Engineering Commons^™

Fluorescence Imaging Of Cortical Calcium Dynamics: A Tool For Visualizing Mouse Brain Functions, Connections, And Networks, Patrick William Wright

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Hemodynamic-based markers of cortical activity (e.g. functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and optical intrinsic signal imaging) are an indirect and relatively slow report of neural activity driven by electrical and metabolic activity through neurovascular coupling, which presents significant limiting factors in deducing underlying brain network dynamics. As application of resting state functional connectivity (FC) measures is extended further into topics such as brain development, aging, and disease, the importance of understanding the fundamental basis for FC will grow.

In this dissertation, we extend functional analysis from hemodynamic- to calcium-based imaging. Transgenic mice expressing a fluorescent calcium indicator (GCaMP6) driven by …

Development And Characterization Of Genetic Sensors And Regulators For The Construction Of Environmentally-Responsive Genetic Circuits, Allison Hoynes-O'Connor

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Genetic circuits enable engineers to program complex logical behaviors into living organisms. Organisms can be programmed to optimize the production of fuels and chemicals, diagnose and treat diseases, or remediate environmental pollutants. A well-characterized toolbox of genetic sensors and regulators is needed to construct these circuits. Genetic sensors that respond to environmentally-relevant signals allow circuits to evaluate the cell's conditions, and versatile and designable regulators translate information about the cell's environment into the desired response. In this work, we demonstrate the de novo design of RNA thermosensors in Escherichia coli, and integrate these sensors into complex genetic circuits. Next, we …

High-Throughput Exploration Of Glass Formation Via Laser Deposition And The Study Of Heterogeneous Microstructure In A Bulk Metallic Glass Alloy, Peter Te-Chuan Tsai

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Bulk metallic glasses are a relatively novel class of engineering alloys characterized by a "disordered" atomic structure devoid of long-range translational symmetry. Compared to crystalline alloys, the confluence of metallic bonding and amorphous structure imbues bulk metallic glasses with a unique set of properties that makes them particularly attractive for a wide variety of structural applications. Such properties include exceptional yield strengths, high elastic resilience, resistance to corrosion, and in particular, the unparalleled ability among metals to be thermoplastically formed across a wide range of length scales when heated above the glass transition temperature. Formation of metallic glass from a …

Novel Contrasts In Photoacoustic Tomography, Ruiying Zhang

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Photoacoustic tomography (PAT) combines rich optical contrast and high ultrasonic resolution in optically scattering tissue at depths. Taking advantage of its 100% sensitivity to optical absorption, PAT has been widely applied to structural, functional and molecular imaging, with both endogenous and exogenous contrasts, at superior depths than pure optical methods. This dissertation explores novel absorption contrast mechanisms of PAT based on optical/thermal patterns, endogenous cellular chromophores, nanoparticles, small-molecule dyes and genetically-encoded proteins. With these novel contrasts, the proof-of-concept applications of PAT have been extended to include homogenous flow measurements, targeted angiogenesis imaging and therapy, label-free white blood cell imaging, 3D-whole-organ …

Development Of A One-Equation Eddy Viscosity Turbulence Model For Application To Complex Turbulent Flows, Timothy Wray

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is routinely used in performance prediction and design of aircraft, turbomachinery, automobiles, and in many other industrial applications. Despite its wide range of use, deficiencies in its prediction accuracy still exist. One critical weakness is the accurate simulation of complex turbulent flows using the Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes equations in conjunction with a turbulence model. The goal of this research has been to develop an eddy viscosity type turbulence model to increase the accuracy of flow simulations for mildly separated flows, flows with rotation and curvature effects, and flows with surface roughness. It is accomplished by developing a …

Characterizing Nonmodel Microorganisms And Reconstructing Catabolic Pathways For Bio-Productions, Whitney Hollinshead

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

In the 1970s, spikes in oil prices sparked early interests into first-generation biofuels (i.e., the production of ethanol from corn). Four decades later, biofuel manufacturing has under-performed as developed industrial strains suffer from poor performance and high costs of feedstocks. While the advancement in molecular biology has greatly benefited pathway engineering, synthetic biology hosts still cannot overcome the obstacles for profitable microbial bio-production. One approach may be to study non-model organisms and employ their metabolic features towards an improved bio-production pipeline. Here, this thesis aims to develop 13C-metabolism analysis tools to characterize novel organisms and re-program cell metabolism using novel …

Genetic Circuits For Transcriptional Regulation In Synechocystis Sp. Pcc 6803, Cheryl M. Immethun

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Microbial biosynthesis has produced a variety of complex compounds using processes that are more environmentally-friendly than many conventional methods. The most common hosts are heterotrophs, which require the addition of an organic carbon source; while cyanobacteria possess many traits that make them a more sustainable biotechnology platform. As phototrophs, cyanobacteria can employ sunlight and carbon dioxide to create many value-added compounds. A wealth of tools has been developed to engineer the commonly used heterotrophs for higher yields and titers; yet, few synthetic biology tools have been designed for cyanobacteria. Furthermore, many of the tools created for heterotrophs do not function …

Focusing Light Inside Scattering Media With Optical Phase Conjugation, Yan Liu

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

In scattering media such as biological tissue, the heterogeneous refractive index distribution causes light to scatter, which makes the media look opaque and prevents us from focusing light beyond ~1 mm deep inside the media to achieve optical imaging and manipulation. Hence, the ability to focus light deep inside scattering media is highly desired, and it could revolutionize biophotonics by enabling deep-tissue non-invasive high-resolution optical microscopy, optical tweezing, optogenetics, micro-surgery, and phototherapy.

To break the optical diffusion limit and focus light deep inside scattering media, optical phase conjugation based wavefront shaping techniques, such as time-reversed ultrasonically encoded (TRUE) optical focusing, …

Guided Medical Data Segmentation Using Structure-Aligned Planar Contours, Michelle Vaughan Holloway

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Segmentation of 3D/4D biological images is a critical step for a wide range of applications such as treatment planning, quantitative analysis, virtual simulations, and rendering visualizations. Automatic segmentation methods are becoming more reliable, but many experts still rely on manual intervention which makes segmentation a time and resource intensive bottleneck. Marking boundary contours in 3D images can be difficult when images are often noisy or the delineation of biological tissue is unclear. Non-parallel contours can be more accurate and reduce the amount of marking necessary, but require extra effort to ensure boundary consistency and maintain spatial orientation. This dissertation focuses …

Understanding The Role Of Dynamics In Brain Networks: Methods, Theory And Application, Mohammadmehdi Kafashan

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

The brain is inherently a dynamical system whose networks interact at multiple spatial and temporal scales. Understanding the functional role of these dynamic interactions is a fundamental question in neuroscience. In this research, we approach this question through the development of new methods for characterizing brain dynamics from real data and new theories for linking dynamics to function. We perform our study at two scales: macro (at the level of brain regions) and micro (at the level of individual neurons).

In the first part of this dissertation, we develop methods to identify the underlying dynamics at macro-scale that govern brain …

A Transactional Model And Platform For Designing And Implementing Reactive Systems, Justin Ross Wilson

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

A reactive program is one that has "ongoing interactions with its environment." Reactive programs include those for embedded systems, operating systems, network clients and servers, databases, and smart phone apps. Reactive programs are already a core part of our computational and physical infrastructure and will continue to proliferate within our society as new form factors, e.g. wireless sensors, and inexpensive (wireless) networking are applied to new problems.

Asynchronous concurrency is a fundamental characteristic of reactive systems that makes them difficult to develop. Threads are commonly used for implementing reactive systems, but they may magnify problems associated with asynchronous concurrency, as …

Indoor Scene Localization To Fight Sex Trafficking In Hotels, Abigail Stylianou

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Images are key to fighting sex trafficking. They are: (a) used to advertise for sex services,(b) shared among criminal networks, and (c) connect a person in an image to the place where the image was taken. This work explores the ability to link images to indoor places in order to support the investigation and prosecution of sex trafficking. We propose and develop a framework that includes a database of open-source information available on the Internet, a crowd-sourcing approach to gathering additional images, and explore a variety of matching approaches based both on hand-tuned features such as SIFT and learned features …

Multipath And Rate Stability, Junjie Liu, Roch A. Guérin

All Computer Science and Engineering Research

Originally Published In Proc. IEEE Globecom Conference - CQRM: Communication QoS, Reliability & Modeling Symposium

A Traders Guide To The Predictive Universe- A Model For Predicting Oil Price Targets And Trading On Them, Jimmie Harold Lenz

Doctor of Business Administration Dissertations

At heart every trader loves volatility; this is where return on investment comes from, this is what drives the proverbial “positive alpha.” As a trader, understanding the probabilities related to the volatility of prices is key, however if you could also predict future prices with reliability the world would be your oyster. To this end, I have achieved three goals with this dissertation, to develop a model to predict future short term prices (direction and magnitude), to effectively test this by generating consistent profits utilizing a trading model developed for this purpose, and to write a paper that anyone with …

Sanitation System For Underdeveloped Countries, Anish Agrawal, Mutian Tang, Dylan Lesher, Reid Schur

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

Currently, there are over 2.5 billion people living in the world without having access to proper sanitation. This is primarily because of lack of access to water and/or their financial situation to afford a sanitation system. Therefore, there is a need for a sanitation system which can flush in less water and is inexpensive. This project involves the creation of a sanitation system for use in impoverished areas with little access to water or electricity.

Maneuverable Backpack Scooter Attachment, Andrew Goldfield, Alex Roesch, Cosmo Centanni, Nina Nepa

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

A mechanical device that will aid in the collaboration between a scooter and a backpack. Due to the weight of typical backpack, our device will aid the consumer to carry less weight on their backs, and create a device to fold into the scooter so that it nicely fits in a classroom setting. This device will be detachable so that the scooter can be operated without the attachment.

Automatic Onion Peeler, William R. Luer, Matthew O. Clohisy, Craig A. Claire, Dylan L. Newcomb

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

Our senior design report encompasses the design selection, process, and fabrication of an automatic onion peeler. Our design is intended for the peeling of medium yellow onions in restaurant-scale applications. Our machine is easily cleaned and can be safely operated by one person.

Universal Pitter, Angelica Price, Rachel Venn

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

Fruits with pits in them have been cumbersome to eat due to the delicate quality of the fruit and the rigid structure of the pits that must be removed. Many types of pitters already exist, but any are for small pits such as cherries and olives or involve to much manual action. This pitter will remove the pit out of multiple types of fruit while holding the fruit in a manner that does not damage the fruit. This projected was initiated by Rachel Venn, an engineering student at Washington University in St. Louis, who took a pole amongst family and …

Asme Student Design Challenge, James Mitchell, Ean Murnan, Alex Wirtz

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

The Olympic Summer Games test the abilities of people throughout the world in a wide variety of athletic challenges. The athlete that wins the Olympic decathlon or heptathlon is referred to as the world’s greatest male or female athlete. The 2017 Student Design Competition challenges your technical design skills to create a robot that is fast, strong, and agile. Your team must build a remotely controlled device to compete against others in five different events – a robot pentathlon. Scores from each of the events will be combined to determine the overall champion. Our team will attempt to design a …

Mems 411 Design Report Group O: Naked Mole Rat Trap, Drew Pikey, Adam Glassl, Sam Nadell

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

Naked mole-rats are mouse size rodents that live in underground colonies in East Africa. They are best known for having a queen and workers like bees. Prof Stan Braude has been studying them in Kenya and Ethiopia for over 25 years and has trapped over 10,000 of these animals, marked and released them. He is the world’s expert at trapping naked mole-rats and yet, he still needs a better trap. Prof. Stan Braude is looking forward to working with a team of real engineers and designers who can help him complete this project.

Autonomous Shopping Cart, John Gutsch, Steven Taschner, Asim Zaidi

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

In shopping centers across the United States, customers must return shopping carts after they used them by themselves. For a variety of reasons, a significant number of shopping carts are left in parking lots after being used. This results in expenses to the store in the form of damaged carts, man hours required to return each one, and law suits from customers whose cars are damaged by free carts. This project is an add-on mechanism by which allows shopping carts to return to the shopping center autonomously. The cart should be able to locate a preset track that is set …

Group H: Expandable Brush, Aaron Hall, Michael Roznik

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

This is an overview of our project to design an expandable brush. This brush is designed to be versatile and able to clean a variety of vessels with narrow necks, wide bases, and complex geometries. Our prototype consisted of two parts: an outer sleeve with a deflector and a handle with a head piece to hold our bristle filaments. This design allows the user to insert the brush into a vessel and then control how far outward the bristles expand for easy cleaning.

Reinventing The Dishwasher, Caryn Devaney, Carter Fraser, Aaron Walters

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

Most people aren’t excited to do the dishes. Still, washing cookware like pots and pans is an unavoidable task - and even those who own dishwashers typically choose to handwash them after use. After conducting a wide-ranging market survey, we designed a standalone device which can fill the existing gap between handwashing and dishwashing. We successfully built a single pan dishwasher which simulates hand washing to clean nonstick frying pans.

Building A Better Naked-Mole Rat Trap Mems 411- Senior Design Course, Alex Flammond, Lance Middleton, Andrew Chang

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

In this paper, we design, analyze, test, and construct an improved naked mole rat trap for Prof. Stan Braude of Washington University in St. Louis.

Telescoping Cup Holder, Richard Kristian O. Pajarillo, Eric Nehrbas, Charlie Morrow

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

Cup holders are a beloved feature of the modern automobile because they keep your drink stable and close, ensuring that minimal work is needed to grab it. Our mission is to provide a cup holder for everyday use outside of vehicles. Our device will hold drinks of most sizes, and will keep them cool. Motion activation will raise the drink to a convenient height using a telescoping motion, and then lower to a sturdy position that is out of the way. The finished product will minimize the amount of work required to retrieve the drink, and grab some attention as …

An Improve Naked Mole Rat Trap, Group Iii, Spencer Egly, Ted Daley, Andrew Thompson

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

This project attempts to improve on Dr. Stan Braude’s current Naked Mole Rat trap design. Dr. Braude currently uses his trap to catch and tag naked mole rats for his research. While Dr. Braude is happy with his current trap, he designed them himself over twenty years ago, and believes that they can be improved and modernized for increased ease and convenience. The key project goal is to deliver an improved trap to Dr. Braude that will meet his needs. The modifications that this project will attempt to deliver are a repeatable, solar powered trap that is compatible with his …

Four-Wheel Steering, Theodore Wisniewski, Andrew Sparrow, Phil Rowsell

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

This prototype Four-Wheel Steering system is designed for a Formula SAE racecar. Multiple steering geometries can be applied to optimize the handling across a range of speeds. Ackermann steering geometry at low speeds improves the car’s agility in tight, technical race courses. At high speeds the steering transitions to parallel steering geometry, improving stability and giving the driver more precise control over the vehicle. The system fits seamlessly within the rear suspension packaging of the existing WashU Racing vehicle design and minimizes addition of weight by using compact and lightweight electronic linear actuators to steer the rear wheels. In testing …

Group F: Cell Phone Forearm Holder, Jacob Aley, Emily Groth, Sinclair Hodge

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

Design a forearm device that stores cell phones while traveling and provides an easy access apparatus for one handed use on the go. A compression sleeve will be the main feature as it will be the way in which our device will stay on the users arm. An adjustable apparatus that securely holsters the cellphone will be another feature so that our device will be viable for cellphones of varying dimensions. A swivel apparatus that will allow users to select horizontal or vertical viewing of the cellphone while connected to our device. A track system that allows for the movement …

Mechanically Advantageous Wheelchair, Katy Hagerty, Noah Dromgoole, Carlo Balleria, Andrew Orona

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

This project will utilize a gear system to create a multispeed wheelchair. Multiple gears will allow users to adjust the speed of the wheelchair for appropriate scenarios. Our device will be modular and use a different gear mechanism than products currently in the marketplace.

Compact Furniture Dolly, Gary Hu, Jieun Yim, Jason Xie, Jiayi Hou

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

One problem faced by people during moving is how to move large pieces of furniture, i.e. sofa, mattress, table, refrigerator, etc., conveniently without damaging them. A typical small dolly is incapable of carrying such large pieces, and a bulky dolly is inappropriate for an indoor use because it can damage the furniture and the floor. Besides, in either case, the user should lift up and put the load on the dolly. People who want to change positions of their furniture regularly to get a fresh look for the house, it is cumbersome to call a moving company every time. Our …