Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
- Discipline
-
- Mechanical Engineering (5)
- Civil and Environmental Engineering (4)
- Civil Engineering (3)
- Computer Sciences (2)
- Materials Science and Engineering (2)
-
- Physical Sciences and Mathematics (2)
- Aerospace Engineering (1)
- Applied Mechanics (1)
- Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering (1)
- Electrical and Computer Engineering (1)
- Electrical and Electronics (1)
- Environmental Engineering (1)
- Molecular, Cellular, and Tissue Engineering (1)
- Structural Materials (1)
Articles 1 - 16 of 16
Full-Text Articles in Engineering
Expression Optimization Of The Gst-Gfp Fusion Protein Through The Alteration Of Induction Conditions, Matthew J. Vaccaro
Expression Optimization Of The Gst-Gfp Fusion Protein Through The Alteration Of Induction Conditions, Matthew J. Vaccaro
Honors Undergraduate Theses
This research sought to determine which induction condition resulted in the greatest GST-GFP fusion protein expression. It will hopefully serve as a guide for future researchers trying to produce their own recombinant protein containing GST and GFP-tags. The CDNB Enzyme Assay was used to determine the quantity of GST-GFP fusion protein present and tested three variables: IPTG concentration, duration, and temperature of induction. The findings showed that IPTG concentration, temperature, and induction duration all had a significant impact on protein expression. Induction temperatures of 20 °C and 25 °C showed better protein expression at IPTG concentrations of 1.0 mM IPTG …
A Framework For The Automatic Identification Of Optimized Yield Surface Parameters, Kevin Hanekom
A Framework For The Automatic Identification Of Optimized Yield Surface Parameters, Kevin Hanekom
Honors Undergraduate Theses
Advanced engineering materials are designed to display tensile-compressive asymmetry (TCA) and anisotropy to provide unique attributes to critical components necessary in the hot section of turbines. The never-ending chase for higher efficiencies, and with them, higher temperature gradients, intrinsically leads to more and more of these complex materials, like single crystal turbine blades, embedded within the turbine environment. Mathematical models, known as yield criteria, allow engineers to visualize the mechanical behavior of these materials in various orientations under complex loading. Yield criteria are dependent on three key items in determination of their governing parameters: material test data, mathematical constraints, and …
A Parametric Study Of Meso-Scale Patterns For Auxetic Mechanical Behavior Optimization, Matthew C. Schuler
A Parametric Study Of Meso-Scale Patterns For Auxetic Mechanical Behavior Optimization, Matthew C. Schuler
Honors Undergraduate Theses
This thesis focuses on the development, parameterization and optimization of a novel meso-scale pattern used to induce auxetic behavior, i.e., negative Poisson's ratio, at the bulk scale. Currently, the majority of auxetic structures are too porous to be utilized in conventional load-bearing applications. For others, manufacturing methods have yet to realize the meso-scale pattern. Consequently, new auxetic structures must be developed in order to confer superior thermo-mechanical responses to structures at high temperature. Additionally, patterns that take into account manufacturing limitations, while maintaining the properties characteristically attached to negative Poisson's Ratio materials, are ideal in order to utilize the potential …
Thermodynamic Analysis And Optimization Of Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Brayton Cycles, Mahmood Mohagheghi
Thermodynamic Analysis And Optimization Of Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Brayton Cycles, Mahmood Mohagheghi
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
The power generation industry is facing new challenging issues regarding accelerating growth of electricity demand, fuel cost and environmental pollution. These challenges accompanied by concerns of energy resources becoming scarce necessitate searching for sustainable and economically competitive solutions to supply the future electricity demand. To this end, supercritical carbon dioxide (S-CO2) Brayton cycles present great promise particularly in high temperature concentrated solar power (CSP) and waste heat recovery (WHR) applications. With this regard, this dissertation is intended to perform thorough thermodynamic analyses and optimization of S-CO2 Brayton cycles for both of these applications. A modeling tool has been developed, which …
A Real-Time Crane Service Scheduling Decision Support System (Css-Dss) For Construction Tower Cranes, Amir Tork
A Real-Time Crane Service Scheduling Decision Support System (Css-Dss) For Construction Tower Cranes, Amir Tork
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
The success of construction projects depends on proper use of construction equipment and machinery to a great extent. Thus, appropriate planning and control of the activities that rely on construction equipment could have significant effects on improving the efficiency of project operations. Cranes are the largest and most conspicuous construction equipment, widely used in typical construction sites. They play a major role in relocation of materials in horizontal and vertical directions on construction sites. Given the nature of activities relying on construction cranes in various stages of a project, cranes normally have control over the critical path of the project …
A Hybrid Constitutive Model For Creep, Fatigue, And Creep-Fatigue Damage, Calvin Stewart
A Hybrid Constitutive Model For Creep, Fatigue, And Creep-Fatigue Damage, Calvin Stewart
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
In the combustion zone of industrial- and aero- gas turbines, thermomechanical fatigue (TMF) is the dominant damage mechanism. Thermomechanical fatigue is a coupling of independent creep, fatigue, and oxidation damage mechanisms that interact and accelerate microstructural degradation. A mixture of intergranular cracking due to creep, transgranular cracking due to fatigue, and surface embrittlement due to oxidation is often observed in gas turbine components removed from service. The current maintenance scheme for gas turbines is to remove components from service when any criteria (elongation, stress-rupture, crack length, etc.) exceed the designed maximum allowable. Experimental, theoretical, and numerical analyses are performed to …
Automated Hybrid Singularity Superposition And Anchored Grid Pattern Bem Algorithm For The Solution Of The Inverse Geometric Problem, Marcus Ni
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
A method for solving the inverse geometrical problem is presented by reconstructing the unknown subsurface cavity geometry using boundary element methods, a genetic algorithm, and Nelder-Mead non-linear simplex optimization. The heat conduction problem is solved utilizing the boundary element method, which calculates the difference between the measured temperature at the exposed surface and the computed temperature under the current update of the unknown subsurface flaws and cavities. In a first step, clusters of singularities are utilized to solve the inverse problem and to identify the location of the centroid(s) of the subsurface cavity(ies)/flaw(s). In a second step, the reconstruction of …
Assessment, Optimization, And Enhancement Of Ultrafiltration (Uf) Membrane Processes In Potable Water Treatment, Christopher Boyd
Assessment, Optimization, And Enhancement Of Ultrafiltration (Uf) Membrane Processes In Potable Water Treatment, Christopher Boyd
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
This dissertation reports on research related to ultrafiltration (UF) membranes in drinking water applications. A pilot-scale investigation identified seasonal surface water quality impacts on UF performance and resulted in the development of a dynamic chemically enhanced backwash protocol for fouling management. Subsequent analysis of UF process data revealed limitations with the use of specific flux, transmembrane pressure (TMP), and other normalization techniques for assessing UF process fouling. A new TMP balance approach is presented that identifies the pressure contribution of membrane fouling and structural changes, enables direct process performance comparisons at different operating fluxes, and distinguishes between physically and chemically …
Networking And Security Solutions For Vanet Initial Deployment Stage, Baber Aslam
Networking And Security Solutions For Vanet Initial Deployment Stage, Baber Aslam
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Vehicular ad hoc network (VANET) is a special case of mobile networks, where vehicles equipped with computing/communicating devices (called "smart vehicles") are the mobile wireless nodes. However, the movement pattern of these mobile wireless nodes is no more random, as in case of mobile networks, rather it is restricted to roads and streets. Vehicular networks have hybrid architecture; it is a combination of both infrastructure and infrastructure-less architectures. The direct vehicle to vehicle (V2V) communication is infrastructure-less or ad hoc in nature. Here the vehicles traveling within communication range of each other form an ad hoc network. On the other …
A Fitness Function Elimination Theory For Blackbox Optimization And Problem Class Learning, Gautham Anil
A Fitness Function Elimination Theory For Blackbox Optimization And Problem Class Learning, Gautham Anil
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
The modern view of optimization is that optimization algorithms are not designed in a vacuum, but can make use of information regarding the broad class of objective functions from which a problem instance is drawn. Using this knowledge, we want to design optimization algorithms that execute quickly (efficiency), solve the objective function with minimal samples (performance), and are applicable over a wide range of problems (abstraction). However, we present a new theory for blackbox optimization from which, we conclude that of these three desired characteristics, only two can be maximized by any algorithm. We put forward an alternate view of …
Optimization Of Process Parameters For Faster Deposition Of Cuin1-Xgaxs2 And Cuin1-Xgaxse2-Ysy Thin Film Solar Cells, Ashwani Kaul
Optimization Of Process Parameters For Faster Deposition Of Cuin1-Xgaxs2 And Cuin1-Xgaxse2-Ysy Thin Film Solar Cells, Ashwani Kaul
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Thin film solar cells have the potential to be an important contributor to the world energy demand in the 21st century. Among all the thin film technologies, CuInGaSe2 (CIGS) thin film solar cells have achieved the highest efficiency. However, the high price of photovoltaic (PV) modules has been a major factor impeding their growth for terrestrial applications. Reduction in cost of PV modules can be realized by several ways including choosing scalable processes amenable to large area deposition, reduction in the materials consumption of active layers, and attaining faster deposition rates suitable for in-line processing. Selenization-sulfurization of sputtered metallic Cu-In-Ga …
Efficiency Improvement Techniques For High Voltage Capacitor Charging Methods, Michael Islas
Efficiency Improvement Techniques For High Voltage Capacitor Charging Methods, Michael Islas
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
The goal of this thesis is to design and fabricate a DC-to-DC converter for use in high-voltage capacitor charging applications. The primary objectives include increasing the efficiency and reducing the cost of traditional methods used for this application. Traditional methods were not designed specifically for high-voltage capacitor charging and were thus very primitive and exhibited lower efficiency. Prior methods made use of a high voltage power supply and a current limiting resistor or control scheme. The power supply would often only operate efficiently at a single voltage value and would thus function poorly over a range used in charging a …
Hurricane Evacuation: Origin, Route And Destination, Vinayak Dixit
Hurricane Evacuation: Origin, Route And Destination, Vinayak Dixit
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Recent natural disasters have highlighted the need to evacuate people as quickly as possible. During hurricane Rita in 2005, people were stuck in queue buildups and large scale congestions, due to improper use of capacity, planning and inadequate response to vehicle breakdown, flooding and accidents. Every minute is precious in situation of such disaster scenarios. Understanding evacuation demand loading is an essential part of any evacuation planning. One of the factors often understood to effect evacuation, but not modeled has been the effect of a previous hurricane. This has also been termed as the 'Katrina Effect', where, due to the …
Design Optimization Of Solid Rocket Motor Grains For Internal Ballistic Performance, Roger Hainline
Design Optimization Of Solid Rocket Motor Grains For Internal Ballistic Performance, Roger Hainline
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
The work presented in this thesis deals with the application of optimization tools to the design of solid rocket motor grains per internal ballistic requirements. Research concentrated on the development of an optimization strategy capable of efficiently and consistently optimizing virtually an unlimited range of radial burning solid rocket motor grain geometries. Optimization tools were applied to the design process of solid rocket motor grains through an optimization framework developed to interface optimization tools with the solid rocket motor design system. This was done within a programming architecture common to the grain design system, AML. This commonality in conjunction with …
Optimization Of An Unstructured Finite Element Mesh For Tide And Storm Surge Modeling Applications In The Western North Atlantic Ocean, Satoshi Kojima
Optimization Of An Unstructured Finite Element Mesh For Tide And Storm Surge Modeling Applications In The Western North Atlantic Ocean, Satoshi Kojima
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Recently, a highly resolved, finite element mesh was developed for the purpose of performing hydrodynamic calculations in the Western North Atlantic Tidal (WNAT) model domain. The WNAT model domain consists of the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea, and the entire portion of the North Atlantic Ocean found west of the 60° W meridian. This high resolution mesh (333K) employs 332,582 computational nodes and 647,018 triangular elements to provide approximately 1.0 to 25 km node spacing. In the previous work, the 333K mesh was applied in a Localized Truncation Error Analysis (LTEA) to produce nodal density requirements for the WNAT …
A Methodology For Minimizing The Oscillations In Supply Chains Using System Dynamics And Genetic Algorithms, Ramamoorthy C.V.V. Lakkoju
A Methodology For Minimizing The Oscillations In Supply Chains Using System Dynamics And Genetic Algorithms, Ramamoorthy C.V.V. Lakkoju
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Supply Chain Management (SCM) is a critically significant strategy that enterprises depend on to meet challenges that they face because of highly competitive and dynamic business environments of today. Supply chain management involves the entire network of processes from procurement of raw materials/services/technologies to manufacturing or servicing intermediate products/services to converting them into final products or services and then distributing and retailing them till they reach final customers. A supply chain network by nature is a large and complex, engineering and management system. Oscillations occurring in a supply chain because of internal and/or external influences and measures to be taken …