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Articles 3001 - 3030 of 4850

Full-Text Articles in Engineering

Characterization Of Wrist Kinetics During Activities Of Daily Living, Autumn Pando, Dr. Steven Charles Sep 2013

Characterization Of Wrist Kinetics During Activities Of Daily Living, Autumn Pando, Dr. Steven Charles

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Out of the 75,000 people afflicted with repetitive strain injuries annually in the U.S., 68% impair the wrist1. A major factor in these injuries is abnormal and excessive force. However, forces applied normally by the wrist in everyday environments are unknown. The purpose of this study is to quantify a detailed baseline of healthy, normal wrist forces used in activities of daily living (ADL). Once normal ranges are quantified, abnormal forces can be better identified, leading to more informed preventative designs and more personalized treatment options.

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Origami-Based Design For Engineering Applications, Kevin Campbell Francis Sep 2013

Origami-Based Design For Engineering Applications, Kevin Campbell Francis

Theses and Dissertations

Origami can be a powerful source of design inspiration in the creation of reconfigurable systems with unparalleled performance. This thesis provides fundamental tools for designers to employ as origami-based designs are pursued in their respective fields of expertise. The first chapter introduces origami and makes connections between origami and engineering design through a survey of engineered applications and characterizing the relationship between origami and compliant mechanisms. The second chapter evaluates the creasing of non-paper sheet materials, such as plastics and metals, to facilitate origami-based compliant mechanism design. Although it is anticipated that most origami-based design will result from surrogate folds …

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Coupling Rotation And Lamination Theory With Product Development To Create Barriers To Reverse Engineering, Stephen P. Harston, Dr. Christopher A. Mattson Aug 2013

Coupling Rotation And Lamination Theory With Product Development To Create Barriers To Reverse Engineering, Stephen P. Harston, Dr. Christopher A. Mattson

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Introducing a novel product into the market place inevitably invites competitors to reverse engineer it; enabling them to determine proprietary trade secrets and decrease potential profits. Unfortunately, there are relatively few barriers to reverse engineering and the few that do exist are not easily implemented. We will show how a numerical optimization method was used to search for improved material properties in metals as obtainable by the rotation and lamination theory as defined below. These improved material properties are generally thought to be unobtainable in metals and results in unexpected (yet desirable) performance, thus a barrier to reverse engineering is …

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Pegleg Crutch, Levi Leishman, Darrel Zeltner Aug 2013

Pegleg Crutch, Levi Leishman, Darrel Zeltner

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The progress of a cheap, simple and practical substitute for the common crutch for us has had many design improvements and successes in this year. We were able to meet with medical, educational, and engineering professionals who were all able to input their criticisms and advice. We have decided on a final design that is not the best design for use, but the best when considering cost. See figure 1 for a visual of the final design.

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Unilateral Human Vocal Fold Stiffness, Paul Gollnick, Dr. Scott Thomson Aug 2013

Unilateral Human Vocal Fold Stiffness, Paul Gollnick, Dr. Scott Thomson

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Sounds produced in human speech originate from the vocal folds (also known as vocal chords). In order to speak, the vocal folds must close together. Air is then forced between them causing the folds to vibrate and produce sound.

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Family Tree Mapper: Designing A User Interface For Online Mapping Of Genealogical Data, Craig Fryer, Richard Helps Aug 2013

Family Tree Mapper: Designing A User Interface For Online Mapping Of Genealogical Data, Craig Fryer, Richard Helps

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Designing and Implementing a web service for promoting genealogy and family history work requires a complex process of working with potential end users, designing a product that meets their needs, and testing it with the end users. I found that the greatest challenge to this process was including the end users in every step of the process. Developers tend to make assumptions regarding what is best for the users. These assumptions are often proven wrong when presented to the end user of the product. To circumvent this error, I used the following process.

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Improvement Of Body-Powered Prostheses Using Supplemental Power, Kasey Greenland, Dr. Mark Colton Aug 2013

Improvement Of Body-Powered Prostheses Using Supplemental Power, Kasey Greenland, Dr. Mark Colton

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Many upper-limb amputees are fitted with body-powered prostheses. These are typically operated by the user wearing a harness and making a certain body movement. That movement pulls a cable which then moves the terminal device, which may be an artificial hand or a hook, to perform desired functions. With such prostheses the user is typically limited in their use of the individual fingers and many opt for a hook. Some have voluntary-closing terminal devices, meaning that the hand is in an open position when no force is applied . Though these devices are useful, they often do not provide the …

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Superior Dna Transport System, David Dickinson, Dr. William Pitt Aug 2013

Superior Dna Transport System, David Dickinson, Dr. William Pitt

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Although surgeries and chemotherapy have had limited success, these techniques are largely unable to solve the problem and may cause significant damage to a patient’s entire body. Some patients are killed by the chemotherapy. Since many cancers have been found to be caused by the lack of a protein due to mutated DNA, a plasmid DNA carrying a replacement for this gene may be able to solve the problem. P52 is one of the more famous missing proteins, but others have and will continue to be discovered. If DNA could …

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Photodefinable Microchannels Made With Spin-On Polymers And Short Sacrificial Etch Times, Christopher Carron, Dr. Aaron Hawkins Aug 2013

Photodefinable Microchannels Made With Spin-On Polymers And Short Sacrificial Etch Times, Christopher Carron, Dr. Aaron Hawkins

Journal of Undergraduate Research

There are currently two basic ways to make microfluidic devices: sacrificial etching and wafer bonding. Each method has both advantages and disadvantages. Sacrificial etching is more consistent than wafer bonding and results in finer and more uniform microfluidic devices, but it is also much slower than wafer bonding and can take weeks or months to complete devices that wafer bonding can typically produce in just a few days. Figure 1 shows the differences between these two methods.

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Investigation Of The Effects Of Intraosseous Pressure Rise In The Formation Of Spinal Burst Fractures: A Biphasic Material Approach, Spencer Shore, Dr. Anton Bowden Aug 2013

Investigation Of The Effects Of Intraosseous Pressure Rise In The Formation Of Spinal Burst Fractures: A Biphasic Material Approach, Spencer Shore, Dr. Anton Bowden

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Burst fractures are high-speed spine injuries caused by rapid axial compression of the vertebrae. The traditional explanation for the burst fracture mechanism points to an intraosseous pressure rise due to the entrance of the intervertebral disc through a fractured endplate. Recent experiments [1], however, indicate an actual decrease in both internal pressure and hydraulic resistance in high-speed tests that result in burst fractures. These results cast doubt on the validity of the traditional burst fracture theory. The current study seeks to model the intraosseous pressure rise using the finite element method. In this model, the trabecular core and marrow of …

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High-Resolution Bulk Measurement Of Crystal Defects During Deformation Of Highly Textured Copper, Colin Landon, Dr. Brent Adams Aug 2013

High-Resolution Bulk Measurement Of Crystal Defects During Deformation Of Highly Textured Copper, Colin Landon, Dr. Brent Adams

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Plastic deformation of crystalline materials is accommodated by crystallographic slip, and the formation and motion of dislocations. Of particular interest to deformation predictions are the dislocation structures that form internal to grains (i.e. the cellular structures), because of their impact on the plastic behavior of the crystal. However, no generally acceptable models that link the dislocation structures and crystal plasticity exist, as is shown by the number of new theories emerging in the literature.

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Stabilization Of Base And Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement For Cold Regions, Bryan Wilson, Dr. W. Spencer Guthrie Aug 2013

Stabilization Of Base And Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement For Cold Regions, Bryan Wilson, Dr. W. Spencer Guthrie

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The access road to a coal mine facility was determined to have failed by BYU researchers after a field investigation in 2008. The road surface was heavily degraded by severe transverse, longitudinal, and fatigue cracking. Deep depressions coincided with the transverse cracks causing extremely poor ride quality. Subsurface testing revealed the base and subgrade to be very low quality with unusually high moisture contents and low dry densities.

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Csf Sniffer Final Report, Alyssa Huber, David Miller, Dr. Brian Jensen Aug 2013

Csf Sniffer Final Report, Alyssa Huber, David Miller, Dr. Brian Jensen

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The purpose of our research was to create a tool to help in the treatment of hydrocephalus; hydrocephalus is a disease in which an obstruction causes a build-up of cerebral spinal fluid (CSF), a liquid found in the brain. Artificial shunts or passageways are used to relocate excess CSF in the treatment of hydrocephalus. Shunts are commonly misplaced, further aggravating patients’ symptoms. We developed an instrument, the CSF Sniffer, to increase the accuracy of shunt placement; it informs the neurosurgeon of the location of the instrument tip in the brain by measuring the intensity of light reflected off the brain. …

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Collision Avoidance Using Haptic Feedback For A Quadrotor Helicopter, Adam Brandt, Dr. Mark Colton Aug 2013

Collision Avoidance Using Haptic Feedback For A Quadrotor Helicopter, Adam Brandt, Dr. Mark Colton

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The remote operation of a quadrotor unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) presents unique challenges to the pilot. When flying a traditional aircraft a camera can be directed so that the field of view points out the nose, which is always in the direction of flight, assuming small side-slip angles. Using this camera, a remote pilot can always see obstacles that the aircraft is approaching and respond appropriately to avoid them.

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The Effects Of Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement On The Frost Susceptibility Of Soil, Josiah Winkelman, Dr. Spencer Guthrie Aug 2013

The Effects Of Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement On The Frost Susceptibility Of Soil, Josiah Winkelman, Dr. Spencer Guthrie

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Our roadways and pavements are an essential part of our daily lives. Quality road systems have raised the quality of life from the days of the Romans until this very day. Roads are vital parts of shipping, thereby providing us goods and services, of the military, thereby providing us protection, and of general transportation, thereby providing us with opportunities to expand both physically and mentally. Due to the importance of our roads and highways, it is very critical that our roads are kept in good functional condition. The pavement that makes our roads is the key to keeping them usable.

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An Experiment In Sustainability: The Olympic Transportation Plan Of Beijing, China, Gregory Macfarlane, Dr. G Grant Schultz Aug 2013

An Experiment In Sustainability: The Olympic Transportation Plan Of Beijing, China, Gregory Macfarlane, Dr. G Grant Schultz

Journal of Undergraduate Research

This paper reports on transportation planning and engineering research sponsored by the Office of Research and Creative Activities (ORCA) at Brigham Young University (BYU). The subject of this research is the Transportation Plan for the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, China, specifically the sustainable development strategies employed in this plan. Using foreign investment and expertise, Beijing used the Olympics to meet its current transportation needs as well as prepare for future economic expansion.

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Chinese Transportation Contacts, Seth M. Law, Dr. Grant Schultz Aug 2013

Chinese Transportation Contacts, Seth M. Law, Dr. Grant Schultz

Journal of Undergraduate Research

In the past couple of years the dean of the school of engineering and technology has shown increased interest in global involvement for students. He wants us to gain a better edge in an increasingly global world. About a year and a half ago, Dean Parkinson (dean of the college of engineering) gave a college lecture on that subject. At the time I had recently returned from my mission, and it sparked particular interest in me. My family and I enjoy traveling, and world cultures have always been interesting to me. The dean of my college was now exhorting me …

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The Influence Of Superhydrophobicity On Laminar Jet Impingement And Turbulent Flow In A Channel With Walls Exhibiting Riblets, Joseph Fletcher Prince Aug 2013

The Influence Of Superhydrophobicity On Laminar Jet Impingement And Turbulent Flow In A Channel With Walls Exhibiting Riblets, Joseph Fletcher Prince

Theses and Dissertations

The object of this work is to explore the influence superhydrophobic (SH) surfaces exert in laminar jet impingement and when they are combined with riblets in turbulent channel flow. A SH surface generates an apparent slip due to the combination of micropatterning and chemical hydrophobicity. Because of surface tension, water does not enter the cavities between the features, increasing the contact angle of a water droplet on the surface and reducing the liquid-solid contact area. An analysis based on the integral momentum approach of Karman and Pohlhausen is presented that predicts jet impingement behavior on SH surfaces. The model is …

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Thermal Transport To Sessile Water Droplets On Heated Superhydrophobic Surfaces Of Varying Cavity Fraction, Robb C. Hays Aug 2013

Thermal Transport To Sessile Water Droplets On Heated Superhydrophobic Surfaces Of Varying Cavity Fraction, Robb C. Hays

Theses and Dissertations

The hydrophobicity of a surface is defined as the degree to which it repels water molecules, and the internal contact angle that the droplet makes with the surface is a measure of the hydrophobicity. Contact angles less than 90° occur on hydrophilic surfaces, while contact angles greater than 90° occur on hydrophobic surfaces. If a surface's contact angle is greater than 120° the surface is commonly defined as superhydrophobic (SH). Superhydrophobicity is accomplished through a combination of microscale surface roughness and water repellant surface chemistry. The roughness creates cavities, or pockets, of vapor underneath the droplet which act to increase …

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Gedtools Computerized Chinese Genealogy Entry Automation, Nicholas Vrvilo, Dr. Dah-Jye Lee Aug 2013

Gedtools Computerized Chinese Genealogy Entry Automation, Nicholas Vrvilo, Dr. Dah-Jye Lee

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Doing family history in Chinese has many unique challenges. The Chinese writing system is not readable by the average person, which means only the small number of individuals who both hold temple recommends and are familiar with Chinese characters would be able to perform all of the family history work for all of the Chinese people. To avoid this problem, the Church requires Romanized1 versions of all Chinese names to be included all family history records submitted for temple work. This poses a problem because most Chinese genealogy workers in Taiwan (where a great deal of Chinese genealogy work is …

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Plastics For Designers, Colburn L. Jones Aug 2013

Plastics For Designers, Colburn L. Jones

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Plastics for Designers is a basic survey of the industry of plastics specifically written to address the questions and needs of the industrial designer. It is interesting that most people understand and are much more familiar with materials such as wood, metal, glass, stone, etc., than they are with plastics. This is quite amazing when we consider how much we surround ourselves with the very substance of which we are so ignorant. For the industrial designer this unfamiliarity with plastics is an especially vulnerable position as the number of products specifying the use of plastic grows exponentially. It is therefore …

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Analysis Of Prosthetic Leg Shock Absorption And Structure, Russell Dibb, David Williams, Dr. Mark Colton Aug 2013

Analysis Of Prosthetic Leg Shock Absorption And Structure, Russell Dibb, David Williams, Dr. Mark Colton

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The purpose of the prosthetic leg project was to research and design a below-the-knee prosthetic leg that could be used in developing countries. Many prosthetic legs that are currently on the market are very expensive and difficult to manufacture in undeveloped areas of the world. The engineering challenges that the prosthetic leg design addressed include a device that is 1) capable of being manufactured at a low cost ($100-$500), 2) simply and easily reproducible in a developing country, 3) durable enough to hold up to the vigorous conditions that exist in a developing country, and 4) able to effectively modeling …

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Parametric Human Spine Model, Simeon Smith, Dr. Anton Bowden Aug 2013

Parametric Human Spine Model, Simeon Smith, Dr. Anton Bowden

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Three-dimensional computer models are commonly used to understand and analyze pathological conditions of the spine. Models of the spine are most beneficial when they match each patient’s spinal geometry. Currently, making a model for a specific patient is a long, multi-step process that must be started anew for each person. The goal of this project was to create a parametric model that can be used to instantly generate the spinal geometry of any particular patient based on the input of a few controlling parameters.

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Development Of A Simple Manufacturing Process For A Prosthetic Leg, Kyle Smith, Dr. Mark Colton Aug 2013

Development Of A Simple Manufacturing Process For A Prosthetic Leg, Kyle Smith, Dr. Mark Colton

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The purpose of this project was to develop a simple process to manufacture a useful and affordable prosthetic leg to be made available to below-the-knee amputees in a sub-Saharan African country. This project was motivated by a desire for learning and experience and also by humanitarian and social entrepreneurship ideals. The project was carried out as a joint effort by a larger research team composed of members of the BYU Biomedical Engineering Club. As this was a joint team effort, many of the tasks detailed in this report were shared between several team members. Currently, the team has identified partners …

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Sustainable Bulding Materials In Mozambique, Jared Geddes, Dr. Robert Todd Aug 2013

Sustainable Bulding Materials In Mozambique, Jared Geddes, Dr. Robert Todd

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The research that I conducted this year was in the area of sustainable building materials. I worked with a team of six engineers to develop a sustainable building material that would be able to withstand the heavy monsoon rains common to the area of Beira, Mozambique. Every year, these rains destroy up to 60% of the local buildings, consisting mainly of local residences made from mud, straw, and sticks. This destruction and the resultant flooding causes an unsafe and unsanitary condition for the local residents. One of the most dangerous aspects of this flooding is the problem of the sanitation. …

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Development Of A Simple Manufacturing Process For A Prosthetic Leg, John Christiansen, Dr. Mark Colton Aug 2013

Development Of A Simple Manufacturing Process For A Prosthetic Leg, John Christiansen, Dr. Mark Colton

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The purpose of this project was to develop a simple process to manufacture a useful and affordable prosthetic leg to be made available to below-­‐the-­‐knee amputees in a sub-­‐ Saharan African country. This project was motivated by a desire for learning and experience and also by humanitarian and social entrepreneurship ideals. The project was carried out as a joint effort by a larger research team composed of members of the BYU Biomedical Engineering Club. As this was a joint team effort, many of the tasks detailed in this report were shared between several team members. Currently, the team has identified …

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Prosthetic Leg Project, Carl Ellingson Aug 2013

Prosthetic Leg Project, Carl Ellingson

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The idea of this project was to research prosthetic leg designs in an effort to create a below-the-knee prosthetic device. The goal was to come up with a device that could be used in third world countries where the need is most considerable. In the past year we have come up with a design and are still in the process of testing the leg. We did not finish as fast as we would have liked, and we are still working on additional testing before we can present our idea to the scholarly community.

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Microcracking Of Cement-Treated Bases, Charles Hope, Dr. Spencer Guthrie Aug 2013

Microcracking Of Cement-Treated Bases, Charles Hope, Dr. Spencer Guthrie

Journal of Undergraduate Research

This study was funded in the spring of 2009 and commenced immediately afterward. The scope of the project included researching the effectiveness of microcracking of cement-treated bases (CTBs) in construction of asphalt-surfaced pavements. Microcracking is a method of reducing the amount of “block cracking” or “shrinkage cracking” that typically propagates up through the asphalt layer overlying a CTB layer. Microcracking involves making several passes over a newly constructed CTB with a heavy roller to induce a network of hairline cracks throughout the layer. Identifying equipment that can be used to determine how many passes are adequate was the focus of …

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Deep Oxide Sim—Orca Report, Alan Nelson Aug 2013

Deep Oxide Sim—Orca Report, Alan Nelson

Journal of Undergraduate Research

In my ORCA grant proposal, I described a novel solid-state amplifier known as the SIM (Solidstate Impact-ionization Multiplier) that has been developed here at BYU. It is particularly useful for amplifying weak optical signals—weak such that they would require low-noise amplification in order to avoid garbling the signal with added amplifier noise. The mechanism driving amplification in the SIM—Impact-ionization—is inherently low noise. Due to it being relatively easy and inexpensive to manufacture the SIM (compared with other low-noise amplifiers such as the Avalanching photodiode), as well as many other benefits outlined in my proposal, the utility of enhancing the SIM …

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Antenna Diversity For Personal Communications Transceivers, Bruce M. Green, Dr. Michael A. Jensen Aug 2013

Antenna Diversity For Personal Communications Transceivers, Bruce M. Green, Dr. Michael A. Jensen

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The presence of human tissue near the antenna of a portable cellular phone reduces its range of reception and transmission. This research investigates the feasibility of antenna diversity (more than one antenna on a handset) as a means of combating the loss of received signal power to a cellular phone antenna due to the biological tissues of the operator. The Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) method provides simulations of two antenna designs that accurately models both the antenna and tissue of the operator.

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