Engineering Commons^™

When Ai Moves Downstream, Frances S. Grodzinsky, Keith W. Miller, Marty J. Wolf

School of Computer Science & Engineering Faculty Publications

After computing professionals design, develop, and deploy software, what is their responsibility for subsequent uses of that software “downstream” by others? Furthermore, does it matter ethically if the software in question is considered to be artificial intelligent (AI)? The authors have previously developed a model to explore downstream accountability, called the Software Responsibility Attribution System (SRAS). In this paper, we explore three recent publications relevant to downstream accountability, and focus particularly on examples of AI software. Based on our understanding of the three papers, we suggest refinements of SRAS.

The Design Estimate Of A Warehouse Refrigeration System, Jackson Dear

Honors Theses

The intention of this project was to provide a design and cost estimate for the refrigeration systems within an industrial cold storage distribution center for Magnolia Country Frozen Foods, Inc. in East Rutherford, NJ. The facility includes eighteen 300,000 ft3 units (200 ft x 100 ft x 15 ft). These units require 200 tons of refrigeration at a maintained temperature of 0oF. This project's scope included choosing an optimal refrigeration system, selecting a refrigerant for use within the system, and providing a cost estimate for the purchase of the refrigeration system equipment and for the yearly cost associated with running …

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 …

Consolidated Chamber Design And Protocol For Olfactory Conditioning Assay With Drosophila Melanogaster, Sasha Bronovitskiy, Andres Castillo, Michael Yan, Fang Ju Lin

Journal of the South Carolina Academy of Science

The olfactory conditioning assay is widely used in Alzheimer’s disease research to quantify learning and memory in Drosophila melanogaster. The assay tests ability to recall an aversive conditioned stimulus of scent paired with electrical shock when presented a choice between shock-associated and unrelated scents. The T-maze, a commonly used apparatus for olfactory conditioning assays, employs an elevator mechanism to transfer live flies from the shock-delivering training chamber to the scent selection point. This elevator mechanism is known to cause fly casualty. T-mazes are not commercially available and often difficult to reproduce. Other existing variations of olfactory conditioning apparatuses use …

Surface Electromyographic (Semg) Transduction Of Hand Joint Angles For Human Interfacing Devices (Hid), Brendan P. Beauchamp

Masters Theses

This is an investigation of the use of surface electromyography (sEMG) as a tool to improve human interfacing devices (HID) information bandwidth through the transduction of the fingertip workspace. It combines the work of Merletti et al and Jarque-Bou et al to design an open-source framework for Fingertip Workspace based Human Interfacing Devices (HID). In this framework, the fingertip workspace is defined as the system of forearm and hand muscle force through a tensor which describes hand anthropometry. The thesis discusses the electrophysiology of muscle tissue along with the anatomy and physiology of the arm in pursuit of optimizing sensor …

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:

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 …

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 …

Spectral Fits Of Brown Dwarfs: Discovering Trends Across The Spectral Type Sequence, Savanah Turner, Denise Stephens, Conner Scoresby

Utah Space Grant Consortium

Brown dwarfs are substellar objects that form like stars but never achieve the core temperatures and pressures needed to ignite hydrogen fusion. These "failed stars" have been shown to exhibit complex atmospheres similar to those of planets, making them useful analogs for exoplanets. As a brown dwarf cools over time, different cloud species condense or fall below the surface of the atmosphere, causing changes in the resulting spectrum of the object. Comparison of theoretical atmospheric models to real brown dwarf spectra can provide insight into the physical and chemical processes occurring in the atmosphere of the object. We have fit …

Continuous-Time Trajectory Estimation For Differentially Flat Systems, Jacob C. Johnson, Joshua G. Mangelson, Randal W. Beard

Utah Space Grant Consortium

Continuous-time estimation using splines on Lie groups has been gaining traction in the literature in recent years due to their ability to incorporate high-frequency sensor data without introducing new optimization parameters. However, evaluating time derivatives and Jacobians of Lie group splines is computationally expensive, limiting their use mainly to offline applications. Motivated by the trajectory planning literature, we develop a new estimation technique that leverages the differential flatness property of many dynamic systems to define the spline in the system's flat output space, which is often Euclidean, and show an example of its use with the unicycle dynamic model. We …

Comparing A 3-D Printed Hemispherical-Head And Rankine Body Probe Shapes For Very Low Speed Air Data Measurements, Stephen A. Whitmore, Zheng Qi C. Case

Utah Space Grant Consortium

This study investigates the feasibility of using Flush Air Data Sensing (FADS) System technology for air data measurements at the very low-airspeeds, where many Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) operate. FADS is a non-intrusive alternative to pitot probes, where the vehicle nosecone, wing leading edge, or other aerodynamic surface is configured with multiple pressure-ports distributed along the windward surface. Although FADS technology has been used for a variety of high-speed aircraft, FADS has never been applied to very low-airspeed flight regimes. This study reports on wind tunnel tests of two 3-D printed shapes: 1) a cylindrical body with a hemispherical head, …

One-Dimensional Radial Turbomachinery Modeling, Chase Oliphant

Utah Space Grant Consortium

Centrifugal flow impellers are commonly used in a wide variety of industrial machines. Predicting the performance of these impellers over the entire operating range is key to the system development during the early design stages. The two element in series (TEIS) and two-zone model can be used to accurately predict impeller performance based on flow physics and empirical correlations. Correlations were made with linear regression on a database of 50 pumps and 75 impellers. These correlations were later found to only apply to designs that are similar to those in the database. This paper proposes a new method to generate …

Development, Modeling And Performance Analysis Of An Electric Vtol Aircraft With Tiltable Rotors, Clayton Spencer, Samantha Burton, Tianyi He

Utah Space Grant Consortium

In this paper, the development and modeling of an electric Vertical-Take-Off-and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft with tiltable rotors. The front two rotors have tilting capability for transition flight from vertical take-off to forward-direction level flight. This paper focuses on the design and analysis of an eVTOL aircraft platform. The study includes layout and system architecture, the selections and optimization of components, such as electric motors, batteries, and controllers, as well as the integration of these components into the overall aircraft system. In addition, the dynamical model is derived as a nonlinear differential equation. Afterwards, a linearization-based model and Linear Parameter-Varying (LPV) …

A Preliminary Review And Discussion Of Metrics For Origami-Based Deployable Arrays, Katie Varela, Spencer P. Magleby

Utah Space Grant Consortium

When designing deployable structures, there are many things to consider that help the deployment method integrate with the system. Preliminary metrics are proposed to help rate the deployment systems to determine the best methods for each application. The top four metrics that apply to most space applications are mass, usable area, volume, and energy. Additional considerations that are less quantifiable are included for the value they contribute to the system. Trade-offs may be necessary for different applications.

Experimental Characterization Of Internal Wave Generation By Multiple Peak Topographies, Natasha Wilson, Julie Crockett

Utah Space Grant Consortium

Internal waves are generated in the oceans and atmosphere and play an important role in their energy budgets. The semidiurnal oscillation of the tides over topography in the oceans combined with the density stratification can create internal waves that radiate away from their source. The effect multiple peaks on a single topography has on internal wave generation is explored. Three and four topography peaks create three and four crests respectively in the internal wave beams. Five and six peak topographies generate internal wave beams characterized by two bounding crests and several smaller crests in the middle of the beam. In …

Optimizing Nitrogen Use For Continuous Recycling In Closed Life Support Systems, Noah J. Langenfeld, Bruce Bugbee

Utah Space Grant Consortium

Nitrogen (N) is needed by plants in the highest amount among root-zone-derived nutrients. Closed life-support systems for space missions will rely on in-situ food production for long-term sustainability, but high resupply and N fixation costs necessitate N recycling to support human nutrition for extended mission durations. We studied combinations of four N forms [ammonium, nitrate, urea, and N-fixing bacteria (protein)] for their use as an optimal N source for lettuce (Lactuca sativa) grown in peat moss in two container sizes (1.7 L and 8 L). Plants grown with ammonium nitrate consistently had the highest mass. When ammonium, urea, or microbial …

Fabrication Of Metallic Far-Infrared Filters, Jared E. Payne, Joseph Eddy, Hunter R.J. Stevenson, Brad Ferguson, Ryan T. Beazer, Gregory N. Nielson, Stephen M. Shultz

Utah Space Grant Consortium

A far-infrared filter is fabricated by creating metallic squares on a dielectric substrate. This capacitive metallic filter is fabricated using direct write laser ablation consisting of a femtosecond laser in combination with a high numerical aperture objective. A representative capacitive filter is fabricated on soda-lime glass substrate with a period of 100 µm and separation width of 30 µm. A capacitive filter was also fabricated on a thin film polypropylene substrate with similar dimensions. The filter was tested and the frequency response is discussed.

Facilitation Of Deployable Antennas Using A Panel Structure Optimization Framework, Nathan Coleman

Utah Space Grant Consortium

Origami has become a popular method for beginning mechanical design due to its ability to stow compactly and deploy to a large area. One common origami pattern is the Flasher, which has a roughly circular shape and aspect ratio, centers around a polygon which can be grounded, and is easily extensible. Because of these advantages, the Flasher is a candidate for many deployable applications, including space-based optical telescopes, LiDaR telescopes, solar arrays, and reflectarray antennas. One of the primary difficulties when implementing the Flasher pattern is that it is not rigid-foldable and is subject to panel interference at high-degree vertices. …

Measuring The Period Of Variable Stars In Ngc 188, Molly Christensen, Connor Smith, Christian Draper

Utah Space Grant Consortium

Galactic cluster NGC 188 is 1.93 kpc away located in the constellation Cepheus. This cluster is one of the oldest clusters that contain W UMa stars W UMa variables are a type of eclipsing binary butare unique because they share an envelope of materia laround two stars. According to Simbad there are 741 interacting binaries in NGC 188. 70 of these are eclipsing binaries. We chose NGC 188 because it is an ideal place to study the evolution of W UMa stars because it is one of the oldest galactic clusters with this type of star. Despite the overabundance of …

The First Snap Surface Brightness Fluctuation Distances, Mikaela Cowles, Joseph B. Jensen, Brent Tully, John P. Blakeslee, Ehsan Kourkchi

Utah Space Grant Consortium

We have successfully acquired F110W (J-band) images of 68 massive elliptical galaxies inclusters and groups out to 80 Mpc by taking advantage of the efficient Hubble Space Telescope SNAP observing mode. We used the Surface Brightness Fluctuation (SBF) technique to measure distances to 44 of the galaxies so far with a typical uncertainty of ~5% indistance by implementing a new Python-based pipeline to simplify and automate the SBF analysis procedure. This new SNAP sample doubles the total number of IRSBF distances to galaxies beyond 50 Mpc. The new distances will allow for more accurate determination ofthe mass distribution in the …

Byu Rocketry 2023 Irec & Spaceport America Cup, Derrick Walker, Riley Brown, Will Hart, Anya Jeppson, Aidan Rice, Nathan Butler, Bradley Hornfischer, Blake Jensen, Alexander Potter, Joshua Taylor, Dallan Trentman

Utah Space Grant Consortium

BYU Rocketry will compete in the 2023 IREC competition at the Spaceport America Cup in the 10,000 ft commercial motor category. The 12 ft and 71 lb. rocket, Solitude beckons to BYU Rocketry’s past while honoring some of Utah’s most towering peaks.

The Gasrats Cubesat: Testing An Optically Transparent, Solar Panel-Integrated Patch Antenna, Carter Page, Shawn Jones, Ben Willard, Bella Nielsen, Tyler Day, Taylor Rowser, Cooper Gowan, C. J. Wayland, Warren Prescott, Jeremy Evans, Lorenzo High, Hunter Nelson, Kade Angell

Utah Space Grant Consortium

The Get Away Special Radio and Antenna Transparency Satellite (GASRATS) is an education and technology demonstration mission developed by the Get Away Special (GAS) Student Satellite Team at Utah State University (USU) in collaboration with USU Professor, Dr. Reyhan Baktur.

Muons, Moody Weather, & Many Lines Of Code, Nathan Tanner, Jade Marchant, Matt Wilkinson

Utah Space Grant Consortium

Muons are heavy, fundamental subatomic particles that are created in the Earth’s atmosphere by cosmic rays. Muons decay quickly after being formed, but because they are moving at nearly the speed of light they travel far before doing so, passing through almost everything in their path. This allows them to be detected on the ground. The purpose of this experiment is to see if there is any relation between weather and measured muon rates. Literature suggests that the density of the atmosphere has the most significant effect on muon rates, the connection being a direct negative correlation. To do this …

Blotting Out The Sky: The Affects Of Various Shielding Configurations On The Rate Of Muon Interactions, Masen Pitts

Utah Space Grant Consortium

Detector shielding techniques are widely used in the field of particle physics, where in many cases properly detecting the objects of interest is solely dependent on how well one can reduce the detector's noise floor, or the minimum signal intensity at which detection events can be distinguished from background noise.

Lasso (L1) Regularization For The Development Of Sparse Remote Sensing Models Of Water Quality, Anna C. Cardall, Riley C. Hales, Kaylee B. Tanner, Gustavious P. Williams, Kel N. Markert

Utah Space Grant Consortium

Remote sensing data (data contained in satellite imagery) are used extensively to monitor waterquality parameters such as clarity, temperature, and chlorophyll-a (chl-a). This is generally done bycollecting in situ data coincident with satellite data collections, then creating empirical water qualitymodels using approaches such as multi-linear regression or step-wise linear regression. Theseapproaches, which require modelers to select model parameters, may not be well-suited for opticallycomplex waters, where interference from suspended solids, dissolved organic matter, or otherconstituents may act as “confusers”. For these waters, it may be useful to include non-standard terms,which might not be considered using traditional methods. Recent machine learning …

An Automated Stepper Motor-Driven System For Angular Sampling Of High Scattering Angles, Tyler Daynes, Jair Gonzalez, Jeremy Tait, Josh Jumper, Vern Hart

Utah Space Grant Consortium

Survival rates for most cancers have increased steadily over the past few decades as new technologies have led to better treatment outcomes. However, this process often relies heavily on the detection of cancer in its earliest stages, before symptoms occur or a tumor is visible in a CT or MR image. This is particularly true for diseases such as pancreatic cancer that exhibit almost nosymptoms until very late stages and have extremely low survival rates as a result. Even somecommonly treatable diseases, such as breast cancer, become far more problematic in later stages.As such, any efforts to improve cancer treatment …

Modelling Filter Response Of Galactic Emission Line Spectra, Jessica Johnson, Christian Draper

Utah Space Grant Consortium

The overall goal of our research is to begin to make a map of the universe in order to find evidence for the cold dark matter theory. Dark matter, which is 85% of all matter, does not interact with light, making it invisible to telescopes. However, we know it exists due to its gravitational effects on visible matter, which can be hard to detect.

Creating A System For Automated Imaging Of Atmospheric Gravity Waves, James Morley, Kim Nielsen

Utah Space Grant Consortium

Atmospheric gravity waves are disturbances in the atmosphere and near-space environments caused by displacement of air in a stable environment. These waves transport energy away from the source of the disturbance and can transfer large amounts of energy between atmospheric regions through wave dissipation. One of the regions of most energy transfer is the mesopause region, in the transition between the Earth's atmosphere and the near-space environment. This is a region that is difficult to observe, but the presence of certain atoms and molecules allows for remote sensing of faint emissions called airglow. As the waves pass through the airglow, …

Atmospheric Modeling Of Brown Dwarfs, Brayden Roberts, Joshua Lothringer

Utah Space Grant Consortium

Brown dwarfs are celestial bodies outside the solar system that are more massive than planets, but less massive than stars. Since they are less massive than stars, they do not fuse hydrogen in their core, but rather cool slowly over time. However, brown dwarfs still emit light. We can measure this light by taking its spectra. From this spectra, we can learn many characteristics and properties of brown dwarfs, such as their temperature, chemical composition, and much more. Brown dwarfs can be categorized by their spectra into M,L,T and Y spectral types.

Construction And Characterization Of A Nd:Yvo4 Laser For Pumping A Baga4se7 Nonlinear Optical System, Brantson Wayman, Alexander Gibb, York Young

Utah Space Grant Consortium

One way to probe tissue for disease is via long wave infrared spectroscopy. This technique uses wavelength dependent absorption of specific molecules which serve as early indicators of disease onset in human tissue.