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Building Connections Through Design
Get PDFThe typology of this thesis will be a modern art / design museum with a civic and
education emphasis. The design will feature galleries, classrooms and workshops, hospitality
spaces, and include flexible design strategies that will allow the space to accommodate a wide
array of events. The museum will also feature and improve the current park located at the site
using design strategies to increase usability. I will be using a combination of tactics during my
research. A combination of case studies, a site visit, as well as visiting as many museums as
I can. Can we create a new method of engaging our communities by communicating artistic
importance and human scale within a design focused on civic and recreational typologies
Biophilic Architecture & Mental Health
Get PDFThis thesis proposes the effects of biophilic interaction on
people experiencing and struggling with mental health issues.
In order to properly treat patients with mental health issues,
the psychology behind the architecture designed to promote
wellness must be properly and thoroughly understood. It is well
known that the application of Biophilic Design reduces stress,
stimulates creativity and clear thinking, improves physical and
psychological well-being and accelerates healing. Considering
the relentless process of global urbanization, these benefits
will become increasingly important in the design of our urban
spaces, architecture and interiors. In addition to what the architecture
includes in terms of promoting an overall relationship
with the natural environment, less noticeable elements, such as
patterns within the architecture must be addressed to create a
cohesive and effective design. The primary focus is designing
a building that maximizes the amount and quality of positive
interactions with nature. These biophilic relationships, combined
with traditional and alternative therapies, will improve the
health and healing of patients residing at the treatment facility
A Systematic Literature Review of Drone Utility in Railway Condition Monitoring
Get PDFRaj Bridgelall is the program director for the Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute (UGPTI) Center for Surface Mobility Applications & Real-time Simulation environments (SMARTSeSM).Drones have recently become a new tool in railway inspection and monitoring (RIM) worldwide, but there is still a lack of information about the specific benefits and costs. This study conducts a systematic literature review (SLR) of the applications, opportunities, and challenges of using drones for RIM. The SLR technique yielded 47 articles filtered from 7,900 publications from 2014 to 2022. The SLR found that key motivations for using drones in RIM are to reduce costs, improve safety, save time, improve mobility, increase flexibility, and enhance reliability. Nearly all the applications fit into the categories of defect identification, situation assessment, rail network mapping, infrastructure asset monitoring, track condition monitoring, and obstruction detection. The authors assessed the open technical, safety, and regulatory challenges. The authors also contributed a cost analysis framework, identified factors that affect drone performance in RIM, and offered implications for new theories, management, and impacts to society.The authors conducted this work with support from North Dakota State University and the Mountain-Plains Consortium, a University Transportation Center funded by the U.S. Department of Transportation.https://www.ugpti.org/about/staff/viewbio.php?id=7
In Touch with Prairie Living, November 2023
Get PDFNovember 2023 column for North Dakota and South Dakota newspapers
Data-Driven Deployment of Cargo Drones: A U.S. Case Study Identifying Key Markets and Routes
Get PDFRaj Bridgelall is the program director for the Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute (UGPTI) Center for Surface Mobility Applications & Real-time Simulation environments (SMARTSeSM).Electric and autonomous aircraft (EAA) are set to disrupt current cargo-shipping models.
To maximize the benefits of this technology, investors and logistics managers need information on
target commodities, service location establishment, and the distribution of origin?destination pairs
within EAA?s range limitations. This research introduces a three-phase data-mining and geographic
information system (GIS) algorithm to support data-driven decision-making under uncertainty. Ana-
lysts can modify and expand this workflow to scrutinize origin?destination commodity flow datasets
representing various locations. The algorithm identifies four commodity categories contributing to
more than one-third of the value transported by aircraft across the contiguous United States, yet only
5% of the weight. The workflow highlights 8 out of 129 regional locations that moved more than 20%
of the weight of those four commodity categories. A distance band of 400 miles among these eight
locations accounts for more than 80% of the transported weight. This study addresses a literature
gap, identifying opportunities for supply chain redesign using EAA. The presented methodology can
guide planners and investors in identifying prime target markets for emerging EAA technologies
using regional datasets.This research was funded by the United States? Department of Transportation, grant name
Mountain Plains Consortium.https://www.ugpti.org/about/staff/viewbio.php?id=7
In Touch with Prairie Living, September 2023
Get PDFSeptember 2023 column for North Dakota and South Dakota newspapers
Noachian-Hesperian Boundary: A Potential Pivotal Moment for Mars? Magnetosphere
Get PDFA magnetosphere is a region that is essential for an atmosphere and the potential of life, so what happened to Mars? ? This poster will examine a section of Mars? geologic history that may house the answer. The Noachian and Hesperian periods
How Salinity Influences Soil Organisms: Earthworms, Archaea, Bacteria and Fungi
Get PDFSoil salinity is a naturally-occurring issue in the Great Plains. Current standards for saline soil designation are based on plant tolerance levels. This thesis expands salinity knowledge into salinity responses of other soil organisms. I used laboratory mesocosms to examine survival and fecundity or cocoon production of earthworms in the Apporectodea complex to increasing levels of salinity, with or without supplemental organic matter (OM). I then used a split-bin design to examine earthworm choice between combinations of saline and non-saline soils, with and without supplemental OM. I found that earthworms avoided saline soils, but survival and production was steady across salinity levels and in some cases decreased with added OM. I then quantified abundance and diversity of microbial groups in field-collected saline and non-saline soils in increments to 120 cm depth. The response of microbes to depth were stronger than their responses to salinity. Both important groups of soil organisms appear tolerant to salinity levels
Evaluation of Convolutional Neural Networks Against Deepfakes Using Transfer Learning
Get PDFThe main objective of this paper is to evaluate ResNets, DenseNet, Inception and VGG, against deepfake images, to answer the question: How effectively these Convolutional Neural Network can distinguish between deepfake images and real images.
The dataset was acquired from FaceForensics++ and CelebA datasets for manipulated and unmanipulated images respectively. A custom script using Python and OpenCV was applied to create the final dataset for modelling.
Transfer learning is a technique of applying the learned features by a network to a similar approach. It is employed to save time and resources in training, as it does not require a large dataset to allow the network to learn effectively.
The Convolutional Neural Networks are tested against different deep fakes and the networks are evaluated using metrics like precision, recall, accuracy, loss, and f-1 score. It was observed that all the networks used in the experiment performed exceptionally well, but Inception network was slightly better than the other networks in separating the real and fake images
In Touch with Prairie Living, February 2023
Get PDFFebruary 2023 column for North Dakota and South Dakota newspapers