Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Engineering Commons™

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

University of Arkansas, Fayetteville

Discipline
Keyword
Publication Year
Publication
Publication Type
File Type

Articles 2641 - 2670 of 2830

Full-Text Articles in Engineering

Conversion Of Algal Sugars To Butanol In A Novel Automated Process, Jill Ivey May 2011

Conversion Of Algal Sugars To Butanol In A Novel Automated Process, Jill Ivey

Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Phase I investigated a method for producing butanol from algae using a novel automated hydrolysis, fermentation, and separation process. The Phase I research team sought to experimentally optimize individual steps and parameters of the process, design and build an automated unit to produce fuel-grade butanol from algae in a batch process, evaluate the sustainability and large scale economics of the process, and design an outreach program encouraging energy and environmental awareness centered around K-12 students. The team used macroalgae samples obtained through the generosity of the City of New York from Jamaica Bay to test the equipment and viability of …

Go to article

Incorporating Vertical Travel Into Non-Traditional Cross Aisles For Unit-Load Warehouse Designs, Kirby A. Clark May 2011

Incorporating Vertical Travel Into Non-Traditional Cross Aisles For Unit-Load Warehouse Designs, Kirby A. Clark

Industrial Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

We propose modifications to the travel-time models for non-traditional warehouse layouts, Flying-V Fishbone, by incorporating a vertical travel dimension. The Flying-V model determines a cross aisle intersection for every picking aisle, while the Fishbone model determines a single point where the inserted cross aisle intersects the side of the warehouse. The shape and angle of the cross aisle is unrestricted for the Flying-V layout, while the angle is unrestricted for the Fishbone layout. The resulting non-linear optimization models incorporate Chebychev travel within the picking aisles. We compare both the shape of the aisle and the percent improvement over a traditional …

Go to article

Gender And Self-Selection Among Engineering Students, Maci Dickson May 2011

Gender And Self-Selection Among Engineering Students, Maci Dickson

Industrial Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Gender and graduation rates of first time engineering college students have been analyzed as a function of academic and demographic variables in order to investigate the hypothesis that an advantage to women with respect to student success might be attributed to their socioeconomic advantages as a student population. The authors present descriptive, graphical, and model-based evidence to support their ideas about gender and self-selection driven by socioeconomic phenomena that leave a disproportionate number of women out of higher education, but create a group of female students more likely than their male counterparts to succeed.

Go to article

L'Oreal Waste Minimization, Caitlin Burns, Joe Baugh, Allen Busick, Ryan Black, Emily Evans, Matthew Margis May 2011

L'Oreal Waste Minimization, Caitlin Burns, Joe Baugh, Allen Busick, Ryan Black, Emily Evans, Matthew Margis

Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

The purpose of this design project is to reduce the amount of waste being generated at L’Oreal’s North Little Rock manufacturing facility. To accomplish this, the design team visited the North Little Rock manufacturing facility to examine the areas producing the most waste. After gaining a detailed understanding of these areas, the UP1 production line was identified as one of the largest opportunities for waste reduction in the L’Oreal manufacturing facility. In the UP1 processing area, mascara is mixed in large mixing tanks and then pumped in to barrels to be packaged. The 2,000 liter and 1,000 liter Olsa tanks …

Go to article

Effects Of Piston Uplift, Piston Friction, And Machine Deflection In Reduced Triaxial Extension Testing, Morgan Race May 2011

Effects Of Piston Uplift, Piston Friction, And Machine Deflection In Reduced Triaxial Extension Testing, Morgan Race

Civil Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

A series of Reduced Triaxial Extension (RTE) tests were conducted on dummy (brass) and null (water) samples to determine the effects of (corrections required for) piston uplift, piston friction and system compliance associated with RTE tests. During the consolidation stage of RTE tests, the sample may be consolidated in isotropic or anisotropic stress conditions. During the shearing stage of an RTE test, the sample is unloaded in the axial direction by decreasing the deviator stress while the radial stress remains constant. Ten (10) tests were conducted on a brass "dummy" sample. The device was assembled in the same manner as …

Go to article

Integration Of Ce-Sscp In Genetic Analysis: Fabrication And Optimization Of The Polymer Matrix, Hannah Lintag May 2011

Integration Of Ce-Sscp In Genetic Analysis: Fabrication And Optimization Of The Polymer Matrix, Hannah Lintag

Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Genetic analysis has become an essential aspect in the field of biological research. Genetic material contains an abundance of information that can be harnessed, from the pathological study of diseases to the identification of algal species used for alternative fuel. The detection of genetic species and/or their mutated counterparts is an approach that still warrants improvement, however. Capillary electrophoresis-single strand conformation polymorphism (CE-SSCP) offers a rapid and highly-reproducible means to detect alterations in genetic material. In this project, its implementation in the field of genetic studies as a way to detect mutations in hereditary diseases and identifying species via genetic …

Go to article

Process And Automation Design For The Construction Of A Fully Automated Biofuel Production Unit, Kylan Rakestraw May 2011

Process And Automation Design For The Construction Of A Fully Automated Biofuel Production Unit, Kylan Rakestraw

Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Phase I investigated a method for producing butanol from algae using a novel automated hydrolysis, fermentation, and separation process. The Phase I research team sought to experimentally optimize individual steps and parameters of the process, design and build an automated unit to produce fuel-grade butanol from algae in a batch process, evaluate the sustainability and large scale economics of the process, and design an outreach program encouraging energy and environmental awareness centered around K-12 students. The team used macroalgae samples obtained through the generosity of the City of New York from Jamaica Bay to test the equipment and viability of …

Go to article

Biodiesel Production From Waste Algae Through Supercritical Methanol And Solid Catalysts, Alexander Lopez May 2011

Biodiesel Production From Waste Algae Through Supercritical Methanol And Solid Catalysts, Alexander Lopez

Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

The need for alternate fuels continues to rise as fossil fuel reserves decline, and the effects of harmful fuel emissions on the environment begin to take its toll. One alternate fuel that has great potential is biodiesel. Biodiesel is a non-petroleum based fuel composed of alkyl esters from feedstocks. Using biodiesel as an alternate fuel source has a variety of advantages over traditional petroleum diesel, including producing no SOx emissions and low COx emissions. Another important advantage of biodiesel is that it can be produced from a wide variety of feedstocks. Biodiesel processes using waste cooking oil, animal fats, and …

Go to article

Algae To Butanol: Our Contribution To People, Prosperity, And Planet, Ethan Carter May 2011

Algae To Butanol: Our Contribution To People, Prosperity, And Planet, Ethan Carter

Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Phase I investigated a method for producing butanol from algae using a novel automated hydrolysis, fermentation, and separation process. The Phase I research team sought to experimentally optimize individual steps and parameters of the process, design and build an automated unit to produce fuel-grade butanol from algae in a batch process, evaluate the sustainability and large scale economics of the process, and design an outreach program encouraging energy and environmental awareness centered around K-12 students. The team used macroalgae samples obtained through the generosity of the City of New York from Jamaica Bay to test the equipment and viability of …

Go to article

Design And Construction Of A Novel Automated Unit For Conversion Of Algae To Butanol, Hiroko Nakao May 2011

Design And Construction Of A Novel Automated Unit For Conversion Of Algae To Butanol, Hiroko Nakao

Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Phase I investigated a method for producing butanol from algae using a novel automated hydrolysis, fermentation, and separation process. The Phase I research team sought to experimentally optimize individual steps and parameters of the process, design and build an automated unit to produce fuel-grade butanol from algae in a batch process, evaluate the sustainability and large scale economics of the process, and design an outreach program encouraging energy and environmental awareness centered around K-12 students. The team used macroalgae samples obtained through the generosity of the City of New York from Jamaica Bay to test the equipment and viability of …

Go to article

Innovation And Development Of Biofuel Technologies, Nicole Lorenz May 2011

Innovation And Development Of Biofuel Technologies, Nicole Lorenz

Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

The need for viable alternatives to gasoline has lead researchers to explore various options for renewable energy resources. This research study focuses on two major options for renewable energy. The first is biodiesel, which is a fuel that can be made from vegetable oils or animal fats. In this study, biodiesel was made from tall oil, a paper byproduct. A novel reaction method was used, employing high temperature methanol rather than acid or base catalysis. The second option that was investigated is butanol, which is an alcohol with advantages over ethanol. First, a two-step fermentation was examined to improve the …

Go to article

Algae To Butanol: The Design, Construction, And Implementation Of An Automated Sugar-To-Fuel Process, Elizabeth Bevan May 2011

Algae To Butanol: The Design, Construction, And Implementation Of An Automated Sugar-To-Fuel Process, Elizabeth Bevan

Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Phase I investigated a method for producing butanol from algae using a novel automated hydrolysis, fermentation, and separation process. The Phase I research team sought to experimentally optimize individual steps and parameters of the process, design and build an automated unit to produce fuel-grade butanol from algae in a batch process, evaluate the sustainability and large scale economics of the process, and design an outreach program encouraging energy and environmental awareness centered around K-12 students. The team used macroalgae samples obtained through the generosity of the City of New York from Jamaica Bay to test the equipment and viability of …

Go to article

Cost Efficient Method Of Pumping Water For Small, Remote Rural Communities, James Hudson May 2011

Cost Efficient Method Of Pumping Water For Small, Remote Rural Communities, James Hudson

Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Many technologies are used for water disinfection. Chlorine, iodine, and ozone are some chemical methods of water disinfection. Filtration, including microfiltration, ultrafiltration, and reverse osmosis, is used to remove bacteria. In addition to chemical and filtration technologies, one can disinfect water using UV irradiation, ultrasonic treatment, electrolysis, solar disinfection, and slow sand filtration.
Currently, there are few solutions being employed in third world settings for communities. The current solutions are either for one household or are part of an existing infrastructure and therefore are not portable. Slow sand filtration is used successfully to provide potable water for individual households. Tablet …

Go to article

Synthesis And Analysis Of The Antimicrobial Peptoid N-Lfb6, Allen Busick May 2011

Synthesis And Analysis Of The Antimicrobial Peptoid N-Lfb6, Allen Busick

Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

The increasing presence of drug resistant bacteria has led to research of new methods to combat bacteria. A part of the natural peptide Lactoferricin, LfB6 (RRWQWR-NH2), has been shown to be effective against a variety of gram positive and gram negative bacteria. However, there are several problems associated with peptides. Peptides can quickly degrade in the body which causes larger doses to be effective. Large doses of some peptides are cytotoxic to the host. Peptoids are a class of compounds that can potentially mimic the function of peptides and circumvent the problems associated with them. The backbone of peptoids is …

Go to article

Non-Natural Protein Mimetics For The Treatment Of Alzheimer's Disease, Jennifer Herrera, Amanada Compean, Jasmine Brown, Melissa Moss, Shannon Servoss May 2011

Non-Natural Protein Mimetics For The Treatment Of Alzheimer's Disease, Jennifer Herrera, Amanada Compean, Jasmine Brown, Melissa Moss, Shannon Servoss

Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a slow degenerative disease that causes memory loss and eventually leads to death. AD is caused by the aggregation of the amyloid-beta protein, found on the outside of brain cells; once the amyloid-beta protein begins to aggregate it forms plaques on the extracellular part of the neural cells. To date there is no AD medication commercially available that breaks up the amyloid-beta aggregates. Current research has found that certain molecules bind to the amyloid-beta protein and prevent aggregation. The purpose of this research project is to engineer a peptoid-based molecule to stop the aggregation of the …

Go to article

Gimbaled Permanent Magnet-Based Attitude Control For Pico/Nano-Satellites, Rex Bair May 2011

Gimbaled Permanent Magnet-Based Attitude Control For Pico/Nano-Satellites, Rex Bair

Mechanical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

As man-made satellites grow continually smaller and smaller, new, lower mass, volume, and power solutions must be devised to give these satellites the same performance capabilities as larger satellites. One subsystem that is especially difficult to shrink is the Attitude Determination and Control System (ADACS), which is used to position the satellite in a given orientation with respect to a specific reference frame. This paper explores a novel mechanism which combines both of these functions into one device. A permanent magnet is used in conjunction with the geomagnetic reference frame to provide magnetic torque to change the spacecraft's attitude. By …

Go to article

Carbon Nanotube Based Ion Sensitive Field Effect Transistor, Matthew Margis May 2011

Carbon Nanotube Based Ion Sensitive Field Effect Transistor, Matthew Margis

Mechanical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been the subject of much research in the past two decades. Due to their extraordinary mechanical and electrical properties, CNTs are ideal candidates for various sensors and electronic device applications. The purpose of this research is to overcome the difficulties in separating and aligning CNTs so that they can be implemented in an ion sensitive field effect transistor (ISFET). A solution to the alignment process has been presented that involves cutting nano channels on a microelectrode chip with an Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) in order to nanomanipulate the CNTs into the nano channels. Upon successfully cutting …

Go to article

Application Of Existing Appropriate Technology To Small Communities In Honduras's Opalaca Mountains, Adrian Beirise May 2011

Application Of Existing Appropriate Technology To Small Communities In Honduras's Opalaca Mountains, Adrian Beirise

Mechanical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

In a 2009 trip to the Opalaca Mountain region of Honduras, a need was identified for appropriate technology solutions to three key issues: housing improvements related to Chaga's Disease, indoor smoke reduction, and pure water. Through research regarding the problems, the local area, and candidate solutions, a set of three solutions was found. This includes corrugated steel roofing, vented or simple adobe rocket stoves, and solar disinfection.

Go to article

Design, Fabrication, And Testing Of Pdms Pneumatic Micro-Pumps And Micro-Mixers, Allison Byrum May 2011

Design, Fabrication, And Testing Of Pdms Pneumatic Micro-Pumps And Micro-Mixers, Allison Byrum

Mechanical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis details the design, fabrication, and testing of PDMS pneumatic micro-pumps and micro-mixer. Each micro-pump and micro-mixer was fabricated from two layers of poly(dimethlysiloxane) (PDMS) and two glass slides. The PDMS layers were realized through soft lithography using micro molds fabricated from thick SU8 photoresist. The packaged devices were tested for flow rates (micro pump) and rate of mixing (micro-mixer) on a custom-designed test platform. The test result indicated that the micro-pump failed to deliver a measurable flow rate, most likely due to insufficient diaphragm deflection. For the micro-mixer, a slight increase in mixing was detected when the mixer …

Go to article

Tribological Behavior Of Lubricants With And Without Nanoadditives: A Compartive Study, Kevin Carlson May 2011

Tribological Behavior Of Lubricants With And Without Nanoadditives: A Compartive Study, Kevin Carlson

Mechanical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Nano particle based additives have become a main focal point in the design of new lubricants, in order to better achieve reduction in both friction and wear. Previous research has led to the development of one such lubricant known as NanoGlide® by a company called NanoMech, Inc. The success of this initial lubricant design encouraged the research and potential development of new formulations of nano particle based lubricants by NanoMech, Inc. Using tribological testing, and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), this research analyzed the behavior and performance of three new nano additives (NanoGlide 1, NanoGlide2, and NanoGlide3) in three different lubricant …

Go to article

Spectral Characterization Of Venusian Surface Mineralogy, Johnathon Conley May 2011

Spectral Characterization Of Venusian Surface Mineralogy, Johnathon Conley

Mechanical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

While the atmospheric chemical composition of the Venusian atmosphere has been characterized at length by probes and ground-based equipment, the surface mineralogy of Venus is not yet well understood. The extremely thick atmosphere of Venus shields the surface from direct observation. While radar imaging of the surface reveals surface morphology, surface composition is difficult to characterize at a distance. Observation is also difficult due to the intense temperature (approximately 480°C) and pressure (approximately 90 atm) found on the surface. This has prompted NASA and other institutions around the world to begin planning for new missions to land on the surface …

Go to article

Modification Of Pathways With Pseudomonas For The Extraction And Subsequent Conversion Of Algae To Butanol, Danielle Frechette May 2011

Modification Of Pathways With Pseudomonas For The Extraction And Subsequent Conversion Of Algae To Butanol, Danielle Frechette

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

As the demand for alternative fuels steadily increases, algae continue to be an excellent source for the development of biofuels. While algae have exhibited substantial potential for butanol production, there are limitations when it comes to the extraction process-its inability to withdraw oils and sugars usable for fermentation from cell walls. The genes of two bacteria were combined, creating a new organism that can both extract sugars and oils from algal cell walls and create butanol, simplifying the fermentation process while increasing efficiency. Pseudomonas flourescens, an obligate aerobe, has been shown in literature to degrade these cell walls to make …

Go to article

Enhancing The Differentiation Efficiency Of Human Embryonic Stem Cells Into Insulin-Secreting β-Cells, Katherine Rutledge May 2011

Enhancing The Differentiation Efficiency Of Human Embryonic Stem Cells Into Insulin-Secreting β-Cells, Katherine Rutledge

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Recent studies have shown that human embryonic stem cells possess the ability to differentiate into almost any cell type in the bod and they can self-renew in culture conditions (Baetge, D'Amour et al. 26). As the number of Americans with Type 1 Diabetes continues to increase, innovative methods of treating this chronic illness must be developed in order to improve the quality of life for the affected individuals. Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) have shown the potential to differentiate successfully into insulin-secreting β-cells, and these cultured β-cells can be used for cell-treatment therapies to replace the deficient β-cells in diabetes …

Go to article

Generation Of Human Ips Cells Using Direct Reprogramming Proteins, Nick Blazic May 2011

Generation Of Human Ips Cells Using Direct Reprogramming Proteins, Nick Blazic

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Human induced pluripotent stem (hiPS) cells present the opportunity to advance tissue engineering and regenerative medicine for treating many diseases such as diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, spinal cord injury, and cancer. In recent years, stem cell research has made progress in advancing cell therapy techniques. Similar to human embryonic stem (hES) cells, hiPS cells can differentiate into the three germ layers, which include mesorderm, ectoderm, and endoderm. Thus, they have the potential of being differentiated into all types of cells that are required for tissue repair and regeneration. The advantage that hiPS cells have over hES cells is that they can …

Go to article

Development Of An Inverse Liquid Chromatographic Technique To Measure Adsorption Of Amino Acid Sorbates Onto Chitosan, Yamama Hafeez May 2011

Development Of An Inverse Liquid Chromatographic Technique To Measure Adsorption Of Amino Acid Sorbates Onto Chitosan, Yamama Hafeez

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Drug delivery is described as the localized sustained delivery of a pharmaceutical agent to the systemic blood circulation and hence to the site of action to produce a desired pharmacological effect [1]. There are three principle ways of drug delivery, first being the injection of the drug loaded on microspheres in this method of drug delivery, microspheres are formed using a combination of ink-jet technology and single emulsion-solvent evaporation techniques. Microspheres of a certain size are produced such as to administer the desired route of administration and the rate of the drug release [1]. Another form of drug delivery commonly …

Go to article

New Interfacial Nanochemistry On Sensory Bioscaffold-Membranes Of Nanobelts, Feng Chen May 2011

New Interfacial Nanochemistry On Sensory Bioscaffold-Membranes Of Nanobelts, Feng Chen

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Nanostructured bioscaffolds and biosensors are evolving as popular and powerful tools in life science and biotechnology, due to the possible control of their surface and structural properties at the nm-scale. Being seldom discussed in literature and long-underexploited in materials and biomedical sciences, development of nanofiber-based sensory bioscaffolds has great promises and grand challenges in finding an ideal platform for low-cost quantifications of biological and chemical species in real-time, label-free, and ultrasensitive fashion. In this study, titanate nanobelts were first of all synthesized, from hydrothermal reactions of a NaOH (or KOH solution) with TiO2 powder, to possess underexploited structure and surface …

Go to article

Design, Fabrication, And Testing Of An Electrospinning Apparatus For The Deposition Of Pmma Polymer For Biomedical Applications, Harsha Malshe Jan 2011

Design, Fabrication, And Testing Of An Electrospinning Apparatus For The Deposition Of Pmma Polymer For Biomedical Applications, Harsha Malshe

Inquiry: The University of Arkansas Undergraduate Research Journal

This paper describes the successful design and fabrication of a deposition system for synthesis and assembly of nanoscale and submicron sized fibers of poly(methylmethacrylate)(PMMA) polymer. To optimize the electrospinning deposition process, the distance between the needle and the electrically grounded substrate, the applied voltage, and the concentration of PMMA polymer in the solution were varied. PMMA fibers as small as 500 nanometers were observed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The chemical signature of PMMA was confirmed for best quality and retention of chemistry using Fourier Transformed Infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). PMMA is a biocompatible polymer, and nanofibers of PMMA are key …

Go to article

Parallelizing Scale Invariant Feature Transform On A Distributed Memory Cluster, Stanislav Bobovych Jan 2011

Parallelizing Scale Invariant Feature Transform On A Distributed Memory Cluster, Stanislav Bobovych

Inquiry: The University of Arkansas Undergraduate Research Journal

Scale Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT) is a computer vision algorithm that is widely-used to extract features from images. We explored accelerating an existing implementation of this algorithm with message passing in order to analyze large data sets. We successfully tested two approaches to data decomposition in order to parallelize SIFT on a distributed memory cluster.

Go to article

A Review Of The Benefits And Applications Of The Thorium Fuel Cycle, Vincent Hall Dec 2010

A Review Of The Benefits And Applications Of The Thorium Fuel Cycle, Vincent Hall

Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

This paper aims to inform the reader of the benefits that can be achieved by using thorium as a fuel for nuclear power. Stages of the thorium cycle are directly compared against the current uranium based nuclear fuel cycle. These include mining, milling, fuel fabrication, use of various reactor designs, reprocessing, and disposal. Thorium power promises several key advantages over traditional nuclear power methods, namely a dramatic decrease in long lived radioactive waste, increased fuel efficiency, greater chemical stability during disposal, and higher adaptability for differing reactor designs across a wider range of the thermal neutron spectrum. Obstacles that face …

Go to article

A Methodology For Implementing Rf Bists In Production Testing To Replace Rf Conventional Tests, Deepa Mannath Dec 2010

A Methodology For Implementing Rf Bists In Production Testing To Replace Rf Conventional Tests, Deepa Mannath

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Production testing of Radio Frequency (RF) devices is challenging due to the complex nature of the tests that have to be performed to verify functionality. In this dissertation a methodology to replace the complex and expensive RF functional tests with defect-oriented Built-in Self Tests (BiSTs) is detailed. If a design has sufficient margin to RF specifications then RF tests can be replaced with structural tests using a new data analysis technique called quadrant analysis, which is presented. Data from the analysis of over one million production units of said System on Chip (SoC) is presented along with the results of …

Go to article

First Prev Next Last