Engineering Commons^™

Mse News 2011, Department Of Materials Science And Engineering, Michigan Technological University

Department of Materials Science and Engineering Annual Reports

Table of Contents

• New Fund and Center: a Challenge, an Opportunity, and an Appeal from Chair Mark Plichta
• MSE Scientist: Positioned for Success with Unique Program
• Student Accomplishments and Awards
• Department News
• Alumni Updates

Purification Of Synthetic Oligomers, Shiyue Fang

Michigan Tech Patents

This invention provides a novel method for purifying synthetic oligomers comprising capping, polymerizing and separating any failure sequences produced during oligomer synthesis. Either the failure sequence or the full-length oligomer may be polymerized. Optionally, small molecule impurities may also be incorporated into the polymerized material. The invention provides novel capping agents having a polymerizable functional group. The invention also provides kits comprising at least one composition of the present invention.

Optimization Strategy For Resonant Mass Sensor Design In The Presence Of Squeeze Film Damping, Chengzhang Li, Michele H. Miller

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

This paper investigates the design optimization of an electrostatically actuated microcantilever resonator that operates in air. The nonlinear effects of electrostatic actuation and air damping make the structural dynamics modeling more complex. There is a need for an efficient way to simulate the system behavior so that the design can be more readily optimized. This paper describes an efficient analytical approach for determining the optimum design for a microcantilever resonant mass sensor. One simple case is described. The sensor design is a square plate that is coated with a functional polymer and attached to the substrate with folded leg springs. …

Me-Em Enewsbrief, December 2010, Department Of Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics, Michigan Technological University

Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering eNewsBrief

No abstract provided.

The Circuit, Fall 2010, Department Of Electrical And Computer Engineering, Michigan Technological University

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Newsletters

Table of Contents

• Strategic Faculty Hiring Initiatives at Michigan Tech
• Tech Receives $3 Million to Develop EV Education Programs
• ECE Student Brings Laptops to Ghana
• Tech's Online Power Engineering Program Marks 10th Anniversary
• Dave House: Why Research is Key to the Future of Tech and to ECE
• Alumni Gifts Fund New Center for Computer Systems Research
• Faculty and Student News

Cutting Tool Insert Having Internal Microduct For Coolant, William J. Endres

Michigan Tech Patents

A cutting tool insert includes: a body defining a rake face, a flank face, and a cutting edge at an intersection of the rake and flank faces; and a cooling microduct within the body. A portion of the microduct extends along the cutting edge not more than 0.5 millimeter from the rake face, and not more than 0.5 millimeter from the flank face. The microduct has a cross-sectional area of not more than 1.0 square millimeter. The microduct is adapted to permit the flow of a coolant therethrough to transfer heat away from the cutting edge and extend the useful …

Me-Em Enewsbrief, September 2010, Department Of Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics, Michigan Technological University

Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering eNewsBrief

No abstract provided.

Methods And Systems For Ordering Instructions Using Future Values, Soner Onder

Michigan Tech Patents

A method of ordering instructions. The method can include placing a first instruction that consumes a value of an object before a second instruction that produces the value of the object such that the first instruction is processed before the second instruction and a physical location is allocated to the value of the object upon processing the first instruction.

Cell Culture Method And Apparatus For Mechanically Stimulating Cells, Seth W. Donahue

Michigan Tech Patents

A cell culture assembly and a method for culturing cells that provide mechanical stimulation to cells. The cell culture assembly can include a flow chamber positioned in a fluid path and a support comprising cells positioned within the flow chamber to expose the cells to the fluid path. The cell culture assembly can further include a means for producing a steady flow of fluid in the fluid path, and a means for producing an oscillatory flow of fluid in the fluid path simultaneously with producing the steady flow of fluid in the fluid path to mechanically stimulate the cells. The …

Quantum Capacitance Extraction For Carbon Nanotube Interconnects, Vidur Parkash, Ashok K. Goel

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

Electrical transport in metallic carbon nanotubes, especially the ones with diameters of the order of a few nanometers can be best described using the Tomanaga Luttinger liquid (TL) model. Recently, the TL model has been used to create a convenient transmission line like phenomenological model for carbon nanotubes. In this paper, we have characterized metallic nanotubes based on that model, quantifying the quantum capacitances of individual metallic single walled carbon nanotubes and crystalline bundles of single walled tubes of different diameters. Our calculations show that the quantum capacitances for both individual tubes and the bundles show a weak dependence on …

Me-Em Enewsbrief, June 2010, Department Of Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics, Michigan Technological University

Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering eNewsBrief

No abstract provided.

Isolated Cellulose Synthase Promoter Regions, Chandrashekhar P. Joshi

Michigan Tech Patents

The invention relates to methods of inducing expression of coding sequences including cellulose synthase coding sequences in transgenic plants using promoters of cellulose synthase genes from Populus plant species and transgenic plants produced by the methods.

Me-Em Enewsbrief, March 2010, Department Of Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics, Michigan Technological University

Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering eNewsBrief

No abstract provided.

Source Attribution And Interannual Variability Of Arctic Pollution In Spring Constrained By Aircraft (Arctas, Arcpac) And Satellite (Airs) Observations Of Carbon Monoxide, J. A. Fisher, D. J. Jacob, M. T. Purdy, M. Kopacz, P. Le Sager, Shiliang Wu, Et. Al.

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

We use aircraft observations of carbon monoxide (CO) from the NASA ARCTAS and NOAA ARCPAC campaigns in April 2008 together with multiyear (2003–2008) CO satellite data from the AIRS instrument and a global chemical transport model (GEOS-Chem) to better understand the sources, transport, and interannual variability of pollution in the Arctic in spring. Model simulation of the aircraft data gives best estimates of CO emissions in April 2008 of 26 Tg month−1 for Asian anthropogenic, 9.4 for European anthropogenic, 4.1 for North American anthropogenic, 15 for Russian biomass burning (anomalously large that year), and 23 for Southeast Asian biomass burning. …

2010 Civil And Environmental Engineering Department News, Department Of Civil And Environmental Engineering, Michigan Technological University

Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering Newsletters

Table of Contents

• New Faculty
• Strategic Hiring Initiative
• Faculty awards
• Student Awards
• Student Competitions
• Academy of Civil and Environmental Engineers
• CEE Donor Recognition
• Department Information

Theoretical Estimation Of Optical Absorption And Photoluminescence In Nanostructured Silicon; An Approach To Improve Efficiency In Nanostructured Solar Cells, Jaspreet S. Nayyar

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Renewable energy is growing in demand, and thus the the manufacture of solar cells and photovoltaic arrays has advanced dramatically in recent years. This is proved by the fact that the photovoltaic production has doubled every 2 years, increasing by an average of 48% each year since 2002.

Covering the general overview of solar cell working, and its model, this thesis will start with the three generations of photovoltaic solar cell technology, and move to the motivation of dedicating research to nanostructured solar cell. For the current generation solar cells, among several factors, like photon capture, photon reflection, carrier generation …

Use Of Hydroclimatic Forecasts For Improved Water Management In Central Texas , Wenge Wei

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Accurate seasonal to interannual streamflow forecasts based on climate information are critical for optimal management and operation of water resources systems. Considering most water supply systems are multipurpose, operating these systems to meet increasing demand under the growing stresses of climate variability and climate change, population and economic growth, and environmental concerns could be very challenging. This study was to investigate improvement in water resources systems management through the use of seasonal climate forecasts. Hydrological persistence (streamflow and precipitation) and large-scale recurrent oceanic-atmospheric patterns such as the El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO), Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), the …

Static And Dynamic Contact Angle Measurement On Rough Surfaces Using Sessile Drop Profile Analysis With Application To Water Management In Low Temperature Fuel Cells, Vinaykumar Konduru

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Fuel Cells are a promising alternative energy technology. One of the biggest problems that exists in fuel cell is that of water management. A better understanding of wettability characteristics in the fuel cells is needed to alleviate the problem of water management. Contact angle data on gas diffusion layers (GDL) of the fuel cells can be used to characterize the wettability of GDL in fuel cells. A contact angle measurement program has been developed to measure the contact angle of sessile drops from drop images. Digitization of drop images induces pixel errors in the contact angle measurement process. The resulting …

Vibro-Acoustical Analysis And Design Of A Multiple-Layer Constrained Viscoelastic Damping Structure, Fei Lin

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

The goal of this research is to provide a framework for vibro-acoustical analysis and design of a multiple-layer constrained damping structure. The existing research on damping and viscoelastic damping mechanism is limited to the following four mainstream approaches: modeling techniques of damping treatments/materials; control through the electrical-mechanical effect using the piezoelectric layer; optimization by adjusting the parameters of the structure to meet the design requirements; and identification of the damping material’s properties through the response of the structure. This research proposes a systematic design methodology for the multiple-layer constrained damping beam giving consideration to vibro-acoustics.

A modeling technique to study …

Human And Embodied Energy Analysis Applied To Water Source Protection And Household Water Treatment Interventions Used In Mali, West Africa , R. Brendan Held

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

As water quality interventions are scaled up to meet the Millennium Development Goal of halving the proportion of the population without access to safe drinking water by 2015 there has been much discussion on the merits of household- and source-level interventions. This study furthers the discussion by examining specific interventions through the use of embodied human and material energy. Embodied energy quantifies the total energy required to produce and use an intervention, including all upstream energy transactions. This model uses material quantities and prices to calculate embodied energy using national economic input/output-based models from China, the United States and Mali. …

Undergraduate Education 2010, College Of Engineering, Michigan Technological University

Michigan Tech Engineering Magazine

Table of Contents

• Design
• Undergraduate Research
• International
• Programs

Engineering Research 2010, College Of Engineering, Michigan Technological University

Michigan Tech Engineering Magazine

Table of Contents

• Health
• Energy
• Air & Water
• Engineered Materials
• People
• Research Centers & Institutes

Me-Em 2010 Annual Report, Department Of Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics, Michigan Technological University

Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Annual Reports

Table of Contents

• First Year to First Career
• Faculty & Staff
• Alumni
• Resources
• Graduates
• Publications

Computational Study Of Internal And External Condensing Flows And Experimental Synthesis To Investigate Their Attainability And Stability In Ground-Based And Space-Based Environments, Shantanu Kulkarni

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

This doctoral thesis presents the computational work and synthesis with experiments for internal (tube and channel geometries) as well as external (flow of a pure vapor over a horizontal plate) condensing flows. The computational work obtains accurate numerical simulations of the full two dimensional governing equations for steady and unsteady condensing flows in gravity/0g environments.

This doctoral work investigates flow features, flow regimes, attainability issues, stability issues, and responses to boundary fluctuations for condensing flows in different flow situations. This research finds new features of unsteady solutions of condensing flows; reveals interesting differences in gravity and shear driven situations; and …

Mathematical Analysis For Perceived Annoyance Of Impulsive Sounds In Terms Of Physical Factors, Gayatri S. Kadlaskar

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

From the customer satisfaction point of view, sound quality of any product has become one of the important factors these days. The primary objective of this research is to determine factors which affect the acceptability of impulse noise. Though the analysis is based on a sample impulse sound file of a Commercial printer, the results can be applied to other similar impulsive noise.

It is assumed that impulsive noise can be tuned to meet the accepTable criteria. Thus it is necessary to find the most significant factors which can be controlled physically. This analysis is based on a single impulse. …

Considering Sustainability Factors In The Development Project Life-Cycle : A Framework For Increasing Successful Adoption Of Improved Stoves , Travis K. Ostrom

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Indoor air pollution from combustion of solid fuels is the fifth leading contributor to disease burden in low-income countries. This, and potential to reduce environmental impacts, has resulted in emphasis on use of improved stoves. However, many efforts have failed to meet expectations and effective coverage remains limited. A disconnect exists between technologies, delivery methods, and long-term adoption.

The purpose of this research is to develop a framework to increase long-term success of improved stove projects. The framework integrates sustainability factors into the project life-cycle. It is represented as a matrix and checklist which encourages consideration of social, economic, and …

Post-Project Assessment And Follow-Up Support For Community Managed Rural Water Systems In Panama , Ryu Suzuki

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

The Environmental Health (EH) program of Peace Corps (PC) Panama and a non-governmental organization (NGO) Waterlines have been assisting rural communities in Panama gain access to improved water sources through the practice of community management (CM) model and participatory development. Unfortunately, there is little information available on how a water system is functioning once the construction is complete and the volunteer leaves the community. This is a concern when the recent literature suggests that most communities are not able to indefinitely maintain a rural water system (RWS) without some form of external assistance (Sara and Katz, 1997; Newman et al, …

Exploration Of The Role Of Serum Factors In Maintaining Bone Mass During Hibernation In Black Bears, Rachel Marie Bradford

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Disuse osteoporosis is a condition in which reduced mechanical loading (e.g. bed-rest, immobilization, or paralysis) results in unbalanced bone turnover. The American black bear is a unique, naturally occurring model for the prevention of disuse osteoporosis. Bears remain mostly inactive for up to half a year of hibernation annually, yet they do not lose bone mechanical strength or structural properties throughout hibernation. The long-term goal of this study is to determine the biological mechanism through which bears maintain bone during hibernation. This mechanism could pinpoint new signaling pathway targets for the development of drugs for osteoporosis prevention. In this study, …

Multi-Node Toa-Doa Cooperative Los-Nlos Localization : Enabling High Accuracy And Reliability, Zhonghai Wang

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

This dissertation investigates high performance cooperative localization in wireless environments based on multi-node time-of-arrival (TOA) and direction-of-arrival (DOA) estimations in line-of-sight (LOS) and non-LOS (NLOS) scenarios. Here, two categories of nodes are assumed: base nodes (BNs) and target nodes (TNs). BNs are equipped with antenna arrays and capable of estimating TOA (range) and DOA (angle). TNs are equipped with Omni-directional antennas and communicate with BNs to allow BNs to localize TNs; thus, the proposed localization is maintained by BNs and TNs cooperation.

First, a LOS localization method is proposed, which is based on semi-distributed multi-node TOA-DOA fusion. The proposed technique …

Statistics Of The Received Power For Free Space Optical Channels, Stephen D. Lyke

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Free space optical (FSO) communication links can experience extreme signal degradation due to atmospheric turbulence induced spatial and temporal irradiance fuctuations (scintillation) in the laser wavefront. In addition, turbulence can cause the laser beam centroid to wander resulting in power fading, and sometimes complete loss of the signal. Spreading of the laser beam and jitter are also artifacts of atmospheric turbulence. To accurately predict the signal fading that occurs in a laser communication system and to get a true picture of how this affects crucial performance parameters like bit error rate (BER) it is important to analyze the probability density …