Engineering Commons^™

Global Air Quality Trekkers: Clean Kitchen Study, Stephanie Schiavo, Samantha Dykhuis, Avalin Senefeld

Engagement & Service-Learning Summit

No abstract provided.

Improving Access To Clean Water Through Service Learning, Rachel E. Gehr, Tolu Odimayomi, Carolina Tornesi Mackinnon

Engagement & Service-Learning Summit

No abstract provided.

Increasing Stem Literacy Through Directed Outreach, Liesl Krause, Nicole Vike, Yukai Zou, Jana Vincent

Engagement & Service-Learning Summit

5th Annual Engagement and Service-Learning Summit: Connecting Through Listening and Scholarship, Thursday February 28th, 2019, Hosted by the Office of Engagement and Purdue Honors College

Regulatory Design For Transport Security Regulations Of Nuclear And Other Radioactive Material, Marc R. Fialkoff

Purdue Workshop on Nonproliferation: Technology and Approaches

A cornerstone within a nuclear security regime of a country is a legislative and regulatory framework that both regulates the individuals using radioactive and nuclear materials, but also regulates the regulators for their commitments under International Law. When drafting nuclear law and regulations, both technical and legal expertise is needed to ensure the regulation meets the technical requirements for security, but also is legally enforceable within a country’s jurisdiction. While the Primary Nuclear Law, or Enabling Act provides establishes the Competent Authority and responsibilities for nuclear security, regulatory development is where the proverbial, rubber meets the road for requirements. The …

Analysis Of Proliferation Resistance Of Small Modular Reactors (Smr) For The Expansion Of Civilian Nuclear Power Systems, Abdus Sattar Mollah, Abdus Sattar Mollah Prof.

Purdue Workshop on Nonproliferation: Technology and Approaches

Analysis of Proliferation Resistance of Small Modular Reactors (SMR) for the Expansion of Civilian Nuclear Power Systems A. S. Mollah Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering Military Institute of Science and Technology Mirpur Cantonment, Dhaka-1216, Bangladesh Abstract Nuclear energy has the potential benefit to make an important contribution for mitigating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that cause climate change. Expanding nuclear energy capacity worldwide based on large centralized facilities poses many challenges and risks due to the large capital costs, important safety issues, obstructive public attitude, and persistent concerns about proliferation-that is, the intentional misuse of nuclear technology and material. SMRs, …

Initial Active Interrogation Experiments At The University Of Michigan Linear Accelerator Laboratory, Christopher Meert, Cameron A. Miller, Shaun D. Clarke, Sara A. Pozzi

Purdue Workshop on Nonproliferation: Technology and Approaches

To support the mission of the Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office of the Department of Homeland Security, the Detection for Nuclear Nonproliferation group is researching active interrogation techniques and the development of new detection algorithms for fast neutron spectroscopy. The Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Officehas loaned us a Varian M9 linear accelerator (linac), helium-3 detectors, boron-coated straw detectors, and perfluorocarbondetectors as part of this research, providing a variety of tools to conduct our experiments.In the summer of 2018, a thorough licensing process concluded, and preliminary experiments commenced. Later in the year, the facility was approved to possess and …

The Effects Of The Urban Environment On Background Neutron Flux, Eric Reddick, John Burkhardt, Marshall Millett

Purdue Workshop on Nonproliferation: Technology and Approaches

This project will measure the neutron background inan urban environment using United States Naval Academy’s(USNAs)high sensitivity neutron detection system, called the Large Neutron Sensor (LNS).The background neutron flux represents noise and affects our ability to identify a signal from illicit source material, including plutonium.As the neutron background essentially rains down from high energy cosmic ray events in our upper atmosphere, the shielding effect of skyscrapers in an urban environment on the ground level background is of interest.Witha characterization of the neutron background in this environment, end users will be able to optimize the effectiveness of survey protocols and alarm algorithms.

A Characterization Of Undersea Neutron And Capture Gamma Signatures Resulting From Special Nuclear Material On A Maritime Vessel, Elizabeth Troy

Purdue Workshop on Nonproliferation: Technology and Approaches

Special Nuclear Materials (SNM) located aboard ships emit radiation that may be detectable in the undersea environment. An Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (UUV) could be equipped with detection capabilities to determine whether commercial or private vessels are carrying SNM prior to reaching port. Additional research is needed improve such a UUV’s ability to detect and discriminate between types of SNM and reduce false- positive detections. This research builds on past work by C. T. McKay to provide a higher fidelity characterization of detectable radiation signatures from SNM in the undersea environment with a focus on plutonium-bearing SNM. 252Cf will be used …

Overview Of The United States Withdrawal From The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, William Steinberger

Purdue Workshop on Nonproliferation: Technology and Approaches

The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty symbolized the end of the Cold War and the likely termination of thistreaty marks the beginning of a new era. On February 1, 2019, Secretary of State Pompeo announced that the United States(U.S.) would withdrawal from the INF Treaty citing repeated violations by the Russian Federation as cause for withdrawal. Asearly as 2008, U.S. intelligence agencies reported missile testing by the Russian Federation of a cruise missile system that couldhave a range between the limits outlined by the INF Treaty. The Russian Federation has repeatedly denied the allegations andhas suggested that the U.S. is …

Purdue Conference On Active Nonproliferation, Daniel Hartman, Sean Alcorn, Tyler Naughton, Chris Duff, Gavin Webb

Purdue Workshop on Nonproliferation: Technology and Approaches

Conference for the discussion of nuclear nonproliferation

Exploring Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (Libs) For Post-Detonation Nuclear Forensics Debris Analysis, Justin Knoll, Chad Schools, David Fobar

Purdue Workshop on Nonproliferation: Technology and Approaches

In the unlikely but catastrophic event of a nuclear terrorist attack our government leadership will need reliable information to rapidly inform critical decisions. This research explores the use of Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) as a potential analysis tool in the National Technical Nuclear Forensics process. The current state of post detonation nuclear forensics requires ground and air samples be collected and shipped to state-of-the-art laboratories for radiochemical analysis. The samples undergo many measurements and useable data is produced as these measurements are completed. This data flows back into the process to guide additional measurements and inform the process of …

Radiation Detection, Measurement, And Visualization Assisted By Virtual And Augmented Reality, Erik Medhurst, Rizwan Uddin

Purdue Workshop on Nonproliferation: Technology and Approaches

Localizing a radiation source in an urban environment is a challenge in nuclear nonproliferation and radiation detection. Mobile radiation sensor networks can be sent into an area of interest to collect count rate measurements at many locations in an attempt to find the radiation source. However, there are numerous factors that cause fluctuations in background count rate such as time and location, and these factors make it challengingto analyze thecollected data. Displaying these measurements in a virtual model has contextualized them and made it easier to determine if environmental factors are introducing false positives. A virtual model has been shown …

Purdue Conference On Active Nonproliferation, Angela Di Fulvio, Yoann Altma, Marc G. Paff, Al Hero, Sara A. Pozzi

Purdue Workshop on Nonproliferation: Technology and Approaches

One major problem with nuclear security measurements involves source identification inthe presence of low signal-to-background ratio. This scenario iscommon to several applications, ranging from radiation identification atportal monitors to radiation source search with unmanned vehicles. In this context of identification of a large variety of sources, including natural and medical sources, sensitive sources of particular interest, but also potentially new/unknown sources for which no reference measurement is available, statistical methods are particularly appealing for their ability to capture the random nature of the measurements. Among them, Bayesian methods form a generic framework allowing for uncertainty quantification and propagation, which is …

Purdue Conference On Active Nonproliferation, Trent Baker, Ray Benitez, Jack Mcmahan, Josh Monge, Kayla Robinson

Purdue Workshop on Nonproliferation: Technology and Approaches

Design a small modular reactor that is easily transportable for use in disaster relief as well as remote military outposts. A rail shippable reactor gives quick and easy transportation from one part of a country to another. The reactor must have a three MWe production capacity to ensure the reactor has the performance to power larger government facilities, such as hospitals and water treatment plants. The reactor must have enough fuel for a six-month minimum fuel cycle. Atmospheric cooling only provides the ability to reject heat to the atmosphere, minimizing the weight requirements. Uranium fuel will have a maximum of …

A Theoretical Model Of Underground Dipole Antennas For Communications In Internet Of Underground Things, Abdul Salam, Mehmet C. Vuran, Xin Dong, Christos Argyropoulos, Suat Irmak

Faculty Publications

The realization of Internet of Underground Things (IOUT) relies on the establishment of reliable communication links, where the antenna becomes a major design component due to the significant impacts of soil. In this paper, a theoretical model is developed to capture the impacts of change of soil moisture on the return loss, resonant frequency, and bandwidth of a buried dipole antenna. Experiments are conducted in silty clay loam, sandy, and silt loam soil, to characterize the effects of soil, in an indoor testbed and field testbeds. It is shown that at subsurface burial depths (0.1-0.4m), change in soil moisture impacts …

Improving Human-Machine Collaboration Through Transparency-Based Feedback – Part I: Human Trust And Workload Model, Kumar Akash, Katelyn Polson, Neera Jain

School of Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

In this paper, we establish a partially observable Markov decision process(POMDP) model framework that captures dynamic changes in human trust and workload for contexts that involve interactions between humans and intelligent decision-aid systems. We use a reconnaissance mission study to elicit a dynamic change in human trust and workload with respect to the system’s reliability and user interface transparency as well as the presence or absence of danger. We use human subject data to estimate transition and observation probabilities of the POMDP model and analyze the trust-workload behavior of humans. Our results indicate that higher transparency is more likely to …

Improving Human-Machine Collaboration Through Transparency-Based Feedback – Part Ii: Control Design And Synthesis, Kumar Akash, Tahira Reid, Neera Jain

School of Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

To attain improved human-machine collaboration, it is necessary for autonomous systems to infer human trust and workload and respond accordingly. In turn, autonomous systems require models that capture both human trust and workload dynamics. In a companion paper, we developed a trust-workload partially observable Markov decision process (POMDP) model framework that captured changes in human trust and workload for contexts that involve interaction between a human and an intelligent decision-aid system. In this paper, we defne intuitive reward functions and show that these can be readily transformed for integration with the proposed POMDP model. We synthesize a near-optimal control policy …

Water Resources In Indiana: Past, Present And Future, Keith A. Cherkauer

Indiana Local Technical Assistance Program (LTAP) Conference Proceedings

No abstract provided.

Disciplinary Learning From An Authentic Engineering Context, Catherine Langman, Judith Zawojewski, Patricia Mcnicholas, Ali Cinar, Eric Brey, Mustafa Bilgic, Hamidreza Mehdizadeh

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

This small-scale design study describes disciplinary learning in mathematical modeling and science from an authentic engineeringthemed module. Current research in tissue engineering served as source material for the module, including science content for readings and a mathematical modeling activity in which students work in small teams to design a model in response to a problem from a client. The design of the module was guided by well-established principles of model-eliciting activities (a special class of problem-solving activities deeply studied in mathematics education) and recently published implementation design principles, which emphasize the portability of model-eliciting activities to many classroom settings.

Two …

Effect Of Salt Valency And Concentration On Shear And Extensional Rheology Of Aqueous Polyelectrolyte Solutions For Enhanced Oil Recovery, Anna V. Walter, Leidy N. Jimenez, Jelena Dinic, Vivek Sharma, Kendra Erk

School of Materials Engineering Faculty Publications

The injection of polymer solutions into an oil basin can lead to enhanced oil recovery (EOR) by increasing the microscopic sweep of the reservoir, improving the water-oil motility ratio, and thus leading to greater yield from oil fields. In this contribution, we characterize both shear and extensional rheological response of aqueous solutions of partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide (HPAM), the most commonly used polymer for EOR, for velocity gradients in both the flow direction (extensional) and perpendicular to flow (shear) arise in EOR applications. As HPAM is a charged polymer, to better emulate the environment in oil basins, the rheological response was …

A Learning-Centered Paradigm For Engineering Graphics And Design: Engineering Technology Students' Skill Gains And Capstone Preparation, Rustin Webster

School of Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

This descriptive non-experimental follow-on study investigates the extent to which a learning-centered paradigm in an engineering graphics and design course prepared undergraduate engineering technology (ET) students for senior capstone and how the course impacted vital professional and technical skills. A small 2016 case study (n = 10) showed that the course, which was approximately 5% passive and 95% active learning produced positive skill gains for ET students (Webster 2017). However, this follow-on study was needed largely from the inability of the 2016 case study to 1) identify and/or confirm data trends and 2) fully gauge the students’ preparation for senior …

Limitations Of Zt As A Figure Of Merit For Nanostructured Thermoelectric Materials, Xufeng Wang, Mark Lundstrom

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Thermoelectric properties of nanocomposites are numerically studied as a function of average grain size or nanoparticle density by simulating the measurements as they would be done experimentally. In accordance with previous theoretical and experimental results, we find that the Seebeck coefficient, power factor and figure of merit, zT, can be increased by nanostructuring when energy barriers exist around the grain boundaries or embedded nanoparticles. When we simulate the performance of a thermoelectric cooler with the same material, however, we find that the maximum temperature difference is much less than expected from the given zT. This occurs because the …

Recognizing Engineering Students’ Funds Of Knowledge: Creating And Validating Survey Measures, Dina Verdín, Jessica M. Smith, Juan Lucena

School of Engineering Education Graduate Student Series

This research base paper examines students who are the first in their families to attend college. Our research seeks to understand the role students’ funds of knowledge makes in first-generation college students’ undergraduate experience. Funds of knowledge are the set of formal/informal knowledge and skills that students learn through family, friends, and communities outside of academic institutions. This paper reports funds of knowledge themes relevant to first-generation college students in engineering and the process of gathering validity evidence to support the funds of knowledge themes.

Using ethnographic and interview data, six themes emerged: connecting experiences, community networks, tinkering knowledge, perspective …

Internet Of Things In Smart Agriculture: Enabling Technologies, Abdul Salam, Syed Shah

Faculty Publications

In this paper, an IoT technology research and innovation roadmap for the field of precision agriculture (PA) is presented. Many recent practical trends and the challenges have been highlighted. Some important objectives for integrated technology research and education in precision agriculture are described. Effective IoT based communications and sensing approaches to mitigate challenges in the area of precision agriculture are presented.

Board 51: An Initial Step Towards Measuring First-Generation College Students’ Personal Agency: A Scale Validation, Dina Verdín, Allison Godwin

School of Engineering Education Graduate Student Series

This research paper describes the development of a scale to measure how first-generation college students use engineering as a tool for making a difference in their community and world or personal agency. Personal agency is a capability that every individual holds; it is described by Bandura as an individual’s beliefs about their capabilities to exercise control over events that affect their lives through purposeful and reflective actions. Agentic actions allow students to explore, maneuver and impact their environment for the achievement of a goal or set of goals. This study identifies how cognitive processes of forethought, intention, reactivity, and reflection …

Eager: Broadening Participation Of First-Generation College Student, Jessica M. Smith, Dina Verdín, Juan C. Lucena

School of Engineering Education Graduate Student Series

No abstract provided.

Operating Different Displays In Military Fast Jets Using Eye Gaze Tracker, Jeevitha Shree Dv, L. R. D. Murthy, Kamalpreet Singh Saluja, Pradipta Biswas

Journal of Aviation Technology and Engineering

This paper investigated the use of an eye-gaze-controlled interface in a military aviation environment. We set up a flight simulator and used the gaze-controlled interface in three different configurations of displays (head down, head up, and head mounted) for military fast jets. Our studies found that the gaze-controlled interface statistically significantly increased the speed of interaction for secondary mission control tasks compared to touchscreen- and joystick-based target designation system. Finally, we tested a gaze-controlled system inside an aircraft both on the ground and in different phases of flight with military pilots. Results showed that they could undertake representative pointing and …

Additive Manufacturing Of Ti6al4v Alloy: A Review, Shunyu Liu, Yung C. Shin

School of Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

In this paper, the recent progress on Ti6Al4V fabricated by three mostly developed additive manufacturing (AM) techniques-directed energy deposition (DED), selective laser melting (SLM) and electron beammelting (EBM)-is thoroughly investigated and compared. Fundamental knowledge is provided for the creation of links between processing parameters, resultant microstructures and associated mechanical properties. Room temperature tensile and fatigue properties are also reviewed and compared to traditionally manufactured Ti6Al4V parts. The presence of defects in as-builtAMTi6Al4V components and the influences of these defects on mechanical performances are also critically discussed.

Epics Gaqt: Nandi Clean Kitchen Study, Yichen Fan

Engagement & Service-Learning Summit

No abstract provided.

Purdue Epics And Habitat For Humanity Partnership - Service-Learning For Over 20 Years, Trevor A. Drouillard, Sue Hunter

Engagement & Service-Learning Summit

For over twenty years, the Lafayette affiliate of Habitat for Humanity has partnered with the Purdue University EPICS program to connect students to real-world problems where they can learn engineering through experience. Past projects have focused on improving material storage methods, enhancing volunteer safety, developing energy-efficient building designs, and optimizing operational efficiency at Habitat for Humanity locations. The partnership is mutually beneficial for Habitat for Humanity – which benefits from the products students deliver – and for students – who learn how to apply engineering to real-world design. This poster represents a summary of what the EPICS – Habitat for …