Digital Commons Network^™

Operation And Modification Of A B-Stage For Efficient Nitrogen Removal In An A/B Process Pilot Study, Ryder Bunce

Civil & Environmental Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Hampton Roads Sanitation District's Chesapeake-Elizabeth Wastewater Treatment Plant is a High-Rate Activated Sludge (HRAS) plant with no primary clarifiers. The plant operates at an SRT of 1.5 - 2 days and does not perform biological nitrogen removal (BNR). By 2021 HRSD anticipates the plant will be included in a bubble permit, resulting in a total nitrogen (TN) effluent target of approximately 5-8 mg/L. Converting the plant to a conventional BNR process would require a significant increase in reactor volume. Capital costs for the upgrade are estimated at 125 -150 million dollars, with a dramatic increase in operating costs as well. …

Using Real Property Layouts To Study The Foreclosure Contagion Effect In Real Estate With Agent-Based Modeling And Simulation, Daniele Vernon-Bido

Computational Modeling & Simulation Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Foreclosures in the United States increased sharply from 2007 to 2009. These foreclosures had a spillover effect on neighboring property values causing additional foreclosures. This is known as the foreclosure contagion effect.

Recent studies have quantified the discount attributed to foreclosure contagion using equation-based techniques. However, the discount varied between studies and markets. Further studies using agent-based modeling and simulation have demonstrated the relationship between the discounts, the time a foreclosure remains on the market, the prevailing interest rates and the average property values.

This study uses agent-based modeling and simulation (ABMS) to explore the differences that varying neighborhood densities …

Physiologically-Motivated Feature Extraction Methods For Speaker Recognition, Jianglin Wang

Dissertations (1934 -)

Speaker recognition has received a great deal of attention from the speech community, and significant gains in robustness and accuracy have been obtained over the past decade. However, the features used for identification are still primarily representations of overall spectral characteristics, and thus the models are primarily phonetic in nature, differentiating speakers based on overall pronunciation patterns. This creates difficulties in terms of the amount of enrollment data and complexity of the models required to cover the phonetic space, especially in tasks such as identification where enrollment and testing data may not have similar phonetic coverage. This dissertation introduces new …

Industrial Symbiosis: Corn Ethanol Fermentation, Hydrothermal Carbonization, And Anaerobic Digestion, Patrick J. Mcnamara, Lindsey R. Jader, Frederick J. Schendel, Nicholas J. Hahn, Brandon M. Wood, Kenneth J. Valentas, Paige M. Novak, Steven J. Heilmann

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

The production of dry-grind corn ethanol results in the generation of intermediate products, thin and whole stillage, which require energy-intensive downstream processing for conversion into commercial animal feed products. Hydrothermal carbonization of thin and whole stillage coupled with anaerobic digestion was investigated as alternative processing methods that could benefit the industry. By substantially eliminating evaporation of water, reductions in downstream energy consumption from 65% to 73% were achieved while generating hydrochar, fatty acids, treated process water, and biogas co-products providing new opportunities for the industry. Processing whole stillage in this manner produced the four co-products, eliminated centrifugation and evaporation, and …

Supraspinal Control Of Unilateral Locomotor Performance: An Fmri Study Using A Custom Pedaling Device, Brett Arand

Master's Theses (2009 -)

This study aimed to develop a novel unilateral pedaling device, validate its function, and use it in an fMRI study of bilateral vs. unilateral locomotor control. The new device is MRI compatible and allows for conventional coupled bilateral pedaling, along with decoupled unilateral pedaling. It was designed with an assistance mechanism to simulate the presence of the non-contributing leg while pedaling unilaterally. During coupled bilateral pedaling, the two legs work in unison: while one leg is extending in the downstroke, it provides support to lift the other leg back up as it is flexing in the upstroke. The device uses …

A New Angle On Microscopic Suspension Feeders Near Boundaries, Rachel E. Pepper, Marcus Roper, Sangjin Ryu, Nobuyoshi Matsumoto, Moeto Nagai, Howard A. Stone

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Microscopic sessile suspension feeders are a critical component in aquatic ecosystems, acting as an intermediate trophic stage between bacteria and higher eukaryotic taxa. Because they live attached to boundaries, it has long been thought that recirculation of the feeding currents produced by sessile suspension feeders inhibits their ability to access fresh fluid. However, previous models for the feeding flows of these organisms assume that they feed by pushing fluid perpendicular to surfaces they live upon, whereas we observe that sessile suspension feeders often feed at an angle to these boundaries. Using experiments and calculations, we show that living suspension feeders …

Visual Literacy And The Integration Of Parametric Modeling In The Problem-Based Curriculum, Matthew Benedict Assenmacher

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This quasi-experimental study investigated the application of visual literacy skills in the form of parametric modeling software in relation to traditional forms of sketching. The study included two groups of high school technical design students. The control and experimental groups involved in the study consisted of two randomly selected groups of students. The participants were exposed to eight weeks of technical drawing and parametric modeling instruction prior to the start of the study.

The potential applications of emerging technologies for the purpose of integrating visual literacy into the curriculum are not fully understood. Society is moving towards a more immediate …

Error Recovered Hierarchical Classification, Shiai Zhu, Xiao-Yong Wei, Chong-Wah Ngo

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Hierarchical classification (HC) is a popular and efficient way for detecting the semantic concepts from the images. However, the conventional HC, which always selects the branch with the highest classification response to go on, has the risk of propagating serious errors from higher levels of the hierarchy to the lower levels. We argue that the highestresponse-first strategy is too arbitrary, because the candidate nodes are considered individually which ignores the semantic relationship among them. In this paper, we propose a novel method for HC, which is able to utilize the semantic relationship among candidate nodes and their children to recover …

Impact Of Treatment Response Metrics On Photodynamic Therapy Planning And Outcomes In A Three-Dimensional Model Of Ovarian Cancer, Sriram Anbil, Imran Rizvi, Jonathan P. Celli, Nermina Alagic, Brian W. Pogue, Tayyaba Hasan

Dartmouth Scholarship

Common methods to characterize treatment efficacy based on morphological imaging may misrepresent outcomes and exclude effective therapies. Using a three-dimensional model of ovarian cancer, two functional treatment response metrics are used to evaluate photodynamic therapy (PDT) efficacy: total volume, calculated from viable and nonviable cells, and live volume, calculated from viable cells. The utility of these volume-based metrics is corroborated using independent reporters of photodynamic activity: viability, a common fluorescence-based ratiometric analysis, and photosensitizer photobleaching, which is characterized by a loss of fluorescence due in part to the production of reactive species during PDT. Live volume correlated with both photobleaching …

Bipedal Locomotion, Jamie Nichol, Dr. Paul Eastman

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Creating an artificial biped (two legged machine) has proven a challenge. The first stage of the project, designing and building the mechanical frame, has required that I study several engineering disciplines. I have also learned many lessons by trial and error.

Synthetic Model Of Vocal Folds, Todd C. Groesbeck, Dr. Scott Thomson

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The influence and treatment of human vocal fold scarring is a topic of great interest to the speech community (clinicians, surgeons, educators, etc). Understanding how voice production occurs “is sought in order to improve predictive, diagnostic, and corrective practices related to vocal fold health” . When a patient undergoes vocal fold surgery, scarring frequently occurs. The same surgery intended to heal the vocal fold thus leaves it damaged; scarring results in impaired vibration and prevents the individual from normal, healthy voice use.

Bioavailable Lead In Topsoil Collected From General Aviation Airports, Jerry H. Kavouras, Randal J. Demik, Allison C. Hopkins

Biology Department Faculty Articles

Representatives of the aviation community are interested in determining the environmental effects of leaded fuel emissions from general aviation flight operations. Soil is an environmental sink for lead to accumulate over time. This study measured bioavailable lead concentrations in topsoil at three general aviation airports and at one site with no general aviation operations in order to determine if general aviation aircraft operations are contributing to the contamination of airport topsoil at levels that require remediation by law. Bioavailable refers to substances that organisms can absorb, because they have access to them. Topsoil was collected from refueling areas, run-up areas, …

Tumor Drug Concentration Due To Ultrasonic Drug Delivery, Bryant Staples, Dr. William Pitt

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The tri-block copolymer, Pluronic P105, has been found to be an ideal ultrasonically activated drug delivery vehicle because it forms micelles with hydrophobic polypropylene oxide cores that sequester hydrophobic drugs (Fig. 1). These micelles release their contents upon the application of low frequency ultrasound [1] such that drugs can be released specifically at the ultrasonicated region (Fig. 2). Such ultrasonically controlled release has been effective against cancer cells in vitro [2] and in vivo [3].

Scar Effects On Vocal Fold Vibration, Todd Groesbeck, Dr. Scott Thomson

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The influence of scarring on the vocal folds is of great interest to the speech community. Surgeons, educators, and vocalists all have interest in understanding what causes vocal fold damage, and how such damage may be repaired. Frequently, repair requires surgery, and the surgery may result in scarring. Scarring results in impaired vibration, thus altering the quality of the individual’s voice.

2013 Fall Engr333 Project Assignment, Matthew K. Heun

ENGR 333

The Fall 2013 ENGR333 project focused on production and use of biofuels at Calvin University.

I asked the students “What would it take for Calvin College to operate a biofuel vehicle from campus resources?”

Customer

The customer for this project was Calvin’s Physical Plant director Phil Beezhold.

Characterization Of Secondary Organic Aerosol Precursors Using Two-Dimensional Gas Chromatography With Time Of Flight Mass Spectrometry (Gc×Gc/Tofms), Melissa Jordan Roskamp

Dissertations and Theses

The oxidation of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) plays a role in both regional and global air quality through the formation of secondary organic aerosols (SOA). More than 1000TgC/yr of non-methane VOCs are emitted from biogenic sources (significantly greater than from anthropogenic sources). Despite this magnitude and potential importance for air quality, the body of knowledge around the identities, quantities and oxidation processes of these compounds is still incomplete (e.g., Goldstein & Galbally, 2007; Robinson et al., 2009). Two-dimensional gas chromatography paired with time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC×GC/TOFMS) is a powerful analytical technique which is explored here for its role in better …

Numerical Analysis Of Co-Flowing Immiscible Liquids In Co-Axial Microtubes, In-Hwan Yang

Chemical and Biological Engineering ETDs

This research developed dimensionless correlations, based on the numerical simulations, for the boundaries between the dripping, transition and jetting regimes. Additional correlations are also developed for the radius and formation frequency of disperse droplet in the dripping regime and the transition regime, when the total volume of the satellite droplets is less than 1% of the disperse primary droplets.

Engineered Knottin Peptide Enables Noninvasive Optical Imaging Of Intracranial Medulloblastoma, Sarah J. Moore, Melanie G. Hayden Gephart, Jamie M. Bergen, You Rong S. Su, Helen Rayburn, Matthew P. Scott, Jennifer R. Cochran

Engineering: Faculty Publications

Central nervous system tumors carry grave clinical prognoses due to limited effectiveness of surgical resection, radiation, and chemotherapy. Thus, improved strategies for brain tumor visualization and targeted treatment are critically needed. We demonstrate that mouse cerebellar medulloblastoma (MB) can be targeted and illuminated with a fluorescent, engineered cystine knot (knottin) peptide that binds with high affinity to α β , α β , and α β integrin receptors. This integrin-binding knottin peptide, denoted EETI 2.5F, was evaluated as a molecular imaging probe in both orthotopic and genetic models of MB. Following tail vein injection, fluorescence arising from dye-conjugated EETI 2.5F …

Why Is Ca3 More Vulnerable Than Ca1 In Experimental Models Of Controlled Cortical Impact-Induced Brain Injury?, Haojie Mao, Benjamin S. Elkin, Vinay V. Genthikatti, Barclay Morrison Iii, King H. Yang

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research Publications

One interesting finding of controlled cortical impact (CCI) experiments is that the CA3 region of the hippocampus, which is positioned further from the impact than the CA1 region, is reported as being more injured. The current literature has suggested a positive correlation between brain tissue stretch and neuronal cell loss. However, it is counterintuitive to assume that CA3 is stretched more during CCI injury. Recent mechanical studies of the brain have reported on a level of spatial heterogeneity not previously appreciated—the finding that CA1 was significantly stiffer than all other regions tested and that CA3 was one of the most …

Binaural Spatialization For 3d Immersive Audio Communication In A Virtual World, Davide Andrea Mauro, Rufael Mekuria, Michele Sanna

Computer Sciences and Electrical Engineering Faculty Research

Realistic 3D audio can greatly enhance the sense of presence in

a virtual environment. We introduce a framework for capturing,

transmitting and rendering of 3D audio in presence of other

bandwidth savvy streams in a 3D Tele-immersion based virtual

environment. This framework presents an efficient implementation

for 3D Binaural Spatialization based on the positions of current

objects in the scene, including animated avatars and on the fly

reconstructed humans. We present a general overview of the

framework, how audio is integrated in the system and how it can

exploit the positions of the objects and room geometry to render

realistic …

A Geo-Ontology Design Pattern For Semantic Trajectories, Yingjie Hu, Krzysztof Janowicz, David Carral, Simon Scheider, Werner Kuhn, Gary Berg-Cross, Pascal Hitzler, Mike Dean, Dave Kolas

Computer Science and Engineering Faculty Publications

Trajectory data have been used in a variety of studies, including human behavior analysis, transportation management, and wildlife tracking. While each study area introduces a different perspective, they share the need to integrate positioning data with domain-specific information. Semantic annotations are necessary to improve discovery, reuse, and integration of trajectory data from different sources. Consequently, it would be beneficial if the common structure encountered in trajectory data could be annotated based on a shared vocabulary, abstracting from domain-specific aspects. Ontology design patterns are an increasingly popular approach to define such flexible and self-contained building blocks of annotations. They appear more …

The Mayaarch3d Project: A 3d Webgis For Analyzing Ancient Architecture And Landscapes, Jennifer Von Schwerin, Heather Richards-Rissetto, Fabio Remondino, Giorgio Agugario, Gabrio Girardi

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

There is a need in the humanities for a 3D WebGIS with analytical tools that allow researchers to analyze 3D models linked to spatially referenced data. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) allow for complex spatial analysis of 2.5D data. For example, they offer bird’s eye views of landscapes with extruded building footprints, but one cannot ‘get on the ground’ and interact with true 3D models from a pedestrian perspective. Meanwhile, 3D models and virtual environments visualize data in 3D space, but analytical tools are simple rotation or lighting effects. The MayaArch3D Project is developing a 3D WebGIS—called QueryArch3D—to allow these two …

Hypoxia Preconditioning Increases Survival And Decreases Expression Of Toll-Like Receptor 4 In Pulmonary Artery Endothelial Cells Exposed To Lipopolysaccharide, Irshad Ali, Rahul Nanchal, Fouad Husnain, Said H. Audi, G. Ganesh Konduri, John C. Densmore, Meetha Medhora, Elizabeth R. Jacobs

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Pulmonary or systemic infections and hypoxemic respiratory failure are among the leading causes of admission to intensive care units, and these conditions frequently exist in sequence or in tandem. Inflammatory responses to infections are reproduced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) engaging Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4). Apoptosis is a hallmark of lung injury in sepsis. This study was conducted to determine whether preexposure to LPS or hypoxia modulated the survival of pulmonary artery endothelial cells (PAECs). We also investigated the role TLR4 receptor expression plays in apoptosis due to these conditions. Bovine PAECs were cultured in hypoxic or normoxic environments and treated with …

Profile Synthesis Of Planar Variable Joints, Brian James Slaboch

Dissertations (1934 -)

Reconfigurable mechanisms provide quick changeover and reduced costs for low volume manufacturing applications. In addition, these mechanisms provide added flexibility in the context of a constrained environment. A subset of planar reconfigurable mechanisms use variable joints to provide this added adaptability.

In this dissertation, the profile synthesis of planar variable joints that change from a rotational motion to a translational motion was investigated. A method was developed to perform automated profile synthesis. It was shown that combinations of higher variable joints can be used to create kinematically equivalent variable joints that are geometrically different.

The results were used to create …

Novel Paradigms For Visual Field Mapping With Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Yan Ma

Dissertations (1934 -)

The overall goal of this study is to evaluate the existing, and develop new visual field mapping paradigms, which consist of visual stimulation scheme, post-processing and displaying tools using fMRI for both research and clinical applications.

We first directly compared phase mapping and random multifocal mapping paradigms with respect to clinically relevant factors. Multifocal mapping was superior in immunity to noise and was able to accurately decompose the response of single voxels to multiple stimulus locations. In contrast, phase mapping activated more extrastriate visual areas and was more efficient per run in achieving a statistically efficient response in a minimum …

Mechanoadaptation Of Feed Artery Smooth Muscle Cells In The Stem Of The Collateral Circulation, Allison Peck

Biomedical Engineering

Many patients suffering from peripheral arterial occlusive disease (PAOD) experience intermittent claudication, pain during locomotion. Previous studies suggest that this symptom could be explained in part by impaired vasodilation in collateral arteries. In this study, femoral ligation was performed on a murine animal model, stimulating collateral outward remodeling. The mechanism by which a collateral increases its luminal diameter in response to the increase in blood flow following occlusion warrents further investigation due to impaired vasodilation following collateral remodeling. Specifically, resting diameter is elevated in the stem region of the collateral circuit, but this increase in vessel size cannot be explained …

Image Annotation And Topic Extraction Using Super-Word Latent Dirichlet, George E. Noel Iii

Theses and Dissertations

This research presents a multi-domain solution that uses text and images to iteratively improve automated information extraction. Stage I uses local text surrounding an embedded image to provide clues that help rank-order possible image annotations. These annotations are forwarded to Stage II, where the image annotations from Stage I are used as highly-relevant super-words to improve extraction of topics. The model probabilities from the super-words in Stage II are forwarded to Stage III where they are used to refine the automated image annotation developed in Stage I. All stages demonstrate improvement over existing equivalent algorithms in the literature.

Architecting Integrated System Health Management For Airworthiness, Kerwin C. Teong

Theses and Dissertations

Integrated System Health Management (ISHM) for Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) has been a new area of research - seeking to provide situational awareness to mission and maintenance operations, and for improved decision-making with increased self-autonomy. This research effort developed an analytic architecture and an associated discrete-event simulation using Arena® to investigate the potential benefits of ISHM implementation onboard an UAS. The objective of this research is two-fold: firstly, to achieve continued airworthiness by investigating the potential extension of UAS expected lifetime through ISHM implementation, and secondly, to reduce life cycle costs by implementing a Condition-Based Maintenance (CBM) policy with better …

Study Of A Molten Carbonate Fuel Cell Combined Heat, Hydrogen And Power System: End-Use Application, Tarek A. Hamad, Abdulhakim Amer A. Agll, Yousif M. Hamad, Sushrut Bapat, Mathew Thomas, Kevin B. Martin, John W. Sheffield

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

To address the problem of fossil fuel usage and high greenhouse gas emissions at the Missouri University of Science and Technology campus, using of alternative fuels and renewable energy sources can lower energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Biogas, produced by anaerobic digestion of wastewater, organic waste, agricultural waste, industrial waste, and animal by-products is a potential source of renewable energy. In this work, we have discussed the design of CHHP system for the campus using local resources. An energy flow and resource availability study is performed to identify the type and source of feedstock required to continuously run the …

Ex Vivo Diffusion Tensor Imaging Of Spinal Cord Injury In Rats Of Varying Degrees Of Severity, Michael Jirjis, Shekar N. Kurpad, Brian D. Schmit

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

The aim of this study was to characterize magnetic resonance diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) in proximal regions of the spinal cord following a thoracic spinal cord injury (SCI). Sprague–Dawley rats (n = 40) were administered a control, mild, moderate, or severe contusion injury at the T8 vertebral level. Six direction diffusion weighted images (DWIs) were collected ex vivo along the length of the spinal cord, with an echo/repetition time of 31.6 ms/14 sec and b = 500 sec/mm2. Diffusion metrics were correlated to hindlimb motor function. Significant differences were found for whole cord region of interest (ROI) drawings for fractional …