Engineering Commons^™

Analysis Of The Effects Of Dam Release Properties And Ambient Groundwater Flow On Surface Water‐Groundwater Exchange Over A 100‐Km‐Long Reach, Stephen B. Ferencz, M. Bayani Cardenas, Bethany T. Neilson

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Hydroelectric dams often create highly dynamic downstream flows that promote surface water‐groundwater (SW‐GW) interactions including bank storage, the temporary storage of river water in the riverbank. Previous research on SW‐GW exchanges in dammed rivers has primarily been at single study sites, which has limited the understanding of how these exchanges evolve as dam releases travel downstream. This study evaluates how dam releases affect SW‐GW exchange continuously over a 100‐km distance. This is accomplished by longitudinally routing water releases through a synthetic river and modeling bed and bank fluid and solute exchange across transverse transects spaced along the reach. Peak and …

Earth Cube Data Capabilities: Collaborative Research: Deep Integration Of Reproducibility In Community Portals, David G. Tarboton

Funded Research Records

No abstract provided.

"Collaborative Research: Elements: Advancing Data Science And Analytics For Water (Dsaw)", Jeffery S. Horsburgh

Funded Research Records

No abstract provided.

Milk Oligopeptide Inhibition Of (Α)-Tocopherol Fortified Linoleic Acid Oxidation, Haina Yuan, Jinyan Gong, Kun Tang, Jinge Huang, Gongnian Xiao, Jianmin Lv

Biological Engineering Student Research

This study investigated the effect of milk oligopeptides and (α)-tocopherol on inhibition of linoleic acid oxidation using Fe²⁺-vitamin C induced linoleic acid oxidation model through analysis of malondialdehyde, peroxide value, and conjugated diene and triene in the model. The alteration of milk oligopeptides maximal absorption wavelength, fluorescent feature, and secondary structure were further investigated to elucidate the interactions between milk oligopeptide and (α)-tocopherol that altered the inhibitory effect of linoleic acid oxidation. Results showed that Pro-Tyr-Tyr-Ala-Lys (PYYAK) and Ile-Pro-Ile-Gln-Tyr (IPIQY) with (α)-tocopherol significantly inhibited the oxidation of linoleic acid and reduced the formation of malondialdehyde by 38% and …

Aerodynamic Centers Of Arbitrary Airfoils Below Stall, Douglas F. Hunsaker, Orrin D. Pope, Jeffrey D. Taylor, Josh Hodson

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Student Publications and Presentations

The aerodynamic center of an airfoil is commonly estimated to lie at the quarter-chord. This traditional estimate is based on thin airfoil theory, which neglects aerodynamic and geometric nonlinearities. Even below stall, these nonlinearities can have a significant effect on the location of the aerodynamic center. Here, a method is presented for accurately predicting the aerodynamic center of any airfoil from known lift, drag, and pitching-moment data as a function of angle of attack. The method accounts for aerodynamic and geometric nonlinearities, and it does not include small-angle, small-camber, and thin-airfoil approximations. It is shown that the aerodynamic center of …

Monitoring Silane Sol-Gel Kinetics With In-Situ Optical Turbidity Scanning And Dynamic Light Scattering, Abul Bashar Mohammad Giasuddin, David W. Britt

Biological Engineering Faculty Publications

Organosilanes (e.g., R’-SiOR₃) provide hydrophobic functionality in thin-film coatings, porous gels, and particles. Compared with tetraalkoxysilanes (SiOR₄), organosilanes exhibit distinct reaction kinetics and assembly mechanisms arising from steric and electronic properties of the R’ group on the silicon atom. Here, the hydrolysis and condensation pathways of n-propyltrimethoxy silane (nPM) and a tri-fluorinated analog of nPM, 3,3,3-trifluoropropyl trimethoxy silane (3F), were investigated under aqueous conditions at pH 1.7, 2.0, 3.0, and 4.0. Prior to hydrolysis, 3F and nPM are insoluble in water and form a lens at the bottom (3F) or top (nPM) of the solutions. This …

Workshop On Convergence In Biological Engineering, Keith Roper

Funded Research Records

No abstract provided.

Application Of Micro-Scale 3d Printing In Pharmaceutics, Andrew Kjar, Yu Huang

Biological Engineering Faculty Publications

3D printing, as one of the most rapidly-evolving fabrication technologies, has released a cascade of innovation in the last two decades. In the pharmaceutical field, the integration of 3D printing technology has offered unique advantages, especially at the micro-scale. When printed at a micro-scale, materials and devices can provide nuanced solutions to controlled release, minimally invasive delivery, high-precision targeting, biomimetic models for drug discovery and development, and future opportunities for personalized medicine. This review aims to cover the recent advances in this area. First, the 3D printing techniques are introduced with respect to the technical parameters and features that are …

Investigation Of The Biosynthetic Process Of Indigoidine, Yi Chen

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Indigoidine is a natural blue dye with antioxidant and antimicrobial activities. It has also been used as an indicator for gene expression based on its distinctive blue color. Similar to the industry blue dye indigo, indigoidine has a promising potential to be applied in industry as a blue dye. However, the indigoidine production level in the original microorganisms was very low. Heterologous expression of the responsible synthetase gene in Escherichia coli can facilitate the fast and large-scale production of indigoidine. Also, a good understating of the working mechanism of the synthetase is favorable for the industrial application.

In our previous …

Agent-Based Model To Manage Household Water Use Through Social-Environmental Strategies Of Encouragement And Peer Pressure, Ryan James

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Inelastic price responses, demand hardening, and poor public awareness reduce the effectiveness of demand side strategies on water savings. This project quantified phycological household’s factors of attitudes, peer support, opportunities on water conservation with two social-environmental management strategies of encouragement and peer pressure. An agent-based model was populated with data for Logan, Utah using surveys, municipal billing, aerial imagery, weather monitoring stations, and flow, frequency, and durations of appliance use data. Results indicated those households with higher attitudes, peer support and opportunities saved the most water while peer pressure saved more than encouragement when using small and diverse social networks …

Statistical Analysis Of A Channel Emulator For Noisy Gradient Descent Low Density Parity Check Decoder, Rakin Muhammad Shadab

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of a channel emulator is to emulate a communication channel in real-life use case scenario. These emulators are often used in the domains of research in digital and wireless communication. One such area is error correction coding, where transmitted data bits over a channel are decoded and corrected to prevent data loss. A channel emulator that does not follow the properties of the channel it is intended to replicate can lead to mistakes while analyzing the performance of an error-correcting decoder. Hence, it is crucial to validate an emulator for a particular communication channel. This work delves into …

Spiderworms: Using Silkworms As Hosts To Produce A Hybrid Silkworm-Spider Silk Fiber, Ana Laura Licon

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Spider silk has received significant attention due to its fascinating mechanical properties. Given the solitary and cannibalistic behavior of spiders, spider silk farming is impractical. Unlike spiders, silkworms are capable of producing large quantities of a fibrous product in a manner mimetic to spiders, and there already exists an industry to process cocoons into threads and textiles for many applications. The combination of silk farming (sericulture), a millennia old practice, and modern advancements in genetic engineering has given rise to an innovative biomaterial inspired by nature; transgenic silkworm silk.

This project focuses on the creation of chimeric silkworm-spider silk fibers …

Parametric Study Of Mixture Component Contributions To Compressive Strength And Impact Energy Absorption Capacity Of A High Strength Cementitious Mix With No Coarse Aggregate, Md. Abdullah Al Sarfin

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This research project has been undertaken to produce and characterize the behavior of High Strength Cementitious Mix (HSCM), which has considerably higher compressive strength compared to conventional concrete. Components of HSCM are cement, silica fume, sand, water, and high range water reducer. The material is tested for compressive strength and impact energy absorption capacity while the amount of above mentioned components are varied parametrically. The effect of these parameters are extensively studied and trends are reported. Finally, this research projects attempts to find correlations among compressive strength, compressive toughness, and impact toughness. Limitations of the experimental program are discussed and …

Angles-Only Ekf Navigation For Hyperbolic Flybys, Iggy Matheson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Space travelers in science fiction can drop out of hyperspace and make a pinpoint landing on any strange new world without stopping to get their bearings, but real-life space navigation is an art characterized by limited information and complex mathematics that yield no easy answers. This study investigates, for the first time ever, what position and velocity estimation errors can be expected by a starship arriving at a distant star - specifically, a miniature probe like those proposed by the Breakthrough Starshot initiative arriving at Proxima Centauri. Such a probe consists of nothing but a small optical camera and a …

Discovery And Engineering Of An Endophytic Pseudomonas Strain From Taxus Chinensis For Efficient Production Of Zeaxanthin Diglucoside, Ozkan Fidan, Jixun Zhan

Biological Engineering Faculty Publications

Background

Endophytic microorganisms are a rich source of bioactive natural products. They are considered as promising biofertilizers and biocontrol agents due to their growth-promoting interactions with the host plants and their bioactive secondary metabolites that can help manage plant pathogens. Identification of new endophytes may lead to the discovery of novel molecules or provide new strains for production of valuable compounds.

Results

In this study, we isolated an endophytic bacterium from the leaves of Taxus chinensis, which was identified as Pseudomonas sp. 102515 based on the 16S rRNA gene sequence and physiological characteristics. Analysis of its secondary metabolites revealed …

Secondary Electron Yield Measurements Of Carbon Nanotube Forests: Dependence On Morphology And Substrate, Brian Wood, Jordan Lee, Gregory Wilson, T. -C. Shen, Jr Dennison

Journal Articles

Total, secondary, and backscatter electron yield data were taken with beam energies between 15 eV and 30 keV, in conjunction with energy emission data, to determine the extent of suppression of yield caused by carbon nanotube (CNT) forest coatings on substrates. CNT forests can potentially lower substrate yield due to both its inherently low-yield, low-atomic number (Z) carbon composition, and its bundled, high-aspect ratio structure. Rough surfaces, and in particular, surfaces with deep high-aspect-ratio voids, can suppress yields, as the electrons emitted from lower lying surfaces are recaptured by surface protrusions rather than escaping the near-surface region. Yields of multilayered …

Wireless Antenna Detection Of Electrostatic Discharge Events, Allen Andersen, Jr Dennison

Journal Articles

Wireless intraspacecraft communication technology is being developed for signal transfer on space missions to save weight and simplify the design. One consideration for this new technology is its interaction with space environmentinduced electrostatic discharges (ESDs). The short time scales of spacecraft ESD events result in broad frequency band signals that can interact with high-frequency wireless antennas. These interactions present a source of signal noise. However, they also present a possibility of in-flight wireless ESD monitoring. We present laboratory measurements of arcing on common spacecraft insulators using commercially available single-band 2.4-GHz and dual-band 2.4-/5.8-GHz Wi-Fi antennas. These wireless detections are shown …

Full-Pose Estimation And Tracking Control For A Multi-Rotor Aircraft Package Exchange, Trent P. Smith

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In this work, research to develop algorithms for a package exchange maneuver between two quad-rotor aircraft is presented. First, the development of tools used for this research is discussed. Second, a controller is designed that synchronizes the flight paths and motion of two quad-rotor robots. The controller is used to guide a designated follower quad-rotor to follow a leader aircraft’s position and orientation. The follower aircraft is equipped with a simple mechanical manipulator to compensate for limitations in the aircrafts maneuverability. finally, a sensor architecture study for relative navigation of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) is presented. The architecture study presents …

Exploring The Capacity Of Bacteria For Natural Product Biosynthesis, Ozkan Fidan

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This dissertation is focused on exploring the potential of bacteria for the biosynthesis of natural products with the purposes of generating novel natural product derivatives and of improving the titer of pharmaceutically important natural products.

A wide variety of compounds from various sources have been historically used in the treatment and prevention of diseases. Natural products as a major source of new drugs are extensively explored due to their huge structural diversity and promising biological activities such as antimicrobial, anticancer, antifungal, antiviral and antioxidant properties. For instance, penicillin as an early-discovered antimicrobial agent has saved millions of lives, indicating the …

Control And Stability Of Upper Stage Launch Vehicle With Hybrid Arc-Ignition Attitude Control System, Steven Russell Bennett

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Utah State University Propulsion Research Laboratory (USUPRL) has recently made significant developments in the area of hybrid rocket systems. This type of propulsion system incorporates a solid fuel and a gas or liquid oxidizer. Hybrid rocket systems are known for their inherent safety, reliability, and restart capability. Over the last several years, the USUPRL has successfully built and tested a hybrid rocket system comprising acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) plastic and gaseous oxygen (GOX). The system was demonstrated to be fully functional during ground, vacuum, and sub-orbital flight testing. Continuing forward, the USUPRL endeavors to extend the capabilities of this …

Toward Reliable, Secure, And Energy-Efficient Multi-Core System Design, Prabal Basu

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Computer hardware researchers have perennially focussed on improving the performance of computers while stipulating the energy consumption under a strict budget. While several innovations over the years have led to high performance and energy efficient computers, more challenges have also emerged as a fallout. For example, smaller transistor devices in modern multi-core systems are afflicted with several reliability and security concerns, which were inconceivable even a decade ago. Tackling these bottlenecks happens to negatively impact the power and performance of the computers. This dissertation explores novel techniques to gracefully solve some of the pressing challenges of the modern computer design. …

Isentropic Efficiency And Theoretical Analysis Of The Planetary Rotor Expander, Joseph L. James

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Expanders allow pressurized fluids to undergo a pressure decrease in a controlled environment via volumetric growth to extract fluid energy. There are many types of expanders, and the objective of this thesis is to model the efficiencies of the planetary rotor expander (PRE), a century-old design undeveloped due to insufficient manufacturing capabilities (until recently). Geometric relationships are derived and mathematical models are generated to determine the efficiency of the PRE as a function of design variables. Two industrially relevant case studies show that, to maximize isentropic efficiency, the planetary rotor expander (PRE) rotational frequency is maximized and rotor geometry optimized.

Calibration Of Hot-Film X-Probes For High Accuracy Angle Alignment In Wind Tunnels, Dallin L. Jackson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This thesis investigates the use of hot-film thermal anemometers to align a plate on a wind tunnel at Hill Air Force Base that is used to calibrate Angle of Attack Transmitters on F-16s. A reoccurring problem with this wind tunnel is that no two instruments can verify an angle reading of the the mounting plate for the Angle of Attack Transmitters to the air stream in the wind tunnel. Multiple thermal anemometer calibration methods, such as Jorgensen’s equation and a look-up table are implemented to attempt to achieve consistent measurements between multiple probes. The results show that it is necessary …

Optimization Of Biogas Production By Use Of A Microbially Enhanced Inoculum, Anna Doloman

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

A renewable energy source, biogas, comprises of methane (80%) and carbon dioxide (15%), and is a great alternative to the conventional fossil-based fuels, such as coal, gas and oil. Biogas is created during anaerobic biological digestion of waste materials, such as landfill material, animal manure, wastewater, algal biomass, industrial organic waste etc. A biogas potential from organic waste in the United States is estimated at about 9 million tons per year and technology allows capture of greenhouse gases, such as methane and carbon dioxide, into a form of a fuel. In the light of global climate change and efforts to …

Predicting Critical Warps In Near-Threshold Gpgpu Applications Using A Dynamic Choke Point Analysis, Sourav Sanyal

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

General purpose graphics processing units (GP-GPU), owing to their enormous thread-level parallelism, can significantly improve the power consumption at the near-threshold (NTC) operating region, while offering close to a super-threshold performance. However, process variation (PV) can drastically reduce the GPU performance at NTC. In this work, choke points—a unique device-level characteristic of PV at NTC—that can exacerbate the warp criticality problem in GPUs have been explored. It is shown that the modern warp schedulers cannot tackle the choke point induced critical warps in an NTC GPU. Additionally, Choke Point Aware Warp Speculator, a circuit-architectural solution is proposed to dynamically …

Characterization Of Biofilms In A Synthetic Rhizosphere Using Hollow Fiber Root-Mimetic Systems, Michelle Bonebrake

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The area around a plant’s roots hosts a complex and diverse microbial community. This environment can include a large number of bacteria that live on the surface of the root and benefit from the nutrients that the roots exude into the soil. These microbes can in turn be beneficial to the plant by protecting the roots from harmful fungi or stressful environmental conditions such as drought. In this thesis, several root-mimetic systems (RMSs) were developed for the study and growth of plant-beneficial bacteria in the laboratory environment. The RMS uses a porous hollow fiber used in hemodialysis as a surface …

Spectral, Energy And Computation Efficiency In Future 5g Wireless Networks, Haijian Sun

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Wireless technology has revolutionized the way people communicate. From first generation, or 1G, in the 1980s to current, largely deployed 4G in the 2010s, we have witnessed not only a technological leap, but also the reformation of associated applications. It is expected that 5G will become commercially available in 2020. 5G is driven by ever-increasing demands for high mobile traffic, low transmission delay, and massive numbers of connected devices. Today, with the popularity of smart phones, intelligent appliances, autonomous cars, and tablets, communication demands are higher than ever, especially when it comes to low-cost and easy-access solutions.

Existing communication architecture …

Investigation Of Graphene Interconnections For Multifunctional Reconfigurable Antenna Beam Steering, Joshua R. Perkins

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In high frequency, high-performance wireless communications, direct line of sight antennas are common. The issue with the line of sight antennas is the need to redirect the physical antenna to achieve the best possible reception. Classical redirections are done by mechanical movements: hand tuning and motors. Our multi-functional re-configurable antenna (MRA) concept allows for electrical and non-mechanical antenna reorientation. This work investigates two important concepts in the development and enhancement of future MRA devices: special, non-interfering, control signal circuitry and nano-sized switching devices that are controlled by the special circuitry. The investigation was conducted with the use of commercially available …

Robust Resource Allocation To Secure Physical Layer Using Uav-Assisted Mobile Relay Communications In 5g Technology, Shakil Ahmed

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are also known as drones. Recently, UAVs have attracted the next generation researchers due to their flexible, dynamic, and cost-effective deployment, etc. Moreover, the UAVs have a wide range of application domains, such as rescue operation in the remote area, military surveillance, emergency application, etc. Given the UAVs are appropriately deployed, the UAVs provide continuous and reliable connectivity, on-demand, and cost-effective features to the desired destination in the wireless communication system. Thus, the UAVs can be a great choice to deploy as a mobile relay in co-existence with the base stations (BSs) on the ground …

Edge Caching For Small Cell Networks, Md Ferdous Pervej

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

An idea of storing contents, such as media files, music files, movie clips, etc. is simple yet challenging in terms of required effort to make it count. Some of the benefits of pre-storing the contents are reduced delay of accessing/downloading a content, reduced load to the centralized servers and of course, a higher data rate. However, several challenges need to be addressed to achieve these benefits. Among many, some of the fundamentals are limited storage capacity, storing the right content and minimizing the costs. This thesis aims to address these challenges. First, a framework for predicting the proper contents that …