Engineering Commons^™

Knowledge-Infused Statistical Learning For Social Good, Kaushik Roy, Manas Gaur

Publications

Humans are able to provide symbolic knowledge in structured form for potential use by an AI system in learning human-desirable concepts. In clinical settings, for instance, prediction of patient outcomes by an AI can be guided by knowledge from patient history. This history contains concepts such as treatment information, observational and drug-related information, mental health conditions, and severity of disease/disorder. Additionally, there is also often a certain graphical structure to the knowledge among the concepts, for example, ”patient symptoms cause certain tests to be taken”, which in turn affects the prescription of medication. This type of structure between human interpretable …

Airport Ceos And The Decentralized System Of Airports: A Case Study, Marjan Mazza

Publications

The job of the airport CEO is complex with responsibility for the security and safety of a large and dynamic facility and, yet the FAA does not have regulatory qualification and performance standards for the position. The purpose of this qualitative multi-case study was to explore the primary attributes that could be the leading indicators in the event national standards for the hiring of airport CEOs are pursued at major commercial airports. The guiding conceptual framework of the study was to combine competency with the concept of training and development. Airport CEOs from six airport facilities were interviewed, and an …

Factorial Validity Of The Flight Risk Assessment Tool In General Aviation Operations, Flavio A. C. Mendonca, Allen Xie, Chenyu Huang Ph.D.

Publications

The Flight Risk Assessment Tool (FRAT) was developed and is recommended by the Federal Aviation Administration to provide a solution of proactively identifying and mitigating risk before each flight. General aviation (GA) operators are encouraged to adapt the FRAT based upon specific operational characteristics. Currently, most safety management systems-compliant GA operators have implemented various versions of FRATs with different operational purposes. However, the FRAT could be inappropriately implemented because of the dynamic operational features of GA operations. The purpose of this study is to explore insights into potential approaches to validate the FRAT that is used for flight risk assessment …

Wildlife Hazards At Airports: A Practical Review, Robert Sliwinski, Flavio A. C. Mendonca

Publications

Globally, aircraft accidents and incidents due to wildlife strikes are an increasingly serious safety concern;

Airport operators have a professional and legal responsibility to provide an environment conducive to safe aircraft operations;

Airport operators and managers have been sued for property damage and / or for human injuries and death in the aftermath of aircraft accidents due to wildlife strikes.

Assessing The Severity Of Health States Based On Social Media Posts, Shweta Yadav, Joy Prakash Sain, Amit P. Sheth, Asif Ekbal, Sriparna Saha, Pushpak Bhattacharyya

Publications

The unprecedented growth of Internet users has resulted in an abundance of unstructured information on social media including health forums, where patients request healthrelated information or opinions from other users. Previous studies have shown that online peer support has limited effectiveness without expert intervention. Therefore, a system capable of assessing the severity of health state from the patients’ social media posts can help health professionals (HP) in prioritizing the user’s post. In this study, we inspect the efficacy of different aspects of Natural Language Understanding (NLU) to identify the severity of the user’s health state in relation to two perspectives(tasks) …

Explainable Ai Using Knowledge Graphs, Manas Gaur, Ankit Desai, Keyur Faldu, Amit Sheth

Publications

During the last decade, traditional data-driven deep learning (DL) has shown remarkable success in essential natural language processing tasks, such as relation extraction. Yet, challenges remain in developing artificial intelligence (AI) methods in real-world cases that require explainability through human interpretable and traceable outcomes. The scarcity of labeled data for downstream supervised tasks and entangled embeddings produced as an outcome of self-supervised pre-training objectives also hinders interpretability and explainability. Additionally, data labeling in multiple unstructured domains, particularly healthcare and education, is computationally expensive as it requires a pool of human expertise. Consider Education Technology, where AI systems fall along a …

Environmental Advantages In Additive Manufacturing, Analise Walter, Cheryl Marcham

Publications

Additive Manufacturing (AM) is a technology that uses a variety of methods to ultimately apply layers of material and create products (Ford & Despeisse, 2016; Ford, Mortara & Minshall, 2016). Although there has been an expansion in recent technology, AM has been used in manufacturing for a few decades (Ford, Mortara, et al., 2016). Since the late 1980s, AM has grown from simple product designs, with a focus on prototyping and customization, to modern times with billions of dollars in revenue and large-scale production of consumer and industrial products (Cotteleer, 2014). Forecasts showed a near $10 billion market by 2020, …

Automated Disruption Assistance In Brazil, Christian Gruber Delamare, Douglas Cabrera Lopes, Patrice Ramos, Raioni De Oliveira Santos, Leila Halawi

Publications

During the last decade, commercial aviation in Brazil has grown significantly, overcoming the number of 100 million passengers per year. The full operation represents a challenge for the air carriers, especially during flight disruptions. Besides the re-accommodation of the passengers into other flights, under certain circumstances, the ANAC 400 resolution requires the airlines to provide a series of material assistance. Meal, transport, and hotel make part of the exigences stated by the ANAC 400. Our study aims to analyze the current process that is mainly manual and propose to automatize several steps through a self-service solution. The researchers verified the …

Suborbital Payload Testing Aboard Level 3 Rocket Research Platform, Pedro Llanos, Sathya Gangadharan, Nikita Amberkar, Isachi Halphen, Melisa Mastroliberti, Michelle Munasinghe

Publications

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) has launched several suborbital scientific payloads aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard in 2017 and 2019. Students continue gaining hands-on experience in rocket design and construction, and payload integration and testing of future and more mature payloads to be launched into space. A Level 3 Rocket is being designed and developed at ERAU to serve as a scaled-down model research platform for launching and testing of payloads that will be later flown in commercial suborbital platforms such as Blue Origin’s New Shepard and PLD space Miura 1 rockets. Computer simulations were conducted to calculate the key parameters …

Airport Operations Delays And Possible Mitigation Through Electric Taxi Systems: A Qualitative Case Study, David Cross, Kristy Kiernan, Mark Scharf Phd

Publications

Airline daily departures, not including private aircraft, increased from 25,143 in 2000 to 36,722 in 2017. More passengers necessitate more aircraft and more flights. With more aircraft at terminals, ground delays, based on current airport design, will continue to increase. Systems that allow for reduced aircraft time on the ground will improve airline economics and airport operations, in addition, will reduce airline delays both for departure and arrival at the gate. The purpose of this qualitative research study was to explore the efficacy, from ramp controllers’ perspectives, of equipping airliners with an electric taxi system. Prototype electric taxi systems have …

Set And Spike: Mentoring A Student-Athlete In Stem For Undergraduate Engineering Education Research, Leroy Long Iii, Mckenna D. Gooch

Publications

It is well known that student-athletes are more diverse and higher academic achievers, on average, than their collegiate peers. However, little research has explored the mentoring relationships of student-athletes who conduct undergraduate research. Unique challenges and opportunities exist for student-athletes and faculty when it comes to mentoring undergraduate research in fields like science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Using a collaborative autoethnographic methodological approach and apprenticeship theory, our personal narratives detail how an engineering professor mentored a former engineering student-athlete for undergraduate engineering education research. We offer several findings and recommendations.

Monte Carlo Simulations Of Coupled Transient Seepage Flow And Compressive Stress In Levees, Fred Thomas Tracy, Ghada Ellithy, Jodi L. Ryder, Martin T. Schultz, Benjamin R. Breland, T. Chris Massey, Maureen K. Corcoran

Publications

The purpose of this research is to compare the results from two different computer programs of flow analyses of two levees at Port Arthur, Texas where rising water of a flood from Hurricane Ike occurred on the levees. The first program (Program 1) is a two-dimensional (2-D) transient finite element program that couples the conservation of mass flow equation with accompanying hydraulic boundary conditions with the conservation of force equations with accompanying x and y displacement and force boundary conditions, thus yielding total head, x displacement, and y displacement as unknowns at each finite element node. The second program (Program …

Thermodynamic Model Of Co2 Deposition In Cold Climates, Sandra K. S. Boetcher, Ted Von Hippel, Matthew J. Traum

Publications

A thermodynamic model, borrowing ideas from psychrometric principles, of a cryogenic direct-air CO2-capture system utilizing a precooler is used to estimate the optimal CO2 removal fraction to minimize energy input per tonne of CO2. Energy costs to operate the system scale almost linearly with the temperature drop between the ingested air and the cryogenic desublimation temperature of CO2, driving siting to the coldest accessible locations. System performance in three Arctic/Antarctic regions where the proposed system can potentially be located is analyzed. Colder ambient temperatures provide colder system input air temperature yielding lower CO2 removal energy requirements. A case is also …

Comparison Study Of Mold Growth Resistance Of Plastic Based Material Flooring (Pbm Flooring) And Ceramic Tile Flooring, Jyothi Rangineni, Jeremy Tzeng

Publications

Clemson University Department of Biological Sciences and Tile Council of North America Product Performance Testing Laboratory evaluated whether ceramic tile and Plastic Based Material (PBM¹) flooring support mold growth when exposed to fungal spores.

Mold grows in moisture-rich environments and requires only minimal sources of nutrition to support growth. It has long been identified to cause damage to buildings and construction materials and its presence in buildings has been connected to many major health concerns with various studies and reviews published on this matter.²

The method used to evaluate mold growth was ASTM G21-96 (2015).³ This …

An Algorithm For Coupling Multibranch In Vitro Experiment To Numerical Physiology Simulation For A Hybrid Cardiovascular Model, Ehsan Mirzaei, Masoud Farahmand, Ethan Kung

Publications

The hybrid cardiovascular modeling approach integrates an in vitro experiment with a computational lumped‐parameter simulation, enabling direct physical testing of medical devices in the context of closed‐loop physiology. The interface between the in vitro and computational domains is essential for properly capturing the dynamic interactions of the two. To this end, we developed an iterative algorithm capable of coupling an in vitro experiment containing multiple branches to a lumped‐parameter physiology simulation. This algorithm identifies the unique flow waveform solution for each branch of the experiment using an iterative Broyden's approach. For the purpose of algorithm testing, we first used mathematical …

Standardized Waterproof Testing Of Plastic Based Material Flooring (Pbm Flooring), John P. Sanders, Cody Spence

Publications

Tile Council of North America Product Performance Testing Laboratory, under the direction of Dr. John Sanders of the Bishop Materials Laboratory at Clemson University, evaluated the extent that water can leak through plastic based material (PBM)¹ floor coverings advertised as 100% waterproof. To make this assessment, product literature was examined to determine which test methods were used to support the manufacturers’² claims of products being waterproof. Neither test methods or data to justify a 100% waterproof claim were found, despite a thorough review of product literature.³

ASTM, ANSI, ISO, and CEN standards were examined for relevant test …

Wet Slip Resistance Of Plastic Based Material Flooring (Pbm Flooring), John P. Sanders, Grant Davidson

Publications

Tile Council of North America Product Performance Testing Laboratory, under the direction of Dr. John Sanders of the Bishop Materials Laboratory at Clemson University, measured the wet Dynamic Coefficient of Friction (DCOF) of 22 plastic based material (PBM¹) flooring products that manufacturers² advertise or claim to be waterproof, water resistant, or depict being used in areas where flooring gets wet.³ The claims suggest that such PBM products can be used where exposed to water. However, product literature for only five products tested in this report cautioned the products can be potentially slippery when wet, and no …

Fatigue Issues And Mitigation Strategies In Collegiate Aviation, Flavio A. C. Mendonca Ph.D., Julius Keller, Erik Levin, Aaron Teo

Publications

The reduction of fatigue-related accidents has been in the NTSB most wanted list since 2016 (NSTB, 2019).

Most research studies have focused on fatigue identification and management within the commercial and/or military aviation environments (Caldwell et al., 2009; Gawron, 2016; Sieberichs & Kluge, 2016).

However, collegiate aviation may be the most challenging in terms of fatigue mitigation. Flight instructors and students often have schedules which may increase the risks for fatigue.

A Survey Of Mathematical Models Of Human Performance Using Power And Energy, Vijay Sarthy Mysore Sreedhara, Gregory M. Mocko, Randolph E. Hutchison

Publications

The ability to predict the systematic decrease of power during physical exertion gives valuable insights into health, performance, and injury. This review surveys the research of power-based models of fatigue and recovery within the area of human performance. Upon a thorough review of available literature, it is observed that the two-parameter critical power model is most popular due to its simplicity. This two-parameter model is a hyperbolic relationship between power and time with critical power as the power-asymptote and the curvature constant denoted by W′. Critical power (CP) is a theoretical power output that can be sustained indefinitely by …

Where We Are With Enterprise Architecture, Leila Halawi, Richard Mccarthy, James Farah

Publications

Enterprise architecture has been continuously developing since the mid-1980s. Although there is now 35 years of research and use, there is still a lack consistent definitions and standards. This is apparent in the proliferation of so many different enterprise architecture frameworks. Despite the significant body of research, there is a need for standardization of terminology based upon a meta-analysis of the literature. Enterprise architecture programs require commitment throughout an organization to be effective and must be perceived to add value. This research offers an initial basis for researchers who need to expand and continue this research topic with an actual …

Mitigating The Risk Of Bird Strikes: The Use Of Virtual Reality During Flight Training, Flavio A. C. Mendonca Ph.D., Julius Keller Ph.D., Chien-Tsung Lu, Chenyu Huang Ph.D.

Publications

There were 193,969 wildlife strikes in the US from 1990 through 2017. Wildlife strikes annually cost the US civil aviation industry, on average, $186 million in monetary losses and 111,284 hours of aircraft downtime (Dolbeer & Begier, 2019). According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Aeronautical Decision-Making (ADM) is a systematic approach that encourages pilots to identify hazards and manage risks (FAA, 2016). Additionally, it helps aviators to make timely and safe decisions. Even though it is practically impossible to eliminate the risk of bird strikes, crewmembers play a vital role in the accident prevention process (Mendonca, Carney, & Fanjoy, …

Security Of The Internet Of Things: Vulnerabilities, Attacks And Countermeasures, Ismail Butun, Houbing Song, Patrik Osterberg

Publications

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) constitute one of the most promising third-millennium technologies and have wide range of applications in our surrounding environment. The reason behind the vast adoption of WSNs in various applications is that they have tremendously appealing features, e.g., low production cost, low installation cost, unattended network operation, autonomous and longtime operation. WSNs have started to merge with the Internet of Things (IoT) through the introduction of Internet access capability in sensor nodes and sensing ability in Internet-connected devices. Thereby, the IoT is providing access to huge amount of data, collected by the WSNs, over the Internet. Hence, …

Factors Affecting Cardiovascular Physiology In Cardiothoracic Surgery: Implications For Lumped-Parameter Modeling, Joshua Kaufmann, Ethan Kung

Publications

Cardiothoracic surgeries are complex procedures during which the patient cardiovascular physiology is constantly changing due to various factors. Physiological changes begin with the induction of anesthesia, whose effects remain active into the postoperative period. Depending on the surgery, patients may require the use of cardiopulmonary bypass and cardioplegia, both of which affect postoperative physiology such as cardiac index and vascular resistance. Complications may arise due to adverse reactions to the surgery, causing hemodynamic instability. In response, fluid resuscitation and/or vasoactive agents with varying effects may be used in the intraoperative or postoperative periods to improve patient hemodynamics. These factors have …

Factors Affecting Cardiovascular Physiology In Cardiothoracic Surgery: Implications For Lumped-Parameter Modeling, Joshua Kaufmann, Ethan Kung

Publications

Cardiothoracic surgeries are complex procedures during which the patient cardiovascular physiology is constantly changing due to various factors. Physiological changes begin with the induction of anesthesia, whose effects remain active into the postoperative period. Depending on the surgery, patients may require the use of cardiopulmonary bypass and cardioplegia, both of which affect postoperative physiology such as cardiac index and vascular resistance. Complications may arise due to adverse reactions to the surgery, causing hemodynamic instability. In response, fluid resuscitation and/or vasoactive agents with varying effects may be used in the intraoperative or postoperative periods to improve patient hemodynamics. These factors have …

Effective Capacity In Wireless Networks: A Comprehensive Survey, Muhammad Amjad, Mubashir Husain Rehmani, Leila Musavian

Publications

Low latency applications, such as multimedia communications, autonomous vehicles, and Tactile Internet are the emerging applications for next-generation wireless networks, such as 5th generation (5G) mobile networks. Existing physical layer channel models, however, do not explicitly consider quality of service (QoS) aware related parameters under specific delay constraints. To investigate the performance of low-latency applications in future networks, a new mathematical framework is needed. Effective capacity (EC), which is a link-layer channel model with QoS-awareness, can be used to investigate the performance of wireless networks under certain statistical delay constraints. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive survey on existing …

Reduction Of Structural Damage From The Thermal Expansion Of Concrete Using Multifunctional Materials, Darren Hartl, Mirmilad Mirsayar

Publications

This study leveraged past successes in the analysis and design of shape memory alloy (SMA) components to address the issue of thermal expansion in concrete structures. Since the SMA used in the current work is relatively cheaper than other common SMAs (less than $50/lb compared to NiTi which is $200/lb due to difficulties in processing), it is anticipated that the findings of the study could be implemented in real infrastructures made of concrete, asphalt concrete, and other complex large infrastructure. Low-cost Fe-SMAs and other multifunctional materials can be considered as a replacement for components made of steel (e.g., in reinforced …

Soil-Recycled Aggregate-Geopolymer Road Base/Subbase Mixtures: Steps Towards Sustainability, Mohammad Khattak, Daniel Odion

Publications

This study deals with the development of Soil-Geopolymer mixtures using flyash, alkali activator and recycled aggregates (RAG) including recycled concrete (RCA) and reclaimed asphalt (RAP) as an alternative to soil-cement for pavement base and subbase layers. Several mix constituents were varied such as flyash type and content, RCA and RAP content and ratio of sodium silicate and sodium hydroxide. Experiment design was established and mechanical and durability characteristics of Soil-RAG-Geopolymer mixtures were evaluated and then compared to the conventional soil-cement mixtures. The results of the testing showed that for the selected Soil-RAG-Geopolymer mixtures the strength, stiffness, permanent deformation, and durability …

The Impact Of Hurricane Harvey On Pavement Structures In The South East Texas And South West Louisiana, Stefan Romanoschi

Publications

This study developed a methodology to estimate the damage caused by flooding, such that caused by Hurricane Harvey, on a road or street network. The flooded street or pavement sections are identified using GIS flood maps with street GIS maps used for pavement management systems (PMS) by cities or state authorities. Then the damage caused by flooding directly through the increase moisture in foundation layers or indirectly due to the increase heavy traffic during the relief effort is estimated. An example Excel macro was created to illustrate the estimation process. The methodology estimates the increase in rehabilitation costs since the …

The Flight Risk Perception Scale (Frps): A Modified Risk Perception Scale For Measuring Risk Of Pilots In Aviation, Scott R. Winter, Dothag Truong, Joseph R. Keebler

Publications

Risk and risk perception remain focal areas of research within the aviation domain. The purpose of the current study was to assess an existing measure of a 26-item self-risk perception scale for pilots. A sample of 490 participants was used in the present study, and a confirmatory factor analysis was conducted on the original 26-item instrument. The findings indicated that there was a poor model fit of the original instrument. Through the use of modification indices, a new 13-item scale was produced, which resulted in a second-order CFA model. Flight risk was shown to be the second-order construct with general …

Transformative And Disruptive Role Of Local Direct Current Power Networks In Power And Transportation Sectors, Prahaladh Paniyil, Rajendra Singh, Amir A. Asif, Vishwas Powar, Guneet Bedi, John Kimsey

Publications

The power sector is about to undergo a major disruptive transformation. In this paper, we have discussed the best possible energy solution for addressing the challenges of climate change and eradication of energy poverty. This paper focusses on the decentralized power generation, storage and distribution through photovoltaics and lithium batteries. It encompasses the need for local direct current (DC) power through the factors driving this change. The importance of local DC power in the transportation sector is also established. Finally, we conclude with data bolstering our argument towards the paradigm shift in the power network.