Engineering Commons^™

Continued Development Of A Non-Proprietary, High-Tension, Cable End Terminal System, Jennifer D. Schmidt, Robert W. Bielenberg, John D. Reid, Ronald K. Faller

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

A non-proprietary, cable guardrail system is currently under development for the Midwest States Pooled Fund Program. A cable guardrail end terminal was necessary to accompany the cable guardrail system. The objective of this research project was to develop design recommendations for the cable end terminal. Bogie testing that was previously completed on a design concept indicated delayed cable release, which was an undesired performance that led to vehicle instabilities. Several design changes were recommended for better end terminal performance and to reflect the changes made to the cable median barrier. An LS-DYNA model of the modified cable end terminal was …

Program And Proceedings: Nebraska Academy Of Sciences 1880–2016, 136th Anniversary Year, One Hundred-Twenty-Sixth Annual Meeting

Nebraska Academy of Sciences: Programs and Proceedings

Program

Aeronautics and Space Science

Chemistry and Physics

Collegiate Academy: Biology

Earth Science

Biological and Medical Sciences

Anthropology

Collegiate Academy: Chemistry and Physics

Environmental Sciences

Aeronautics and Space Science, Poster Session

Maiben Memorial Lecture: Juliane Soukup, “Riboswitches Turn Students onto Research” Teaching of Science and Mathematics

Applied Science and Technology

History and Philosophy of Science

Improving Radiation And Stress Corrosion Cracking Resistance Of Austenitic Stainless Steels By Laser Shock Peening, Qiaofeng Lu

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Structural alloys for Generation-IV nuclear reactors need to endure a high neutron dose, high temperature, and corrosive coolant. Austenitic stainless steels, particularly the oxide-dispersion-strengthened (ODS) austenitic steels, are promising candidate materials, but they suffer several limits such as irradiation damage and stress corrosion cracking (SCC). This research applies a laser shock peening (LSP) process to improve the radiation and SCC resistance of austenitic stainless steels in simulated nuclear reactor environments. A high density dislocation networks, stacking faults and twin boundaries were generated in the surface region of 304 steels by the shock wave-material interactions in the LSP process. In-situ TEM …

Automated Mini-Channel Platform For Studying Plant Root Environments, Kevin F. Kreis

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Plants are crucial to our lives; they provide us with building materials, oxygen, and food. A season’s crop yield can be significantly affected by local environmental factors. Farming practices currently focus on using fertilizer, pesticides, monitoring water availability, and genetic modification of the plant to increase crop yield. Improving fundamental understanding of plant root interactions with their local soil environment, or rhizosphere, will help improve crop yield. Studying such interactions is challenging because roots are underground, making it difficult to observe interactions and to manipulate the local soil environment.

The goal of this thesis is to develop an automated mini-channel …

Bridging The Communication Gap Successfully For Library/It Projects, Amanda Harlan, Dhanushka Samarakoon

Nebraska Library Association: Conferences

Have you ever had a difficult time describing a concept for a project? This can be especially true with collaborative projects between library and IT staff. Library and IT staff have historically been at odds concerning communication due to the use of jargon specific to their area, different working environments and styles, and conflicting best practices and standards that each follow. K-State Libraries and their internal IT department will share the communication issues with solutions from a librarian’s and developer’s perspective. We will also discuss how has influenced processes and methodologies used for collaborative projects between library and IT staff …

Improved Methodologies In Modeling And Predicting Failure In Aashto M-180 Guardrail Steel Using Finite Element Analysis, Phase I, Brandt M. Humphrey

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Steel guardrail systems have historic and widespread applications throughout the nation’s highways and roadways. However, catastrophic system failure can occur if the guardrail element ruptures, thus allowing an errant vehicle to pass uncontrolled through the system and potentially allow fractured ends to pierce the occupant compartment. To aid in the analysis and design of guardrail systems, further efforts are needed to develop and implement more reliable material failure criteria to predict and model guardrail steel rupture under all vehicle impact loading scenarios within impact simulation finite element method (FEM) software, such as LS-DYNA.

This Phase I study accomplished a number …

A Roadmap To Safe And Reliable Engineered Biological Nano-Communication Networks, Justin W. Firestone

School of Computing: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Synthetic biology has the potential to benefit society with novel applications that can improve soil quality, produce biofuels, grow customized biological tissue, and perform intelligent drug delivery, among many other possibilities. Engineers are creating techniques to program living cells, inserting new logic, and leveraging cell-to-cell communication, which result in changes to a cell's core functionality. Using these techniques, we can now create synthetic biological organisms (SBOs) with entirely new (potentially unseen) behaviors, which, similar to silicon devices, can sense, actuate, perform computation, and interconnect with other networks at the nanoscale level. SBOs are programmable evolving entities, and can be likened …

Successful Female Students In Undergraduate Computer Science And Computer Engineering: Motivation, Self-Regulation, And Qualitative Characteristics, Melissa Patterson Hazley

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Computer Science (CS) and Computer Engineering (CE) fields typically have not been successful at recruiting or retaining women students. Research indicates several reasons for this shortage but mainly from three perspectives: social issues, exposure/prior knowledge and curriculum issues in K-12 settings. This mixed-methods research addresses a gap in the literature by investigating the motivation and self-regulation behaviors of successful female students who are studying computer science and computer engineering. The findings in phase one of this study indicated that learning and performance approach goals predicted adaptive strategic self-regulation behaviors including strategy use, knowledge building and engagement. Learning avoidance goals predicted …

Design Of Medical Devices For Diagnostics In The Gastrointestinal System, Charles R. Welch

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This thesis presents the design, controls, and testing of two systems: a novel colonoscope locomotion design for diagnostics, and a biosensor capsule that implants a sensor in the small intestine. Each system requires special design considerations for use in the gastrointestinal system.

Colonoscopy procedures are recommended as a screening for colon cancer and related conditions after the age of 50. The need for an improved colonoscope that reduces the colonoscopy time and patient discomfort is apparent. The semi-autonomous device presented here could likely reduce the colonoscopy procedure time by allowing the physician to focus more on the diagnosis and less …

Mapping Evapotranspiration With High-Resolution Aircraft Imagery Over Vineyards Using One- And Two-Source Modeling Schemes, Ting Xia, William P. Kustas, Martha C. Anderson, Joseph G. Alfieri, Feng Gao, Lynn Mckee, John H. Prueger, Hatim M.E. Geli, C.M.U. Neale, Luis Sanchez, Maria Mar Alsina, Zhongjing Wang

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Thermal and multispectral remote sensing data from low-altitude aircraft can provide high spatial resolution necessary for sub-field ( 10 m) and plant canopy (1 m) scale evapotranspiration (ET) monitoring. In this study, highresolution (sub-meter-scale) thermal infrared and multispectral shortwave data from aircraft are used to map ET over vineyards in central California with the two-source energy balance (TSEB) model and with a simple model having operational immediate capabilities called DATTUTDUT (Deriving Atmosphere Turbulent Transport Useful To Dummies Using Temperature). The latter uses contextual information within the image to scale between radiometric land surface temperature (TR) values representing hydrologic limits of …

Leidenfrost Energy Barriers, James Peck, Anton Hassebrook, Craig Zuhlke, Troy P. Anderson, Dennis R. Alexander, George Gogos, Sidy Ndao

UCARE: Research Products

In this work, an “Energy Barrier” was created to control the motion of Leidenfrost droplets. This barrier was created by functionalizing a portion of a mirror-polished stainless steel 304 surface with Femtosecond Laser Surface Processing (FLSP). FLSP results in superhydrophilic, hierarchical, micro- and nanostructures which are highly wetting and thus have an increased Leidenfrost temperature. Water droplets in the film boiling state were deposited, and propelled by gravity towards the Energy Barrier interface. Room temperature droplets were deposited over a range of surface temperatures beginning with the Leidenfrost temperature of mirror-polished stainless steel 304 and culminating at the Leidenfrost temperature …

Structural Evaluations Of Bridges With Smartphones, Garrett P. Martindale, Dean Whitfield, Jeremiah Dixon

UCARE: Research Products

According to the 2013 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure, published by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), the United States has a bridge rating of C+. The C rating is classified by ASCE as a mediocre standing. Infrastructure that is awarded the C rating shows general signs of deterioration and requires attention.

Our Hypothesis: Smartphones have become readily available to anyone and is a relatively cheap device. They have instruments within them that can capture and collect usable data. An application can be downloaded to record the smartphone’s acceleration. The acceleration data can be used to evaluate vibrations within …

Sustained Cell Differentiation Of 2d H9 Human Embryonic Stem Cells Into Mesenchymal Stem Cells, Hannah M. Christian

UCARE: Research Products

This experiment consisted of the controlled differentiation of H9 embryonic stem cells to mesenchymal stem cells. Though this experiment was repeated twice and improvement was seen in these repetitions, the cells were only able to be partially differentiated. However, the morphology of the differentiated cells is similar to those of healthy adult mesenchymal stem cells.

The progression of the differentiation can be seen in the microscope slide photos below. Throughout the differentiation, there occurred a decrease in cell survival and reduction of cell growth, but an increase in mesenchymal stem cell morphology. Throughout the last week of the differentiation, very …

Optimizing Chemical & Rheological Properties Of Rejuvenated Bitumen, Dominic Nguyen, Hamzeh Haghshenas Fatmehsari, Santosh Kommidi, Yong-Rak Kim

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Bitumen has long been a material used in the construction of roadways, yet new pavement only consists of low fractions of recycled materials due to poor compatibility of aged bitumen and new materials. Thus, rejuvenators, chemical additives, have been used in an attempt to re-balance the chemical composition and restore the physical properties of aged bitumen back to its virgin state. A fundamental understanding of how one particular rejuvenator, soybean oil, revitalizes bitumen was investigated using a multi-scale approach.

Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) was used to determine the changes in chemical properties of pure and rejuvenated virgin and aged samples. …

Multiscale Research Toward Resilient Civil Infrastructure, Hamzeh Haghshenas Fatmehsari, Keyvan Zare Rami, Mahdieh Khedmati, Kommidi Santosh, Farshad Fallah, Yong-Rak Kim

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Infrastructure materials are generally composite in nature and consist of different phases. Despite their widespread use, the mechanisms behind their behavior are often not fully understood. The aim of this research is to develop the capability to predict the performance of infrastructure based on its components, thus eliminating the need for costly experimental tests. Such an objective requires thorough understanding of material properties at various length-scales and investigation of the linkage between each scale. This approach can lead to more optimized designs, sustainable performance and maximized public benefit

Science-Informed Arguments In Undergraduates’ Opinions About Biofuels, Olivia Straka, Jenny Dauer

UCARE: Research Products

Socioscientific issues (SSIs) are complex, multifaceted issues with components of science as well as components of values requiring evaluation of social, political, and ethical concerns (Nichols & Zeidler, 2009). • However, many students do not possess a fundamental understanding of the underlying scientific foundations of SSIs (NRC, 1998), or may evaluate issues based on personal relevance as opposed to contemplation of evidence presented (Sadler et al., 2004). • This study examined how undergraduate students chose to substantiate their opinions on the SSI of using biofuels as a fuel source before and after taking a semester long course, AGRI/NRES 103. • …

Modeling Of Methane Tank Depressurization In Cold Weather, Brittney Bridger-Burton, Kevin D. Cole

UCARE: Research Products

Non-metallic tanks are used in industry to store and transfer gasses such as methane. As the tanks are emptied, the properties of the gas change, causing heat transfer with the tank wall. When emptied while at low temperatures, liquid condensation can form and the tank lining can reach a critically low temperature, causing fracture to the tank wall. In this study, the emptying of methane in cold weather conditions from a non-metallic tank was modelled using Aspen Tech Software. A full tank of methane, at 250 bar and 288 K, was cooled to the following starting temperatures: 263, 253, 243, …

Reconfigurable Battery Techniques And Systems: A Survey, Song Ci, Ni Lin, Dalei Wu

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

Battery packs with a large number of battery cells are becoming more and more widely adopted in electronic systems, such as robotics, renewable energy systems, energy storage in smart grids, and electronic vehicles. Therefore, a well-designed battery pack is essential for battery applications. In the literature, the majority of research in battery pack design focuses on battery management system, safety circuit, and cell-balancing strategies. Recently, the reconfigurable battery pack design has gained increasing attentions as a promising solution to solve the problems existing in the conventional battery packs and associated battery management systems, such as low energy efficiency, short pack …

Molecular Combing Of Dna Nanofibers And Comparison To Electrospinning, Tanner L. Buresh

UCARE: Research Products

The goal of these experiments was to create DNA nanofibers through the method of molecular combing (MC) and then compare the MC fibers to fibers created with electrospinning (ES). The experiment was designed and initial samples were created. After confirming that the method would succeed in creating DNA fibers, several parametric studies were performed in order to optimize the experiment and create the most uniform fibers possible. The parametric studies were done on the following variables: substrate material, pH level of DNA solution, and DNA solution concentration. After completion of all experiments, it was determined that although fibers could be …

Biomarkers Used To Detect And Monitor Neurological Autoimmune Diseases, Robert Powers, Jay Reddy, Teklab Gebregiworgis, Chandirasegara Massilamany, Arunakumar Gangaplara, Zsolt Illes

Robert Powers Publications

Biomarkers of neurological autoimmune diseases are described, and methods of using such biomarkers also are described.

Autoimmune diseases arise from an inappropriate immune response by the body against Substances or tissues normally found in the body. Neurological autoimmune diseases are those autoimmune diseases that affect some aspect of the neurological system (e.g., the central nervous system or the peripheral nervous system). Biomarkers of one or more neu rological autoimmune diseases, especially those biomarkers that can be evaluated non-invasively, are useful in the art. Biomarkers of neurological autoimmune diseases are pro vided, and methods of using Such biomarkers also are pro …

Department Of Biological Systems Engineering Newsletter, Spring 2016

BSE Department Magazine

No abstract provided.

Micro- And Nanoparticulates For Dna Vaccine Delivery, Eric Farris, Deborah M. Brown, Amanda Ramer-Tait, Angela K. Pannier

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

DNA vaccination has emerged as a promising alternative to traditional protein-based vaccines for the induction of protective immune responses. DNA vaccines offer several advantages over traditional vaccines, including increased stability, rapid and inexpensive production, and flexibility to produce vaccines for a wide variety of infectious diseases. However, the immunogenicity of DNA vaccines delivered as naked plasmid DNA is often weak due to degradation of the DNA by nucleases and inefficient delivery to immune cells. Therefore, biomaterial-based delivery systems based on micro- and nanoparticles that encapsulate plasmid DNA represent the most promising strategy for DNA vaccine delivery. Microparticulate delivery systems allow …

Hyaluronic Acid-Conjugated Liposome Nanoparticles For Targeted Delivery To Cd44 Overexpressing Glioblastoma Cells, Stephen L. Hayward, Christina L. Wilson, Srivatsan Kidambi

Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering: Faculty Publications

Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM) is a highly prevalent and deadly brain malignancy characterized by poor prognosis and restricted disease management potential. Despite the success of nanocarrier systems to improve drug/gene therapy for cancer, active targeting specificity remains a major hurdle for GBM. Additionally, since the brain is a multi-cell type organ, there is a critical need to develop an approach to distinguish between GBM cells and healthy brain cells for safe and successful treatment. In this report, we have incorporated hyaluronic acid (HA) as an active targeting ligand for GBM. To do so, we employed HA conjugated liposomes (HALNPs) to study …

Brain Tumor In A Dish: Glioma/Astrocyte Co-Cultures As A Model For In Vitro Studies, Erin Eickman, Christina Wilson, Srivatsan Kidambi

UCARE: Research Products

This study seeks to engineer an in vitro co-culture model to elucidate the role of glioma-astrocyte interactions on molecular changes in the tumor microenvironment. The use of patterned co-cultures created with polyelectrolyte multilayers and micromolding in capillaries will allow tthe investigation of cell-cell communication. This study will lead to better understanding of the role of healthy cells in cancer progression and potential treatment options.

Flying By Fire: Making Controlled Burns Safer For Humans And Uavs, Rebecca Horzewski, Carrick Detweiler

UCARE: Research Products

A temperature sensing circuit board was developed that will allow Nimbus Lab's controlled burn starting UAV to react to the temperatures around it.

Novel Nitroxyl Radical Synthesis, Max Meier

UCARE: Research Products

The purpose of this research is to synthesize a novel compound, 2,2,6,6-dispirocyclobutylpiperidine- 4-one (P), for use as an oxidation reactant to form the corresponding nitroxyl radical. This is to be conducted using a reliable method for a variety of 2,2,6,6-tetrasubstituted piperidine-4-one compounds as detailed by Sakai et al. [3]. Sakai uses a variety of 6-member cyclic ketones, which are quite stable. It was attempted to use 4-member cyclic ketones to research the effectiveness of 2,6-substitution using a less stable carbonyl compound. Cyclobutanone and 3-oxycetanone were used as candidates for this reaction. Both are delicate, expensive ketones.

Patterned Alginate Hydrogels To Induce Chondrocyte Alignment, Jordan Catherine Verplank, Taylor D. Laughlin, Angela K. Pannier

UCARE: Research Products

The growth plate has an intricate architecture, and this architecture is necessary for directional growth of bones. Specifically, the cells align in longitudinal columns. As the growth plate expands with this pattern, the bone elongates with the same alignment pattern. The purpose of this research is to mimic this single celled, columnar alignment in vitro. In developing this alignment in vitro, this research will contribute to the overall study of growing growth for the development of improved therapeutic treatments and engineered tissues for transplants.

Growth Of Ws2 Thin Photovoltaic Films, Matthew J. Hilfiker, Aaron Ediger, Natale Lanno

UCARE: Research Products

Through research for a material that is low cost, earth abundant, and highly efficient, Tungsten Sulfide (WS₂) has been identified as a promising solution. From literature, it has been shown that WS₂ possesses a band gap of 1.9 eV, which is ideal for a top layer heterostructure cell. While this is a favorable value, other properties needed to understand its value as a photovoltaic material are unknown. Through research, WS₂ films will be grown through a sputtering deposition process and electrical characterization measurements will be performed to study these missing properties.

Cerebrovascular Reactivity Change With Increased Intracranial Pressure, Madison Burger, M. Alwatban, Allison Porter, Ben Hage, Greg Bashford

UCARE: Research Products

Cerebrovascular reactivity (CVR) is an important regulatory factor of the brain. The parameter controls the dilation and constriction of blood vessels in the brain in response to certain stimuli, such as carbon dioxide. Abnormal CVR values could potentially be indicators of poorly functioning regulatory systems. Testing of CVR is one method of assessing the brain's regulatory capabilities. The purpose of this study was to test for a relationship between CVR and intracranial pressure (ICP).

In this study, increased intracranial pressure was created in 4 female subjects through head down tilt, using an inversion table. Subjects were lowered in the table …

Engineering Outreach Education Through Social Media, Katie E. Meiergerd, Dagen Valentine, Jennifer R. Keshwani, Bradley Barker

UCARE: Research Products

Familiarizing teachers and educators with Engineering and other related STEM fields is crucial in educating students, so ensuring teachers with access to these resources is important. The objective of this work is to identify ways to use social media to provide support to K – 12 educators interested in implementing engineering education with their students.