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Ryan Summers Seminar Presentation | Biological Engineering, Usu College Of Engineering

College of Engineering News

Upcoming Seminar:

"Production of High-Value Methylxanthines by Metabolically Engineering E. coli."

ENGR 406

Friday: 2/19/16

12:00 - 1:00 PM

Presented by BE Alumni of the Year 2016, Dr. Ryan Summers.

Use Of Galvanic Skin Responses, Salivary Biomarkers, And Self-Reports To Assess Undergraduate Student Performance During A Laboratory Exam Activity, Idalis Villanueva, Maria Valladares, Wade H. Goodridge

Engineering Education Faculty Publications

Typically, self-reports are used in educational research to assess student response and performance to a classroom activity. Yet, addition of biological and physiological measures such as salivary biomarkers and galvanic skin responses are rarely included, limiting the wealth of information that can be obtained to better understand student performance. A laboratory protocol to study undergraduate students' responses to classroom events (e.g., exams) is presented. Participants were asked to complete a representative exam for their degree. Before and after the laboratory exam session, students completed an academic achievement emotions self-report and an interview that paralleled these questions when participants wore a …

Walking On Water: Usu Researchers Unravel Science Of Skipping Spheres | College Of Engineering, Usu College Of Engineering

College of Engineering News

Feb. 4, 2016 – It takes a perfect flick of the wrist and just the right angle to get a disk-shaped stone to skip across the surface of the water multiple times. So why is it so easy to get such impressive water-skipping performance from an elastic ball with only a mediocre launch?

Cracking The Code: Driverless Cars Vs. Hackers | College Of Engineering, Usu College Of Engineering

College of Engineering News

Feb. 3, 2016 – Electrical and computer engineering researchers at USU are finding ways to defeat the safety and security measures in place to keep driverless cars rolling safely down the road.

And while it’s a complex exercise, the group says it hasn’t found a single layer of security they haven’t been able to defeat. It’s all part of a four-year study led by Assistant Professor Dr. Ryan Gerdes who was recently awarded a major grant from the National Science Foundation to study the security of autonomous vehicles and incorporate what he calls ‘adversarial thinking’ into the design process.

Logan River Restoration Draft Conservation Action Plan, Logan River Task Force

All In-stream Flows Material

The Logan River, an integral part of the greater Bear River ecosystem, originates within the Bear River Mountains in the headwaters of Logan Canyon and terminates at its confluence with the Little Bear River in Cutler Reservoir. The river is an asset to residents of Logan City and Cache County and has historically supported many beneficial uses. The Logan River was an important resource for Native Americans and pioneers, and it remains valuable today. Cache Valley citizens are attracted to the river and enjoy the aesthetics, recreational values, and wildlife resources associated with this high-quality river, which supports fish, wildlife, …

College Of Engineering Undergraduate Advisor Receives National Award | College Of Engineering, Usu College Of Engineering

College of Engineering News

Jan. 27, 2016 – An undergraduate advisor in the College of Engineering has been selected to receive a major award from the National Academic Advising Association, or NACADA.

Katherine Grover, who advises biological and mechanical engineering students in the College of Engineering, will receive the 2016 Region 10 Excellence in Advising – New Advisor Award at an upcoming conference in Santa Fe, N.M.

Bioenergy From Wastewater-Based Biomass, Ronald C. Sims, Sean K. Bedingfield, Reese Thompson, Judith L. Sims

Biological Engineering Faculty Publications

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has stated that biomass is the only renewable resource that can supplant petroleum-based liquid transportation fuels in the near term. Wastewater is beginning to be viewed as a potential resource that can be exploited for biomass production and conversion to bioenergy. We suggest that using wastewater from municipalities and industries as a resource for cultivating biomass and combining wastewater treatment with the production of biomass for bioenergy would provide benefits to both industries. Two waste-based biomass production systems that currently have large nationwide infrastructures include: (1) wastewater treatment systems that can be used to …

Development Of A Glucose-Powered Biobattery For Implantation And Use In Humans, Carson Sparks, Cody Maughan, Lucas Smith, Carson Sparks

Research on Capitol Hill

With current demands for implantable electrical devices increasing, the need for a more stable and biocompatible source of power is becoming increasingly necessary. Several battery types and materials were evaluated. Ultimately, an abiotic biobattery was designed with the goal of implantation in the human body. Nafion, single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs), and gold were used to create an abiotic biobattery that is powered by glucose.

The SWCNTs were used to create the cathode, the gold was used to fabricate the anode, and the Nafion acted as the separator between the cathode and anode. A thin Nafion membrane was evaluated for overlaying …

Improved Production Of Promising Antioxidant, Resveratrol, In Escherichia Coli, Chad Skidmore

Research on Capitol Hill

Resveratrol is a promising antioxidant natural product. Studies have shown that it is effective against heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer's disease, diabetes, and harmful UV rays. This health-benefiting molecule is present in plants such as peanuts, berries, and the skin of red grapes.

A growth time of 10 months makes Japanese knotweed an impractical source of resveratrol. A more efficient way to produce resveratrol has been found by using E. coli as tiny biological factories.

Zeta Potential: Key To Harvesting Algae For Biofuels And Bioproducts, Celeste Hancock, Michael Flores

Research on Capitol Hill

• Algae is an effective and sustainable resource for creating a broad spectrum of bioproducts.
• Scientists have found it challenging to harvest algae due to the difficulty of collecting algae when in an aqueous solution such as wastewater.
• Rotating Algal Biofilm Reactors (RABRs) coated with carbon nanotubes have proved effective. The RABR floats in an aqueous environment and attracts charged algal particles in suspension.
• The tendency for algae to favor suspension over coagulation occurs only when particles of algae are sufficiently charged. This charge can be measured by analyzing the electric potential at the interface between the surface of a particle …

Beyond The Fiber: Novel Spider Silk Coatings And Adhesives, Danielle A. Gaztambide, Breton A. Day

Research on Capitol Hill

Natural spider silks have long been recognized for their combination of incredible strength and elasticity. Spider silk is more elastic than nylon, tougher than Kevlar, and stronger than steel by weight. Due to an inability to farm spiders, much work has been done to produce spider silks in transgenic hosts for large -scale production. Our work was done using recombinant spider silk proteins produced in transgenic goats and the bacteria E. coli.

More recently spider silks have also been recognized for their biocompatibility and lack of immunogenicity. Spider silks' incredible strength and ability to be implanted safely within the body …

Dr. Regan Zane Presenting At 2016 Ite Annual Conference | Utah State University Power Electronics Lab, Usu College Of Engineering

College of Engineering News

Dr. Regan Zane will be presenting at the 2016 ITE Annual Conference. The ITE conference this year will focus on issues with transportation by studying and understanding future trends. Dr. Zane will be presenting with Zach Kahn and Blake Thomas on Vehicle Electrification & Energy.

Thinking Like A Pro: How Experts And Novices Solve Problems Differently | College Of Engineering, Usu College Of Engineering

College of Engineering News

Jan. 7, 2016 – Engineering education experts at Utah State University are narrowing in on new insights into why young engineering students drop out of their programs or change majors.

It’s an increasingly important conversation as government and industry leaders push for more college graduates in science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, fields. And yet nationwide, only about half of all engineering students complete their degrees.

Deq Partners With Universities To Examine Air Emissions From Starting Vehicles “Cold” | College Of Engineering, Usu College Of Engineering

College of Engineering News

Jan 6, 2016 — SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has partnered with WeberState University and Utah State University to examine the impacts vehicle emissions have on air quality on very cold winter days when an inversion is setting in the valley.

Students and investigators from Weber State University’s National Center for Automotive Science & Technology (NCAST) and Utah State University are hoping the findings will help DEQ’s Division of Air Quality develop effective air pollution control strategies.

Three-Dimensional Image Reconstruction Using Bundle Adjustment Applied To Multiple Texel Images, Bikalpa Khatiwada, Scott E. Budge

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

The importance of creating 3D imagery is increasing and has many applications in the eld of disaster response, digital elevation models, object recognition, and cultural heritage. Several methods have been proposed to register texel images, which consist of fused lidar and digital imagery. The previous methods were limited to registering up to two texel images or multiple texel swaths having only one strip of lidar data per swath. One area of focus still remains to register multiple texel images to create a 3D model.

The process of creating true 3D images using multiple texel images is described. The texel camera …

Simulation Of A Doppler Lidar System For Autonomous Navigation And Hazard Avoidance During Planetary Landing, Scott E. Budge, David B. Chester

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

The latest mission proposals for exploration of solar system bodies require accurate position and velocity data during the descent phase in order to ensure safe, soft landing at the pre-designated sites. During landing maneuvers, the accuracy of the on-board inertial measurement unit (IMU) may not be reliable due to drift over extended travel times to destinations. NASA has proposed an advanced Doppler lidar system with multiple beams that can be used to accurately determine attitude and position of the landing vehicle during descent, and to detect hazards that might exist in the landing area. In order to assess the effectiveness …

Dynamic Visualization Of Three- Dimensional Images From Multiple Texel Images Created From Fused Ladar/Digital Imagery, Cody C. Killpack, Scott Budge

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

The ability to create three-dimensional (3-D) image models, using registered texel images (fused ladar and digital imagery), is an important topic in remote sensing. These models are automatically generated by matching multiple texel images into a single common reference frame. However, rendering a sequence of independently registered texel images often provides challenges. Although accurately registered, the model textures are often incorrectly overlapped and interwoven when using standard rendering techniques. Consequently, corrections must be done after all the primitives have been rendered by determining the best texture for any viewable fragment in the model. This paper describes a technique to visualize …

Fluorescent Nanocomposite Of Embedded Ceria Nanoparticles In Crosslinked Pva Electrospun Nanofibers, Nader Shehata, Soha Gaballah, Effat Samir, Aya Hamed, Marwa Saad

Biology Faculty Publications

This paper introduces a new fluorescent nanocomposite of electrospun biodegradable nanofibers embedded with optical nanoparticles. In detail, this work introduces the fluorescence properties of PVA nanofibers generated by the electrospinning technique with embedded cerium oxide (ceria) nanoparticles. Under near-ultra violet excitation, the synthesized nanocomposite generates a visible fluorescent emission at 520 nm, varying its intensity peak according to the concentration of in situ embedded ceria nanoparticles. This is due to the fact that the embedded ceria nanoparticles have optical tri-valiant cerium ions, associated with formed oxygen vacancies, with a direct allowed bandgap around 3.5 eV. In addition, the impact of …

Arakniprint: 3d Printing Of Synthetic Spider Silk To Produce Biocompatible And Resorbable Biomaterials, Ashley Ruben, Brianne Bell, Chase Spencer, Craig Soelberg, Dan Gil, Thomas Harris, Richard Decker, Timothy A. Taylor, Randolph V. Lewis

UCUR

No abstract provided.

Rational Design Of Rama-Labeled Nanoparticles For A Dual-Modaility, Light Scattering Immunoassay On A Polystyrene Seubstrate, Nathan D. Israelsen, Donald Wooley, Cynthia Hanson, Elizabeth Vargis

Biological Engineering Faculty Publications

Background: Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) is a powerful light scattering technique that can be used for sensitive immunoassay development and cell labeling. A major obstacle to using SERS is the complexity of fabricating SERS probes since they require nanoscale characterization and optical uniformity. The light scattering response of SERS probes may also be modulated by the substrate used for SERS analysis. A typical SERS substrate such as quartz can be expensive. Polystyrene is a cheaper substrate option but can decrease the SERS response due to interfering Raman emission peaks and high background fluorescence. The goal of this research is to …

Simple Landscape Irrigation Demand Estimation: Slide Rules, Roger Kjelgren

Plants, Soils, and Climate Faculty Publications

Irrigated urban landscapes must increasingly maintain economic and ecosystem value with less water in response to drought amplified and shifted by climate change. Efficient landscape water management requires estimating water amount demanded by plants that can be replaced by irrigation to meet minimum performance expectations. The extant approach to estimating landscape water demand is conceptually muddled and often regionally inappropriate. Simplified Landscape Irrigation Demand Estimation (SLIDE) Rules distills scientifically credible assumptions about urban landscape biological and physical complexity into guidelines for estimating water demand that are conceptually accessible and operationally useful. SLIDE Rules are: 1) oasis urban reference evapotranspiration (ETo) …

Microbubble Assisted Polyhydroxybutyrate Production In Escherichia Coli, Kadriye Innan, Fulya Ay Sal, Asif Rahman, Ryan J. Putman, Foster A. Agblevor, Charles D. Miller

Biological Engineering Faculty Publications

Background

One of the potential limitations of large scale aerobic Escherichia coli fermentation is the need for increased dissolved oxygen for culture growth and bioproduct generation. As culture density increases the poor solubility of oxygen in water becomes one of the limiting factors for cell growth and product formation. A potential solution is to use a microbubble dispersion (MBD) generating device to reduce the diameter and increase the surface area of sparged bubbles in the fermentor. In this study, a recombinantE. coli strain was used to produce polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) under conventional and MBD aerobic fermentation conditions.

Results

In conventional …

Python Examples For Multiobjective Data Visualization, J. Herman

All ECSTATIC Materials

Example data file and code to plot N-dimensional scatter plot, parallel axis plot, and a matrix of 2-dimensional scatter plots.

A Research Experiences For Undergraduates (Reu) Site Program On Engineering Education Research, Ning Fang, Oenardi Lawanto, Wade H. Goodridge, Idalis Villanueva, Kurt Becker

Engineering Education Faculty Publications

This paper describes a U.S. National Science Foundation-funded Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Site program that aims to provide undergraduate students with experiences in engineering education research (i.e., education research in the context of engineering). This paper provides an overview of the program and briefly describes the common intellectual focus of this REU Site program. Over the past two years, a total of 16 undergraduate students, seven graduate mentors, and five faculty mentors have actively participated in the program. Four important components of the program are described in this paper, including student recruitment and selection, REU seminars, weekly reflections, and …

Shear Testing Of Precast Concrete Sandwich Wall Panel Composite Shear Connectors, Jaiden Olsen, Marc Maguire

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

As energy codes become more stringent, thermal efficiency of Precast Concrete Sandwich Panel Walls has become more important. This paper addresses the problem of predicting the behavior of full scale precast concrete sandwich panel walls, using data collected from small, inexpensive push-off specimens. Several fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) connectors being used today underwent shear testing performed on component scale push-off specimens. Each specimen contained several of the FRP connectors and the variables studied were wythe thickness, insulation type and insulation bond. A simplified beam spring model was created which uses beams to represent the concrete wythes and shear springs to …

Water Resources Systems Analysis: A Bright Past And A Challenging But Promising Future, David E. Rosenberg, Kaveh Madani

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Our field of water resources systems analysis is now experiencing one of its most exciting eras where scientists, decision makers, and funding agencies want to apply systems approaches to solve varied, complex, uncertain, and interdisciplinary resource management problems. Solving these problems presents great opportunities for us to engage in complex, real-world decision-making and make positive changes. However, to capitalize on these opportunities, we as a field must also overcome several large challenges related to problem identification, integration, blind use of systems tools, a focus on optimality, and harnessing big data. To overcome, we must look back to find what we …

Road Scholars For The Western States: Protecting Natural Areas By Improving Road Management Research, Brian Cooke, Charlie Luce, Tom Black, David G. Tarboton

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

A poorly placed or unsuitably designed road can result in landslides, flooding, gullies, stream damage, and wildlife habitat destruction. Particularly in natural areas, benefits of roads, such as accessibility and convenience, must be weighed against potential water quality degradation, scenic and wildlife habitat destruction, and hazardous driving conditions.

Scientists at the Rocky Mountain Research Station helped create two free tools—GRAIP (Geomorphic Road Analysis and Inventory Package) and GRAIP-Lite—to help land managers make better decisions about road management in environmentally sensitive areas. GRAIP helps land managers analyze and predict surface erosion, gully risk, landslide risk, stream crossing failure risks, and other …

Experimental Validation Data For Cfd Of Forced Convection On A Vertical Flat Plate, Jeff R. Harris, Blake W. Lance, Barton L. Smith

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

A CFD validation data set for turbulent forced convection on a vertical plate is presented. The design of the apparatus is based on recent validation literature and provides a means to simultaneously measure boundary conditions and system response quantities. All important inflow quantities for RANS CFD are also measured. Data are acquired at two heating conditions and cover the range 40;000 < Rex < 300;000, 357 < Red2 < 813 and 0:02 < Gr/Re2 < 0:232. The data and uncertainties are contained in files in the supplemental material

Comparison Of Selected Differential Producing, Ultrasonic And Magnetic Flow Meters, Johnny B. Prettyman, Michael C. Johnson, Steven L. Barfuss

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Selecting the best flow meter for a specific application can be challenging because of the many types and designs of flow meters, with each having its own merits and drawbacks. Illustrating these specific benefits and drawbacks can help the buyer select the meter best suited for the desired application. The flow meters investigated in this research include five designs of differential-pressure meters (i.e., differential-producing), a magnetic flow meter, and an ultrasonic flow meter. The differential meters included the Venturi designs, the wedge flow meter, and the V-cone meter. Testing was completed at the Utah Water Research Laboratory to quantify the …

Large Eddy Simulation Of Turbulence And Solute Transport In A Forested Headwater Stream, A. Khosronejad, A. T. Hansen, J. L. Kozarek, K. Guentzel, M. Hondzo, M. Guala, Peter Wilcock, J. C. Finlay, F. Sotiropoulos

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

The large eddy simulation (LES) module of the Virtual StreamLab (VSL3D) model is applied to simulate the flow and transport of a conservative tracer in a headwater stream in Minnesota, located in the south Twin Cities metropolitan area. The detailed geometry of the stream reach, which is _135 m long, _2.5 m wide, and _0.15 m deep, was surveyed and used as input to the computational model. The detailed geometry and location of large woody debris and bed roughness elements up to _0.1 m in size were also surveyed and incorporated in the numerical simulation using the Curvilinear Immersed Boundary …