Engineering Commons^™

Faceting Of Tungsten Via Environmental Control Of Temperature, Pressure And Chemistry, And Evolution Of Thermionic Cathode Materials, Huanhuan Bai

Theses and Dissertations--Chemical and Materials Engineering

Scandate cathode presents a great potential of being used as electron emitters in vacuum electron device due to its excellent emission performance. However, it is burdened by several issues, including poor emission uniformity, inadequate reproducibility, and limited lifetime, which have impeded its further industrial application. Therefore, extensive efforts and studies need to be conducted to obtain a more comprehensive understanding of scandate cathode.

W particles, as the base material, play a fundamental role in scandate cathode. Most recent experimental research has reported that the highly faceted crystallography of W grains contributes to the properties of scandate cathode. In order to …

Sustained Release Systems For Endometrial Cancer, Claire E. Rowlands

Theses and Dissertations--Chemical and Materials Engineering

Endometrial cancer (EC) is the sixth most common cancer in women worldwide and is the most common cancer of female reproductive organs. From 2007-2016 there has been a global rise in incidence of EC of 1.3 %. Typically, EC is treated with surgery, but at later stages surgery is less effective requiring chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy. These treatment options are less effective than surgery and there are very few FDA approved chemotherapies for EC. The minuscule number of effective treatment options as well as an increase in incidence shows the need for creating improved treatments for EC. There has been …

Experimental Characterization And Quantification Of Deformation Behavior In A Porous Carbon Fiber Network, Robert N Quammen

Theses and Dissertations--Chemical and Materials Engineering

Due to their wide range of attractive functional properties (such as low thermal conductivity and low density) porous materials are utilized in a variety of applications. In order to characterize these properties and others, the intrinsically heterogeneous microstructures of these materials need to be taken into account. These microstructures result in interactions across multiple length scales spanning several orders of magnitude. This makes the creation of robust computational models and straight-forward predictions of mechanical properties difficult for porous materials. With this in mind, this dissertation aims to provide experimental mechanical and deformation information spanning the length scales of interest for …

Novel Precursors For Carbon Fiber Prepared By Direct Carbonization, Leah Noble

Theses and Dissertations--Chemical and Materials Engineering

For decades carbon fiber-based composites have been most heavily employed in lightweight, structural applications where low density and high strength are necessary, most notably within the aerospace industry. However, the advancement of carbon fiber into a wider array of industries has largely been limited by the high financial and energetic costs associated with its manufacture. Moreover, with an increasing societal emphasis on sustainability, there is an ever-growing desire for low-energy carbon fiber production pathways. One such pathway is the conversion of precursor fiber to carbon fiber by direct carbonization, wherein the energy-intensive, pre-carbonization stabilization step is omitted from the carbonization …

Single-Atom Catalysts For Electrochemical Energy Conversion: Copper Single-Atom Catalyst For Oxygen Reduction Reaction And Quantification Of Site Density By Co Stripping Voltammetry, Dawatage Perera

Theses and Dissertations--Chemistry

Fuel cells are considered a promising technology for achieving cleaner and more sustainable energy production and utilization. However, one of the current major challenges is the economic viability associated with the extensive use of Pt group metal (PGM) catalysts, particularly on the cathode side. Therefore, non-PGM single-atom catalysts (SACs) have received considerable attention as alternatives for PGM catalysts in the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), which occurs at the cathode of the fuel cell. Among various SAC structures, the non-PGM/nitrogen-doped carbon-based structure (M-N-C) stands out for its excellent ORR performance.

Chapter 2 illustrates the use of copper metal in place of …

Impacts Of Key Degradation Byproducts On Amine Scrubbing For Post-Combustion Carbon Capture, Thomas Jorgensen

Theses and Dissertations--Chemistry

The increasing atmospheric CO₂ concentration causes significant concern about global warming and its environmental impact. Industrial sectors, including power generation, transportation, and production factories, contribute most of the anthropogenic sources of CO₂ emissions. Researchers search for methods to mitigate these CO₂ emissions without compromising the benefits of industrial processes, including CO₂ capture, utilization, and sequestration (CCUS). Post-combustion carbon capture (PCCC) by amine scrubbing is the most technology ready CCUS, with various pilot-scale projects worldwide showing small-scale to fully operational plants. While researchers have made significant progress in amine scrubbing, they strive to improve the efficiency and …

Deficiency Of Acute-Phase Serum Amyloid A Exacerbates Sepsis-Induced Mortality And Lung Injury In Mice, Ailing Ji, Andrea C. Trumbauer, Victoria P. Noffsinger, Luke W. Meredith, Brittany Dong, Qian Wang, Ling Guo, Xiangan Li, Frederick C. De Beer, Nancy R. Webb, Lisa R. Tannock, Marlene E. Starr, Christopher M. Waters, Preetha Shridas

Saha Cardiovascular Research Center Faculty Publications

Serum amyloid A (SAA) is a family of proteins, the plasma levels of which may increase >1000-fold in acute inflammatory states. We investigated the role of SAA in sepsis using mice deficient in all three acute-phase SAA isoforms (SAA-TKO). SAA deficiency significantly increased mortality rates in the three experimental sepsis mouse models: cecal ligation and puncture (CLP), cecal slurry (CS) injection, and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) treatments. SAA-TKO mice had exacerbated lung pathology compared to wild-type (WT) mice after CLP. A bulk RNA sequencing performed on lung tissues excised 24 h after CLP indicated significant enrichment in the expression of genes associated …

A Wearable Fluorescence Imaging Device For Intraoperative Identification Of Human Brain Tumors, Mehrana Mohtasebi, Chong Huang, Mingjun Zhao, Siavash Mazdeyasna, Xuhui Liu, Samaneh Rabienia Haratbar, Faraneh Fathi, Jinghong Sun, Thomas A. Pittman, Guoqiang Yu

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Publications

Malignant glioma (MG) is the most common type of primary malignant brain tumors. Surgical resection of MG remains the cornerstone of therapy and the extent of resection correlates with patient survival. A limiting factor for resection, however, is the difficulty in differentiating the tumor from normal tissue during surgery. Fluorescence imaging is an emerging technique for real-time intraoperative visualization of MGs and their boundaries. However, most clinical grade neurosurgical operative microscopes with fluorescence imaging ability are hampered by low adoption rates due to high cost, limited portability, limited operation flexibility, and lack of skilled professionals with technical knowledge. To overcome …

Molecular Control Of Triplet-Pair Spin Polarization And Its Optoelectronic Magnetic Resonance Probes, Obadiah G. Reid, Justin C. Johnson, Joel D. Eaves, Niels H. Damrauer, John E. Anthony

Chemical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications

Preparing and manipulating pure magnetic states in molecular systems are the key initial requirements for harnessing the power of synthetic chemistry to drive practical quantum sensing and computing technologies. One route for achieving the requisite higher spin states in organic systems exploits the phenomenon of singlet fission, which produces pairs of triplet excited states from initially photoexcited singlets in molecular assemblies with multiple chromophores. The resulting spin states are characterized by total spin (quintet, triplet, or singlet) and its projection onto a specified molecular or magnetic field axis. These excited states are typically highly polarized but exhibit an impure spin …

Design And Characterization Of A Novel Eef2k Degrader With Potent Therapeutic Efficacy Against Triple-Negative Breast Cancer, Changxin Zhong, Rongfeng Zhu, Ting Jiang, Sheng Tian, Xiaobao Zhao, Xiaoya Wan, Shilong Jiang, Zonglin Chen, Rong Gong, Linhao He, Jin-Ming Yang, Na Ye, Yan Cheng

Markey Cancer Center Faculty Publications

Dysregulated eEF2K expression is implicated in the pathogenesis of many human cancers, including triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), making it a plausible therapeutic target. However, specific eEF2K inhibitors with potent anti-cancer activity have not been available so far. Targeted protein degradation has emerged as a new strategy for drug discovery. In this study, a novel small molecule chemical is designed and synthesized, named as compound C1, which shows potent activity in degrading eEF2K. C1 selectively binds to F8, L10, R144, C146, E229, and Y236 of the eEF2K protein and promotes its proteasomal degradation by increasing the interaction between eEF2K and the …

Chain Conformation And Exciton Delocalization In A Push-Pull Conjugated Polymer, Yulong Zheng, Rahul Venkatesh, Connor P. Callaway, Campbell Viersen, Kehinde H. Fagbohungbe, Aaron L. Liu, Chad Risko, Elsa Reichmanis, Carlos Silva-AcuñA

UK CARES Faculty Publications

Linear and nonlinear optical line shapes reveal details of excitonic structure in polymer semiconductors. We implement absorption, photoluminescence, and transient absorption spectroscopies in DPP-DTT, an electron push−pull copolymer, to explore the relationship between their spectral line shapes and chain conformation, deduced from resonance Raman spectroscopy and from ab initio calculations. The viscosity of precursor polymer solutions before film casting displays a transition that suggests gel formation above a critical concentration. Upon crossing this viscosity deflection concentration, the line shape analysis of the absorption spectra within a photophysical aggregate model reveals a gradual increase in interchain excitonic coupling. We also observe …

Kytc Department Of Aviation Aircraft Maintenance Technician (Amt) Program Optimization, Bethany Paris, P. Gayle Marks, Bryan Gibson

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

The aviation industry is a linchpin of Kentucky’s economy. Major firms such as UPS, Amazon, and DHL have major hubs at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport (SDF) and Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG). As of December 2022, 4,570 aircraft mechanics and service technicians (AMTs) were employed in the state. Demand in this sector is poised to grow. As such, it is critical to understand what resources Kentucky has available to train the next generation of professionals and the number of people the aviation industry is likely to employ statewide over the next decade. Kentucky and the surrounding states are home …

Tricritical Point As A Crossover Between Type-Is And Type-Iis Bifurcations, Prabakaran Rajamanickam, Joel Daou

Progress in Scale Modeling, an International Journal

A tricritical point as a crossover between (stationary finite-wavelength) type-I_s and (stationary longwave) type-II_s bifurcations is identified in the study of diffusive-thermal (Turing) instability of flames propagating in a Hele-Shaw channel in a direction transverse to a shear flow. Three regimes exhibiting different scaling laws are identified in the neighbourhood of the tricritical point. For these three regimes, sixth-order partial differential equations are obtained governing the weakly nonlinear evolution of unstable solutions near the onset of instability. These sixth-order PDES may be regarded as the substitute for the classical fourth-order Kuramoto­­­­­­–­­Sivashinsky equation which is not applicable near the …

Overview Of Hil Co-Simulation For Very Large Distribution Systems And Power Electronic Converters With A Dc Fast Charging Ev Benchmark Study On An Ieee Test Feeder, Rosemary E. Alden, Donovin D. Lewis, Dan M. Ionel

Electrical and Computer Engineering Graduate Research

Current development towards implementation of the future smart grid includes advanced controller and power hardware-in-the-loop (CHIL/PHIL) testing of new technology. The impact of new loads, distributed energy resources (DER) equipment, and controls spans two fields, both electric distribution power systems modeling, typically completed in the phasor domain, and electromagnetic transient (EMT) analysis across the frequency domain. The co-simulation of distribution power systems and power electronic converter controls is a growing field of research for improved design using real-time HIL capability. Within this paper, over fifty references are reviewed to summarize the current state of HIL technology, specifically with co-simulation in …

Distribution System Optimal Operation Of Smart Homes With Battery And Equivalent Hvac Energy Storage For Virtual Power Plant Controls, Steven B. Poore, Rosemary E. Alden, Evan S. Jones, Dan M. Ionel

Electrical and Computer Engineering Graduate Research

Battery energy storage systems (BESS) that can be utilized for demand response (DR) and load shifting are limited in adoption by high capital cost. Large residential loads such as electric water heaters (EWH) and heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) may be controlled using distributed energy resource management systems (DERMS) to perform functions like batteries, such as reducing cost and decreasing energy storage capacity requirements when implemented at the aggregate level. Increasing levels of renewable generation further incentivizes shifting loads in time through controls and energy storage to reduce curtailment and carbon footprint. This paper proposes techniques for the optimization and …

2023 Final Report For Databases In The 2022 Traffic Records Improvement Plan: Facilitating The Development Of Projects To Attain The Goals In The Implementation Plan For The 2022-26 Traffic Records Strategic Plan, Lenahan O'Connell, Samantha Wright, Reginald Souleyrette

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

During fiscal year 2023, with financial support (Grant #M3Da-2022-04) from the Kentucky Office of Highway Safety, the Kentucky Transportation Center (KTC)-continued its work with traffic database officials to facilitate successful attainment of the remaining goals from the 2017-21 Traffic Records Strategic Plan (TRSP), which goals are in the 2022-26 TRSP Transportation Records Improvement Plan (TRIP). For most databases, some new goals were developed; this required further refinement of some projects or strategies to improve database performance. Projects to complete the goals in the TRIP were continued and some completed for the following databases: CRASH, Citation/Adjudication, Injury Surveillance (KIPRC and EMS), …

Bridging The Gap Between Academic Research And Reduction To Practice: Manufacturing Scale-Up Of Polymeric Membranes For Water Treatment, David Lu, Isabel C. Escobar

Kentucky Water Resources Annual Symposium

No abstract provided.

Modeling, Managing, And Mitigating Stormwater Flooding Using A Real-Time Monitoring Network And Environmental Equity Approach, Ben Hauschild, Jason S. Polk, Trayson Lawler, Adam Desloge

Kentucky Water Resources Annual Symposium

No abstract provided.

Stormwater Management Advances Using Smart Sensing Network Architecture For Precipitation Monitoring, Brittany Pekara, Jason S. Polk, James Adam Shelley

Kentucky Water Resources Annual Symposium

No abstract provided.

Development Of A Spatial And Statistical Diagnostic Tool To Prioritize Pfas Sample Locations In Kentucky Surface Waters, Ariel Robinson, Angela Gutierrez, Kelly G. Pennell

Kentucky Water Resources Annual Symposium

No abstract provided.

A Flood Of Consequences In Louisville, Kentucky: Using Hgis To Track Refugees Impacted By The 1937 Ohio River Flood, Trevor Harry, Margaret M. Gripshover

Kentucky Water Resources Annual Symposium

No abstract provided.

Sewer Gas, Siphons And Long-Term Stewardship For Community Interventions, Hong Cheng Tay, Kelly G. Pennell

Kentucky Water Resources Annual Symposium

No abstract provided.

Perceptions And Visual Awareness Of Urban Karst Flooding To Inform Preparedness Planning And Management Actions, Grace Herrmann, Jason Polk

Kentucky Water Resources Annual Symposium

No abstract provided.

Contaminant Transport Mechanisms And Source Tracking In Karst Groundwater Systems Under Agriculture Land Use, Shreya Pandley, Jason S. Polk

Kentucky Water Resources Annual Symposium

No abstract provided.

Identifying Controls On Sediment Hysteresis Patterns Using Interpretable Machine Learning, Arlex Marin-Ramirez, David Tyler Mahoney, Brendan Riddle, Leonie Bettel, James Fox

Kentucky Water Resources Annual Symposium

No abstract provided.

Modifying The Cop Karst Groundwater Vulnerability Model Using Spring Storm Response, Benjamin Tobin, Sara Arpin, Solomon Nketsia, Chelsea Parada, Maaz Fareedi, Will Hemenover, Charlies Taylor

Kentucky Water Resources Annual Symposium

No abstract provided.

Exploring Water Quality On The Reclaimed Surface Mines Lands In Eastern Kentucky, Whitney Tara Maynard, Buddhi Gyawali, George Antonious

Kentucky Water Resources Annual Symposium

No abstract provided.

Modeling Moisture Content Variations In The Shallow Subsurface Soil Under Rainfall Infiltration And Different Atmospheric Conditions, Omid Ghasemi-Fare, Mohammadreza Mir Tamizdoust, Fereydoun Najafian Jazi, Amin Mohammadzadeh, Tom Rockaway

Kentucky Water Resources Annual Symposium

No abstract provided.

Karst Watershed Planning For The Jennings Creek/Lost River Watershed In South-Central Kentucky To Improve Water Quality And Community Awareness, Jason S. Polk, Adam Desloge, Brittany Pekara, Trayson Lawler, Shreya Pandey, Kara Brunot, Mara Neace, Meghan Forbes, Matt Powell

Kentucky Water Resources Annual Symposium

No abstract provided.

River And Conduit Stage Tomography For Characterizing Karst Aquifers, Junfeng Zhu, Steven Webb, James Fox

Kentucky Water Resources Annual Symposium

No abstract provided.