Digital Commons Network^™

Numerical Investigation Of Leading-Edge Modifications Of A Naca Airfoil, Anisur Rahman Ikram

Masters Theses

A parametric investigation was carried out to understand the flow characteristics of tubercle airfoils and to determine the best approach and parameters for designing a tubercle airfoil. For this purpose, a straight edge base airfoil (NACA 4414) and several tubercle airfoils, by modifying the leading edge of the base airfoil, were created in SolidWorks and tested with Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) application software Star CCM+.

Alternative tubercle airfoil with elliptical bumps demonstrated superior post-stall performance when compared to their straight edge counterparts; their post-stall lift did not decrease drastically. However, their pre-stall lift coefficients were always lower than the base …

Creating A Transformative Visual Art Curriculum, Alison M. Marchbanks

Masters Theses

This thesis explores the process of creating transformative learning experiences within a visual art curriculum that emphasizes individual reflection, creative expression, and community involvement. The strategies and philosophies discussed will facilitate student engagement with big ideas and complex messages that will inform their social consciousness beyond their formal school career. Examples of how these practices are being used in K-12 visual art settings are presented to provide an in-depth roadmap for implementing a community-based, social justice learning opportunity.

Cellulose Based Separator For High-Performance Lithium-Ion Batteries, Akshit Vaidya

Masters Theses

During the past two decades, lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have gained great success in the field of portable devices, and currently, are penetrating to the market of vehicles. Compared to the fast development of LIBs, little efforts have been dedicated to the separator, which is one of the most important components of LIBs. Primarily, the lithium-ion battery separator has two functions, one is to prevent direct contact between the positive and negative electrodes, and the other is to provide a path for effective ionic transportation. Currently, the separator market of LIBs is dominated by polyolefin materials such as polypropylene, polyethylene, and …

Oxidized Phospholipid Regulation Of Chronic Inflammation In Endothelial Cells, Cameron Scott Brutsche

Masters Theses

Atherosclerosis, the primary cause of Coronary Heart Disease (CHD), has become one of the top causes of death in the world. As low-density lipoprotein (LDL) particles become trapped and oxidized inside arterial walls, the primary oxidation products of 1-palmitoyl-2-arachidonyl-sn-glycerol-3-phosphatidylcholine (PAPC) induce the binding of monocytes which can potentially lead to fatty plaque build ups. A fragment of one of these oxidation products, OxPAPC, has previously been studied and can act as standard for testing new phospholipids and how they affect protein expression levels. The central hypothesis of this study was that three newly studied classes of oxidized fatty …

Meritpatch - Family Collaborative Activities, Jason Allan Crouch

Masters Theses

There is no doubt that the modern family is very busy and disrupted by outside influences. Social trends and expectations have caused many families to become disconnected. There is research that points to overuse of technology as one culprit. Other research suggests that lack of spiritualism has negatively affected families. Regardless of the cause, it can be argued that the more disconnect within a family, the more likely it is for family members to experience negative social, emotional and/or health related issues as well as broken relationships. This study seeks to define family interactions and activities that support a healthy …

Evaluation Of Autoreactivity In Vh4-34-Containing Antibodies From Human B-1 Vs B-2 Cells, Michelle E. Ray

Masters Theses

B-1 cells are a unique population of lymphocytes, with distinct phenotypic and functional characteristics in comparison to conventional B-2 cells. B-1 cells are thought to be more closely related to the innate immune system than the adaptive, and B-1 cells constitutively secrete antibody that is recognized as broadly reactive with low levels of autoreactivity. The antibody heavy chain segment, VH4-34, is overutilized by the human B-1 cell population. VH4-34 antibodies are associated with autoreactivity, although not all VH4-34 antibodies are autoreactive. The primary objective of this study was to determine whether autoreactive forms of VH4-34 antibodies are localized only to …

Examination Of The Impact Of Contingent Praise And Monetary Rewards On Intrinsic Motivation And Creative Performance, Merrilyn Akpapuna

Masters Theses

Despite many decades of debate, the question of whether or not extrinsic motivation is detrimental to intrinsic motivation and creativity continues to spark discussion among professionals (Cameron & Pierce, 1994). This is an important issue for business owners who do not want to stifle creativity and intrinsic motivation in an effort to increase productivity. Even though many authors have labelled extrinsic motivation as archaic and harmful (Deci, 1971; Kohn, 1993; Pink, 2009), the available empirical evidence does not match such levels of condemnation. The purpose of the present study was to compare the effectiveness of several interventions (performance-contingent money, performance-contingent …

Mission Architecture Analysis: Exploring Long-Period Comets From Multiple Staging Orbits, Gabriel Prescinotti Vivan

Masters Theses

Objects that have retained pieces of information about the early Solar System are key to our understanding of its formation and evolutionary history. However, the high delta-V required to reach these objects, such as long-period comets or interstellar objects, makes designing an intercept mission at the time of detection impractical. In this thesis, multiple heliocentric staging orbits are explored to serve as departure positions for future missions, prior to objects’ detections. By utilizing more than one staging orbit concurrently, the set of objects that are reachable is expanded, therefore increasing mission feasibility. Delta-V maps are generated and superimposed; two-impulse burn …

An Analysis Of Factors Influencing Chemistry Students’ Choice Of Major And Career, Jennifer Marie Ribble

Masters Theses

In recent years there has been a push to increase the number of STEM graduates in the United States in order for the nation to retain its position as a global leader in the sciences. If educators are to address recruitment and attrition issues in STEM fields it is important to understand student perspectives related to choosing both a major and a career in chemistry. The present study explores the decision-making process students utilize to choose chemistry as a major and as a career, their perception of what careers are available to someone with a degree in chemistry and what …

Fatigue Damage Characterization By Surface Roughness And Instrumented Micro – Hardness Measurements, Suraj Sanjay Nikam

Masters Theses

Fatigue is an essential consideration in the design of high performance, safety-critical structures, and components, as fatigue failure constitutes more than 70% of failures in dynamically loaded components. This research aims to shed light on the effect of surface roughness on the micro-hardness in metals through experimental techniques (Part 1), the correlation between the traditional fatigue testing and instrumented cyclic micro-hardness testing to determine the material properties modeled by Ramberg - Osgood relationship(Part 2), and the effect of the fatigue damage on micro-hardness and surface roughness (Part 3).

For this research, Al 7075 - T651 and Al 6061 - T651 …

Comparison Of Optimal Energy Management Strategies Using Dynamic Programming, Model Predictive Control, And Constant Velocity Prediction, Amol Arvind Patil

Masters Theses

Due to the recent advancements in autonomous vehicle technology, future vehicle velocity predictions are becoming more robust which allows fuel economy (FE) improvements in hybrid electric vehicles through optimal energy management strategies (EMS). A real-world highway drive cycle (DC) and a controls-oriented 2017 Toyota Prius Prime model are used to study potential FE improvements. We proposed three important metrics for comparison: (1) perfect full drive cycle prediction using dynamic programming, (2) 10-second prediction horizon model predictive control (MPC), and (3) 10-second constant velocity prediction. These different velocity predictions are put into an optimal EMS derivation algorithm to derive optimal engine …

Vehicle Performance Analysis Of An Autonomous Electric Shuttle Modified For Wheelchair Accessibility, Johan Fanas Rojas

Masters Theses

Autonomous vehicles (AV) have the potential to vastly improve independent, safe, and cost-effective mobility options for individuals with disabilities. However, accessibility considerations are often overlooked in the early stages of design, resulting in AVs that are inaccessible to people with disabilities. The needs of wheeled mobility device users can cause significant vehicle design changes due to requirements for stepless ingress/egress and increased space for onboard circulation and securement. Vehicles serving people with disabilities typically require costly aftermarket modifications for accessibility, which may have unforeseen impacts on vehicle performance and safety, particularly in the case of automated vehicles. In this research, …

Understanding The Resiliency Of The Kalamazoo Mall, Emily Szymanski

Masters Theses

The Kalamazoo Mall is the first pedestrian mall in the United States. Since then the Mall has gone through many changes. The Mall was first created to be a completely pedestrian-friendly space closed off to cars and to help revitalize the downtown after suburban mall competition. However, the Mall did not keep people downtown as expected, resulting in the reintroduction of automobile traffic in two of the four blocks of the Mall. In spite of these changes Although there have been several changes, the Mall still exists today while many pedestrian Malls have closed. This thesis seeks to understand the …

Development Of A Finite Element Model Of The Stamping Process To Predict The Natural Frequencies Of Dimpled Beams, Varad Vasudeo Pendse

Masters Theses

Creating dimples on beams has been proven to be an effective way of altering their vibrational behavior. The objective of this research is to simulate the process of stamping using the finite element (FE) method to create a model of a dimpled beam. This dimple has non-uniform thickness, so it shows close agreement with its real-life counterpart.

ANSYS® Parametric Design Language (APDL) is used to build a three-dimensional (3-D) finite element model and simulate the process of stamping used to create the dimple. The structural simulation is validated by calculating the thickness and width of the deformed geometry of the …

Vehicle Velocity Prediction Using Artificial Neural Networks And Effect Of Real-World Signals On Prediction Window, Tushar Dnyaneshwar Gaikwad

Masters Theses

Prediction of vehicle velocity is essential since it can realize improvements in the fuel economy/energy efficiency, drivability, and safety. Many publications address velocity prediction problems, yet there is a need for the understanding effect of different signals for the prediction. There are numerous new sensor and signal technologies like vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication that can be used to obtain comprehensive datasets. Several references considered deterministic and stochastic approaches that use the datasets as input to determine future operation predictions. These approaches include different traffic models and artificial neural networks such as Markov chain, nonlinear autoregressive model, Gaussian function, and recurrent …

Testing A New Photovoice Model: A Meta-Analysis On Participatory Action Research Methodologies In Geographical Research, Nolan Bergstrom

Masters Theses

Photovoice was developed in the early 1990s for use in public health studies evolving from participatory action research (PAR) and photographic methods. It attempts to mitigate the power dynamics between researcher and researched by allowing participants to be the primary knowledge producers. The Photovoice methodology has left open methodological avenues to implement Photovoice as a research tool in many fields. This research aimed to modify the Photovoice methodology to include mobile technology, social media to create a new model of Photovoice.

This research was conducted in K.I. Sawyer, MI, a small town in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan over a …

In Search Of A More Republican Naval Defense: Thomas Jefferson, Congress, And The Gunboat Debate, 1802-1810, Ethan David Zook

Masters Theses

In 1801, Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States, sought to reduce the national debt, eliminate taxes, and reduce spending regarding the U.S. Army and U.S. Navy. To this end, Jefferson enlisted the assistance of congressional Republicans to authorize and fund the construction of lightly armed, coastal-defense gunboats. By examining Jefferson’s writings and congressional speeches, “In Search of a More Republican Naval Defense: Thomas Jefferson, Congress, and the Gunboat Debate, 1802-1810” explains both Jefferson’s interest in the small warships, and why from 1801 to 1809 Congress appropriated $1,205,500 to build approximately 180 gunboats. This thesis argues that Jefferson …

Reeformation, Adelina Koleva '10, Aysu Aysoy

Masters Theses

As the sea level rises, millions of vulnerable homes will be put at risk. Simultaneously, vital coastal habitats are disappearing due to pollution and rising ocean temperatures. The domain for this thesis will focus on a coastal region in Makassar, Indonesia, where the research ambition is to generate ecologically resilient, multifunctional offshore structures for urban living. The design of these structures aims to perform at multiple scales. Firstly, it seeks to support an underwater ecosystem through a porous topology capable of occupation by marine life from the cellular level. This will provide opportunities for the structure to act as a …

Romantic Rejection In Gay Potential Relationships: A Gay Blog Analysis, Rebecca Ferlotti

Masters Theses

Little research has been done on gay potential relationships (when two daters had gone on five or fewer dates or would-be dates), and there was no existing research available on romantic rejection in gay potential relationships. Most existing literature on romantic rejection focused on heterosexual relationships and long-term homosexual relationships. This thesis analyzed 48 blog entries from four publicly-accessible gay dating blogs ( The Guyliner ; It Gets Worse ; Gay Dating Stories ; and 100 Guys, 100 Storie s) that described romantic rejections. This thesis concluded romantic rejections for the four gay bloggers overall were most frequently implicit, due …

Female Student Veteran's Transition To College, Doug Michaels

Masters Theses

This study was focused on learning more about the experiences female student veterans have while transitioning from the military to college as well as what types of resources they utilized during this time. Research on this population is very limited, but the number of relevant studies completed is increasing. A narrative qualitative approach was utilized for this study in order to give this population the platform to tell their stories and for their voices to be heard. There were four participants who have all served at least one year in the military and have completed at least one year of …

Modal Analysis As Non-Destructive Testing Technique For Additively Manufactured 304l Stainless Steel Parts, Tristan N. Cullom

Masters Theses

“Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) methods for Additively Manufactured (AM) parts is an ongoing field of research in the additive community due to its ability to determine if a part can be deemed viable for field usage. This study presents modal analysis as a NDT method for AM parts. For production builds that have multiple copies of the same part, a correcting technique can be used such that the frequencies of the parts under test can be reliably compared against each other, which saves both time and money compared to other traditional NDT methods. This study was able to develop a novel …

3d Printing Reinforced Concrete Structures, Bryce Tyler Tafolla

Masters Theses

"This study aims to investigate a 3D printing method to directly incorporate continuous reinforcement into concrete structures. The ability to design and produce complex structures with optimized topographical configuration can be used to reduce potential material waste while maintaining the required structural strength. Furthermore, the ability to actively incorporate reinforcement into printed members substantially reduces potential labor requirements and eliminates the need to set up formwork.

The study began its initial approach with a manual extrusion process containing reinforcement to observe the necessary constraints required to achieve a printing system with this functionality. The second stage of development was designing …

Soil-Water-Energy Nexus Of Green Roofs, Katherine Ann Bartels

Masters Theses

"As the urban landscape continues to sprawl into previously undeveloped land to accommodate population growth, the need to design cities that effectively manage urban stormwater is imperative for a sustainable future. Green roofs use rain-harvesting techniques to reduce urban stormwater discharge while simultaneously providing traditional roof services as well as several ecosystem services. However, green roof media design varies greatly among commercial applications, and little guidance is available to engineers when selecting the media for prospective green roofs. Efforts to maximize stormwater retention and enhance urban heat island mitigation capabilities of green roofs while concurrently reducing nutrient loading were examined …

In-Situ X-Ray Imaging Of The Selective Laser Melting Process, Meelap M. Coday

Masters Theses

"Fusion-based metal additive manufacturing (AM) has garnered much interest in recent decades. Despite the popularity of fusion-based AM technologies such as selective laser melting (SLM), there are still fundamental questions and uncertainties that need to be addressed. In this work, we focus on the understanding of the undercooling in the SLM process and the uncertainties induced by the laser beam size, power, and scan speed. First, we report the estimation of undercooling in the SLM process from the solidification rate measured by in-situ high-speed synchrotron x-ray imaging, based on the dendrite growth velocity model. The undercooling changes as a function …

Evaluation Of Engineering Properties Of Soil In Al Butayn, Mudarraj Al Qassim And Turubah - Hail Saudi Arabia, Turki Essam A. Sehly

Masters Theses

"Fractures, sinkhole, building cracks, and ground subsidence have spread in many regions of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, some of which are related to seismic activity, others due to the presence of unstable soils (collapsing soils and Expansive soils) and others because of faults, while others result from drawing groundwater at great rates. The current study has several facts related to the formation of cracks and landslides, including:
1) A general study of geomorphology and geology of the study areas.
2) The causes affecting the formation of cracks and subsidence.
3) Detailed geomorphological and geological studies of the locations of …

Design And Development Of Power Processing Units For Applications In Electrically-Propelled Satellite Systems, Kartikeya Jayadurga Prasad Veeramraju

Masters Theses

"Electrospray technology provides a way to ionize specialized liquids by applying high voltages across a sharp porous tip and a metallic mesh. This technology is widely used in the field of mass spectroscopy for generating ions for testing purposes. The dawn of nano-satellites posed new challenges in the miniaturization of many conventional satellite sub-systems. One significant challenge faced in such a process was the miniaturization of the propulsion system. Electrosprays have started to find their application in the field of Aerospace Engineering and now are formally known as Electrospray Thrusters. These thrusters provide high specific impulse and are attractive substitutes …

Serdes Channel Crosstalk Mitigation Methodology With Industrial Implementation Guidance, Junda Wang

Masters Theses

"With the increasing data rate of digital circuits, the differential crosstalk degrades the signal integrity performance in PCBs drastically. Usually, in the trace area, crosstalk can be isolated by stitching vias and adding shielding ground vias can also shield coupling in the ball gate array (BGA) and pin field area. The traditional way to mitigation crosstalk in the BGA and pin field area through adding more ground vias between signal pairs or increasing the spacing in between, it demonstrated us the efficiency on crosstalk cancellation efficiency but it also increases the size of products and it would be contradictory to …

Rhetorical Analysis Of Statements Of Purpose (Sps) For Admission To Graduate School: A Shared-Understanding Perspective Of The Sp Genre, Priyanka Ganguly

Masters Theses

"In this study, I analyzed twenty-four statements of purpose (SPs) submitted to the Department of English and Technical Communication at Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T) by current and former students. My goal was to determine the applicants' shared understanding of the SP genre. I analyzed the SPs from three dimensions: rhetorical moves, rhetorical appeals (pisteis), and rhetorical style (elocutio).

To understand the rhetorical moves used by the applicants, I analyzed the content of their SPs according to the categories (moves) and codes (steps) validated in my pilot study. To understand the arguments used by the …

On Predicting Stopping Time Of Human Sequential Decision-Making Using Discounted Satisficing Heuristic, Mounica Devaguptapu

Masters Theses

“Human sequential decision-making involves two essential questions: (i) "what to choose next?", and (ii) "when to stop?". Assuming that the human agents choose an alternative according to their preference order, our goal is to model and learn how human agents choose their stopping time while making sequential decisions. In contrary to traditional assumptions in the literature regarding how humans exhibit satisficing behavior on instantaneous utilities, we assume that humans employ a discounted satisficing heuristic to compute their stopping time, i.e., the human agent stops working if the total accumulated utility goes beyond a dynamic threshold that gets discounted with time. …

Experimental Evaluation Of A Honeycomb Structure In Open Channel Flows, Kyle David Hix

Masters Theses

“Designing and controlling open channel flows presents many challenges. One such challenge is energy dissipation. This challenge is currently addressed by several means, including the use of honeycomb structures. Energy dissipation by honeycomb structures has been studied for pressurized conduit flows; however, their ability to dissipate energy in free-surface flows remains largely unexamined. This work introduces a comprehensive experimental study designed to estimate the energy dissipation through a honeycomb structure in a free-surface flow.

This work examined the energy dissipation for a range of flows, pipe lengths, and pipe diameters in two flumes. PVC pipes ranging from 6 inches to …