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Feasibility Of Upcycling Spent Lithium-Ion Battery To Carbon Dioxide Capture Adsorbent, Chimezie Frank Onwudinjo Jan 2026

Feasibility Of Upcycling Spent Lithium-Ion Battery To Carbon Dioxide Capture Adsorbent, Chimezie Frank Onwudinjo

Master’s Theses

This study investigates the feasibility of repurposing spent lithium-ion battery (SLIB) to lithium orthosilicate (Li4SiO4), a high temperature carbon dioxide sorbent. Two synthesis pathways including conventional acid-leaching method (Scenario 1) and a pyrolysis-based route (Scenario 2) were explored. Additionally, techno-economic analysis (TEA) and lifecycle assessment (LCA) of the two processes were also performed. Different analytical characterization techniques were performed to understand the material properties of Li4SiO4 including surface area, crystallinity, morphology and thermal stability. CO2 capture performance of the synthesized Li4SiO4 was tested in a thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA) using …

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Control System Emendation And Ai-Driven Optimization For Enhancing A Smart Residential Microgrid, Anthony Nyoyoko Jan 2026

Control System Emendation And Ai-Driven Optimization For Enhancing A Smart Residential Microgrid, Anthony Nyoyoko

Master’s Theses

This thesis began with a simple idea: to restore the control system of a smart residential microgrid to respond intelligently to electricity prices while remaining safe, reliable, and practical on low-cost hardware. At the start, the goal was to design an economically aware microgrid that could look at electricity prices from the PJM market and make better operational decisions than traditional rule-based control. The motivation was straightforward. As residential renewable energy adoption increases, microgrids are expected to do more than just supply power. They are expected to respond to price volatility, integrate renewable generation, and operate reliably using embedded controllers …

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From The Big Leagues To Little League. Identity Tensions And Experiences Of Former Elite Athletes Coaching Their Children In Athletics, Jake Manning Jan 2026

From The Big Leagues To Little League. Identity Tensions And Experiences Of Former Elite Athletes Coaching Their Children In Athletics, Jake Manning

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

For many families, their children’s athletic activities are a primary source of parent-child bonding for both parents and children, and many parents choose to coach their children’s sports teams to be more involved. While research shows the benefits and challenges that come when the parent navigates a dual role of parent and coach, research has not yet looked at parents who played sports at a professional or collegiate level. Through semi-structured interviews with 5 former elite athletes who coached their children in athletics, this study applies communication theory of identity to analyze their experience and explore the benefits and challenges …

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Functionalization Of Microfiltration Media Towards Catalytic Hydrogenation Of Selected Halo-Organics From Water, Subrajit Bosu, Samuel S. Thompson, Doo Young Kim, Noah D. Meeks, Dibakar Bhattacharyya Jan 2026

Functionalization Of Microfiltration Media Towards Catalytic Hydrogenation Of Selected Halo-Organics From Water, Subrajit Bosu, Samuel S. Thompson, Doo Young Kim, Noah D. Meeks, Dibakar Bhattacharyya

Chemical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications

Contaminated water detoxification remains difficult due to the presence of persistent halo-organic contaminants, such as perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and chlorophenols, which are chemically stable and resist conventional purification methods. Functionalized membrane-based separation and decontamination have garnered immense attention in recent years. Commercially available microfiltration membrane (PVDF) and polymeric non-woven fiber filters (glass and composite) are functionalized with poly(methacrylic acid) (PMAA) that shows outstanding pH-responsive performance and tunable water permeability under ambient conditions perfect for environmental applications. Polymer loading based on weight gain measurements on PMAA–microglass composite fibers (137%) and microglass fibers (116%) confirmed their extent of functionalization, which was significantly …

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Jasmonic Acid And Nanoparticle Elicitation Of L. Cardinalis – Differentiating Elicitor Contributions In Nanoparticle Delivery Strategies, Rachel P. Sutherland, Mckenna F. Clinch, Kristen Bruce, D. Trent Rogers, John Littleton, Bert Lynn, Stephen Rankin, Barbara L. Knutson Jan 2026

Jasmonic Acid And Nanoparticle Elicitation Of L. Cardinalis – Differentiating Elicitor Contributions In Nanoparticle Delivery Strategies, Rachel P. Sutherland, Mckenna F. Clinch, Kristen Bruce, D. Trent Rogers, John Littleton, Bert Lynn, Stephen Rankin, Barbara L. Knutson

Chemical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications

Elicitation is an important strategy for producing plant secondary metabolites, which are responsible for a plant's highly dynamic chemical defense against environmental stressors such as UV light, predators, and pathogens. Elicitation strategies have recently employed nanoparticles as carriers to effectively deliver the elicitation agent through the cell membrane. This study examines the elicitation of secondary metabolites in Lobelia cardinalis hairy root cultures (HRCs) in response to the plant hormone jasmonic acid (JA) and a JA-loaded nanoparticle carrier (mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNPs)). Ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS) with high resolution mass spectrometry identified 12 m/z features only upregulated in the …

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Stochastic Mechanical Mesoscale Modeling Of Cylindrical Cavities In Metallic Foams, Mujan N. Seif, Alexandre Martin, Matthew J. Beck Jan 2026

Stochastic Mechanical Mesoscale Modeling Of Cylindrical Cavities In Metallic Foams, Mujan N. Seif, Alexandre Martin, Matthew J. Beck

Chemical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications

Aluminum foam is a critical component of state-of-the-art micrometeoroid and orbital debris shielding. However, its randomly oriented constituent ligaments create significant variability in properties at different length scales. Previous efforts have thoroughly characterized the statistical implications of micro- to macro-scale-length transitions on the homogenized elastic behavior of damage-free, pre–micrometeroid and orbital debris (MMOD) strike structures. In this work, the properties of the residual material post MMOD impact are assessed by introducing cylindrical cavities representing the damage track. It was observed that configuring the cavity parallel to the through-the-thickness direction transformed a nominally isotropic foam into an anisotropic (transverse isotropic) material, …

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Beyond The Lace Index: Benchmarking Machine Learning Architectures And Explaining 30-Day Hospital Readmission Risk With Shap Analysis, Carl E. Hughes Iii Jan 2026

Beyond The Lace Index: Benchmarking Machine Learning Architectures And Explaining 30-Day Hospital Readmission Risk With Shap Analysis, Carl E. Hughes Iii

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Unplanned 30-day hospital readmission remains a fundamental challenge in US healthcare, associated with increased risk to patient recovery and representing an estimated $52.4 billion in annual expenses (Beauvais et al., 2022). While the rigorously validated LACE index serves as the clinical standard for readmission modeling, its linear structure and four explanatory variables lack the complexity to capture the high-dimensional and interactive nature of patient risk. This study utilizes an admission granularity level cohort of the MIMIC-IV database to develop and compare machine learning architectures against the baseline LACE index. Due to the imbalanced prevalence of readmission, the penalized logistic regression, …

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Rate Response Of Curlyleaf Pondweed And Native Plants To Flumioxazin In Minnesota Lakes, Pearl J. Jensen Jan 2026

Rate Response Of Curlyleaf Pondweed And Native Plants To Flumioxazin In Minnesota Lakes, Pearl J. Jensen

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Curlyleaf pondweed (Potamogeton crispus L.) is an invasive aquatic plant present across the United States that causes significant recreational issues, outcompetes native plant species, and depletes water quality. Before senescing in mid-summer, curlyleaf pondweed forms a large number of turions that can lay dormant in the sediment for several years. Typical herbicide management of this species occurs in early spring to target the plant before turion production occurs and while native plants are dormant. Flumioxazin has shown potential in curlyleaf pondweed management in small scale studies, but its effects have not been assessed in operational management. In this study, treatments …

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Effect Of Protective Mutation On Structure And Dynamics Of Apoe: A Molecular Dynamics Simulation Study, Newton A. Ihoeghian, Usman L. Abass, Ibrahim A. Imam, Qing Shao Jan 2026

Effect Of Protective Mutation On Structure And Dynamics Of Apoe: A Molecular Dynamics Simulation Study, Newton A. Ihoeghian, Usman L. Abass, Ibrahim A. Imam, Qing Shao

Chemical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications

Apolipoprotein E (APOE) plays a significant role in determining the risk of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Three mutations—APOE3–R136S, APOE3–V236E, and APOE4–R251G—have been reported to reduce the risk of AD. Unveiling the molecular mechanism behind this reduction could lay a foundation for developing therapeutics for AD. To shed light on this subject, we investigate the mutation-induced variation in structural and dynamic properties of APOE3–R136S, APOE3–V236E, and APOE4–R251G in explicit solvent using molecular dynamics simulations. The APOE2, APOE3, and APOE4 were used as the reference. The analysis unveiled that the three protective mutations may exert protection through different mechanisms. The R215G mutation makes …

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04 Dielectrics I, Gerhard Müller Jan 2026

04 Dielectrics I, Gerhard Müller

Electromagnetism (2026)

Part 4 of course materials for Electromagnetism taught by Gerhard Müller at the University of Rhode Island.

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05 Electric Currents I, Gerhard Müller Jan 2026

05 Electric Currents I, Gerhard Müller

Electromagnetism (2026)

Part 5 of course materials for Electromagnetism taught by Gerhard Müller at the University of Rhode Island.

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06 Magnetostatics I, Gerhard Müller Jan 2026

06 Magnetostatics I, Gerhard Müller

Electromagnetism (2026)

Part 6 of course materials for Electromagnetism taught by Gerhard Müller at the University of Rhode Island.

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09 Electrodynamics Ii, Gerhard Müller Jan 2026

09 Electrodynamics Ii, Gerhard Müller

Electromagnetism (2026)

Part 9 of course materials for Electromagnetism taught by Gerhard Müller at the University of Rhode Island.

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10 Relativity I, Gerhard Müller Jan 2026

10 Relativity I, Gerhard Müller

Electromagnetism (2026)

Part 10 of course materials for Electromagnetism taught by Gerhard Müller at the University of Rhode Island.

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11 Relativity Ii, Gerhard Müller Jan 2026

11 Relativity Ii, Gerhard Müller

Electromagnetism (2026)

Part 11 of course materials for Electromagnetism taught by Gerhard Müller at the University of Rhode Island.

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Designing Ai Systems To Support A Productive-Failure-Based Learning: Insights From Adult Learners On Ai Applications And Ai System Design Principles, Jinhee Kim, Xi Lin, Seongryeong Yu, Rita Detrick Jan 2026

Designing Ai Systems To Support A Productive-Failure-Based Learning: Insights From Adult Learners On Ai Applications And Ai System Design Principles, Jinhee Kim, Xi Lin, Seongryeong Yu, Rita Detrick

STEMPS Faculty Publications

Emerging capabilities of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) offer significant potential to support productive failure (PF)-based learning, which engages adult learners (ALs) in exploring problems before instruction and learning from their initial attempts. However, the effective use of AI to support multifaceted areas of PF-based learning, including problem generation, exploration, consolidation, and knowledge assembly, is limited. Furthermore, AI design principles to support PF-based learning remain under-researched. This study, therefore, aims to investigate ALs’ perceptions of AI applications in enhancing PF-based learning and to explore the essential design principles of AI systems for PF-based learning. To achieve these aims, the study conducted …

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Ethanol And Iron Absorption Interactions Within Crayfish Invertebrate Models, James Rollman, Andrew Wissmar Jan 2026

Ethanol And Iron Absorption Interactions Within Crayfish Invertebrate Models, James Rollman, Andrew Wissmar

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Analysis of the effects of alcohol consumption (ethyl-alcohol) on iron absorption within crayfish model. The use of tube-feeding provides a novel, more precise output, and less invasive procedure compared to the traditional approach of dissolving the target substance in tank water and measuring hemolymph changes. The project aims to determine the extent to which alcohol influences iron absorption. Ultimately, the choice of iron reflect the future potential to aid in research with genetic hemochromatosis and or Iron overload.

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Impact Of Exercise, Hr Management Incentives, And Employee Wellness Programs On Job Performance And Motivation, Emma N. Barnes Jan 2026

Impact Of Exercise, Hr Management Incentives, And Employee Wellness Programs On Job Performance And Motivation, Emma N. Barnes

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This project is a literature review discussing the overall impact that exercising,  Human Resource Management incentives, and wellness programs have on job performance levels and employee motivation. The literature to be reviewed connects the importance and effects of exercise to the benefits it can supply to organizations looking to increase employee performance as well as rewards that motivate individuals. Within the field of Human Resource Management and Industrial and Organizational Psychology, there is plentiful research on what plays pivotal roles in performance and theories on motivational aspects of work. Diving further into years of already completed research on these topics, …

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Modeling Housing Prices: Which Features Matter Most?, Alex Ruvolo Jan 2026

Modeling Housing Prices: Which Features Matter Most?, Alex Ruvolo

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This paper attempts to find the biggest factors and traits that influence the cost of housing. This will include the lot size, type of street, utilities, neighborhood, year built, heating, electrical, yard size, number of different rooms, age, condition, and others. I will attempt to answer the question of whether the prices of houses have changed within the last 5 to 10 years, and obviously this is an easy question to answer. However, the bigger question beyond this is are the main factors affecting housing prices all important in explaining this relationship? Is one factor more important than the rest …

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Ceramics And Trade In Mesoamerica: Identity And Resistance In The Maya Culture, Mason A. Swanson Jan 2026

Ceramics And Trade In Mesoamerica: Identity And Resistance In The Maya Culture, Mason A. Swanson

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The region of Mesoamerica has been researched extensively by archaeologists over the past decades. There are numerous cultures and civilizations that occupied Mesoamerica over thousands of years. This paper will focus on the Maya, one of the most researched and examined of the cultures of Mesoamerica. By examining the ceramics and trade of the Maya one can reconstruct how the Maya identity was viewed in the past. Often the Maya are suggested to have experienced a collapse at the end of the Classic period around (AD 900). This, however, is an oversimplification of the events that occurred. The goal of …

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Catalan And Hyper-Catalan Numbers: Combinatorial Applications To Polynomial Equations, Leilani Natale Jan 2026

Catalan And Hyper-Catalan Numbers: Combinatorial Applications To Polynomial Equations, Leilani Natale

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

In this paper, we study Catalan numbers and their generalization, hyper-Catalan numbers, and explore how these sequences arise naturally in the context of solving polynomial equations using infinite power series. We begin by introducing the Catalan numbers through their combinatorial interpretation as triangulations of convex polygons. Using this geometric definition, we derive a relation whose recursive structure leads to a quadratic functional equation. Interpreting this relation as a formal power series equation allows us to express solutions to quadratic equations as infinite power series whose coefficients are given by the Catalan numbers. This framework is then extended by allowing polygon …

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Moving Positively: A Review Of Positive Psychology Interventions In Counseling, Spencer M. Fleming, Ingrid Weigold Ph. D Jan 2026

Moving Positively: A Review Of Positive Psychology Interventions In Counseling, Spencer M. Fleming, Ingrid Weigold Ph. D

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Positive psychology is a relatively new and developing subfield of psychology which examines the machinations and roles of various character strengths and traits such as growth, well-being, meaning, life satisfaction, character strengths, and more. Positive psychology holds various implications for counseling, therapy, individual growth, and self-determination. However, current literature on positive psychology interventions (PPIs) are scattered, nuanced, and lack overall consensus. Thus, encompassing research is necessary to identify common trends, areas for improvement, and a clear direction moving forward. The present review analyzes positive psychology interventions (PPIs) within psychology and counseling. This review examined forty-eight articles, including fifteen meta-analyses, on …

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Presidential Slaves: The Story Of Black People In The Lives Of Antebellum U.S. Presidents, Nika Davis Jan 2026

Presidential Slaves: The Story Of Black People In The Lives Of Antebellum U.S. Presidents, Nika Davis

History Dissertations

The historical narrative about American slavery included many topics such as the African slave trade, the Middle Passage, slave culture, rebellions, religion, and abolition.  This study revealed more information to be examined in the record of American slavery relating to the presidents of the United States and their enslaved laborers.  This oversight proved prevalent during the years leading to the American Civil War from 1820-1860.  Therefore, this dissertation focused upon the enslaved and free Black people who intersected with the presidents and their friends, political acquaintances, and family.  By studying their lives, this dissertation revealed that the slaves associated with …

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Finding, Founding, And Forging: Queer Formulations Of Family In Nineteenth-Century British Novels, Brian Hicks Jan 2026

Finding, Founding, And Forging: Queer Formulations Of Family In Nineteenth-Century British Novels, Brian Hicks

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines how nineteenth-century British novels imagine and negotiate queer formulations of family at moments when biological kinship, marriage, and inheritance were increasingly formalized as social and legal imperatives. Reading canonical texts by Austen, Shelley, Wilde, Brontë, and Hardy, alongside the proto-modern and modernist work of Joseph Conrad and Virginia Woolf, I argue that these novels resist consanguinity as the sole basis of family and instead theorize queer kinship as something found, founded, or forged through affinity, care, and shared orientation rather than blood or reproduction. Drawing on queer theory, feminist criticism, phenomenology, and Foucauldian accounts of power and …

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Description Of An Average Life, Heinrich Blücher Jan 2026

Description Of An Average Life, Heinrich Blücher

Related Materials

This short autobiographical sketch was cited by Arendt biographer Elisabeth Young-Bruehl in her portrait of Blücher. (See Hannah Arendt: For Love of the World, chapter 4, footnote 11, p. 507.) “Description of an Average Life” was discovered among Hannah Arendt's private papers and is translated from German by Kathrin Nussbaumer.

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Will It Tear? Creating A Collegiate Athlete Cutting Mechanics Grading Process, Abigail Savoy, Matthew Morgan, Nicholas Totaro Jan 2026

Will It Tear? Creating A Collegiate Athlete Cutting Mechanics Grading Process, Abigail Savoy, Matthew Morgan, Nicholas Totaro

Distinguished Undergraduate Researcher Program

Collegiate athletes push their bodies to compete at the top level of their sport. Through 5 years, collegiate athletes had 729 ACL tears. To aid in training and the reduction of injury risk, there are several procedures for grading the ability of an athlete to make a cut or change-of direction motion. Through this research project, we defined a procedure for analyzing motion capture video and data of the cutting mechanics of collegiate athletes. This was done to identify which athletes have a higher or lower risk of an ACL injury by comparing knee valgus and other biomechanical indicators on …

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Characterizing The Role Off The Sp1/Klf Transcription Factor Huckebein In The Drosophila Melanogaster Ventral Nerve Cord, Benjamin Almond Jan 2026

Characterizing The Role Off The Sp1/Klf Transcription Factor Huckebein In The Drosophila Melanogaster Ventral Nerve Cord, Benjamin Almond

Distinguished Undergraduate Researcher Program

Over the course of embryonic development, the ectodermal cell layer gives rise to a vast array of neurons and glia patterned across the central nervous system (CNS). Neurulation and specification is achieved in the ectoderm through temporospatial patterns of transcription factor (TF) expression, many of which are conserved across evolutionary history. These conserved regulatory motifs allow the use of Drosophila melanogaster to study the mechanisms of neurodevelopment across the animal kingdom. The huckebein (hkb) gene encodes a conserved SP1/KLF TF known to play important roles in cell cycle regulation, tissue morphogenesis during tubular organ development, and gut specification in Drosophila. …

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Examining The Pre-Columbian Use Of Psychotropic Plants In The South American Andes: Tobacco, Coca, And Ayahuasca, Jalayne Allison Jan 2026

Examining The Pre-Columbian Use Of Psychotropic Plants In The South American Andes: Tobacco, Coca, And Ayahuasca, Jalayne Allison

Distinguished Undergraduate Researcher Program

This thesis offers a literature review that traces the origins and variations in the use of tobacco (Nicotiana sp.), coca (Erythroxylum coca spp.), and ayahuasca (Banisteriopsis caapi) in the Andean highlands and Amazon region along the western coast of South America. This mountainous region stretches across seven countries: Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Argentina. Diverse South American Indigenous groups and ancient civilizations, such as the Inca Empire, have inhabited this area. This review delves into key concepts of Andean cosmology, especially those related to ecology and hydrology as interpreted through Inca beliefs. These concepts are pivotal in the application …

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Physiological Leptin Replacement Does Not Reverse Metabolic Adaptations To Starvation In Sprague Dawley Rats, Sydney Junot, Layla Deprimo, Camille Meaux, Arline Narez, David Mcdougal Jan 2026

Physiological Leptin Replacement Does Not Reverse Metabolic Adaptations To Starvation In Sprague Dawley Rats, Sydney Junot, Layla Deprimo, Camille Meaux, Arline Narez, David Mcdougal

Distinguished Undergraduate Researcher Program

Historically, low insulin levels were the signaling event considered responsible for metabolic adaptations to starvation, such as increased sympathetic outflow and increased serum levels of ketones, glucagon, and free fatty acids. Leptin, a hormone produced by adipose tissue, is known to decrease in response to caloric restriction. Recent work in the field suggested that leptin infusion in the final hours of a 48-hour fast reversed all metabolic adaptations to starvation, thus raising questions about an underappreciated role of leptin in the starvation response. This study tested whether physiological leptin replacement, maintaining fed plasma leptin concentrations, during a 72-hour fast in …

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Passing In Plain Sight: Visibility, Activism, And Identity, Rei Zimmerman Jan 2026

Passing In Plain Sight: Visibility, Activism, And Identity, Rei Zimmerman

Distinguished Undergraduate Researcher Program

The act of passing would seem to be the opposite of activism because it is an act meant to avoid detection. While the language of passing is, itself, problematic, African-descended people passing as white might be read as attempting to capitulate to a racial binary. Similarly, trans people passing as cis or cishet might be read as attempting to capitulate to the gender binary rather than challenging it. But this paper explores the potential for reading passing as a surprising act of activism that foregrounds resistance, resilience, and solidarity rather than disappearance. I focus on Leslie Feinberg’s groundbreaking trans novel …

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