Knowingly, earthquakes have the ability to cause significant damage to the general configuration of various buildings, including that in regards to their inner framework. Being that such a reality may or may not be apparent from the outside, when concealed the damages can lead to injuries or even fatalities if not properly identified and repaired. This research project aims to develop a radar device capable of scanning the interior of walls to detect hidden structural damage without causing any physical harm to the walls.The inspiration for this research comes from Vital-Radio, a device that tracks breathing and heartbeats without physical contact using FMCW (Frequency Modulated Carrier Waves) radar technology. Vital-Radio transmits a low-power wireless signal and measures the reflection time to monitor minute movements. Similarly, this new radar system will transmit wireless signals and analyze the reflected signals to identify structural anomalies within walls. This innovative device will be particularly beneficial during the construction and inspection of houses, ensuring that all walls are intact and structurally sound. By providing a non-invasive method for internal wall inspection, this radar device will enhance safety and efficiency in building maintenance and construction.

The hydrophobic and electrostatic interactions of per-and-poly-fluoroalkyl or PFAS molecules at solid-liquid interfaces are critical in determining the adsorption and remediation efficiencies of the current water treatment membrane technologies. However, the impact of the structural properties of PFAS molecules and surface properties on their adsorption mechanisms remains unresolved. To address this, we conducted a molecular-scale study to understand the effect of chain length on PFAS adsorption at hydrophobic surfaces. We compare the sorption behavior of perfluorohexanoic acid (PFHxA, C5), perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA, C8), and perfluorododecanoic acid (PFDoDA, C11) on a hydrophobic CH3-terminated self-assembled monolayer (SAM) using quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation (QCM-D), atomic force microscope (AFM), and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. QCM results revealed about 10-fold higher adsorption for PFDoDA compared to PFHxA and 1-fold higher compared to PFNA, showing a direct impact of PFAS chain length on adsorption capacity. The adsorption isotherms and kinetic models evaluated showed higher surface affinity and slower sorption kinetics for long PFAS chains than shorter ones. Additionally, AFM force curves showed a greater long-range repulsion on PFDoDA-sorbed surfaces than PFHxA, indicating higher surface coverage with the exposed head atoms. MD simulations in explicit solvent conditions support the QCM-generated sorption isotherms and estimate a higher occurrence of tail insertion for PFDoDA into the SAM monolayer than PFHxA, influencing the heterogeneous sorption for PFAS. Simulations also established that PFHxA molecules aggregate at the interface and greatly influence sorption behavior. This study reveals novel mechanisms of PFAS sorption, contributing to advancements in generating novel membranes.

In recent years, the demand for efficient and reliable object tracking on power-constrained devices has significantly increased, driven by the proliferation of applications in surveillance, autonomous vehicles, and robotics. This research investigates methods to enhance object tracking performance on low-power devices, such as the Raspberry Pi and Jetson Nano, which are commonly used in edge computing environments. The study explores the implementation and optimization of various tracking algorithms and models, including Kernelized Correlation Filters and Siamese Neural Networks, with a focus on balancing accuracy, speed, and power consumption. This research is identifying critical factors that influence tracking performance while exploring both novel and established strategies for algorithmic or model adjustments and efficient hardware utilization. The aim is to enable efficient tracking while conserving power. This work aims to contribute to the development of robust and scalable object tracking solutions tailored for resource-constrained platforms, with the ultimate goal of facilitating their broader adoption in various real-world applications.

Photoelectrochemical water-splitting presents a promising avenue to generate sustainable molecular hydrogen as a fuel source and molecular oxygen as a biproduct on the commercial scale. The kinetic and thermodynamic barrier behind this process is the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), which involves the transfer of 4 protons and 4 electrons to form the oxygen-oxygen bond. This study investigates the effects of a directional, uniform, and tunable externally applied magnetic field on the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) activity of the phosphate-based and borate-based amorphous cobalt oxide thin films. These films are of particular interest since they consist of abundant earth materials, are low-cost, operate at neutral pH, and have self-healing properties. A magneto-electrochemical setup was designed and 3D printed to investigate how varying strengths of a magnetic field influence the OER performance in these catalysts. Increases in OER catalytic activity of up to an order of magnitude, as defined by Tafel Slope analysis, were observed at the highest attainable field strength of 1.4 T. The observed magnetic field enhancement was found to be reproducible across various films of the same thickness and was found to be most significant in CoPi films of 5mC thickness. The results offer unique insights into the capabilities of magnetic field enhancing OER catalysis in amorphous cobalt oxide films, and further supports the yet-inconclusive intramolecular oxygen radical (O*) coupling mechanism for the oxygen evolution rate determining step between adjacent Co oxo units.