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Porous Silicon Photonics For Label-Free Interferometric Biosensing And Flat Optics, Tahmid Hassan Talukdar

All Dissertations

This dissertation uses porous silicon as a material platform to explore novel optical effects in three domains: (i) It studies dispersion engineering in integrated waveguides to achieve high performance group index sensing. With proper design parameters, the sensor waveguides can theoretically achieve 6 times larger group index shift compared to the actual bulk effective refractive index shift. We demonstrate the guided mode confinement factor to be a key parameter in design and implementation of these waveguides. (ii) It explores multicolor laser illumination to experimentally demonstrate perceptually enhanced colorimetric sensing, overcoming the limitations faced by many contemporary colorimetric sensors. Our technique …

Foundations Of Plasmas For Medical Applications, T. Von Woedtke, Mounir Laroussi, M. Gherardi

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Plasma medicine refers to the application of nonequilibrium plasmas at approximately body temperature, for therapeutic purposes. Nonequilibrium plasmas are weakly ionized gases which contain charged and neutral species and electric fields, and emit radiation, particularly in the visible and ultraviolet range. Medically-relevant cold atmospheric pressure plasma (CAP) sources and devices are usually dielectric barrier discharges and nonequilibrium atmospheric pressure plasma jets. Plasma diagnostic methods and modelling approaches are used to characterize the densities and fluxes of active plasma species and their interaction with surrounding matter. In addition to the direct application of plasma onto living tissue, the treatment of liquids …

Ultrafiltration Membranes Functionalized With Copper Oxide And Zwitterions For Fouling Resistance, Cannon Hackett, Mojtaba Abolhassani, Lauren Greenlee, Audie K. Thompson

Chemical Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Polymeric membrane fouling is a long-standing challenge for water filtration. Metal/metal oxide nanoparticle functionalization of the membrane surface can impart anti-fouling properties through the reactivity of the metal species and the generation of radical species. Copper oxide nanoparticles (CuO NPs) are effective at reducing organic fouling when used in conjunction with hydrogen peroxide, but leaching of copper ions from the membrane has been observed, which can hinder the longevity of the CuO NP activity at the membrane surface. Zwitterions can reduce organic fouling and stabilize NP attachment, suggesting a potential opportunity to combine the two functionalizations. Here, we coated polyethersulfone …

Synthesis Of Monodisperse Nanoscintillators At High Temperatures For Biomedical Relevant Applications, Eric Zhang

All Dissertations

Luminescent sub-100 nm particulates continuously generate immense research interest in the biomedical field for imaging, theranostics, and optogenetics. Conventionally, upconversion nanoparticles or UV activated semiconductors are studied, however these materials are limited by biological barriers such as the skin which reduces the penetration depth of these excitation sources, tissue's auto- fluorescence, and toxicity. One approach to overcome these challenges is to use nanoscintillators (sub-100 nm materials that can generate visible light using high energy excitation sources such as x-rays) which can generate light locally to the human body. Numerous scintillators have been reported since the discovery of x-rays from the …

The Water We Were Swimming In: Transgender And Gender Nonconforming Students' Lived Experiences In Engineering., Natalie Saroff Oliner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Few studies address the lived experiences of transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) students in engineering. Grounded in critical trans politics (Spade, 2015), this dissertation contributes to the literature on TGNC students in engineering by examining their experiences negotiating their identities while navigating interrelated systems of oppression in a field dominated by White, heterosexual, cisgender men. Using a critical constructivism framework, I conducted a narrative inquiry to explore the lived experiences of five TGNC students in engineering programs. Participants experienced TGNC oppression at their universities, built LGBTQ+ and TGNC communities, and described more welcoming climates in non-engineering contexts compared to engineering. …

An Extraction Method To Quantify The Fraction Of Extracellular And Intracellular Antibiotic Resistance Genes In Aquatic Environments, Kassidy N. O'Malley, Walter M. Mcdonald, Patrick J. Mcnamara

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

As the abundance and diversity of antibiotic resistance genes increases in the environment, there is a concurrent increase in the threat to public and ecosystem health. Extracellular antibiotic resistance genes (eARGs) are cell-free DNA that can promote the development of antibiotic resistance via transformation by competent bacterial cells. Despite this role, eARGs have not been well characterized in different environmental waters. Their small size and low concentrations in some aquatic environments render them difficult to extract. The aim of this research was to modify an eARG extraction method to determine the abundance of both eARGs and intracellular ARGs (iARGs) in …

Fabrication And Characterization Of Lactobacillus Crispatus Containing Bioprints For Bacterial Vaginosis Application., Anthony J. Kyser

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is a condition in which healthy lactobacilli are replaced by an overabundance of pathogenic bacteria in the female reproductive tract. Current antibiotic treatments often fail to “cure” infection, resulting in recurrence in more than 50% of women, 6 months post-treatment. Recently, probiotics have demonstrated promise to restore vaginal health; however, as with other active agents, delivery requires once-to-twice daily administration. Recently, three-dimensional (3D)-bioprinting has enabled the fabrication of well-defined cell-laden architectures with tunable agent release, thereby presenting a novel approach with which to deliver probiotics. One promising bioink, gelatin alginate, was selected for study, due to its …

Release Kinetics Of Metronidazole From 3d Printed Silicone Scaffolds., Sydney E. Herold

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Sustained local administration of active agents has been proposed to cure bacterial vaginosis in the female reproductive tract and restore the resident bacterial fauna. Bioprinting has shown promise for the development of systems for local agent delivery. In contrast to oral ingestion, agent release kinetics can be fine-tuned by bioprinting specialized scaffold designs tailored for particular treatments while enhancing dosage effectiveness via localized sustained release. It has been challenging to establish scaffold properties for sustained release as a function of fabrication parameters. Towards this goal, we evaluate 3D printed scaffold formulation and feasibility to sustain release of metronidazole, a representative …

Acoustofluidic Delivery Of Gene Editing Compounds For Improved Immunotherapy Processing., Riyakumari K. Patel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Cell-based immunotherapies are a new generation of “living-drug” treatments for cancer and other diseases. Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell cancer therapy has shown promising results in lymphoma and B-cell malignancies. Currently, there are six FDA-approved CAR-T drugs on the market, and all of them use viral transfection for reprogramming. While viral transfection is effective, there are safety concerns due to inconsistent transfection that limit the use of CAR-T therapy. Current non-viral transfection techniques generally have lower transfection efficiency than viral transfection. Additionally, these techniques can be toxic, time-consuming, non-transportable, and expensive. To address these limitations, a novel 3D printed acoustofluidic …

Application Of Lanthanides In Wastewater Treatment And Water Reuse, George William Kajjumba

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Much of the world’s population feed on grains (wheat, rice, and corn). Corn is as sensitive as it is productive. This thirsty, fast-growing plant goes into thermal shock in drought. In 2014, California lost over $2.2 billion in crop production due to drought. The Horn of Africa (in 2011) and Sahel (in 2012) faced humanitarian disasters due to food and water scarcity. The higher frequency of climate change and the erratic nature of rain, combined with underlying economic and social vulnerabilities, has meant that food and water scarcity is here to stay. To improve food and water scarcity, water reclamation …

Efficient Networks-On-Chip Communication Support Solutions For Deep Neural Network Acceleration, Binayak Tiwari

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The increasing popularity of deep neural network (DNN) applications demands high computing power and efficient hardware accelerator architectures. DNN accelerators use a large number of processing elements (PEs) and on-chip memory for storing weights and other parameters. A significant challenge is faced when designing a many-core DNN accelerator to handle the data movement between the processing elements. As the communication backbone of a DNN accelerator, networks-on-chip (NoC) plays an important role in supporting various dataflow patterns and enabling processing with communication parallelism in a DNN accelerator. However, the widely used mesh-based NoC architectures inherently cannot efficiently support many-to-one (gather) and …

Contaminants Of Emerging Concern Behavior Within Water Renewal Facilities, Joshua C. Baker

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Emerging constituents (ECs), also called contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) are defined by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S.EPA) as: “…pharmaceuticals and personal care products.” This also includes per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), which are used in waterproofing and non-stick cooking products. It is highly likely that regulatory limits will be placed on many ECs because they tend to accumulate in the environment and biological tissues with little to no transformation. ECs pose a threat to the ecological systems of our nation and the fundamental need for clean water by all life on earth. Clean water is essential for …

Additive Manufacturing Of Sensors For Extreme Environments, Kiyo Tiffany Fujimoto

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Advanced manufacturing based direct-write technologies have emerged as the predominant enabler for the fabrication of active and passive sensors for use in harsh operating environments. The ability to directly write and integrate electronic components onto physical packaging can be achieved with additive manufacturing (AM) methods such as direct write technologies (DWT) which include aerosol jet printing (AJP), Ink Jet Printing (IJP), Plasma Jet Printing (PJP), and Micro-Dispense Printing (MDP). In this work, we investigate the use of these methods to accelerate, modernize, and enhance the functionality of sensors and instrumentation to achieve the goal of improving the safety and efficiency …

Rapid, Reliable Tissue Fractionation Algorithm For Commercial Scale Biorefineries, Rahul Reddy Kancharla

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Increasing demand, limited supply, and the impact on the environment raise significant concerns about the consumption of fossil fuels. Because of this, global economies are facing two significant energy challenges: i) securing the supply of reliable and affordable energy and ii) achieving the transformation to a low-carbon, high-efficiency, and sustainable energy system. Recently, there has been growing interest in developing portable transportation fuels from biomass in order to reduce the petroleum consumption in the transportation sector - a major contributor to greenhouse gas emission. A cost-effective conversion process to produce biofuels from lignocellulosic biomass material relies not just on the …

Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy Of Zirconium Oxidation For In-Situ Nuclear Sensing Applications, Michael Andrew Reynolds

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

To meet the ever-growing energy demands of the modern world, alternative forms of producing power are necessary, and the field of nuclear engineering holds promise to answer this call. Nuclear fuel cladding in light water reactors (LWRs) currently draws a large amount of attention from scientists and researchers, as it provides many challenges to design around. Since the 1950s, zirconium and its protective oxide layer have been utilized as an effective material for the task, possessing good mechanical strengths, high corrosion resistance, and a low neutron absorption cross section. Despite these beneficial properties, however, fuel cladding remains vulnerable to several …

Assessing The Potential Effectiveness Of Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy For Quantifying Neonatal Skin Properties Using Tissue Phantoms, Jack Murphy

Biomedical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) has previously been shown to be effective at analyzing the optical characteristics of a wide variety of biological tissues, including the skin. In addition to being sensitive to the amount of blood and its oxygenation, DRS can be used to extract bilirubin levels and assess jaundice, a common complication in newborn infants. To assess its potential for being utilized in applications involving neonatal skin, we evaluated the utility of DRS for extracting hemoglobin and bilirubin concentrations from tissue phantoms. Phantom sets were created by including a known amount of scattering and by varying known concentrations of …

Investigating The Impact Of Hypoxia On Reactive Oxygen Species Generation Within Murine Breast Cancer Cells, Jared Mcpeake

Biomedical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

When cancer metastasizes from a primary tumor site to secondary site through the bloodstream or lymph, the cancer becomes more difficult to treat. For this reason, it is vital to study what indicates the metastatic potential of a tumor. Current research has shown that cell lines with high metastatic potential display increased levels of metabolic adaptability over their nonmetastatic counterparts after undergoing hypoxic conditions. One method of assessing this adaptability is to measure the concentration of reactive oxygen species (ROS) produced by the cells while undergoing oxidative stress. In highly adaptable metastatic cells, an increase of ROS buildup within the …

Computer Vision And Machine Learning Applications In Cellular Images And Clinical Data, Guochang Ye

Theses and Dissertations

With the progressive development of artificial intelligence (AI), automated analysis has been explored for substituting tedious manual methods in cellular image analysis. Additionally, medical information not included in the conventional statistical methods is now being reconsidered with AI-based personalized medicine. The adaptivity and flexibility of AI ensure its efficiency and accuracy. In this work, computer vision and machine learning (ML) methods under the scope of AI are explicitly investigated and applied to cellular images and clinical data for cytological analysis and to provide diagnosis-based assistance/predictions. Firstly, novel computer vision algorithms achieve cell detection and differentiation estimation on phase-contact microscopic images …

Study Of Porosity Of Gelatin-Alginate Hydrogels To Model Brain Matter For Studying Traumatic Brain Injuries, Apolline Vincent

Honors Scholar Theses

Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) affect brain tissue and neuronal signaling, leading to many side effects including death. Research on TBIs is limited by the lack of accurate brain matter models to study the physiological and cellular reaction. Alginate-gelatin hydrogels have been designed and modified to mimic the mechanical properties of the brain to act as an accurate in vitro model. This Honors thesis aims to verify the porous microstructure of gelatin-alginate hydrogels through Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) to understand how gelatin and alginate affect the microstructure. I measured the pore sizes of each hydrogel using ImageJ, compared the average pore …

Evaluation Of Accelerated Testing Methods To Predict The Effects Of Chemical Exposure On Mechanical Properties Of Polyester Composites In Municipal Wastewater Service, Roberto A. Garcia

Theses and Dissertations

Composite Access Products (CAP) is a company that is determined to replace traditional steel manhole covers with fiber reinforced polymer alternatives that have similar performance while also introducing several advantages. CAP can achieve this by manufacturing the polymer manhole covers using high-speed, high pressure compressing molding to produce lightweight, long-lasting, corrosive resistant covers. CAP’s composite covers have been approved for use by TXDOT in roadway zones. Despite this, they must now undergo more testing and verification for use in environments with highly corrosive elements such as sewage environments and waste processing plants. In these situations, the polymer manhole covers will …

Forecasting Salinity In The Laguna Madre Using Deep Learning, Martin J. Flores Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

Salinity is an important metric in the Laguna Madre for establishing the long term health of the local ecological population. By utilizing Deep Learning (DL) techniques, the predicted and forecasted salinity in the Laguna Madre is generated from data provided by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)-Aqua satellite.

Currently, only one other DL model has been used to forecast Sea Surface Salinity (SSS), being a Recurrent Neural Network (RNN). However, the RNN model requires the prediction of a full area of salinity to function.

As such, several model architectures were tested, with the best one, being a Multi-input MPNN, utilized …

Water Quality Monitoring To Assess Pollutant Loadings In Brownsville Ship Channel Watershed, Ivan Rene Santos Chavez

Theses and Dissertations

The Brownsville Ship Channel (BSC) was listed as an impaired waterway from 2010 to 2018 due to screening levels of bacteria concentration. This study aims to address water quality at the three main tributary ditches draining into Brownsville Ship Channel to model present along with future pollutant loads within Brownsville Ship Channel Watershed. Load Duration Curves (LDCs) and Spatial Explicit Load Enrichment Calculation Tool (SELECT) models were developed to determine if current pollutant loads meet water quality standards stablished by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), and to estimate average daily potential E. Coli loading contribution from sub-watersheds within …

2022 (Spring) Ensi Informer Magazine, Morehead State University. Engineering Sciences Department

ENSI Informer Magazine Archive

The ENSI Informer Magazine published in the spring of 2022.

Multiphase Layered Transition Metal Oxide Positive Electrodes For Sodium Ion Batteries, Eric Gabriel, Dewen Hou, Eungje Lee, Hui Xiong

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Multiphase layered transition metal oxides (LTMOs) for sodium ion battery (SIB) positive electrodes with phase interfaces across multiple length scales are a promising avenue toward practical, high-performance SIBs. Combinations of phases can complement each other's strengths and mitigate their weaknesses if their interfaces are carefully controlled. Intra- and interparticle phase interactions from nanoscale to macroscale must be carefully tuned to generate distinct effects on properties and performance. An informed design strategy must be paired with relevant synthesis techniques and complemented by spatially resolved characterization tools to manipulate different length scales and interfaces. This review examines the design, synthesis, and characterization …

Low-Cost Carriers Versus Legacy Carriers: Passenger Preference During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Aaron Bushelle

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the current study was to identify whether passengers had a preference between traveling on low-cost carriers versus legacy carriers during the ongoing pandemic. Building off research conducted by another researcher, several dimensions were identified and utilized within the question items. For this research, the target population was persons residing within the United States who were at least 18 years old and have traveled since the start of the pandemic in the United States in January 2020. A questionnaire was distributed online, and convenience sampling was undertaken. A T-test was conducted, and results indicated that when it came …

Infrared Electric Field Enhancement Via A Hyperbolic-Metalens-Coupled Nanoantenna, Mohamed Jebril Kyamo

Theses and Dissertations

The development of near- and mid-infrared applications requires high enhancement of the electric field intensity (EFI) and a high absorption cross-section of the electric field. The high enhancement of EFI can be obtained by concentrating optical energy to areas much smaller than the diffraction limit or by using surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs). Noble metals such as gold (Au) or silver (Ag) are not feasible for infrared (IR) applications because of high losses, lack of tunability, low resolution, and low-intensity enhancement. Our methods to solve these problems are based on appropriate metamaterial selection and on coupling systems with optimization of their …

Nanomechanical Characterization Of Vascular Tissue Using Atomic Force Microscopy, Ana Isabel Delgado Peralta

Theses and Dissertations

Cardiovascular morphogenesis and pathophysiology have been associated with the mechanical properties of the vessel wall. In this work, nanomechanical properties of diseased arteries and control groups were quantified using the Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). Both tip sizes of 20nm and 5µm were used for examining the local and global stiffness. First, we measured the stiffness as a potential index factor of the mice’s aortic aneurysm. Results have shown the stiffness of mice aortic aneurysm is 58.84 ± 30.26 kPa, which is significantly different (P < 0.05) from the stiffness of the control group of 4.70 ± 17.41 kPa. This was attributed to the degradation of elastin fibers and increment of collagen deposition in the vessel as observed in the histological analysis. The lesion heterogeneity was illustrated by the stiffness gradient from 40 kPa to 1.2 MPa within a 2µm2 region. We also examined the stiffness of the diabetic rat aorta as a potential biomarker for disease progression. Results have shown a significantly higher stiffness of 70.25 ± 14.10 kPa in diabetic rat aorta, compared with 54.19 ± 14.15 kPa in the control group. Lastly, we characterized the human aortic calcifications to fill the knowledge gap of scarce datasets for calcification stiffness. Results have demonstrated the calcification stiffness as 61.5 ± 35 kPa, which is significantly larger than the stiffness of the control group of 12.0 ± 4.4 kPa. The stiffness variation was attributed to the percentage of calcium deposits, observed from the histological analysis. These nanomechanical characterizations could be further used for a better understanding of arterial adaptation and to provide insights for effective vascular therapies.

Quantifying Responsiveness In The Vaccine Industry To Evaluate And Improve Pandemic Response, Connor Hill

Theses and Dissertations

In the wake of the pandemic Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) we can look at many aspects of the global response, including social, scientific, and governmental. Current research in the areas of vaccine development and manufacturing find the process of developing a new vaccine takes an especially long time and is unresponsive. Understanding the factors that influence responsiveness can help organizations be better prepared to address the needs of society should another pandemic strike. Responsiveness can be linked to product, process, and volume. The vaccine development and manufacturing process historically takes years to reach distribution for public use. …

Cellular Migration As A Function Of Magnetic Field Intervention, Amy Marie Vecheck

Theses and Dissertations

This work aims to assess cellular migration in three-dimensional structures as a function of Zeeman resonance. By using Zeeman resonance to initialize intersystem crossing of electrons, also known as the Radical Pair Mechanism, bioenergetics processes would be modulated. Processes such as oxygen consumption rate and extracellular acidification rate are indicative of cellular respiration and glycolysis and can be altered based on the orientation of the magnetic field applied: parallel and perpendicular, respectively. This study focused on the parallel orientation and looked to used Zeeman resonance to increase flavin adenosine dinucleotide, which results in preventing the breakdown of F-actin. Cellular viability …

Nanoparticles For Biomedical Applications, Joseph Kim

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

This thesis presents development and evaluation of the potential of three new nanoparticles for biomedical applications. With the rapid growth of the field of nanoscience, researchers have explored developing nanoparticles for various biomedical applications, including imaging, therapy, and drug delivery. This thesis demonstrates the development of two C­₆₀ fullerene based nanoparticles and one boron based nanoparticle to answer key questions related to their biological potential.

In the first part of the thesis, we describe synthesis and characterization of a pure boron nanoparticle containing asolectin phospholipid-based liposome construct prepared using a water-in-oil emulsion method, as a novel alternative agent for …