Engineering Commons^™

Understanding The Relationship Of Innovation And Quality In A Fast-Changing Market: An Automotive Industry Perspective, Donna Leanne Bell

Wayne State University Dissertations

In a time when the consumer electronics industry is getting new products to market at a rapid rate, automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEM) must identify ways of getting new products and features to customers faster and with high quality to maintain or increase market share. This accelerated product development process requires a positive relationship between conceptual design and quality in order for a firm to have high performance in strategic areas innovation and quality. The purpose of this dissertation is to research the impact that quality practices have on the advanced product development process. Specifically, this research is focused on …

Self-Delivery Drug Amphiphilies In Chemotherapy And Immunotherapy, Jingchao Xi

Wayne State University Dissertations

Eliminating the need for external delivery systems, self-delivery drug amphiphiles represent a simple yet effective approach designed to overcome the various biological barriers for drug delivery. The ability to program the molecular structures and the physicochemical properties, which control the interactions between the drug amphiphiles and their biological surroundings has attracted significant research interests. In this work, we constructed several amphiphilic drugs including chemotherapeutic and immunotherapeutic agents. These amphiphiles exhibited interesting interactions with their biological surroundings. Amphiphiles self-assemble into spherical micelle structures in aqueous solution. However, in the presence of complexed biological fluids, they also possess a strong affinity toward …

Force Field Optimization, Advanced Sampling, And Free Energy Methods With Gpu-Optimized Monte Carlo (Gomc) Software, Mohammad Soroush Barhaghi

Wayne State University Dissertations

In this work, to address the sampling problem for systems at high densities and low temperatures, a generalized identity exchange algorithm is developed for grand canonical Monte Carlo simulations. The algorithm, referred to as Molecular Exchange Monte Carlo (MEMC), is implemented in the GPU-Optimized Monte Carlo (GOMC) software and may be applied to multicomponent systems of arbitrary molecular topology, and provides significant enhancements in the sampling of phase space over a wide range of compositions and temperatures. Three different approaches are presented for the insertion/deletion of the large molecules, and the pros and cons of each method are discussed. Next, …

Developing A Real-World Vehicle Trip Dataset Through Public Travel Surveys And Applying It To Battery Electric Vehicle Performance Study, Nizar Ali Khemri

Wayne State University Dissertations

Real-world second-by-second vehicle driving cycle data is very important for research and development of the traditional fuel-powered vehicles, the emerging electric vehicles, and the hybrid vehicles. A project solely dedicated to generating such information would be extremely costly and time-consuming. Alternatively, we introduce a method to develop such a database by utilizing two publicly available passenger vehicle travel surveys; the 2004-2006 Puget Sound Regional Commission (PSRC) Travel Survey and the 2011 Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) Travel Survey. The two surveys complement each other – the former is in low time resolution but covers vehicle driving and non-driving operation for over …

Direct Laser Metal Deposition Of Nickel Based Superalloys, Abhishek Ramakrishnan-Sudha

Wayne State University Dissertations

Nickel-based superalloys are substantially used in the manufacturing of boilers for ultra-supercritical power plants and gas turbine hot-section as this grade of alloys provide higher yield strength with the rise in operating temperature and pressure owing to the presence of γʹ second phase precipitates. Conventionally, casting techniques such as centrifugal casting, investment casting, vacuum molding and several other casting based methods are used to fabricate the hot-section components. Nevertheless, a need for designing advanced materials with complex designs such as geometry, microstructure control, compositional changes, microstructure and property varying with the location as in functionally graded materials is not viable …

Fundamental Insights On The Electrolysis Of Co2 Using Solid Oxide Electrolysis Cells, Juliana Silva Alves Carneiro

Wayne State University Dissertations

The work reported in this thesis focused on providing a fundamental understanding, at the molecular level, required to guide the effective design of electrocatalysts towards a superior reaction kinetics on the electrode of solid oxide electrolysis cells SOECs devices (SOECs) during the CO2 electrolysis. High temperature SOECs are electrochemical energy conversion technologies, that have emerged as promising alternatives to mitigate environmental issues associated with combustion-based technologies, such as the rising atmospheric CO2 levels. The conversion of excess CO2 into high-energy molecules, such as CO can be efficiently achieved through the use of SOEC – which facilitates the electrochemical reduction of …

Distributed Optimal Power And Voltage Management In Dc Microgrids, Eyad A. Sindi

Wayne State University Dissertations

The work developed new control strategies to address fundamental issues of power balance, line loss reduction, and voltage profile management in DC microgrids. In microgrids of distributed renewable generations and controllable loads, load allocation to different distributed generators, line losses, voltage stability and quality are intimately coupled, departing significantly from traditional power grids in which economic dispatch and voltage stability are typically separate control tasks.

In this work, a multi-objective optimization strategy is introduced to address the challenges imposed by these coupled issues. Global optimal solutions are derived. Recursive optimization algorithms for distributed control strategies are introduced and shown to …

Development Of A Novel Ultrasound/Photoacoustic Tomography System For Breast Cancer Imaging Using Full-Ring Illumination Mode, Suhail Salem Alshahrani

Wayne State University Dissertations

Breast cancer is a significant health problem, not only in the United States but globally. In the last year, breast cancer was the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States. In addition, the incidence rates of invasive and in situ female breast cancer increased in all age classes between 1975 and 2014. Early detection is a critical component in effectively managing this disease. One of the challenges of early detection of breast cancer lies in the availability and accuracy of diagnostic imaging. Several modalities for early detection are currently available and in use. One of the most …

Immune Modulation By Amphiphilic Oligonucleotides, Chunsong Yu

Wayne State University Dissertations

Immunotherapy is emerging as one of the most promising therapeutic strategies for cancer treatment in clinical practice. Immunotherapy leverages the host’s immune system to attack and kill tumor cells. Rationally-designed cancer vaccines are emerging as one of the powerful immunotherapies primarily because of the promise of inducing tumor antigen-specific immune responses. To improve immunogenicity of cancer vaccines, vaccine antigens are administered with vaccine adjuvants which can robustly activate innate immune system and subsequently lead to adaptive immune response. However, the major challenge of achieving significant therapeutic efficacy is lack of efficient targeted-delivery of vaccine components. By taking advantage of endogenous …

Deep Learning Based Reliability Models For High Dimensional Data, Mohammad Aminisharifabad

Wayne State University Dissertations

The reliability estimation of products has crucial applications in various industries, particularly in current competitive markets, as it has high economic impacts. Hence, reliability analysis and failure prediction are receiving increasing attention. Reliability models based on lifetime data have been developed for different modern applications. These models are able to predict failure by incorporating the influence of covariates on time-to-failure. The covariates are factors that affect the subjects’ lifetime.

Modern technologies generate covariates which can be utilized to improve failure time prediction. However, there are several challenges to incorporate the covariates into reliability models. First, the covariates generally are high …

Novel Cathode Framework, Effective Electrolyte Modification, And Electrode Structural Modification Of High Performance Lithium Sulfur Batteries, Wenduo Zeng

Wayne State University Dissertations

Firstly, TiN nanotube arrays have been investigated as an effective skeleton in the cathode of lithium-sulfur batteries. A series of TiN nanotubes with various diameter and length have been synthesized and tested. Moreover, graphene nanoplatelets have been utilized as a structural anchor to support the TiN nanotubes, and the synergetic effect of composite material and its enhancement on Li-S battery electrochemical performance and cycling stability have been studied. Secondly, the improvement of electrode structural design has been evaluated for their effectiveness by using an in-situ characterization method with other electrochemical characterization. Lastly, the facile method of using transition metal cations …

A Structured Methodology For Tailoring And Deploying Lean Manufacturing Systems, Kenneth John Gembel Ii

Wayne State University Dissertations

The seminal works of Peter Drucker and James Womack in the 1990’s outlined the lean manufacturing practices of Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) to become a world leader in manufacturing. These philosophies have since become the springboard for a significant paradigm shift in approaching manufacturing systems and how to leverage them to optimize operational practices and gain competitive advantage. While there is no shortage of literature touting the benefits of Lean Manufacturing Systems (LMS), there has been significant difficulty in effectively deploying them to obtain and sustain the performance that TMC has achieved.

This body of work provides a novel methodology …

Controlling The Three-Dimensional Environment Of Catalytic Active Sites For Selective Heterogeneous Catalysis, Bingwen Wang

Wayne State University Dissertations

This thesis focuses on developing high performance heterogeneous catalytic structures for chemical and fuel production processes. This thesis work proposes to achieve enhanced catalytic performance by tuning the 3D environment of catalytically active sites. Two approaches toward development of enhanced catalytic structures are demonstrated.

The first approach involves tuning the 3D environment of active sites via the construction of the “inverted” structures, where metal core NPs are coated with a porous oxide layer. A facile, room-temperature method is utilized to synthesize the probe system, inverted Pd@TiO2 catalyst, with control over the oxide film and NPs structure. The “inverted” structures with …

Design And Practical Implementation Of Harmonic-Transponder Sensors, Nasser Alkhaldi

Wayne State University Dissertations

Harmonic radar is a nonlinear detection technology that transmits and receives

radio-frequency (RF) signals at orthogonal frequencies, so as to suppress the undesired

clutters, echoes and electromagnetic interreferences due to multipath scattering.

Its implementation generally comprises a nonlinear tag (i.e, a harmonic transponder),

which picks the interrogation signal at specific fundamental frequency (f0) and converts

it into a high/sub-harmonic signal (nf0). Such a technology has been successfully

applied to tracking small insects and detection of electrically-small objects in

the rich-scattering environment. Similarly, a harmonic sensor is used to interrogate

electrically-small and passive sensors, of which the magnitude and peak frequency …

Multirobot Confidence And Behavior Modeling: An Evaluation Of Telerobotic Performance And Efficiency, Nathan Lucas

Wayne State University Dissertations

There is considerable interest in multirobot systems capable of performing spatially distributed, hazardous, and complex tasks as a team. There is also growing interest in manned-unmanned teams leveraging the unique abilities of humans and automated machines working alongside each other. The limitations of human perception and cognition affect the ability of operators to integrate information from multiple mobile robots, switch between their spatial frames of reference, and divide attention among many sensory inputs and command outputs. Automation is necessary to help the operator manage increasing demands as the number of robots scales up. However, more automation does not necessarily equate …

Learning Models For Corrupted Multi-Dimensional Data: Fundamental Limits And Algorithms, Ishan Jindal

Wayne State University Dissertations

Developing machine learning models for unstructured multi-dimensional datasets such as datasets with unreliable labels and noisy multi-dimensional signals with or without missing information have becoming a central necessity. We are not always fortunate enough to get noise-free datasets for developing classification and representation models. Though there is a number of techniques available to deal with noisy datasets, these methods do not exploit the multi-dimensional structures of the signals, which could be used to improve the overall classification and representation performance of the model.

In this thesis, we develop a Kronecker-structure (K-S) subspace model that exploits the multi-dimensional structure of the …

Utilizing Immunopet To Measure Tumor Response To Treatment In Breast Cancer, Brooke Mcknight

Wayne State University Dissertations

With a broad spectrum of therapies available for treating breast cancer, the need for personalized medicine tailoring the cure according to phenotype is evident. Such an approach may be fully realized with the development of quantitative imaging technologies for disease detection, staging and diagnosis, without increasing patient burden. Immuno-positron emission tomography (PET) combines the targeted specificity of antibodies with the sensitivity of PET for whole body imaging by targeting molecular features amplified in lesions. ImmunoPET probes targeting different antigens and their utility to measure response to treatment were explored. 89Zr-trastuzumab was employed as a surrogate readout of Src inhibition after …

An Approach To Evaluate Disability Using Machine Learning And Sensor-Equipped Instruments Demonstrated On Hand Grip Force Data, Prem Kumar Sivakumar

Wayne State University Dissertations

The goal of this research is to improve the process of rehabilitation. Even though the current tools and technologies are meeting the requirements of clinical use, there is a lot of room for improvement. Improving the tools used in therapy can help reduce costs and save time for the patient and the therapist by giving a valuable insight into the progress of the therapeutic process. Combining therapeutic tools with cognitive tools such as machine learning can assist a therapist to determine and predict functional ability and help patients keep track of their progress.

The long-term goal for instrumented outcome measures …

Data-Driven Intelligent Scheduling For Long Running Workloads In Large-Scale Datacenters, Guoyao Xu

Wayne State University Dissertations

Cloud computing is becoming a fundamental facility of society today. Large-scale public or private cloud datacenters spreading millions of servers, as a warehouse-scale computer, are supporting most business of Fortune-500 companies and serving billions of users around the world. Unfortunately, modern industry-wide average datacenter utilization is as low as 6% to 12%. Low utilization not only negatively impacts operational and capital components of cost efficiency, but also becomes the scaling bottleneck due to the limits of electricity delivered by nearby utility. It is critical and challenge to improve multi-resource efficiency for global datacenters.

Additionally, with the great commercial success of …

Analysis And Mitigation Of The Impacts Of Delays In Control Of Power Systems With Renewable Energy Sources, Chang Fu

Wayne State University Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Analysis and Mitigation of the Impacts of Delays in Control of Power Systems

with Renewable Energy Sources

by

Chang Fu

Apr. 2019

Advisor : Dr. Caisheng Wang

Major : Electrical and Computer Engineering

Degree : Doctor of Philosophy

With the integration of renewable resources, electric vehicles and other uncertain

resources into power grid, varieties of control topology and algorithms have been proposed to

increase the stability and reliability of the operation system. Load modeling is an critical part

in such analysis since it significantly impacts the accuracy of the simulation in power system,

as well as stability and reliability …

Optical Nanostructures For Controllable And Tunable Optical Properties, Ashfaqul Anwar Anwar Siraji

Wayne State University Dissertations

Optical nanostructures are heterogeneous media containing subwavelength inclusions in periodic or aperiodic fashion. The optical properties of optical nanostructure can be controlled and tuned using their constituent material properties and spatial arrangement of the inclusions. While optical nanostructures have been widely studied, controllable and tunable nanostructures using low loss transparent materials has not been studied in detail in the literature. The objective of this research is to perform efficient design and analyses of controllable and tunable optical nanostructures using low loss transparent materials.

To that end, versatile and highly accurate numerical methods like finite different tie domain and plane wave …

Proactive Coordination In Healthcare Service Systems Through Near Real-Time Analytics, Seung Yup Lee

Wayne State University Dissertations

The United States (U.S.) healthcare system is the most expensive in the world. To improve the quality and safety of care, health information technology (HIT) is broadly adopted in hospitals. While EHR systems form a critical data backbone for the facility, we need improved 'work-flow' coordination tools and platforms that can enhance real-time situational awareness and facilitate effective management of resources for enhanced and efficient care. Especially, these IT systems are mostly applied for reactive management of care services and are lacking when they come to improving the real-time "operational intelligence" of service networks that promote efficiency and quality of …

Zwitterionic Polymer For Drug Delivery Applications, Yang Lu

Wayne State University Dissertations

This dissertation focuses on the applications of zwitterionic polymer materials in drug delivery. In one project, zwitterionic polymer was used to construct micelle surfactants. The zwitterionic micelles were found to have an ultralow critical micelle concentration (CMC). Potential mechanism for zwitterionic micelles achieving the ultralow CMC property has been studied. Based on the ultralow CMC feature, zwitterionic micelles were used to prepare a formulation of commercial antitumor drug docetaxel, and the resulting formulation showed excellent antitumor performance. In another project, zwitterionic polymer was used to modify protein drug insulin via conjugation reaction. Compared with current protein modification methods, such as …

Integrated Strategies For Sustainable Wastewater-Based Algal Biofuel Production And Environmental Mitigation In The Us, Javad Roostaei

Wayne State University Dissertations

Integration of algae cultivation with wastewater treatment has received increasing interest as a cost-effective strategy for biofuel production. However, there has been no full assessment of algal biofuel production with wastewater on macro-scale by taking into account wastewater resources, land availability, CO2 emission resources, and geographic variation. This research addressed and evaluated the use of wastewater for algae cultivation, in terms of modeling and laboratory experiments. The first goal of this research was to develop a spatially explicit lifecycle model, by integrating life cycle assessment (LCA), and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) analysis, for the evaluation of the environmental and economic …

Engineering Hyaluronic Acid Carbon Nanotube Nanofibers: A Peripheral Nerve Interface To Electrically Stimulate Regeneration, Elisabeth M. Steel

Wayne State University Dissertations

Peripheral nerve injuries annually affect hundreds of thousands of people globally. Current treatments like the gold standard autograft and commercially available nerve guide conduits (NGC) are insufficient to repair long gap peripheral nerve injuries. NGCs can aid recovery but lack key microenvironment cues that promote nerve regeneration. We hypothesized that providing topographical, mechanical, and electrical guidance cues through a nanofibrous composite biopolymer would result in improved neuron growth metrics using an in vitro model. We embedded hydrophilic carbon nanotubes (CNT) within hyaluronic acid (HA) nanofibers by electrospinning. The aims of this study were (1) to define the topographical, nanomechanical, and …

Data-Driven Modeling For Decision Support Systems And Treatment Management In Personalized Healthcare, Milad Zafar Nezhad

Wayne State University Dissertations

Massive amount of electronic medical records (EMRs) accumulating from patients and populations motivates clinicians and data scientists to collaborate for the advanced analytics to create knowledge that is essential to address the extensive personalized insights needed for patients, clinicians, providers, scientists, and health policy makers. Learning from large and complicated data is using extensively in marketing and commercial enterprises to generate personalized recommendations. Recently the medical research community focuses to take the benefits of big data analytic approaches and moves to personalized (precision) medicine. So, it is a significant period in healthcare and medicine for transferring to a new paradigm. …

A Data-Driven And Mixed Methods Analysis Of Automotive Retail Operations Management, Mark Allen Colosimo

Wayne State University Dissertations

The importance of effective retail operations management has never been more significant. Our research aims to expand the understanding for efficiency and dynamics of franchise outlets within retail networks with a focus on sales performance and profitability. The focus and contribution is the development of an actionable data analytics driven process by which automotive dealerships (retail outlets) can be analyzed to identify areas of opportunity for improvement. In general, automotive dealerships aim to sell product to make a profit, the manufacturer of the product/brand desires to sell vehicles to make a profit, and the customer desires to find a suitable …

Study Of Mri Signal In The Presence Of Discrete Spherical Magnetic Particles, Paul Kokeny

Wayne State University Dissertations

Simulating signal behavior in Magnetic Resonance imaging (MRI) is often a necessary step in being able to understand how signal relates to certain physiological parameters. One such parameter of interest in the body is magnetic susceptibility since it is related to iron content. The bulk magnetic susceptibility of an object is a property that describes how magnetized it becomes when placed in an external magnetic field. When the bulk susceptibility of an object arises from the presence of discrete magnetic inclusions, the MRI phase signal inside the object can no longer be determined analytically by assuming it has a continuous …

Analysis Of Micromixers To Minimize Scaling Effects On Reverse Osmosis Membranes, Jeremy Walker

Wayne State University Dissertations

ABSTRACT

ANALYSIS OF MICROMIXERS TO MINIMIZE SCALING EFFECTS ON REVERSE OSMOSIS MEMBRANES

by

Jeremy Walker

December 2018

Advisor: Dr. Shawn McElmurry

Major: Civil Engineering

Degree: Doctor of Philosophy

Structural elements, typically mesh spacers, are required between membrane leaves in spiral

wound elements to ensure flow through reverse osmosis (RO) modules. The standard diamond-shaped

mesh spacer results in non-ideal hydrodynamics that can lead to fouling, which ultimately reduces the

flux of water through the membrane and the operational life of the unit. Additionally, traditional mesh

feed spacers do not allow for reverse flow cleaning due to obstructed flow paths and, once …

Carbazole Based Multifunctional Dopamine Agonists And Related Molecules As Potential Symptomatic And Disease Modifying Therapeutic Agents For Parkinson’S Disease, Asma S.Mohamed Elmabruk

Wayne State University Dissertations

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that develops from gradual depletion of dopamine (DA) and dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc) with the accumulation of intraneuronal proteinaceous matter named as Lewy bodies. The four cardinal symptoms associated with PD are tremor, rigidity, bradykinesia, and postural instability. Although the exact mechanism and etiology of PD are not fully understood, several factors have been implicated in the pathogenesis and progression of PD including protein aggregation, oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, environmental, and genetic factors.

The current therapy of Parkinson’s disease is categorized into four classes: levodopa, DA agonists, …