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Sensitivity And Uncertainty Quantification Of Continuum And Stochastic Bond Dissociation Kinetics Based Cohesive Laws, Rishabh Awasthi

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Polymeric adhesives are being extensively used to develop light weight and durable Composite Materials which are have been employed in automotive, aeronautical, medical industry. Polymeric adhesives undergo failure due to relative opening sliding of bonded interfaces which requires a need to characterize the fracture mechanism. Numerous experiments are conducted to predict the fracture response for Mode-I, II,III and numerical simulations are employed to inversely calibrate the material parameters governing the constitutive laws. Cohesive zone models are largely employed in fracture mechanics to predict failure of interfaces undergoing large plastic deformations. The objective of this report is to employ the cohesive …

Dynamic Dependency Collapsing, Görkem Aşılıoğlu

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

In this dissertation, we explore the concept of dynamic dependency collapsing. Performance increases in computer architecture are always introduced by exploiting additional parallelism when the clock speed is fixed. We show that further improvements are possible even when the available parallelism in programs are exhausted. This performance improvement is possible due to executing instructions in parallel that would ordinarily have been serialized. We call this concept dependency collapsing. We explore existing techniques that exploit parallelism and show which of them fall under the umbrella of dependency collapsing. We then introduce two dependency collapsing techniques of our own. The first technique …

Buckling Load Study On Pop Nut (Rivet) Using Finite Element Analysis, Saurabh Shankar Shegokar

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

This study highlights the material behavior in riveting operation that includes buckling load analysis using ABAQUS. Finite Element Analysis is used to find the buckling load vs. Displacement results and validated with the results obtained in physical testing of rivet (POP Nut). A mesh sensitivity study is performed using ABAQUS to understand the optimum mesh size for this analysis. An axisymmetric model with contact properties is created and simulated to reduce the simulation time using ABAQUS. The results obtained through Finite Element Analysis show a good resemblance with the testing results. Design changes were suggested to achieve better results that …

Efficient Enhancement Of Micro-Nucleation Rates In Flow-Boiling - By Concurrent Micro-Structuring Of The Boiling-Surface And Its Judicious Energization By Piezoelectric-Transducer Induced Acoustic Vibrations., Atharva Rahane

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The report describes the science and technology backgrounds and uses for the technology breakthrough reported for enhanced flow-boiling based cooling of high-power density electronics (chips, memory etc.). A controlled but explosive growth in micro-scale nucleation rates during flow-boiling of HFE-7100 (electronics and environment friendly liquid from 3M, Inc) is enabled by the uses of inexpensive meshed-copper for micro-structuring of the boiling surface and a pair of Piezoelectric-transducers for active imposition of suitable acoustic vibrations. The pair of piezo transducers mounted just outside the mini-channel impose “in plane” acoustic vibrations of controllable amplitudes and frequencies, and they are used to induce …

Estimation Of Atmospheric Conditions Over A Long Horizontal Path Using Multi-Frame Blind Deconvolution (Mfbd) Techniques In Comparison With Delayed Tilt Anisoplanatism (Delta) Software, Hannah Stoll

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The potential to track and view objects in space from the ground with greater near real time knowledge of the intervening turbulence would be a revolutionary capability. The objective of this thesis is to cross-validate two separate methods used to estimate the Fried parameter. This verification is a step toward a commercial grade product that would make real-time estimates of the turbulence strength along an optical path from a ground-based observatory to a satellite in orbit around the Earth. Michigan Technological University has developed a multi-frame blind deconvolution (MFBD) algorithm used to estimate r0 and it was tested against MZA’s …

Optical Dispersion Relations From Three-Dimensional Chiral Gold Nanocubes In Periodic Arrays, Manpreet Boora

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Chiral metamaterials are artificially tailored materials that are composed of nanoparticles that lack in-plane mirror symmetry. Application of chirality to plasmonic nanostructures can lead to chiro-optical effects such as asymmetric transmission of circularly polarized light, circular dichroism and optical activity. When light is incident on metallic nanoparticles, conduction electrons undergo collective oscillations within the nanoparticles, resulting in localized surface plasmon (LSP) resonance. Surface lattice resonances (SLRs) are hybrid plasmonic-photonic modes arising from the radiative coupling between LSPs and electromagnetic waves diffracted in the plane of the periodic array. Because of the collective dipole interactions, SLRs have less radiative losses compared …

Lipemia Levels Analysis From Human Blood Samples, Zainab Ibrahim Alshoug

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Worldwide, an estimated 31% of people who die each year have a cardiovascular disease (CVD), an all-encompassing group of diseases and conditions of the heart or blood vasculature. Access to portable, user-friendly tools to test lipid levels accurately and efficiently, without requiring large volume blood draws, will help improve access to wellness management by reducing costs and facilitating early screening and monitoring of CVD thus improving outcomes. Point of care micro or millifluidic chips to test biofluids that are integrated into detection units are an attractive measurement tool because of their potential for ease of use by patients at home …

Artificial Synthetic Scaffolds For Tissue Engineering Application Emphasizing The Role Of Biophysical Cues, Samerender Nagam Hanumantharao

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The mechanotransduction of cells is the intrinsic ability of cells to convert the mechanical signals provided by the surrounding matrix and other cells into biochemical signals that affect several distinct processes such as tumorigenesis, wound healing, and organ formation. The use of biomaterials as an artificial scaffold for cell attachment, differentiation and proliferation provides a tool to modulate and understand the mechanotransduction pathways, develop better in vitro models and clinical remedies. The effect of topographical cues and stiffness was investigated in fibroblasts using polycaprolactone (PCL)- Polyaniline (PANI) based scaffolds that were fabricated using a self-assembly method and electrospinning. Through this …

The Effect Of Spacing Of Vetiver Grass (Chrysopogon Zizanioides) Hedgerows On Hillslope Erosion In Eastern Region, Ghana, Evan R. Lanese

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Soil erosion in Ghana negatively effects many small holder farmers due to heavy rainfall, continuous land use, and a changing climate. Inexpensive, local, and sustainable practices that can be used to reduce soil movement thus building productive soils would benefit farmers in Ghana. Vetiver grass (Chrysopogon zizanioides) has been used to this effect worldwide. Its local availability and positive reputation leaves desire to learn about its applicability in Ghana. A field study was conducted on plots of sloping farmland (10ft by 60ft) with three treatments: (1) control with no vetiver grass, (2) two vetiver grass hedgerows, (3) four …

Physical Modeling Of The Krauklis Waves: Insights From Two Experimental Apparatuses, Haitao Cao

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Fractures play an important role in the geological related processes such as hydraulic fracturing, water-water disposal, and volcanic earthquake. Seismic waves can provide useful information from fractures at a relatively low cost. In particular, the acoustic property of fractures containing magmatic or hydrothermal fluids can provide useful information about the fracture size and the fluid composition within the fracture. For instance, in volcanology, the resonant frequency of long-period events that are linked to crack interface waves is used to obtain fluid properties of cracks in magmatic systems. However, in order to rely on seismic data, they should be precisely characterized …

Effect Of Cobalt In Thin Wall Ductile Iron And Solid Solution Strengthened Ferritic Ductile Iron, Alejandra I. Almanza

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Ductile Iron is a material that is constantly evolving. Consequently, the ferrous industry is not only focusing on lightweighting but also on improving the impact strength and fracture toughness of typical ferritic-pearlitic ductile iron grades and solid solution strengthened ferritic ductile irons. Recently, the demand for thin-wall ductile iron and solid solution strengthened ferritic ductile iron grades has increased. The challenges behind the fabrication of these two ductile iron materials are the presence of carbides and the embrittlement of ferrite. In response, research has been focused on looking at alternative methods that can mitigate carbide formation in thin sections and …

Innovative Sustainable Wood Preservatives From Pulp And Paper Industry Byproduct, Raisa Carmen Andeme Ela

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

In the modern forest industry, the need for bio-based, renewable, and environmentally-benign wood preservatives is increasing. Preservatives are used to prevent or limit decay and there has been an increasing interest in developing wood preservatives from renewable materials. To support the need for bio-based, environmentally-friendly preservatives, this work employed kraft lignin as a raw material to produce a novel bio-based wood preservative.

For the first project, a statistical design of experiments approach in Minitab® was used to study how fractionation process variables during acid precipitation of lignin influence the lignin mass yield and characteristics. After precipitating lignin from black liquor, …

Estimation Of Vehicle Trailer Rotation Using Calibrated Radars With Multiple Viewpoints, Kunle Olutomilayo

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Multiple sensors are increasingly being deployed on systems for perception applications. In particular, vehicles are becoming equipped with a suite of sensors for advanced driver assistance features and autonomous driving. This dissertation considers automotive radar sensors mounted at the rear of a vehicle with the main objective of using their point cloud detections to estimate the rotation of a trailer which is attached to the vehicle's hitch ball. A simulation-based study of the problem is presented first. Thereafter, the problem is considered with respect to experimental radar data collected in both indoor and outdoor environments; the environmental difference is in …

Influence Of Rapid Solidification And Wrought Processing On Precipitation Strengthening And Deformation Mechanisms In Al-Sc-Zr Alloys, Yang Yang

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Al-Sc-Zr alloys have drawn increasing attention in the last several decades due to their strengthening and coarsening resistance. In this study, solute concentrations of Sc and Zr were increased beyond their equilibrium solubilities without primary precipitate formation using melt-spinning. The melt-spun ribbon was metallurgically bonded into bulk shape using extrusion. With the proper aging treatment, the mechanical properties of the supersaturated melt-spun ribbon and extruded rod were found to be significantly higher than a baseline dilute alloy. Increased mechanical properties include microhardness, tensile strength at ambient-temperature, and compressive strength and threshold stress at and elevated-temperature. These increases were related to …

The Study Of Chemical Induced Polyolefin-Based Ion Exchange Membrane For Electrodialysis Application, Di Huang

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

High-performance ion exchange membranes with high ion exchange capacity (IEC), excellent mechanical properties, lower membrane resistance and superior ions conductivity were developed with chemical-induced polymerization in this work. Through a series of synthesizing experiments, structure characterization and properties testing for polyolefin-based cation exchange membrane (CEM) and anion exchange membrane (AEM), LDPE proved to be an optimized backbone material. The CEM with 57.5% styrene, 38.4% LDPE, 3% crosslinking degree and 1% initiator addition yield the highest IEC value (1.72 mol/g) and moderate burst strength. The 10% addition of styrene was found to enhance IEC of 57% to AEM. However, continually increase …

Impact Of Water Ingestion On Combustion Performance In A Spark Ignited Internal Combustion Engine, Jonathon Lindfors

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

This study experimentally investigated the effect of unintended water ingestion on a spark ignited internal combustion engine. Testing was performed on a 2.0L inline four cylinder turbocharged engine. Port water injection (with two different levels of atomization) was utilized to introduce water into the combustion system. Five speed / load points were tested from 1300 rpm 3 bar BMEP to 3250 rpm 15 bar BMEP. Testing was done with constant air charge as well as constant throttle emulating the in-vehicle scenario. The water to fuel ratio (W/F) was swept until COV of IMEP reached at least 20% and misfires were …

Hierarchical Clustering To Predict The Response Of Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy In Patients With Heart Failure, Rukayat Bukola Adeosun

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The heterogeneous nature of today’s evolving health databases requires new techniques and approaches to process these data and extract clinically useful information. This relevant information obtained can be used to improve the response rate of cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) in patients with heart failure. Hierarchical clustering (HC) which is an unsupervised ML technique may uncover clusters within the bulk of data of patient population which is useful for strategies towards precision and personalized medicine. This study aims to investigate how HC can be used to automatically group a bulk of clinically acquired CRT data into clusters and subgroups that could …

Data Driven Sensor Fusion For Cycle-Cycle Imep Estimation, Cooper Heyne Minehart

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

As the world searches for ways to reduce humanity’s impact on the environment, the automotive industry looks to extend the viable use of the gasoline engine by improving efficiency. One way to improve engine efficiency is through more effective control – effective control systems require a feedback signal. Indicated mean effective pressure (IMEP) is a useful feedback signal for automotive control but is costly to measure directly.

Successful machine learning based sensor fusion requires effective feature extraction and model creation. Through a multistage application of machine learning to both the feature extraction process and the IMEP estimation process we are …

A Study Of Model-Based Control Strategy For A Gasoline Turbocharged Direct Injection Spark Ignited Engine, Xin Wang

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

To meet increasingly stringent fuel economy and emissions legislation, more advanced technologies have been added to spark-ignition (SI) engines, thus exponentially increase the complexity and calibration work of traditional map-based engine control. To achieve better engine performance without introducing significant calibration efforts and make the developed control system easily adapt to future engines upgrades and designs, this research proposes a model-based optimal control system for cycle-by-cycle Gasoline Turbocharged Direct Injection (GTDI) SI engine control, which aims to deliver the requested torque output and operate the engine to achieve the best achievable fuel economy and minimum emission under wide range of …

Implementation Of A Channel-Aware Routing Protocol In The Network Simulator For Underwater Acoustic Communication Networking, Adesoji Bello

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Over two-thirds of the earth surface are occupied by water, however the level of research in the field of Underwater Wireless Sensor Networking (UWSN) does not necessarily commensurate with the size and potentials. Importantly, the underwater acoustic channel is susceptible to signal degradation as a result of the dynamic and harsh state of the environment such as high propagation delay and limited channel bandwidth.

The above challenges are the motivation behind the Implementation of The Channel-aware Routing Protocol (CARP) for the routing performance optimization in UWSN. CARP [1] is a cross-layer routing paradigm which collaboratively leverages the link quality estimation …

Development Of An Eco Approach And Departure Application To Improve Energy Consumption Of A Plug-In Hybrid Vehicle In Charge Depleting Mode, Brandon Narodzonek

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

A recent study at Michigan Technological University as part of the NEXTCAR DOE APRA-E Project was conducted to determine the potential energy savings of a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) equipped with various Connected and Automated Vehicle (CAV) Technologies. One aspect of this study focused on the development of an Eco Approach and Departure (Eco AnD) Application that would further reduce the energy consumed around a signalized intersection.

Many modern intersections are equipped with traffic signals that can broadcast Basic Safety (BSM), MAP, and Signal Phase and Timing (SPaT) message sets that contain intersection ID, location, current phase, and cyclic …

Adapting Environmental Education For A Virtual Space, Jennifer Klemm

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Incorporating virtual education offerings with traditional environmental education delivery can be a complementary pairing. In addition to giving instructors more flexibility by increasing their toolkit, it can also increase potential offerings and engagement opportunities for an organization. Since virtual programs offer the chance for them to be shared beyond the initial audience with no significant increase in time, they can allow instructors to focus on developing other projects. This report studies content delivered by an environmental education specialist at Huron Pines, Gaylord, Michigan from February to October 2020. The environmental education specialist created virtual, nine-part series, Connecting to Nature, in …

Investigation Of The Stability Of Liquid And Air Films By Synchronized Tri-Wavelength Reflection Interferometry Microscope, Yuesheng Gao

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Liquid films are widely involved in many processes, such as froth flotation, oil extraction, foam/bubble stabilization, etc. In the meantime, air films are commonly seen in diverse fields like dust control, ink print, coating industry, and so on. Stabilities of these liquid/air films are of great importance to improve the processes. As more and more researchers are paying increasing attention to liquid/air films, tremendous efforts have been made to explore the properties of the films. On the one hand, some theoretical models have also been well developed in recent decades. State-of-the-art technologies, such as AFM, SFA, and RICM, have also …

Phase Field Fracture Modeling Of Chemically Strengthened Glass, Parag Nikam

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The objective of the report is to implement the phase-field model in the Abaqus standard to compute the fracture properties of a glass strengthened by an ion-exchange process. Implemented the phase-field model which is based on the rate-independent variational principle of diffuse fracture in Abaqus standard software using the UEL and UMAT subroutines. SDVINI subroutine is used to give the residual stress or prestress conditions to simulate the stress profile of strengthened glass. Studied the effect of parameters such as length scale parameter and step size and the optimum parameters are selected. The experimental model of chemically strengthened glass is …

Real-Time Predictive Control Of Connected Vehicle Powertrains For Improved Energy Efficiency, Joseph Oncken

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The continued push for the reduction of energy consumption across the automotive vehicle fleet has led to widespread adoption of hybrid and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) by auto manufacturers. In addition, connected and automated vehicle (CAV) technologies have seen rapid development in recent years and bring with them the potential to significantly impact vehicle energy consumption. This dissertation studies predictive control methods for PHEV powertrains that are enabled by CAV technologies with the goal of reducing vehicle energy consumption.

First, a real-time predictive powertrain controller for PHEV energy management is developed. This controller utilizes predictions of future vehicle velocity …

Rain Generated Lahars Prior To The 2018 Catastrophic Eruption Of Fuego Volcano, Guatemala, Claudia Buondonno

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Fuego volcano is one of the most active and hazardous volcanoes in the world. It is located in the northern part of the Central American Volcanic Arc in Guatemala and its activity can be characterized by long term, low-level background activity, and sporadic larger explosive eruptions. Its historical observations of eruptions date back to 1531, but it has been erupting vigorously since 2002 with major activity throughout 2018, producing three main eruptions in February, June and November. Its almost persistent activity generates major ashfalls, pyroclastic flows, lava flows; when heavy rains mobilize its deposits, they can form damaging lahars. Phenomena, …

Exploring Substrate Specificity Of Fructose Transporters En Route To Glut Specific Probes For Biochemical And Biomedical Applications, Vagarshak Vigenovich Begoyan

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Carbohydrate Transporters (GLUTs) are responsible for the transportation of sugars into the cell and have been of great interest in research for decades. Alterations or mutations that result in overexpression of GLUTs have been linked to a great number of diseases including, obesity, diabetes, and cancer. Differentiation between transporters has been shown to be incredibly difficult due to the highly conserved nature of the transporter structure, and thus specific targeting of transporters has proven a difficult challenge. Additionally, the GLUTs have been shown to high flexibility in their conformations, so it is difficult to determine what can or cannot pass …

Critiquing Antipatterns In Novice Code, Leo C. Ureel Ii

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Students in introductory computer science courses, are learning to program. Indeed, most students perceive that learning to code is the central topic explored in the courses. Students spend an enormous amount of time struggling to learn the syntax and understand semantics of a particular language. Instructors spend a similar amount of time reading student code and explaining the meaning of the cryptic error messages displayed by compilers. Messages provided by compilers are intended to give feedback on the adherence of one’s code to the language specification and conventions. Unfortunately, these message are geared towards experts who have a clear understanding …

Rapid Assessment Of Breast Tumor Margins Using Deep Ultraviolet Fluorescence Scanning Microscopy, Tongtong Lu, Julie M. Jorns, Mollie Patton, Renee Fisher, Amanda Emmerich, Todd Doehring, Taly Gilat-Schmidt, Dong Hye Ye, Tina Yen, Bing Yu

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Significance: Re-excision rates for women with invasive breast cancer undergoing breast conserving surgery (or lumpectomy) have decreased in the past decade but remain substantial. This is mainly due to the inability to assess the entire surface of an excised lumpectomy specimen efficiently and accurately during surgery.

Aim: The goal of this study was to develop a deep-ultraviolet scanning fluorescence microscope (DUV-FSM) that can be used to accurately and rapidly detect cancer cells on the surface of excised breast tissue.

Approach: A DUV-FSM was used to image the surfaces of 47 (31 malignant and 16 normal/benign) fresh breast tissue samples stained …

A Size‐Modified Poisson–Boltzmann Ion Channel Model In A Solvent Of Multiple Ionic Species: Application To Voltage‐Dependent Anion Channel, Dexuan Xie, Said H. Audi, Ranjan K. Dash

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

We present a new size‐modified Poisson–Boltzmann ion channel (SMPBIC) model and use it to calculate the electrostatic potential, ionic concentrations, and electrostatic solvation free energy for a voltage‐dependent anion channel (VDAC) on a biological membrane in a solution mixture of multiple ionic species. In particular, the new SMPBIC model adopts a membrane surface charge density and a natural Neumann boundary condition to reflect the charge effect of the membrane on the electrostatics of VDAC. To avoid the singularity difficulties caused by the atomic charges of VDAC, the new SMPBIC model is split into three submodels such that the solution of …