Digital Commons Network^™

Understanding The Influence Of Image Enhancement On Underwater Object Detection: A Quantitative And Qualitative Study, Ashraf Saleem, Ali Awad, Sidike Paheding, Evan Lucas, Timothy C. Havens, Peter C. Esselman

Michigan Tech Publications

Underwater image enhancement is often perceived as a disadvantageous process to object detection. We propose a novel analysis of the interactions between enhancement and detection, elaborating on the potential of enhancement to improve detection. In particular, we evaluate object detection performance for each individual image rather than across the entire set to allow a direct performance comparison of each image before and after enhancement. This approach enables the generation of unique queries to identify the outperforming and underperforming enhanced images compared to the original images. To accomplish this, we first produce enhanced image sets of the original images using recent …

Fatigue Life Of Pre-Cut Seam Asphalt Mixture Composite Beams: A Combined Study Of Fatigue Damage Evolution And Reflective Cracking Extension, Hongfu Liu, Hong Lu, Xun Zhu, Zhengwei Yi, Xin Yu, Dongzhao Jin, Xinghai Peng, Songtao Lv

Michigan Tech Publications

This study investigated the impact of reflective cracking on the fatigue performance of asphalt pavements after milling and resurfacing under various conditions. Fatigue life was assessed through four-point flexural fatigue tests, while the crack extension pattern of composite beams was analyzed by digital image correlation (DIC) at both macroscopic and microscopic scales. Evaluation parameters such as stress ratios, immersion time, porosity, and types of viscous oils were assessed. A fatigue life prediction model of composite beams was established, accounting for the combined influence of these factors. To enhance the accuracy of determining composite beam failure, the critical fatigue damage was …

Long Oligos: Direct Chemical Synthesis Of Genes With Up To 1728 Nucleotides, Yipeng Yin, Reed Arneson, Yinan Yuan, Shiyue Fang

Michigan Tech Publications

The longest oligos that can be chemically synthesized are considered to be 200-mers. Here, we report direct synthesis of an 800-mer green fluorescent protein gene and a 1728-mer Φ29 DNA polymerase gene on an automated synthesizer. Key innovations that enabled this breakthrough include conducting the synthesis on a smooth surface rather than within the pores of traditional supports, and the use of the powerful catching-by-polymerization (CBP) method for isolating the full-length oligos from a complex mixture. Conducting synthesis on a smooth surface not only eliminated the steric hindrance that would otherwise prevent long oligo assembly, but also, surprisingly, drastically reduced …

Great Lakes Water Level Trends Using The Moving Statistics Method, With Implications For Climate Change And Cities, Brian Barkdoll, Opeyemi Alamutu

Michigan Tech Publications

Increasing magnitudes of precipitation and evaporation are predicted for future climate change. Knowing whether these trends are occurring can help water managers plan with respect to future erosion, flooding, and design changes for shoreline infrastructure. Data from all the Laurentian Great Lakes (Erie, Michigan-Huron, Ontario, St. Clair, and Superior) were analyzed here to determine whether these trends are being realized. The MovingStatistics Method is used here using the moving average and moving standard deviation. It was found that Lakes Erie and St. Clair had the highest moving average trend of 0.5 mm/month, while Lake Ontario had the highest moving standard …

Distributed Sapphire Fiber Bragg Grating-Based Thermal Profiling Of Submerged Entry Nozzles, Farhan Mumtaz, Hanok W. Tekle, Bohong Zhang, Xiaodong Li, Sunday Abraham, Bryant Mathis, Jeffrey D. Smith, Ronald J. O'Malley, Jie Huang

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This article focuses on the application of sapphire fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) for instrumentation in submerged entry nozzles (SENs) within the steelmaking industry. The SEN is pivotal for transferring molten steel from a tundish to a mold, while preventing the infiltration of oxygen and nitrogen from the surrounding environment. Maintaining optimal flow conditions in the mold is crucial for ensuring casting process stability and maintaining high-quality steel. Sapphire FBG sensors have been instrumented in SENs to enable distributed thermal mapping for monitoring the health of the SEN. The optical sensor comprises three cascaded sapphire FBGs inscribed using femtosecond (FS) laser …

Balanced Benchmarking Of Zero-Shot And Rag Approaches For Biomedical Term Normalization, Thanh Son Do, Daniel B. Hier, Tayo Obafemi-Ajayi

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Normalization of medical concepts to an ontology is a key aspect of the natural language processing of biomedical text. It enables the mapping of medical expressions to standardized ontology terms and their identifiers, thereby enhancing the interoperability and computability of medical concepts. Although large language models (LLMs) can identify and standardize medical terms, they may struggle to accurately map ontology terms to their corresponding ontology identifiers. These challenges arise from the stochastic nature of LLMs, their limited exposure to uncommon ontology identifiers during training, and their lack of an integrated lookup mechanism. We generated test sets of synthetic terms to …

Measurement- And Simulated Annealing (Sa) Optimization-Based Inductor Model Coupled To Chassis, Junyong Park, Reza Vahdani, Donghyun Kim

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In automotive systems, a metal chassis protects the components against the external environment. However, the metal chassis is conductive, which results in unwanted conducted emission (CE) coupling to electric components. An inductor used for power factor correction (PFC) is one of the affected components. When the inductor is mated with the metal chassis, the impedance of the inductor changes. It is also hard to predict the CE coupling due to the structure-dependent characteristics. That is, the CE coupling is not negligible and hard to clarify. Therefore, this article proposes an efficient modeling method for the inductor which is mated with …

A High Step-Up Soft-Switched Converter Based On Coupled Inductor And Current-Fed Voltage Multiplier, Koosha Choobdari Omran, Reza Beiranvand, Pourya Shamsi

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this paper, a novel non-isolated DC-DC converter that combines coupled inductor (CI) and voltage multiplier (VM) techniques is proposed. The leakage energy of the CI is effectively recycled, and soft-switching conditions are achieved for all switches and diodes. Resonance between the leakage inductor of the CI and VM capacitors provides soft-switching conditions, without requiring a separate resonant tank. The use of VM stages not only lowers the voltage stress on semiconductor components but also allows for the use of low-voltage-rated devices, leading to reduced conduction losses, lower cost, and improved efficiency. High voltage gain can be achieved by appropriately …

Usb 3.0 Ibis-Ami Model Construction Using Measurement And Neural Network, Jiahuan Huang, Wenchang Huang, Muqi Ouyang, Hank Lin, Bin Chyi Tseng, Chulsoon Hwang

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The input/ output modes are essential for high-speed signal integrity analysis and channel simulation. This work aims to develop a method for generating an IBIS-AMI model for USB 3.0 using measurement data. Instead of requiring a specially designed motherboard with test points for specific measurements, this method uses measurement data obtained from an assembled motherboard. The only available data for measurement in this case is the output voltage waveform from the USB 3.0 port on the motherboard. To address this, a novel approach is proposed to extract all the required parameters for the IBIS-AMI model from a single available measurement …

Public Participation Geographic Information Systems (Ppgis) And Understanding User Conflict On The Rogue River, Kim Gaines-Munkvold

Masters in GIS Practicum Reports

This practicum explored the application of Public Participation Geographic Information Systems (PPGIS) to better understand user conflict on the Upper Rogue River, particularly tensions surrounding the use of jetboats. Partnered with Oregon’s Kitchen Table (OKT), who specialize in public engagement within the Hatfield School of Governance at Portland State University, the project supported Oregon state agencies’ effort to gather community input. The practicum consisted of two components - field work and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) analysis. Field work involved traveling to southern Oregon to work as a part of OKT public engagement team at community events and conversations, using a …

Comparison Of In Situ Plant Area Index And Remotely Sensed Leaf Area Index Of Northeastern American Deciduous, Mixed, And Coniferous Forests For Smapvex19-22, Christopher Cook, Laura Bourgeau-Chavez, Dorthea Vander Bilt, Mary E. Miller, Simon Kraatz, Michael H. Cosh, Victoria R. Kelly, Andreas Colliander

Michigan Tech Publications

Leaf Area Index (LAI) and Plant Area Index (PAI) are critical biophysical parameters for quantifying foliage density of crops and trees. As such they may also be effective metrics to estimate the impact of leafy vegetation on microwave signals, like the radiometer on board NASA’s Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) satellite. This study presents a comprehensive analysis of PAI and LAI measurements acquired through in situ and remotely sensed (RS) methods in diverse forest ecosystems of northeastern America, including deciduous, mixed, and coniferous forests. We compare RS LAI and ground-truth PAI data to understand the variation between the RS LAI …

Effect Of Aging Duration On The Microstructure And Corrosion Characteristics Of 17-4 Ph Stainless Steel, G. Narasinga Rao, Subrat Kumar Baral, Y. Madhavi, Sriram Vijayan, Ravikumar Dumpala

Michigan Tech Publications

Heat treatment plays a critical role in inducing key microstructural changes necessary to enhance corrosion resistance of 17-4 PH stainless steel (SS). During the process, precipitates form within the metal matrix, contributing to the strength of the martensitic steel. Inconsistencies in the literature concerning the response of 17-4PH SS to heat treatment have been noted. Therefore, this study examines the impact of aging duration on microstructural characteristics, microhardness, and corrosion resistance of material. The solution heat-treatment process consisted of heating the material to 1040 °C for one hour and rapid cooling in water. Subsequently, aging treatment was carried out at …

A Transferable Approach For Quantifying Benthic Fish Sizes And Densities In Annotated Underwater Images, Peter C. Esselman, Shadi Moradi, Joseph K. Geisz, Christopher Roussi

Michigan Tech Publications

Benthic fishes are a common target of scientific monitoring but are difficult to quantify because of their close association to bottom habitats that are hard to access. Advances in image-acquisition technologies, machine vision and deep learning have made capturing and quantifying fishes with cameras increasingly feasible. We present a method and open-source software called ‘FishScale’ to estimate benthic fish lengths, numeric abundance and biomass density in underwater environments assessed with down-looking monocular images. ‘FishScale’ estimates fish abundances and size frequencies from near-nadir monocular images where fish have already been semantically segmented. The software accounts for lens distortion, underwater magnification effects …

Parent & Family Newsletter, August 2025, Illinois State University, Parent And Family Services

Parent & Family Newsletter

Parent and Family Newsletter

Parent & Family Newsletter, January 2025, Illinois State University, Parent And Family Services

Parent & Family Newsletter

Parent and Family Newsletter

Parent & Family Newsletter, September 2025, Illinois State University, Parent And Family Services

Parent & Family Newsletter

Parent and Family Newsletter

Parent & Family Newsletter, April 2025, Illinois State University, Parent And Family Services

Parent & Family Newsletter

Parent and Family Newsletter

The Organization Of Serotonergic Fibers In The Pacific Angelshark Brain: Neuroanatomical And Supercomputing Analyses, Skirmantas Janušonis, Ralf Metzler, Thomas Vojta

Physics Faculty Research & Creative Works

Serotonergic axons (fibers) are a universal feature of all vertebrate brains. They form meshworks, typically quantified with regional density measurements, and appear to support neuroplasticity. The self-organization of this system remains poorly understood, partly because of the strong stochasticity of individual fiber trajectories. In an extension to our previous analyses of the mouse brain, serotonergic fibers were investigated in the brain of the Pacific angel shark (Squatina californica), a representative of a unique (ray-like) lineage of the squalomorph sharks. First, the fundamental cytoarchitecture of the angel shark brain was examined, including the expression of ionized calcium-binding adapter molecule 1 (Iba1, …

The Kinetics Of Shj Degradation: Time And Stressor Dependent Chemical Analysis And Simulation, Nicholas Moser-Mancewicz, Jorge Ochoa, Michael Martinez-Szewczyk, Thomas Bantle, Dana Kern, Dirk Jordan, Steve Johnston, Julia E. Medvedeva, Mariana Bertoni

Physics Faculty Research & Creative Works

Despite record efficiencies, the wide adoption of silicon heterojunction is hampered by higher costs and uncertainties in long-term performance. Although recent publications report performance loss rates comparable to other field-deployed cSi technologies, the limited availability of field data and the dispersion in performance degradation results - particularly in open-circuit voltage - remain significant concerns. Various factors, including bulk and interfacial defects, charge carrier recombination dynamics, and environmental stressors such as temperature and humidity, contribute to this degradation. Understanding the mechanisms behind the open circuit voltage degradation as well as the kinetics involved is essential for developing mitigation strategies that enhance …

New York Environmental Legislation In 2024, Michael B. Gerrard

Faculty Scholarship

In 2024, New York State enacted several laws aimed either at dealing with the adverse impacts of climate change such as extreme heat and increasingl severe and frequent storms or at helping to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions to avoid or minimize the adverse impacts. The final bill signed by Governor Kathy Hochul in 2024 was the most high-profile of these laws — the Climate Change Superfund Act, which will require fossil fuel companies to pay for adaptation measures.

Other new laws last year related to extreme heat in schools and prisons, food waste, expanded polystyrene containers, community gardens, and native …

In Search Of A State, Maeve Glass

Faculty Scholarship

This article offers a legal history of one of America’s earliest campaigns of state legislative resistance: the effort in Massachusetts to protest the national government’s perceived dismantling of an old Atlantic commercial order from 1803 to 1815. To date, scholars have either condemned this protest as a dangerous harbinger of the Civil War or vindicated it as an inevitable and salutary extension of the Founding. This article steers a different course. By focusing on the evolving language of protest and the complex hybrid of ideas and material realities from which this language emerged, this article illuminates how Federalist leaders who …

For Whose Benefit Is The Freedom Of Speech?, Vincent A. Blasi

Faculty Scholarship

In United States v. Alvarez, the US Supreme Court ruled that an official of a water district who introduced himself to his constituents by falsely stating in a public meeting that he had earned the Congressional Medal of Honor had a First Amendment right to make that demonstrably untrue claim. Audience members misled by the statement might well be considered to have a First Amendment interest in not being directly and knowingly lied to in that way. Other members of the community might be thought to have a First Amendment interest in public officials such as Xavier Alvarez telling …

Fixing Mfw: Fairness And Vision In Controller Self-Dealing, Zohar Goshen, Assaf Hamdani, Dorothy S. Lund

Faculty Scholarship

The legal regime governing controlling shareholders relies on the ability of Delaware courts to police conflicted transactions under the stringent "entire fairness" standard of review. This review involves both implicit valuation – evaluating the transaction process, and explicit valuation – assessing the fairness of the transaction's financial terms. This Article reveals a critical flaw in this regime: courts cannot reliably engage in valuation when the transaction involves an entrepreneur's idiosyncratic vision for the company. As a result, there is a gaping hole in Delaware's framework for policing the fairness of controller transactions.

Delaware courts have developed guardrails to avoid judicial …

Into The Legal “Twilight Zone”: State Tenth Amendment Jurisdiction Displacing Climate Supremacy, Steven Ferrey

Lewis & Clark Law Review

The Supremacy Clause of the Constitution notwithstanding, western states have utilized their reserved Tenth Amendment Constitutional authority, upheld by federal circuit courts, arbitrarily to block their adjacent states’ sustainable infrastructure to address climate change. The Biden Administration set in motion a rapid electrification of the entire U.S. economy via three different new laws enacted sequentially in 2021, 2022, and 2023. A re-directed federal executive branch now oversees these programs and laws. This Article analyzes how each of those three laws suffers from a critical omission plaguing this most significant infrastructure program in the last half century—now forecast counter-intuitively by some …

The Public Trust Doctrine And Lake Abert: Saving Oregon’S Only Salt Lake, Joseph Arzt

Lewis & Clark Law Review

The public trust doctrine creates a relationship between states and their citizens under which the states are entrusted with protecting natural resources for public use. Though Oregon recognizes the public trust doctrine, recent decisions from Oregon’s Supreme Court have displaced and fractured this doctrine, leaving the current legal landscape surrounding the public trust doctrine in disarray. This Note focuses on Lake Abert, Oregon’s only saline lake, which in recent years, due to mismanagement and neglect, has undergone dramatic ecological shifts. By looking at arguments rooted in Oregon’s Constitution, as well as judicial approaches taken in neighboring states, this Note examines …

The Alchemy Of Sin: Turning Tobacco Sin Tax Revenue Into Public Health Gold, Audre L. Sylvester

Lewis & Clark Law Review

This Note proposes a reallocation of tobacco excise tax revenue towards health and education programs related to tobacco cessation. Revenue collected from federal excise taxes on tobacco products is currently used to support the daily and long-term operations of the United States while tobacco cessation and education programs remain underfunded and underutilized. This Note examines the history of these “sin taxes,” their modern-day function, and the issues that arise from the current allocation of sin tax revenue to support the argument that revenue from federal sin taxes on tobacco products should be exclusively allocated to a dedicated federal trust fund …

Masthead And Table Of Contents, Lewis & Clark Law Review

Lewis & Clark Law Review

Table of Contents, masthead, editorial board, and faculty advisors for Lewis & Clark Law Review Volume 29, Issue 1, 2025.

Affording Oral Tradition Evidence Due Weight Before The International Court Of Justice, Terrence Neal

Lewis & Clark Law Review

Oral traditions are irreplaceable sources of historical information, particularly with regard to Indigenous Peoples’ histories and cultures. However, when states have submitted oral traditions as evidence of historical practices, events, and circumstances in cases before the International Court of Justice (“Court”), the Court has been reluctant to afford them significant weight. This Article, which is the first detailed study on the Court’s treatment of oral traditions, examines whether the Court is failing to provide them due or appropriate weight. Based on historical, archaeological, and anthropological research, it establishes that oral traditions can be as reliable as written documents for reconstructing …

Admitting Science: Problems With Current Admissibility Standards, William O'Donohue, Sneha Gupta

Lewis & Clark Law Review

Attorneys use expert testimony to advance legal positions in courtrooms. Because expert testimony can have tremendous influence over judges and juries, it is admitted only if it meets specific admissibility standards, i.e., Frye and Daubert. These standards provide different admissibility criteria, have been adopted by distinct sets of jurisdictions, and, we argue, are of questionable validity. These standards are attempts to ensure that only knowledge is admissible and are, then, essentially an epistemic matter. Science serves as a proxy for knowledge because science is the epistemic process that has been successful at generating knowledge. However, both epistemology and the philosophy …

Cause Of Death? -- It's Probably Not What's Reported On The Death Certificate, Lauren R. Roth

Lewis & Clark Law Review

In the age of big data, this country has a data problem—inaccurate and incomplete information in death certificates. The problem has long been hidden by the numbers reported—as have the people whose deaths go uncounted, but the COVID-19 pandemic unveiled the scope of the issue. Since the beginning of the pandemic, “excess deaths” (i.e., any deaths above the number predicted by existing mortality models) have increased significantly. Most of these excess deaths are likely attributable to COVID-19 because the decedent was never tested for COVID-19 or it was one of multiple factors contributing to their death. Other deaths are uncounted …