48440 research outputs found
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Investigating Soil Amendments for Mycoremediation of Heavy Metals
No full textHeavy metal contamination is common in industrial cities and residential neighborhoods near highways, manufacturing facilities, and landfills. Lead species and other heavy metals are often deposited in soil, and contamination can occur through contact with contaminated soil or ingestion of contaminated produce. Worcester, MA has a rich industrial history that has contributed to decades of heavy metal deposition in the surrounding soil, exposing residents to harmful contaminants. Bioremediation is an increasingly popular solution to removing various environmental contaminants. Mycoremediation utilizes mushrooms and other fungi to uptake, degrade, or immobilize environmental pollutants. The biosorption of heavy metals by fungi can be maximized by adding soil amendments to the contaminated soil, impacting the ability of metal species to transport through the soil. The transport of heavy metals through mushroom and mold species was analyzed by measuring their uptake of lead, comparing the efficiency of various soil amendments, and determining the feasibility of mycoremediation in Worcester, MA. Further experimentation to optimize the uptake of heavy metals by fungi was recommended
Design and Development of an Oxygen Concentrator to Support Neonatal Respiratory Assist Devices to be Used in Low to Middle Income Countries
No full textIn low and middle-income countries (LMICs) like Ghana, the use of traditional oxygen concentrators is impeded by frequent power outages, high costs, and logistical challenges associated with larger devices, which are expensive and difficult to transport. This project explores the design and development of an affordable, energy-efficient oxygen concentrator created to work with a bCPAP system to treat neonates with Respiratory Distress Syndrome (RDS) in Ghana. The proposed device provides oxygen at concentrations ranging from 21-30% at flow rates of 2-6 liters per minute (LPM), meeting the World Health Organization’s (WHO) guidelines for neonatal oxygen therapy. The device also automatically switches from the power grid to a supplemental power source, such as a car battery, ensuring continuous operation during power outages. Additionally, the device incorporates a charcoal particulate filter, which is both cost-effective and easily replaceable, minimizing maintenance costs and optimizing efficiency in humid environments. The device itself is cost-effective, with a final prototype cost of $267.25. The device is also easily transportable at under 3.2 kg
Spiral Development to Post-Release 2025
No full textThis MQP focused on applying the Spiral Development methodology in creating two fully functional, playable games that were iterated upon throughout the WPI 24-25 academic term: Project Spiral which spiraled on a weekly deadline each term, and Dracula Daily which spiraled monthly every academic term. The project was completed by a senior team of six students, and allowed for two different case studies in spiraling to be explored whilst also exploring the possible gameplay and system implementations that were possible through doing so
Computational Analysis of Non-coding DNA Regions: Understanding the Role of Encode Candidate cis-Regulatory Elements in Cancer and Gene Regulation
No full textThis study investigates the role of candidate cis-regulatory elements (cCREs) in cancer by integrating ATAC-seq data, ENCODE cCRE annotations, and TCGA copy number variation (CNV) datasets. Reproducing previous findings, we confirmed that most cancer-specific ATAC-seq peaks overlap with ENCODE cCREs, particularly enhancer and promoter elements. The study developed a cancer cCRE Atlas, revealed cross-cancer regulatory similarities and differences, and discovered a correlation between CNVs and chromatin accessibility. Tumor-specific cCREs were linked to oncogenic genes and pathways. These insights advance understanding of the epigenetic regulation of cancer and highlight novel therapeutic targets
Energy Harvesting for the Army
No full textThe U.S. Army DEVCOM Soldier Center is seeking new ways to maximize energy efficiency; one way of achieving this is by energy harvesting, which is defined as the recovery of a system’s otherwise unused energy. The project team focused on the Army’s Joint Precision Airdrop System (JPADS) as a candidate. JPADS delivers cargo to remote areas with the help of a guided parachute. The team will replace or supplement its batteries with a two-stage Savonius vertical axis wind turbine (SVAWT) for harvesting kinetic energy from the moving air. In simulations, the turbine generated a maximum power of ~37 watts at a ~10% efficiency. During experimental testing, the prototype SVAWT generated power up to 15.33 W at 20 m/s, equating to 2.5 Wh over the length of a typical JPADS descent. Experimental efficiencies ranged from ~ 3% to 17% with tip speed ratios from ~ 0.4 to 1.0 along with a startup speed of 9.4 m/s. The results show the prototype SVAWT is unable to completely power JPADS but can serve as a small supplemental energy source
The Dodo Board Game Collection
No full textThis project addresses the need for preservation of board games as both cultural artefacts and working research materials for multiple fields. A board game's very nature is one that promotes quick decay, loss, and damage over time due to the physical quality of materials and required user handling. Dean O'Donnell's donated board game collection containing decades of rare and common games has been the perfect for us, the students of WPI, to work on board game archival techniques. The goal is to digitally archive each game to ensure longevity and accessibility of the cultural artifacts for research, study and use globally as a part of our archival collection in WPI's Gordon Library. This year's IQP focused on testing archival techniques that we hope future IQPs will be able to continue to use with the rest of The Dodo Board Game Collection. In this term both research and creativity where vital in the success of completing the first part of the project as continues
CS: MQP: Harrison: ReVISit-ing the Classics: Evaluating A Framework for Replicable Data Visualization Experiments (2024-2025)
No full textThis project aims to understand how open-source visualization software can allow for a lower skill and wealth threshold in data visualization research, allowing up-and-coming researchers to have as many opportunities as those backed by wider experience or a higher wealth. The team studied different software based on open source philosophy and the ways in which bridging these gaps can occur. To better understand the goal of these programs, the team used the open-source visualization software ReVISit to recreate the stimuli and procedure of the existing study "'Seeing what you believe or believing what you see?' Belief Biases Correlation Estimation”. The project will work to compare preexisting open source survey software to ReVISit, in order to find methods of improvement and current benefits of using ReVISit while also understanding the wider benefits of open source software in survey taking overall
ADArC: A web-based Automated Circuit Designer and Code Generator for Arduino
No full textIn engineering education, many courses require the use of a microcontroller such as an Arduino or Raspberry Pi in their curriculum. Novices who have little experience designing hardware circuits may struggle while connecting needed sensors, actuators, and other components, even risking hardware damage if these connections are made incorrectly. In addition, many beginners encounter difficulty programming in the environment native to these microcontrollers. To address these challenges, the ADArC system was developed as an intuitive platform to simplify circuit design and development by automating both hardware connections and embedded programming. We detail this project’s contributions, including our motivation, research, and goals. Additionally, we describe our methodology for fixing bugs and adding features, as well as the implementation details. Finally, we conclude with an analysis of user survey results and provide recommendations for future ADArC development
Development of Elbow Exoskeleton with Printed Stretchable Electronics and Sensors
No full textThis MQP focused on testing and integrating stretchable electronics printing, as developed in Professor Rao's lab, into a soft elbow exoskeleton to enhance wearability and ease of use. The team developed EMG muscle sensing, positional tracking, and control systems for use with the stretchable electronics. The combination of a soft pneumatic actuator and stretchable printed electrodes could provide a prototype elbow exoskeleton that is easy to wear without excessive fasteners or the need for constantly replacing disposable electrodes
Covariant Integral Quantization of the Semi-Discrete S^2-Hypercylinder: Application to Quantum Information and Spherical Signal Processing
No full textThis work builds on the previous work done by J.-P. Gazeau and Romain Murenzi, and investigates the relevance of phase space representation (of Gabor type) for physical, or signal systems whose configuration space is the 2-sphere S^2. A point on the phase space for such systems can be parametrized by (q, p), where the position is given by q ∈ S^2 on the sphere and the angular momentum by p = {l, m} ∈ Sˆ2, l ∈ N, m ∈[−l, l]. The Rotational covariant integral quantization of the phase space is derived and applied to the quantization of functions defined on the phase space leading to quantum observables such as position, momentum, and the density operators (derived from quantization of density probabilities on the phase space). Studying this curved manifold has many important applications in quantum physics