Engineering Commons^™

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

Master’s Dissertations

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

Federated Learning Using Fully Homomorphic Encryption, Sk Golam Kuddus

Master’s Dissertations

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

Legacy Nutrient Transport By Overland Sheet Flow, John E. Gilley, Ryan P. Mcgehee, Kenneth M. Wacha

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

The transport of phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N) from sites containing varying quantities of legacy nutrients was evaluated in this investigation. The data that were examined were collected during four previously reported field hydrologic studies performed in eastern Nebraska. Additional flow was introduced to the top of the rainfall simulation plots to replicate runoff conditions occurring along a hillslope. It was observed that both P and N delivery were influenced by runoff rate on sites where beef cattle manure or inorganic fertilizer had been applied. Legacy nutrient delivery appeared to have been influenced by the quantity of nutrients released at …

Modeling Multiple Tasks In Recommendation Systems, Dinh Hieu Do

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Traditional research in recommendation systems has largely centered on the static offline supervised learning setting. In this paradigm, all available user-item interaction data is collected and partitioned into fixed training, validation, and test sets. Models are developed and evaluated in this controlled environment, where the underlying data distribution is assumed to remain unchanged. This approach offers clear advantages: it simplifies experimentation, enables reproducible benchmarking, and allows for straightforward comparisons between algorithms.

However, this static offline setting does not reflect the realities faced by modern recommendation systems. In real-world applications, data is dynamic and ever-evolving, where new users and items are …

From Sparse Feedback To Sequential Decision-Making: Learning Safety Constraints With Weak Supervision, Siow Meng Low

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Real-world decision-making often involves safety constraints that are implicit, non-Markovian, or difficult to specify directly. Standard reinforcement learning (RL) approaches typically assume access to fully specified cost functions and constraint budgets—assumptions that limit their applicability in domains where such structure must instead be inferred from data. This dissertation develops a sequence of methods for learning safety-relevant structure from weak supervision, such as sparse binary feedback on trajectory segments, and using these signals to guide planning and policy optimization.

The first part of the dissertation introduces a sample-efficient method for planning in continuous Markov Decision Processes (MDPs) using deep reactive policies. …

Seconds From Impact: Anticipatory Vehicular Crash Prediction Using Video Vision Transormers, Ryan P. Geisen

Master's Theses

Vehicular collisions represent a significant public health concern, necessitating re search into advanced emergency notification systems. While deep learning has shown promise in accident detection, a research gap persists in applying state-of-the-art transformer architectures to the task of anticipatory, real-time crash prediction from video. This thesis addresses this gap by developing and evaluating a Video Vision Transformer (ViViT) for the binary classification of imminent vehicular collisions. Utilizing a curated dataset of 1,493 unique collision sequences, this study systemati cally investigates the impact of temporal context by comparing the ViViT against a single-frame Vision Transformer (ViT) baseline and conducting comprehensive exper …

Elevating Next Generation Wireless Devices Towards Contactless Sensing For Healthcare Applications, Aakriti Adhikari

Theses and Dissertations

There is an increasing interest in technologies that can understand and perceive at-home human activities to provide personalized healthcare monitoring, aimed at early detection of disease markers and assisting physicians in making clinical decisions. Existing approaches, such as wearables, require users to wear sensors that can be cumbersome and cause discomfort. Vision based solutions, such as optical cameras, IRs, LiDARs, etc., can be used to design contactless at-home monitoring systems. However, these systems are limited by poor lighting and occlusion, and they are privacy-invasive. Fortunately, high-frequency millimeter-wave wireless devices provide an effective alternative to the existing systems to enable fine-grained …

Microstructure And Defects Of Aa6061 In The Laser Powder Bed Fusion Additive Manufacturing, Sivaji Karna

Theses and Dissertations

AA6061 is a widely used aluminum alloy known for its excellent thermal conductivity, strength, and corrosion resistance. However, its application in Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF) additive manufacturing is restricted by solidification cracking and porosity. This study examines defect formation, microstructural evolution, and precipitate behavior in AA6061 processed under various LPBF conditions, including room temperature and heated substrates (500°C), as well as pulsed wave laser configurations. Microstructural characterization was conducted using optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM).

A maximum relative density of 99.17% was …

Numerical Simulation For The Design Of Induction Heating Based Radio Frequency Reactor For Ethylene Production, Hunter Teel, Matthew Craps, Hector-Colon Mercado, Perter Ciesielski, Sirivatch Shimpalee

Faculty Publications

Ethylene is a vital petrochemical compound produced in vast amounts yearly by manufacturers that have enough scale to overcome the inherent thermodynamic inefficiencies of the process. In order to address the inefficiencies that prevent smaller scale or intermittent production ethylene, investigation of new production methods are required. In this work, we investigate the use of a radio frequency (RF) based reactor system that generates heat internally as opposed to applying heat externally via steam or direct combustion of fossil fuels. In order to guide the design of an electromagnetic based reactor system, we have created a macroscale model capable of …

A Comparative Techno-Economic Analysis Of Aqueous And Anhydrous Hcl Electrolysis Processes, O. Felix, K. Likit-Anurak, K. Ngamsanroaj, Sirivatch Shimpalee, Ben Meekins

Faculty Publications

The state-of-the-art aqueous HCl electrolysis process is a well-established process for chlorine production but faces challenges such as limited conversion efficiencies, corrosion, and additional pre- and post-electrolyzer processing steps that add to its cost. This study evaluates whether a recently demonstrated anhydrous HCl electrolysis process is more economically viable than the state-of-the-art aqueous process. A 1D electrolyzer model was developed using Aspen Custom Modeler® and integrated into Aspen Plus® for process modeling. Multiple conversion efficiencies (30.5 %, 50 %, 80 %, and 93.4 %) were analyzed for the anhydrous process, with various heat recovery and heat exchanger configurations assessed using …

Navigating Perceptions: How Organizational Type And Message Source Affect Willingness To Fly In Automated Air Taxis, Cody James Sweatt

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

A new era of transportation and business is beginning to emerge. Advanced air mobility (AAM), which uses highly automated aircraft that transport passengers and cargo in the underutilized, low-altitude airspace above and around urban areas, is rapidly becoming a reality (FAA, 2023). These new companies will utilize air taxis, which are automated, electric, vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft and will potentially foster a revolutionary new commerce infrastructure. Unfortunately, it is not currently understood how the credibility of a message source or specific type of organization that owns and operates an automated air taxi company influences a customer’s willingness to …

Building A Long Text Privacy Policy Corpus With Multi-Class Labels, David Stein, Florencia Marotta-Wurgler

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Legal text poses distinctive challenges for natural language processing. The legal import of a term may depend on omissions, cross-references, or silence, Further, legal text is often susceptible to multiple valid, conflicting interpretations; as the saying goes: a good lawyer’s answer to any question is “it depends.”This work introduces a new, hand-coded dataset for the interpretation of privacy policies. It includes privacy policies from 149 firms, including materials incorporated by reference. The policies are annotated across 64 dimension that reflect the applicable legal rules and contested terms from EU and US privacy regulation and litigation. Our annotation methodology is designed …

Data Annotations, Bradley M. Ratliff

Model Desert Terrain Monochromatic DoT Dataset

Pixel-wise object masks for each polarimetric scene in ASL file format for the Model Desert Terrain Monochromatic DoT data.

Distributed Monitoring Of Moving Thermal Targets Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles And Gaussian Mixture Models, Gustavo Vejarano, Yuanji Huang, Pavithra Sripathanallur Murali

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Works

This paper contributes a two-step approach to monitor clusters of thermal targets on the ground using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and Gaussian mixture models (GMMs) in a distributed manner. The approach is tailored to networks of UAVs that establish a flying ad hoc network (FANET) and operate without central command. The first step is a monitoring algorithm that determines if the GMM corresponds to the current spatial distribution of clusters of thermal targets on the ground. UAVs make this determination using local data and a sequence of data exchanges with UAVs that are one-hop neighbors in the FANET. The second …

Mission Engineering Competencies Workshop Report: Roles, Responsibilities, And Skills, James D. Moreland, Jr. (Editor), Thomas Irwin, Robert-Allen Baker

Center for Mission Engineering (CME) Publications

This report summarizes the findings of a two-day Old Dominion University Mission Engineering Workshop involving the U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Air Force, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the University of New South Wales, and Old Dominion University, focused on defining the roles, competencies, and skills essential to Mission Engineering. It presents a structured competency framework and offers recommendations to guide workforce development, training, and cross-agency collaboration in support of complex, mission-driven systems.

Balancing Infrastructure Demands: Analysis Of Materials Pricing And Supply, Bethany Paris, Ying Li, Steve Waddle, Bryan Gibson

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) lets around 700 contracts year valued at over $1 billion. One of KYTC’s foremost goals is to deliver projects on time and on budget. However, over the past five years achieving these twin goals has grown in difficulty due to material shortages, widespread inflation, supply chain disruptions, and the tight labor market triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. Although material shortages have abated and supply chain disruptions have eased, instability is seemingly a permanent feature of the national and global economies. As such, Cabinet decision makers need reliable tools that can be used to understand historical …

Enhanced Pavement Project Prioritization, Bryan Gibson, Jon Wilcoxson, Gayle Marks

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) is responsible for inspecting, maintaining, and improving 27,000 centerline miles of pavement. Given the vastness of the state’s transportation network, KYTC needs a robust method for prioritizing pavement preservation projects. The Cabinet has relied on pavement condition ratings, data collected using Laser Crack Measurement Systems, and input from district-level staff to prioritize these types of projects. But this approach overlooks information that should be considered, such as factors related to safety, mobility, and geographic context. To resolve these shortcomings, Kentucky Transportation Center (KTC) researchers worked with KYTC subject-matter experts to develop the Enhanced Pavement Prioritization …

Retraction: A Database Of Teleseismic Shear-Wave Splitting Measurements For The Ordos Block And Adjacent Areas(Seismological Research Letters (2022), 93, 5, (2731–2739), 10.1785/0220210310), Lin Liu, Stephen S. Gao, Kelly H. Liu, Tu Xue, Yan Jia, Sanzhong Li

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

An earlier version of this article (Liu et al., 2022) included private data from the Himalayan-III program which should not have been made public. The authors acknowledge and regret their negligence during the selection of the measurements. The impacted data represent only 2.7% of the total data published in this article, and after review, the authors and the editors agree that this unintentional error has no bearing on the work's scientific conclusions. Therefore, we are retracting the impacted data and have made corrections to remove any Himalayan-III program data from the article's text, figures, and supplemental tables.

Ultra-Low Dosages Of Novel Graphene Types Enhance The Rheological Properties And Buildability Of 3d Printed Binders, Sahil Surehali, Akshay Venkatachalam, Ranjith Divigalpitiya, Aditya Kumar, Narayanan Neithalath

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The use of graphene as a high-performance concrete additive is attractive; but, its cost and concerns about production scalability and dispersion efficiency in concrete are impediments to widespread use. This study explores the impact of ultra-low dosages (≤0.02 % by mass of binder) of two novel graphene types—fractal graphene (FG) and reactive graphene (RG)—produced through a cost-effective, environmentally friendly, and scalable process, on the rheological properties of 3D-printable concrete. Both FG and RG significantly enhance the dynamic and static yield stresses and viscoelastic properties of the binder, with RG-modified mixtures exhibiting slightly more pronounced enhancements due to the presence of …

Distributed Tracking Control Of Multiple High-Order Uncertain Nonlinear Systems With Guaranteed Performance, Eduardo Alvarez, Wenjie Dong

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

This paper addresses the distributed tracking control of multiple uncertain high-order nonlinear systems with prescribed performance requirements. By introducing a performance function and a nonlinear transformation, the prescribed fixed-time performance tracking control problem is reformulated as a distributed tracking control problem for multiple special nonlinear systems. With the aid of the universal approximation theorem for continuous functions and algebraic graph theory, distributed robust adaptive controllers are designed using the backstepping technique. Simulation results are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms.

Mechanical Engineering Virtual Reality Lab, Alan Mcdonnell

Case studies: Digital Education

Students perform multiple engineering lab experiments within the Critical Utilities 1 module. The ‘Pump Laboratory’ experiment involves interaction with a fluid power training rig to record pressure and flow readings from a variety of system states. The recorded data from multiple pumping experiments is used to create pump and system characteristic curves and charts. This experiment is very appropriate to industrial practice and design. The typical cohort size is 10+ and the availability of only one training rig introduces a ‘pinch-point’ in the interaction capacity of the students; there is insufficient time for all students to perform all the separate …

Mobile Hyflex And Cfd, Fergal Boyle

Case studies: Digital Education

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is one of 12 taught modules on the Master of Engineering (ME) in Mechanical Engineering programme delivered on the Bolton St campus by the School of Mechanical Engineering. This programme is delivered as both a full-time programme (12 months) and a 2-3 year part-time programme with lectures held in the evenings only from 6-10 pm on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays. CFD is delivered in Semester 2 on a Tuesday evening from 6-8 pm in Room 236, a hardwired HyFlex room, with another module delivered directly afterwards. The number of students taking the module is generally around …

Introducing Hyflex Teaching In Geotechnical Engineering, Juan Pablo Osorio

Case studies: Digital Education

Geotechnical Engineering 2 is a third-year technical module in the BE in Civil Engineering and the BE in Structural Engineering, and it covers the theoretical and practical aspects of the retaining wall stability, foundation design and compressibility of soils. The two classes are merged together for it. It uses lectures, laboratories and tutorials as teaching methods. The module has 36 hours of direct contact and 64 hours of self-directed learning. It is a semester 2 core module that follows Geotechnical Engineering 1. The mode of delivery for both modules is in-person lectures at the lecture hall, with three laboratory practices …

Using The Ms Surface Pro 9 To Enhance Teaching And Learning, Anthony Reynolds

Case studies: Digital Education

Thermodynamics is a fundamental subject for mechanical engineers, focusing on the principles of energy conversion and the behaviour of matter under various conditions.Thermodynamics is very challenging for students for several reasons: It involves abstract concepts like entropy, which can be difficult to visualize and understand. It requires a strong grasp of mathematics(e.g.,calculus),which can be intimidating for somestudents. It intersects with various fields(e. g.physics and chemistry) requiring students to integrate knowledge from different areas.

Distinctive Transpassivation Behavior And Characteristics Of Passive Films Of Laser Powder Bed Fusion Produced And Annealed Ti–6al–4v In Hank's Solution, Yi Fan Zhang, Liang Yu Chen, Ze Xin Wang, Hong Yu Yang, Maksym Bobrov, Dobuvyy Oleksandr, Yong Liu, Lai Chang Zhang

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Passivated Ti alloys typically demonstrate enhanced corrosion resistance due to the formation of passive films. Intriguingly, in comparison to the annealed Ti–6Al–4V, laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) produced Ti–6Al–4V exhibits significantly attenuated transpassivation behavior in Hank's solution. This work investigated the electrochemical responses of both samples before and after the transpassivation region to illustrate the underlying mechanism for the phenomenon. In the passivation region, both samples displayed analogous passivation behavior, with the annealed and LPBF-produced Ti–6Al–4V having the current densities of 6.64 × 10⁻⁶ and 8.14 × 10⁻⁶ A cm⁻² at 1 V, respectively. Between 1.5 V …

Advances In Noninvasive Imaging For Detecting Radiation-Induced Lung Injury (Rili), Austen Nissen, Said H. Audi, Anne V. Clough, Brian Fish, Amit Joshi, Meetha Medhora, Jason Walter Sidabras, Heather A. Himburg

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Purpose: Dr. Richard Hill performed pioneering work in the field of radiation-induced normal tissue injury to the lung including noninvasive imaging studies aimed at identifying imaging biomarkers of radiation-induced lung injury (RILI). RILI is a life-threatening toxicity of radiation exposure relevant to both cancer patients undergoing thoracic radiation therapy (RT) and victims of accidental radiation exposure. The ability to detect RILI noninvasively has the potential to guide treatment planning for RT and, in the case of victims of acute radiation exposures, inform the decision to start mitigative therapies. As part of this special issue of IJRB honoring Dr. Hill’s many …

Designing A Portable And Accessible Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy System For Real-Time Detection Of Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia, Allison Scarbrough, Diana Moses, Tongtong Lu, Bing Yu

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Significance: Over 80% of cervical cancer cases occur in lower-to-middle income countries (LMIC’s). This is partly because current screening techniques lack affordability, accessibility, and/or reliability for use in LMIC’s.

Aim: To develop an optical technique for cervical cancer screening that is affordable, accessible, and reliable for use in LMIC’s.

Approach: We developed a portable diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) system, which costs < $2500 USD to manufacture, and employs a Raspberry Pi to extract the absorption (μ_a) and reduced scattering (μ'_s) coefficients of biological tissue. The system was subject to travel and intentional rough handling. It was further used to capture 320 DRS spectra taken from 64 tissue-mimicking phantoms. Two …

Impactor Displacement As A Predictor Of Thoraco-Abdominal Organ Injury: Comparison Of Isolated Organ To Whole Body Tests., Jack Seifert, Jared Michael Koser, Alok Shah, Lance Frazer, Frank A. Pintar, Narayan Yoganandan, Dan Nicolella, Brian D. Stemper

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Purpose

Body armor is used to protect the wearer from penetrating injuries. However, when the armor defeats the projectile, it deforms at high rates into the wearer, referred to as back face deformation (BFD). This deformation can cause a variety of superficial and internal injuries and consequently should be considered when designing body armor. However, current design standards do not adequately consider the effects of BFD, and new data are necessary to inform future design thresholds for BFD. The objective of this study was to develop blunt impact injury risk curves for in vitro thoraco-abdominal organs and determine their applicability …

A Study On The Multifunctional Properties And Application Perspectives Of Zno/Sic Composite Materials, Mohammad Nur-E-Alam

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

ZnO/SiC nanocomposite materials possess significant potential for various technological fields due to their extraordinary optical, electrical, thermal, and mechanical properties. The synthesis methods, material properties, and diverse applications of ZnO/SiC composites have been systematically explored in this study. The potential application areas of this nanocomposite include their roles in photocatalysis, optoelectronic devices, gas sensors, and photovoltaic systems. The synergetic effects of ZnO and SiC are analyzed to highlight their advantages over their individual components. Future research directions must focus on the remaining challenges to optimize these nanoscale composite materials for industrial and emerging applications.

Satellite Radar Imagery Analysis For Ground Hazard Risk Monitoring In Railway Tracks And Slopes, Sumanth Varma Byrraju

Theses and Dissertations

Railway transportation is essential to national economies globally, and disruptions from geohazards can result in significant operational delays and considerable economic consequences. Satellite radar technologies, including Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR), offer an effective means to monitor geohazard risks across extensive railway networks. This thesis employs Multi-Temporal InSAR (MTInSAR) techniques, including Persistent Scatterer InSAR (PSInSAR) and Small Baseline Subset (SBAS), to identify high-risk areas along railway rights of way (ROW) prior to geohazard occurrences. However, the efficiency of these MT-InSAR and, consequently, the caliber of the data generated may be restricted by elements like topographical profile, vegetation, and surface soil …