Engineering Commons^™

Drone Location And Scheduling Problems In Humanitarian Logistics., Zabih Ghelichi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), commonly referred to as drones, are a promising technology for the last-mile delivery of medical and aid items in humanitarian logistics. In emergency scenarios, like disasters, where transportation networks are destroyed and people are stranded, drones can accelerate the delivery of urgently needed items, e.g., food and water, insulin shots and blood pressure pills, to those trapped in the disaster-affected areas. Drones can also provide logistics services in many non-emergency situations by delivering medical items, e.g., vaccine shots and lab specimens, to remote communities and hard-to-access locations. The contribution of using UAVs goes beyond merely having …

Modeling Driver Distraction Mechanism And Its Safety Impact In Automated Vehicle Environment., Song Wang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Automated Vehicle (AV) technology expects to enhance driving safety by eliminating human errors. However, driver distraction still exists under automated driving. The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) has defined six levels of driving automation from Level 0~5. Until achieving Level 5, human drivers are still needed. Therefore, the Human-Vehicle Interaction (HVI) necessarily diverts a driver’s attention away from driving. Existing research mainly focused on quantifying distraction in human-operated vehicles rather than in the AV environment. It causes a lack of knowledge on how AV distraction can be detected, quantified, and understood. Moreover, existing research in exploring AV distraction has mainly …

An Investigation Into Energy-Material Properties Interaction In Additive Manufacturing Of Polymers., Pu Han

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Additive manufacturing (AM), known as three-dimensional (3D) printing, is a fabrication process to build 3D objects layer by layer based on computer aided design (CAD) model or digital 3D model. Fused filament fabrication (FFF) has become a preferred method for additive manufacturing due to its cost-effectiveness and flexibility. However, the parts built using FFF process suffer from lower mechanical strength compared to that fabricated using traditional method and rough surface finish. With this motivation, this dissertation aims to develop and implement a novel in-process laser assisted technique on FFF to heal the microstructure of FFF built objects by enhancing reptation …

Digital Design And Thermomechanical Process Simulation For 3d Printing With Abs And Soyhull Fibers Reinforced Abs Composites., Saleh Khanjar

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Recent demonstrations with fused filament fabrication (FFF) 3D printing have shown to produce prototypes as well as production components. Additionally, due to the FFF process platforms being low-cost and readily available there has been a high-demand to produce on-demand parts for various applications in automotive, in-space manufacturing and electronic industries. However, current limitations such as limited availability of advanced composites materials, and guidelines for design-for-manufacturing make the process prone to trial-and-error experiments both at the materials development, product design and manufacturing stage. In this work, new thermomechanical process simulations platform, Digimat-AM has been evaluated to address and demonstrate digital design …

Materials And Process Design For Ceramic Fused Filament Fabrication (Cf3) Of Hydroxyapatite., Kavish Sudan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Ceramic fused filament fabrication (CF3) enables the fabrication of highly customizable ceramic parts at relatively lower costs compared to other AM technologies. Advanced ceramics, having specific or niche applications, call for a high level of accuracy to meet the performance requirements. For achieving the desired level of accuracy in any manufacturing process, it is important to know the effect of involved parameters at different stages of fabrication. CF3 has been around for a while but there has been a severe lack of literature dealing with understanding the effect of process parameters on the final part properties. In this study, Hydroxyapatite …

Analyzing The Non-Isothermal Multiphasic Flow In Porous Media Through Strongly Coupled Thermo-Hydro-Mechanical Modeling., Mohammadreza Mir Tamizdoust

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Underground geo-structures and climate change can trigger coupled heat, moisture, and vapor flow in shallow and deep subsurface which is frequently referred to as non-isothermal multiphase flow. The coupled multiphasic flow in soil may induce volumetric shrinkage or expansion deformation depending on the thermo-hydraulic loading condition. In saturated porous media, temperature gradient and heat transfer may affect pore fluid pressure and/or pore fluid flow depending on thermal, mechanical, and hydraulic properties of the media and the saturating fluid. In vadose zones, the prediction of coupled nonisothermal multiphase flow in porous media has been the subject of many theoretical and experimental …

Synthesis, Crystal Structure And Ionic Conductivity Of Ruddlesden-Popper Oxide Materials: Effects Of Ionic Radii And Defects On Lithium-Ionic Conductivity., Selorm Joy Fanah

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Layered perovskite oxides of the Ruddlesden-Popper (RP) type structure can be good lithium-ion conductors for solid electrolyte applications in all-solid-state batteries, due to the large gap separating octahedral layers which can be useful pathways for Li-ion conduction. However, little work has been done on their lithium-ion transport properties in these materials despite their interesting structural properties. This work highlights the synthesis and study of the ionic conductivities in a series of n = 2 and 3 Ruddlesden-Popper oxides, as part of an ongoing investigation in search of alternative solid electrolyte materials. Several different strategies were employed for the enhancement of …

Scalable Synthesis Of Alumina Nanowires By Wet Chemical Method., Luis N Moreno

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

To satisfy an increasing demand for large-scale processes for producing alumina nanomaterials, a wet chemical method was evaluated. A potassium salt precursor was combined with aluminum to produce alumina – based nanowires. Compared with current methods such as thermal oxidation, sol-gel, and laser ablation, this method is highly scalable due to relatively low energy requirements and the ability to carry out the primary reaction under ambient conditions. The nanowire samples were evaluated using SEM, XRD, BET, and TEM to confirm morphology, phases present, and surface area. A porous nanowire structure was confirmed which has a BET surface area of 324.6 …

Coal Fly Ash Beneficiation For Reuse And Removal Of Boron, Cadmium, Chromium, Copper, And Selenium In Wastewater Treatment., Joseph E. Cahill

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

New regulations on coal-fired power plants make previously used wastewater treatment methods aimed to remove heavy metals obsolete. Therefore, there has been increased interest and investment into new technologies to treat coal-fired power plants effluent in the past few years. Traditionally, heavy metal removal technologies have been broken into three categories: physical, chemical or biological. However, with new regulations, each category by itself does not offer an ideal solution to removing acceptable concentrations of heavy metals found in the effluents at the coal-fired power plants. Here we report a novel proof-of-concept utilizing adsorption through ion-exchange/co-precipitation - chemical and physical - …

Solvent Engineering Of Molybdenum Disulfide Electrocatalyst For Hydrogen Evolution., Robert Carl Spalding

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Energy is at an exponentially growing demand, and to keep up with these demands new technologies for renewable energy have received increased attention. Hydrogen plays a vital role in water electrolysis and fuel cells, as the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is the main step water splitting process. Most of the current electrocatalysts for HER are dominated by platinum and other precious metals due to their low over-potential and small Tafel slope, however, they are extremely costly. For this reason, cost-effective non-precious metal catalysts must be developed. Transition metal dichalcogenides, such as molybdenum disulfide (MoS2), are abundant and have recently shown …

Design Of A 300cm2 Pemfc Stack With Force And Cfd Simulation To Optimize Flow Channels, Gasket Design, And Clamping Forces., Robert M. Ench

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Proton exchange membrane fuel cells are important to the future of green energy as hydrogen can be made with green technologies and store energy for later use. Fuel cells can efficiently convert the hydrogen to electricity as needed. This study uses Solidworks simulation to make design improvements to the fuel cell before the prototype build stage of testing; this saves money and time by reducing the prototype builds needed.

In this study, a multi-channel serpentine design with two outlets versus a single outlet is evaluated using CFD to investigate pressure drop. Lower pressure drops are desirable as less energy input …

Update Of Multicellular Data Standard To Match Physicell "Compact" Output., Reid A Honeycutt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the field of multicellular biology, it is currently very difficult for researchers to share digital data, due to a lack of standards for said data. Each laboratory will collect data from a particular project, which will describe only the features relevant to their research, and then present that data using written descriptions, charts, graphs, and images. This makes it difficult for the data produced by these studies be leveraged in other research efforts by scientists studying similar phenomena. An open-source, universal standard that attempts to meet this need is the MultiCellular Data Standard (MultiCellDS). MultiCellDS is described as a …

Computational Modeling Of 3d-Printed Lactobacillus-Antibiotic Scaffolds For Bacterial Vaginosis., Veeresh P. Rai

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The standard treatment for bacterial vaginosis (BV) is currently antibiotics, such as metronidazole, clindamycin, or tinidazole. These antibiotics are highly effective in getting rid of bacteria in the female reproductive tract (FRT); however, there are some bacteria that provide benefits to the FRT which also get expunged. While there are many strains of bacteria that play a beneficial role in the FRT, lactobacilli are among the most important. These bacteria are responsible for maintaining a healthy environment in the FRT via pH regulation by lactic acid metabolism. Antibiotics eliminate all bacteria from an environment, including lactobacilli, and as a result, …

An Introductory Study Of Coal Fly Ash Enhancement For Heavy Metal Removal In Wastewater Treatment., Samuel T. Romes

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Coal Combustion Products are the materials that remain after pulverized coal is burned to generate electricity. The fine portion, fly ash, has many re-use capabilities across various industries. Most recent data shows that approximately 60% of fly ash produced in the United States was used with the largest re-use being concrete additives. This work aims to enhance fly ash via hydrothermal treatment in order to expand the re-use capabilities of the material. These materials were tested as adsorbents for heavy metal removal from wastewater samples. The metals tested for removal were Copper (II) Acetate, Cadmium Chloride, Boric Acid, Sodium Selenite, …

Towards Long Term Colloid Suspension In A Vertically Rotated System., Md Mahmudur Rahman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Within a colloidal suspension gravity may compromise the observation of governing physical interactions, especially those that are weak and/or take significant time to develop. Conducting the experiment in a long-term microgravity environment is a viable option to negate gravitational effects, though significant resources are required to do so. While it may not be possible to simulate long-term microgravity terrestrially, particles can resist quick sedimentation in a confined suspension system rotating vertically with appropriate rotation speed. The goal of the investigation is to demonstrate the existence of long-term particle suspension regime for a certain colloidal suspension while characterizing colloidal behavior due …

Collaborative Human-Machine Interfaces For Mobile Manipulators., Shamsudeen Olawale Abubakar

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The use of mobile manipulators in service industries as both agents in physical Human Robot Interaction (pHRI) and for social interactions has been on the increase in recent times due to necessities like compensating for workforce shortages and enabling safer and more efficient operations amongst other reasons. Collaborative robots, or co-bots, are robots that are developed for use with human interaction through direct contact or close proximity in a shared space with the human users. The work presented in this dissertation focuses on the design, implementation and analysis of components for the next-generation collaborative human machine interfaces (CHMI) needed for …

Lung Nodules Identification In Ct Scans Using Multiple Instance Learning., Wiem Safta

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Computer Aided Diagnosis (CAD) systems for lung nodules diagnosis aim to classify nodules into benign or malignant based on images obtained from diverse imaging modalities such as Computer Tomography (CT). Automated CAD systems are important in medical domain applications as they assist radiologists in the time-consuming and labor-intensive diagnosis process. However, most available methods require a large collection of nodules that are segmented and annotated by radiologists. This process is labor-intensive and hard to scale to very large datasets. More recently, some CAD systems that are based on deep learning have emerged. These algorithms do not require the nodules to …

Hybrid Structural Health Monitoring Using Data-Driven Modal Analysis And Model-Based Bayesian Inference., Jice Zeng

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Civil infrastructures that are valuable assets for the public and owners must be adequately and periodically maintained to guarantee safety, continuous service, and avoid economic losses. Vibration-based structural health monitoring (VBSHM) has been a significant tool to assess the structural performance of civil infrastructures over the last decades. Challenges in VBSHM exist in two aspects: operational modal analysis (OMA) and Finite element model updating (FEMU). The former aims to extract natural frequency, damping ratio, and mode shapes using vibrational data under normal operation; the latter focuses on minimizing the discrepancies between measurements and model prediction. The main impediments to real-world …

Additive Manufacturing Using Robotic Manipulators, Fdm, And Aerosol Jet Printers., Alexander Curry

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Additive manufacturing has created countless new opportunities for fabrication of devices in the past few years. Advances in additive manufacturing continue to change the way that many devices are fabricated by simplifying processes and often lowering cost. Fused deposition modeling (FDM) is the most common form of 3D printing. It is a well-developed process that can print various plastic materials into three-dimensional structures. This technology is used in a lot of industries for rapid prototyping and sometimes small batch manufacturing. It is very inexpensive, and a prototype can be created in a few hours, rather than days. This is useful …

Atomistic Investigation Of Phase Stability And Sodium Ion Conduction In Sulfide Electrolytes., Sabina Zakhidovna Chertmanova

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, we employ a combination of density functional theory (DFT) calculations, and ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) simulations to identify the effect of chemical doping on (a) thermodynamic phase stability, and (b) Na-ion conduction in Na₃SbS₄ (NSS) solid-state electrolytes. We found that (a) Se doped electrolytes, namely, Na₃SbS_exS_4-x undergo a tetragonal-to-cubic structural phase transition at x > 3 (Se-rich), and (b) the size, valence, and electronegativity of chemical dopants that substitute Na in Na₃SbS₄ have a cumulative profound impact on Na-ion conductivity. Specifically, substituting Na with higher valence …

Novel Pilot Development Of A Closed-Loop Sustainable System Between Biogas Renewable Energy, Distilling, And Aquaculture By Vermiculture Of Stillage Wastes, Samuel C. Kessler

The Cardinal Edge

This study provides a mixed-methods approach in analyzing a potential closed-loop system between renewable biogas production from anaerobic digestion, vermiculture production, aquaculture production, and organic wastes with a particular focus on stillage wastes. Such system may hold significant promise for significantly reducing organic carbon and methane emissions from its components, and should be assessed for such. The 2021 IPCC report essentially identified methane reduction as the single fastest way to slow global warming (IPCC, 2021), making the study and implementation of methane-reducing systems and supportive policy for them critical. Knowledge gaps to implementing this system were qualitatively identified as disconnect …

Understanding And Avoiding Ai Failures: A Practical Guide, Robert Williams, Roman Yampolskiy

Faculty Scholarship

As AI technologies increase in capability and ubiquity, AI accidents are becoming more common. Based on normal accident theory, high reliability theory, and open systems theory, we create a framework for understanding the risks associated with AI applications. This framework is designed to direct attention to pertinent system properties without requiring unwieldy amounts of accuracy. In addition, we also use AI safety principles to quantify the unique risks of increased intelligence and human-like qualities in AI. Together, these two fields give a more complete picture of the risks of contemporary AI. By focusing on system properties near accidents instead of …

Impossibility Results In Ai: A Survey, Mario Brcic, Roman Yampolskiy

Faculty Scholarship

An impossibility theorem demonstrates that a particular problem or set of problems cannot be solved as described in the claim. Such theorems put limits on what is possible to do concerning artificial intelligence, especially the super-intelligent one. As such, these results serve as guidelines, reminders, and warnings to AI safety, AI policy, and governance researchers. These might enable solutions to some long-standing questions in the form of formalizing theories in the framework of constraint satisfaction without committing to one option. In this paper, we have categorized impossibility theorems applicable to the domain of AI into five categories: deduction, indistinguishability, induction, …

Death In Genetic Algorithms, Micah Burkhardt, Roman Yampolskiy

Faculty Scholarship

Death has long been overlooked in evolutionary algorithms. Recent research has shown that death (when applied properly) can benefit the overall fitness of a population and can outperform sub-sections of a population that are “immortal” when allowed to evolve together in an environment [1]. In this paper, we strive to experimentally determine whether death is an adapted trait and whether this adaptation can be used to enhance our implementations of conventional genetic algorithms. Using some of the most widely accepted evolutionary death and aging theories, we observed that senescent death (in various forms) can lower the total run-time of genetic …

Biometric Features Modeling To Measure Students Engagement., Islam Mohamed Ahmed Mohamed Mahmoud Alkabbany

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The ability to measure students’ engagement in an educational setting may improve student retention and academic success, revealing which students are disinterested, or which segments of a lesson are causing difficulties. This ability will facilitate timely intervention in both the learning and the teaching process in a variety of classroom settings. In this dissertation, an automatic students engagement measure is proposed through investigating three main engagement components of the engagement: the behavioural engagement, the emotional engagement and the cognitive engagement. The main goal of the proposed technology is to provide the instructors with a tool that could help them estimating …

Rapid Annealing Of Perovskite Solar Cell Thin Film Materials Through Intense Pulse Light., Amir Hossein Ghahremani

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have garnered a great attention due to their rapid efficiency improvement using cheap and solution processable materials that can be adapted for scalable high-speed automated manufacturing. Thin film perovskite photovoltaics (PVs) are typically fabricated in an inert environment, such as nitrogen glovebox, through a set of deposition and annealing steps, each playing a significant role on the power conversion efficiency (PCE), reproducibility, and stability of devices. However, atmospheric processing of PSCs would achieve lucrative commercialization. Therefore, it is necessary to utilize materials and methods that enable successful fabrication of efficient PSCs in the ambient environment. The …

Linking Social Media, Medical Literature, And Clinical Notes Using Deep Learning., Mohsen Asghari

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Researchers analyze data, information, and knowledge through many sources, formats, and methods. The dominant data format includes text and images. In the healthcare industry, professionals generate a large quantity of unstructured data. The complexity of this data and the lack of computational power causes delays in analysis. However, with emerging deep learning algorithms and access to computational powers such as graphics processing unit (GPU) and tensor processing units (TPUs), processing text and images is becoming more accessible. Deep learning algorithms achieve remarkable results in natural language processing (NLP) and computer vision. In this study, we focus on NLP in the …

Develop A Multi-Functional Green Pervious Concrete (Mgpc) Pavement With Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (Pahs) Removal Function., Hong Shang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Stormwater runoff induced Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) contaminant increasingly imperils the groundwater quality and the sustainable development of human society due to the potential carcinogenic risks. Pavement can be considered as the first line of defense for contaminant removal of the stormwater runoff. New construction materials with stormwater runoff quantity and quality control are in urgent demand for updating the existing pavement system. An innovative material called Multi-functional Green Pervious Concrete (MGPC) was developed in the department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at University of Louisville. This material uses organoclay as the amendment to enhance the PAHs removal capacity of …

Signal Fingerprinting And Machine Learning Framework For Uav Detection And Identification., Olusiji Oloruntobi Medaiyese

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Advancement in technology has led to creative and innovative inventions. One such invention includes unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). UAVs (also known as drones) are now an intrinsic part of our society because their application is becoming ubiquitous in every industry ranging from transportation and logistics to environmental monitoring among others. With the numerous benign applications of UAVs, their emergence has added a new dimension to privacy and security issues. There are little or no strict regulations on the people that can purchase or own a UAV. For this reason, nefarious actors can take advantage of these aircraft to intrude into …

Multilateration Index., Chip Lynch

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

We present an alternative method for pre-processing and storing point data, particularly for Geospatial points, by storing multilateration distances to fixed points rather than coordinates such as Latitude and Longitude. We explore the use of this data to improve query performance for some distance related queries such as nearest neighbor and query-within-radius (i.e. “find all points in a set P within distance d of query point q”). Further, we discuss the problem of “Network Adequacy” common to medical and communications businesses, to analyze questions such as “are at least 90% of patients living within 50 miles of a covered emergency …