Digital Commons Network^™

Direct Ink Writing Of Functional Fiber/Granular Composites, Zhuoyuan Yang

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Direct ink writing provides a versatile manufacturing route for fabricating functional fiber and granular composites with controlled architecture, tunable interfaces, and customized material distributions. Fiber reinforced composites offer high stiffness, strength, fatigue resistance, and functional anisotropy, while granular composites provide scalable access to particle based structures with high material efficiency and broad resource compatibility. However, the additive manufacturing of these composite systems remains challenging. For fiber based composites, precise control of fiber placement, matrix impregnation, interfacial bonding, and freestanding deposition is difficult to achieve during printing. For granular composites, stable particle flow, controllable packing, binder infiltration, and shape retention are …

Cohesive Zone Modelling Of Fiber–Matrix Interface In Composite Materials, Arjun Myadam

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Carbon Fiber reinforced polymers (CFRPs) are widely used in aerospace, automotive, and structural applications due to their high specific strength, stiffness, and design flexibility. Their mechanical performance is critically governed by the fiber–matrix interface which controls stress transfer and directly influences damage initiation, crack propagation, and fracture behaviour. The interface properties are quantified through the Interfacial Shear Strength (IFSS) and fracture energy, both serving as key indicators of composite integrity. Effective interfacial bonding is therefore essential to the composite’s strength. Nanoscale fiber surface modifications provide a promising approach to enhance interfacial bonding and can also impart multifunctionality. These multifunctionalities can …

Classification Of Aircraft Checklist Usability Problems Using Natural Language Processing, Borvorn Kasemtanakul

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The use of checklists has been identified as a recurring issue in aviation accident investigations, highlighting the need for continued improvement in aircraft checklist design. However, existing aviation safety taxonomies do not systematically address checklist usability problems. Therefore, a systematic classification of these problems is needed to support the extension of existing aviation safety taxonomies and to facilitate safety data analysis for checklist design improvements. Furthermore, applications of Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques in aircraft checklist research remain underexplored, despite their potential to identify meaningful patterns in textual safety data.

This exploratory research aimed to develop a data-driven classification of …

Compact Cislunar Orbital Representation For Efficient Tracking In Cislunar Space, Mauro Palomo

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Expanding lunar missions require efficient, interoperable orbital tracking where existing methods fail to scale. Two-Line Elements (TLEs) lack applicability beyond geocentric regimes, while high-accuracy Orbit Ephemeris Messages (OEMs) require excessive data volumes and bandwidth to communicate. To support increased lunar traffic, this paper proposes the Compact Cislunar Orbital Representation (CCOR), providing a novel framework that strikes a balance between TLE level efficiency and OEM-level fidelity, ensuring multi-actor communication for missions in the cislunar region. By evaluating the framework across six diverse cislunar trajectories, this study demonstrates the CCOR’s robustness and ability to compress thousands of OEM state vectors into a …

Experimental-Motion-Driven Cfd Investigation Of Slosh Dynamics In Propellant Tanks Of Spacecraft And Launch Vehicles, Priyanshu Savaliya

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Liquid sloshing in partially filled propellant tanks can generate transient forces and moments that affect spacecraft and launch vehicle stability, guidance, and control. This research develops a one-way experimental-to-Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) integration framework to investigate free-surface slosh behavior under realistic excitation conditions.

The overarching goal of this thesis is to develop and evaluate a one-way experimental-motion-driven computational framework for predicting liquid slosh response in a partially filled cylindrical tank. Rather than relying on idealized sinusoidal inputs, this work uses experimentally measured actuator-feedback motion as the prescribed excitation for high-fidelity CFD. The central objective is to establish the experimental and …

A Machine-Learning-Based Systematic Framework For Modeling Compression And Recompression Indices For Florida Soils, Michael Morales

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

This thesis develops a machine-learning framework for estimating the compression index and the recompression index of Florida soils from routinely measured index properties, and reports two studies that build it. Consolidation settlement design requires both indices, and both are obtained from the incremental-loading oedometer test, which occupies a specimen for one to two weeks; the index tests that accompany it are complete within hours. Empirical correlations have filled that interval since the 1950s, but their coefficients are calibrated on specific soil populations and transfer poorly between regions. The first study analyzes 376 consolidation tests compiled for the Florida Department of …

Enhancing Virtual Reality Cockpit Procedure Training With Haptic Feedback, Christian K. Jaedicke

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Pilot training is time-consuming and costly, and not all phases require full-flight simulators or actual aircraft. Virtual reality (VR) offers a potential means to reduce cost and duration while supporting practical cockpit procedure training. While prior research in the VR domain suggests that providing haptic feedback can support training of muscular control and increase perceived immersion, it remains unclear whether haptic feedback improves spatial cognition in an unfamiliar VR environment. This study examined whether haptic feedback and cockpit complexity affected response time and position error under limited-visibility, time-constrained conditions in a VR cockpit environment (i.e., a quasi-blindfold cockpit check).

Grounded …

Evaluating The Safety Efficiency Of U.S. Air Traffic Control Tower Operations Using Data Envelopment Analysis, Kenneth James Gilbert Ii

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Air traffic control (ATC) tower safety efficiency remains inadequately measured despite critical workforce challenges, including staffing shortages, training pipeline constraints, and geographic retention difficulties. This mixed-methods study developed and validated a comprehensive framework for measuring tower safety efficiency by integrating subject-matter expert insights with multi-model data envelopment analysis (DEA) across 66 Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) tower facilities from 2016 to 2024. Six focus group interviews with experienced professionals (100% with > 20 years of experience), averaging 96.4 minutes, identified critical efficiency factors through systematic coding, achieving substantial inter-rater reliability (Cohen's kappa 𝜅 = .68). Qualitative findings showed that staffing shortages don't …

Noise-Optimized Routes For Air Taxi, Waleed Raza

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Community noise is a primary barrier to the public acceptance and deployment of Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) and Urban Air Mobility (UAM) air taxi operations. This dissertation develops a coupled siting, routing, and noise optimization framework that links vertiport placement to its downstream acoustic consequences, demonstrated through a Daytona Beach case study. Candidate vertiports are screened and selected using accessibility, safety, demand, and feasibility criteria, and the selected sites form a directed network of 20 routes. Each trajectory is evaluated with a physics-based acoustic pipeline reporting Lmax, SEL, and EPNL at school, hospital, and residential receptors, showing that received exposure …

Optimal Integrated Cfd-Gnc Model For Drag-Based Reentry Dynamics, Sebastian Lopez

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

This research focuses on optimizing the control of a drag-maneuvering, Starship-class re-entry vehicle by closely integrating high-fidelity aerodynamic data derived from Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations, specifically using StarCCM+. The aerodynamic models, tailored to the unique geometry of a drag-maneuvering body, are seamlessly incorporated into a guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) framework. This integration enables closed-loop CFD simulations with real-time control feedback, allowing for direct analysis and optimization of vehicle stability, trajectory, and control demands throughout the re-entry process.

Building upon the work of Gaglio and Bevilacqua, this advanced CFD-GNC model introduces high-order aerodynamic effects, such as aerodynamic moments and …

July 2026 News Releases, University Of Montana--Missoula. Office Of University Relations

University of Montana News Releases, 1928, 1956-present

No abstract provided.

Online Ppo-Based Multi-Hop Task Offloading Strategy For Vehicular Edge Computing, Wenzhu Zhang, Yuewei Bian, Fuli Xiong, Siqi Cai

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: To address the problems of frequent communication link interruptions caused by dynamic network topologies and the sharp increase in computational complexity triggered by high-dimensional decision spaces in the vehicular edge computing (VEC) environment, a multi-hop task offloading strategy for VEC based on an online PPO algorithm was proposed. A multi-hop task offloading optimization model simultaneously considering link effective time, transmission rate, and computing resource constraints was constructed; a multi-hop A* path search algorithm integrating link stability and end-to-end delay was designed; an online offloading decision framework based on PPO was proposed, which transformed the 0-1 mixed integer nonlinear programming …

Improved Pbs Algorithm For Multi-Agent Path Planning Based On Conflict Guidance And Punishment Mechanism, Jinbao Zhang, Jianlin Mao, Chengze Qian, Guimi Sun, Kaixin Tong

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: To address the bottleneck in which the priority-based search (priority-based search, PBS) algorithm for multi-agent path planning easily falls into conflict loops and generates invalid node expansions in complex scenarios, an improved algorithm based on conflict guidance and a punishment mechanism (improved PBS multi-agent path finding algorithm based on conflict guidance and punishment mechanism, CGP-PBS) was proposed. A conflict-guided node expansion mechanism was constructed; in high-level search, it comprehensively evaluated path cost and the number of conflicts, preferentially expanded child nodes with high potential for conflict resolution, and delayed the expansion of high-conflict nodes, thereby effectively compressing the search …

Research On Temporal Action Localization Methods For Cross-Modal Understanding, Jinwei Li, Xiaoyang Liu, Rusheng Ju

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: To address the problems of insufficient localization accuracy and high model complexity in the temporal action localization (TAL) task for video-text cross-modal understanding, an anchor-free action transformer (AFAT) model was proposed. Based on the anchor-free framework, the local self-attention mechanism of Transformer was introduced to enhance the global modeling capability of temporal features. A multi-scale feature pyramid structure was combined to strengthen the representation of actions with different durations, and a lightweight predictor was adopted to reduce computational redundancy. Experimental results show that the average precision of this model on the THUMOS14 dataset is significantly improved compared with the …

Deconstructing Systemic Sclerosis Heterogeneity: From Patient Subtypes To Pathogenic Fibroblasts, Rezvan Parvizi

Dartmouth College Ph.D Dissertations

This thesis advances heterogeneity as the central barrier both to interpreting therapeutic response and to identifying the molecular regulators that drive fibrosis in systemic sclerosis (SSc). In SSc, heterogeneity is manifest at every level at which the disease can be measured: clinically, in the variable extent of skin and organ involvement; molecularly, in the distinct gene-expression programs that distinguish otherwise comparable patients; and cellularly, in the diverse fibroblast populations from which the fibrotic signal ultimately arises.

Leveraging longitudinal skin transcriptomics from a large cohort treated with mycophenolate mofetil (MMF), the first study demonstrates that intrinsic molecular subtypes are dynamic rather …

Committee Response To Fee Objection

Catholic Dioceses in Bankruptcy

No abstract provided.

How Does Competitive Adsorption Between Vma And Pce Influence Yield Stress Of Cement Paste? A Novel Insight From Interparticle Forces And Percolation Threshold, Huamin Sun, Le Teng, Xiaohan Yu, Xin Shu, Zhangli Hu, Jiaping Liu, Kamal H. Khayat

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Viscosity modifying admixture (VMA) and polycarboxylate superplasticizer (PCE) are often combined to optimize rheological properties of cement-based materials. However, the competitive adsorption of these complex admixtures can greatly influence rheological properties. Many studies have investigated the variation of yield stress due to competitive adsorption between VMA and PCE; but the mechanisms are not fully understood. This study aims to shed a new light on this question in cement paste systems prepared with low water-to-binder ratios of 0.16–0.30. The competitive adsorption of VMA and PCE was quantitatively assessed using the Total Organic Carbon and Ultraviolet-Visible Spectroscopy measurements. The effect of competitive …

Animal Science Research And Extension Report 2026 (Complete Report), Department Of Animal Science

Animal Science Research Report 2026

This is the 2026 Animal Science and Extension Report. This highlights the research being generated within the department over the previous year.

Assessing Hpv And Hpv Vaccine Awareness And Perception Amongst Undergraduate Students, Maura Hawkins

Honors Theses

Human Papillomavirus (HPV) is one of the most common sexually transmitted infections in the United States. Vaccination rates remain low among college-aged students despite an effective vaccine being available. This study investigates HPV and HPV vaccination-related knowledge, beliefs, and perceptions among undergraduate students to inform targeted intervention strategies. Participants included undergraduate students (n = 19) who attended one of three focus groups conducted in April 2025 at the University of South Alabama. Structured interview guides explored HPV knowledge, perceived risk and severity, attitudes towards vaccination, autonomy in health decision-making, trust in health information sources, and preferred educational strategies. Discussions were …

Fractured Focus: Understanding Stress In Second-Year Radiologic Science Students Across Alabama, Kelsi Clotfelter

Honors Theses

Higher education is a period of rapid transition and growing responsibility, where stress often becomes a routine part of students’ lives. In health professional programs, the combined demands of intensive coursework and clinical training can intensify emotional strain and negatively affect overall well-being. Radiography students experience uniquely high levels of academic, clinical, and emotional stress due to the simultaneous demands of didactic coursework, competency-based clinical training, and high-stakes professional expectations. A cross-sectional mixed-methods study was employed to evaluate the prevalence, sources, and perceived impact of stress among second-year radiography students across multiple Alabama institutions with the goal of identifying strategies …

Influence Of Stormwater Flooding Events On The Mobile County School District Student Population, Kadence Kali Johnston

Honors Theses

Mobile County, Alabama, receives among the highest annual rainfall totals in the United States resulting in frequent stormwater flooding that intersects with existing socioeconomic vulnerabilities. Within the Mobile County Public School System (MCPSS), 77% of students are economically disadvantaged and over 10% experience homelessness, creating heightened risk for educational disruption during flood events. This study investigates how stormwater flooding influences school attendance, closures, and academic performance across MCPSS, providing insight into how climate-driven hazards exacerbate educational inequities. The research integrates flood frequency, school performance metrics, and GIS flood-zone mapping and teacher perceptions to understand how flooding affects student learning opportunities. …

Implementing A Professional Wellness Session To Foster Improvement In Oncology Nurse Retention And Well-Being, Connie Tran

Doctor of Nursing Practice Final Project Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this quality improvement (QI) project was to implement chaplain-led professional wellness sessions to improve the well-being of nurses on an oncology pilot unit.  Aims were to increase nurse retention by 5%, decrease staff absenteeism by 3%, and improve Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) scores by 10%, and Professional Quality of Life (ProQOL) scores by 10% from baseline.

Background

The emotionally taxing nature of oncology patient care creates a high-pressure environment, which can lead to turnover. Literature has shown that allowing staff to pray, debrief and engage in peer support groups to discuss work-related stressful encounters reduces stress …

Improving Physiologic Monitoring Adherence During Behavioral Emergencty Sedation In A Prehospital Ems System, Jared Aucoin

Doctor of Nursing Practice Final Project Abstract

Abstract

Purpose:

This quality improvement (QI) project evaluated whether provider education and standardized documentation improved adherence to evidence-based physiologic monitoring during behavioral emergency sedation in a prehospital EMS setting.

Background:

Behavioral emergencies are common and often require rapid chemical sedation, with risks of hypoxia, hypercapnia, and cardiovascular instability. At baseline, inconsistent adherence to recommended monitoring and documentation of end-tidal carbon dioxide (EtCO₂) and pulse oximetry (SpO₂) presented an opportunity to improve patient safety.

Methodology:

This QI project educated current adult behavioral emergency protocol in a prehospital EMS setting, re-emphasizing standardized documentation and evidence-based monitoring practices. Utilizing Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) through pre- …

Scroll Control: Reducing The Influence Of Social Media Trends On Adolescent Risk-Taking, Camilla Vitola-Franchi

Psychology

Adolescents tend to take more risks than other age groups due to a combination of sensitive reward systems, lower impulse control, and stronger susceptibility to peer influences. These days, many adolescents spend a substantial amount of time on social media, which can further influence their decision-making. Although risk-taking plays an important role in adolescent development, social media can increase exposure to unhealthy and potentially dangerous forms of risk. Dangerous online trends and the addictive nature of social media algorithms contribute to the normalization of risky behavior and expose adolescents to social pressures, leading them to be more likely to take …

Evaluating Fungicide Programs For Grapevine Disease Management And Fungicide Sensitivity Monitoring, Abraham Ahumada

Master's Theses

Grapevine diseases, such as powdery mildew and Botrytis bunch rot, require repeated fungicide applications to maintain fruit quality and reduce yield losses. However, fungicide performance can vary among products, application programs, disease pressure, and pathogen sensitivity. This thesis evaluated fungicide programs for control of powdery mildew in ‘Chardonnay’ grapes and assessed fungicide sensitivity of Botrytis cinerea isolates collected from California vineyards.

Powdery mildew, caused by the fungal pathogen Erysiphe necator, is a major threat to the production of Vitis vinifera grapes worldwide. Because powdery mildew management relies heavily on fungicide applications, field evaluations are needed to compare the efficacy …

Trattato Dell’Alcibra Amuchabile (Anonimo): A Guided Translation, Gary Towsley, Olympia Nicodemi

Geneseo Authors

The Trattato dell’Alcibra Amuchabile is a pre-modern algebra text from c. 1365. It is written in a Tuscan dialect of Italian and is situated in the abbacus school tradition, schools that taught the mathematics needed for a mercantile society. Like all the algebra written in Italy at the time, it was inherited from al-Khwarizmi and, like his, written with no symbols—no x’s, y’s, plus signs, etc. It was what is sometimes called “rhetorical algebra.”  There is very little source  material available in English from this important era in the history of algebra. This book helps fill that gap. …

Religiosity And Female Autonomy In Indonesia, Milda Irhamni

Economics and Finance in Indonesia

This study estimates the effect of religiosity on married women’s autonomy within households in Indonesia using panel data from the 2007 and 2014 rounds of the Indonesia Family Life Survey (IFLS4 and IFLS5). Women’s autonomy is measured by the wife’s decision-making power relative to her husband across eighteen household decisions, complemented by indirect proxies such as asset ownership and contraceptive use. Applying household fixed-effect and IV estimation to control for endogeneity, the analysis finds little robust evidence that religiosity systematically reduces female autonomy, suggesting that any negative association is weak and sensitive to specification.

Birds Of A Tether Flock Together: Examining Centromere Tethering And Chromosome Segregation In Caulobacter Crescentus, Jake Dwyer, Simon Kruczak, Rodrigo Arana-Garrido, Paola Mera

MICRO-CCS student projects

Introduction:

Chromosome segregation is essential for all domains of life. Caulobacter crescentus is a key model for studying this process. It divides asymmetrically into two morphologically distinct cells. Proteins can be seen directly with fluorescent tags.

Research done on Caulobacter can apply to many different bacteria. The ParABS system is integral to chromosome segregation in Caulobacter.

ParS – DNA sequence on the chromosome

ParB – CTP-binding protein that specifically recognizes parS

ParA – ATP-binding protein that non-specifically binds DNA and provides the force for segregation.

PopZ – Polar tethering protein via interactions with ParB.

TipN - Polar protein that …

Has Plant Domestication Compromised Plant Defensive Chemistry? Aphid Induced Stress In Tomatoes, Nhi Do, Satinderpal Kaur, Minxing Zhu, Esther N. Ngumbi

MICRO-CCS student projects

Tomato plants have natural defensive mechanisms.

Direct: Phenolics are secondary metabolites that can protect the plant by intoxicating the herbivores and/or producing strong repulsive odors.

Indirect: VOCs, Volatile Organic Chemicals, are gas phase signals that attract the predators of the attacking herbivore to the plant.

Domestication of plants may chemically alter these defenses by prioritizing fruit production over defensive traits.

We hypothesize that wild/ancient tomato plants would have a greater quantity of volatiles and increased concentration of leaf total phenolics compared to cultivated tomatoes during aphid herbivory.

How Does High-Oil Sorghum Change Potential Extracellular Enzyme Activity Across Soil Depth Profiles Under Drought Conditions?, Krystal Monique Role, Rounak Patra, Wendy Yang

MICRO-CCS student projects

Transgenic oil sorghum reallocates photosynthate-carbon (C) into vegetative lipids, accumulating nonstructural lipids in both shoot and root tissues. Altered plant C allocation and root lipid accumulation may shift root exudate chemistry, belowground C inputs, and microbial nutrient demand throughout the soil profile. While aboveground productivity in high-oil sorghum is well-characterized, its belowground impacts on soil microbial enzyme activity and exchangeable cation dynamics, especially across soil horizons under drought stress remain unknown.

Project objective was to find out how transgenic high oil sorghum (Tx-HO1) influences CNP acquiring extracellular enzyme activities and soil exchangeable cation dynamics across soil horizons under drought and …