Engineering Commons^™

New York City’S Rising Sea Level And Coastal Erosion: Approaches To Resiliency, Ryder D. Isidro

Student Theses 2015-Present

No abstract provided.

Deep Ocean Vehicle Applications And Modifications, Nichole "Nikki" T. Arm

Master's Theses

This project had two primary goals: (1) to explore opportunities to further a deep-ocean vehicle’s reach using alternative pressure spheres, and (2) to implement an existing deep-ocean vehicle (lander) in active scientific research.

I gained a greater understanding of the limitations and design choices made for existing pressure spheres using Finite Element Analysis (FEA). My simplified FEA model predicted sphere failure for the existing 30% Fiber Glass 70% Nylon injection molded spheres at an external pressure of 3,954psi or 2,690m ocean-depth (only a 7.38% error compared to the tested minimum failure depth), so I determined it a valid model. I …

Non-Destructive Evaluation Of White Striping And Microbial Spoilage Of Broiler Breast Meat Using Structured-Illumination Reflectance Imaging, Ebenezer O. Olaniyi

Theses and Dissertations

Manual inspection is a prevailing practice for quality assessment of poultry meat, but it is labor-intensive, tedious, and subjective. This thesis aims to assess the efficacy of an emerging structured illumination reflectance imaging (SIRI) technique with machine learning approaches for assessing WS and microbial spoilage in broiler breast meat. Broiler breast meat samples were imaged by an in house-assembled SIRI platform under sinusoidal illumination. In first experiment, handcrafted texture features were extracted from direct component (DC, corresponding to conventional uniform illumination) and amplitude component (AC, unique to the use of sinusoidal illumination) images retrieved from raw SIRI pattern images build …

Building Artificial Reefs From Recycled Construction Materials: A Feasibility Study, Nicholas H. Lew

Construction Management

Naturally occurring reefs are some of the world’s most biologically diverse ecosystems formed by jagged rocks tucked slightly below sea level. In recent years global warming began to pose a major threat to many reef habitats. Most relevant is the increase in surface seawater temperatures that cause coral to bleach, taking away major food sources for larger marine species. Researchers have combated this by deploying artificial reefs in substitution for naturally formed limestone rock formations in order to promote the expansion of coastal habitats. This project specifically aims to utilize construction waste towards the production of artificial reefs, effectively upcycling …

Amphisbaenian Head Movement And Burrowing Forces In Damp Granular Media, Jacob Newell

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Damp granular media is a difficult environment to study because it is both practically complex and it lacks equations which fully describe its behavior. In this study, an oscillatory lateral head movement and its effects while penetrating damp granular media were tested using a robophysical model. This experimental research was inspired by the burrowing behavior of the clade Amphisbaenia, a group of usually limbless squamates that employ a variety of different burrowing behaviors, but it can apply to a wide range of burrowers. This research could help with both human burrowing technologies and the further investigation of animal behaviors.

Bioaccumulation Of Polychlorinated Biphenyl Compounds And Mercury In A Mining Impacted Aquatic Ecosystem, Michelle Bollini

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The Keweenaw area continues to be influenced by the century of copper mining that ended nearly 50 years ago. This project is focused on Torch Lake, an aquatic ecosystem that has been heavily impacted by mining waste disposal. The watershed has been impaired by mine discharge and tailings, smelter and smokestack plumes, and poor waste disposal practices. The lake is listed as a Great Lakes Area of Concern with beneficial use impairments of restrictions on fish consumption and a degraded benthic community. Polychlorinated biphenyl compounds (PCBs) and methylmercury (MeHg) are persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic substances (PBTs). These contaminants pose threats …

Improving Indoor Arenas For The Equine Industry, Staci Mcgill

Theses and Dissertations--Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering

Equine indoor arenas are a unique infrastructure investment found at equine farms and facilities. They are semi-indoor structures for exercising horses, exhibiting skills during competitive events, and other equine related activities. These spaces do not always include mechanical ventilation or stirring fans and occupancy by horses and humans can be sporadic and inconsistent, which creates a challenging space for understanding and predicting airflow. Typically, indoor arenas have a sand-based footing over which the horse travels. The impact of the hooves can cause dust to become a concern within the facilities. Environmental concerns within these facilities (temperature, respirable dust, moisture, and …

Developing And Characterizing A Novel Tempo Cnf Hydrogel Adjuvant And Delivery System For Aquatic Vaccines, Kora Kukk

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Aquaculture is a large part of the food production sector which is greatly expanding. One of the largest losses in aquaculture is due to pathogens. Current solutions for protecting farmed finfish from pathogens can be very expensive with variable efficiency. Current disease prevention strategies include vaccination. Types of vaccines include immersion vaccines, feed vaccines, and injectable vaccines. The most popular solution is oil-based injectable vaccines due to its protection. However, the oil-based adjuvant used in most of these formulations causes adverse reactions in the fish including reduced growth. These vaccines require multiple administrations throughout the fish’s lifetime causing unwanted handling …

Characterizing The Internal Porous Structure Of Equine Proximal Sesamoid Bones Subjected To Race Training Using Fast Fourier Transforms, Joseph Erik Davis

Theses and Dissertations--Biomedical Engineering

The equine racing industry is one of the main proponents in Kentucky’s economic infrastructure. In this industry there has come a need to investigate the nature of the proximal sesamoid bone (PSB). Breakdowns involving the PSBs are the leading cause in racehorse deaths in the industry, with still little known about what causes this bone to fracture. This study seeks to shed insight by investigating the internal structure of the PSB. Using microCT scanning, the internal porous structure was captured. From there, noticeable differences in the pores were noticed and quantified using fast Fourier transform (FFT) analysis.

The dominant peak …

The Response Of Beef Cattle To Disturbances From Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (Uavs), Gabriel Abdulai

Theses and Dissertations--Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are increasingly becoming common in animal agriculture. However, research regarding the impact of UAV disturbance on animal wellbeing is lacking or limited. The goal of this study was to investigate the effect of UAV flights on beef cattle by measuring cattle heart and movement rate when introduced to single or multiple UAV flights. A total of 16 -18 crossbred beef heifers were introduced to different flights patterns at between 5 and 9 m above ground level (AGL) at approximately 1 to 2 m/s horizontal velocity for 4 weeks with flights repeated 3 days per week. Results …

A Modular Open-Technology Device To Measure And Adjust Concentration Of Sperm Samples For Cryopreservation, Nikolas C. Zuchowicz

LSU Master's Theses

Repositories for aquatic germplasm can safeguard the genetic diversity of species of interest to aquaculture, research, and conservation. The development of such repositories is impeded by a lack of standardization both within laboratories and across the research community. Protocols for cryopreservation are often developed ad hoc and without close attention to variables, such as sperm concentration, that strongly affect the success and consistency of cryopreservation. The wide dissemination and use of specialized tools and devices can improve processing reliability, provide data logging, produce custom hardware to address unique problems, and save costs, time, and labor. The goal of the present …

Nanomaterial-Based Biosensors For Detection Of Salmonella Typhimurium And Avian Influenza Virus H5n1 In Poultry, Xinge Xi

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research focused on developing biosensing method and biosensing device for rapid detection of pathogens in poultry: Salmonella Typhimurium and avian influenza virus H5N1. The first part of the dissertation reports an original research on the development of a portable biosensing device for Salmonella detection. The device was designed and constructed based on a previously developed optical biosensing method, using immuno-magnetic nanoparticles to specifically capture target bacteria, and immuno-quantum dot beads to label the target bacteria for fluorescence detection. All the actions of sample mixing, magnetic separation, and fluorescence detection were controlled automatically in a disposable microfluidic chip in the …

Investigating Mechanisms Of Nanotoxicity Of A Next-Generation Lithium Cobalt Oxide Nanomaterial, Nicholas Joseph Niemuth

Theses and Dissertations

Commercial use of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs; materials in the range of 1-100 nm) has grown dramatically since the discovery of the means to observe, characterize, and controllably synthesize these materials at the end of the 20th century. Today, ENMs represent a global market valued in the trillions of dollars, incorporated into products because of the unique properties they confer, including increased strength, catalytic activity, and interactions with light. In this time, ENMs have also grown from relatively simple first-generation materials, such as Au, Ag, and carbon ENMs, to complex next-generation materials incorporating numerous elements into materials with complex secondary structures, …

Modeling Energy Flows In Floating In-Pond Raceways Utilizing Solar Power Back-Up, Bo Smith

Theses and Dissertations--Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering

The In-pond Raceway (IPR) is a novel option for production aquaculture, depending on water moving devices to provide constant flow. Device failure may result in catastrophic fish loss, requiring power backup systems to mitigate risk in case of power outages. Because these systems must be dependable and many suitable locations are remote, off-grid solar photovoltaic (PV) systems with battery storage have been considered since they eliminate need for utility power. Such systems can be hard to size and expensive. This study modeled system requirements using an energy balance to determine whether systems could withstand varying loads based on climatological conditions. …

Engineered Nanoparticles For Site-Specific Bioorthogonal Catalysis: Imaging And Therapy, Riddha Das

Doctoral Dissertations

Bioorthogonal catalysis offers a strategy for chemical transformations complementary to bioprocesses and has proven to be a powerful tool in biochemistry and medical sciences. Transition metal catalysts (TMCs) have emerged as a powerful tool to execute selective chemical transformations, however, lack of biocompatibility and stability limits their use in biological applications. Incorporation of TMCs into nanoparticle monolayers provides a versatile strategy for the generation of bioorthogonal nanocatalysts known as “nanozymes”. We have fabricated a family of nanozymes using gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) as scaffolds featuring diverse chemical functional groups for controlled localization of nanozymes in biological environments, providing unique strategies for …

A Simulation Tool For Evaluating The Environmental Impacts Of Management Scenarios For Modern Broiler Production Systems, Martin Andrew Christie

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this work is to provide a simulation tool that allows broiler production practitioners and researchers to simulate the effects of farm design and management practices on resource consumption and environmental impacts. This tool allows the user to design unique farms and simulates on farm processes required to raise broiler chicks to a marketable age. The use can input data such as farm location, broiler breed, flock size, ration type, barn dimensions, and climate control equipment specifications. The algorithms used to simulate broiler breed specific feed intake, broiler weight gain, and other on farm processes such as heating, …

A Feasibility Study Of Industrial Hemp On Virginia Commercial Poultry Production, Aaron Sloss

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

This project sought to characterize industrial hemp as a potential competitive agricultural commodity for the state of Virginia. Specifically, industrial hempseed was evaluated as a feedstock for the commercial broiler (meat-chickens) industry in Virginia.

Data were gathered to identify both the advantages and disadvantages of industrial hempseed as a nutritional resource for broilers. Key nutritional compositions were identified, quantified, and compared to several common feed ingredients, such as soybean, wheat, corn, and sorghum. Hempseed (whole seed) was found to have a considerably high amino acid content, protein, fiber, and metabolizable energy – making it an attractive alternative to conventional feedstuffs. …

The Impacts Of Administering Metabolites Of Saccharomyces Cerevisiae On Broiler Performance, Yields And Salmonella Content Of Component Portions, Bill Douglas Potter

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The impacts of using health-promoting Saccharomyces cerevisiae fermentation metabolites in poultry production and processing can be measured in respect to multiple measures of success. Traditionally this yeast-based compound has been administered to poultry, livestock, poultry, and other species to improve animal performance and production volume output. In addition, Saccharomyces cerevisiae fermentation metabolites have also been shown in more recent research to reduce colonization of pathogenic bacteria in the host organism’s gastro-intestinal tract. In this dissertation, the impacts of administering a functional ingredient containing Saccharomyces cerevisiae metabolites on broiler performance measures and pathogen reduction were measured. One of the studies in …

Modelling And Simulation Of Renewable Technologies For Economic And Environmental Analysis And Optimization Of Dairy Farms, Michael Christopher Breen

Theses

The aim of this thesis was to develop a dairy optimisation platform to optimise investments in dairy farm technology and changes to on-farm management practices and electricity tariffs, in order to maximise profitability and minimise environmental impacts. Increased dairy herd sizes and milk production levels in Ireland as well as changing regulations concerning emissions, renewable penetration and energy efficiency have necessitated a means of financial decision support for farmers. Therefore this body of work focused on the creation of a comprehensive method for optimising dairy farm technology selection, management practices and electricity tariffs. The measures which could be implemented on …

Automatic Identification Of Animals In The Wild: A Comparative Study Between C-Capsule Networks And Deep Convolutional Neural Networks., Joel Kamdem Teto, Ying Xie

Master of Science in Computer Science Theses

The evolution of machine learning and computer vision in technology has driven a lot of

improvements and innovation into several domains. We see it being applied for credit decisions, insurance quotes, malware detection, fraud detection, email composition, and any other area having enough information to allow the machine to learn patterns. Over the years the number of sensors, cameras, and cognitive pieces of equipment placed in the wilderness has been growing exponentially. However, the resources (human) to leverage these data into something meaningful are not improving at the same rate. For instance, a team of scientist volunteers took 8.4 years, …

Radical Social Ecology As Deep Pragmatism: A Call To The Abolition Of Systemic Dissonance And The Minimization Of Entropic Chaos, Arielle Brender

Student Theses 2015-Present

This paper aims to shed light on the dissonance caused by the superimposition of Dominant Human Systems on Natural Systems. I highlight the synthetic nature of Dominant Human Systems as egoic and linguistic phenomenon manufactured by a mere portion of the human population, which renders them inherently oppressive unto peoples and landscapes whose wisdom were barred from the design process. In pursuing a radical pragmatic approach to mending the simultaneous oppression and destruction of the human being and the earth, I highlight the necessity of minimizing entropic chaos caused by excess energy expenditure, an essential feature of systems that aim …

Predicting Energy And Water Consumption On Dairy Farms Through Statistical Analysis And Machine-Learning Methods, Philip Shine

Theses

With the abolishment of milking quotas across all European Union member states in April 2015, dairy farmers must adjust their farming practises to minimise milk production costs to adequately prepare for potential periods of reduced revenue. Milk production is an intense energy and water consuming process. Coupled with challenging European greenhouse gas reduction targets and legislation regarding the prevention of groundwater pollution and deterioration, increasing the production of milk in Ireland must be met with the sustainable consumption of on-farm energy and direct water resources, to ensure the future monetary and environmental sustainability of Ireland’s dairy industry. Thus, this body …

Habitat Use Of Blacktip Sharks (Carcharhinus Limbatus) At Fishing Piers, Kelsey L. Spencer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Blacktip sharks (Carcharhinus limbatus) can be observed near fishing piers throughout the summer along the northeast coast of South Carolina. These piers attract and support a wide variety of potential prey and sharks are able to forage on fishers’ discards with minimal energetic cost. I tagged 12 blacktip sharks with acoustic transmitters, monitored piers with acoustic receivers, and conducted pier-creel surveys to determine the habitat use of blacktip sharks at fishing piers, factors that influenced residence time and presence/absence at piers, and any cyclical patterns in visits to piers. Data were analyzed with pier association indices (PAI), mixed models, and …

An Optimal Milk Production Model Selection And Configuration System For Dairy Cows, Fan Zhang

PhDs

Milk production forecasting in the dairy industry has been an independent research topic since the early 20th century. The accurate prediction of milk yield can benefit both the processor (creameries) and the producer (dairy farmer) through developing short-term production schedules, planning long-term road maps, facilitating trade and investment in the dairy industry, improving business operations, optimising the existing infrastructure of the dairy industry, and reducing operating costs. Additionally, due to the innate characteristics of the milk production process, the accurate prediction of milk yield has been a challenging issue in the dairy industry. With the abolishment of EU milk quotas …

Rice Hull Bioreactor For Recirculating Aquaculture, Marlon A. Greensword

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The engineering of floating media biofilters has been optimized over the years. The backwashing process has made them more energy and water efficient. Likewise, moving bed bioreactors (MBBR) are gaining interest and popularity because they are relatively affordable to build. Yet, developing countries’ aquaculture production remains largely excluded from the advances made in recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS). This discrepancy is partially driven by the high costs of media such plastic beads and Kaldnes (KMT) media, commonly used in MBBR.

This dissertation evaluates the usability and profitability of rice hulls (RH), an abundant by-product in many developing nations, as a sinking …

A Comparative Analysis Of Feed And Environmental Factors On Broiler Growth In The United States, Alexandra Gulli

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Broiler production in the United States has become an important industry within the last half century. As the demand for poultry continues to increase and the concern of climate change also increases, it will become an important part of the industry to become more sustainable. This study uses a feed optimization model, a broiler growth model, and a life cycle assessment (LCA) to determine how feed ingredients and the barn environment can affect the broiler’s growth and production emissions. A multi-criteria ration optimization model is used to produce feeds based on carbon footprint and cost. A growth model is used …

Evaluating Thermal Comfort Of Broiler Chickens During Transportation Using Heat Index And Simulated Electronic Chickens, Kaushik Luthra

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Broilers experience high physiological stress during pre-slaughter transport, especially under extremes of thermal environment. Characterization of thermal environment on the trailer is crucial to identify stress-prone regions during transportation. At the same time, Broilers experience high physiological stress during pre-slaughter transport, especially under extremes of thermal environment. Characterization of thermal environment on the trailer is crucial to identify stress-prone regions during transportation. At the same time, quantification of heat loss of the broilers loaded on trailers is important in understanding the well-being of the broilers. We have developed four electronic chickens (E-chickens) to simulate the sensible heat loss of live …

Experimental Evaluation Of Cooling Effectiveness And Water Conservation In A Poultry House Using Flow Blurring® Atomizers, Rafael M. Rodriguez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Increases in population as well as economic improvements in developing countries are generating a larger demand for animal protein products. Current animal growth processes inherently, require the use of water in many forms throughout the growth cycle. Water is the most important natural resource on earth to sustain life, and in many developing countries is a scarce resource that must be used wisely. Studies have revealed that poultry growth can take place with less water consumption, when compared with other sources of animal protein (e.g., cattle, pork). In this research, an evaporative Flow Blurring^® cooling system was considered as …

Cfd Model For Ventilation In Broiler Holding Sheds, Christian Heymsfield

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Broiler production in Arkansas was valued at over $3.6 billion in 2013 (University of Arkansas Extension of Agriculture). Consequently, improvement in any phase of the production process can have significant economic impact and animal welfare implications. From the time poultry leave the farm and until they are slaughtered, they can be exposed to harsh environmental conditions, both in winter and in summer. After road transportation, birds are left to wait in holding sheds once they arrive at the processing plant, for periods of approximately 30 minutes to two hours. This project was interested in this holding shed waiting time during …

Incorporating Machine Vision In Precision Dairy Farming Technologies, Anthony N. Shelley

Theses and Dissertations--Electrical and Computer Engineering

The inclusion of precision dairy farming technologies in dairy operations is an area of increasing research and industry direction. Machine vision based systems are suitable for the dairy environment as they do not inhibit workflow, are capable of continuous operation, and can be fully automated. The research of this dissertation developed and tested 3 machine vision based precision dairy farming technologies tailored to the latest generation of RGB+D cameras. The first system focused on testing various imaging approaches for the potential use of machine vision for automated dairy cow feed intake monitoring. The second system focused on monitoring the gradual …