Engineering Commons^™

Effects Of A Wi-Fi Link On The Performance Of A Path Following Autonomous Ground Vehicle, Anthony Iwejuo, Austin Cagle, Billy Kihei, Ph.D.

Symposium of Student Scholars

As vehicles become more automated and connected, the future of safe and efficient travel will be dependent on efficient wireless networks. Artificial intelligence (AI) demands high power resources and computing resources that can be resource-intensive for mobile robotic systems. A new paradigm involving the remote computing of A.I. can enable robotics that are built lighter and more power efficient. In this study, we compare a locally run artificial intelligence algorithm for autonomous ground vehicle navigation against remote computation through various wireless links to highlight the need for low-latency access to remote computing resources over Wi-Fi network calls. Our findings show …

Mosaic Swarm Robotics: Emulating Natural Collective Behaviors For Efficient Task Execution With Custom Mobile Robots, Jonathan Ridley, Arielle Charles, Charles Koduru, Muhammad Hassan Tanveer, Razvan Voicu

Symposium of Student Scholars

Mosaics, as an artistic expression, involves the meticulous arrangement of diverse tiles to form a unified composition. Drawing inspiration from this concept, the field of swarm robotics seeks to emulate nature’s collective behaviors observed in ant colonies, fish schools, and bird flocks, employing multiple agents to accomplish tasks efficiently. Our research explores the concept of mosaic swarm robotics, where numerous nodes with specialized functions are deployed across various domains, including applications for outdoor data capture and environment mapping. We utilized custom mobile robots operated by Raspberry Pi microcontrollers. By establishing an elaborate web of client-to-client communications to enable true localized …

Evaluating The Health Benefits And Cost-Effectiveness Of Dental Sealant Reapplication Among Children And Adolescents, Pritam Deb, Jayden Ayash, Christina Scherrer

Symposium of Student Scholars

Dental caries, commonly known as cavities, persist as a prevalent chronic disease among children. Dental sealants, which are transparent coatings applied to the molars, have been proven to prevent over 80% of caries in these teeth. However, the effectiveness of sealants diminishes over time, primarily due to their potential to detach shortly after application due to inadequate bonding, or else gradually over time. Notably, dental insurance coverage for resealing teeth after the initial sealant has been lost varies widely, with many policies only covering the cost of the initial application. This study employs a Markov model-based discrete event simulation to …

Influence Of Al2o3 Passivation Layer Thickness On The Thermal Stability And Quality Of Mocvd-Grown Gan On Si, S M Atiqur Rahman, Manika Tun Nafisa, Zhe Chuan Feng, Benjamin Klein, Ian T. Ferguson

Symposium of Student Scholars

This research delves into the significant impact of varying thicknesses of the Al₂O₃ passivation layer on the thermal stability and crystalline quality of GaN on Si structures, an essential aspect for the next generation of high-temperature electronic and optoelectronic devices. By adopting metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) for the growth process, we analyzed structures with different Al₂O₃ passivation layer thicknesses: none, 2 nm, 10 nm, and 20 nm, each built upon the GaN layer. Through Raman spectroscopy, we meticulously assessed the changes in the E₂ (High) phonon mode's peak position and full width …

Raman Spectroscopy Of Gan On Si With Varied Thin Film Thickness For High-Temperature Semiconductor Devices, Manika Tun Nafisa

Symposium of Student Scholars

This study explores the potential of GaN on Si thin films as a promising material for high-temperature semiconductor devices, owing to its impressive thermal properties and performance characteristics. Two GaN on Si samples were grown using Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD), with different film thicknesses, and their potential for high-temperature applications was comprehensively assessed by performing Raman spectroscopy at various temperature levels. The experimental results provided valuable insights into the material's behavior at elevated temperatures. At 300°C, the GaN E₂ (High) peak showed a Raman shift at 562.38 cm⁻¹ for high-thickness samples and 561.49 cm⁻¹ for low-thickness samples. …

Text Summarization, Varun Gottam, Anusha Vunnam, Purna Sarovar Puvvada

Symposium of Student Scholars

The current era is known as the information era. Every day, millions of gigabytes of data are being transferred from one point to another. As the creation of data became easy, it became hard to keep track of the important points and the gist of data especially in areas such as research and news. To solve this conundrum, text summarization is introduced. This is a process of summarizing text from across different documents or large datasets such that it can be read and understood easily by both humans and machines.

Comparison Of Different Weighting Scales When Measuring Mental Workload, Isabella Duque

Symposium of Student Scholars

Mental workload, a concept within the field of human factors and ergonomics, refers to the cognitive and perceptual demands that individuals experience while performing various tasks in the workplace. Assessing mental workload holds a significant role in designing occupational tasks, as inappropriate levels can impact job performance, employee well-being, and even workplace safety. By assessing and optimizing mental workload, organizations can enhance productivity, reduce errors, and foster a healthier work environment. The NASA Task Load Index (NASA-TLX) and the Surgery Task Load Index (SURG-TLX) are two tools used to subjectively assess mental workload. Both tools offer unweighted and weighted mental …

Controlled Radiation Capsule For Precision And Rapid Cancer Treatment, Hoseon Lee, Zsolt Kollar, Bailey R. White, Junia Nguyen, David Roque, Sowjanya Palagani

Symposium of Student Scholars

This research aims to transform cancer treatment through the optimization of brachytherapy, with a focus on reducing treatment duration, setup complexities, and financial burdens, all while emphasizing patient safety. Patients living at a distance from radiation clinics, particularly those undergoing extended Low Dose Radiation brachytherapy, often struggle with the formidable financial challenges associated with securing nearby accommodations. In response to these issues, the research introduces a radiation capsule designed to condense the conventional six-month treatment period to approximately just one week, thereby significantly reducing the duration of required accommodations. This capsule is especially relevant considering the construction cost of $40 …

Kwad - Ksu All Weather Autonomous Drone, Nick Farinacci, Sebastian Gomez, Stewart Baker, Ed Sheridan

Symposium of Student Scholars

"KWAD" or "KSU all-Weather Autonomous Drone" project was sponsored by Ultool, LLC to the KSU Research and Service Foundation to create a lightweight drone capable of capturing HD video during all-weather operations. The conditions of all-weather operation include rainfall of one inch per hour and wind speeds of up to twenty miles per hour. In addition, a global minimum structural safety factor of two is required to ensure the system's integrity in extreme weather conditions. Potential mission profiles include autonomous aerial delivery, topological mapping in high moisture areas, security surveillance, search and rescue operations, emergency transportation of medical supplies, and …

Optimization Of Metallic Interconnectors For Clean Energy Power Systems, Mason Cox

Symposium of Student Scholars

The need to eliminate carbon emissions coupled with intensified energy demands have led to an intensified research and development activities in clean energy technology. Taking advantage of fuels such as green hydrogen, solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) power systems can serve as a potential energy conversion system. SOFCs combine O2 from air and H2 gas to generate electricity, consequently producing water (H2O) as the only byproduct of the electrochemical reaction. SOFCs typically have an operational temperature in the range of 500-900C and generate electricity without the requirement of recharging, so long as the fuel is supplied. A single SOFC cell …

Design And Development Of A Solar Module Health Monitoring Device, Elijah Madaris, Christopher Baden, Sandip Das

Symposium of Student Scholars

Solar power has emerged as a promising renewable clean energy source and installations of solar panels are increasing sharply year after year. Monitoring the power output and health of solar panels is critically important to ensure safe and reliable operation of a solar power plant throughout its operational lifetime. In this project, we have designed and built a low-cost electronic device that is capable of measuring the electrical parameters of a solar cell or module. The device consists of a microprocessor with integrated analog-to-digital converter, a supercapacitor bank, current sense amplifier, and electromechanical relays. The microprocessor performs data acquisition through …

Analyzing The Effectiveness Of Helmet Laws In Reducing Motorcycle Fatalities In The United States: A State-Level Study In 2020, Liz Furlow

Symposium of Student Scholars

Motorcycle fatalities are a significant public health issue in the United States. Motorcyclists are more vulnerable than other motorists and have a higher risk of injury and death in the event of an accident. To reduce the number of preventable motorcycle fatalities, some states have implemented mandatory helmet laws. However, the effectiveness of helmet laws in reducing fatalities remains a topic of debate.

For this study, state-level data on motorcycle fatalities, motorcycle registrations, and helmet laws in the United States was collected for the year 2020. The data was obtained from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) Fatality Analysis …

Ransomware: Evaluation Of Mitigation And Prevention Techniques, Juanjose Rodriguez-Cardenas

Symposium of Student Scholars

Ransomware is classified as one of the main types of malware and involves the design of exploitations of new vulnerabilities through a host. That allows for the intrusion of systems and encrypting of any information assets and data in order to demand a sum of payment normally through untraceable cryptocurrencies such as Monero for the decryption key. This rapid security threat has put governments and private enterprises on high alert and despite evolving technologies and more sophisticated encryption algorithms critical assets are being held for ransom and the results are detrimental, including the recent Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack in 2021 …

Advanced Biomedical Laboratory (Abl) Synergy With Communication, Robotics, And Iot, Razvan Cristian Voicu, Steven Steele, Jorge Diaz Rodriguez, Yusun Chang, Chan Ham

Symposium of Student Scholars

This paper proposes a framework for integrating IoT and automation in a biomedical laboratory to improve safety, optimize processes, and enhance students' learning experience. The framework incorporates a centralized control unit and distributed subsystems to control equipment and machinery and includes autonomous robotics and intelligent monitoring systems. The paper presents the results of undergraduate students' work on automating various biomedical processes, including developing an Intelligent Autonomous Monitoring (IAM) device. IAM utilizes machine learning algorithms to identify outliers in processes and safety hazards. Moreover, IAM autonomously detects and localizes biomedical tools and equipment. Results show the feasibility of delivering real-time results …

Biomedical Sensing - A Sensor Fusion Approach For Improved Medical Detection And Monitoring, Ammy Ovando, Ricardo Ramirez, Steven Steele, Amir Ali Amiri Moghadam, Yusun Chang, Razvan Voicu

Symposium of Student Scholars

Enhanced technological advancement in computation, communication, and sensing has dramatically changed the dynamics of modern medicine. Advancing preventive medicine is paramount to a sustainable improvement in the quality of life and life expectancy. On-body sensors provide continuous measurements for healthy and ailing individuals leading to faster recovery and more timely detection of illnesses. Novel sensor designs and sensor fusion for preventive monitoring can provide extensible benefits, including a better understanding of ailment progression, treatment optimization, and patient feedback through data analytics and visualization. However, existing research does not thoroughly investigate sensor fusion approaches in biomedical sensing, as well as spot …

Development Of A Fish Robot Equipped With Novel 3d-Printed Soft Bending Actuators, Steven Steele, Jorge Diaz Rodriguez, Sharun Sripathy, Turaj Ashuri, Saleh Gharaie, Yusun Chang, Amir Ali Amiri Moghadam

Symposium of Student Scholars

This paper reports on design and fabrication of a novel soft fish robot. Application of soft actuators for the fish tail will generates continuum bending motion which resembles the natural motion of the fish. However, most soft actuator mechanisms are complex and have low efficiency. Thus, to address this issue we have developed a 3D printed soft bending actuator which can be actuated with an electromotor. The basic design idea of the soft bending actuator is explained, and iteration of the design showed to create the desired motion for the soft tail. The soft actuator has been successfully integrated with …

The Effect Of Mental Demand On Body Postures, Rodrick Adams, Valentina Niño

Symposium of Student Scholars

How we perceive our work has a profound relationship with how our body reacts to help facilitate the performance of our tasks. This is an observational study of the experiment in which participants performed tasks under four different conditions (baseline, interruptions, time, and alarm) and used NASA-TLX (NASA- Task Load Index) scores to assess their mental workload for each condition across six dimensions: mental demand, physical demand, temporal demand, effort, performance, and frustration level. We juxtaposed their NASA-TLX score with corresponding REBA (Rapid Entire Body Assessment) scores while standing and RULA (Rapid Upper Limb Assessment) scores while sitting to determine …

Molecular Dynamics Study For Tritium Adsorption On Novel Materials, Jason Viscardi, Benjamin Robinson, Asher Flanagan

Symposium of Student Scholars

In this study, novel materials will be researched, and their potential uses for tritium control. 12 studies have been collected on various materials that give a solid foundation for future research that will be conducted regarding tritium control. All these studies used molecular dynamics simulation (MDS) to generate results. The first paper found from a university in Crete, Greece discussed pillared graphene to store hydrogen in a novel 3D carbon nanostructure in which pore size and surface area can be adjusted to suit the need. This was the first of several studies that aim to arrange the graphene in such …

A Performance Comparison Between Nasa-Tlx And Surg-Tlx Workload Measurements, Isabella Duque

Symposium of Student Scholars

A performance comparison between NASA-TLX and SURG-TLX workload measurements

Undergraduate Student: Isabella Duque

Research Mentor(s): Dr. Luisa Valentina Nino

Mental workload has gained attention in the workplaces since technology has recently become more common. Mental workload is a concept with multiple dimensions, such as stress or time demand, that includes qualities about the task, the operator, and the workplace environment. NASA-TLX and SURG-TLX are mental workloads measurement tools. The NASA-TLX is currently the most used tool to measure workload and is a questionnaire of six dimensions: mental demand, physical demand, temporal demand, performance, effort, and frustration. The SURG-TLX is a …

Portable Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy For Non-Invasive And Quantitative Assessment Of The Parathyroid Glands Viability During Surgery, Mark Romine, Linh Luong, Alex Moazzen, Katie Cho, Paul Lee

Symposium of Student Scholars

Portable Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy for Non-invasive and Quantitative Assessment of the Parathyroid Glands Viability During Surgery

Mark Romine, Linh Luong, Alex Moazzen, Katie Cho and Paul Lee

The parathyroid glands (PTGs) are responsible for the regulation of calcium levels in the blood by secreting a parathyroid hormone. This parathyroid hormone then regulates the body’s absorption, storage, and secretion of calcium, which can directly affect the way muscles and nerves operate. PTGs are often at risk of damage, or accidental removal during thyroid surgeries, because it is challenging to identify PTGs and to determine their viability. Current methods of visual inspections …

Ransomware Attacks In The Software Supply Chain: A Review Of Attack Vectors, Defenses And Gaps, Corey Brookins, Ava Norouzinia, Asia Shavers, Miranda Dominguez, Marie Nassif, Kenneth Burke, Shamar Lake

Symposium of Student Scholars

The proliferation of cyberattacks in the software supply chain domain is a pressing concern making them a formidable threat to software security and compromising its integrity and credibility which needs to be critically acknowledged and investigated. The lack of familiarity with the design and pattern of emerging attacks has contributed to the occurrence of several vulnerable software supply chain attacks in the preceding years. This project aims to conduct a comprehensive study of the various tactics and techniques employed by cybercriminals in this domain along with a focus on exploring the influence of software supply chain stakeholders’ traits, limitations, and …

A Study Of Iot-Optimized Low Power Asset Tracking With Cloud-Enabled Lorawan, Fatima Salman

Symposium of Student Scholars

The world of technology is expanding very quickly today, including technologies like cloud-based asset monitoring, but this makes it difficult to keep up with this technology's development and many other things. It is possible to monitor and manage your assets remotely with a cloud-based system thanks to its many features. The lifecycle of any commodity, including inventory, machinery, vehicles, and real estate, can be tracked using this kind of cloud-based system. Wide-area networks can be used to send data with the aid of low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) technologies like LoRa, SigFox, and NB-IoT. This project will examine traditional, cloud-based, LPWAN-based …

Behavior Analysis Of Cement Concrete With Combination Of Waste Rubber And Glass, Abdulaziz Alebra

Symposium of Student Scholars

Glass and Rubber waste materials are valuable materials to use rather than throw which we have more than enough to use and recycle. Recycled glass and rubber materials can reduce and help major climate issues in our times based on the statistics reducing glass can bring down air pollution by 20% and also reduce water pollution by 50% as well as can reduce the use of landfill space. A laboratory study will be launched, and tests will be conducted following the ASTM standards, ASTM C143 for a concrete slump, and ASTM C31 for making and curing concrete specimens. Samples of …

Wireless, Handheld Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy To Quantify Tissue Microvascular Hemodynamics, Linh Luong, Alex Moazzen, Mark Romine, Katie Cho, Paul Lee

Symposium of Student Scholars

Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy (DRS) is a non-invasive optical method to characterize tissue optical properties for disease diagnosis and health monitoring. Two optical fibers are often used in a DRS system: one to deliver light to the tissue and the other to gather diffuse reflectance spectra, which provide quantitative details about the structure and composition of the tissue. The conventional DRS system, however, is expensive, bulky, and composed of fragile optical fibers and multiple electrical connections. Here we propose to build a wireless, handheld, and fiber-less diffuse optical spectroscopy system. Unfortunately, the diffusion approximation utilized for data analysis of the conventional …

Improving Quality Of Life Using Ict, Iot And Ai (Honet), Charles Koduru

Symposium of Student Scholars

Autonomous robots can be assigned with various tasks such as moving payload, analyzing terrain, and capturing data in an environment. For an Autonomous Mobile Robot (AMR) to execute such tasks the robot (Hussarion ROSbot) will require efficient algorithms and techniques to reference its current location. The robot is relative to surrounding obstacles in its predetermined path. The conducted research study explains the coordinated method used to successfully allow a robot to identify its position in the environment (Gazebo Simulation) and avoid obstructions with increasing velocity - contingent on nearby surroundings. The results show multiple robots individually tasked with distinct roles, …

Behavior Analysis Of Cement Concrete With Combination Of Waste Plastic And Glass, Mohamad Alamayreh

Symposium of Student Scholars

The waste stream in our society contains abundant plastic and glass waste, which can be effectively recycled to reduce the waste volume and save landfill space. Several studies have demonstrated that recycling glass can lower air pollution by 20% and water pollution by 50%, while recycling waste plastic can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and save energy. To explore the potential use of recycled plastic and glass in concrete mixes, a laboratory investigation was conducted. Different percentages of plastic and glass waste will be tested as fine aggregates in cement concrete mixtures to evaluate their performance in terms of resistivity …

Impact Of Air Pollution Exposure In Latino Communities: An Equity-Based Framework For Environmental Engineering, Finn Vital

Symposium of Student Scholars

Examining Environmental Racism in Latino communities and the use of Environmental Engineering as a Solution

Background: Hispanics make up the second-largest ethnic group after whites, yet these communities live in more polluted environments than their white counterparts and have higher rates of poverty. With low-income neighborhoods come unsafe and often hazardous environmental factors that harm the health of their inhabitants. Environmental engineering, a newer branch that combines civil and chemical engineering ideas, could offer a variety of different solutions to environmental issues relating to air and water pollution. In A Terrible Thing to Waste by Harriet A. Washington, the author …

Commercial Airliner Winglet Design Optimization – A Case Study, Anthony Gutierrez

Symposium of Student Scholars

The objective of this research is to determine the effect on aerodynamic performance due to changes of winglets design variables found of the Boeing 737-700 aircraft. The various winglet types studied in this research include the blended, canted, wingtip fence and split scimitar. The variables include height, sweep angle, taper ratio, and the inclination angle. These variables are altered in 5% increments from -15% to +15% of their original baseline values. Each altered winglet design only changes one variable at a time while keeping all other variables constant. The altered models are compared to the original by finding the aerodynamic …

Actively Guided Cansats For Assisting Localization And Mapping In Unstructured And Unknown Environments, Cary Chun, M. Hassan Tanveer

Symposium of Student Scholars

When navigating in unknown and unstructured environments, Unmanned Arial Vehicles (UAVs) can struggle when attempting to preform Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) operations. Particularly challenging circumstance arise when an UAV may need to land or otherwise navigate through treacherous environments. As the primary UAV may be too large and unwieldly to safely investigate in these types of situations, this research effort proposes the use of actively guided CanSats for assisting in localization and mapping of unstructured environments. A complex UAV could carry multiple of these SLAM capable CanSats, and when additional mapping and localization capabilities where required, the CanSat would …

Nanocomposites For Applications In Ultracapacitors Based Energy Storage Systems, Duy Pham, Jake Ivirn, Jacob Dileonardi, Ben Mckinney, Ashish Aphale

Symposium of Student Scholars

Electrochemical capacitors also known as ultracapacitor is a potential technology for modern energy storage due to their high performance of charge capacity and fast charge-discharge rates. The superior performance of ultracapacitors will help to meet demands for energy systems in applications such as transportation. Ultracapacitor device consists of electrodes, a polymeric separator, and an electrolyte. Under the applied voltage, the migration of ions between two porous electrodes from the bulk of the electrolyte governs the performance of such devices. In this work, we present experimental research on the synthesis of different electrode materials using atomically thick graphene and conducting polymers. …