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Physical Sciences and Mathematics

University of Central Florida

Theses/Dissertations

2021

Articles 1 - 11 of 11

Full-Text Articles in Engineering

Using Iphone Significant Location Data To Improve Air Pollution Exposure Estimation, Elizabeth Eastman Dec 2021

Using Iphone Significant Location Data To Improve Air Pollution Exposure Estimation, Elizabeth Eastman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

An accurate estimation of human exposure to ambient air pollution is crucial for air pollution health studies. Time-activity patterns may introduce substantial uncertainties in exposure estimation. As smartphones are becoming increasingly popular and their ownership is becoming ubiquitous in the US. Virtually all smartphones can collect location data, and such data is continuously somewhere. Therefore, it is clear that such stored location data has the potential to be used for characterizing an individual's time-activity patterns for air pollution health studies. However, studies on the accuracy and feasibility of using a smartphone's location data in air pollution exposure estimation are still …


Directional Spectral Solar Energy For Building Performance: From Simulation To Cyber-Physical Prototype, Joseph Del Rocco Dec 2021

Directional Spectral Solar Energy For Building Performance: From Simulation To Cyber-Physical Prototype, Joseph Del Rocco

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

The original research and development in this dissertation contributes to the field of building performance by actively harnessing a wider spectrum of directional solar radiation for use in buildings. Solar radiation (energy) is often grouped by wavelength measurement into the spectra ultraviolet (UV), visible (light), and short and long-wave infrared (heat) on the electromagnetic spectrum. While some of this energy is directly absorbed or deflected by our atmosphere, most of it passes through, scatters about, and collides with our planet. Modern building performance simulations, tools, and control systems often oversimplify this energy into scalar values for light and heat, when …


Spectral Dependence Of Deep Subwavelength Metallic Apertures In The Mid-Wave Infrared, Heath Gemar Dec 2021

Spectral Dependence Of Deep Subwavelength Metallic Apertures In The Mid-Wave Infrared, Heath Gemar

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

For two decades, extraordinary optical transmission (EOT) has amplified exploration into subwavelength systems. Researchers have previously suggested exploiting the spectrally selective electromagnetic field confinement of subwavelength cavities for multispectral detectors. Utilizing the finite-difference frequency domain (FDFD) method, we examine electromagnetic field confinement in both 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional scenarios from 2.5 to 6 microns (i.e., mid-wave infrared or MWIR). We explore the trade space of deep subwavelength cavities and its impact on resonant enhancement of the electromagnetic field. The studies provide fundamental understanding of the coupling mechanisms allowing for prediction of resonant spectral behavior based on cavity geometry and material properties. …


Development Of Quantitative Intensity-Based Single-Molecule Assays, Benjamin Croop Jan 2021

Development Of Quantitative Intensity-Based Single-Molecule Assays, Benjamin Croop

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

Fluorescence microscopy has emerged as a popular and powerful tool within biology research, owing to its exceptional signal contrast, specificity, and the versatility of the various microscope designs. Fluorescence microscopy has been used to study samples across orders of magnitude in physical scale ranging from tissues to cells, down to single-molecules, and as such has led to breakthroughs and new knowledge in a wide variety of research areas. In particular, single-molecule techniques are somewhat unique in their ability to study biomolecules in their native state, which enables the visualization of short-lived interactions and rare events which can be highly relevant …


Directional Link Management Using In-Band Full-Duplex Free Space Optical Transceivers For Aerial Nodes, A F M Saniul Haq Jan 2021

Directional Link Management Using In-Band Full-Duplex Free Space Optical Transceivers For Aerial Nodes, A F M Saniul Haq

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

Free-space optical (FSO) communication has become very popular for wireless applications to complement and, in some cases, replace legacy radio-frequency for advantages like unlicensed band, spatial reuse, and enhanced security. Even though FSO can achieve very high bit-rate (tens of Gbps), range limitation due to high attenuation and weather dependency has always restricted its practical implementation to indoor application like data centers and outdoor application like Project Loon. Building-to-building communication, smart cars, and airborne drones are potential futuristic wireless communication sectors for mobile ad-hoc FSO networking. Increasing social media usage demands high-speed mobile connectivity for applications like video call and …


Secure And Trustworthy Hardware And Machine Learning Systems For Internet Of Things, Shayan Taheri Jan 2021

Secure And Trustworthy Hardware And Machine Learning Systems For Internet Of Things, Shayan Taheri

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

The advancements on the Internet have enabled connecting more devices into this technology every day. This great connectivity has led to the introduction of the internet of things (IoTs) that is a great bed for engagement of all new technologies for computing devices and systems. Nowadays, the IoT devices and systems have applications in many sensitive areas including military systems. These challenges target hardware and software elements of IoT devices and systems. Integration of hardware and software elements leads to hardware systems and software systems in the IoT platforms, respectively. A recent trend for the hardware systems is making them …


Index-Based Approach With Remote Sensing For The Assessment Of Extreme Weather Impact On Watershed Vegetation Dynamics, Kushan Bellanthudawage Jan 2021

Index-Based Approach With Remote Sensing For The Assessment Of Extreme Weather Impact On Watershed Vegetation Dynamics, Kushan Bellanthudawage

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

Spatial technologies such as satellite remote sensing can be used to identify vegetation dynamics over space and time, which play a critical role in earth observations. Biophysical and biochemical features associated with vegetation cover can then be used to elucidate climate change impact such as floods and droughts on ecosystem that may in turn affect watershed-scale water resources management. Unlike single flood or drought event, intermittent extreme weather events may exert more physiological and biological pressures on the canopy vegetation. This study aims to investigate the climate change impacts on canopy vegetation, which occurred from March 2017 to October 2017 …


Molten Regolith Electrolysis Processing For Lunar Isru: Financial And Physics Analysis Of Spacex Starship Transportation, Cheyenne Harper Jan 2021

Molten Regolith Electrolysis Processing For Lunar Isru: Financial And Physics Analysis Of Spacex Starship Transportation, Cheyenne Harper

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The purpose of the following research is to explore molten regolith electrolysis (MRE) methodology for in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) of Highlands lunar regolith, to be explored during the initial Artemis missions. An analysis of potential commercial launch providers for MRE-equipment based on technology-readiness level (TRL), payload mass support, and $ USD/kg payload price is provided. SpaceX is ultimately proposed as a launch provider of MRE equipment following multi-factorial analysis, with the SpaceX Starship human landing system (HLS) variant proposed for supporting MRE payload. Finally, customers of regolith-derived oxygen, aluminum, and silicon are distinguished to form the business case for operating …


Fpga-Augmented Secure Crash-Consistent Non-Volatile Memory, Yu Zou Jan 2021

Fpga-Augmented Secure Crash-Consistent Non-Volatile Memory, Yu Zou

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

Emerging byte-addressable Non-Volatile Memory (NVM) technology, although promising superior memory density and ultra-low energy consumption, poses unique challenges to achieving persistent data privacy and computing security, both of which are critically important to the embedded and IoT applications. Specifically, to successfully restore NVMs to their working states after unexpected system crashes or power failure, maintaining and recovering all the necessary security-related metadata can severely increase memory traffic, degrade runtime performance, exacerbate write endurance problem, and demand costly hardware changes to off-the-shelf processors. In this thesis, we summarize and expand upon two of our innovative works, ARES and HERMES, to design …


Multi-Functional Fluorescence Microscopy Via Psf Engineering For High-Throughput Super-Resolution Imaging, Jinhan Ren Jan 2021

Multi-Functional Fluorescence Microscopy Via Psf Engineering For High-Throughput Super-Resolution Imaging, Jinhan Ren

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

Image-based single cell analysis is essential to study gene expression levels and subcellular functions with preserving the native spatial locations of biomolecules. However, its low throughput has prevented its wide use to fundamental biology and biomedical applications which require large cellular populations in a rapid and efficient fashion. Here, we report a 2.5D microcopy (2.5DM) that significantly improves the image acquisition rate while maintaining high-resolution and single molecule sensitivity. Unlike serial z-scanning in conventional approaches, volumetric information is simultaneously projected onto a 2D image plane in a single shot by engineering the fluorescence light using a novel phase pattern. The …


Simulating Ejecta Blown Off The Lunar Surface Due To Landing Spacecraft Using The Mercury N-Body Integrator, Isabel Rivera Jan 2021

Simulating Ejecta Blown Off The Lunar Surface Due To Landing Spacecraft Using The Mercury N-Body Integrator, Isabel Rivera

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

The experiences of the Apollo lunar landings revealed the danger lunar dust can pose to surrounding hardware, outposts, and orbiting spacecraft. Future lunar missions such as the Artemis program will require more information about the trajectories of ejecta blown by landers to protect orbiting spacecraft such as the Lunar Gateway. In this paper, we simulate lunar lander ejecta trajectories using the Mercury N-body integrator. We placed cones of test particles on the Moon at the North Pole, South Pole, and Equator with various ejection speeds and angles. The results show that particles ejected at speeds near the Moon's escape velocity …