Engineering Commons^™

Bioaerosol Deposition On An Air-Conditioning Cooling Coil, Yan Wu, Ailu Chen, Irvan Luhung, Elliott T. Gall, Qingliang Cao, Victor Wei-Chung Chang, William W. Nazaroff

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study is concerned with the role of a fin-and-tube heat exchanger in modifying microbial indoor air quality. Specifically, depositional losses of ambient bioaerosols and particles onto dry (not cooled) and wet (cool) coil surfaces were measured for different airspeeds passing through the test coil. Total, bacterial and fungal DNA concentrations in condensate water produced by a wet coil were also quantified by means of fluorescent dsDNA-binding dye and qPCR assays. Results revealed that the deposition of bioaerosols and total particles is substantial on coil surfaces, especially when wet and cool. The average deposition fraction was 0.14 for total DNA, …

Distribution Of Mean Kinetic Energy Around An Isolated Wind Turbine And A Characteristic Wind Turbine Of A Very Large Wind Farm, Gerard Cortina, Marc Calaf, Raul Bayoan Cal

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

An isolated wind turbine and a very large wind farm are introduced into large-eddy simulations of an atmospheric boundary layer. The atmospheric flow is forced with a constant geostrophic wind and a time-varying surface temperature extracted from a selected period of the CASES-99 field experiment. A control volume approach is used to directly compare the transfer of mean kinetic energy around a characteristic wind turbine throughout a diurnal cycle considering both scenarios. For the very large wind farm case, results illustrate that the recovery of mean kinetic energy around a wind turbine is dominated by the vertical flux, regardless of …

Webinar: Transit Signal Priority Evaluation And Performance Measures, Miguel Figliozzi

TREC Webinar Series

Transit signal priority (TSP) can reduce transit delay at signalized intersections by making phasing adjustments. TSP is a relatively inexpensive tool to provide faster and more reliable transit service. This webinar addresses TSP real-word performance measures as well as data integration and evaluation challenges. Results of the TSP evaluation in an arterial corridor in Portland, Oregon indicate that a timely and effective TSP system requires a high degree of sophistication, monitoring, and maintenance. TSP timing is crucial to reduce transit delay.

Key takeaways include: performance measures, methodology, analysis of early green and red extension pros and cons, novel real-world results.

Exploring Length-Based Vehicle Count Data, Byad Ahmed

Civil and Environmental Engineering Master's Project Reports

The development of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) requires high-quality traffic information within most urban areas worldwide, and under growing pressure for improving traffic management, there has been an increasing urge to collecting and monitoring of traffic data. One of the most reliable and recommended technology for drive thru or traffic control is the loop vehicle detection system. On the Portland freeway system, new software has been installed that allows the reporting of vehicle length in bins. This research investigates the use of this data (length based) by exploring time series analyses of the vehicle counts as freight and non-freight movement.

Effect Of Fiber Material On Ozone Removal And Carbonyl Production From Carpets, Omed A. Abbass, David J. Sailor, Elliott T. Gall

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Indoor air quality is affected by indoor materials such as carpets that may act as sources and/or sinks of gas-phase air pollutants. Heterogeneous reactions of ozone with carpets may result in potentially harmful products. In this study, indoor residential carpets of varying fiber types were tested to evaluate their ability to remove ozone, and to assess their role in the production of carbonyls when exposed to elevated levels of ozone. Tests were conducted with six types of new unused carpets. Two sets of experiments were conducted, the first measured ozone removal and ozone deposition velocities, and the second measured primary …

Puddle Jumping: Spontaneous Ejection Of Large Liquid Droplets From Hydrophobic Surfaces During Drop Tower Tests, Babek Attari, Mark M. Weislogel, Andrew Paul Wollman, Yongkang Chen, Trevor Snyder

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Large droplets and puddles jump spontaneously from sufficiently hydrophobicsurfaces during routine drop tower tests. The simple low-cost passive mechanism can in turn be used as an experimental device to investigate dynamic droplet phenomena for drops up to 104 times larger than their normal terrestrial counterparts. We provide and/or confirm quick and qualitative design guides for such “drop shooters” as employed in drop tower tests including relationships to predict droplet ejection durations and velocities as functions of drop volume, surface texture, surface contour, wettability pattern, and fluid properties including contact angle. The latter is determined via profile image comparisons with numerical …

Laser Doppler Velocimetry Using A Modified Computer Mouse, Edward D. Zaron

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

A computer mouse has been modified for use as a low-cost laser Doppler interferometer and used to measure the two-component fluid velocity of a flowing soap film. The mouse sensor contains two vertical cavity surface emitting lasers, photodiodes, and signal processing hardware integrated into a single package, approximately 1 cm2 in size, and interfaces to a host computer via a standard USB port. Using the principle of self-mixing interferometry, whereby laser light re-enters the laser cavity after being scattered from a moving target, the Doppler shift and velocity of scatterers dispersed in the flow are measured. Observations of the boundary …

Inverse Structure Functions In The Canonical Wind Turbine Array Boundary Layer, Bianca Viggiano, Moira Gion, Naseem Ali, Murat Tutkun, Raúl Bayoán Cal

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Wind tunnel measurements for a 3×3 canonical wind turbine array boundary layer are obtained using hot-wire anemometer velocity signals. Two downstream locations are considered, referring to the near- and far-wake, and 21 vertical points are acquired per profile. Velocity increments and exit distances are used to quantify inverse structure functions at both downstream locations. Inverse structure functions in the near-wake show a similar profile for the main vertical locations, but diverge as the moment is increased. In the far-wake, inverse structure functions converge toward a single function for all vertical location and moments. The scaling exponents for inverse structure functions …

Memristor-Based Volistor Gates Compute Logic With Low Power Consumption, Muayad Aljafar, Marek Perkowski

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

We introduce a novel volistor logic gate which uses voltage as input and resistance as output. Volistors rely on the diode-like behavior of rectifying memristors. We show how to realize the first logic level, counted from the input, of any Boolean function with volistor gates in a memristive crossbar network. Unlike stateful logic, there is no need to store the inputs as resistances, and computation is performed directly. The fan-in and fan-out of volistor gates are large and different from traditional memristor circuits. Compared to solely memristive stateful logic, a combination of volistors and stateful inhibition gates can significantly reduce …

Configuring The Urban Smart Grid: Transitions, Experimentation, And Governance, Anthony Michael Levenda

Dissertations and Theses

In the face of challenges of energy security, decarbonization, resilience, and the replacement of aging infrastructure systems, federal, state, and local actors are facilitating the development of smart electricity networks to transition towards a more sustainable electricity system. In the United States, development of "smart grids" is being pursued as a national policy mandate and goal, promising that the deployment of smart grid technologies -- referring in general to digital information and communication technologies that sense, monitor, control and manage the electric grid -- will make electricity systems more environmentally sustainable and reliable, and at the same time, provide opportunities …

A Framework For Technology Transfer Potential Assessment, Judith Estep, Tugrul U. Daim

Engineering and Technology Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper is motivated by a need to move research into application, specifically in the utility industry. There are many challenges facing the industry: an aging infrastructure, a growing population, and aggressive energy efficiency targets are just a few examples. Many technologies exist or are in development but the rate at which they are being adopted is slow. Despite a clear need to apply research results to the utility industry, a cursory review of how research proposals are evaluated within the utility industry confirms that technology transfer is only peripherally addressed. In addition, there is no mechanism to quantitatively assess …

Comparative Analysis For Fuzzy Cognitive Mapping, Byung Sung Yoon, Antoine J. Jetter

Engineering and Technology Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Fuzzy Cognitive Mapping (FCM) is a semi-quantitative system modeling technique that is used in technology management to capture, synthesize and analyze expert and stakeholder knowledge for the purpose of technology assessment, product planning, and scenario studies. The resulting FCM models are generated in interviews, focus groups, or workshops and represent complex and dynamic systems as elements (so-called concepts) and cause-and-effect relationships. Researchers often compare FCM to investigate cognitive differences between individuals or groups, identify unique perspectives on a specific topic, or track changes in knowledge (i.e. learning). Using a variety of metrics, comparison studies investigate diverse characteristics of FCMs, such …

Technology Planning For Emerging Business Model And Regulatory Integration: The Case Of Electric Vehicle Smart Charging, Kelly Cowan, Tugrul U. Daim

Engineering and Technology Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Smart grid has been described as the Energy Internet: Where Energy Technology meets Information Technology. The incorporation of such technology into vast existing utility infrastructures offers many advantages, including possibilities for new smart appliances, energy management systems, better integration of renewable energy, value added services, and new busiss models, both for supply-and demand-side management. This paper proposes to build upon existing roadmapping processes by considering an integrated set of factors, including policy issues, that are specifically tuned to the needs of smart grid and have not generally been considered in other types of roadmapping efforts. It will also incorporate expert …

Managing Technology In Financial Innovation, Frederick Betz

Engineering and Technology Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

The topic of managing technology had traditionally focused upon the manufacturing industries; but the service industries grew to become a major sector of industry and commerce. We examine how to manage technology in the financial commercial sector. What is innovation in the financial sector? How does innovation occur in the financial sector? What are the criteria of technology safety in financial innovations? Why did financial innovation contribute to financial instabilities, such as the Global Financial Crisis of 2007-08? Why had governmental agencies failed to properly regulate the financial sector for safety? How did U.S. government financial agencies handle that financial …

Selecting Medical Hardware Using Pairwise Comparisons: A Patient's Perspective Of Cochlear Implant Device Selection, Timothy R. Anderson, Shabnam Razeghian Jahromi

Engineering and Technology Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Selecting medical hardware can be a difficult and permanent decision for patients that they are often unprepared for. The authors explore the use of pairwise comparison techniques to better inform medical decision making in an application of choosing between three major cochlear implant manufacturers. This paper appears to be the first study to apply a pairwise comparison decision making approach for cochlear implant device selection. Also, unlike many medical decision making studies that are developed by the healthcare professional, this model and analysis was conducted entirely by the patient for the purpose of making the real-world decision of a device. …

A Measurement System For Science And Engineering Research Center Performance Evaluation, Elizabeth Carole Gibson, Tugrul U. Daim

Engineering and Technology Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

This research is focused on gaining deeper insights into US National Science Foundation (NSF) science and engineering research center challenges and motivated to develop a method that effectively measures the performance of these organizations. While research has addressed organizational performance at the micro, or single-actor level for universities or companies and at the regional or national macro level, the middle level where the NSF centers reside is largely missing. The bulk of the cooperative research center studies use either case-based methods or bibliometric data to measure traditional research outputs. Many are excellent studies; however, they only focus on a piece …

Consistency Thresholds For Hierarchical Decision Model, Mustafa S. Abbas, Dundar F. Kocaoglu

Engineering and Technology Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

The objective of this research is to establish consistency thresholds linked to alpha (α) levels for HDM's (Hierarchical Decision Model) judgment quantification method. Measuring consistency in order to control it is a crucial and inseparable part of any AHP/HDM experiment. The researchers on the subject recommend establishing thresholds that are statistically based on hypothesis testing, and are linked to the number of decision variables and a level. Such thresholds provide the means with which to evaluate the soundness and validity of an AHP/HDM decision. The linkage of thresholds to a levels allows the decision makers to set an appropriate inconsistency …

An Inductive Ethnographic Study In Elderly Woman Technology Adoption And The Role Of Her Children, Noshad Rahimi, Antonie J, Jetter, Charles M. Weber

Engineering and Technology Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Elderly woman strives to have a streamlined life surrounded by ease and familiarity. As she is aging, her desire for simplicity grows, her self-efficacy weakens, her prudency intensifies and her overall inclination toward status quo strengthens. As a result, she delays, or refuses, making any decision that might bring complexity and disrupt the continuity in her life, particularly new and unfamiliar technologies (which often bring complexity, before providing ease). Consequently, her technology adoption has a much lower rate than that of other demographics. To open the black box of elderly woman technology adoption process, this study focuses on the role …

Exploring The Adoption And Use Of The Smartphone Technology In Emerging Regions: Case Of Saudi Arabia, Fahad Aldhaban, Tugrul Unsal Daim, Robert R. Harmon

Engineering and Technology Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper starts with a preliminary theoretical research model which is developed based on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT). A number of qualitative methods, namely brainstorming, focus group and individual interviews, have been conducted to evaluate, select and validate the existing factors, as well as introduce new factors, to identify only the most related factors to be included in the preliminary research model. A survey questionnaire has been developed and validated to survey general users of the Smartphone in Saudi Arabia. A web-based survey has been designed and sent through email to 5,000 randomly selected …

A Model Of Academic Community Entrepreneurship (Ace): Initiation, Innovation, And Impacts Of Picmet, Min-Seok Cha

Engineering and Technology Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Entrepreneurship is the process of creating problem solving system that generate knowledge and provide value. It is also seen as an innovation engine. It could be applied in many fields including academic community. This attempt of creating academic community can be view as an academic entrepreneurship. The impactful process of academic entrepreneurship is worthwhile to be noticed and shared. Because PICMET has shown a model of building a sustainable scholar community and its coordinating organization in the international level, it could be a successful case of academic community entrepreneurship (ACE) Model. ACE is focused on creating new value of academic …

Technology Readiness, Market Readiness And The Triple Bottom Line: An Empirical Analysis Of Innovating Startups In An Incubator, Rainer Hasenauer, Andreas Gschöpf, Charles Weber

Engineering and Technology Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper shares the experiences of INITS, a business incubator located in Vienna, Austria, which consults to startup firms in Austria and (with partners) in Europe. INITS has investigated the technology readiness levels and market readiness levels of 57 startup firms in a variety of industries, who are engaged in social or environmental entrepreneurship, where the impact motive prevails over the profit motive. Thus, INITS provides 57 longitudinal case studies of social and environmental innovation in startup firms that have gone through the complete incubation process. Thirteen of these cases underwent an 'open incubation' process developed by INITS. INITS has …

Survey Of Value Assessment Programs Within Transportation Construction Projects In U.S, Rafaa Khalifa, Robert Stewart

Engineering and Technology Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

In order to deliver transportation project on time and within budget, project planners and decision makers need to understand the desirable outcomes of projects or programs to make intelligent decisions. In addition, they also need effective tools and techniques to guide those decisions. In development of a guide that identifies available tools and techniques to foster useable and improved practices for key stakeholders of transportation projects, this paper as a preliminary study assessed current utilization of project delivery value improvement programs such as value engineering (VE), risk analysis/management (RA/RM) and constructability reviews (CR) for transportation projects. To determine whether states …

Managing The Ethical And Risk Implications Of Rapid Advances In Artificial Intelligence: A Literature Review, Taylor Meek, Husam Barham, Nader Beltaif, Amani Kaadoor, Tanzila Akhter

Engineering and Technology Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

The development of emergent technologies carries with it ethical issues and risks. We review ways to better manage the ethical issues and risks of one emerging technology: Artificial Intelligence (AI). Depending on how AI's development is managed, it may have beneficial and/or deleterious effects. The processing capacity of Tianhe-2, the world's fastest supercomputer, by some measures, exceeds the processing capacity of a single human brain. but at a prohibitive processing/power consumption ratio and physical size. Given the current pace of AI R&D activities, some estimates in the literature suggest that the technology could become capable of self-determination and super intelligence …

A Hierarchical Decision Model (Hdm) For Exploring The Adoption Of Electronic Health Records, Caroline Mudavadi, Liliya Hogaboam, Tugrul Unsal Daim

Engineering and Technology Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Information systems have been making a noticeable entrance in the healthcare, although their adoption has been slow. This paper examines the factors influencing the electronic healthcare records (EHR) adoption by modeling behavioral intention of physicians towards EHR adoption. Three main criteria: perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and external factors along with the subcriteria, are studied by the authors. Analytical hierarchical process (AHP) model is tested through the expert judgment quantification of physicians in Portland metro area. The results showed high importance of the Perceived Ease of Use criteria on the behavioral intensions of physicians towards EHR adoption. Search ability …

Impacts To Productivity In Metal Stud Framing, And The Hanging And Finishing Of Gypsum Drywall, Gerald H. Williams Jr., Timothy R. Anderson

Engineering and Technology Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Stud Framing, Drywall, and Tape and Finishing trade-work is a major component of every building project. Labor productivity is the largest single variable affecting of the Framing and Drywall contractors' cost of performance. In spite of these facts, no major study of labor productivity in this major construction trade has previously been done. This study was undertaken to fill this gap in the literature; specifically to investigate external impacts to labor productivity in this construction sector. The study measured the impact of thirty-eight (38) variables on 226 separate projects. The study found that poor quality design documents, unexpected labor congestion, …

Technology Evaluation Of Robotics Technology In Power Industry, Byung Sung Yoon, Judith Estep, Terry Oliver, Robert Grizzi

Engineering and Technology Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

The electric power utilities as important social infrastructures should be operated stably without any failure in supply of electricity. For stable operation, it is necessary to input huge amount of resource and investment throughout power generation, transmission and distribution facilities. Particularly, constant inspection and maintenance of the facilities requires highly skilled manpower and advanced technologies. In spite of endless efforts, the electric power industry is facing serious challenges from social, economic and environmental problems. In this regard, a number of robotic systems have been tested and applied for inspection and maintenance in nuclear power plants and high voltage power transmission …

Understanding Risk Perception Using Fuzzy Cognitive Maps, Pei Zhang, Antoine J. Jetter

Engineering and Technology Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

When making decision that can have far-researching effects, such as governmental policies or decisions on new technologies, decision-makers use their understanding of the risks that are associated with their choices to guide their decisions. Measuring how people perceive risks can be helpful for understanding and possibly improving the decision-making process. Building on a review of existing methods for investigating risk perceptions, this paper suggests Fuzzy Cognitive Maps (FCM) as a method for investigating differences in risk perception among stakeholders and stakeholder groups. The approach is illustrated with an example of wildfire risk perceptions. Results suggest that FCM can contribute to …

Decision-Making Model On Dslr Camera Choosing For 18 ∼ 30 Years Old College Students, Pei Zhang, Chih-Jen Yu, Jiabing Zhang, Monticha Khammuang, Dundar F. Kocaoglu

Engineering and Technology Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

A 3-level Hierarchical Decision Model (HDM) 111 is established in this paper to help 18-30 year old college students make a decision of choosing a desirable digital single-lens reflex camera (DSLR) from 5 famous DSLR camera manufacturers. The HDM has been utilized in this paper, because it measures the relative contribution of each criterion to the final decision based on quantified judgments of the respondents. A group of experts, consists of 12 male and 9 female provided their quantified judgements with different weighted value in each element at each level of the decision hierarchy. By applying desirable functions, there was …

Assessing Latrine Use In Rural India: A Cross-Sectional Study Comparing Reported Use And Passive Latrine Use Monitors, Antara Sinha, Corey L. Nagel, Evan A. Thomas, Wolf P. Schmidt, Belen Torondel, Sophie Boisson, Thomas Clasen

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Although large-scale programs, like India's Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC), have improved latrine coverage in rural settings, evidence suggests that actual use is suboptimal. However, the reliability of methods to assess latrine use is uncertain. We assessed the reliability of reported use, the standard method, by comparing survey-based responses against passive latrine use monitors (PLUMs) through a cross-sectional study among 292 households in 25 villages in rural Odisha, India, which recently received individual household latrines under the TSC. PLUMs were installed for 2 weeks and householders responded to surveys about their latrine use behavior. Reported use was compared with PLUM results …

Minimum Conditions For Visible Mold Growth, G. A. Tsongas, Frank Riordan

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Considerable confusion and misunderstanding exists over the conditions required for visible mold growth at a surface in buildings. That is evident in papers and articles authored by engineers and other scientists, including various ASHRAE, ASTM and Canada Mortgage Housing Corporation publications. One of the major problems is that many HVAC engineers, building scientists, practitioners and others believe there exists a single critical value of the relative humidity (RH) of the indoor or ambient air well away from surfaces, below which mold will not grow on surfaces. However, that is not the case. The purpose of this article is to clarify …