Engineering Commons^™

Design Of University Small-Scale Dairy Processing Facility, Philip J. Hildebrand, Joshua Arejola, Alicia Andersen, Terry Howell Jr, Tami M. Brown-Brandl

Department of Biological Systems Engineering: Papers and Publications

This project was assigned to research the feasibility and value of implementing a dairy processing facility on the campus of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The facility would process milk produced from cows under the same roof and will serve as an educational experience for Nebraska dairy farmers, UNL students, and K-12 students in the Lincoln-Lancaster County area. If the project is successful and replicated across the state, this facility could have a significant impact on the reduction of milk transportation costs in the Nebraska dairy industry.

The project began with researching milk processing methods and steps from production to consumption. …

Monitoring Pm2.5 Pollution In The North End Of Hartford, Ct, Jocelyn Phung, Kristina Wagstrom

Honors Scholar Theses

Particulate matter (PM) or particle pollution is one of the six criteria air pollutants that can cause harm to human health and the environment; yet, there is a lack of data in many areas of the United States. Particulate matter is a mixture of solid particles and liquid droplets suspended in the air (EPA). Exposure to PM2.5 has been linked to respiratory and cardiovascular conditions. People who live in urban areas are more likely to be exposed to particulate matter as many urban areas are known to have poor air quality. Our goal is to determine how particulate matter levels …

Introduction To Data-Driven Systems For Plastics And Composites Manufacturing, Saeed Farahani, Srikanth Pilla, Yun Zhang, Fausto Tucci

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

Applications of high-performance plastics and composites have widely been expanded to various industries due to their superior properties, such as high strength-to-weight ratio, chemical resistance, and thermal/electrical insulation. However, the numerous possible combinations of polymers and reinforcements/fillers, the variability of these materials, and their complex manufacturing processes pose challenges in terms of efficiently developing new plastics and composites, accurately modeling their properties, and effectively monitoring and controlling their manufacturing processes. Integrating data-driven techniques, such as machine learning, artificial intelligence, and big data analytics, is a promising pathway to overcome these challenges as it is demonstrated by the state-of-the-art research works …

Balance Assessment Using A Smartwatch Inertial Measurement Unit With Principal Component Analysis For Anatomical Calibration, Benjamin M. Presley, Jeffrey C. Sklar, Scott J. Hazelwood, Britta Berg-Johansen, Stephen M. Klisch

Biomedical Engineering

Balance assessment, or posturography, tracks and prevents health complications for a variety of groups with balance impairment, including the elderly population and patients with traumatic brain injury. Wearables can revolutionize state-of-the-art posturography methods, which have recently shifted focus to clinical validation of strictly positioned inertial measurement units (IMUs) as replacements for force-plate systems. Yet, modern anatomical calibration (i.e., sensor-to-segment alignment) methods have not been utilized in inertial-based posturography studies. Functional calibration methods can replace the need for strict placement of inertial measurement units, which may be tedious or confusing for certain users. In this study, balance-related metrics from a smartwatch …

Swietenia Mahagoni Leaves Extract: Antifungal, Insecticidal, And Phytochemical Analysis, Wael M. Khamis, Ahmed A. Heflish, Sarah El-Messeiry, Said I. Behiry, Abdulaziz A. Al-Askar, Yiming Su, Ahmed Abdelkhalek, Mohamed K. Gaber

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

In this study, we investigated the antifungal properties of an acetone extract derived from the leaves of Swietenia mahagoni (SMAL) against two isolated fungi, Fusarium equiseti (OQ820153) and Rhizoctonia solani (OQ820152), from rice sheath. The extract was effective in inhibiting the growth of both fungi at the highest concentration tested, 3000 μg·mL⁻¹. Laboratory tests on the LC20 of SMAL extract (49.86 mg·L⁻¹) versus pyriproxyfen 10% EC (1.96 mg·L⁻¹) were accomplished on Aphis gossypii Glover. The extract potently reduced the survival of the nymphs (49.58%) more than the other treatments. The longevity of nymphs treated …

Simplified Engineering For Architects And Builders, 13th Edition, Sharon Kuska, Patrick Tripeny, James Ambrose

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

The twelfth edition of the Work was published by the Publisher under the agreement between the Publisher and Patrick Tripeny dated February 24, 2014 (the “Twelfth Edition”).

The Publisher and the Author wish to work together to achieve the professional standards and success that they each desire from the Work, and agree as follows:

Anomalous Lattice Thermal Conductivity Driven By All-Scale Electron-Phonon Scattering In Bulk Semiconductors, Z. Z. Zhou, Y. C. Yan, X. L. Yang, Yi Xia, G. Y. Wang, X. Lu, X. Y. Zhou

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Electron-phonon coupling (EPC) has been broadly considered to govern the charge transport in solids, whereas its effect on thermal conductivity, especially for semiconductors at ambient temperatures, is a widely debated issue in condensed-matter physics. Employing state-of-the-art first-principles calculations to quantify all the possible scattering factors, we show the dominant role of EPC in phonon transport of n-doped GaSb, which yields an unprecedented reduction of lattice thermal conductivity and triggers anomalous temperature-independent behavior. The significant EPC impact hinges on the joint effect of multiple conduction pockets, large EPC strength, and bunched heat-carrying acoustic branches, provoking strong electron-phonon scattering to surpass the …

Multiple And Consecutive Genome Editing Using I-Gonad And Breeding Enrichment Facilitates The Production Of Genetically Modified Mice, Carolina R Melo-Silva, Cory J Knudson, Lingjuan Tang, Samita Kafle, Lauren E. Springer, Jihae Choi, Christopher M. Snyder, Yajing Wang, Sangwon V. Kim, Luis J. Sigal

Department of Microbiology and Immunology Faculty Papers

Genetically modified (GM) mice are essential tools in biomedical research. Traditional methods for generating GM mice are expensive and require specialized personnel and equipment. The use of clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) coupled with improved-Genome editing via Oviductal Nucleic Acids Delivery (i-GONAD) has highly increased the feasibility of producing GM mice in research laboratories. However, genetic modification in inbred mouse strains of interest such as C57BL/6 (B6) is still challenging because of their low fertility and embryo fragility. We have successfully generated multiple novel GM mouse strains in the B6 background while attempting to optimize i-GONAD. We found …

Review: Inelastic Constitutive Modeling: Polycrystalline Materials, Mirza Baig, Josiah Owusu-Danquah, Anne A. Campbell, Stephen F. Duffy Phd, Pe

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

This article provides a literature review that details the development of inelastic constitutive modeling as it relates to polycrystalline materials. This review distinguishes between inelastic constitutive models that account for nonlinear behavior at the microstructural level, time-independent classic plasticity models, and time-dependent unified models. Particular emphasis is placed on understanding the underlying theoretical framework for unified viscoplasticity models where creep and classical plasticity behavior are considered the result of applied boundary conditions instead of separable rates representing distinct physical mechanisms. This article establishes a clear understanding of the advantages of the unified approach to improve material modeling. This review also …

Multiscale Damage Modelling Of Notched And Un-Notched 3d Woven Composites With Randomly Distributed Manufacturing Defects, S.Z.H. Shah, Juhyeong Lee, P.S.M. Megat-Yusoff, Syed Zahid Hussain, T. Sharif, R.S. Choudhry

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

This work proposes a stochastic multiscale computational framework for damage modelling in 3D woven composite laminates, by considering the random distribution of manufacturing-induced imperfections. The proposed method is demonstrated to be accurate, while being simple to implement and requiring modest computational resources. In this approach, a limited number of cross-sectional views obtained from micro-computed tomography (µCT) are used to obtain the stochastic distribution of two key manufacturing-induced defects, namely waviness and voids. This distribution is fed into a multiscale progressive damage model to predict the damage response of three-dimensional (3D) orthogonal woven composites. The accuracy of the proposed model was …

Self-Assembly Of Exfoliated Graphene Flakes As Anticorrosive Coatings For Additive Manufactured Steels, Kaleb Hood, Wen Qian, Yi Xia, Savannah Krupa, Annie Dao, Sarah Ahmed, Samuel Olson, Nam Nguyen, Joseph A. Turner, Jun Jiao

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

This study demonstrates the feasibility of using liquid exfoliation of expandable graphite into multilayer exfoliated graphene flakes (EGFs) to form a self-assembled thin film on an air–water interface. The film can coat the surface of additive manufactured (AM) steel substrates to enhance surface properties, specifically AM 316 stainless-steel (AM316), AM 8620 steel (AM8620), and samples of the same alloys made by conventional manufacturing (CM) processes. Liquid exfoliation offers a high yield route for an EGF coating that can cover up to 95% of the sample surface with a single application. The thin, flexible EGFs can coat a rough AM metal …

Improving The Cotton Simulation Model, Gossym, For Soil, Photosynthesis, And Transpiration Processes, Sahila Beegum, Dennis Timlin, Kambham Raja Reddy, Vangimalla Reddy, Wenguang Sun, Zhuangji Wang, David Fleisher, Chittaranjan Ray

Nebraska Water Center: Faculty Publications

GOSSYM, a mechanistic, process-level cotton crop simulation model, has a two-dimensional (2D) gridded soil model called Rhizos that simulates the below-ground processes daily. Water movement is based on gradients of water content and not hydraulic heads. In GOSSYM, photosynthesis is calculated using a daily empirical light response function that requires calibration for response to elevated carbon dioxide ( CO₂). This report discusses improvements made to the GOSSYM model for soil, photosynthesis, and transpiration processes. GOSSYM’s predictions of below-ground processes using Rhizos are improved by replacing it with 2DSOIL, a mechanistic 2D finite element soil process model. The photosynthesis …

Multichannel Modulation Of Depolarizing And Repolarizing Ion Currents Increases The Positive Rate-Dependent Action Potential Prolongation, Candido Cabo

Publications and Research

Prolongation of the action potential duration (APD) could prevent reentrant arrhythmias if prolongation occurs at the fast excitation rates of tachycardia with minimal prolongation at slow excitation rates (i.e., if prolongation is positive rate-dependent). APD prolongation by current anti-arrhythmic agents is either reverse (larger APD prolongation at slow rates than at fast rates) or neutral (similar APD prolongation at slow and fast rates), which may not result in an effective anti-arrhythmic action. In this report we show that, in computer models of the human ventricular action potential, the combined modulation of both depolarizing and repolarizing ion currents results in a …

Fabrication Of A Colorimetric Sensor Using Acetic Acid-Capped Drug-Mediated Copper Oxide Nanoparticles For Nitrite Biosensing In Processed Food, Umar Nishan, Sajida Rehman, Riaz Ullah, Ahmed Bari, Saifullah Afridi, Mohibullah Shah, Jibran Iqbal, Muhammad Asad, Amir Badshah, Naeem Khan, In Min Hwang, Hameed Ullah Khan, Nawshad Muhammad

All Works

Nitrite (NO2 −) and nitrate (NO3 −) are frequently used in cured meat products as preservatives, as they give a better taste and work well in color fixation. As a key possible carcinogen, excessive dietary consumption of NO2 − in cured meat products would be bad for health. Herein, copper oxide nanoparticles (CuO NPs) were synthesized using the drug Augmentin as a reducing and capping agent. The desired synthesis of CuO NPs was confirmed by various characterization techniques, including UV–visible spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, thermal gravimetric analysis, X-ray diffraction, and scanning electron microscopy. The new approach …

Unobtrusive Data Collection In Clinical Settings For Advanced Patient Monitoring And Machine Learning, Walker Arce

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

When applying machine learning to clinical practice, a major hurdle that will be encountered is the lack of available data. While the data collected in clinical therapies is suitable for the types of analysis that are needed to measure and track clinical outcomes, it may not be suitable for other types of analysis. For instance, video data may have poor alignment with behavioral data, making it impossible to extract the videos frames that directly correlate with the observed behavior. Alternatively, clinicians may be exploring new data modalities, such as physiological signal collection, to research methods of improving clinical outcomes that …

Microwave Regeneration And Thermal And Oxidative Stability Of Imidazolium Cyanopyrrolide Ionic Liquid For Direct Air Capture Of Carbon Dioxide, Yun-Yang Lee, Eda Cagli, Aidan Klemm, Ruth Dikki

Faculty Scholarship

Understanding the oxidative and thermal degradation of CO2 sorbents is essential for assessing long-term sorbent stability in direct air capture (DAC). The potential degradation pathway of imidazolium cyanopyrrolide, an ionic liquid (IL) functionalized for superior CO2 capacity and selectivity, is evaluated under accelerated degradation conditions to elucidate the secondary reactions that can occur during repetitive absorption-desorption thermal-swing cycles. The combined analysis from various spectroscopic, chromatographic, and thermal gravimetric measurements indicated that radical and SN2 mechanisms in degradation are encouraged by the nucleophilicity of the anion. Thickening of the liquid and gas evolution are accompanied by 50 % reduction in CO2 …

S8e10: How Can Nature-Inspired Engineering Improve Human Health?, Ron Lisnet, Caitlin Howell

The Maine Question

Antibiotic resistance has become a growing problem in the treatment of bacterial infections. In addition to minimizing or negating the effects of existing medicine, these antibiotic-resistant bacteria, or “superbugs,” are mutating faster than the development of new remedies.

Caitlin Howell, University of Maine associate professor of biomedical engineering, is working on new tools that take notes from nature to combat antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Similar to the way in which the human body keeps balance with its own bacterial populations, Howell’s devices use nontoxic, non-invasive surface-based technology to trap bacteria and prevent them from spreading.

In this episode of “The Maine Question” …

Downstream Hydrochemistry And Irrigation Water Quality Of The Syr Darya, Aral Sea Basin, South Kazakhstan, Bagdat Satybaldiyev, Baimurat Ismailov, Nurbek Nurpeisov, Kairat Kenges, Daniel D. Snow, Arindam Malakar, Omirzhan Taukebayev, Bolat Uralbekov

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

New hydrochemical measurements from the Syr Darya provide insights into factors affecting the composition and quality of a major freshwater source replenishing the Aral Sea. This river is heavily used for power and irrigation and crosses territories of four Central Asia republics. It is intensely managed, draining several major tributaries, many reservoirs, and numerous irrigation distribution systems and canals. Analysis of seasonal changes in dissolved ion concentrations using geochemical diagrams, elemental ratios, statistical correlation, and equilibrium modeling allowed the characterization of mineral formation processes that control the dissolved chemical composition. Measured water hydrochemistry and composition type differs substantially from previous …

Machinability Of High Mn Steel Using Tool Life Criteria, Dika Handayani, Victor F. Okhuysen, Nicole Wagner

Engineering Faculty Articles and Research

High Mn steel alloys have shown to provide both high strength and ductility. However, current literature offers limited guidance on the machinability of these steel alloys. Therefore, this work provides turning recommendations for high Mn steel that is based on tool life data. Several indexable carbide inserts with various rake angles were used to machine cast billets of high Mn steel. Turning characteristics from various feed rates, cutting speeds, and depths of cut were analyzed. Through a design of experiments, it was determined that the feed rate was the most significant factor affecting tool life and that a tool with …

Three-Dimensional Structural Analysis Of Temple 16 And Rosalila At Copan Ruinas, Luis Tuarez

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Temple 16 is an ancient Maya structure located at the heart of the Copán Ruinas Acropolis in Western Honduras. Temple 16 contains several earlier structures within it that were built on top of each other throughout Copán’s history. One of these earlier structures, Rosalila, is one of the most culturally significant structures within the Acropolis due to its preservation. An intricate series of archeological tunnels have been excavated throughout Temple 16 to allow for its study. However, significant cracking has been observed within Rosalila and several tunnels have experienced partial collapse. This not only poses a life safety issue for …

Devlopment Of A Practical Method To Quantify Infiltration Rate Through Building Entrance, Eric Reed, Ferasuddin Siddiqui, Louidelson Deguerre, Steve. Boodram

Publications and Research

Infiltration through entrance doors, vestibules, cracks and other areas have a large impact in building energy consumption. It also has a significant impact on indoor air quality. There are only a few studies about air infiltration and air tightness in the literature. The purpose of this study is to develop practical methods to measure air infiltration rates through entrance doors. We have read research articles and identify several methods in the literature. Further investigation is required to help more accurately find infraction rate, crack size and location of cracks to help reduce air infiltration, energy costs, maintain comfortable indoor conditions …

Using Nyc Open Data To Improve Accessibility For People With Mobility Impairments In New York City., Said Naqwe

Publications and Research

Approximately one-fifth to one-quarter of American families have a family member with a mobility impairment, which poses challenges for many local communities, particularly in New York City Boroughs. To address this issue, Doorfront.org aims to make sidewalks and facilities, such as residential buildings and restaurants, more accessible to disabled residents of New York City. As a research assistant for Doorfront.org, I used NYC Open Data to accumulate data on inaccessible facilities, such as the NYC sidewalk polygons, building footprints, city hydrants, bus shelters, parking meters, street trees, pedestrian ramps, litter baskets, city benches, and newsstands.
I downloaded a non-geospatial CSV …

Types Of Cyber Attacks And Incident Responses, Kaung Myat Thu

Publications and Research

Cyber-attacks are increasingly prevalent in today's digital age, and their impact can be severe for individuals, organizations, and governments. To effectively protect against these threats, it is essential to understand the different types of attacks and have an incident response plan in place to minimize damage and restore normal operations quickly.

This research aims to contribute to the field by addressing the following questions: What are the main types of cyber-attacks, and how can organizations effectively respond to these incidents? How can the incident response process be improved through post-incident activities?

The study examines various cyber-attack types, including malware, phishing, …

Exploring Methods For Recycling Filament Waste In 3d Printing, Max Rios Carballo

Publications and Research

The goal of the current study is to investigate cutting-edge techniques for recycling filament waste from 3D printing procedures. Appropriate waste management techniques are required to reduce this trash's harmful environmental consequences. The goal of the project is to look at new methods for recycling filament waste in order to minimize disposal and encourage reuse. To acquire data from pertinent papers and research, a thorough literature review methodology was used. The findings show that this issue may be resolved utilizing a variety of recycling techniques, including shredding, melting, and re-extrusion. The type of filament waste and the intended goal will …

Adaptation Of Concrete And Timber Bridge Railings For Low-Volume Traffic, Russell Masterson

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Bridge railings are a safety feature to protect the traveling public by containing and redirecting errant vehicles during run-off-road (ROR) events. Most bridge railing design and evaluation efforts have focused on ROR crashes on high-volume roads. Bridge railings for low-volume roads can be designed for lower impact speeds, so railings designed for high-volume roads are unnecessarily robust for low-volume applications and can be optimized to reduce costs for bridge owners while still providing adequate safety. The aim of this research has been focused on improving the design of two low-volume bridge railing systems for use by the United States Department …

The Effects Of Inaccurate And Missing Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Inventory Data On Crash And Severity Model Estimation And Prediction, Muhammad Umer Farooq

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Highway-Rail Grade Crossings (HRGCs) present a significant safety risk to motorists, pedestrians, and train passengers as they are intersections where roads and railways intersect. Every year, HRGCs in the US experience a high number of crashes leading to injuries and fatalities. Estimations of crash and severity models for HRGCs provide insights into safety and mitigation of the risk posed by such incidents. The accuracy of these models plays a vital role in predicting future crashes at these crossings, enabling necessary safety measures to be taken proactively.

In the United States, most of these models rely on the Federal Railroad Administration's …

Safety And Operational Assessment Of Rural Free Right-Turn Ramp Intersections, Jonathon Camenzind

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Free right-turn (FRT) ramps are alternative right-turn lane designs for intersecting highways. As of 2023, 79 FRT ramps exist at 68 rural highway intersections in Nebraska. FRT ramps may be located on three-legged or four-legged intersections and may be on the minor, the major, or both minor and major approaches of the same intersection.

This research compared the 68 rural FRT intersections to 24 similar non-FRT rural intersections to identify differences in crash frequency and crash rate and tested for statistical significance using a two-sample t-test. Crash data were obtained for the ten- year period of 2010-2019, with a focus …

Occurrence Of Radionuclides And Hazardous Elements In The Transboundary River Basin Kyrgyzstan–Kazakhstan, Mariya A. Severinenko, Vladimir P. Solodukhin, Bekmamat M. Djenbaev, The National Academy Of Science Of The Kyrgyz Republic G. Lennik, Baktiyar T. Zholboldiev, Daniel D. Snow

Nebraska Water Center: Faculty Publications

Important for irrigation, the transboundary river basin between Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan is vulnerable to geochemical and anthropogenic sources of pollution. The use of water use indices, together with measurements of the elemental and radionuclide composition of the water and bottom sediments, provides a means for evaluating the continued use of the water from this region. Recent monitoring shows the highest concentrations of hazardous contaminants include lead and thorium contained in the bottom and banks of the Kichi-Kemin River. These contaminants are likely remnants of an accidental spill at the Aktyuz tailing dump in 1964. The specific activity of the Th-232 …

A Modeling Framework To Develop Materials With Improved Noise And Vibration Performance For Electric Vehicles, Javad Baqersad, Seyed Jamaleddin Mostafavi Yazdi, Seongchan Pack, Foroogh Rouhollahi

Mechanical Engineering Publications

The automotive and aerospace industries increasingly use lightweight materials to improve performance while reducing fuel consumption. Lightweight materials are frequently used in electric vehicles (EVs). However, using these materials can increase airborne and structure-borne noise. Furthermore, EV noise occurs at high frequencies, and conventional materials have small damping. Thus, there is an increasing need for procedures that help design new materials and coatings to reduce the transferred and radiated noise at desired frequencies. This study pioneered new techniques for microstructure modeling of coated and uncoated materials with improved noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH) performance. This work uses the microstructure of …

Producer Long-Term Marketing Opportunities With Ethanol Plants, Austin Harthoorn, Logan Lloyd, Cory Walters, Kate Brooks

Cornhusker Economics

Commodity marketing operates in a complex decision environment with constant information flow, which can conceal long-run financially profitable marketing opportunities for producers. In the corn marketing space, the competitive role of ethanol plants throughout the state may provide producers with long-run financial gains by strategically approaching marketing decisions. In this article, we characterize whether producers can gain financially from strategically marketing corn to ethanol plants. For example, do ethanol plants provide a better long-run return from pre-harvest hedging, spring sale, or harvest sale?

We investigate three important contracting times--forward contract for harvest delivery (called pre-harvest hereafter), harvest delivery, and spring …