Engineering Commons^™

Production And Biocompatibility Of Spider Silk Proteins In Goat Milk, Richard E. Decker Jr

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Due to its strength, flexibility, and biocompatibility, spider silk is a highly appealing material for applications in the medical field. Unfortunately, natural spider silk is difficult to obtain in large quantities because spiders are territorial and cannibalistic, making them impractical to farm. Synthetic spider silk proteins produced by transgenic hosts such as bacteria and goats have made it possible to obtain the quantities of spider silk needed to study it more fully and to investigate its potential uses. The spider silk proteins produced in our laboratory do not have an optimal purification method to remove all of the non-biocompatible contaminants …

Autonomous Trajectory Planning For Satellite Rpo And Safety Of Flight Using Convex Optimization, Nicholas G. Ortolano

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Optimal trajectory planning methods that implement convex optimization techniques are applied to the area of satellite rendezvous and proximity operations. This involves the development of linearized relative orbital motion dynamics and constraints for two satellites, where one maintains a near-circular reference orbit. The result is formulated as a convex optimization problem, where the objective is to minimize the amount of fuel required to transfer from a given initial condition to the desired final conditions. A traditional rendezvous and proximity operations scenario is analyzed, which includes examples of initial approach, inspection, final approach, and docking trajectories. This scenario may include trajectory …

Study Of The 3Ω Measurement Of The In-Plane And The Cross-Plane Thermal Properties On Anisotropic Thin Film Materials, Daxi Zhang

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Due to the size of the nano-scale and micro-scale materials, traditional method for measuring the thermal properties of the bulk materials cannot be applied. The 3 Omega Method was developed by D. G. Cahill in the early 90s. It was used extensively to measure the thermal properties of thin film dielectric materials. Compare with other simulations or experimental methods, the 3 Omega Method has many advantages. Previous research has indicate that the 3 Omega method is capable of measuring the cross-plane thermal conductivity of thin film materials. In extension, an alternative improvement for measurement of the in-plane thermal conductivity and …

Thallium Removal From Drinking Water Using Pyrolusite Filter Media, Erin R. Andersen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Thallium (Tl) is a rare heavy metal in drinking water, but its extreme toxicity makes its removal crucial to consumer health. Traditional treatment methods do not work for Tl in sources with high concentrations of ions like calcium (Ca⁺²) and potassium (K⁺), as they are removed preferentially to Tl. A treatment method that specifically targets Tl must be applied. Pilot studies conducted in Park City Utah found that pyrolusite, a manganese oxide ore, will remove Tl to very low concentrations in the presence of competing ions but because this method is not common, further study was …

Demand Disaggregation For Non-Residential Water Users In The City Of Logan, Utah, Usa, Nour Aldin Mahmoud Attaallah

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Non-residential users contribute to a significant portion of the total water delivered by water supplying agencies. However, a very limited number of studies have attempted to investigate the water use behavior of non-residential users. With the emergence of newer “smart” meters, water use now can be measured and recorded at a very high temporal frequency. Smart meters can help determine total water use, timing, and component end uses to better understand water use practices by non-residential users.

Water end use disaggregation is the process of separating the water used by each fixture or process within a facility. This is useful …

Droplet Impact Onto Super-Hydrophobic Surfaces And Determining The Response To Heat And Light Of Terrestrial Cyanobacteria, Benjamin B. Lovett

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This thesis examines droplets striking water repelling surfaces as well as the movement of a soil based bacteria under various light and heat conditions. Droplet impact studies have shown that introducing a macroscopic feature to a water repelling surface can reduce the amount of time that droplet is in contact with the surface. By manipulating water droplets to impact different sized needles at varying speeds, we present how a needle can induce a similar reduction in the residence time of the droplet to more widely studied features. Results show the spreading and lift-off characteristics of the droplet are dependent on …

Non-Contact Evaluation Methods For Infrastructure Condition Assessment, Sattar Dorafshan

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The United States infrastructure, e.g. roads and bridges, are in a critical condition. Inspection, monitoring, and maintenance of these infrastructure in the traditional manner can be expensive, dangerous, time-consuming, and tied to human judgment (the inspector). Non-contact methods can help overcoming these challenges. In this dissertation two aspects of non-contact methods are explored: inspections using unmanned aerial systems (UASs), and conditions assessment using image processing and machine learning techniques. This presents a set of investigations to determine a guideline for remote autonomous bridge inspections.

Sparse Signal Recovery Based On Compressive Sensing And Exploration Using Multiple Mobile Sensors, Mohammad Shekaramiz

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The work in this dissertation is focused on two areas within the general discipline of statistical signal processing. First, several new algorithms are developed and exhaustively tested for solving the inverse problem of compressive sensing (CS). CS is a recently developed sub-sampling technique for signal acquisition and reconstruction which is more efficient than the traditional Nyquist sampling method. It provides the possibility of compressed data acquisition approaches to directly acquire just the important information of the signal of interest. Many natural signals are sparse or compressible in some domain such as pixel domain of images, time, frequency and so forth. …

Additively-Manufactured Hybrid Rocket Consumable Structure For Cubesat Propulsion, Britany L. Chamberlain

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Three-dimensional, additive printing has emerged as an exciting new technology for the design and manufacture of small spacecraft systems. Using 3-D printed thermoplastic materials, hybrid rocket fuel grains can be printed with nearly any cross-sectional shape, and embedded cavities are easily achieved. Applying this technology to print fuel materials directly into a CubeSat frame results in an efficient, cost-effective alternative to existing CubeSat propulsion systems. Different 3-D printed materials and geometries were evaluated for their performance as propellants and as structural elements. Prototype "thrust columns" with embedded fuel ports were printed from a combination of acrylonitrile utadiene styrene (ABS) and …

Experimental Investigation Of A Green Hybrid Thruster Using A Moderately Enriched Compressed Air As The Oxidizer, Marc Anthony Bulcher

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

A hybrid rocket is a propulsion system that uses propellants in two different phases, typically a solid fuel inside the combustion chamber and a separate gaseous or liquid oxidizer stored in a tank. Hybrid rockets are an area of research interest because of their low explosive risk, inexpensive components, and high degree of reliability. In the Propulsion Research Laboratory at Utah State University, pure oxygen is among the top choice for hybrid rocket oxidizers due to its low cost and ease of storage. When paired with a solid fuel known as ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene) plastic, specific impulse values exceed …

Production And Purification Of Synthetic Minor Ampullate Silk Proteins, Danielle A. Gaztambide

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Spider silks are incredible natural materials that have a wide variety of properties that can rival or outperform even common synthetic materials like Nylon and Kevlar. As nature’s architects, orb-weaving spiders spin seven different silks that are used for very specific roles throughout the spider’s lifecycle. These silks are comprised of proteins called spidroins. Each of these spidroins has evolved to have properties such as strength and/or stretch that make these silks successful and highly adapted in their designated roles in web construction, prey capture and reproduction.

This study involves the production of minor ampullate silk by genetically modifying the …

Supporting Adolescent Metacognition In Engineering Design Through Scripted Prompts From Peer Tutors: A Comparative Case Study, Kristin Marie Strong

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In 2013, developers of the Next Generation Science Standards implemented national K-12 directives and elevated engineering design to the level of scientific inquiry. Teaching design, however, is challenging to educators due to the complex nature of design problems, which cannot be solved via simple algorithms. Solving design problems requires a more reflective and iterative approach that emphasizes metacognitive skills like planning, monitoring, and taking another person’s perspective. Educators are further challenged by children’s immature metacognitive skills, which may be insufficient to engage in the entire design process.

A qualitative study of paired seventh graders demonstrated a pragmatic learning activity for …

Development Of An Improved Low-Order Model For Propeller-Wing Interactions, Joshua Taylor Goates

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

For aircraft that have propellers mounted in front of the wings or tail, the prop wash produced by the propellers can have a strong influence on the aerodynamics of the aircraft. As the accelerated air from the propeller flows over the wings and tail, it can cause an alteration in the aerodynamic forces produced by those surfaces. Thus, an understanding of propeller-wing interactions is essential for the design and analysis of many aircraft.

There are multiple existing methods for analyzing the propeller-wing interactions. High order methods, such as wind tunnel testing or computational fluid dynamics, provide very accurate results but …

Spatial Ability Degradation In Undergraduate Mechanical Engineering Students During The Winter Semester Break, Benjamin J. Call

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Spatial ability represents our ability to mentally arrange, rotate, and explore objects in multiple dimensions. This ability has been found to be important for engineers and engineering students. Past research has shown that many interventions can be created to boost an individual’s spatial ability. In fact, past research has indicated that engineering students significantly increase in spatial ability without an intervention while they are enrolled in certain engineering courses. Some researchers have claimed that the spatial ability boosts are permanent after an intervention. However, most researchers do not check the validity of that claim with continued assessment after more than …

Investigating Rapid Concrete Repair Materials And Admixtures, Ivan Quezada

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This dissertation presents a literature review of the state-of-practice for the use of IC in concrete mixtures and how structural engineers and construction engineers can adapt IC to their present and future work. Current high early strength concrete mixtures have natural cracking and shrinkage problems due to the high content of cementitious material or their chemical components. Using IC allows for early strength, enhanced durability, reduced shrinkage and a better curing by providing water that can be absorbed by the cement past after the final set. Rapid hydration and high early strength Portland cement and calcium sulfoaluminate (CSA) concretes are …

Application Of Winslamm To Evaluate The Effect Of Green Infrastructure Implementation In Northern Utah, Rosa A. Fernández Velásquez

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study provides an evaluation of the performance of the WinSLAMM model in two cities of northern Utah, a region in which it has not been validated to date. Runoff volumes for a series of events from 2015 to 2017 were calculated for six study areas. These results were compared to model outputs to evaluate the prediction accuracy. The model performed poorly when default parameters where used, as expected. Thus, the calibration of runoff coefficient was done with local data. Total suspended solids (TSS), total phosphorus (TP) and total dissolved phosphorus (TDP) were also evaluated and calibrations were developed. The …

Identification And Engineering Of Nonribosomal Peptide Biosynthetic Systems, Fuchao Xu

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This research focuses on the understanding and engineering of nonribosomal peptide biosynthetic pathways in Streptomyces coelicolor CH999, Escherichia coli BAP1 and Saccharomyces cerevisiae BJ5464-NpgA. The biosynthetic systems of indigoidine from bacteria and beauvericin/bassianolide from fungi were studied in this research. The production of these valuble products was significantly increased by enhancing their synthetic pathway with metabolic engineering approaches.

Indigoidine is a bacterial natural product with antioxidant and antimicrobial activities. Its bright blue color resembles the industrial dye indigo, thus representing a new natural blue dye that may find uses in industry. Indigo is a dark blue crystalline powder and has …

Biomass And Phycocyanin From Oil And Natural Gas Extraction Produced Water Utilizing A Cyanobacteria Dominated Rotating Algal Biofilm Reactor (Rabr), Jonathan L. Wood

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The production of cyanobacterial biofilm biomass and phycocyanin from Rotating Algal Biofilm Reactors utilizing undiluted produced water from oil and natural gas extraction as a culture medium was investigated in this study. Produced water is the largest waste stream generated by the oil and natural gas industries and represents a large volume of non-potable water that may be available for algae culture with minimal impact on freshwater resources. Combining the use of produced wastewater as culture medium with the production of high value algal pigments, such as phycocyanin, may increase the economic viability of algae culture and wastewater purification. High …

Plume Contamination Measurements Of An Additively-Printed Gox/Abs Hybrid Thruster, David A. Brewer

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This thesis examines the impact of the physical contamination on optical surfaces of spacecraft by an ABS/GOX thruster. Plume contamination presents a significant operational hazard for spacecraft solar arrays and thermal control surfaces can lead to decreased power production and increased spacecraft temperatures. Historically, due to the lack of a reliable, on-demand, and multiple-use ignition methodology, hybrid rockets have never been previously considered for in-space propulsion. Recent advancements in hybrid rocket technologies, have made hybrid systems feasible for in space propulsion. However, prior to this study no research had ever been performed with regard to plume contamination effects due to …

The Effects Of Geometric And Stoichometric Change In Nanoparticles And Materials On Lattice Thermal Conductivity, W. Tanner Yorgason

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Thermal transport properties are critical for applications ranging from thermal management to energy conversion. Passive thermal management has been an area of study for over a century and has only grown as technology has advanced because it requires no additional energy to remove heat. Changing the nanostructure of the materials involved in passive heat transfer methods, either by geometric changes or stoichiometric changes, can greatly improve the effectiveness of this heat transfer method. In order to explore this further, this work employs LAMMPS molecular dynamics (MD) simulation software to calculate the lattice thermal conductivity (λ_p) of a …

Senior Computer Science Students’ Task And Revised Task Interpretation While Engaged In Programming Endeavor, Andreas Febrian

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Developing a computer program is not an easy task. Studies reported that a large number of computer science students decided to change their major due to the extreme challenge in learning programming. Fortunately, studies also reported that learning various self-regulation strategies may help students to continue studying computer science. This study is interested in assessing students’ self-regulation, in specific their task understanding and its revision during programming endeavors. Task understanding is specifically selected because it affects the entire programming endeavor.

In this qualitative case study, two female and two male senior computer science students were voluntarily recruited as research participants. …

Quantifying Dominant Heat Fluxes In An Arctic Alaskan River With Mechanistic River Temperature Modeling, Tyler V. King

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Temperatures strongly affect physical, chemical, and biological processes in rivers and streams. The processes that influence river temperatures are known across most geographic regions, but the relative importance varies significantly. Little is known about what controls water temperature Arctic rivers, limiting our ability to understand the impacts of climate change. This dissertation addresses this knowledge gap by incorporating field measurements with river temperature modeling to estimate the relative importance of key factors that affect Arctic river temperatures. Results indicate that shortwave radiation (e.g., sunlight) and net longwave radiation are significant throughout an Arctic watershed in all flow conditions. In areas …

Development And Optimization Of A Produced Water, Biofilm Based Microalgae Cultivation System For Biocrude Conversion With Hydrothermal Liquefaction, Benjamin L. Peterson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Extraction of oil and gas in Utah’s Uintah Basin results in large quantities of wastewater, or produced water, with nutrients and residual organic chemical that represent a significant resource for producing energy-related and value-added products. Produced water was obtained as a biomass producing nutrient source from industries operating in Utah’s Uintah Basin. Within the Uintah Basin (defined as Uintah and Duchesne Counties within Utah) approximately 93 million barrels of water were produced in 2013 while only 11% of the water was disposed of through evaporation, with the national average at 2%. The rest is reinjected into the subsurface.

The goal …

Uncertainty Quantification And Sensitivity Analysis Of Multiphysics Environments For Application In Pressurized Water Reactor Design, Cole David Blakely

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The most common design among U.S. nuclear power plants is the pressurized water reactor (PWR). The three primary design disciplines of these plants are system analysis (which includes thermal hydraulics), neutronics, and fuel performance. The nuclear industry has developed a variety of codes over the course of forty years, each with an emphasis within a specific discipline. Perhaps the greatest difficulty in mathematically modeling a nuclear reactor, is choosing which specific phenomena need to be modeled, and to what detail.

A multiphysics computational environment provides a means of advancing simulations of nuclear plants. Put simply, users are able to combine …

Gps Denied Localization Using Ultra-Wideband Radios, Joshua P. Vanfleet

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

GPS denied environments cause each unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) in an autonomous convoy to lose positional accuracy which can lead to inoperability, or even damage. In order for autonomous convoy systems to fill the needs of any particular field, a well-performing system must be designed such that a convoy can operate in any environment. Ultra-wideband (UWB) radios are a proposed solution to GPS denied localization. The main objective of this research is to use UWB radios to localize a leader vehicle within a convoy situation while in a GPS denied environment.

An Experimental Comparison Of Student Motivation Between Two Computational Thinking-Based Stem Activities: Vex-Based Automation And Robotics And A Quadcopter Activity, Cory J. Ortiz

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this study was to compare student motivation between two junior high level computational thinking based STEM curricular activities. These two activities were a newly developed quadcopter based curriculum and a VEX based curricular activity developed for Project Lead the Way’s Gateway to Technology – Automation and Robotics course. Student motivation was assessed using an assessment called My Class Activities which broke motivation into four constructs: interest, challenge, choice, and enjoyment.

This study assessed students in three schools in a northern Utah school district. Students were assessed after receiving each curriculum. Assessment responses were then coded and analyzed. …

A Comparison Of The Effects Of Enhanced Hands-On Intervention Versus Textbook Interventions To Understand Student Misconceptions In Particle Dynamics, Gang Liu

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The present dissertation research examined the effects of applying the enhanced hands-on intervention to reveal and correct student misunderstandings of the concepts in engineering dynamics, especially particle dynamics. We involved 36 student volunteers for three different research topics. The student participants were divided into two groups in each research topic: enhanced hands-on intervention and pure textbook groups. An interview and intervention was conducted with each participant individually.

The author introduced the “Think-Aloud” method with two kinds of interventions mentioned above. The participants were required to speak out their thought process loud as they worked on the two sets of assessment …

Tackling Choke Point Induced Performance Bottlenecks In A Near-Threshold Gpgpu, Tahmoures Shabanian

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Over the last decade, General Purpose Graphics Processing Units (GPGPUs) have garnered a substantial attention in the research community due to their extensive thread-level parallelism. GPGPUs provide a remarkable performance improvement over Central Processing Units (CPUs), for highly parallel applications. However, GPGPUs typically achieve this extensive thread-level parallelism at the cost of a large power consumption. Consequently, Near-Threshold Computing (NTC) provides a promising opportunity for designing energy-efficient GPGPUs (NTC-GPUs). However, NTC-GPUs suffer from a crucial Process Variation (PV)-inflicted performance bottleneck, which is called Choke Point. Choke Point is defined as one or small group of gates which is affected by …

Advancing Methods To Quantify Actual Evapotranspiration In Stony Soil Ecosystems, Kshitij Parajuli

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Water is undeniably among the most important natural resources and the most critical in semi-arid regions like the Intermountain West of the United States. Such regions are characterized by low precipitation, the majority of which is transferred to the atmosphere from the soil and vegetation as evapotranspiration (ET). Quantification of ET is thus crucial for understanding the balance of water within the region, which is important for efficiently planning the available water resources. This study was motivated towards advancing the estimation of actual ET (ET_A) in mountain ecosystems, where the variation in different types of vegetation and non-uniformity …

Water Entry Cavity Dynamics, Nathan B. Speirs

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

When a sphere or a stream of water hits the surface of a pool of water and enters a crater or air cavity often forms. This topic has been studied, both formally and informally, for a long time. This dissertation investigates four areas of water impact that are still poorly understood using high-speed photography. First, it examines a stream of droplets impacting on a pool of water, similar to a faucet drizzling into a full bucket. For these types of impacts we predict the depth, diameter, velocity, and shape of the cavities that the droplet stream forms. Second, it examines …