Engineering Commons^™

New System For The Continuous Removal Of Bio-Char From Bubbling Bed Pyrolyzers, Craig Mara, Lorenzo Ferrante, Franco Berruti, Cedric Briens

Bioenergy III: Present and New Perspectives on Biorefineries

No abstract provided.

Blood Vessel Diameter Estimation System Using Active Contours, Jane Courtney, Ana Tizon

Conference Papers

The study and analysis of blood vessel geometry has become the basis of medical applications related to early diagnosis and effective monitoring of therapies in vascular diseases. This paper presents a new method to trace the outline of blood vessels from imperfect images and extract useful information about their dimensions in an automated manner. The system consists of a segmentation procedure that uses two Active Contours to detect blood vessel boundaries and a novel approach to measure blood vessel diameters directly as the distance between two points. We have succeeded in designing and implementing an automated, robust, measurement method that …

Characterising 3d Soft Tissue Features On Joint Surfaces, Colm O'Kane

Other resources

A crucial aspect of orthopaedic implant design is the prediction of surgical outcomes when the shape of a bone is necessarily altered by the addition of the implant. Matching native kinematics as closely as possible is generally considered a core aim of joint replacement surgery. The overall hypothesis behind this research is that soft tissue geometry, including cartilage thickness distribution and ligament attachment sites, influences kinematics in the knee joint. In order to enable investigation of possible links between geometry and kinematics, the ability to characterise the shape variation of the soft tissue relative to the underlying bony geometry must …

4-Bit Adder Design And Simulation, Amin Atwa, Ahmed Samir, Fady Soliman

Papers, Posters, and Presentations

The project is to design a 4-bit digital adder, while taking care of performance parameters: area, speed and power consumption, the team has chosen to design according to the cost function: Area*Delay*Power. The project is implemented in three phases: research phase, simulation phase, and evaluation/re-evaluation phase. The adder circuit implemented as Ripple-Carry Adder (RCA), the team added improvements to overcome the disadvantages of the RCA architecture, for instance the first 1-bit adder is a Half Adder, which is faster and more power-efficient, the team was also carefully choosing the gates to match the stated cost function. Gates are implemented using …

Latest Developments On Application Of Heterogenous Basic Catalysts For An Efficient And Eco Friendly Synthesis Of Biodiesel: A Review, Yogesh C. Sharma, Bhaskar Singh, John Korstad

College of Science and Engineering Faculty Research and Scholarship

Heterogeneous catalysts are now being tried extensively for biodiesel synthesis. These catalysts are poised to play an important role and are perspective catalysts in future for biodiesel production at industrial level. The review deals with a comprehensive list of these heterogeneous catalysts which has been reported recently. The mechanisms of these catalysts in the transesterification reaction have been discussed. The conditions for the reaction and optimized parameters along with preparation of the catalyst, and their leaching aspects are discussed. The heterogeneous basic catalyst discussed in the review includes oxides of magnesium and calcium; hydrotalcite/layered double hydroxide; alumina; and zeolites. Yield …

Predicting Shape And Stability Of Air–Water Interface On Superhydrophobic Surfaces With Randomly Distributed, Dissimilar Posts, B. Emami, Hooman Vahedi Tafreshi, M. Gad-El-Hak, Gary C. Tepper

Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering Publications

A mathematical framework developed to calculate the shape of the air–water interface and predict the stability of a microfabricated superhydrophobicsurface with randomly distributed posts of dissimilar diameters and heights is presented. Using the Young–Laplace equation, a second-order partial differential equation is derived and solved numerically to obtain the shape of the interface, and to predict the critical hydrostatic pressure at which the superhydrophobicity vanishes in a submersed surface. Two examples are given for demonstration of the method’s capabilities and accuracy.

Differing Lectin Binding Profiles Among Human Embryonic Stem Cells And Derivatives Aid In The Isolation Of Neural Progenitor Cells, Mahesh C. Dodla, Amber Young, Alison Venable, Kowser Hasneen, Raj R. Rao, David W. Machacek, Steven L. Stice

Chemical and Life Science Engineering Publications

Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) and their differentiated progeny allow for investigation of important changes/events during normal embryonic development. Currently most of the research is focused on proteinacous changes occurring as a result of differentiation of stem cells and little is known about changes in cell surface glycosylation patterns. Identification of cell lineage specific glycans can help in understanding their role in maintenance, proliferation and differentiation. Furthermore, these glycans can serve as markers for isolation of homogenous populations of cells. Using a panel of eight biotinylated lectins, the glycan expression of hESCs, hESCs-derived human neural progenitors (hNP) cells, and hESCs-derived …

Langevin Dynamics For The Transport Of Flexible Biological Macromolecules In Confined Geometries, Michael H. Peters

Chemical and Life Science Engineering Publications

The transport of flexible biological macromolecules in confined geometries is found in a variety of important biophysical systems including biomolecular movements through pores in cell walls, vesicle walls, and synthetic nanopores for sequencing methods. In this study, we extend our previous analysis of the Fokker–Planck and Langevin dynamics for describing the coupled translational and rotational motions of single structuredmacromolecules near structured external surfaces or walls [M. H. Peters, J. Chem. Phys. 110, 528 (1999); 112, 5488 (2000)] to the problem of many interacting macromolecules in the presence of structured external surfaces representing the confining geometry. Overall macromolecular flexibility …

Meeting Reports: Research On Coupled Human And Natural Systems (Chans): Approach, Challenges, And Strategies, Marina Alberti, Heidi Asbjornsen, Lawrence A. Baker, Nicholas Brozovic, Laurie E. Drinkwater, Scott A. Drzyzga, Claire A. Jantz, José Fragoso, Daniel S. Holland, Timothy A. Kohler, Jianguo Liu, William J. Mcconnell, Herbert D.G. Maschner, James D.A. Millington, Michael Monticino, Guillermo Podestá, Robert Gilmore Pontius, Charles L. Redman, Nicholas J. Reo, David Sailor, Gerald Urquhart

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Understanding the complexity of human–nature interactions is central to the quest for both human well-being and global sustainability. To build an understanding of these interactions, scientists, planners, resource managers, policymakers, and communities increasingly are collaborating across wide-ranging disciplines and knowledge domains. Scientists and others are generating new integrated knowledge on top of their requisite specialized knowledge to understand complex systems in order to solve pressing environmental and social problems (e.g., Carpenter et al. 2009). One approach to this sort of integration, bringing together detailed knowledge of various disciplines (e.g., social, economic, biological, and geophysical), has become known as the study …

The Water Footprint Assessment Manual: Setting The Global Standard, Arjen Y. Hoekstra, Ashok K. Chapagain, Maite M. Aldaya, Mesfin Mekonnen

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

This book contains the global standard for 'water footprint assessment' as developed and maintained by the Water Footprint Network (WFN). It covers a comprehensive set of definitions and methods for water footprint accounting. It shows how water footprints are calculated for individual processes and products, as well as for consumers, nations and businesses. It also includes methods for water footprint sustainability assessment and a library of water footprint response options. A shared standard on definitions and calculation methods is crucial given the rapidly growing interest in companies and governments to use water footprint accounts as a basis for formulating sustainable …

High-Frequency Ultrasound For Intraoperative Margin Assessments In Breast Conservation Surgery: A Feasibility Study, Timothy E. Doyle, Rachel E. Factor, Christina L. Ellefson, Kristina M. Sorensen, Brady J. Ambrose, Jeffrey B. Goodrich, Vern P. Hart, Scott C. Jensen, Hemang Patel, Leigh A. Neumayer

Wayne State University Associated BioMed Central Scholarship

Abstract

Background

In addition to breast imaging, ultrasound offers the potential for characterizing and distinguishing between benign and malignant breast tissues due to their different microstructures and material properties. The aim of this study was to determine if high-frequency ultrasound (20-80 MHz) can provide pathology sensitive measurements for the ex vivo detection of cancer in margins during breast conservation surgery.

Methods

Ultrasonic tests were performed on resected margins and other tissues obtained from 17 patients, resulting in 34 specimens that were classified into 15 pathology categories. Pulse-echo and through-transmission measurements were acquired from a total of 57 sites on the …

Modulation And Multiple Access Techniques For Ultra-Wideband Communication Systems, Song Cui

ETD Archive

Two new energy detection (ED) Ultra-Wideband (UWB) systems are proposed in this dissertation. The first one is an ED UWB system based on pulse width modulation (PWM). The bit error rate (BER) performance of this ED PWM system is slightly worse than ED pulse position modulation (PPM) system in additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channels. However, the BER performance of this ED PWM system surpasses that of a PPM system in multipath channels since a PWM system does not suffer cross-modulation interference (CMI) as a PPM system. In the presence of synchronization errors, the BER performance of a PWM system …

Wireless Signals And Male Fertility, Rand Mouradi

ETD Archive

Rapid advances in wireless technology have increased the number of users of mobile devices. As of 2011, the number of cell phone subscribers have reached 5.3 billion worldwide. Mobile devices have saturated our environment with radio frequency (RF) signals. This situation has created public concern over the effect of such signals on human health. This dissertation focuses on the correlation of RF signals emitted by cell phones with male infertility. A thorough discussion is provided on the effects of RF signals on the development of central nervous system (CNS) neoplasm, the design of these mobile devices, the range of the …

3d Imaging For Planning Of Minimally Invasive Surgical Procedures, Uma Numburi

ETD Archive

Novel minimally invasive surgeries are used for treating cardiovascular diseases and are performed under 2D fluoroscopic guidance with a C-arm system. 3D multidetector row computed tomography (MDCT) images are routinely used for preprocedural planning and postprocedural follow-up. For preprocedural planning, the ability to integrate the MDCT with fluoroscopic images for intraprocedural guidance is of clinical interest. Registration may be facilitated by rotating the C-arm to acquire 3D C-arm CT images. This dissertation describes the development of optimal scan and contrast parameters for C-arm CT in 6 swine. A 5-s ungated C-arm CT acquisition during rapid ventricular pacing with aortic root …

One-Dimensional Radial Diffusion Of Small Molecules (376 Da) In Bone Tissue, Kurt W. Farrell

ETD Archive

The flow of nutrients through any biological tissue is important to maintain homeostasis. If the transport process is understood, medical research teams can better design medications, prosthetic implants, and tissue scaffolds. Additionally, transport rates help physicians to better understand disease states and wound healing, including minor injuries such as breaks and sprains, which will aid in better diagnoses. We developed a novel method that measures the rate of diffusion in vitro, of fluorescein sodium salt. Samples were incubated at 37°C in a 5 CO2 atmosphere for various periods of time. Samples were sliced and analyzed using Image-Pro Plus and MATLAB …

Modification, Expression, And Purification Of Hyperactive Antifreeze Proteins From Insect Tenebrio Molitor, Sen Bu

ETD Archive

Antifreeze proteins (AFPs), also known as thermal hysteresis proteins, can protect organisms from damage caused by freezing by lowering the freezing point of fluids. AFPs can bind to small ice crystals, inhibit ice growth, and change the morphology of ice crystals. The difference between the freezing temperature and the melting temperature is termed thermal hysteresis (TH). There are different types of AFPs, such as fish AFPs (type I, II, III, and IV) and insect AFPs. These AFPs can also be classified by their thermal hysteresis activity: moderately active AFPs and hyperactive AFPs. Previous research groups successfully constructed AFP (type I, …

Characterization Of Elastin-Like Polypeptides Using Viscometry, Hamdan Noman Alanazi

ETD Archive

Elastin-like polypeptides (ELPs) are a class of polypeptide polymers that are gaining interest in various potential applications. These polymers are responsive to the changes in their environment by exhibiting conformational changes and aggregation. Monodisperse elastin-like polypeptides, (GVGVP)40, (GVGVP)40-foldon, and (GVGVP)60-foldon are made in bacterial expression system. An Ubbelohde capillary viscometer was set up to characterize the structural changes of these ELPs in phosphate buffered saline (PBS) solution. For the ELP-foldon, the relative viscosity measurements were utilized to calculate the intrinsic viscosities using Kraemer and Huggins equations. The known molecular weights of the ELPs and the experimentally determined intrinsic viscosities facilitated …

Fabrication And Testing Of A Nonstandard Thin-Film Heat Flux Sensor For Power System Applications, Scott D. Wilson

ETD Archive

Stirling convertors are being operated by NASA Glenn Research Center for many years to demonstrate a Radioisotope Power System (RPS) capable of providing reliable power for potential multi-year space missions. Techniques used to monitor Stirling convertors for change in performance include measurements of temperature, pressure, energy addition, and power output. It is difficult to measure energy addition to Stirling convertors due to the complex geometries of the hot components, temperature limits of sensor materials, and invasive integration of sensors. A thin-film heat flux sensor was used to directly measure heat energy addition to a Stirling convertor. The one micron thick, …

Modeling And Performance Investigation Of A Rotor With Dissimilar Bearing Support System, Yunlu Li

ETD Archive

Different types of bearings have different dynamic characteristics. By using one type of bearing at one end of a rotor and another type of bearing at the other end of the rotor, it is possible to exploit the advantages of both types in the same system. One example of such combination is a bronze bushing and active magnetic bearing (AMB). In the available literature, there are examples of such systems but are not fully explored with regard to how to model the system to fully utilize both support type properties. This thesis investigates the modeling and performance of such a …

Influence Of Angular Orientation Of The Embedded Highly Birefringent Fiber On Pmd Changes Under Axial Stress, Daniel Budaszewski Daniel Budaszewski, Piotr Lesiak, Robert Plaga, Ginu Rajan, Yuliya Semenova, Gerald Farrell, Anna Boczkowska, Andrzej W. Domanski's, Tomasz R. Woliński

Articles

In the paper we present results of the research on polarization mode dispersion changes inside the polarimetric optical fiber sensors based on highly birefringent optical fibers embedded into composite materials with different angular orientations of the optical axes. Based on measurements made for different types of highly birefringent optical fiber sensors we have shown that strain sensitivities after lamination process are different in comparison to the data obtained before lamination. Our results indicate that polarization mode dispersion in side-hole highly birefringent fibers under axial stress strongly depends on fiber orientation in the composite material suggesting that orientation of the polarization …

Experimental Demonstration Of An All-Fiber Variable Optical Attenuator Based On Liquid Crystal Infiltrated Photonic Crystal Fiber, Sunish Mathews, Gerald Farrell, Yuliya Semenova

Articles

The application of a nematic liquid crystal infiltrated solid core Photonic Crystal Fiber as a novel all-fiber in-line electronically controlled broadband fiber optic attenuator in the wavelength range from 1500 nm – 1600 nm is demonstrated. The device based on photonic bandgap transmission, is electronically controlled and due to its compact configuration, can be easily incorporated into an optical network. A low insertion loss at zero attenuation state and a high extinction ratio of ~ 40 dB is obtained between the high and low transmission states of the attenuator. The device works on the application of a varying voltage applied …

Proposal For A Simple Integrated Optical Ion Exchange Waveguide Polarizer With A Liquid Crystal Overlay, Pengfei Wang, Yuliya Semenova, Jie Zheng, Qiang Wu, Agus Hatta, Gerald Farrell

Articles

A simple, compact electrooptic polarizer based on an ion-exchanged glass channel waveguide covered with a nematic liquid crystal (LC) is proposed. A full vectorial beam propagation method is employed to simulate this device for the first time. For the cases of zero and strong LC surface anchoring, the performance of the proposed polarizer under different applied voltages is analyzed numerically. Analysis indicates that surface anchoring of the liquid crystal is a key issue influencing the performance for the proposed optical polarizer device.

A Fiber-Optic Voltage Sensor Based On Macrobending Structure, Pengfei Wang, Yuliya Semenova, Qiang Wu, Gerald Farrell

Articles

We propose and demonstrate an optical voltage sensing scheme based on a macrobending optical fiber in a ratiometric power measurement system. This novel approach to sensing has not been utilized before and has the advantage that the sensor involves simple fabrication compared to existing fiber-optic voltage sensors. To prove the feasibility of such a fiber-optic sensor, a sensor for a voltage range from 0 similar to 100 V is demonstrated, with a resolution of 0.5 V. The sensor is robust, linear, and shows a competitive measurement resolution. The sensor can be easily scaled to suit other voltage levels and be …

First-Passage Time Analysis Of A One-Dimensional Diffusion-Reaction Model: Application To Protein Transport Along Dna, Michael L. Mayo, Edward J. Perkins, Preetam Ghosh

Computer Science Publications

Background

Proteins search along the DNA for targets, such as transcription initiation sequences, according to one-dimensional diffusion, which is interrupted by micro- and macro-hopping events and intersegmental transfers that occur under close packing conditions.

Results

A one-dimensional diffusion-reaction model in the form of difference-differential equations is proposed to analyze the nonequilibrium protein sliding kinetics along a segment of bacterial DNA. A renormalization approach is used to derive an expression for the mean first-passage time to arrive at sites downstream of the origin from the occupation probabilities given by the individual transport equations. Monte Carlo simulations are employed to assess the …

A Modified Stokes-Einstein Equation For Aβ Aggregation, Srisairam Achuthan, Bon Jae Chung, Preetam Ghosh, Vijayaraghavan Rangachari, Ashwin Vaidya

Computer Science Publications

Background

In all amyloid diseases, protein aggregates have been implicated fully or partly, in the etiology of the disease. Due to their significance in human pathologies, there have been unprecedented efforts towards physiochemical understanding of aggregation and amyloid formation over the last two decades. An important relation from which hydrodynamic radii of the aggregate is routinely measured is the classic Stokes-Einstein equation. Here, we report a modification in the classical Stokes-Einstein equation using a mixture theory approach, in order to accommodate the changes in viscosity of the solvent due to the changes in solute size and shape, to implement a …

Degradation In Inaln/Aln/Gan Heterostructure Field-Effect Transistors As Monitored By Low-Frequency Noise Measurements: Hot Phonon Effects, C. Kayis, Romualdo A. Ferreyra, M. Wu, X. Li, Ü. Özgür, A. Matulionis, Hadis Morkoç

Electrical and Computer Engineering Publications

Low-frequency noise technique was applied to analyze performance of nearly lattice-matched InAlN/AlN/GaN heterostructure field-effect transistors and their degradation caused by electrical stress. Nearly identical devices from the same wafer have undergone a 7 h DC electrical stress at a fixed DC drain bias of V_DS = 20 V and different gate biases. We noted up to 32 dB/Hz higher low-frequency noise for stressed devices over the entire frequency range of 1 Hz-100 kHz. The measurements showed the minimum degradation at a gate-controlled two-dimensional electron gas density of 9.4 × 10¹² cm⁻². This result is in good …

Camelback Channel For Fast Decay Of Lo Phonons In Gan Heterostructure Field-Effect Transistor At High Electron Density, E. Šermukšnis, J. Liberis, M. Ramonas, Jacob H. Leach, M. Wu, Vitaliy Avrutin, Hadis Morkoç

Electrical and Computer Engineering Publications

Fluctuation technique is used to measure hot-phonon lifetime in dual channel GaN-based configuration proposed to support high-power operation at high frequencies. The channel is formed of a composite Al_0.1Ga_0.9N/GaN structure situated in an Al_0.82In_0.18N/AlN/Al_0.1Ga_0.9N/GaN heterostructure. According to capacitance–voltage measurements and simultaneous treatment of Schrödinger–Poisson equations, the mobile electrons in this dual channel configuration form a camelback density profile at elevated hot-electron temperatures. The hot-phonon lifetime was found to depend on the shape of the electron profile rather than solely on its sheet density. The camelback channel with an …

Hybrid Spintronics And Straintronics: A Magnetic Technology For Ultra Low Energy Computing And Signal Processing, Kuntal Roy, Supriyo Bandyopadhyay, Jayasimha Atulasimha

Electrical and Computer Engineering Publications

The authors show that the magnetization of a 2-phase magnetostrictive/piezoelectric multiferroic single-domain shape-anisotropic nanomagnet can be switched with very small voltages that generate strain in the magnetostrictive layer. This can be the basis of ultralow power computing and signal processing. With appropriate material choice, the energy dissipated per switching event can be reduced to ∼45 kT at room temperature for a switching delay of ∼100 ns and ∼70 kT for a switching delay of ∼10 ns, if the energy barrier separating the two stable magnetization directions is ∼32 kT. Such devices can be powered by harvesting energy exclusively from the …

Motional Modes In Bulk Powder And Few-Molecule Clusters Of Tris(8-Hydroxyquinoline Aluminum) And Their Relation To Spin Dephasing, Lopamurda Das, Jennette Mateo, Saumil Bandyopadhyay, Supriyo Bandyopadhyay, Jarrod D. Edwards, John Anderson

Electrical and Computer Engineering Publications

The ensemble averaged spin dephasing rate of localized electrons in the organic molecule tris(8-hydroxyquinoline aluminum) or Alq3 has been found to be significantly larger in bulk powder than in single- or few-molecule clusters confined within 1–2 nm sized nanocavities [B. Kanchibotla et al., Phys. Rev. B78, 193306 (2008)]. To understand this observation, we have compared the midinfrared absorption spectra of bulk powder and single- or few-molecule clusters. It appears that molecules have additional vibrational modes in bulk powder possibly due to multimerization. Their coupling with spin may be responsible for the increased spin dephasing rate in bulk powder.

Switching Dynamics Of A Magnetostrictive Single-Domain Nanomagnet Subjected To Stress, Kuntal Roy, Supriyo Bandyopadhyay, Jayasimha Atulasimha

Electrical and Computer Engineering Publications

The temporal evolution of the magnetization vector of a single-domain magnetostrictive nanomagnet, subjected to in-plane stress, is studied by solving the Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert equation. The stress is ramped up linearly in time, and the switching delay, which is the time it takes for the magnetization to flip, is computed as a function of the ramp rate. For high levels of stress, the delay exhibits a nonmonotonic dependence on the ramp rate, indicating that there is an optimum ramp rate to achieve the shortest delay. For constant ramp rate, the delay initially decreases with increasing stress but then saturates, showing that the …