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Publication Open Access Capturing persistent fluorinated pollutants: leveraging a permanently porous and regenerable halogen-bonded organic framework(Colorado School of Mines. Arthur Lakes Library, 2026-04)Persistent fluorinated pollutants present serious environmental and public health challenges due to their high toxicity, resistance to degradation, and persistence in the environment. Perfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) are widely associated with adverse health effects, while fluorinated gases such as hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and perfluorocarbons (PFCs) also drive climate change through their high global warming potential (GWP). Although porous materials such as metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) and covalent organic frameworks (COFs) have been shown to selectively adsorb fluorinated molecules, regeneration and long-term cycling of these materials remains difficult. Halogen-bonded organic frameworks (XOFs) offer a promising alternative as the noncovalent nature of the halogen bond enables a higher degree of regenerability. Recent work from the McGuirk Research Group established the first permanently porous XOF, B3TFIOx, which uses halogen-bonding to assemble molecules into a stable porous architecture with a highly fluorinated pore space. Building on this discovery, this project proposes B3TFIOx as a candidate material for regenerable, selective fluorinated gas capture. Its fluorine-lined channels, like those in other porous materials used for selective fluorinated guest adsorption, make it a strong platform for investigating uptake of HFC’s and PFC’s through fluorophilic pore space interactions. Proposed dynamic column breakthrough experiments will quantify adsorption capacity and selectivity, while crystallization studies post-adsorption will assess recyclability, collectively evaluating B3TFIOx as a regenerable sorbent for fluorinated gas capture. More broadly, this work advances the first application-oriented study of fluorinated gas capture with a permanently porous XOF, highlighting halogen-bonded frameworks as a new potential regenerative platform for persistent pollutant sequestration.Publication Open Access AI-assisted rapid classification of infrared emitters detected by VIIRS nightfire in oil and gas facilities(Colorado School of Mines. Arthur Lakes Library, 2026-04)The categorization of oil and gas flares is important for environmental monitoring, regulatory compliance, and reducing the waste of natural gas, particularly in energy-deficient regions. Flares can be categorized into upstream, midstream, and downstream oil and gas operations, as well as non-oil-and-gas industrial sources, with primary interest in identifying upstream activities. The VIIRS Nightfire algorithm, based on data from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS), detects and characterizes heat sources such as gas flares using a subset of shortwave and midwave infrared bands. Gas flare detections are typically persistent over time and have temperatures exceeding 1300 K. As new emitters are continuously detected through near-real time updates to the Nightfire algorithm, there is a growing need for automated and scalable methods to classify them by facility, fuel and technology. In this study, three types of input: 1) high-resolution daytime imagery from Google Earth, 2) VIIRS Nightfire time series (including radiance, temperature, and radiant heat), and 3) geolocation data from OpenStreetMap for reverse geocoding — were incorporated into prompt-based workflows using large language models (LLMs), including Gemini, Grok and ChatGPT. The model-generated classifications were compared against independent interpretations by four human analysts to evaluate accuracy. The objective of this work is to develop and refine an automated AI-assisted, prompt-based workflow for flare classification, enabling efficient identification and large-scale inventory development of infrared emitters globally.Publication Open Access Permeability of sediments from the US Atlantic margin offshore Massachusetts: constraints from experiments and borehole logging data(Colorado School of Mines. Arthur Lakes Library, 2026-04)During the summer of 2025, IODP Expedition 501 set out to explore offshore Massachusetts, gathering samples and borehole logging data. These samples and data were gathered with the express purpose of increasing scientific understanding of offshore freshened groundwater systems, one of which being found within the US Atlantic Margin offshore Massachusetts. Offshore freshened groundwater is groundwater found beneath the seafloor with a lower total dissolved solids concentration than the seawater above it, and it is being examined as a new source of water for household or industrial use. Using core samples collected during IODP Expedition 501, we were able to create grain size distributions of sediments found at varying depths for each well drilled during the expedition. These distributions were created in accordance with the D7928 ASTM protocol for hydrometer testing. Then, this grain size data was integrated with porosity, lithology, and borehole logging data collected during the expedition to develop models of permeability within the US Atlantic Margin. These permeability models are key to understanding the movement and development of offshore freshened groundwater systems over time, as their existence is highly reliant upon the physical properties of the sediments and rocks which encase them.Publication Open Access REM sleep dynamics in a mouse model of narcolepsy(Colorado School of Mines. Arthur Lakes Library, 2026-04)Type 1 narcolepsy (NT1) is a neurological disorder characterized by excessive daytime sleepiness, cataplexy, and dysregulation of rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep caused by the loss of orexin neurons in the hypothalamus. In this study, we used orexin-tTA; TetO-DTA mice, a rodent model of narcolepsy in which progressive orexin cell loss is initiated by removing doxycycline (DOX-) from the diet to induce a phenotype similar to NT1. These mice were assessed at baseline (DOX+), three, and thirteen weeks after DOX-. Electroencephalography (EEG) and electromyography (EMG) data were collected over 24 hours, and sleep states were scored every 10 seconds. While previous analyses of these data found that total REM sleep duration was similar across all groups, other aspects of REM sleep were not considered. Markers of REM homeostasis, such as the positive correlation between the duration of a REM bout and the succeeding NREM bout, were preserved with the loss of the orexin neurons. However, while the total REM bout count was conserved in the DOX- group, the DOX- mice had significantly fewer REM bouts within continuous REM-NREM-REM cycles. Furthermore, although the durations of NREM intervals between REM bouts in the control group followed a bimodal Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM), data from the DOX- population could not be fitted using the same model. These findings suggest that although some features of REM sleep are unaffected by orexin cell loss, there is a key difference in sleep architecture that becomes more apparent with disease progression.Publication Open Access Mommm, I over-etched my copper: optimizing the nano-faceting process for antimicrobial particles(Colorado School of Mines. Arthur Lakes Library, 2026-04)Despite careful sanitization procedures, harmful bacteria continue to pose a risk to human health. Even hospital air filtration systems designed to protect the most vulnerable are unable to keep up with microbes. The goal of this project is to enhance the antimicrobial properties of copper particles by chemically nano-faceting them with ferric chloride etchant, based on successful trials of nano-faceting strips of copper. These particles can then be embedded in polyfloss for integration into filtration systems. These trials assess etchant strength, etchant volume, exposure time, pre-processing, and mechanical steps to determine the most important factors for surface nano-faceting. Scanning electron microscope imaging indicates desirable features on three existing trials: one trial featuring 150µL of 7.5 gram ferric chloride per 250 ml etchant and two trials using 200µL of 5g ferric chloride etchant strength at different exposure times. Prior etching attempts often resulted in degradation of the surface facets, which impairs antimicrobial effectiveness. Even within successful trials, not all particles were nano-faceted, indicating inconsistencies in etchant exposure and reaction times. In the future, this procedure will be revised to use soaked filter paper to apply chemicals to copper particles. The updated procedure is expected to minimize human error and result in a more uniform solution distribution without the need for manual agitation, leading to reduced variability and a higher percentage of nano-faceted particles per batch. Once a reproducible procedure has been solidified, particles will be suspended in polyfloss and tested for their effectiveness in the presence of bacteria, viruses, and fungi.