Singh Center for Nanotechnology
University of Connecticut - Storrs
Utah State University
Bogor Agricultural University
Southern Methodist University
Louisiana State University
Michigan Technological University
Iowa State University
Exploration Of The Sludge Biodiesel Pathway,
2021
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Exploration Of The Sludge Biodiesel Pathway, Zachary Christman
Theses, Dissertations, and Student Research in Agronomy and Horticulture
Wastewater sludge is an overlooked source of fat, oil, and grease (FOG) that could be converted into biodiesel. The United States produces about 8 million tons of sludge per year. The disposal cost for this amount of sludge is about 2 billion dollars. The widespread availability and low cost of sludge compared to other biodiesel raw materials make it an economical choice for a renewable fuel. Using sludge as a raw material can produce 25 to 30 mg per gram of fatty acid methyl ester (FAME); the main component of biodiesel. Sludge biodiesel has the potential of transforming a portion ...
Design And Control Of A Peristaltic Pump To Simulate Left Atrial Pressure In A Conductive Silicone Model,
2021
University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
Design And Control Of A Peristaltic Pump To Simulate Left Atrial Pressure In A Conductive Silicone Model, Jeremy Collins
Mechanical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses
According to the CDC, atrial fibrillation is responsible for more than 454,000 hospitalizations and approximately 158,000 deaths per year. A common treatment for atrial fibrillation is catheter ablation, a process in which a long flexible tube is guided through the femoral artery and to the source of arrhythmia in the heart, where it measures the electrical potential at various locations and converts problematic heart tissue to scar tissue via ablation. This paper details the design and control of a low-cost ($400) peristaltic pump system using repetitive control to replicate blood pressure in the left atrium in a conductive ...
Finite Element Analysis Of Impact Resistant Composites Inspired By Peacock Mantis Shrimp,
2021
University of Southern Maine
Finite Element Analysis Of Impact Resistant Composites Inspired By Peacock Mantis Shrimp, Nandati Shrestha
Thinking Matters Symposium
The fist-like club of the peacock mantis shrimp, a 5-inch marine crustacean, can strike its prey with speed faster than a .22-caliber bullet with an impact force more than 1,000 times its own weight. Although these creatures punch so fast that it even boils the water, they don’t take any damage. This incredible insusceptibility is due to the arrangement of mineralized fiber layers in which each fibrous layer is laid at a slightly rotated angle to form a helicoidal structure that acts as a shock absorber for the club. The goal is to perform a finite element analysis ...
Handling And Manipulation Of Water- And Air- Borne Biological Samples Using Liquid-Infused Surfaces,
2021
University of Maine
Handling And Manipulation Of Water- And Air- Borne Biological Samples Using Liquid-Infused Surfaces, Daniel P. Regan
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Research on novel materials to handling water- and airborne samples for biological threats analysis is in great demand due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Work conducted on a new field of material science, called liquid-infused surfaces, demonstrate strong potential for the handling and manipulation of biological samples. As a result of the field’s infancy, only a limited number of studies have explored how liquid-infused surfaces can apply droplet manipulation strategies to address real-world problems. Presented in this dissertation are two platforms that leverage liquid-infused surfaces to address the challenges associated with handling water- and airborne biological samples. When dealing with ...
The Role Of Rejuvenators In Embedded Damage Healing For Asphalt Pavement,
2021
Delft University of Technology
The Role Of Rejuvenators In Embedded Damage Healing For Asphalt Pavement, Shi Xu, Xueyan Liu, Amir Tabakovic, P Lin, Y Zhang, S Nahar, B J. Lommerts, Erik Schlangen
Articles
Rejuvenator encapsulation technique showed great potential for extrinsic asphalt pavement damage healing. Once the capsules are embedded within asphalt pavement, the healing is activated on-demand via progressing microcrack. When the microcrack encounters the capsule, the fracture energy at the tip opens the capsule and releases the rejuvenator. Then the released rejuvenator wets the crack surfaces, diffuses into and softens the aged bitumen, allowing two broken edges to come in the contact, preventing further asphalt pavement deterioration. The quality and speed of the damage repair process strongly depend on the quality of rejuvenator, thus it is important to choose a proper ...
An Injectable Thermosensitive Hydrogel Potentially Used For Wound Dressing With Self-Adhesive Properties,
2021
Washington University in St. Louis
An Injectable Thermosensitive Hydrogel Potentially Used For Wound Dressing With Self-Adhesive Properties, Yunxiu Qiu
Engineering and Applied Science Theses & Dissertations
Wound healing is a complex process, and different kinds of materials are tried to achieve rapid healing. Among them, hydrogel is one of the best candidates for would dressing due to its distinctive properties, such as high biocompatibility, flexibility, and sensitivity to physiological environments. Injectable hydrogels can be facilely delivered in vivo without massive impairment to the body, as no surgical incision is needed for hydrogel embedment. This is highly consistent with the need of minimal invasion on human body. Multiple stimuli could be applied to achieve its injectability, including pH, temperature, light, ions in body fluids. Thermosensitive hydrogel is ...
Bio-Inspired Metasurface Skin To Enhance The Performance Of Blue Energy Harvesting,
2021
Florida International University
Bio-Inspired Metasurface Skin To Enhance The Performance Of Blue Energy Harvesting, Saman Farhangdoust, Gary Georgeson, Jeong-Beom Ihn, Simon Laflamme
Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering Conference Presentations and Proceedings
Interest in blue energy harvesting systems is rapidly growing and becoming widespread given its promise as a renewable and clean energy source. Blue energy harvesting from raindrop impact would allow low-power systems to operate in remote areas without the need for battery replacement and related maintenance. Insufficient power output is the most critical limitation that makes the conventional types of rain energy harvester (REH) typically unusable or/and infeasible. To overcome this limitation, a bio-inspired metasurface skin is proposed in this paper to serve as the membrane for a piezoelectric type of REHs. The proposed metasurface membrane is comprised of ...
Experimental Validation Of Textured Sensing Skin For Fatigue Crack Monitoring,
2021
Iowa State University
Experimental Validation Of Textured Sensing Skin For Fatigue Crack Monitoring, Han Liu, Simon Laflamme, Jian Li, Caroline Bennett, William Collins, Austin Downey, Hongki Jo
Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering Conference Presentations and Proceedings
Automatic fatigue crack detection using commercial sensing technologies is difficult due to the highly localized nature of crack monitoring sensors and the randomness of crack initiation and propagation. The authors have previously proposed and demonstrated a novel sensing skin capable of fatigue crack detection, localization, and quantification. The technology is based on soft elastomeric capacitors (SECs) that constitute thin-film flexible strain sensors transducing strain into a measurable change in capacitance. Deployed in an array configuration, the SECs mimic biological skin, where local damage can be diagnosed over large surfaces. Recently, the authors have proposed a significantly improved version of the ...
Characterization, Immobilization, And Polymer Related Applications Of Watermelon Seed Powder, A Practical Source Of Urease Enzyme,
2021
Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College
Characterization, Immobilization, And Polymer Related Applications Of Watermelon Seed Powder, A Practical Source Of Urease Enzyme, Anthony Quan Quoc Mai
LSU Doctoral Dissertations
Urease enzyme was crystallized almost a century ago, and to this day its intrinsic stability is not ideal for everyday applications. This work introduces a new process by which a naturally encapsulated material, watermelon seed powder (WMSP), is characterized for its stability and activity. WMSP enzymatic activity has been measured for over a year at various storage conditions—exposed to ambient atmosphere for a year, WMSP retained above 90% activity. In aqueous conditions, the enzyme maintained above 60% activity after two months; with the addition of a preservative that number stays at about 90%. There is a pH shift of ...
Sense–Analyze–Respond–Actuate (Sara) Paradigm: Proof Of Concept System Spanning Nanoscale And Macroscale Actuation For Detection Of Escherichia Coli In Aqueous Media,
2021
Texas A & M University - College Station
Sense–Analyze–Respond–Actuate (Sara) Paradigm: Proof Of Concept System Spanning Nanoscale And Macroscale Actuation For Detection Of Escherichia Coli In Aqueous Media, Cassie A. Giacobassi, Daniela A. Oliveira, Cicero C. Pola, Dong Xiang, Yifan Tang, Shoumen Palit Austin Datta, Eric S. Mclamore, Carmen L. Gomes
Mechanical Engineering Publications
Foodborne pathogens are a major concern for public health. We demonstrate for the first time a partially automated sensing system for rapid (~17 min), label-free impedimetric detection of Escherichia coli spp. in food samples (vegetable broth) and hydroponic media (aeroponic lettuce system) based on temperature-responsive poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAAm) nanobrushes. This proof of concept (PoC) for the Sense-Analyze-Respond-Actuate (SARA) paradigm uses a biomimetic nanostructure that is analyzed and actuated with a smartphone. The bio-inspired soft material and sensing mechanism is inspired by binary symbiotic systems found in nature, where low concentrations of bacteria are captured from complex matrices by brush actuation ...
Leveraging Biomimicry And Additive Manufacturing To Improve Load Transfer In Brittle Materials,
2020
University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
Leveraging Biomimicry And Additive Manufacturing To Improve Load Transfer In Brittle Materials, Ana Paula Bernardo
Theses and Dissertations
With the emergence of Additive Manufacturing (i.e., 3D printing) in construction, new strategically designed shapes can be created to improve load transfer through structural members and foundations. Cross-sections can be optimized to carry load using less material, or even using weaker constituent materials, like soils, which are cheap and abundant. The goal of this research is to investigate the benefits of using cellular patterns which leverage biomimicry in civil engineering applications, since nature has perfectly engineered materials and patterns which carry loads with the least amount of material possible. Most of the periodic cellular work to date has focused ...
Urine Volume Reduction During Long-Duration Cave Exploration By A Light-Weight And Portable Forward Osmosis System,
2020
University of Akron
Urine Volume Reduction During Long-Duration Cave Exploration By A Light-Weight And Portable Forward Osmosis System, Sebastian Engelhardt, Katey E. Bender, Jörg Vogel, Stephen E. Duirk, Francisco B. Moore, Hazel A. Barton
International Journal of Speleology
The preservation of caves is a challenge during long-duration cave expeditions where human waste can add significant nitrogen to the cave ecosystem. Since the removal of urine that accumulates during a multi-day caving trip is not always feasible due to weight and volume constraints, a light-weight and portable filtration system that is capable of reducing urine volume would be desirable. In this study we tested the Aquaporin Inside hollow fiber membrane in a forward osmosis (FO) setup to evaluate its capability to reduce urine volume while rejecting nitrogenous compounds using different draw solution chemistries and water recovery rates. As a ...
Thinner Biological Tissues Induce Leaflet Flutter In Aortic Heart Valve Replacements,
2020
Iowa State University
Thinner Biological Tissues Induce Leaflet Flutter In Aortic Heart Valve Replacements, Emily L. Johnson, Michael C. H. Wu, Fei Xu, Nelson M. Wiese, Manoj R. Rajanna, Austin J. Herrema, Baskar Ganapathysubramanian, Thomas J. R. Hughes, Michael S. Sacks, Ming-Chen Hsu
Mechanical Engineering Publications
Valvular heart disease has recently become an increasing public health concern due to the high prevalence of valve degeneration in aging populations. For patients with severely impacted aortic valves that require replacement, catheter-based bioprosthetic valve deployment offers a minimally invasive treatment option that eliminates many of the risks associated with surgical valve replacement. Although recent percutaneous device advancements have incorporated thinner, more flexible biological tissues to streamline safer deployment through catheters, the impact of such tissues in the complex, mechanically demanding, and highly dynamic valvular system remains poorly understood. The present work utilized a validated computational fluid–structure interaction approach ...
In Vivo Biosynthesis Of Inorganic Nanomaterials Using Eukaryotes - A Review,
2020
Lamar University
In Vivo Biosynthesis Of Inorganic Nanomaterials Using Eukaryotes - A Review, Ashiqur Rahman, Julia Lin, Francisco E. Jaramillo, Dennis A. Bazylinski, Clayton Jeffryes, Si Amar Dahoumane
Life Sciences Faculty Publications
Bionanotechnology, the use of biological resources to produce novel, valuable nanomaterials, has witnessed tremendous developments over the past two decades. This eco-friendly and sustainable approach enables the synthesis of numerous, diverse types of useful nanomaterials for many medical, commercial, and scientific applications. Countless reviews describing the biosynthesis of nanomaterials have been published. However, to the best of our knowledge, no review has been exclusively focused on the in vivo biosynthesis of inorganic nanomaterials. Therefore, the present review is dedicated to filling this gap by describing the many different facets of the in vivo biosynthesis of nanoparticles (NPs) using living eukaryotic ...
Nanoelectronic Applications Of Magnetoelectric Nanostructures,
2020
Florida International University
Nanoelectronic Applications Of Magnetoelectric Nanostructures, Ping Wang
FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations
The greatly increased interest in magnetoelectric materials over the last decade is due to their potential to enable next-generation multifunctional nanostructures required for revolutionizing applications spanning from energy-efficient information processing to medicine. Magnetoelectric nanomaterials offer a unique way to use a voltage to control the electron spin and, reciprocally, to use remotely controlled magnetic fields to access local intrinsic electric fields. The magnetoelectric coefficient is the most critical indicator for the magnetoelectric coupling in these nanostructures. To realize the immense potential of these materials, it is necessary to maximize the coefficient. Therefore, the goal of this PhD thesis study was ...
Investigation Of Neoprene Medical Gloves: Analysis Of Material Properties, Durability, And Bacterial Barrier Efficacy,
2020
University of Connecticut - Storrs
Investigation Of Neoprene Medical Gloves: Analysis Of Material Properties, Durability, And Bacterial Barrier Efficacy, Amanda Agui
Honors Scholar Theses
This work aims to investigate the material properties, durability, and bacterial barrier efficacy of neoprene for applications in the healthcare/medical field. A special focus on material stiffness and fatigue failure will be explored. Additionally, manufacturer regulations and testing will be inspected to ensure medical gloves made of neoprene blends have a proper lifespan for its desired application in the healthcare community. The resistance of protective gloves and its ability to withstand perforation failure will be investigated to guarantee the safety of users holds extreme importance. Lastly, an analysis of the bacterial barrier efficacy of neoprene gloves will be determined.
Development Of Reduced Chemical Kinetic Models For The Numerical Simulation Of Combustion And Emissions Behavior Of Representative Conventional And Bio-Derived Fuels,
2020
California State University, Fresno
Development Of Reduced Chemical Kinetic Models For The Numerical Simulation Of Combustion And Emissions Behavior Of Representative Conventional And Bio-Derived Fuels, Mazen A. Eldeeb
Mineta Transportation Institute Publications
The study addresses two of the main challenges facing combustion modeling for transportation fuels: simultaneous simulation of non-related combustion problems and reducing the computational cost of the modeling process itself. To address the first challenge, researchers determine a characteristic flame time from thermal diffusivity and laminar burning velocity. Researchers examine parametric dependence of flame time and ignition delay time on pressure, temperature and equivalence ratio for methane, based on validated chemical kinetic mechanisms. The study reveals flame time and ignition delay time show similar temperature dependence, flame time has stronger dependence on equivalence ratio and weaker dependence on pressure than ...
Co-Assembly Behavior Of Neutral And Zwitterionic Amphiphilic Block Copolymers In The Fabrication Of Glassy Polymer Vesicles,
2020
The University of Southern Mississippi
Co-Assembly Behavior Of Neutral And Zwitterionic Amphiphilic Block Copolymers In The Fabrication Of Glassy Polymer Vesicles, Elina Ghimire
Honors Theses
Polymersomes, also known as polymer vesicles, are hollow capsules fabricated through the solution assembly of amphiphilic block copolymers. Polymer vesicles have garnered a great deal of interest in materials science because of their potential application in areas such as drug delivery, diagnostics and imaging, gene therapy, and as nanoreactors. The goal of this project is to understand the factors that affect the arrangement of triblocks in vesicle membrane via the study of the co-assembly behavior of linear amphiphilic triblocks with different hydrophilic blocks. We investigated the self- and co-assembly behavior of amphiphilic triblock copolymers with neutral hydrophilic blocks. Moreover, we ...
Size-Dependent Inhibitory Effects Of Antibiotic Nanocarriers On Filamentation Of E. Coli,
2020
Old Dominion University
Size-Dependent Inhibitory Effects Of Antibiotic Nanocarriers On Filamentation Of E. Coli, Preeyaporn Songkiatisak, Feng Ding, Pavan Kumar Cherukuri, Xiao-Hong Nancy Xu
Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications
Multidrug membrane transporters exist in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells and cause multidrug resistance (MDR), which results in an urgent need for new and more effective therapeutic agents. In this study, we used three different sized antibiotic nanocarriers to study their mode of action and their size-dependent inhibitory effects against Escherichia coli (E. coli). Antibiotic nanocarriers (AgMUNH–Oflx NPs) with 8.6 × 102, 9.4 × 103 and 6.5 × 105 Oflx molecules per nanoparticle (NP) were prepared by functionalizing Ag NPs (2.4 ± 0.7, 13.0 ± 3.1 and 92.6 ± 4.4 nm) with a ...
Quantifying Wicking In Functionlized Surfaces,
2020
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Quantifying Wicking In Functionlized Surfaces, Maureen Winter, Ryan Regan, Alfred Tsubaki, Craig Zuhlke, Dennis Alexander, George Gogos
UCARE Research Products
Wicking remains the enigmatic key factor in many research areas. From boiling in power plants, to anti-icing on plane wings, to medical instruments, to heat pipes, efficiency and safety depend on how quickly a surface becomes wet. Yet wicking remains difficult to quantify and define as a property of the surface. This experiment strives to measure the wicking property by examining the rate that a liquid can be pulled out of a container. A superhydrophilic surface is placed in contact with the liquid at the bottom of a tube so that the volume flow rate across the surface can be ...
