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Synthesis And Characterization Of Aerogels From Cellulose-Starch Mixtures For Advanced Packaging Applications, Angel Sagardui

Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Biodegradable, highly porous, ultra-lightweight, and high-surface-area aerogels from microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) and corn starch mixtures were synthesized through a simple, green process, specifically supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2) drying. Five weight ratios of samples were generated (pure MCC, 2:1 MCC-starch, 1:1 MCC-starch, 1:2 MCC-starch, and pure starch) and were then subjected to a variety of characterization experiments relating to textural and thermal properties as well as morphology, crystallinity, and chemical interactions. Overall, the 1:2 MCC-starch aerogel had the lowest density (0.04 g/cm3), and highest porosity (97%). Conversely, the pure MCC aerogel demonstrated the highest mechanical strength (Young’s modulus of 48.9 MPa), …

Lung Cancer Type Classification, Mohit Ramajibhai Ankoliya

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Lung cancer is the third most common cancer in the U.S. This research focuses on classifying lung cancer cells based on their tumor cell, shape, and biological traits in images automatically obtained by passing through the

convolutional layers. Additionally, I classify whether the lung cell is adenocarcinoma, large cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, or normal cell carcinoma. The benefit of this classification is an accurate prognosis, leading to patients receiving proper therapy. The Lung Cancer CT(Computed Tomography) image dataset from Kaggle has been drawn with 1000 CT images of various types of lung cancer. Two state-of-the-art convolutional neural networks (CNNs) …

Analysis For An Efficient Operation Of Solar Power Plants In India Using Different Variables/Parameters, Sonal Bansi Shinde

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Vast renewable energy facilities rely heavily on accurate predictions of future solar power output.  This study investigated the various factors causing poor, inefficient operation of Solar Plants and different methods to identify underperforming equipment. The main questions are: Q1: How can we predict electricity generation over the next several days so that the plant can run at peak efficiency? Q2: How can we figure out the exact maintenance needs of any power plant?  Q3: How do we identify faulty equipment to improve its efficiency to improve overall performance? and Q4: What are the different factors that are causing an inefficient …

Development Of Enzyme-Responsive Polymersomes As A Drug Delivery System For Gm1 Gangliosidosis, Bipin Chakravarthy Paruchuri

All Dissertations

GM1 gangliosidosis is a lysosomal storage disorder caused by deficiency of β-galactosidase (βgal) and subsequent accumulation of GM1 ganglioside in lysosomes. The rare nature of this disorder presents challenges with prognosis and treatment. Enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) can effectively treat systemic deficiencies, but the intravenously administered enzyme cannot cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB) to treat the central nervous system. A delivery system to encapsulate and deliver the enzyme can facilitate enzyme transport across the BBB with suitable surface modifications. One of the pathological aspects of GM1-affected cells is the upregulation of the lysosomal enzyme hexosaminidase A (HexA). In this dissertation, …

Profiling And Engineering The Unfolded Protein Response In Therapeutic Protein-Producing Cho Cell Lines, Dyllan Rives

All Dissertations

Industrial Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) production of therapeutics requires cell lines with high secretory capacity to avoid an accumulation of improperly folded proteins, or endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress. This presents a challenging engineering bottleneck. The unfolded protein response (UPR) is initiated to overcome ER stress and reestablish homeostasis. In this dissertation, the impacts of ER stress and the UPR on protein production in mammalian cells are detailed, and both selection- and rational-based strategies for enhancing the ER stress response in productive CHO cell lines are reviewed. This project aims to expand on recent research efforts for engineering ER stress-related responses …

Achieving Safe Use Of Advanced Materials In Drinking Water Through Novel Nano Analytics And Enabling Electrification Using Green Catalyst, Kenneth Ray Flores

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The accumulation of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) in environmental sectors will continue to increase as more applications are discovered for their unique properties and characteristics. Additionally, the presence of nanomaterials in the environment becomes exacerbated as more consumer products containing nanoparticles are approved for use. It is debated whether the toxic effects of nanoparticles stem from the particles themselves, ionic species, or formation of secondary particles. Therefore, understanding the behavior of nanoparticles in the environment becomes key to discerning the toxicological effects of nanoparticles. Many advancements have been made with ICP-MS to understand the behavior of nanoparticles in the environmental systems, …

Nano-Engineered Soft Magnets: Potential Application In Water Treatment, Hyperthermia And Molecular (Organic) Magnets, Yohannes Weldemariam Getahun

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Scrutinizing the remarkable and tunable properties of magnetic materials at a nanoscale size "There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom..." Richard Feynman, this study attempts to find sustainable solutions to some of the deteriorating environmental, health, and energy problems the world is encountering. Due to their simple preparation, surface adaptability, and tunable magnetic and optical properties, magnetic nanoparticles have been extensively investigated in water treatment, cancer therapy, data storage, and more. However, relying on non-reusable and chemical-based treatment agents in water, complex and costly cancer treatment procedures and molecular magnets that operate far below room temperature limited those attempts from …

Compact Electrospray Propulsion Systems For Small Form-Factor Satellites: An Orbital Performance Survey & Platform Design, Alberto Meza

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Over the past decades, small form-factor satellites such as CubeSats have remained as one of the most accessible platforms to reach space for universities, research institutions, private and governmental entities to perform a wide range of missions. This paper presents a survey into the design and implementation of an electrospray rail thruster, to be integrated to the CubeSat platform. The design investigated features propellant tanks for each individual thruster embedded inside the rail of a standard 1U CubeSat. The capabilities of utilizing the electrospray thruster as an attitude & determination control system was also investigated in which, a pointing accuracy …

Online/Incremental Learning To Mitigate Concept Drift In Network Traffic Classification, Alberto R. De La Rosa

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Communication networks play a large role in our everyday lives. COVID19 pandemic in 2020 highlighted their importance as most jobs had to be moved to remote work environments. It is possible that the spread of the virus, the death toll, and the economic consequences would have been much worse without communication networks. To remove sole dependence on one equipment vendor, networks are heterogeneous by design. Due to this, as well as their increasing size, network management has become overwhelming for network managers. For this reason, automating network management will have a significant positive impact. Machine learning and software defined networking …

A Case Study In Design, Construction, And Operation Of A Meromictic Solar Pond In Texas, Usa, Bianca Paola Meneses Brassea

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Over the last four decades, meromictic solar ponds have been the subject of limnological studies and engineering research. A case of practical interest is the salinity gradient solar pond (SGSP). SGSP science and technologies have been systemically advanced in El Paso, Texas. This dissertation aims to share lessons learned in designing, constructing, and operating the El Paso Solar Pond, a NaCl-based solar pond that achieved high-temperature performance over two decades, commencing in 1984. Many of the practical lessons learned have not been published and are thus not readily available in archival journals, and this contribution provides a remedy. The value …

Optimized Learning Using Fuzzy-Inference-Assisted Algorithms For Deep Learning, Miroslava Barua

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

For years, researchers in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Deep Learning (DL) observed that performance of a Deep Learning Network (DLN) could be improved by using larger and larger datasets coupled with complex network architectures. Although these strategies yield remarkable results, they have limits, dictated by data quantity and quality, rising costs by the increased computational power, or, more frequently, by long training times on networks that are very large. Training DLN requires laborious work involving multiple layers of densely connected neurons, updates to millions of network parameters, while potentially iterating thousands of times through millions of entries in a big …

Engineering 3d Bioprinted Cardiac Spheroidal Droplets With Cardiomyocytes And Cardiac Fibroblasts For Tissue Engineering And Drug Cytotoxicity Studies, Raven El Khoury

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Engineering is the supreme human endeavor that involves harnessing the scientific understanding of the natural world to design and invent objects to improve the society around us. Biomedical engineering is the implementation of concepts acquired from engineering in biology and medicine that aims to improve human health through the integration of engineering with biomedical sciences. The mission of a biomedical engineer is to develop technologies that help advance the quality of peopleâ??s health using various tools and materials with one passion and goal: making the patient's life longer and easier. Tissue engineering is developed from the field of biomaterials and …

Direct Potable Reuse Piloting: Optimizing Chloramination, Operationalizing Ultrafiltration, And Understanding Zero Liquid Discharge Options, Marcela Carolina Herrera

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

A pilot study was deployed at the John T. Hickerson Water Reclamation facility to analyze the viability of high recovery direct potable water reuse (DPR), aiming for zero liquid discharge (ZLD). This pilot consists of a chloramination system and ultrafiltration (UF) as pretreatment for reserve osmosis (RO) followed by UV-peroxide, granular activated carbon (GAC), and concentrate-enhanced recovery reverse osmosis (CERRO). Stabilizing the chloramination and UF system was the first step to ensure efficiency during the downstream processes. The formation of monochloramine is essential for the mitigation of biofouling of the UF membranes. The formation of monochloramine occurs by specific liquid …

Investigation Into The Economic Viability Of Industry 4.0 Practices In A Small Start-Up Setting: A Case Study, Joseph Lindley

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Industry 4.0 has been a hot button topic since the first rumouringâ??s of a fourth industrial revolution taking place in the early 2010s. Since that time many companies have attempted to transform their process, procedures, and systems to become streamlined, efficient, and overall, more profitable. An example of this can be seen in companies such as Microsoft and IBM, Mitsubishi and Siemens who have gained a stronger foothold in their respective markets by their efficient implementation of Industry 4.0. Before we can address how small start-up companies can begin to compete with these behemoths, we must address the question; what …

Low Resource Assay For Tracking Sars-Cov-2 In Wastewater, Julissa Van Renselaar

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Wastewater based epidemiology (WBE) allows for the tracking of nucleic acid of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater which gives the opportunity for the public and government officials to be informed about the infectivity of the virus in a community. Advances have been made in WBE that have allowed for higher performance, lower resource use, and faster turnaround time. An adapted concentration method of spin column direct extraction has yielded a proxy virus recovery of 83%, consumable cost of $2.01 per sample, and a turnaround time of 0.33 hour/sample. Other concentration methods have lower proxy virus recoveries, comparable cost, and comparable turnaround time. …

Investigations Of Prokaryotic Defense Systems, Hannah Domgaard

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Bacteria are constantly threatened with infection by mobile genetic elements (MGE) such as bacteriophage and plasmids. Bacteriophage and plasmids require the bacteria's cellular infrastructure to replicate their genomes. Rampant replication can lead to cell death which is one reason why bacteria have developed a diverse array of immune systems to prevent or limit infection. This thesis studies three types of bacterial immune systems, type IV-A CRISPR-Cas (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeat –CRISPR associated), type V-A2 CRISPR-Cas systems, and Wadjet systems.

The type IV-A system lies adjacent to a dinG-like helicase gene. Research has shown that this system can target …

Event-Based Obstacle Detection With Commercial Lidar, Chaz Cornwall

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Computerized obstacle detection for moving vehicles is becoming more important as vehicle manufacturers make their systems more autonomous and safe. However, obstacle detection must operate quickly in dynamic environments such as driving at highway speeds. A unique obstacle detection system using 3D changes in the environment is proposed. Furthermore, these 3D changes are shown to contain sufficient information for avoiding obstacles. To make the system easy to integrate onto a vehicle, additional processing is implemented to remove unnecessary dependencies. This system provides a method for obstacle detection that breaks away from typical systems to be more efficient.

Design Of Environment Aware Planning Heuristics For Complex Navigation Objectives, Carter D. Bailey

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

A heuristic is the simplified approximations that helps guide a planner in deducing the best way to move forward. Heuristics are valued in many modern AI algorithms and decision-making architectures due to their ability to drastically reduce computation time. Particularly in robotics, path planning heuristics are widely leveraged to aid in navigation and exploration. As the robotic platform explores and navigates, information about the world can and should be used to augment and update the heuristic to guide solutions. Complex heuristics that can account for environmental factors, robot capabilities, and desired actions provide optimal results with little wasted exploration, but …

Life Cycle Assessment Of Novel Electrochemical Struvite Recovery In Municipal Wastewater Treatment At The Plant And U.S. Watershed Scales, Karla Morrissey

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As the supply of phosphorus decreases, nutrient recovery in municipal wastewater treatment has become an important area of research. Recovery methods for phosphorus-containing fertilizers, such as struvite, and other products are currently being developed and assessed for their efficiency and economic feasibility. Potential environmental impacts from nutrient recovery are also being assessed as design for the environment is important, especially with regards to the eutrophying potential of phosphorus in phosphorus-limited freshwater aquatic systems. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a tool that can be used to estimate potential environmental impacts of a product or service focusing on its entire life cycle. …

Surface-Driven Instabilities At Oil-Water Interfaces, Anelisse Claros Mendieta

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Fluid-fluid interactions are such a wide area and can be observed in different scenarios such as geothermal systems, waterflooding of reservoirs, oil recovery, and water treatment processes. This thesis aims to deepen the understanding of fluid-fluid interactions which include Marangoni flows, charge related instabilities, and surface activity. This thesis studied the interactions of micrometer-sized droplets of an oil (toluene) with surfactant Di-(2-ethylhexyl) phosphoric acid (DEHPA) in the aqueous phase. One of the main goals is to understand several surface-driven instabilities and how those can be manipulated for future applications.Furthermore, this thesis aims to use these oil-surfactant droplets as a medium …

Using Copper Oxide And Zwitterions To Prevent Membrane Fouling And Optimizing Ultrafiltration Membrane Fabrication With Green Solvents, Cannon Hackett

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Membrane fouling and sustainable production of membranes are two of the most important challenges in membrane science. Chapter 1 of this dissertation introduces these challenges and covers previous research that has been done in those areas. Additionally, the objectives of this dissertation are stated. In chapter 2, a study was done in which polyethersulfone ultrafiltration membranes were functionalized with copper oxide nanoparticles and zwitterions for the purpose of reducing fouling on the membrane surface. Characterization confirmed the attachment of each component to the membranes. Dead-end filtration was performed with water and bovine serum albumin solution and showed that the functionalization …

Using Molecular Dynamics Simulations To Decipher Mechanistic Details Of Biomolecular Processes Of Biology And Biotechnology Oriented Applications, Adithya Polasa

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Researchers in chemistry and biology often utilize computer simulations, in conjunction with experimental data, to model and predict the structures, energies, kinetics, processes, and functions of the systems that are their focus of study, ranging from single molecules to whole viruses. Here, we use molecular dynamics (MD) techniques to gain a deeper understanding of biomolecular processes in biology and biotechnology-oriented applications. Using a mixture of equilibrium and non-equilibrium MD simulations, this work describes the insertion process of YidC at the atomic level. In order to better comprehend the insertion process, several docking models of YidC-Pf3 in the lipid bilayer were …

Multi-Criteria Decision Matrix Method In The Risk Analysis Of Biodiesel Production Processes, Kaylee Alles

Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Renewable fuel technologies aim to mitigate the non-renewability of fossil fuels, challenges with increased energy demand, and the climate impact of fossil fuel emissions. However, before investing in renewable technologies, there need to be decision strategies that assess and identify the best alternatives according to stakeholder priorities. There is also a concern about whether the technologies that are the “most sustainable” effectively meet the acceptable risk requirements of stakeholders. In response to this question, a risk-adapted multi-criteria decision model was developed and compared to a sustainability study that evaluated five renewable diesel technologies, including Green Diesel I, II, and III; …

Parametric Modeling Of Biomimetic Sharkskin For Wire Edm For Drag Reduction And Hydrophobicity, Joel Maxwell

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This research sets out to demonstrate the viability of parametric modeling for biomimetic sharkskin in the effort to reduce drag and create a self-cleaning surface. Multiple designs were created to be machined by Wire EDM on stainless steel and titanium and were comparatively tested. Limitations of current manufacturing processes to economically produce naturally occurring structures such as sharkskin, emphasize the need to be able to calculate the most accurate design for a given manufacturing process. By designing a simplified but parametrically consistent model compared to an accurately depicted 3D model of sharkskin, the textured samples produced can be further tested …

Large Genomes Assembly Using Mapreduce Framework, Yuehua Zhang

All Dissertations

Knowing the genome sequence of an organism is the essential step toward understanding its genomic and genetic characteristics. Currently, whole genome shotgun (WGS) sequencing is the most widely used genome sequencing technique to determine the entire DNA sequence of an organism. Recent advances in next-generation sequencing (NGS) techniques have enabled biologists to generate large DNA sequences in a high-throughput and low-cost way. However, the assembly of NGS reads faces significant challenges due to short reads and an enormously high volume of data. Despite recent progress in genome assembly, current NGS assemblers cannot generate high-quality results or efficiently handle large genomes …

Investigating Spatial Heterogeneity In Myocardial Wound Environments To Improve Therapy, Michael Potter

All Dissertations

Heart failure is a broad pathology manifestation categorized by an inability of the heart to successfully pump blood throughout the vast vessel network of the body. Within the United States, heart failure is projected to increase by approximately 46% from 2012 to 2030. Modalities of heart failure are generally related to wall mechanics that are impacted following myocardial infarction events. Interplay exists between the wall mechanics, responding cell populations, and the spatial heterogeneities in the resultant scar. This interplay directs the myocardium towards heart failure modalities governed by overly stiff or compliant states. It is essential to elucidate details underlying …

Computational Fluid Dynamics Modeling Of Hemodialysis In Patients With An Arteriovenous Fistula, Maximilian Roth

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

With the advent of arteriovenous fistula (AVF) for use in hemodialysis, the anastomosis built for such use has become a central point of the study to understand the flow and wall shear stresses in such a system since very large wall shear stresses can lead to arterial/vein rupture. Considering the commonly used creation site of an anastomosis as connecting the radial artery to the cephalic vein, a model is created to calculate the wall shear stresses across various components of the system. The model depicts a connection of the specified vein and artery bridged together allowing the increase in blood …

Materials Discovery Of Ion-Selective Membranes Using Artificial Intelligence, Reza Maleki, Seyed Mohammadreza Shams, Yasin Mehdizadeh Chellehbari, Sima Rezvantalab, Ahmad Miri Jahromi, Mohsen Asadnia, Rouzbeh Abbassi, Tejraj Aminabhavi, Amir Razmjou

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Significant attempts have been made to improve the production of ion-selective membranes (ISMs) with higher efficiency and lower prices, while the traditional methods have drawbacks of limitations, high cost of experiments, and time-consuming computations. One of the best approaches to remove the experimental limitations is artificial intelligence (AI). This review discusses the role of AI in materials discovery and ISMs engineering. The AI can minimize the need for experimental tests by data analysis to accelerate computational methods based on models using the results of ISMs simulations. The coupling with computational chemistry makes it possible for the AI to consider atomic …

Chemical-Free Biologically Enhanced Primary Treatment Of Raw Wastewater For Improved Capture Carbon, Muhammad Rizwan Azhar, Paul Nolan, Keith Cadee, Mehdi Khiadani

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Conventional wastewater treatment processes require extensive energy inputs for their operations. Biologically enhanced primary treatment (BEPT) is a promising technology to capture incoming organics that may be utilized to produce biogas and potentially hydrogen with further downstream processing. This study involved a biologically enhanced primary treatment (BEPT) of raw wastewater at bench and pilot-scale using activated sludge (AS) addition and dissolved air flotation (DAF) using raw wastewater at a municipal wastewater facility in Western Australia with average chemical oxygen demand of ~ 800 mg/L. The results of pilot-scale testing showed an improved removal performance for total chemical oxygen demand (COD-T), …

Engineer And Test A Biodegradable Microneedle Patch To Deliver Meloxicam For Managing Pain In Cattle, Katherine Alejandra Miranda Munoz

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Microneedle patches are a promising source for transdermal diffusion of macromolecules and are designed to painlessly penetrate the skin. In this study, a biodegradable chitosan microneedle patch to deliver meloxicam for managing pain in cattle was tested. The potential of reuse of the polymeric solution to fabricate the patches, optimization of fabrication, morphological analysis of the microneedle patch and analysis of preservation of the chemical composition after sterilization were evaluated. In-vitro analysis consisted of studying in-vitro penetration mechanical properties, compression testing analysis of microneedle patch, and in-vitro drug release analysis. In-vivo studies were performed to analyze the dissolution capability of …