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Amplification in MEMS RLC Circuits for Enhanced Sensitivity and MEMS Applications
Full text linkMicro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) have garnered significant attention due to their unique characteristics, including small size, high sensitivity, and cost-effective mass production. While electrostatic actuation offers low power consumption, it requires high voltage to move the MEMS structure, posing a challenge for applications such as RF switches and MEMS resonator-based sensors. Reducing the required input voltage for electrostatic MEMS remains a key research focus.
This thesis investigates voltage amplification in electrostatic MEMS through integration with resonant RLC circuits. By leveraging resonance, optimized configurations are designed to maximize voltage gain and enhance the signal-to-noise ratio. Through theoretical modeling and simulations using MATLAB and Simulink, along with experimental validation, the proposed MEMS-RLC system achieved a voltage gain of 71 times from a 1 V input.
Experimental and simulation results demonstrate notable improvements in sensor performance, emphasizing the benefits of resonant amplification. This thesis concludes by summarizing contributions, acknowledging limitations, and outlining future research directions to advance resonance-enhanced MEMS technologies for sensing applications.
Advisor: Fadi Alsalee
Blueprints
Full text linkI am captivated by the relationship between ceramic vessels and architecturally-inspired structures. My goal is to create a variety of abstract compositions that are both visually stimulating and functionally engaging. Through the act of fitting, placing, and interacting with forms and surfaces, I explore the interplay between design, function, and accessibility. These interactions, in turn, invite a deeper exploration of how we navigate and experience space, both visually and physically.
The structures in my work serve as both tangible and conceptual support systems for my ceramic vessels. While the vessels can exist independently, their connection with the structures is revealing. The massive, geometric foundation of the structures contrasts with the soft, cylindrical nature of the vessels, mirrors the relationship between architecture and human experience. However, when placed on a seemingly stable surface, a vessel may subtly shift. This movement draws attention to how we, as humans, navigate and adapt to spaces that may not fully accommodate us.
The tiles (or three dimensional wall sculptures) within my work use a visual vocabulary that resonates with both my structures and vessels. As they emerge from the wall, they also become a new idea, resulting from the fusion of these two elements. They embody the historical role of ceramics in architecture, as tiles were the area in which ceramics was first used to enliven buildings. Traditionally crafted by potters, tiles have long served as both decorative and functional components, enriching architectural spaces while being protected by the very structures they adorn.
This historical connection between ceramics and architecture inspires my use of digital fabrication alongside traditional hand-building methods. By integrating old and new mechanisms of working, digital fabrication in tandem with the hand-building process, allows my work to highlight dissimilarities while finding ways to connect their potentials. The digital fabrication process within my work allows for more form manipulation that corresponds with the language of architecture and design. C.A.D. (Computer Aided Design) software allows me to develop a design for a plan. Through a series of planes, segments, and shapes, my designs are thought out and redrawn across a constructed grid. This designing process also corresponds with the surface application on my cups. What once was a grid, is now deconstructed. Each line is intuitive yet intentional. I am creating a plan, a system, a blueprint that activates the entity of the architectural structure. I am both the designer and the artist.
I am interested in pottery as a means of entry to an experience. Like architecture, a pot solicits interaction, not just viewing. The meaning of the vessel changes through experience, gaining content through use. By exploring the intersections between craft and design, I hope to enhance the art and act of dining with an emphasis on interaction, intention, and play in each piece’s form and surface.
Advisor: Pete Pinnel
Music and Word Learning in Children Diagnosed with Developmental Language Disorder
Full text linkPurpose: This study investigates whether incorporating music into vocabulary interventions improves rate of learning and retention of words in children with developmental language disorder (DLD). Emerging literature continues to show the plentiful benefits of music as a tool for intervention in many settings, including the world of speech pathology (Levitin, 2024). However, it is also evident that there is a connection between struggling with language, and struggling with musical elements, such as rhythm and pitch perception, particularly in children with DLD (Boorom et al., 2022; Kreidler et al., 2023). This study seeks to tease out if music is an effective tool in treatment of DLD, and if so, how can clinicians optimize it?
Methods: A single-subject alternating treatments design was utilized to analyze two participants who were word-learning in a shared storybook condition and a shared storybook musical condition.
Results: Both participants learned more words from the music condition than the nonmusic condition. One participant showed stronger retention of the words in the music condition than the nonmusic condition, while the other participant did not retain any words at the two-week follow up.
Conclusions: Results should be interpreted with caution due to errors that affect the validity of the study, in addition to its small sample size. Post-hoc examination of the data supports the idea of music intervention for children with DLD, but further research is needed.
Advisors: Adrienne Pitt and Judith Harve
Evelyn Waugh and the Problems of Representing Conversion
Full text linkEvelyn Waugh’s conversion to Catholicism in 1930 raised the question of how his writing would change. The satires he wrote before his conversion, Decline and Fall (1928) and Vile Bodies (1930), are hilarious but have no spiritual vision. Critics attacked his second novel after his conversion, A Handful of Dust (1934), for not being fitting for a Catholic writer to have made. Yet, Waugh makes a religious point in A Handful of Dust, exploring the wages of spiritual apathy without showing a path out. Later in Waugh’s career, he makes his finest attempt in the Sword of Honour trilogy (1952-1961) to show the possibility of transcendent activity in an immanent world. The world at war in the trilogy is even more broken than the interwar world of A Handful of Dust. Yet, Waugh shows the subtle instrumentalization of broken people and situations to transform spiritual apathy and boredom into change and conversion. The gracelessness of A Handful of Dust illumines the subtle grace in the Sword of Honour. I argue that the war trilogy is best read and understood not in isolation as Waugh’s magnum opus but in relationship with his other works.
Advisor: Laura Whit
Mediated Dwelling: Reconstructing the Contemporary Home Space
Full text linkAs online social media platforms become dominant areas for self-expression, professional opportunity, and cultural exchange, the role of typical residential architecture in contemporary society is changing to meet the demands of this visually driven and performative culture. Social media’s emphasis on aesthetic appeal, shareability, and curated authenticity challenges traditional architectural paradigms that prioritize functionality, spatial quality, and privacy. This change coincides with the broader Western cultural shift in ideals and social dynamics of the contemporary user. The home space, a once-private refuge, has been redefined in the age of online social media, where physical space is endlessly curated to align with the logic of digital consumption. By engaging with the interplay between physical design and digital representation, this thesis is uniquely positioned to showcase how the contemporary home space can serve as both a lived space and a platform for mediated interaction.
thesis statement
This thesis explores how modern social media and its creation has the ability to transform the home space and its social dynamics, arguing that contemporary residential design must create homes that serve both physical and mediated functions.
The design exploration serves as an allegory, revealing the home space beyond its traditional limits under the influence of social media.
Advisor: Zachary Porte
Assessment of Sampling Gears for Bigheaded Carp in Mid-order Prairie Rivers in Nebraska
Full text linkSilver Carp Hypophthalmichthys molitrix and Bighead Carp H. nobilis (collectively bigheaded carp) have invaded tributaries to the Missouri River and Platte River in Nebraska, USA. Information pertaining to efficient sampling protocols for assessing bigheaded carp populations as well as benefiting removal efforts is needed. Herding is a method used to increase the capture efficiency and detection probability of adult bigheaded carp by simultaneously using active and passive sampling gears. During June-July 2023, four herding techniques were assessed regarding their ability to elicit directional movement past an enclosure gate. The combination of sound and electrofishing resulted in the highest mean number of bigheaded carp successfully herded, followed by electrofishing, sound, boat and motor only, and the control. Mean depth was shown to influence herding effectiveness and exhibited a positive relationship. During the summer of 2024, boat electrofishing and herding with gill nets were conducted on three tributaries of the Missouri River and one tributary of the Platte River and compared based on capture efficiency and cost-effectiveness. A total of 6,205 bigheaded carp were collected, with herding resulting in the capture of 2.8 times more bigheaded carp than electrofishing. Herding (437.3 fish/hr) had a higher mean catch-per-unit-effort (CPUE) than electrofishing (155.0 fish/hr) when accounting for gear effort (i.e., run time). However, electrofishing (39.0 fish/person-hr) had a greater CPUE than herding (20.1 fish/person-hr) with the inclusion of overall effort (i.e., labor hours and crew size). In achieving an equivalent weekly catch, electrofishing was more cost effective than herding. The results of this study will provide managers, researchers, and stakeholders knowledge regarding efficient and cost-effective sampling strategies for invasive bigheaded carp that enable assessments of presence and population status as well as provide control options for population reduction and potential removal.
Advisor: Jonathan J. Spurgeo
Next-generation Biomedical Implants and Stimuli Responsive Soft Optical Arrays via Surface Functionalized Elastomeric Materials
No full textThe demands of emerging technologies, such as soft robotics, stretchable electronics, and next generation biomedical implants, has led to the development of diverse polymeric and hybrid organic/inorganic materials specifically tuned to meet these challenges. These materials typically have low Young’s moduli and are inert with high chemical stability. However, this has led to materials that are static in nature, lacking any meaningful way of responding to changes in their environment and adapting to these changes. This has driven a shift towards the design, manufacturing, and characterization of various stimuli responsive surfaces, relying on precise control of surface chemical coatings and microstructuring, leveraging the mechanical compliance of the bulk to unlock different responsive states. For instance, derivatization of elastomeric nanofibrillar grafts with an anti-thrombotic agent was achieved for surgically implantable and mechanically compliant arterial stents. These stents possess mechanical properties like those found in natural tissue and the presence of heparin prevented blood clotting in vivo.Hydrogels can be easily derivatized with stimuli responsive moieties and have emerged as excellent candidates for various applications. Due to the large weight fraction of water hydrogels possess, they often lack the necessary mechanical properties for practical implementation. Selectively derivatizing an elastomer support material allowed photografting of various stimuli responsive hydrogels without sacrificing their natural stimulus response. This also enabled the application of hydrogel hybrid materials in liquid environments. The work described in this dissertation demonstrates the benefits that rational control of both surface chemistry and microstructure for applications such as biomaterial engineering, soft robotics, and optical sensors.Advisor: Stephen A. Mori
Interferon Regulatory Factor 3 in Interferon Gamma Receptor Signaling and Cancer Immunology
No full textEvery year millions of people die from cancer throughout the world, and tens of millions of people are diagnosed with cancer worldwide. When surgery is not an option, treatment options commonly rely on the host immune system for optimal treatment efficacy. The expression of Interferon gamma (IFN-γ) by host immune cells is often associated with favorable antitumor immune responses. How IFN-γ is optimally induced in immune cells, and how IFN-γ promotes the transcription of genes downstream of the Interferon gamma receptor (IFNGR) is incompletely understood. Understanding how to induce immune cells to express optimal IFN-γ, and how the IFNGR induces optimal expression of genes could help in understanding how to effectively treat and eliminate cancer in patients. The research described in this dissertation describes how the transcription factor interferon regulatory factor 3 (IRF3) is essential for optimal expression of IFN-γ in response to tumor challenge. Additionally, these studies also describe an essential role for IRF3 for gene expression downstream of the IFNGR. Finally, this research describes how IFN-γ can reduce tumor cell viability, and how this viability can be further reduced through co-stimulation with the toll-like receptor 3 (TLR3) agonist polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid (Poly I:C), and how these effects rely on IRF3. Altogether, these results indicate that IRF3 is essential for optimal immune responses towards tumor challenge, and for optimal expression of anti-tumoral genes in tumor cells responding to IFN-γ stimulation.Advisors: Thomas M. Petro and Audrey Aike
Walleye and Sauger Movement and Entrainment in Lewis and Clark Lake
No full textWalleye Sander vitreus and Sauger Sander canadensis are both socioeconomically important sportfish species in Lewis and Clark Lake, an interjurisdictionally managed mainstem Missouri River reservoir fishery. Since 2011, adult catch per unit effort (CPUE) of both Walleye and Sauger has remained at approximately 50% of pre-2011 levels. A presumed reason for the suppressed CPUE of adult Walleye and Sauger is substantial entrainment of larval and adult fish resulting from the reservoir’s high turnover rate (7.2 d). Acoustic telemetry was used to quantify adult movement and entrainment and ichthyoplankton trawls were used to assess larval entrainment. Relative importance of factors driving larval entrainment through Gavins Point Dam (GPD), abundance of age-0 fish in the reservoir, and adult movement patterns were assessed using an information theoretic approach. The models with the most support for explaining variation in larval entrainment were week of year and air temperature for Fort Randall Dam (FRD) and water temperature, day of year, and cumulative days of sustained high discharge for GPD. Age-0 Walleye abundance was most supported by mean outflow through GPD, mean annual precipitation, and delta April gage height. Age-0 Sauger abundance was most supported by adult conspecific abundance, April heating degree days, and annual precipitation. Mean weekly adult Walleye movement was most supported by reservoir elevation, season, and mean weekly air temperature. Mean weekly adult Sauger movement was most supported by discharge through FRD and season. We observed that annual larval entrainment (both total including all species and Walleye and Sauger entrainment) through GPD is generally greater than larval entrainment through FRD during 2021–2024. Further, entrainment and exploitation are sources of loss for adult Walleye and Sauger. Our findings suggest flow is a driving factor affecting abundances of larval Walleye and Sauger and flow is affecting abundances and movement patterns of adult Walleye and Sauger in the reservoir.Advisor: Mark A. Peg
Wondrous Uncertainty: Transforming Student Educational Experiences Using Restorative Practices
Full text linkOne of the primary purposes of education is to help students make sense of their lived experiences. In the process of becoming, students navigate multiple relationships (school, peers, adults, and with self). These relationships often cause conditions of uncertainty which can be managed and transformed using restorative practices in tandem with the academic disciplines taught in school. Over the last decade this has been my inquiry puzzle, “As educators, how can we embrace uncertainty with students as a way of helping to empower them through their dignity, with the academic disciplines as a lens through which relational learning occurs in all domains?”This is a philosophical dissertation that is composed using theory from various domains and five papers I published over the last four years. Each publication used the narrative methodology in various forms, which allowed me to investigate the inquiry puzzle in multiple educational settings. Two models emerge from this work which add to the literature in restorative practices. The first model is an expanded version of The Relationship Window (Vaandering, 2013) that integrates the theoretical foundations in this text and the practical implementations that occurred throughout the published papers. The second model explicates a new restorative circle which I call “The Academic Circle.” This circle is meant to act as a practical guide for educators who are hoping to replicate the types of interactions that emerge in the research.The insights that emerge from this work are 1) restorative practices, while often used to transform interpersonal relationships is a model that can be applied to curriculum and create authentic educational experiences that align with restorative interpersonal relationships, 2) teacher education should seek ways to provide pre-service teachers with opportunities to think relationally when considering how to create educational experiences that can act as a transformational tool for human development, 3) The restorative process is synonymous with the ontology of Narrative Inquiry. Because the restorative process is the act of being in a narrative way, there is an added layer of reliability to the methodology, moving it from one that is executed to one that is lived.Advisors: Lawrence C. Scharmann and Elaine Cha