Engineering Commons^™

Investigation Of Hydropathy Of Proteins, Lipid-Modified Proteins, And Self-Defensive Biomaterials, Jingjing Ji

Dissertations - ALL

Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations serve as crucial tools for unraveling the underlying physical principles governing the structure and functionality of biological macromolecules. Experimental techniques provide valuable results, but sometimes it is quite difficult to explain phenomena at atomic and molecular levels. MD simulations investigate physical motion of atoms and molecules over microsecond time scale and compute the equilibrium properties. In this work, I investigated the hydropathy of proteins, lipid-modified proteins, and self-defensive biomaterials with atomistic MD simulations and coarse-grained (CG) MD simulations. The method, Protocol for Assigning a Residue's Character on a Hydropathy (PARCH) scale, is developed to characterize and …

Recovery Of Cyber Manufacturing Systems From False Data Injection Attacks On Sensors By Reinforcement Learning, Romesh Prasad

Dissertations - ALL

Cyber-manufacturing systems (CMS) represent the future design vision for manufacturing systems, aiming to enhance product quality, and productivity, and reduce downtime. The third industrial revolution was driven by computer systems and automation, while the fourth industrial revolution was inspired by the internet, network, and connectivity. However, this integration also introduces vulnerabilities, particularly through false data injection attacks on sensors. Sensors play a pivotal role in the automation framework of manufacturing systems spanning five levels: process, operational, supervisory, plant, and enterprise. Sensors are instrumental in communicating information from the process level to the enterprise level. It also enables controllers at the …

Urban Scale Vehicle-To-Building-To-Grid Integration Leveraging Human Mobility Modeling, Yapan Liu

Dissertations - ALL

In the United States (U.S.), the buildings sector consumes about 76% of electricity use and 40% of all primary energy use and associated greenhouse gas emissions. Occupant behavior, which includes the presence of people in the space, interactions between the occupant and building systems, and occupant adaptations to the built environment, has a significant impact on the energy consumption of buildings. Many researchers have investigated occupant behaviors at a single building scale, however, very few studies have been conducted at the community scale or urban scale. Our previous review study introduced human mobility modeling approach from other domains into the …

Optimizing Flash Flood Prediction In Arid And Semi-Arid Regions: A Comparative Evaluation Of Infiltration Models And Parameter Estimation Guidance Across Spatial Scales, Sara Rassa

Civil Engineering ETDs

This study improves flash flood prediction by analyzing the vital role of infiltration models in hydrologic modeling, especially for areas with scarce data. It offers new parameter estimation guidance for three infiltration models—initial-constant (IC), linear-constant (LC), and Green-Ampt (GA)—based on plot-scale rainfall simulations. The research emphasizes the impact of soil texture, moisture, and crust on model parameters. A comparative analysis of four models (curve-number, IC, GA, and LC) using data from Arizona's Walnut Gulch Experimental Watershed under different calibration scenarios shows the GA model's superiority in certain conditions, though it faces issues of equifinality in unconstrained calibrations. Meanwhile, the simpler …

Flexural Investigation And Retrofit Of Aashto Type Iii Prestressed Girder-Deck System With Strand Bond Damage, Haoran Ni

Dissertations - ALL

Prestressed concrete (PC) bridge girders play an important role in highway bridges because of their embedded prestressing strands and low cost. They can provide adequate flexural strength depending on the integrity of the concrete-strand bond. However, highway bridges near industrial facilities are often subjected to heavy trucks. Under frequent overloads, the large deflections of bridge girders may induce deterioration of the bond between the strands and concrete at critical sections during bending, resulting in debonding of the strands in the most critical section region, over the span length. This study describes an in-depth analysis of the flexural strength of a …

Multi-Scale Analysis Of The Structure-Mechanics Relationship Of Mycelium-Based Bio-Composites, Libin Yang

Dissertations - ALL

The construction industry faces significant challenges due to the environmental impact of traditional materials like steel and concrete, whose production is energy-intensive and contributes to environmental pollution. This issue is exacerbated by the growing global demand for construction materials, driven by an increasing population. Concurrently, the agricultural and wood industrial sectors produce vast byproducts, such as straw, husk, coir, sawdust, and wood chips. They are often considered as wastes and disposed of through methods like burning. Such a reckless treatment releases greenhouse gases that further lead to environmental degradation. Mycelium, the vegetative part of fungi, presents a natural, promising solution …

Fate, Composition And Formation Of Unknown N-Nitrosamines In Wastewater And Wastewater-Impacted Waters, Changcheng Pu

Dissertations - ALL

N-Nitrosamines form as byproducts during oxidative water treatment or occur as impurities in consumer and industrial products. N-Nitrosamines and their precursors pose significant concerns for water utilities exploiting wastewater-impacted water supplies, as many N-nitrosamines are potential human carcinogens and have genotoxicity. To date, research on N-nitrosamines in environmental engineering has primarily focused on the occurrence, sources, formation, and control of N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) in the broad context of drinking water and wastewater treatment. However, NDMA and the few other N-nitrosamines of current interest only constitute a fraction of the larger pool of total N-nitrosamines (TONO) in source waters and wastewater, while …

Past And Future Predictions Of Climate Change And Urbanization Effects On The Carbon, Nitrogen, And Water Dynamics In Northeastern Forest Ecosystems, Linghui Meng

Dissertations - ALL

Human activities have significantly influenced the structure and function of forest ecosystems in the northeastern US. Urbanization directly reduces forest area and alters forest functions. Forest growth, health, and function can also be affected by climate change, atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations, and air pollution including ground-level ozone (O3) and atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition. Critical questions for research and environmental management are: How will urbanization, climate change, and air pollution interact to influence the function of forest ecosystems, and how will changes in these environmental drivers alter the function of forests in the future? In this dissertation, I simulate the …

Homomeric Tight Junction Strand Assembly Of Claudin Proteins, Patrick Matthew Marsch

Dissertations - ALL

Tight junctions, a form of cell junction, are utilized throughout the animal kingdom in one way or another. Tasked with facilitating a critical blockade between toxins and vital tissues while also allowing small crucial molecules to pass, the tight junction provides an important line of defense against disease. To build this barrier, various proteins with self-assemble within a cell membrane to then zipper with another cell membrane. The strand-like architecture and size & charge selective pore channels created within the barrier are chiefly governed by the claudin family of proteins. Without claudins present, the tight junction cannot form, and toxic …

Synthesis And Design Of High-Silica Pd-Containing Zeolites For The Catalytic Combustion Of Methane, Jingzhi Liu

Dissertations - ALL

Greenhouse gases, notably carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O), are principal contributors to global warming, leading to an incremental rise in Earth's atmospheric temperature. The escalation of these gases, primarily from fossil fuel combustion, deforestation, and industrial processes, enhances the radiative forcing mechanism, thereby trapping excessive solar heat within the atmosphere. Scientific inquiries into the spectral absorption properties and life span of these gases emphasize their varying impacts on Earth's thermal equilibrium. For instance, CO2, with its extensive atmospheric residency, brings a prolonged thermal influence, whereas CH4, while being the cleanest burning fossil fuel that generates far …

A Trustzone-Based Framework To Secure Mobile Financial Transactions And Provide End-To-End Protection For Qr-Code Payments And Credit Card Information, Ammar Salman Salman

Dissertations - ALL

In this work we have developed multiple solutions for financial transactions that can be coordinated to provide high level of security and data integrity, while providing all services with minimum changes in infrastructures, and maximum flexibility. The solutions are novel in many aspects and the generalization is a clear feature. The TrustZone hardware is an important component to ensure high security and protection. The system can function smoothly on any type of operating systems and works with any platform of services in the market. The tested case study is built on the Android system and the ARM TrustZone hardware. This …

Insight Into The Application Of Engineered Phenol Polymer Nanocomposites For Geothermal Well Applications To Modify Fracture Permeability, Fatemeh Hamidi

Civil Engineering ETDs

In enhanced geothermal systems, the efficient transfer of heat from the formation to the fluid circulating through the fracture network can be compromised when thermal short-circuiting occurs due to preferential flow through highly conductive fractures. This study introduces a pioneering approach using newly developed phenol polymer nanocomposites as an engineering solution to address the challenges associated with preferential flow in geothermal wells, which can lead to thermal short-circuiting. Multiple phenol polymer nanocomposites were formulated, incorporating aluminum oxide, COOH-functionalized graphitized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), and graphene nanoparticles, each with a 0.5 wt.% polymer dosage. This research successfully modified the crosslinking process …

Discrete Element Method Investigation Of The Dynamic And Seismic Response Of Embedded Geotechnical Systems, Ahmed Khamiss, Usama El Shamy

Civil and Environmental Engineering Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the seismic response of various embedded geotechnical systems utilizing the discrete element method (DEM). Embedded geotechnical systems play a crucial role in enhancing the stability and resilience of various structures as they provide solid foundations for infrastructural elements such as buildings, bridges, and transportation networks. The behavior of various embedded systems such as tunnels, pier foundations, and wind turbine foundations is investigated when subjected to seismic loading. In the first study, the seismic response of tunnels constructed in a deposit of granular soil of depth greater than 20 m is examined. Three-dimensional discrete element method simulations were …

Beyond The Horizon: Exploring Anomaly Detection Potentials With Federated Learning And Hybrid Transformers In Spacecraft Telemetry, Juan Rodriguez

Computer Science and Engineering Theses and Dissertations

Telemetry sensors play a crucial role in spacecraft operations, providing essential data on efficiency, sustainability, and safety. However, identifying irregularities in telemetry data can be a time-consuming process that risks the success of missions. With the rise of CubeSats and smallsats, telemetry data has become more abundant, but concerns about privacy and scalability have resulted in untapped data potential. To address these issues, we propose a new approach to anomaly detection that utilizes machine learning models at data sources. These models solely transmit weights to a centralized server for aggregation, resulting in improved dataset performance with a single global model. …

Intelligent Resource Allocation For Sdn/Nfv-Enabled Networks Through Reinforcement Learning, Jing Su

Computer Science and Engineering Theses and Dissertations

Software-Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) are two emerging paradigms that enable the feasible and scalable deployment of Virtual Network Functions (VNFs) in commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) devices, which deliver a range of network services with reduced cost. The deployment of these services requires efficient resource allocation that fulfills the requirements in terms of Quality of Service (QoS) and Service-Level Agreement (SLA) while considering the constraints of the underlying infrastructure, such as maximum latency tolerance and affinity policies.

An optimized resource allocation result can benefit the network in various aspects, such as energy-saving, performance boost, and latency reduction. To achieve …

Stimuli-Responsive Glycopolymeric Nanoparticles To Boost Tumor Immunogenicity Through Macrophage-Targeted Therapy, Oluwaseyi Shofolawe-Bakare

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) play a substantial role in sculpting the tumor microenvironment (TME) into an immunosuppressive bastion that undermines immune surveillance and enables tumor progression. They therefore represent a promising therapeutic target to make the TME more conducive for anti-tumor immunity and greatly improve treatment outcomes in cancers that are highly resistant to conventional forms of therapy. Several medications have been developed to modulate the activities of TAMs, showing tremendous potential, but these medications lack specificity for TAMs making their use susceptible to adverse side effects that could outweigh prospective benefits. Sophisticated delivery vehicles that can preferentially deliver these medications …

Development Of Hybrid Multi Criteria Decision Making Techniques For Efficient Cloud Service Selection, Obulaporam Gireesha

Theses and Dissertations

During the past few decades, cloud computing became a primary driver for the next generation of digital technology due to the increase in organizational performance and profitability based on a ‘pay-as-you-use’ fashion at anytime and anywhere across the globe. Cloud computing enables various enterprises to access pooled resources (like storage, network bandwidth, software applications, processing power, etc.) over the Internet with minimal Information Technology (IT) infrastructure and capital expenditure.

Indeed, the enormous popularity of cloud computing in both academia & industry over the decade has resulted in a wide range of similar cloud services offered by numerous service providers. Even …

Neuro-Symbolic Commonsense Reasoning With Resistance To Data Poisoning: A First-Order Logic And Sub-Symbolic Embeddings Framework, Bryce Shurts, King-Ip Lin

Computer Science and Engineering Theses and Dissertations

Commonsense reasoning has long presented a hurdle between conversational agents and their ability to naturally engage with humans in conversation, as the infinitely dimensional nature of a dialogue’s topics presents a significant reasoning challenge in the study of Natural Language Understanding (NLU). Such a system must conceivably be able to act as a generalizable system for evaluating and reasoning about commonsense statements, problems, and queries: in this way, the agent can attempt to quantify the reasonability of a given input. We attempt to address this through the integration of an explainable neuro-symbolic system that leverages Logical Tensor Networks (LTNs) and …

Investigating The Effects Of Suspended Algal Content, Dissolved Oxygen, And Temperature On A High-Frequency Acoustic Attenuation System In A Controlled Laboratory Environment, Noah Watson

Honors Theses

The Single Frequency Acoustic Attenuation System (SFAAS) has been developed at the National Center for Physical Acoustics (NCPA). This system uses acoustic methods to monitor fine suspended sediment concentration in streams. Site-specific calibrations are necessary for this system, and previous research has indicated that algal concentration or dissolved oxygen concentration of water may affect collected data. Temperature, dissolved oxygen concentration, and fluorescence, used as a proxy for algal concentration, were monitored during this system’s use, and calibrations were derived to account for the effect of each of these variables on acoustic measurements. It has been shown that temperature has a …

Process Optimization Of An Ethylbenzene Production Facility Through Integrated Process Simulation And Economic Analysis Methods, Veronica Cunitz

Honors Theses

The following thesis consists of an investigation into the optimization of an ethylbenzene production facility. Aspen Plus software was used to model the production facility and Excel was used to price the facility using Aspen simulation data. This integrated technique was used to optimize the facility based on the Net Present Value (NPV) of the project. The NPV was improved from a base case value of -$23.5 million to a final value of $51.5 million. After this optimization based on NPV, the potential of operating the reactors as isothermal packed bed reactors was investigated. The reactor inlet feed pressure, inlet …

The Effects Of Additive Manufacturing On Canine Hind Limb Repairment Surgery, Annabel Keers

Honors Theses

The intention of this project is to explore some of the ways that additive manufacturing is affecting veterinary medicine. I will specifically be delving into canine hind limb repairment surgeries, such as cranial cruciate ligament reconstruction. 3D printed prototypes have been utilized in the human medical field for quite a while, and it has inspired such technology to expand into the world of veterinary medicine. Such emerging research is expected to take-off as the pet market grows in size and level of care for the health of our animals.

I took special interest in this field as I will be …

Design And Analysis Of Passive Correlator Radio-Frequency Identification Tagging, Albert Kilgore

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is a technology used in many industries to locate and track assets. Passive RFID tags are popular because they are inexpensive and flexible, but they have limited accuracy. My thesis aims to improve the accuracy of passive RFID tags by investigating two solutions: (a) Using orthogonal RFID configuration and exploiting phase information available to an RFID reader, in addition to the received signal strength indicator (RSSI) metric; and (b) Designing a novel voltage multiplier-based correlator circuit that can be integrated directly onto the tag. To further reduce power consumption and silicon area, we propose an architecture …

An Attention Lstm U-Net Model For Drosophila Melanogaster Heart Tube Segmentation, Xiangping Ouyang

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Machine learning is commonly used in biomedical image analysis, as it allows automated image segmentation and identification that minimizes the need for tedious human involvement. Drosophila melanogaster is often used as a cardiac disease model, where optical coherence microscopy (OCM) is used to image and analyze its beating dynamics. As OCM often generates a large volume of images, automated image segmentation is necessary to quantify the heart beating efficiently. Our most recent heart segmentation model, FlyNet 2.0+, is a fully convolutional LSTM U-Net model. However, the performance of the model diminishes in the presence of artifacts, such as image reflection …

Securing The Skies: Safety-Constrained Decentralized Multi-Uav Coordination With Deep Reinforcement Learning, Jean-Elie Pierre

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

In the dynamic landscape of autonomous aerial systems, the integration of uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) has sparked a paradigm shift, offering unprecedented opportunities and challenges in collaborative decision-making and navigation. This thesis explores the application of multi-agent reinforcement learning (MARL) for the planning and coordination of UAVs in complex environments.

The first part of this thesis provides an introduction to single-agent reinforcement learning and MARL. We provide examples of the use of MARL for countering uncrewed aerial systems (C-UAS). We formulate the Counter-UAS problem as a multiagent partially observable Markov decision process (MAPOMDP), and we propose Multi-AGent partial observable deep …

Multi-Physics-Based Modeling Of Cracks In Asphalt Concrete, Md Amanul Hasan

Civil Engineering ETDs

Cracking is the most prevalent distress in an asphalt concrete (AC) pavement, and it leads to structural deterioration and premature failure, thereby costing taxpayers a lot of dollars. Accurately assessing AC's cracking performance is necessary for pavement longevity, yet current methods often fall short. For instance, relying solely on binder creep tests to determine low-temperature grade inadequately predicts the AC pavement's low-temperature cracking problem. Understanding AC's loading rate- and temperature-dependent fracture behavior is crucial for gaining insight into the crack propagation in AC. In the first part of this study, a new physics-based analytical methodology is developed utilizing the bending …

Engineering Composite Gridlines For Improved Solar Module Reliability, Andre Chavez

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

Renewable energy sources, such as solar power, are rapidly expanding worldwide to meet increased energy demands. However, these sources are exposed to challenging environmental stressors, such as extreme wind, heavy snow loads, and hailstorms that can cause irreversible damage to the crystalline semiconductor solar cells. Today, single crystalline silicon solar cells dominate the market, and our work is focused on improving their reliability against environmental stressors. One of the main degradation mechanisms caused by environmental stressors is cell cracks. These microcracks can go virtually undetected and lead to reduced power output from solar modules over time. To solve this engineering …

Evaluation Of Error Sources In Dynamic Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (Mimo) Tests, Odey Yousef

Civil Engineering ETDs

Dynamic testing of systems is used to characterize the relationship between inputs and outputs using frequency response functions (FRFs). Multiple input and multiple output (MIMO) techniques are crucial for realistic representation. In MIMO tests, environmental conditions are replicated by inverting the FRF matrix for input estimation. Steps include system identification, FRF inversion, input estimation, and input application. Each of these steps are nontrivial and require careful attention. Error sources manifest as error between desired and experimental outputs. Significant efforts to minimize this error exist, yet literature lacks a formal understanding of their origins. This research focuses on 3 of these …

Effects Of Print Process Parameters On Droplet-Powder Interaction In Binder Jet Additive Manufacturing, Jacob Lawrence

Theses and Dissertations

Binder jet additive manufacturing (BJ) offers unique advantages, including the ability to produce complex geometries and utilize a wide range of materials, but faces challenges related to part quality and defect formation. This thesis investigates the effects of process parameters on droplet-powder interaction, powder relocation, and line formation in BJ printing. A custom BJ test platform was developed to enable precise control over key process parameters and in-situ monitoring. High-speed synchrotron X-ray imaging revealed modes of powder relocation above and below the powder bed surface. Testing revealed that parameters that increase moisture in the powder bed, such as lower droplet …

Nhrl Competition Combat Robot, Cale Holan

Honors College Theses

The overall objective of this senior design project is for a group of 5 engineers to design and build a National Havoc Robot League (NHRL) qualified combat robot. The design was split into five core systems: chassis, weapon, drivetrain, armor, and electronics. This research will specifically focus on the structural design and fabrication of the robot’s chassis, which is the frame of the robot that houses all systems and internals. The research will also work closely with each branch of the robot to establish the internal bot infrastructure and how each design facet comes together and is secured. Additionally, some …

Development Of A Rapid Bacterial Quantification Method Based On Droplet Microfluidics, Shawn Bliss

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The capacity to identify bacteria quickly and accurately is critical for applications such as medical diagnosis, environmental monitoring, and food safety. For instance, sepsis diagnosis requires blood cultures that take as long as 1-5 days, preventing timely intervention and increasing mortality rate. Here, we propose the joint use of microfluidics and a machine learning algorithm for rapid bacterial cell capture and quantification. The combination of high-throughput droplet microfluidics and a support vector machine (SVM) enables analysis and quantification of bacterial samples within as short as 4 hours. We have performed successful encapsulation of pathogenic bacteria such as E. coli, …