Digital Commons Network^™

Archaeological Investigations At The Quincy Mining Company Office (Tract 102-04) The Quincy National Guard Encampment (Tract 102-03). Keweenaw National Historical Park, Houghton County, Michigan., Gideon Hoekstra

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

This report presents the results of preliminary archaeological research at the Quincy Unit as part of the Cooperative Agreement P18AC00178 between the United States Department of Interior/National Park Service and Michigan Technological University titled An Inventory of Historic Archaeological Resources at Keweenaw National Historical Park (KEWE) and Isle Royale National Park (ISRO). Archaeological investigation concentrated on the lot housing the Quincy Mine Office and the location of the Quincy Michigan National Guard encampment located across US-41 from the No.2 Rockhouse, used during the Copper Country Miners’ Strike of 1913-14. This is a multi-year project, primarily looking at the Quincy Mining …

Role Of Flocculation And Dispersion In Pelletization Of Iron Ore, Victor J. Claremboux

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Traditional modeling of iron ore pellet strength utilizes micromechanical models such as Rumpf’s equation, which correlate attractive forces and pellet properties into an average expected pellet strength. These models combine with repulsive forces within pellets to predict that pellet strength decreases with the introduction of these forces. However, naïvely applying Rumpf’s equation readily leads to incorrect predictions about the resulting behavior. Pellets created with strong repulsive forces arising from dispersion conditions are observed to be significantly stronger overall than pellets formed in the absence of dispersants. A new model is required to understand and predict the effects of these additives …

Virus-Like Particle Vaccine Manufacturing From Yeast, Ananya Ananya

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Influenza virus has an intrinsic nature to undergo mutations. Hence, there have been struggles to combat this disease since the time when the worst influenza pandemic first hit in 1918. Vaccines have proved to be effective in controlling the spread of the influenza A virus by providing herd immunity. However, the contemporary design of influenza A virus based on egg and cell-culture is not efficient in tackling influenza A virus transformation. Virus-like particles (VLPs) have established themselves as a potental platform for future vaccine candidates. VLPs have all the credentials to supplant contemporary vaccine designs without compromising on immunogenicity. For …

Vehicle Dynamics Modeling For Autonomous Drifting And Clothoid Based Waypoint Interpolation, Shubham Vatsa

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The advent of autonomous vehicles necessitates a redefinition of road safety regulations, considering a controller can possess better driving skills than an average person. The work presented here partly focuses on a vehicle dynamics model development to help imitate and control vehicle drifting maneuvers. As we see, a professional driver drifting through the traffic while keeping the car safe, it can be utilized to avoid accidents at high speeds, if required. Although drifting can produce higher yaw rates than the regular driving regime, these control capabilities have not yet been exploited in the current automotive control systems. Therefore, this report …

Linking Energy Efficiency And Public Health: A Case Study Of Illinois, Azat Turegeldin

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

A growing body of research has established the connection between emissions from fossil fuels and severe impacts on human health, such as asthma attacks in children and adults and chronic cardiovascular problems. This work evaluates in monetary terms the implementation of two energy-saving scenarios. Illinois, as a state with high coal electricity generating content, has been chosen as a case study to quantify the impacts brought up by air pollution on public health. The potential benefits of improved air quality and health are the considered results of implemented energy efficiency technologies. This report is a culmination of a summer internship …

Thermodynamic Investigations Of Pure And Blended Cement Mixtures, Jonathan Lapeyre

Doctoral Dissertations

” This research is made up of several studies. The first study focused on understanding the reaction kinetics of Ca₃SiO₅ and metakaolin (MK) mixtures compared to Ca₃SiO₅ and silica fume (SF) mixtures. It was shown that MK was a more effective additive than SF at small replacement levels (i.e. ≥ 10% by mass) while higher replacement levels of MK became a detriment due to excess (Al(OH)₄¯) ions preventing the nucleation and growth of C-S-H. In a follow-up study where the MK particle size distribution (PSD) was modified, similar effects were observed but …

An Investigation Of The Impact Of A Stem Program On Students’ Knowledge On Interest In Stem, Danielle Dean

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The objective of the study was to investigate middle school students’ attitudes towards Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM), as well as their knowledge about engineering practices. A quantitative design was employed with a total of 51 participants randomly assigned to two conditions. 24 students took a STEM elective course and the other 27 an equivalent course with a career focus on forensics as a career.

Over nine weeks participants took a pre and post survey on attitudes and completed a project that was assessed using a common rubric. The results on gains in student attitude were mixed. On the …

Study Of Silica Nanoparticle Composite On Silica-Hydrogen Peroxide Complexations And Their Effects In Catechol Based Adhesives, Rattapol Pinnaratip

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Mussel adhesive proteins contain catechol moiety, which allows the protein to crosslinked, solidify, and adhere to surrounding surfaces even under wet conditions. Incorporating the catechol moiety into polymeric adhesive resulted in bioadhesive, which still functions under wet conditions. However, the adhesive must be oxidized in order to crosslink and adhere to surfaces. The oxidation process of catechol adhesive was proven to produce singlet oxygen, superoxide, and hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂). These reactive oxygen species, with lack of control, can wreak havoc to the biological system causing poor healing and undesired biological response.

Here, we studied the silica …

Measurement Of Current Distribution In The Land Channel Direction Of A Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell, Chinmay Kulkarni

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

A fully functional proton exchange membrane fuel cell with single land channel geometry on the cathode and segmented anode current collector with 9 mm² active area with a 350μm spatial resolution was utilized to measure the local current distribution in the land channel direction. A distinguished printed circuit board approach was used for the data acquisition to adapt to any flow field design.

Performance of this segmented cell was examined at dry, wet and moderate humidity settings to study the water transport phenomenon in the PEMFC. In the dry condition at 60 ͦ C with 0% relative humidity, the …

Assessing The Accuracy Of A Uav Snow Depth Survey: Utqiagvik (Barrow), Alaska Calm Grid, Ian Nichols

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Active layer depth and snow depth are annually collected across the Circumpolar Active Layer Monitoring (CALM) Network to observe the response of the active layer and near-surface permafrost to climate change over decadal-time scales. Snow depth is typically measured using a graduated steel probe at each grid node but, in this paper, we explore the viability of using Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) (drone) technology to collect snow depth measurements at the 1 km² Utqiagvik (Barrow), Alaska CALM grid. This is achieved by comparing estimated UAV snow depths to measured snow depths collected using a MagnaProbe (MP) at each of …

Matlabta: A Style Critiquer For Novice Engineering Students, Marissa L. Walther

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Novice programmers, considered to be those who have yet to understand the fundamentals of programming, exist in both engineering and computing fields. Within computing, various resources exist to help novice programmers understand fundamentals and style guidelines such as WebTA, a code critique program that gives Java students feedback about their error and style issues. There is, however, a gap in automated code critique for MATLAB, a programming language that is popular in the engineering community. When it comes to MATLAB, there are not many programs that help novices understand their errors, and even fewer that help them understand style guidelines. …

Mechanisms Of Pathogen Inactivation In Wastewater And Pharmaceutical Applications, Christa L. Meingast

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Infectious diseases are a significant threat to public health. Though society enacts practices to prevent the spread of these dangerous diseases, challenges remain. Therefore, continual advancements in treatment and prevention are required. Wastewater treatment and viral clearance in pharmaceutical applications are two key health measures that prevent the spread of infections.

A low-cost, low-technology biosolids treatment process was developed to improve wastewater treatment by collecting key information on storage temperature, ammonia, volatile solids, moisture content, pH, and pathogen inactivation in biosolids over long-term storage at two wastewater treatment plants located in northern climates of the United States. Inactivation of pathogens …

Joint Simulation Of Continuous And Categorical Variables For Mineral Resource Modeling And Recoverable Reserves Calculation, Sentle Augustinus Hlajoane

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Spatial variability and uncertainty of continuous variables (grade) and categorical variables (rock-types) in mineral evaluation significantly impact the economics of mining projects. The conventional approach of simulating grades using deterministic rock- types is problematic since spatial variability, and uncertainty of grades at rock-type contacts are not well captured in deposits where the grade changes gradually between rock-types. Therefore, jointly simulating these variables can improve confidence (reduce uncertainty) in a resource model. Also, resource classification and recoverable reserve calculation can significantly improve the understanding of the deposit and its economic viability. This research utilized the Plural-Gaussian geostatistical simulation to jointly simulate …

Development Of A Software-Defined Underwater Acoustic Communication System, Zijian Zhu

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

This report started with a brief history and recent development of underwater acoustic communication systems as well as software-defined radio technologies. Then, some challenges from underwater acoustic channels and available underwater acoustic communication modems are discussed. After finished introducing the basics of SDR and GNU Radio, a detailed description of implementing a software-defined acoustic communication system in GNU Radio are presented, along with some key concepts of the system.

Then, some hardware specifications are presented, following by detailed documentation on a software-defined acoustic communication system experiment with a host computer, a USRP, an acoustic hydrophone, and a hydrophone. At the …

Demand-Driven Execution Using Future Gated Single Assignment Form, Omkar Javeri

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

This dissertation discusses a novel, previously unexplored execution model called Demand-Driven Execution (DDE), which executes programs starting from the outputs of the program, progressing towards the inputs of the program. This approach is significantly different from prior demand-driven reduction machines as it can execute a program written in an imperative language using the demand-driven paradigm while extracting both instruction and data level parallelism. The execution model relies on an executable Single Assignment Form which serves both as the internal representation of the compiler as well as the Instruction Set Architecture (ISA) of the machine. This work develops the instruction set …

Reconstruction Of The 2018 Anak Krakatau Collapse Using Planetscope Imaging And Numerical Modeling, Davide Saviano

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The study was focused on the Anak Krakatau sector collapse that occurred on 22 December 2018 in the Sunda Strait (Indonesia). The goal of the study was to monitor and analyze changes of the volcanic edifice and to try to understand causes that may have predisposed and triggered the sector collapse.

The use of different remote sensing techniques allowed the acquisition of thermal data, SO₂ emission data, structural data and the identification and analysis of the eruptive events that occurred on Anak Krakatau in the period from 1° January 2016 to 28 February 2019. The acquisition of 1221 thermal …

Energy Consumption And Savings Analysis Of A Phev In Real World Driving Through Vehicle Connectivity Using Vehicle Platooning, Blended Mode Operation And Engine Start-Stop Optimizers, Pruthwiraj Santhosh

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

This report presents an analysis on energy consumption of a Gen II Chevrolet Volt PHEV and its energy savings potential in Real World Driving scenarios with the help of vehicle connectivity. The research on the energy consumption analysis and optimization using connectivity will focus on four main areas of contribution which includes 1.) vehicle testing on a pre-defined drive cycle and alternative routing near the Michigan Tech campus and APS research center that is a continuation of previous students' works, 2) the energy savings potential of vehicle platooning and various vehicle platoon configurations, 3) the updating of a PHEV implementation …

The Influence Of Landforms And Sampling Approaches On Riparian Buffer Area And Complexity, Houjun Ding

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

A riparian area is a zone of interaction between aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Delineating accurate riparian management zones (RMZs), often utilized in Best Management Practices (BMPs) for wetlands and stream protection, is important. The Riparian Buffer Delineation Model (RBDM) has been used extensively for accurate RMZs delineation. Utilizing the validated RBDM generates additional questions about riparian area form and function, which will ideally lead to an improved understanding of the ecological process within these zones. This study aims to determine how geomorphic landforms and their associated landscape characteristics influence riparian areas in terms of shape and complexity, whether sampling methods …

Electrospun Nanofiber Scaffolds As A Platform For Breast Cancer Research, Carolynn Que

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Tumorigenesis is a complex process involving numerous cellular signaling cascades and environmental factors. Here, we report the fabrication of 3D scaffolds with different morphologies obtained by to study cancer cell proliferation and migration. Using an FDA approved, biocompatible and biodegradable polymer Polycaprolactone (PCL), we electrospun nanofiber scaffolds having mesh, aligned, and honeycomb morphologies. The role of the morphology and cellular preferences to nutrition in cell adhesion and proliferation was assessed using scaffolds obtained by electrospinning PCL with fluorescent fructose-like molecular probes. Cell viability, cell morphology, localized cellular growth as related to scaffold morphology and availability of the fructose-like molecular probes …

Nanofiber Scaffolds As 3d Culture Platforms, Stephanie Bule

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Cell culture has become the basis for understanding the fundamental mechanisms of cell, tissue and organ function. Although major advancements in uncovering the underlying processes and mechanisms of normal and diseased cell biology have been made by using two-dimensional (2D) cell culture, there is a recent shift in moving towards three-dimensional (3D) culture platforms. The motivation is to better recapitulate the microenvironment of cells in vivo to obtain results that are more indicative to actual cellular processes. In this study, electrospun nano-fibrous scaffolds made of polycaprolactone were used as a 3D culture tool to investigate difference in cell behavior and …

Fluid Inclusion Study Of Selected Calcite Associated With Native Copper, Quincy Mine, Keweenaw Peninsula, Michigan, David Kelly

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The Keweenaw Peninsula is famous for hosting the largest accumulation of native copper anywhere in the world. Previous studies have looked for the fluids responsible for creating the native copper deposits but were unable to conclusively demonstrate that fluid inclusions can provide valuable insight into the hydrothermal/metamorphogenic fluids responsible for these unique deposits.

This report focused on fluid inclusions from calcite precipitated during the native copper mineralizing event. Calcite crystals with inclusions of native copper growing into vugs from a single location, the Quincy Mine, were hypothesized to have a higher chance to be undisturbed by seismic events that would …

Aperture-Level Simultaneous Transmit And Receive (Star) With Digital Phased Arrays, Ian Cummings

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

In the signal processing community, it has long been assumed that transmitting and receiving useful signals at the same time in the same frequency band at the same physical location was impossible. A number of insights in antenna design, analog hardware, and digital signal processing have allowed researchers to achieve simultaneous transmit and receive (STAR) capability, sometimes also referred to as in-band full-duplex (IBFD). All STAR systems must mitigate the interference in the receive channel caused by the signals emitted by the system. This poses a significant challenge because of the immense disparity in the power of the transmitted and …

Increasing Access To Pv Technology Through Sustainable Racking: A Review Of Existing Literature And Ground Mounted Fixed Tilt Designs, And What Can Be Done Next, Parijata Prabhakara

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

There is a lack of literature on the structural balance of systems (BOS), also called racking, for ground mount, fixed-tilt solar PV systems. Literature that exists discusses mostly rooftop racking and installations, additional wind loading, and weight considerations imposed on roofs, and little guidance is provided in building codes. The lack of peer-reviewed guidance on design requirements for domestic and large-scale application solar PV racking systems leaves most consumers relying on expensive, patented, off-the-shelf hardware. As PV cell technology and module costs have improved, we can start to focus on PV BOS improvements (particularly racking) and move towards sustainable designs …

Generative Design In Energy Efficient Buildings, Johanna Thill

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

This is an investigative report on the use of generative design and genetic algorithms in the design of energy-efficient buildings. It focuses on a workflow using Project Refinery© and Dynamo© in Revit® for multi-objective optimization and visualization, and Honeybee© for daylighting analysis. The workflow was not about to run completely due to instability in Dynamo, however daylighting analysis and visualizations were produced separately from demonstrations of Refinery. It concludes that while genetic algorithms have potential to be useful in energy-efficient building design, these programs are not yet fully developed and difficult to use without extensive background knowledge and fluency in …

Towards Efficient Water Treatment: Mechanism Of Colloidal Fouling Of Ultrafiltration Membranes, Ikenna Henry Ozofor

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

This research study first reviewed challenges of conventional and membrane separation systems for water treatment. Though membrane separation systems appeared superior to the conventional counterparts for water and wastewater treatment, wider applications of membrane systems have been limited by some factors, most notably is membrane fouling. Experimental studies were therefore conducted to achieve the goal of this research, which is to investigate how feed properties affect fouling of ultrafiltration (UF) membranes by colloids.

Feed salinity, pH, and nanoparticle concentration were the variables studied to unravel how different UF membranes are fouled by model silica colloids (with average diameter of 25nm). …

Quantifying Water Recharge And Water Use In Hand Dug Wells: A Case Study Of Thiawor, Senegal, West Africa, Celine Carus

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

For many rural communities in Senegal, water is an essential life-giving need received only through a network of hand dug wells. Increasing rainfall variability in the Sahel has driven greater water insecurity for those communities that rely on rain-irrigated systems for agriculture. This study investigates the retrieval, purposes, and quantities of seasonal water usage on a small domestic scale, as well as an analysis of perceived water availability in the wells during the rainy season. Additionally, using a combination of interview data and pumping test data obtained from the village wells, water usage and estimated daily needs are calculated and …

Nonparametric Test For Nondecreasing Order Alternatives In Randomized Complete Block And Balanced Incomplete Block Mixed Design, Mamfe Osafo

Statistics

Nonparametric tests are used to test hypotheses when the data at hand violate one or more of the assumptions for parametric tests procedures. The test is an ordered alternative (nondecreasing) when there is prior information about the data. It assumes that the underlying distributions are of the same type and therefore differ in location. For example, in dose-response studies, animals are assigned to k groups corresponding to k doses of an experimental drug. The effect of the drug on the animals is likely to increase or decrease with increasing doses. In this case, the ordered alternative is appropriate for the …

Computational Simulations Of Flow Past A Rotating Arrangement Of Three Cylinders Using Hybrid Turbulence Models, Nick Leonard Thomas

Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics

Over the past 25 years, advances in the field of turbulence modeling have been made in an effort to resolve more scales, preserving unsteadiness within a flow. In this research two hybrid models, Scale-Adaptive Simulation (SAS) and Stress-Blended Eddy Simulation (SBES) are implemented in solving the highly unsteady flow over a rotating arrangement of three cylinders. Results are compared to those from wind tunnel experiments carried out at North Dakota State University. Both models show close agreement with first and second order turbulence quantities, and SBES shows much greater flow structure detail due to its ability to resolve smaller scales. …

Generation And Analysis Of Streamwise Vortices From Vortex Tube Apparatus, Bailey Mckay Carlson

Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics

A pressurized vortex tube is used to generate streamwise vortices in a wind tunnel and the resulting flow behavior is analyzed. The apparatus is intended to verify computational data from the AFRL by offering a method of conducting real-world counterpart experiments. The apparatus design process and other considered approaches are discussed. The vortex tube is operated at pressures of 20, 30 and 40 psi while the wind tunnel is operated at 3, 5, 10 and 20% capacity. Flow measurements are performed using particle image velocimetry to observe vortices and freestream interactions from which velocity and vorticity data is comparatively analyzed. …

Experimental Investigation Of Shear Thickening Fluid Impregnated Flax Fabric And Flax/Kevlar Hybrid Fabrics, Joseph Brian Fehrenbach

Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics

Shear thickening fluids have the potential to improve the effectiveness of fabric materials in body armor applications as they have shown to increase the puncture and ballistic resistance of Kevlar fabrics. However, the effect of using STFs with natural fabrics such as flax has never been studied. The rheology of STFs at varying concentrations of nanosilica dispersed in polyethylene glycol PEG was studied at different temperatures and it was found that the STFs behave as a non-Newtonian fluid in response to changes in shear rate. In this study the effectiveness on the puncture and ballistic resistance of impregnating flax fabric …