Engineering Commons^™

System-Wide Prediction Of General, All-Cause, Preventable Hospital Readmissions, Ken Musselman, Brandon Pope, Steve Witz, Zhiyi Tian, Lingsong Zhang, Linda Leon, Ann Davis

RCHE Publications

Existing studies of hospital readmissions typically focus on specific diagnoses, age groups, discharge dispositions, payer classes, or hospitals, and often use small samples. It is not clear how predictive models generated from such studies generalize across diseases, hospitals, or time periods. In this study, a logistic regression model of readmission risk within 30 days based on hospital administrative data was constructed and validated across hospitals and time periods. The hospitals included both general and specialty hospitals such as long-term care, women’s, and children’s hospitals. The administrative data included information on patient’s demographics, diagnoses, procedures, and discharge disposition. Derivation and validation …

Systematic Literature Review Of The Use Of Rich Media In Stem And Related Education, Tony A. Lowe

School of Engineering Education Graduate Student Series

The use of video in pedagogy is well established in the modern classroom with researched understanding of its benefits. Prior literature reviews provide a foundation for the impacts within a wide scope of environments and subjects. These reviews primarily have looked at students and faculty attitudes, learning outcomes, and the impact on attendance. The impact has been spread over general subject matter with little focus on the often challenging topics of STEM education. Many topics in STEM education are highly procedural, such as mathematical proofs or writing code or conducting experiments. Understanding the costs and benefits of using video to …

Effect Of Strontium In Soldering Resistance, Pengyu Zhu

Purdue Polytechnic Masters Theses

ABSTRACT

Pengyu Zhu. M.S., Purdue University, December 2015. Effect of Strontium in Soldering Resistance. Major Professor: Qingyou Han.

Extrusive effect has been taken in the area of die soldering study because such phenomenon is responsible to die failures. Die failure causes huge amount of maintenance cost and machines shutting down. Knowing the mechanism of die soldering and soldering resistance saves not only money but also reduces machine downtime. Industry has found that strontium, instead of iron conventionally, has significant effect in enhancing soldering resistance of H13 steel. Previous studies on strontium effect proposed the ideas that strontium changed the surface …

Plasma Membrane Temperature Gradients And Multiple Cell Permeabilization Induced By Low Peak Power Density Femtosecond Lasers, Allen L. Garner, Bogdan Neculaes, Maxim Deminsky, Dmitry V. Dylov, Chulmin Joo, Evelina R. Loghin, Siavash Yazdanfar, Kenneth R. Conway

School of Nuclear Engineering Faculty Publications

Calculations indicate that selectively heating the extracellular media induces membrane temperature gradients that combine with electric fields and a temperature-induced reduction in the electro- permeabilization threshold to potentially facilitate exogenous molecular delivery. Experiments by a wide-field, pulsed femtosecond laser with peak power density far below typical single cell optical de- livery systems confirmed this hypothesis. Operating this laser in continuous wave mode at the same average power permeabilized many fewer cells, suggesting that bulk heating alone is insufficient and temperature gradients are crucial for permeabilization. This work suggests promising opportunities for a high throughput, low cost, contactless method for laser …

The Impact Of Crystal Morphology On The Thermal Responses Of Ultrasonically-Excited Energetic Materials, J. K. Miller, J. O. Mares, I. E. Gunduz, Steven F. Son, Jeff Rhoads

Purdue Energetics Research Center Articles

The ability to detect explosive materials may be significantly enhanced with local increases in vapor pressure caused by an elevation of the materials'temperature. Recently, ultrasonic excitation has been shown to generate heat within plastic-bonded energetic materials. To investigate the impact of crystal morphology on this heating, samples of elastic binder are implanted with single ammonium perchlorate crystals of two distinct shape groups. Contact piezoelectric transducers are then used to excite the samples at ultrasonicfrequencies. The thermal responses of the crystals are recorded using infrared thermography, and the rate of heating is estimated. Surface temperature increases up to 15 °C …

Concise Handbook For Temporary Traffic Control, Indiana Ltap, Ohio Department Of Transportation

Indiana Local Technical Assistance Program (LTAP) Publications

This handbook gives the basic principles and provides examples for the design, application, installation, and maintenance of the various types of traffic control devices used in temporary traffic control or for incident management. Traffic control in roundabouts has been included in this version. The guidelines presented are in accordance with the standards provided within the Indiana Manual for Uniform Traffic Control Devices (IMUTCD). This handbook is based upon one created by the Ohio Department of Transportation, Guidelines for Traffic Control in Work Zones. Indiana LTAP expresses thanks to ODOT for their permission to reprint this material.

Stormwater Drainage Manual 2015, Christopher B. Burke, Thomas T. Burke

Indiana Local Technical Assistance Program (LTAP) Publications

This manual is a comprehensive catalog of procedures, design methods and criteria, and general background information which will enable the designer to quickly learn or review the basic principles of storm drainage design. Subjects included are precipitation and hydrological cycle, runoff and its estimation, open channels, flow in gutters and inlets, stormwater storage, storm sewer system design, computer applications for computing watershed runoff, and water quality. Included in the appendices are basics of statistical analysis, fundamentals of hydraulics, and a list of regulatory agencies and governmental bodies which may have jurisdiction over drainage projects. A chapter on green infrastructure has …

Implementation Of A Novel Hydraulic Hybrid Powertrain In A Sports Utility Vehicle, Michael Sprengel, Tyler Bleazard, Hiral Haria, Monika Ivantysynova

School of Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

Hydraulic hybrid transmissions offer an efficient and high performance alternative to electric hybrid transmission in on-road vehicles. One of the principle benefits of hydraulic over electric hybrids is the higher power density offered by their energy storage media. This enables hydraulic hybrids to capture virtually all of the available kinetic energy from braking. In contrast electric hybrids are often forced to dissipate part of this energy through friction brakes due to the lower power density inherent in their energy storage media. To date various hydraulic hybrid architectures have been investigated and put into production. However as is typically true there …

Development Of Load Rating Procedures For Railroad Flatcars For Use As Highway Bridges Based On Experimental And Numerical Studies - Phase Iii Final Report, Kadir Can Sener, Teresa L. Washeleski, Robert Connor

Indiana Local Technical Assistance Program (LTAP) Technical Reports

This report presents the result of finite element analysis of laboratory testing of a railroad flatcar bridge in which several parameters were varied including the spacing between flatcars, load position, and member relative stiffness. The results were used to improve previously proposed load rating guidelines developed for railroad flatcar bridges constructed with composite concrete decks.

2015 Statewide Bridge Sufficiency Rating Report - Condensed, Indiana Ltap, Indiana Department Of Transportation, Indiana Department Of Local Government Finance

Indiana Local Technical Assistance Program (LTAP) Publications

The main purpose of this report is to provide bridge sufficiency rating information for the bridges in each county to county officials as a convenient starting point for formulating a long-range plan to cope with their county bridge deficiencies. This information results from the data generated by the national Bridge Inspection Standards (NBIS) program authorized by the 1968 Federal-Aid Highway Act.

2015 Statewide Bridge Sufficiency Rating Report - Full, Indiana Ltap, Indiana Department Of Transportation, Indiana Department Of Local Government Finance

Indiana Local Technical Assistance Program (LTAP) Publications

The main purpose of this report is to provide bridge sufficiency rating information for the bridges in each county to county officials as a convenient starting point for formulating a long-range plan to cope with their county bridge deficiencies. This information results from the data generated by the national Bridge Inspection Standards (NBIS) program authorized by the 1968 Federal-Aid Highway Act.

Post-Tensioned Concrete Shear Wall, Purdue Ect Team

ECT Fact Sheets

The post-tension concrete shear wall by Tipping Mar will replace the conventional concrete shear wall in earthquake prone areas in many instances, depending on the height and scale of the building.

Rapid Drying Concrete, Purdue Ect Team

ECT Fact Sheets

One of the essential problems that are faced during construction is the drying of concrete and the presence of moisture which affects floor coverings that need to be placed. The rapid-drying characteristic in Aridusâ concrete allows for the quick reduction of moisture vapor that travels through the concrete pores of the concrete.

Ap Alternatives Modular Solar Racking, Purdue Ect Team

ECT Fact Sheets

Solar panels have been used to generate and supply electricity in various applications such as residential and commercial buildings. Therefore, a need for a quicker approach to installation as well as the need to reduce workmanship to speed up the process is needed. Solar racks are developed through the use of automated equipment to “preassemble the racking hardware, pre-install the solar modules, and drive helical anchors into the ground rapidly”. So instead of installing one panel at a time, AP Alternatives has created a new method that uses machines to make the process easier. This new automation of the installation …

Prefabricated Building, Purdue Ect Team

ECT Fact Sheets

With the continuous demand for construction of new buildings, an easier, more sustainable, energy-efficient and environmentally friendly building method is necessary to save time, energy and cost. Hence, there has been an increasing need for a system such as BROAD sustainable building (BSB). A form of prefabricated building by BROAD Sustainable Building Co., LTD (BSB). It consists of flooring and ceiling, embedded shafts of ventilation, water supply & drainage, electricity and lighting. Other items include pillars, diagonal bracings, doors, windows, walls and sanitary wares, air conditioning, air quality products, lifts, building thermal insulations.

Vertical Icf Wall System, Purdue Ect Team

ECT Fact Sheets

Traditional ICF systems’ installation is tedious and labor intensive resulting in out of level, bowing, and snaking walls with a significant amount of bracing adding to the cost. ICF (Insulated Concrete Form) walls are a form of structural walls used for construction. Hobbs Vertical ICF system uses less concrete, more recycled material and requires less labor for construction. The furring assemblies and retainer clips of the Hobbs VICF system are made from 100% recycled post-industrial waste.

3d Printing For Bricks, Purdue Ect Team

ECT Fact Sheets

Building Bytes, by Brian Peters, is a project that uses desktop 3D printers to print bricks for architecture. Instead of using an expensive custom-made printer, it uses a normal standard 3D printer which is available for everyone and makes it more accessible and also easier for fabrication.

Entropy Minimization Design Approach Of Supersonic Internal Passages, Jorge Sousa, Guillermo Paniagua

School of Aeronautics and Astronautics Faculty Publications

Fluid machinery operating in the supersonic regime unveil avenues towards more compact technology. However, internal supersonic flows are associated with high aerodynamic and thermal penalties, which usually prevent their practical implementation. Indeed, both shock losses and the limited operational range represent particular challenges to aerodynamic designers that should be taken into account at the initial phase of the design process. This paper presents a design methodology for supersonic passages based on direct evaluations of the velocity field using the method of characteristics and computation of entropy generation across shock waves. This meshless function evaluation tool is then coupled to an …

Lignopolymers As Viscosity-Reducing Additives In Magnesium Oxide Suspensions, Lisa R. Murray, Chetali Gupta, Newell R. Washburn, Kendra Erk

School of Materials Engineering Faculty Publications

Lignopolymers are a new class of polymer additives with the capability to be used as dispersants in cementitious pastes. Made with kraft lignin cores and grafted polymer side- chains, the custom-synthesized lignopolymers were examined in terms of the molecular architecture for viscosity reducing potential in inert model suspensions. Lignin-poly(acrylic acid) (LPAA) and lignin-polyacrylamide (LPAm) have been found to vary the rheology of magnesium oxide (MgO) suspensions based on differences in chain architecture and particle- polymer interactions. A commercial comb-polymer polycarboxylate ester was compared to LPAA and LPAm at 2.7 mg/mL, a typical dosage for cement admixtures, as well as 0.25 …

Identifying Sources Of Information That Students Use In Deciding Which Engineering Major To Pursue, Héctor E. Rodríguez-Simmonds, Juan D. Ortega-Alvarez, S. Zahra Atiq, Stephen R. Hoffmann

School of Engineering Education Graduate Student Series

This study explores the sources of information that first year engineering students use to decide which engineering major to pursue for their undergraduate studies. The purposes of this study are twofold: (1) to understand how students make an informed decision of which engineering major to pursue and (2) to help the First Year Engineering (FYE) program administration improve the informational resources they provide the students. This study was framed within the FYE population of a large Midwestern university and was commissioned by the FYE program.

FYE administration conducts regular student surveys for feedback and improvement purposes. We analyzed different survey …

Academic Outcomes Of Cooperative Education Participation, Nichole Ramirez, Joyce Main, Matthew Ohland

School of Engineering Education Graduate Student Series

Academic Outcomes of Cooperative Education ParticipationOutcomes and benefits of cooperative education (co-op) participation have been welldocumented; however, they have focused primarily on grade point averages (GPA) and careeroutcomes. Previous work on predictors of participation shows no significant differences bygender in the aggregate, but there are significant differences by ethnicity and major. Women inMechanical Engineering and Aerospace Engineering (especially Hispanic women) persist athigher rates than men, possibly indicating that gender becomes significant in academicoutcomes. One reason students may not participate in co-op is the perception of increased time tograduation; however, other benefits may outweigh that. This research furthers the literature byexamining …

Mathematics As A Gatekeeper To Engineering: Preliminary Findings From The Interview Data, Delean Tolbert, Monica Cardella

School of Engineering Education Graduate Student Series

Mathematics as a Gatekeeper to Engineering: Preliminary Findings from the Interview DataResearch suggests that students’ pre-college experience may support or hinder future success inengineering. The experiences that students have had with engineering may shape their perceptionof engineering curriculum at the college level. It may also cause cognitive and learningdissonance, when the ways that a student engaged with engineering activities at the pre-collegelevel do not align with the student’s experiences in the engineering classroom. At a largeMidwestern University with a unique first-year engineering program, first-year engineering andsenior mathematics, engineering, and design students were invited to participate in an openended design task. …

Assessing Impact Of Exposure To Cyberphysical Systems On Student Interest In Information Technology Careers, Mayari I. Serrano Anazco

Purdue Polytechnic Masters Theses

The main purpose of this project is to determine if the use of Information Technology (IT) tools, specifically cyberphysical devices, in outreach sessions will promote interest of young individuals in pursuing IT careers. The Diversity office of Purdue’s College of Technology offers a number of outreach sessions to a variety of target populations throughout the year. Each department in the college has an opportunity to present a session related to a field of study offered by the department. The research was carried out thru the Spring 2015 semester during the DOiT and Vision outreach programs offered through the college’s Diversity …

Simulations Of Nanoscale Ni/Al Multilayer Foils With Intermediate Ni2al3 Growth, I. E. Gunduz, S. Onel, C. C. Doumanidis, C. Rebholz, Steven F. Son

Purdue Energetics Research Center Articles

Nanoscale multilayers of binary metallic systems, such as nickel/aluminum, exhibit self-propagating exothermic reactions due to the high formation enthalpy of the intermetallic compounds. Most of the previous modelingapproaches on the reactions of this system rely on the use of mass diffusionwith a phenomenological derived diffusion coefficient representing single-phase (NiAl) growth, coupled with heat transport. We show that the reaction kinetics, temperatures, and thermal front width can be reproduced more satisfactorily with the sequential growth of Ni2Al3 followed by NiAl, utilizing independently obtained interdiffusivities. The computational domain was meshed with a dynamically generated bi-modal grid consisting of fine and coarse zones …

The Integration Of Heat Resources In A Solar Thermal-Heat Pump Hydronic System, John Degrove

Purdue Polytechnic Masters Theses

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, roughly 41% of the energy consumed in the U.S. is used the power buildings. Within that number, almost half is used to heat or cool the building. Current technologies allow for consistent thermal management, but most utilize energy harvested from fossil fuels or convert electricity back into thermal energy. Background literature shows that the utilization of alternative heat resources such as heat pumps and solar thermal collectors can greatly reduce the energy used for heat delivery while producing adequate heating performance. A combined hydronic system using a bank of solar thermal collectors in …

Cloud Enabled Attack Vectors, Ryan Jasper

Purdue Polytechnic Directed Projects

The purpose of this directed project and related research was to demonstrate and catalog a new attack vector that utilizes cloud managed infrastructure. Cloud computing is a recent trend that is creating significant hype in the IT sector. Being that cloud computing is a new theme in the computing world, there are many security concerns that remain unknown and unexplored. The product of this directed project provides a documented taxonomy of the new attack vector and how to mitigate risk from this kind of attack.

The new attack vector creates efficiencies throughout the lifecycle of an attack and greatly reduces …

2015 Directory Of Indiana State, County, City And Town Officials Responsible For Road And Street Work, Indiana Ltap

Indiana Local Technical Assistance Program (LTAP) Directory

Contact information for local agency officials and employees responsible for Indiana’s local road infrastructure.

Electronic Desalting For Controlling The Ionic Environment In Droplet-Based Biosensing Platforms, Vikhram Vilasur Swaminathan, Piyush Dak, Bobby Reddy Jr, Eric Salm, Carlos Duarte-Guevara, Yu Zhong, Andrew Fischer, Yi-Shao Liu, Rashid Bashir

Birck and NCN Publications

The ability to control the ionic environment in saline waters and aqueous electrolytes is useful for desalination as well as electronic biosensing. We demonstrate a method of electronic desalting at micro-scale through on-chip micro electrodes. We show that, while desalting is limited in bulk solutions with unlimited availability of salts, significant desalting of ≥1 mM solutions can be achieved in sub-nanoliter volume droplets with diameters of ∼250 μm. Within these droplets, by using platinum-black microelectrodes and electrochemical surface treatments, we can enhance the electrode surface area to achieve >99% and 41% salt removal in 1 mM and 10 mM salt …

Waste And Duplication In Nasa Programs: The Need To Enhance U.S. Space Program Efficiency, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

The U.S. Government faces acute budgetary deficits and national debt problems in the Obama Administration. These problems have been brought about by decades of unsustainable government spending affecting all agencies including the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. (NASA). An outgrowth of this fiscal profligacy is the presence of wasteful and duplicative programs within NASA that prevent this agency from achieving its space science and human spaceflight objectives. These problems occur due to mismanagement of these programs from NASA and the creation of these programs by the U.S. Congress and congressional committees. This occurs because congressional appropriators tend to be more …

Simultaneous X-Ray Diffraction And Phase-Contrast Imaging For Investigating Material Deformation Mechanisms During High-Rate Loading, M Hudspeth, T Sun, N Parab, Z Guo, K Fezzaa, S Luo, Weinong W. Chen

Purdue Energetics Research Center Articles

No abstract provided.