Digital Commons Network^™

Analyzing Student Credits, Don R. Hush, Elias S. Lopez, Wisam Al-Doroubi, Tushar Ojha, Brianne Santos, Kevin Warne

Electrical & Computer Engineering Technical Reports

This report describes methods for decomposing student credits into three categories: applied, unusable, and excess where applied credits count towards the student's degree requirements, unusable credits do not count towards any degree requirement, and excess credits exceed one or more degree requirement specifications. These methods enable multiple types of analysis including student progress assessment, student planning (i.e. helping the student determine the best path forward), credit efficiency analysis (i.e. quantifying the number of applied versus unusable and excess credits), transfer credit analysis (i.e. determining the utility and efficiency of transfer credits), and requirement analysis (i.e. determining the types of requirements …

Data-Driven Design And Analysis Of Next Generation Mobile Networks For Anomaly Detection And Signal Classification With Fast, Robust And Light Machine Learning, Muhammed Furkan Küçük

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research focuses on machine (and deep) learning applications (including clustering,anomaly detection and signal classification) for self-organizing and next generation mobile networks in wireless communications. Specifically, this dissertation document will address the three different topics.

First, in the study titled “Performance analysis of neural network topologies and hyperparameters for deep clustering”, we explore the relationship between the clustering performance and network complexity. Deep learning found its initial footing in supervised applications such as image and voice recognition successes of which were followed by deep generative models across similar domains. In recent years, researchers have proposed creative learning representations to utilize …

Second-Order Enhanced Coupling Strength Grating Out-Couplers For A Monolithic Laser-Electro-Absorption Modulator, Maryam Dezfuli

Electrical Engineering Theses and Dissertations

Conventional grating out-couplers in III-V waveguides typically require lengths of several hundreds of microns to outcouple 50 to 90% of the incident optical power. Enhanced coupling strength (ECS) gratings, which reduce the out-coupler grating length to tens of microns, have a large relative permittivity difference between the materials on either side of the grating boundary along with a high index cover layer. With appropriately chosen permittivity and layer thicknesses, the addition of a cover layer “pulls” the peak of the optical mode towards the grating region, resulting in a significant increase in the grating confinement factor. The resulting ECS out-coupler …

Microscopic Nuclei Classification, Segmentation, And Detection With Improved Deep Convolutional Neural Networks (Dcnn), Md Zahangir Alom, Vijayan K. Asari, Anil Parwani, Tarek M. Taha

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Background Nuclei classification, segmentation, and detection from pathological images are challenging tasks due to cellular heterogeneity in the Whole Slide Images (WSI). Methods In this work, we propose advanced DCNN models for nuclei classification, segmentation, and detection tasks. The Densely Connected Neural Network (DCNN) and Densely Connected Recurrent Convolutional Network (DCRN) models are applied for the nuclei classification tasks. The Recurrent Residual U-Net (R2U-Net) and the R2UNet-based regression model named the University of Dayton Net (UD-Net) are applied for nuclei segmentation and detection tasks respectively. The experiments are conducted on publicly available datasets, including Routine Colon Cancer (RCC) classification and …

A Model-Based Fault Diagnosis In Dynamic Systems Via Asynchronous Motors System Identification Or Testing, And Control Engineering Observers, Kenelt Pierre

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Induction machines are the workhorse of many military and commercialtypes of equipment. They are asynchronous machines referred to in this dissertation as induction motors. They are widely used due to their reliability in Naval Unmanned Systems like Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROV), Unmanned Untethered Underwater Vehicles (UUV), Autonomous Undersea Vehicles (AUV), and platforms like Missiles and Satellites. These induction motors are mainly controlled using variable speed drive functions, i.e., thrusters, propellers, and actuators. Though they are very robust, to harness the full technical benefits of induction motors, state-of-the-art drivers or controllers must be used to control such motors.

In model-based fault …

Image Processing Algorithms For Detection Of Anomalies In Orthopedic Surgery Implants, Alexander William Wiese

Theses and Dissertations

Orthopedic implant procedures for hip implants are performed on 300,000 patients annually in the United States, with 22.3 million procedures worldwide. While most such operations are successfully performed to relieve pain and restore joint function for the duration of the patient's life, advances in medicine have enabled patients to outlive the life of their implant, increasing the likelihood of implant failure. There is significant advantage to the patient, the surgeon, and the medical community in early detection of implant failures.The research work presented in this thesis demonstrates a non-invasive digital image processing technique for the automated detection of specific arthroplasty …

Zero-Power Ac Current Sensor, Omar Aragonez

Mechanical Engineering ETDs

In this study, a magnetic piezoelectric cantilever powered AC current and frequency sensor is proposed. This paper covers the configuration of the experimental setup, finite element modeling of the magnetic coupling, and the optimal spatial location of the magnetic proof mass in relation to the wire for smart grid applications. Solid and stranded copper wires of various gauges were used and carried current up to 30A. The magnets act as a proof mass to lower the frequency while also coupling to the magnetic field generated by the current carrying wire. The frequency of the AC current produces a sinusoidal force …

Machine Learning Based Medical Image Deepfake Detection: A Comparative Study, Siddharth Solaiyappan, Yuxin Wen

Engineering Faculty Articles and Research

Deep generative networks in recent years have reinforced the need for caution while consuming various modalities of digital information. One avenue of deepfake creation is aligned with injection and removal of tumors from medical scans. Failure to detect medical deepfakes can lead to large setbacks on hospital resources or even loss of life. This paper attempts to address the detection of such attacks with a structured case study. Specifically, we evaluate eight different machine learning algorithms, which include three conventional machine learning methods (Support Vector Machine, Random Forest, Decision Tree) and five deep learning models (DenseNet121, DenseNet201, ResNet50, ResNet101, VGG19) …

Practical Considerations And Applications For Autonomous Robot Swarms, Rory Alan Hector

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In recent years, the study of autonomous entities such as unmanned vehicles has begun to revolutionize both military and civilian devices. One important research focus of autonomous entities has been coordination problems for autonomous robot swarms. Traditionally, robot models are used for algorithms that account for the minimum specifications needed to operate the swarm. However, these theoretical models also gloss over important practical details. Some of these details, such as time, have been considered before (as epochs of execution). In this dissertation, we examine these details in the context of several problems and introduce new performance measures to capture practical …

Financial Literacy In America, John Cappelli

Student Research Symposium

After graduation most people do not have enough financial knowledge to be successful. This research project looks at how financial literacy courses impact students of different backgrounds. Research was conducted using online databases to evaluate primary and secondary sources including surveys and Add something specific about the sources you used. From this research I found that US high school graduates are lacking in financial education. In conclusion I think that all US highschools need to include mandatory financial education courses in order to ensure students have at least a basic understanding before having to make major decisions.

Plant Identification In A Combined-Imbalanced Leaf Dataset, Viraj K. Gajjar, Anand K. Nambisan, Kurt Louis Kosbar

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Plant identification has applications in ethnopharmacology and agriculture. Since leaves are one of a distinguishable feature of a plant, they are routinely used for identification. Recent developments in deep learning have made it possible to accurately identify the majority of samples in five publicly available leaf datasets. However, each dataset captures the images in a highly controlled environment. This paper evaluates the performance of EfficientNet and several other convolutional neural network (CNN) architectures when applied to a combination of the LeafSnap, Middle European Woody Plants 2014, Flavia, Swedish, and Folio datasets. To normalize the impact of imbalance resulting from combining …

Intra-Hour Solar Forecasting Using Cloud Dynamics Features Extracted From Ground-Based Infrared Sky Images, Guillermo Terrén-Serrano

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

Due to the increasing use of photovoltaic systems, power grids are vulnerable to the projection of shadows from moving clouds. An intra-hour solar forecast provides power grids with the capability of automatically controlling the dispatch of energy, reducing the additional cost for a guaranteed, reliable supply of energy (i.e., energy storage). This dissertation introduces a novel sky imager consisting of a long-wave radiometric infrared camera and a visible light camera with a fisheye lens. The imager is mounted on a solar tracker to maintain the Sun in the center of the images throughout the day, reducing the scattering effect produced …

Manipulating Image Luminance To Improve Eye Gaze And Verbal Behavior In Autistic Children, Louanne Boyd, Vincent Berardi, Deanna Hughes, Franceli L. Cibrian, Jazette Johnson, Viseth Sean, Eliza Delpizzo-Cheng, Brandon Mackin, Ayra Tusneem, Riya Mody, Sara Jones, Karen Lotich

Engineering Faculty Articles and Research

Autism has been characterized by a tendency to attend to the local visual details over surveying an image to understand the gist–a phenomenon called local interference. This sensory processing trait has been found to negatively impact social communication. Although much work has been conducted to understand these traits, little to no work has been conducted to intervene to provide support for local interference. Additionally, recent understanding of autism now introduces the core role of sensory processing and its impact on social communication. However, no interventions to the end of our knowledge have been explored to leverage this relationship. This work …

Lyapunov-Based Economic Model Predictive Control For Detecting And Handling Actuator And Simultaneous Sensor/Actuator Cyberattacks On Process Control Systems, Henrique Oyama, Dominic Messina, Keshav Kasturi Rangan, Helen Durand

Chemical Engineering and Materials Science Faculty Research Publications

The controllers for a cyber-physical system may be impacted by sensor measurement cyberattacks, actuator signal cyberattacks, or both types of attacks. Prior work in our group has developed a theory for handling cyberattacks on process sensors. However, sensor and actuator cyberattacks have a different character from one another. Specifically, sensor measurement attacks prevent proper inputs from being applied to the process by manipulating the measurements that the controller receives, so that the control law plays a role in the impact of a given sensor measurement cyberattack on a process. In contrast, actuator signal attacks prevent proper inputs from being applied …

Remote Crop Disease Detection Using Deep Learning With Iot, Ivy Chung, Anoushka Gupta

Electrical and Computer Engineering Senior Theses

Agriculture is such a vital part of our society, and according to the United Nations’ Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), plant diseases are considered one of the two main causes of decreasing food availability. This paper explores not only the methods and findings of building a CNN-based disease detection model, but that of building a deployable remote crop disease detection system incorporating IoT technology. By using transfer learning with AlexNet, we were able to predict with 89.8% accuracy tomato plant images into one of the ten pre-defined disease classes. Our proposed system tracks plant health throughout the day by using …

Cost Efficient Radio Telescope, Nick Arroyo, Brian Benedicto, Tyler Ikehara

Electrical and Computer Engineering Senior Theses

This project aims to construct a smaller and less expensive radio telescope compared to traditional radio telescope designs by utilizing a Software Defined Radio (SDR). This is the first stage of a multi-year effort to bring radio astronomy capabilities to Santa Clara University. The implementation of this project includes designing and building a pyramidal horn antenna centered around the hydrogen line frequency of 1420 MHz. The project will also be comparing specifications of low noise amplifiers (LNA) and designing band-pass filters. Lastly, this project implements an SDR to process the signals received by the telescope to recreate a map of …

Healthy Hive: A Beehive Health Management Tool, Kwadwo Amoako

Electrical and Computer Engineering Senior Theses

Honeybees are important pollinators and are essential in the preservation of ecosystems as well as agricultural production. They are crucial to the pollination of 85% of the world’s food crops. However, honeybee populations have been in decline over the past decade, due to external environmental conditions such as diseases and pests (invasive varroa mite), pollution (insecticide), or inadequate forage/poor nutrition. These conditions can have a severe impact on the health of hives. This project will serve as a tool for the monitoring system of tracking the activities of honeybees entering and exiting their beehive. The health condition of the bee …

Impulse, Spring 2022, University Marketing And Communications, Jerome J. Lohr College Of Engineering

Impulse (Jerome J. Lohr College of Engineering Publication)

2 | Ahmed Leads Construction and Operations Management
4 | Faculty News
8 | Kelley Steps Aside After 44 Years
12 | Boggs Retires From Mechanical Engineering
14 | Looking At Covid-19 Numbers
16 | Students Help College of Nursing
18 | Midwest Applied Materials Symposium Debuts
20 | Fourth Data Science Event Takes Place
24 | College Achievements
26 | Hard Work Pays Off
28 | Spotlight Shines on Students
30 | Mentoring Program Takes Off
32 | Robotics Club Busy With Activities
34 | The Numbers
36 | Brown, Sieve Honored
38 | Alumna Leads NASA Division
40 …

Towards Improved Inertial Navigation By Reducing Errors Using Deep Learning Methodology, Hua Chen, Tarek M. Taha, Vamsy P. Chodavarapu

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Autonomous vehicles make use of an Inertial Navigation System (INS) as part of vehicular sensor fusion in many situations including GPS-denied environments such as dense urban places, multi-level parking structures, and areas with thick tree-coverage. The INS unit incorporates an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) to process the linear acceleration and angular velocity data to obtain orientation, position, and velocity information using mechanization equations. In this work, we describe a novel deep-learning-based methodology, using Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN), to reduce errors from MEMS IMU sensors. We develop a CNN-based approach that can learn from the responses of a particular inertial sensor …

The Music Bluetooth Controller: An Intersection Between Technology And Music, Lydia Wu

Senior Honors Theses

The modern musician faces a new challenge: how can technology be used to enhance a performance? This thesis documents the development of a Bluetooth remote controller that will aid today’s performing musicians by interacting with a digital display (e.g., an iPad) to flip musical score pages remotely. At its core, while mimicking a Bluetooth pedal (the current industry standard), this device attaches to the musician’s hand. In its pilot stages, the device has been referred to “MBC” (Music Bluetooth Controller).

Ux/U-Eye: Designing Graphical User Interfaces For Exclusive Eye Gaze Control, Timothy Curol

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Frequency Domain Modeling And Optimal Parameter Tuning Of Power Converters For Dynamic Analysis Of The Grid Integration Of Photovoltaic Systems, Hussein Abdulrazzaq Lafta Alameri

Dissertations

Power electronic converters are essential devices for the effective interconnection of renewable energy sources to the power grid, such as DC-DC, DC-AC, and AC-DC converters. Therefore, power converter models that provide an accurate mathematical representation of their interconnection with other grid components are crucial for reliable transient and steady state analyses during normal or abnormal grid operating conditions.

This dissertation introduces a Laplace domain-based modeling approach for the study of transient converter-grid interactions. The proposed approach is based on the development of two-port admittance models of converters and other components, combined with the use of numerical Laplace transforms (NLT). The …

Epitaxial 4h-Sic Radiation Detectors For Harsh Environment Applications, Joshua W. Kleppinger

Theses and Dissertations

Epitaxial 4H-silicon carbide (4H-SiC) is an essential semiconductor material for the development of harsh environment radiation detectors due to its excellent electrical and thermal properties and resistance to radiation damage, opening the door for a wide variety of applications in NASA space missions, nuclear safeguards, and nuclear energy. However, the low atomic numbers of its constituent atoms Si (Z = 14) and C (Z = 6) make 4H-SiC nearly transparent to most neutrally charged radiation which can only be compensated using thicker active volumes.

In this dissertation, Ni/n-4H-SiC Schottky barrier diode (SBD) radiation detectors are fabricated for the first time …

Assessing Security Risks With The Internet Of Things, Faith Mosemann

Senior Honors Theses

For my honors thesis I have decided to study the security risks associated with the Internet of Things (IoT) and possible ways to secure them. I will focus on how corporate, and individuals use IoT devices and the security risks that come with their implementation. In my research, I found out that IoT gadgets tend to go unnoticed as a checkpoint for vulnerability. For example, often personal IoT devices tend to have the default username and password issued from the factory that a hacker could easily find through Google. IoT devices need security just as much as computers or servers …

In Vitro And In Vivo Studies Of Mediator Kinase, Lili Wang

Theses and Dissertations

This project addresses the molecular and in vivo activities of transcriptionregulating module CKM, comprised of CDK8 (or CDK19) kinases, Cyclin C, MED12 and MED13. Our lab has found that CDK8/19 potentiates NFkB-induced transcription. In this study, we confirmed that both CDK8 and CDK19 regulate gene expression in kinasedependent manner. CDK8 and CDK19 are not required for NFkB-induced transcription, which also occurs in HEK293-dKO (CDK8 and CDK19 double knockout) cells, but such transcription becomes CDK8/19-dependent upon re-expression of CDK8 or CDK19 in dKO. Surprisingly. pre-treatment with a CDK8/19 inhibitor decreases the effect of CDK8/19 on NFkB-induced transcription.

In another set of …

A Low Jitter And Low Power Electronic Interface For Time-Of-Flight Positron Emission Tomography Silicon Photomultiplier Detectors, Matthew Romer

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

A time-of-flight (TOF) detection system for a silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) is designed for the purpose of improving on existing technology for applications in positron emission tomography, with an emphasis on low power and low timing jitter. A reconstruction algorithm is implemented in Matlab to demonstrate the effect of TOF on the image quality per number of source events, as compared to systems restricted to line-of-response (LOR) data only. A case study is performed on SiPM functionality, behavioral modeling, and contemporary front-end amplification designs for a SiPM detector. A charge sensitive amplifier (CSA) circuit is modified for simultaneous collection of timing …

Learning Domain Invariant Information To Enhance Presentation Attack Detection In Visible Face Recognition Systems, Jennifer Hamblin

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Face signatures, including size, shape, texture, skin tone, eye color, appearance, and scars/marks, are widely used as discriminative, biometric information for access control. Despite recent advancements in facial recognition systems, presentation attacks on facial recognition systems have become increasingly sophisticated. The ability to detect presentation attacks or spoofing attempts is a pressing concern for the integrity, security, and trust of facial recognition systems. Multi-spectral imaging has been previously introduced as a way to improve presentation attack detection by utilizing sensors that are sensitive to different regions of the electromagnetic spectrum (e.g., visible, near infrared, long-wave infrared). Although multi-spectral presentation attack …

Correction To: Reconfigurable Circularly Polarized Hemispherical Dra Using Plasmonic Graphene Strips For Mimo Communications, Hadeer Elhemaily

Renewable Electrical Energy Engineering

This paper investigates the radiation characteristics of a Hemispherical- Dielectric Resonator Antenna (DRA) loaded with graphene strips and fed by ridge-gap waveguide (RGW) transmission line for 60 GHz. The RGW unit-cell introduces frequency bandgap from 45 to 92 GHz centered around 60 GHz. A coupling slot loaded with orthogonal oriented cross graphene strips is used to couple energy from RGW line to the hemispherical-DRA. The cross slots are used to control the type of polarization radiated from the hemispherical DRA. Diferent states of linear and circular polarization are achieved according to the biased/un-biased graphene strips. The hemispherical DRA introduces circular …

Remote Healthcare Monitoring Using Wearable Iot Devices And Cloud Services, Mohammad Abdellatif, Menatalla Abdel-Gawad, Manar Usama, Haidy Hesham, Omar Ibrahim

Electrical Engineering

With the strain on healthcare infrastructure and healthcare workers due to the ongoing COVID'19 pandemic, the need for novel ways to simplify the interaction between patients and physicians has increased. The aim is mainly to reduce face-to-face interactions and free more time and resources for those who urgently need it. This paper presents a Telemedicine system which can be used as an alternative method to a doctor's visit. The proposed system is considered as an interface that remotely connects the patient and the doctor. The system regularly measures and uploads readings from the patient to a database which the doctor …

An Active Learning Didactic Proposal With Human-Computer Interaction In Engineering Education: A Direct Current Motor Case Study, Alejandro Said, Luis C. Félix-Herrán, Yasser A. Davizón, Carlos Hernandez-Santos, Rogelio Soto, Ricardo A. Ramírez-Mendoza

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Engineering education requires learning strategies to engage students and improve the development of disciplinary and transversal competencies. Additionally, as economic resources are generally limited, it is sought to avoid investing large sums of money in software and hardware, as well as in fitting out laboratories. This work presents a didactic proposal within the framework of active and collaborative learning that includes the flipped classroom technique to be applied in the curriculum of undergraduate engineering programs and inside a massive flexible digital master class. The activity is the mathematical modeling, simulation, and control system of a direct current motor where simulation …