Engineering Commons^™

Vitreoscilla Globin Promoter Cloning And Testing In Escherichia Coli, Lauren J. Coffey

Rose-Hulman Undergraduate Research Publications

No abstract provided.

An Engineering Design-Oriented First Year Biomedical Engineering Curriculum, Simon Jones

Faculty Publications - Mechanical Engineering

This Technical Report aims to explain how to apply the discreteWavelet Balance Method (dWBM) for solving periodic differential equations using periodized Daubechies wavelets. The primary goal is to provide the user sufficient details to implement the technique without extensive mathematical background. Chapter 2 of this document reviews the discrete Fourier transform using a multivariate regression approach, followed by a review of the discrete Harmonic Balance Method (dHBM) for approximating solutions to periodic differential equations. It is important the reader complete this chapter, even if they are familiar with the topics, since the approaches demonstrated in Chapter 2 with harmonic functions …

An Engineer's Guide To Periodic Discrete Wavelet Transforms And The Periodic Wavelet Balance Method, Simon Jones

Faculty Publications - Mechanical Engineering

This Technical Report aims to explain how to apply the discreteWavelet Balance Method (dWBM) for solving periodic differential equations using periodized Daubechies wavelets. The primary goal is to provide the user sufficient details to implement the technique without extensive mathematical background.

Chapter 2 of this document reviews the discrete Fourier transform using a multivariate regression approach, followed by a review of the discrete Harmonic Balance Method (dHBM) for approximating solutions to periodic differential equations. It is important the reader complete this chapter, even if they are familiar with the topics, since the approaches demonstrated in Chapter 2 with harmonic functions …

Investigating The Removal Of Stormwater Pollutants In Small-Scale, Constructed Treatment Wetlands, Katlyn Edwards

Rose-Hulman Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships

Eutrophication of US surface waters is a growing problem due to nitrogen and phosphorus runoff in stormwater. In natural ecosystems, wetlands can absorb and remove a variety of water pollutants, including nutrients. Wetlands also provide flood control and wildlife habitat. Mimicking natural systems, constructed treatment wetlands can remove stormwater pollutants, are economic to build and maintain, provide a bionetwork for a wide range of plants and animals, and can be used for educational purposes.

While constructed treatment wetlands can remove stormwater pollutants such as total suspended solids, organic carbon, and nitrates, a significant reduction in phosphate concentrations has not been …

Comparison Between Two Group Signature Schemes, Hao Yang

Rose-Hulman Undergraduate Research Publications

Zerocoin is a cryptographic extension to Bitcoin. During its development, the developers decided to make use of group signature schemes to store and verify the coins. In order to compare the performance of Simple Authentication Scheme and the Dynamic Signature Scheme and figure out which one is the optimal choice for the Zerocoin scheme, I implemented them in Java and analyzed them theoretically. This paper will discuss the performance difference between two schemes, the Java implementation of them and the analysis.

Development Of A Foot Interface To Control Supernumerary Robotics Limbs, Emma Morris

Rose-Hulman Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships

Supernumerary robotic limbs (SRLs) can be used to provide a person with extra arms to help with difficult tasks. For example, a task that normally requires three hands to complete could be accomplished by just one person with an SRL. One way to control an SRL and still leave both hands available is to use the foot. This paper describes two parts of developing this foot interface: characterizing the range of forces that the foot can apply, and prototyping systems for different control methods. First, a small sample of data was collected to learn how much force the foot can …

Discrete-Position Solar Tracking For Photovoltaic System, Shengnan Hong, Zheng Fu, Richard E. Stamper

Rose-Hulman Undergraduate Research Publications

The purpose of this research is to design a new tracking system for solar panels using the idea of discrete-position tracking. Compared with the traditional fixed solar panel, discrete-position trackers have a higher gain of harvesting solar radiation with smaller misalignment angles. Also, since we are trying to design the a passive tracker with solely mechanical structure to do the kinetics, a discrete-position tracker can decrease the cost of the maintenance to a huge extent in contrast to both one-axis and two-axis continuous tracking systems. The majority of the cost of maintaining a continuous tracker is the motor or hydraulic …

Analyzing A Small-Scale, Constructed Wetland For Stormwater Treatment, Juliann Apple, Pascal Schlee

Rose-Hulman Undergraduate Research Publications

Stormwater treatment by means of constructed wetlands has the ability to effectively remove pollutants such as total suspended solids, nitrite, nitrate, and ammonia. Utilizing two small, lab-scale constructed wetlands, one free water flow system and one subsurface flow system, our research team analyzed the levels of these pollutants at different locations in the wetland. Our team of two Civil and Environmental Engineering undergraduate students tested a variety of different water samples including tap water, stormwater, and a high nitrate solution. A consistent decrease in nitrate and nitrite was observed throughout the systems. While there was not an overall decrease in …

Predicting The Dynamic Binding Capacities For Adsorbents Using Bsa As A Model Protein, Gaoshan Li

Rose-Hulman Undergraduate Research Publications

Membrane adsorbers are one alternative to traditional bead-based chromatography that receive attention in the bioseparation process because of their ability to process material with lower residence times. However some properties of membranes make membrane adsorbers unrealistic for some applications. For example, some membrane adsorbers exhibit lower binding capacities compared with the traditional bead-based chromatography counterparts. The dynamic binding capacity (DBC) in this study is defined as the amount of protein bound in the column when the outlet reaches a certain concentration, which is 10% [2], and the equilibrium binding capacity (EBC) is the binding capacity under the equilibrium conditions, when …

Optimizing The Removal Of Stormwater Pollutants In Small-Scale, Constructed Treatment Wetlands, Isabella Evans

Rose-Hulman Undergraduate Research Publications

Natural wetlands use plants to absorb and break down harmful pathogens and water pollutants. This process improves water quality in a natural and efficient way. By mimicking natural wetlands with constructed wetlands, we are able to perform the same functions. We used the two small-scale treatment wetlands in the Cook Laboratory for Bioscience Research to perform experiments to optimize the removal of stormwater pollutants. These two treatment wetlands consist of three connected basins each with the goal of removing harmful pollutants in each basin. These stormwater pollutants include total suspended solids, biochemical oxygen demand (organic carbon), and nitrate. Past studies …

Advancement Of Oxygen Biosensor In Escherichia Coli, Caitlyn Meiser

Rose-Hulman Undergraduate Research Publications

Microbial biosensors can be used to provide information about the cells’ environment in large-scale fermentations. In this project an oxygen sensitive biosensor is being developed in Escherichia coli to determine what kind of conditions cells are growing in: aerobic or anaerobic. This project specifically studies expression from the fumarate and nitrate reductase (FNR) promoter (P_FNR) under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. In fluorescence experiments, the expression levels of green fluorescent protein (GFP) were used to quantify the effectiveness of the P_FNR in the DH5α, MG1655 and BL21 strains of E. coli. The negative control of the experiments, …

Characterizing A Small-Scale, Constructed Wetland For Stormwater Treatment, Madeline Pritchett, Yuezhi Yuan

Rose-Hulman Undergraduate Research Publications

Because of the efficient treatment processes of wetlands, engineered treatment wetlands are increasingly being used to treat stormwater and wastewater, and especially combined sewer overflows (CSO). Constructed treatment wetlands are low-cost, require minimal maintenance, can be implemented in a decentralized fashion, and contribute to ecosystem preservation. All of these reasons have brought treatment wetlands to the forefront for consideration by communities working to reduce CSOs and improve water quality, especially in small cities with limited resources.

Mass Transfer Effects Of Particle Size On Brewing Espresso, Sichen Zhong, Lauren Elizabeth Stork

Rose-Hulman Undergraduate Research Publications

The extraction process for coffee is complicated due to the nature of the coffee. In this paper, we studied the particle size distribution for coffee grinds and further analyzed that with the help of an inverted microscope and a scanning electron microscope. We drew a conclusion that the coffee grinds can be divided into two parts: cell fragments with smaller particles size and intact coffee cells with larger particles. The intact coffee cell was found to be a porous media. Therefore, we tried to brew the espresso with both normal grind size coffee and sieved coffee to study the extraction …

Development And Characterization Of Oxygen Sensitive Microbial Biosensors, Jonathan Lee

Rose-Hulman Undergraduate Research Publications

Microbial biosensors are useful in detecting suboptimal conditions in a bioreactor. This detection can help in development of improved mixing methods to reduce the occurrence of these conditions. In this research, the activities of 3 promoters known to have activity under anaerobic conditions, the gadB promoter, an FNR protein activated promoter, and the pfl promoter, were tested for activity under anaerobic conditions by connecting them to a green fluorescent protein (GFP) gene. Using two types of media, Luria-Bertani (LB) and Wilms-Reuss media, the activity of these promoters under aerobic and anaerobic conditions were tested. Results indicate that while the FNR …

Design, Testing, Analysis, And Material Properties Of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymers, Andrew Miner, Simon Jones

Rose-Hulman Undergraduate Research Publications

Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology excels in many fields, however in the field of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymers (CFRPs) there is a significant lack of knowledge. Over the 2015 summer I started accumulating and building a knowledge base for the institute to help future students who have interest in this ever expanding field. This report covers many of the learnings I found in the structures of fiber reinforced polymers, manufacturing processes and controls, testing procedures and standards, important considerations in the design process of CFRPs, and analysis capabilities and methods. This report is organized as a series of short guides to …

Bending Stiffness In Cadaveric And Composite Long Bones Following Total Joint Replacement, Danielle Gehron, Anderson Adams Ms, Tatsuya Sueyoshi Md, Scott R. Small Ms

Rose-Hulman Undergraduate Research Publications

Several biomechanics studies have utilized commercially available replicate bone models as an alternative to cadaveric tissue specimens, in part due to their ease of handling and reduced expense. In an effort to validate the use of replicate bone specimens in biomechanics research, a number of studies have compared material properties of whole tibia and femur specimens to those of similar cadaveric specimens. Many of these validation studies have ascertained that the material properties of whole bone composite models fall within the range of those properties of cadaveric specimens, while offering reduced interspecimen variability. Current literature lacks, however, the direct comparison …

Spontaneous Synchrony On Graphs And The Emergence Of Order From Disorder, Dylan Linville, Daniel Trugillo Martins Fontes

Rose-Hulman Undergraduate Research Publications

From pulsars to pedestrians and bacteria to brain cells, objects that exhibit cyclical behavior, called oscillators, are found in a variety of different settings. When oscillators adjust their behavior in response to nearby oscillators, they often achieve a state of synchrony, in which they all have the same phase and frequency. Here, we explore the Kuramoto model, a simple and general model which describes oscillators as dynamical systems on a graph and has been used to study synchronization in systems ranging from firefly swarms to the power grid. We discuss analytical and numerical methods used to investigate the governing system …

Common Mode Filtering With Metamaterial-Inspired Structures, Sang G. Kang

Rose-Hulman Undergraduate Research Publications

High-speed digital communication links typically employ differential signaling as an alternative to single ended signaling. The design challenge using these differential lines are that perfect symmetry in the signals sent and in the physical communication line must be maintained to prevent some of the differential mode signal’s energy to be converted to a common-mode signal. The main objective of a common-mode filter is to filter out this common-mode noise while leaving the differential signal intact. Our strategy in this project was to look into past work on common Electric Field Magnetic Field Common Mode Signal Differential Mode Signal Magnetic Field …

Spectrally-Resolved Imaging Of The Transverse Modes In Multimode Vcsels, Stephan A. Misak, Dan G. Dugmore, Kirsten A. Middleton, Evan R. Hale, Kelly R. Farner, Kent D. Choquette, Paul O. Leisher

Rose-Hulman Undergraduate Research Publications

Vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) enable a range of applications such as data transmission, trace sensing, atomic clocks, and optical mice. For many of these applications, the output power and beam quality are both critical (i.e. high output power with good beam quality is desired). Multi-mode VCSELs offer much higher power than single-mode devices, but this comes at the expense of lower beam quality. Directly observing the resolved mode structure of multi-mode VCSELs would enable engineers to better understand the underlying physics and help them to develop multi-mode devices with improved beam quality. In this work, a low-cost, high-resolution (<3 >pm) …

Constructed Treatment Wetland In Rose-Hulman Greenhouse, Ila Creekbaum

Rose-Hulman Undergraduate Research Publications

As more impervious materials and buildings takeover natural environments, creeks and rivers become more polluted. When it rains the water collects pollutants because the water flows over parking lots, buildings, and agricultural land. The water can collect oil, nitrogen, phosphorus, and small particles. These pollutants decrease the water quality in surrounding water bodies. Natural wetlands are excellent at removing pollutants from the water that flows through the filter media and are relatively inexpensive. Our objective this summer was to replicate the biological processes by constructing a treatment wetland in the greenhouse on the Rose-Hulman campus. Then we would test the …

Assessing Visual Perception Using Behaviour Conditioning In The Rat Model, Patricia Bacala

Rose-Hulman Undergraduate Research Publications

Neural prosthetics aim to restore function to sensory deficits. In the same sense that cochlear implants can restore auditory function, visual neural prosthetics aim to restore visual function. A strain of rats with retinal degeneration are subjects of great interest when exploring the effect of a visual neural prosthetics on visual perception. In this study we explore the rat response to a visual stimulus in normal vision rats through behavior conditioning in the development of a training protocol that will be used to assess visual perception in retinal degenerative rats. We found that autoshaping was a successful method in training …

The Effects Of Toning Shoes On The Postural Stability Of Women, Kevin Farley, Audrey Niverson, Renee Rogge

Rose-Hulman Undergraduate Research Publications

Postural stability is the ability to maintain an upright posture and to keep the center of pressure (COP) within the limits of the body’s base of support. It is maintained through the dynamic integration of muscle activity and joint position. The foot, and therefore footwear, also plays a critical role in postural stability. The goal of this study is to determine the effects of toning shoes on the postural stability of women.

Nondestructive Electrothermal Detection Of Corrosion, Brittany Ambeau, Harris Enniss, Stefan Schnake

Mathematical Sciences Technical Reports (MSTR)

Nondestructive testing and imaging plays an important role in many industries, e.g., the monitoring and maintenance of corrosion in aircraft. The general technique is to input energy in some form into an object, observe the object’s response, and from this input-output information determine the internal structure. New techniques are always being explored, and recently there has been much interest in methods that use multiple forms of energy. In this vein, we examine a new technique for imaging corrosion or material loss in an object by combining electrical and thermal measurements on some accessible portion of the object’s outer boundary. The …

Electrical Impedance Imaging Of Corrosion On A Partially Accessible 2-Dimensional Region, Court Hoang, Katherine Osenbach

Mathematical Sciences Technical Reports (MSTR)

In this paper we examine the inverse problem of determining the amount of corrosion on an inaccessible surface of a two-dimensional region. Using numerical methods, we develop an algorithm for approximating corrosion profile using measurements of electrical potential along the accessible portion of the region. We also evaluate the effect of error on the problem, address the issue of ill-posedness, and develop a method of regularization to correct for this error. An examination of solution uniqueness is also presented.

Using Writing Assignments To Improve Self-Assessment And Communication Skills In An Engineering Statics Course: Structured Summary And Reflective Essay, James Hanson Civil Engineering, J. Williams

Faculty Publications - Civil Engineering

No abstract provided.

Basic Engineering Science --- A Systems, Accounting, And Modeling Approach, Donald E. Richards

Faculty Publications - Mechanical Engineering

This textbook is based on a different paradigm for organizing an engineering science core --- a systems, accounting and modeling approach --- that emphasizes the common, underlying concepts of engineering science. Although this approach is not new, as most graduate students have been struck by this idea sometime during their graduate education, its use as the organizing principle for an undergraduate curriculum is new. By focusing on the underlying concepts and stressing the similarities between subjects that are often perceived by students (and taught by faculty) as unconnected topics, this approach provides engineering students a foundational framework for recognizing and …

Maximally Disjoint Solutions Of The Set Covering Problem, David J. Rader, Peter L. Hammer

Mathematical Sciences Technical Reports (MSTR)

This paper is concerned with finding two solutions of a set covering problem that have a minimum number of variables in common. We show that this problem is NP­ complete, even in the case where we are only interested in completely disjoint solutions. We describe three heuristic methods based on the standard greedy algorithm for set covering problems. Two of these algorithms find the solutions sequentially, while the third finds them simultaneously. A local search method for reducing the overlap of the two given solutions is then described. This method involves the solution of a reduced set covering problem. Finally, …