48440 research outputs found
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Enhancing the Experience of Cerrito School and Hotel Visit
No full textThis project aimed to enhance visitors' experiences at the Cerrito Agricultural School and Hotel in Paraguay, with the goal to increase the number of guests, thus amplifying funds directed toward student education. Through participatory studies, focus groups, and interviews with school staff and a primatologist, the team developed a mobile application in Spanish and English for iOS and Android, featuring a self-guided campus tour, amenity information, and howler monkey observation resources, alongside promotional products for the application and guest activities
Analysis of Attachment and Growth of Staphylococcus Aureus to Derivatized PDMS Surfaces in a Flow Channel
No full textS. aureus infections in the medical industry have been an ever-present issue, costing patients both money and their lives every year. This is due to S. aureus’s ability to generate a biofilm, a matrix of cells that is protected by an outer membrane, which creates more persistent and sustained infections that are extremely difficult to treat due to its antibiotic resistance. This also poses a problem for patients with medical implants, as biofilm can grow on these surfaces and needs to be taken out and cleaned regularly to prevent growth. In this study, S. aureus was flowed at a constant rate over five chemically different derivitized PDMS surfaces for 72 hours, and the bacteria’s attachment to these surfaces was measured. During these experiments, it was discovered that biofilm attached more effectively to hydrophilic surfaces, and less effectively to hydrophobic surfaces such as glutaraldehyde and amine.
Developing a Thermal Energy Storage for Energy Efficiency
No full textAs the world shifts toward decarbonization, developing energy storage that is both efficient and sustainable is increasingly critical to balancing fluctuating energy demand against variable renewable generation. Thermal Energy Storage (TES) offers a low-cost, reliable alternative to electrochemical storage, but remains underutilized due to the need for costly site-specific customization. Building on our previous research – nationally recognized by the Department of Energy \& Oak Ridge National Laboratory – this study centers on the construction and analysis of a fully functional residential-scale TES system prototype. A reduced mathematical model is developed to clarify dominant energy transport mechanisms. Total output power and a temperature distribution (sampled at 128 spatial locations) are experimentally measured over time and compared against finite-element simulation and model-predicted behavior. By integrating mathematical modeling, computation, and practical implementation, this research aims to quantify the potential of TES as a scalable, economically-accessible technology for residential energy storage in our decarbonizing world
Psychological and Neural Mechanisms of Social Media Use
No full textSocial media now occupies a significant portion of daily life for most young adults, but research is limited in how the feedback we get online affects us both emotionally and physically. This study looked at how different types of feedback–positive or negative comments, and high or low numbers of likes–elicit changes in affect and physiological stress. WPI undergraduate students participated in a two-part study. In Part 1, they submitted 24 self-relevant images which were uploaded to a mock social media platform and paired with manipulated feedback. In Part 2, participants viewed the feedback that their images received while undergoing heart rate and EEG monitoring and also completed self reported affect ratings. Results revealed that feedback valence influenced emotional and physiological reactivity, with negative comments associated with increased heart rate, heightened stress, and lower RR intervals. However, the number of likes did not significantly affect outcomes, possibly due to limited viewing time. Exploratory analyses showed that individual traits such as social comparison orientation and passive use marginally influenced responses to feedback. These findings suggest that the emotional tone of comments appeared to carry more weight than the number of likes, offering insight into how online evaluations by our peers shape cognitive-emotional processing. Future studies should explore the effects of longer feedback exposure and examine how making users’ identities more visible might influence responses, to better reflect real-world social media experiences
Enabling High Dose Brachytherapy with Tungsten-181
No full textIn this study, we investigated Tungsten-181 (W-181) as a potential high dose-rate (HDR) brachytherapy source in the treatment of ocular melanoma as compared to the performance of Yb-169. We carried out the experiment with Monte Carlo N-Particle Transport 6 (MCNP6), a transport code that tracks many particles over a range of energies and geometries. We evaluated the dosimetric parameters of both the radial dose function and the dose fall-off to determine the radiotherapeutic effectiveness and preservation of healthy tissue. Our results showed that W-181 delivers a localized dose to the tumor that is comparable to that of Yb-169, with even less relative exposure to the surrounding healthy tissue. We concluded that W-181 is a promising candidate for HDR brachytherapy in the treatment of ocular melanoma, as it offers effective tumor control with minimal collateral damage to surrounding cells
Disaster-Resilient Design: Informing Context-Aware Window Choices with Computer Vision
No full textThe large impacts of natural disasters on urban centers emphasize the need for buildings to be designed not only for energy efficiency, but also for resilience. Window-to-wall ratio (WWR) and window selection impact the energy efficiency of a building in terms of thermal performance and ventilation. As windows are among the most vulnerable components of a building’s exterior, determining the appropriate window selection is essential for disaster resilience. Traditionally, architects design buildings based on site observations, prior studies, and code compliance without the use of data analytics. For window design and placement, they consider factors such as building orientation, natural lighting, ventilation needs, and aesthetics, primarily based on experience and visual observations. To address this gap, this project involved research on window types and their resilience in different natural disasters, site selection and analysis, and the collection and analysis of relevant datasets. Using this information, a pipeline was developed to estimate window-to-wall ratio, window type, and other relevant metrics from New York City street-view images and building footprint data. Random Sample Consensus (RANSAC) was used to find window and wall surface areas from an image, and a crop of one of the window areas for each image was classified by a machine learning model. The RANSAC method performed similarly to previous methods in optimal conditions but struggled with noise and sub-optimal images. The machine learning model was trained on 4021 images scraped from google searches and achieved ~70% accuracy in identifying window types from crops. The pipeline was used to generate metrics from street-view imagery and footprint data. All the collected metrics were used to construct a design of a sustainable, high-performance residential building in Manhattan with Revit
Battlebots for NHRL Competition
No full textThis project designed, manufactured, and optimized a 30-pound combat robot for competition in the National Havoc Robot League (NHRL). The team aimed to ensure a balance between capability, durability, and maneuverability while adhering to weight and budget constraints. With the growing popularity of combat robotics, organizations like NHRL provide groups with the opportunity to develop real-world skills applicable to robotics, autonomous systems, and manufacturing. The team followed a structured design framework that incorporated CAD modeling, finite element analysis (FEA), and theoretical calculations. Through iterative design, FEA and testing, the final robot design significantly reduced unnecessary material costs while increasing weapon force and overall maneuverability
Manufacturing A Model 1867 Otto-Langen Atmospheric Gas Engine
No full textThe invention of internal combustion engines in the late 1800s revolutionized the world. Nicolas Otto’s 1867 atmospheric engine was one of the earliest examples, and its many unique mechanical features sparked an interest in machining a functional scale model of it using modern manufacturing practices. The engine was first recreated in CAD, before being redesigned and simplified to make the machining more feasible while maintaining its unique mechanical characteristics. Major engine components were machined from steel, brass, and iron using CNC and manual machine tools. Work began on constructing a running engine in early January and is scheduled to be completed in mid-April, when the engine will be tested and fine-tuned. Knowledge gained from this project includes machining and manufacturing practices and practical demonstration of mechanisms, which remain relevant to mechanical engineering. The Otto-Langen itself, while long obsolete, invites us to reconsider a long-accepted design and serves as a reminder that there are many ways to solve mechanical problems
Operation Tick Hunt 24-25
No full textThis project aimed to develop and refine PCR-based assays for detecting Borrelia burgdorferi in ticks collected from Worcester County, an area with high rates of Lyme disease. Due to unfavorable weather and seasonal conditions, no ticks were collected during the project period; instead, archived tick samples from the 2023–2024 team were used. The project encountered persistent challenges with PCR optimization, specifically with band visualization on gels and positive control reliability. While a fully functional qPCR protocol was not established, the groundwork and troubleshooting performed provide a valuable foundation for future research teams to build upon
Monitoring the Interactions Between Human VPS45 and Syntaxin16
No full textIn eukaryotic cells, the movement of molecular cargo (contained by membrane-bound vesicles) between organelles is vital for cellular function. Once the vesicle reaches its target destination, SNAREs on both membranes assemble into a four-helix bundle complex, bringing both membranes close together and facilitating fusion. The Sec1/Munc18-like (SM) protein, VPS45, interacts with the syntaxin16 (Stx16) t-SNARE to regulate fusion events at endosomes. VPS45 mutants are linked to severe congenital neutropenia-5 (SCN-5), a disease severely impacting patient immune systems. Stx16 levels are also depleted in SCN-5 patients, driving research into the role that the VPS45:Stx16 interaction plays in intracellular trafficking. Previous GST pulldown assays observed only one of the two binding sites between VPS45 and Stx16, likely due to steric hindrance of the second binding site by the 26 kDa C-terminal GST-tag. That said, the second binding site has been documented using isothermal calorimetry and size exclusion chromatography with yeast homologs. Pulldown experiments were repeated using a smaller 1 kDa C-terminal FLAG-tag to demonstrate binding of Stx16 to wild-type VPS45 through the second binding site. However, under our conditions, we did not observe this interaction. Future work will repeat FLAG pulldowns at higher concentrations, including the SCN-5 associated VPS45 E238K mutant