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Theses/Dissertations

Master's Theses (2009 -)

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Full-Text Articles in Engineering

Assessment Of Mitochondrial Dysfunction In Lungs From Rats Exposed To Hyperoxia And The Efficacy Of Duroquinone, Swetha Ganesh Oct 2021

Assessment Of Mitochondrial Dysfunction In Lungs From Rats Exposed To Hyperoxia And The Efficacy Of Duroquinone, Swetha Ganesh

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Dissipation of mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨm) is a hallmark of mitochondrial dysfunction. The objective of this thesis was to use a previously developed experimental-computational approach to estimate tissue ΔΨm in intact lungs of rats exposed to hyperoxia, and to evaluate the ability of duroquinone (DQ) to reverse any hyperoxia-induced depolarization of lung Ψm. Rats were exposed to hyperoxia (>95% O2) or normoxia (room air) for 48 hrs, after which lungs were excised and connected to a ventilation-perfusion system. The experimental protocol consisted of measuring the concentration of the fluorescent dye rhodamine 6G (R6G) during three single-pass phases: loading, washing, …


Stochastic Modeling For Mobile Manipulators, Xie Jiayu Oct 2021

Stochastic Modeling For Mobile Manipulators, Xie Jiayu

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Mobile manipulators are valuable and highly desired in many fields, especially in industrial environments. However, determining the end effector position has been challenging for scenarios where the base moves at the same time that the arm follows commands to perform specific tasks. Earlier works have attempted to dynamically evaluate the problem of positioning error for mobile manipulators, but there is still room for further improvement. In this thesis, we devise a dynamical model that leverages stochastic search strategies for mobile manipulators. More specifically, we develop a dynamic model that estimates the position of the robot using an Unscented Kalman filter. …


Detecting Invasive Insects Using Uncewed Aerial Vehicles And Variational Autoencoders, Scott Daniel Stewart Oct 2021

Detecting Invasive Insects Using Uncewed Aerial Vehicles And Variational Autoencoders, Scott Daniel Stewart

Master's Theses (2009 -)

In this thesis, we use machine learning techniques to address limitations in our ability to monitor pest insect migrations. Invasive insect populations, such as the brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB), cause significant economic and environmental damages. In order to mitigate these damages, tracking BMSB migration is vital, but it also poses a challenge. The current state-of-the-art solution to track insect migrations is called mark-release-recapture. In mark-release-recapture, a researcher marks insects with a fluorescent powder, releases them back into the wild, and searches for the insects using ultra-violet flashlights at suspected migration destination locations. However, this involves a significant amount of …


Study Of Extensions To The Linear Sampling Method For Electromagnetic Inverse Scattering, Yeasmin Sultana Oct 2021

Study Of Extensions To The Linear Sampling Method For Electromagnetic Inverse Scattering, Yeasmin Sultana

Master's Theses (2009 -)

The linear sampling method (LSM) is a simple and effective qualitative method to reconstruct the support of unknown object by solving inverse scattering problem. The solution is done based on the field radiated by the elementary source located in a set of test points. In this thesis, the LSM formulation, limitations of standard LSM and extensions of LSM are discussed. Standard LSM can reconstruct simply connected objects, but it fails in case of concave or not simply connected objects. However, it can reconstruct the convex hull for such objects. Some extensions to LSM have been proposed to avoid these limitations. …


Aeroacoustic Design Of An Abrasive Blasting Nozzle Using Cfd, Adam Dehli Oct 2021

Aeroacoustic Design Of An Abrasive Blasting Nozzle Using Cfd, Adam Dehli

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Current industrial abrasive blasting nozzles are often loud enough to negatively impact worker health and require employers to implement hearing conservation programs under OSHA noise exposure regulations. Significant opportunity exists for the use of modern computational fluid dynamics software (CFD) in the design of an abrasive blasting nozzle with a focus on reducing the acoustic intensity. Past work using CFD for abrasive blasting nozzle design has focused on improving productivity, ignoring aeroacoustic considerations. ANSYS Fluent software was used to investigate the effect of geometry changes to a commercially available No. 6 venturi nozzle, specifically the addition of a constant cross-section …


Deep Learning Approach For Dynamic Sampling For High-Throughput Nano-Desi Msi, David Helminiak Oct 2021

Deep Learning Approach For Dynamic Sampling For High-Throughput Nano-Desi Msi, David Helminiak

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Mass Spectrometry Imaging (MSI) extracts molecular mass data to form visualizations of molecular spatial distributions. The involved scanning procedure is conducted by moving a probe across and around a rectilinear grid, as in the case of nanoscale Desorption Electro-Spray Ionization (nano-DESI) MSI, where singular measurements can take up to ~5 seconds to acquire high-resolution (better than 10 μm) results. This temporal expense creates a high inefficiency in sample processing and throughput. For example, in a high-resolution nano-DESI study, a single mouse uterine tissue section (2.5 mm by 1.7 mm) had an acquisition time of ~4 hours to acquire 104,400 pixels. …


Mid-Movement Error Corrections After Visual And Haptic Perturbations Reflect Latency And Performance Differences, Pablo Gonzalez Polanco Oct 2021

Mid-Movement Error Corrections After Visual And Haptic Perturbations Reflect Latency And Performance Differences, Pablo Gonzalez Polanco

Master's Theses (2009 -)

We examined a key attribute of sensory motor skill: the capability to adjust ongoing actions to correct performance errors that arise during the execution of a task. Fifteen subjects grasped the handle of a horizontal 2D planar robot that enacted a small viscous resistance to the arm movement. The subjects initiated interception movements using a prompted Go cue to quickly catch a pseudo-randomly moving target. On some trials, the robot viscosity field or the target’s motion (speed) was altered without any warning at the time of the Go cue. The viscosity could be increased which made it more difficult to …


Gaze Estimation And Tracking For Assisted Living Environments, Paris Her Jul 2021

Gaze Estimation And Tracking For Assisted Living Environments, Paris Her

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Assisted living environments must be able to efficiently and unobtrusively gather information on a person's well-being. Human gaze direction provides some of the strongest indicators of how a person behaves and interacts with their environment. To that end, this thesis proposes a gaze tracking method that uses a neural network regressor to estimate gaze direction from facial keypoints and integrates them over time using various temporal methods, specifically through moving averages and a Kalman filter. Our gaze regression model uses confidence gated units to handle cases of keypoint occlusion and is able to estimate its own prediction uncertainty. This approach …


Improving Presentation Consistency Of Radiographic Images Using Deep Learning, Najib Akram Maheen Aboobacker Jul 2021

Improving Presentation Consistency Of Radiographic Images Using Deep Learning, Najib Akram Maheen Aboobacker

Master's Theses (2009 -)

In general radiography, inconsistency of brightness and contrast in initial presentation is a common complaint from radiologists. Inconsistencies, which may be a result of variations in patient positioning, dose, protocol selection andimplant could lead to additional workflow by technologists and radiologists to adjust the images. To tackle this challenge posed by conventional histogram-based display approach, first a Deep Learning based Brightness Contrast (DL BC) algorithm to improve the consistency in presentation by using a residual neural network trained to classify X-ray images based on a novel NxM grid of brightness and contrast combinations is proposed. More than 8,500 unique images …


Development Of Experimental And Numerical Methods For Investigations Of High-Octane Fuels In Heavy-Duty Applications, Jared James Zeman Jul 2021

Development Of Experimental And Numerical Methods For Investigations Of High-Octane Fuels In Heavy-Duty Applications, Jared James Zeman

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Increasingly stringent emissions regulations has threatened the existence of the internal combustion (IC) engine. In some transportation sectors, non-IC engine powertrains have the potential to be a logical solution. However, in the heavy-duty sector, the IC engine is predicted to remain the dominant propulsion method for the foreseeable future. With ever-increasing demand for heavy-duty power generation platforms, the primary focus for the development of the future heavy-duty IC engine needs to be on increasing engine efficiency and the adoption of lowlife-cycle carbon, clean burning fuels, e.g. methanol. The fuel ignition properties of these fuels, e.g. high octane, cause difficulties when …


Hemodynamic Evaluation Of Reconstructed Arch Geometries After Norwood Procedure Vs Non-Operated Controls, Aloma Blanch Granada Jul 2021

Hemodynamic Evaluation Of Reconstructed Arch Geometries After Norwood Procedure Vs Non-Operated Controls, Aloma Blanch Granada

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS) is a congenital cardiovascular defect where the left side of the heart and related structures cannot support systemic cardiac output. The Norwood procedure, performed in the first days of life, creates a neo-aorta along with arch reconstruction to provide unobstructed systemic output from the well-developed right ventricle. To evaluate the qualities of the patients reconstructed arch geometry, we aim to characterize hemodynamics within the reconstructed arch by including the head and neck arteries, pulmonary arteries, and Blalock-Taussig (BT) shunt. Prior studies have studied reconstructed arch geometry, but the current project adds more complexity to increase …


Changes In Air-Quality In Milwaukee, Wi Due The Covid-19 Lockdown, Nathan Hay Jul 2021

Changes In Air-Quality In Milwaukee, Wi Due The Covid-19 Lockdown, Nathan Hay

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Shortly after COVID-19 started spreading across the country, Wisconsin instituted their shutdown on March 23rd, 2020. With large swaths of the population forced to stay at home, this presented a unique case study to evaluate the effects of reduced traffic volumes on vehicle related emissions. To do so, this study measured air quality on a 40-mile route within Milwaukee County on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 4 to 6 PM from the beginning of April until the end of August. Mobile sensors – a Sniffer 4D and micro aethalometer – were attached to a car and collected particulate matter (1.0-10 μm), …


A Dynamic System Testbed To Facilitate Controller And Estimator Designs And Its Application To Neoclassical Controllers, Justin James Kennah Apr 2021

A Dynamic System Testbed To Facilitate Controller And Estimator Designs And Its Application To Neoclassical Controllers, Justin James Kennah

Master's Theses (2009 -)

This thesis proposes a testbed capable of validating experimental controller designs.Because it is undesirable to implement unvalidated controller designs on physical hardware, the need for an effective testbed arises. For the testbed to be useful, it should be easy to use and contain all the hardware and software necessary to implement a controller and analyze its response. To accomplish these goals, a testbed is created by joining the National Instruments ELVIS III board with the Quanser Controls Board. Three controllers are implemented to evaluate the usefulness of the testbed. The controllers are designed using the neoclassical design technique. The neoclassical …


Near-Nozzle Holographic Imaging Of Dispersion-Induced Reductions In Combustible Dust Particle Size Distributions, Tyler James Reaker Apr 2021

Near-Nozzle Holographic Imaging Of Dispersion-Induced Reductions In Combustible Dust Particle Size Distributions, Tyler James Reaker

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Dust explosibility data are a critical input to the design of equipment and strategies for reducing the risk of a combustible dust deflagration or explosion. These data, which include minimum explosible concentrations, deflagration indices, and explosion overpressures, are obtained using formally accepted, standard techniques, and are known to be sensitive to the particle size characteristics of the dust being evaluated. Published literature demonstrates that the standard techniques can alter the particle size distribution during dispersion, making interpretation of the explosibility data challenging because the particle characteristics are altered from their original, raw state. Digital in-line holography (DIH) presents a novel …


Cfd Modeling Of Aerial Dispersion Of Pollutants In Urban Environments, Alec Tauer Apr 2021

Cfd Modeling Of Aerial Dispersion Of Pollutants In Urban Environments, Alec Tauer

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Population growth and urbanization across the globe is contributing to anincrease in air pollution emissions. Because air pollution can negatively impact public health there is a desire to model the aerial dispersion of the pollutants in urban environments. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is becoming an increasingly common tool used to provide high spatial and temporal resolution of the wind flow and pollutant transport in urban environments. In the present study, CFD is utilized to model the aerial pollutant dispersion in three domains: a flat field, an idealized urban environment, and a real urban environment neighboring the Jones’ Island Water Reclamation …


Accuracy And Computational Cost Assessment Of Radiation Solvers For Combustion Simulations, Chloe David Apr 2021

Accuracy And Computational Cost Assessment Of Radiation Solvers For Combustion Simulations, Chloe David

Master's Theses (2009 -)

High-fidelity combustion simulations necessitate the accurate and efficient calculation of radiative heat transfer. A successful radiation calculation requires the use of a spectral model, which describes the variation of radiative properties across the entire electromagnetic spectrum, and a radiative transfer equation (RTE) solver, which solves the governing equation for radiation transport. Three primary categories of RTE solvers are the discrete ordinates method (DOM), the spherical harmonics method (SHM), and the photon Monte Carlo (PMC) method. The accuracy and computational cost of each type of RTE solver is compared in detail in this work. The PMC RTE solver is considered the …


Solid-State Circuit Breaker Component Simulation, Matthew Hughes Apr 2021

Solid-State Circuit Breaker Component Simulation, Matthew Hughes

Master's Theses (2009 -)

The landscape of direct current (DC) solid-state circuit breakers (SSCBs) isgrowing and so too is the choice of primary components. Early on in the development of electrical technology, DC electrical distribution networks were handicapped by short transmission distances, poor network configurations, and overall lowered efficiency. These issues arose out of the relatively lower voltage transmission capabilities, which do not exist in the modern day of semiconductors. There now exists a wide range of devices capable of withstanding voltage levels conducive to electrical transmission; though steady state efficiency of these devices remains a concern. Choosing primary components out of the growing …


Modeling Of A Patient Positioning System For Use In Mri Machines, Daniel Garcia Apr 2021

Modeling Of A Patient Positioning System For Use In Mri Machines, Daniel Garcia

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Since its commercial introduction in the early 1980s, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) has become an important medical diagnostic tool for radiologists. Researchers and manufacturers have refined the imaging hardware and expanded the intended uses for MRI devices over time. However, MRI manufacturers have not improved the design of the mechanisms and control schemes used to move the patient.Patient positioning systems are required to handle unknown weights up to 225 kilograms, accommodate friction disturbances, move long distances at high speed, move small distances in less than 1 second, and attain sub millimeter bidirectional precision. Little research is available on model …


Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy For The Evaluation Of Mid-Palatal Suture Maturation After Expansion, Binhuan Yuan Apr 2021

Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy For The Evaluation Of Mid-Palatal Suture Maturation After Expansion, Binhuan Yuan

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) is a technique for characterizing the optical properties of biological tissues and has been extensively studied for diagnosis and therapeutic monitoring of various diseases. This thesis investigates the potential use of DRS for the evaluation of mid-palatal suture maturation after expansion. The most common evaluation technique for palatal expansion is Computed Tomography (CT). The major issue with CT is that during serial radiological scanning, patients are repeatedly exposed to ionizing radiation. DRS is a non-invasive, non-ionizing method which can be used to quantify the tissue optical properties in the visible wavelength in vivo. This study demonstrates …


The Development And Implementation Of A Virtual Reality-Based Radiation Therapy Education And Anxiety Mitigation Program, Sophia Shanahan Apr 2021

The Development And Implementation Of A Virtual Reality-Based Radiation Therapy Education And Anxiety Mitigation Program, Sophia Shanahan

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Radiation therapy (RT) is commonly used in the treatment of breast cancer. According to the literature, RT is an unknown to many patients and can be a source of anxiety and fear. Towards that end, a virtual reality (VR) education program was developed that leverages head-mounted display technology to virtually place a patient in immersive representations of a CT simulation suite, dosimetry room, and treatment room that mimic the actual clinical spaces associated with RT. A virtual model of a radiation oncologist “meets” the patient in each environment and provides verbal narration. In the treatment environment, the patient is able …


An Investigation Of The Effect Of Trunk Musculature On The Lumbar Spine Injury During A High-Speed Frontal Central Crash, Nan Lin Oct 2020

An Investigation Of The Effect Of Trunk Musculature On The Lumbar Spine Injury During A High-Speed Frontal Central Crash, Nan Lin

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Motor vehicle crashes have been a leading cause of fatalities and injuries worldwide. Owing to new protection systems, the occurrence of injuries has been decreasing in recent years. On the contrary, the incidence of lumbar spine injuries in frontal crashes has been increasing as a function of the vehicle model year. However, only a few studies focused on lumbar spine injuries in vehicle crashes. Therefore, the mechanism of lumbar spine injuries has not been understood thoroughly. Muscle contraction is one of the factors that influence the risk of lumbar spine injuries as occupants tend to brace their muscles during a …


Organ Segmentation Of Pediatric Computed Tomography (Ct) With Generative Adversarial Networks, Chi Nok Enoch Kan Oct 2020

Organ Segmentation Of Pediatric Computed Tomography (Ct) With Generative Adversarial Networks, Chi Nok Enoch Kan

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Accurately segmenting organs in abdominal computed tomography (CT) is crucial for many clinical applications such as organ-specific dose estimation. With the recent emergence of deep learning techniques for computer vision, many powerful frameworks are proposed for organ segmentation in abdominal CT images. A major problem with these state-of-the-art methods is that they depend on large amounts of training data to achieve high segmentation accuracy. Pediatric abdominal CTs are particularly hard to obtain since these children are much more sensitive to ionizing radiation than adults. It is extremely challenging to train automatic segmentation algorithms on pediatric CT volumes. To address these …


Aerial Imaging Riverflow System Using Optical Flow, Jamir Shariar Jyoti Oct 2020

Aerial Imaging Riverflow System Using Optical Flow, Jamir Shariar Jyoti

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Watershed models of extreme flooding events require accurate and reliablemeasurements of streamflow for calibration and validation. However, flow rate measurements during floods are inherently uncertain, and physical measurements of velocity during flood conditions are prohibitive in many cases. Therefore, novel methods to measure stream velocity during extreme floods must be considered. This work addresses this challenge through the development of the Aerial Imaging Riverflow System (AIRS), a novel system that utilizes drones, aerial imagery, and optical flow algorithm to measure velocity in rivers and streams. This system was applied at a case study location on the Menomonee River in Wauwatosa, …


Seasonal Hydrologic And Biogeochemical Drivers Of Nutrient Availability In Urban Green Spaces, Isabelle R. Horvath Oct 2020

Seasonal Hydrologic And Biogeochemical Drivers Of Nutrient Availability In Urban Green Spaces, Isabelle R. Horvath

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Humans dominate urban nutrient cycles – adding nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) through car exhaust, fertilizer over-use, and pet waste. N and P are transported to streams via stormwater runoff, where they create eutrophic conditions and reduced water quality. Urban green spaces, like green stormwater infrastructure (GSI), have potential to mitigate N and P pollution through retention in soils and plants. Nutrient retention is accomplished in urban green spaces through filtration, plant uptake, and biogeochemical processes. These processes are highly variable, due to the influence of varying environmental drivers, such as temperature, rainfall, soil moisture, and soil redox status. This …


Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo Predictive Diagnosis From Patient-Facing Survey, Taiwo Fasae Oct 2020

Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo Predictive Diagnosis From Patient-Facing Survey, Taiwo Fasae

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV) is a leading cause of dizziness and imbalance that is responsible for one-third of fall incidents. Diagnosis, however, is ridden with uncertainties and errors. This thesis explores various techniques for BPPV predictive diagnosis from a survey study and proposes measures for predictive performance improvement. Patient-facing surveys are established ways of acquiring medical history in clinical settings and, as this thesis demonstrates, are capable of conveying patterns distinguishable for accurate diagnosis. This work begins by discussing BPPV and vestibular disorders in general, and the risks associated with misdiagnosis or elusive diagnosis. Innovative efforts by medical professionals …


Impact Of Sewershed Characteristics On Rainfall Derived Inflow And Infiltration, Spencer Michael Sebo Oct 2020

Impact Of Sewershed Characteristics On Rainfall Derived Inflow And Infiltration, Spencer Michael Sebo

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Cities rely on sewer systems to transport wastewater and stormwater, but sometimes these systems are overwhelmed, and their capacity is exceeded due to excess water in the system from rainfall derived inflow and infiltration. This can lead to overflows and backups that can be detrimental to health and property. Excess water from rainfall derived inflow and infiltration enters a sewer system through a multitude of ways, including downspout connections, foundation drains, pipe joints, and broken pipes. Identifying these sources individually can be time intensive and expensive if entire service areas need to be addressed. High level screening tools are therefore …


Seasonal Hydrologic And Biogeochemical Drivers Of Nutrient Availability In Urban Green Spaces, Isabelle R. Horvath Oct 2020

Seasonal Hydrologic And Biogeochemical Drivers Of Nutrient Availability In Urban Green Spaces, Isabelle R. Horvath

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Humans dominate urban nutrient cycles – adding nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) through car exhaust, fertilizer over-use, and pet waste. N and P are transported to streams via stormwater runoff, where they create eutrophic conditions and reduced water quality. Urban green spaces, like green stormwater infrastructure (GSI), have potential to mitigate N and P pollution through retention in soils and plants. Nutrient retention is accomplished in urban green spaces through filtration, plant uptake, and biogeochemical processes. These processes are highly variable, due to the influence of varying environmental drivers, such as temperature, rainfall, soil moisture, and soil redox status. This …


Investigation Of Optimization Targets For Predictive Simulation Of Human Gait With Model Predictive Control, Jessica Brianne Thayer Jul 2020

Investigation Of Optimization Targets For Predictive Simulation Of Human Gait With Model Predictive Control, Jessica Brianne Thayer

Master's Theses (2009 -)

The design and development of gait-related treatments and devices is inhibited by anabsence of predictive gait models. Understanding of human gait and what motivates walkingpatterns is still limited, despite walking being one of the most routine human activities. While asignificant body of literature exists on gait modeling and optimization criteria to achievesimulated, normal gait, particularly with neuromuscular models, few studies have aimed to applyoptimization targets which approximate metabolic cost to mechanical gait models. Even fewerhave attempted this predictively, with no joint angle data specified a priori. The Sunmodel [31], [32] is one such …


Determining The Correlation Between Plantar Pressure And Joint Kinematics While Running, Fadumo Khalid Mohamud Jul 2020

Determining The Correlation Between Plantar Pressure And Joint Kinematics While Running, Fadumo Khalid Mohamud

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Running provides many health benefits, but there is a risk for lower extremity injuries. Previous studies have performed simultaneous assessments of plantar pressure and joint kinematics; however, they have not investigated correlations between these parameters. The goal of this study was to assess correlations between joint kinematics and plantar pressure metrics during the stance phase.Fifteen female and eleven male recreational runners ran ten trials in this study. The joint kinematics were measured using the Vicon MX system and plantar pressure metrics were measured with the Quasar pressure treadmill. Spearman rho correlation tests were performed to determine correlations between joint …


Speeding Up Particle Filter Algorithm For Tracking Multiple Targets Using Cuda Programming, Jinhua Zhang Jul 2020

Speeding Up Particle Filter Algorithm For Tracking Multiple Targets Using Cuda Programming, Jinhua Zhang

Master's Theses (2009 -)

This thesis proposes to work on a parallelization method to speed up the computational runtime of the particle filter algorithm for multiple targets tracking. CUDA programming is utilized to execute the original implementation of the particle filter algorithm on GPU. The thesis provides a detailed discussion of the background information on the relevant topics. And then a presentation of the code architecture changes is followed. The detailed CUDA-based implementation is illustrated and discussed, which is followed by a discussion andcomparison of the results obtained from a series of tests.In this thesis, the introduction and description of the basic …