enhancing techniques, offering actionable recommendations for policymakers, regulators, and AI practitioners. These recommendations propose a holistic framework that integrates …

Locating Timbre In Copyright Law’S Modern Musical Work, Lauren Wilson

Connecticut Law Review

Copyright law requires courts deciding music infringement cases to locate two copyrights within a single song: one in the “musical work” and another in the “sound recording.” But songs do not naturally divide into such pieces. Instead, judges untrained in music must parse from a unified song the musical elements belonging to each copyright and to whom those copyrights belong. They have historically approached the task as a simple matter of identifying elements notated on a score as belonging to the musical work and placing “everything else” on the sound recording, but such a formalistic approach does not suit the …

Initiating Remedies For Our Unconstitutional And Unlawful Residential Segregation, Richard Rothstein

Connecticut Law Review

In 1866, Congress passed a Civil Rights Act outlawing burdens on freed slaves not also imposed on free whites, reasoning that racial discrimination—both public and private—undermined effective emancipation. However, subsequent Supreme Court jurisprudence did not honor or uphold this law and its progeny. Had it done so, the hard-fought promise of equality would not have been broken, the America we know today would not be so racially segregated, and the “badges and incidents” of slavery could have been timely eliminated.

The racial segregation of America’s neighborhoods is not, as was long thought, merely the result of private activities such as …

The New Reliability Override, Benjamin Rolsma

Connecticut Law Review

Section 202(c) of the Federal Power Act grants the Secretary of Energy a sweeping authority to exempt electric generation and transmission facilities from any federal, state, or local environmental laws. When Congress first adopted § 202(c) in 1935, it designed the provision as an emergency power that federal regulators could use to force fractious utilities to work together to preserve electricity reliability in times of war or natural disaster. But in the last decade things changed.

This Article, drawing on a novel catalog of all § 202(c) emergencies from the provision’s nearly ninety-year history, is the first to comprehensively describe …

Bard Observer, Vol. 23. No. 6 (May 2025), Bard College

Bard Observer, 2020 - 2029

No abstract provided.

Investigating Teacher Practice In Designing Educational Digital Games To Improve L2 Chinese Word Recognition Skills, Shutan Dong

Educational Studies Dissertations

This study explores the design strategies and pedagogical principles that shape digital games for developing second-language (L2) Chinese word recognition skills. Drawing on design documents, reflective journals, and design notes, it analyzes the game development process, the reasoning behind design choices, and their perceived effectiveness and challenges. The analysis is grounded in established game-based learning frameworks and second language acquisition theories. Findings reveal that the practitioner employs five design strategies: learning alignment, cultural contextualization, achievement mechanics, user-centric navigation, and functional aesthetics. These strategies are shaped by pedagogical principles, including scaffolding, multimodal learning, active learning and immediate feedback, as well as …

Current Wind Simulation Techniques, Keegan J. Sims

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

Not much exists in the realm of wind simulation. For what does exist involves tornadoes, and even then that is stretched far and few between. Due to this we have a lot of room to explore, and figure things out. How do we simulate real time wind? My capstone project involves a simple wind algorithm, how does it compare to what does currently exist? This paper covers the papers about wind and how it it interacts with objects and itself.

Unraveling The Causal Influences Of Drought And Crop Production On Groundwater Levels Across The Contiguous United States, Nitin K. Singh, Sheila M. Saia, Ruchi Bhattacharya, Hoori Ajami, David M. Borro

Biological, Geological, and Environmental Faculty Publications

Groundwater depletion in agricultural-dominated regions is attributed to climate and irrigation withdrawals that support crop production. However, despite decades of effort, knowledge gaps remain in understanding the relative influence of drought and crop production on groundwater levels at the continental scale. Here, utilizing empirical observations, we simultaneously track how long-term trajectories of groundwater levels, crop production of seven crops, and drought have evolved over time, and then integrate these observations with a causality-based attribution framework to unravel the relative impact of drought and crop production on groundwater levels across the contiguous United States (CONUS). We find a dominant pattern of …

Cationic Conjugated Polymers With Enhanced Doped-State Planarity For N-Type Organic Thermoelectrics, Jiu-Long Li, Xin-Yu Deng, Jupeng Chen, Peng-Xiang Fu, Shuang-Yan Tian, Yunfei Wang, Xiaodan Gu, Ting Lei

Faculty Publications

To date, extensive efforts have been devoted to designing new conjugated polymers with long alkyl or ethylene glycol sidechains. However, these sidechains are insulators, limiting further performance enhancement in doped conjugated polymers. Moreover, the most widely used chlorinated solvents are toxic, limiting the practical applications of many conjugated polymers. Here, we report a water/alcohol processable n-type conjugated polymer P(Py2FT), featuring side chain-free cationic backbones. P(Py2FT) exhibits a high n-type electrical conductivity of up to 28.1 S cm⁻¹ and a high thermoelectric power factor of up to 28.7 μW m⁻¹ K⁻², comparable to some conventional …

Building Layered Defenses To Reduce Illegal Gun Violence, Samuel Kan

Faculty Scholarship

This article examines a multifaceted approach to reducing illegal gun violence in the United States through the implementation of layered defense strategies. While acknowledging the constitutional protections afforded by the Second Amendment, the author argues that targeted legislative and community-based interventions can effectively reduce gun violence without infringing on lawful gun ownership rights. The analysis explores several key defensive measures, including extreme risk laws (risk protection orders), which allow for temporary firearm removal from individuals posing credible threats to themselves or others—a practice recently upheld by the Supreme Court in United States v. Rahimi. The article further examines the constitutional …

Hilltopics: Volume 20, Issue 2, Hilltopics Staff

Hilltopics

Poetry and Art:

Art by Anastasiya Shyvilka

Fear by Manha Ahmad

Breathe by Gabriela Barrientos

Experiences:

The Sun of Southern France: A Semester Abroad in Aix-en-Provence by Anastasiya Shyvilka

Beyond the Hilltop: Why SMU Students Should Study Abroad by Kernell Slack

Remembering the Kalavryta Massacre by Alexandra Lahiri

Analysis:

Communication Analysis: Greta Gerwig’s Barbie Monologue by Megan Watson

LOFI by Capri Woss

The Rise 37 Years in the Making A Retrospective on SMU’s Death Penalty by Ryan Musho

Energy Insights from an SMU Alumna A Reflection on New Ideas about Sustainability by Alejandra Torres

In Dreams: A Retrospective of David …

Tremblings, May 2025, Western Aspen Alliance

Tremblings

Aspen, Fire, and People: Then and Now

Eva Strand. Professor of Rangeland Ecology, University of Idaho

People living and working in the Great Basin, USA, are observing changing fire conditions. Larger and more frequent fires across the West are well-documented, but less is known about how these changes manifest across Great Basin ecosystems, including in quaking aspen. In our recent Ecosphere paper, mean fire return interval (mFRI) changes across major Great Basin vegetation types between 1961–1990 and 1991–2020, were compared with LANDFIRE’s historical (pre-1900) estimates. For those not familiar with mFRI, it is the average number of years between successive …

Justification For The Biological Foundation Of Methane On Mars: Methanogens’ Capacity To Metabolize On Montmorillonite Clay And Basalt, Ashley Ezeldin

Biological Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

The possibility of extraterrestrial life, particularly on Mars, remains a compelling question in astrobiology. Mars' harsh atmospheric conditions, dominated by carbon dioxide and extreme cold, prevent the survival of aerobic species. However, it still leaves the possibility of methanogens, an anaerobic species that can survive in extreme conditions, to inhabit this planet. Due to the discovery of methane on Mars, it is possible that methanogens may live and grow in the subsurface of this planet.

For this experiment, basalt and montmorillonite clay were chosen as substrates because they are believed to be found in the composition of Mars's subsurface. Methane, …

Cuegen: Customizing Sensor Captions For Neon Bending Tutorials, Gunnika Kapoor

2025 Spring Honors Capstone Projects - Archive

Methods of knowledge transfer that rely primarily on visual and/or auditory formats do not effectively convey context-specific or implicit skills, known as tacit skills. This limits knowledge transfer. In this work, the use of customizable pitch captions and spatial audio vibration captions is proposed to aid in conveying this tacit knowledge for neon glass bending video tutorials. Such a system is designed to provide users with greater control and support, which may maximize the information they obtain from, improve the autonomy they have with, and experience they have with a learning tool. As such, a system interface was developed that …

Design And Implementation Of A Notification System For The Purpose Of Improving Communication Between Nurses And Patients, Aindrila Bhattacharya

2025 Spring Honors Capstone Projects - Archive

Communication is an important part of how nurses administer treatment to their patients. Without proper communication, it is difficult for the nurses to connect with their patients and vice versa. This paper will be going into some previous literature about communication between patients and nurses in general, communication with respect to pediatric patients and how notification systems have been implemented in the past. It will then discuss the methodology and implementation of a notification system for a medical app. The medical app is meant to facilitate communication from the side of the patient to the nurse, while the notification system …

A Comparative Analysis Of Small Nuclear Rna Sequences In Spinacia Oleracea, Arabidopsis Thaliana, And Homo Sapiens, Nhi T. Nguyen

2025 Spring Honors Capstone Projects - Archive

In eukaryotes, the structure and function of the Sm core and its associated small nuclear ribonucleoproteins (snRNPs) play a significant role in pre-mRNA splicing. These snRNPs exhibit a high degree of conservation. While plants also utilize alternative splicing, the conservation of plant snRNAs and other non-coding RNA such as snoRNA and scaRNA, which assemble the Sm core, remains largely unexplored. In this study, plant sequences were compared with human sequences using the multiple sequence alignment program Jalview to determine the conservation of snRNPs in other non-coding RNA. Sequences analysis showed that the Sm site in Spinacia oleracea and Arabidopsis thaliana …

Controlling A Mobile Inverted Pendulum And Optimizing Leaning Angle To Apply Force Using Reinforcement Learning, Aryan Mediratta

2025 Spring Honors Capstone Projects - Archive

Reinforcement Learning is a Machine Learning paradigm that involves simulating learning through rewards and penalties in intelligent systems. This technique is often employed in robotics when traditional control methods are insufficient or when human intuition does not provide a good solution on how to control robot systems, This project involves training a Segway-style Mobile Inverted Pendulum (MIP) robot to balance and push a box forward. The BeagleBone Blue board is used that includes a built-in Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) and encoder ports. These sensors enable the system to measure its current state. The goal is to find the optimal leaning …

Integration Of Notes Section With Access Management, Inshaad Merchant

2025 Spring Honors Capstone Projects - Archive

This research explores the development of a notes section with access management, specifically designed to assist Computer Science and Engineering students to revisit and revise all the notes and key points highlighted in their tutoring sessions. While the senior design project focuses on the CSE Student Success Center application that allows students to schedule tutoring sessions, manage appointments, and manage their profiles within this application, the Honors capstone project adds on a specific section for students to save all their notes and important video links and attachments to continue their learning outside of the tutoring sessions. A centralized platform for …

Tutortech: A Web App For A Smarter And More Efficient Tutoring System, Smarika Pathak

2025 Spring Honors Capstone Projects - Archive

The Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) department faces challenges with managing its tutoring services, especially tracking attendance, booking sessions, and overall management of the tutoring system - all of which severely limits the ability for tutors to connect and engage with students. To help overcome these issues, TutorTech, a web-based application that provides improved management of the tutoring system and supports more engaging learning experiences between students and tutors was designed. Through this project, the aim was to optimize the TutorTech search capabilities - assisting students to find tutors based on skills, while also considering the effect of user interface …

Generating Motivational Messages For Behavior Change: Encouraging Users To Be More Physically Active, Hananeel Pankaj

2025 Spring Honors Capstone Projects - Archive

High levels of sedentary lifestyles can cause adverse effects in individuals’ health. This has prompted researchers to analyze ways to increase physical activity, including the use of Large Language Models (LLMs) to generate motivational messages. While research has found LLMs to be feasible for this task, the findings are limited in availability and scope given that the research focuses on a conversational, chatbot setting—which is not ideal in the real world. This research assesses OpenAI’s GPT-4o mini’s (one of several models powering ChatGPT) ability to tailor messages towards a user. This is done by passing user health data to the …

Lack Of Infrastructure: Addressing Water Scarcity And Housing Needs In Sand Branch, Yannet A. Mercado

2025 Spring Honors Capstone Projects - Archive

In the outskirts of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex (DFW), unincorporated communities like Sand Branch face unstable living conditions. Sand Branch, one of the poorest communities in North Texas, has struggled with water insecurity for decades due to the lack of municipal water infrastructure. Residents often rely on donations from nonprofit organizations to meet their basic water needs. This paper explores how implementing a Rainwater Harvesting System (RWH) could enhance their independence and resilience by providing a more sustainable water source. This research examines Sullivan’s work on sustainable housing policies for low-income self-built communities and evaluates the feasibility of RWH as …

Beyond The Hard Hat: Examining Barriers Of Women In Construction, Allison Pham

2025 Spring Honors Capstone Projects - Archive

The construction industry is falling behind in female representation, with women only making up 11.2% of the industry. The existing labor shortage is further exacerbated by the limited interest among women to pursue a career in construction. The purpose of this research is to investigate the factors that contribute to the lack of women in the construction industry and explore how HR strategies can attract and retain women in construction careers. Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) reports from three different industries were used to analyze the percentage of men and women employees. Multivariate regression analyses were conducted to examine whether …