Engineering Commons^™

Returning Students In Engineering Education: Making A Case For “Experience Capital”, Michele L. Strutz, James E. Cawthorne Jr, Daniel M. Ferguson, Mark T. Carnes, Matthew Ohland

School of Engineering Education Graduate Student Series

Students returning to college are not generally studied, where most of the research on non-traditional students is focused on individuals returning to earn their undergraduate degree. There are, however, many students returning to receive graduate degrees as they pursue new directions in life by interest or economic necessity. Undergraduate students with experience have clear educational related goals, practical approaches to problem-solving, and high learning motivation.Returning graduate students are expected to model similar behaviors. These individuals bring a lifetime of personal and professional expertise, which we identify as “experience capital.”A review of the literature reveals that capital has been pondered since …

Exploring Curriculum Flexibility And Compliance Through The Use Of A Metric For Curricular Progression, George Dante Ricco, Matthew Ohland

School of Engineering Education Graduate Student Series

No abstract provided.

Integrating Children’S Literature Into Occupational Learning About Engineers, Brianna L. Dorie, Monica Cardella

School of Engineering Education Graduate Student Series

At a very young age, a child has the ability to formulate ideas regarding the occupation of a lawyer, a nurse or even a doctor. However, studies have shown that most children have limited information regarding engineers, and the lack of knowledge can often perpetuate into adulthood(Cunningham et al., 2005; NAE, 2002). Augur et al. (2005) found that “occupational aspirations and expectations of children undergo dramatic development changes during the elementary years, as well as resisting change in other respects.” This means prior to school education,children have already formed their perception of occupations and that stereotypical attributes have already been …

Dsmc Collision Model For The Lennard-Jones Potential: Efficient Algorithm And Verification, A Venkattraman, Alina A. Alexeenko

School of Aeronautics and Astronautics Faculty Publications

An efficient algorithm to implement elastic scattering using the Lennard-Jones (LJ) intermolecular potential in the direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method is presented. The exact elastic scattering angle for the LJ intermolecular potential obtained by numerical integration is used to construct a piecewise polynomial representation in terms of two collision parameters - the reduced impact parameter and the reduced relative energy. The 5 thdegree polynomials representation is obtained using the Chebyshev basis. The implementation valid for reduced relative energies ranging from 0.001 to 10.0 is verified by DSMC simulations of subsonic and supersonic Couette flow of Argon at temperatures of …

Effects Of Uncertainty In Gas-Surface Interaction On Dsmc Simulations Of Hypersonic Flows, Marat Kulakhmetov, A Venkattraman, Alina A. Alexeenko

School of Aeronautics and Astronautics Faculty Publications

This study uses the non-intrusive generalized polynomial chaos method to investigate the effects of uncertainties in the gas-surface interaction model on the hypersonic boundary layer flow over a flat plate. In particular, the polynomial chaos method is applied to assess uncertainties in the surface shea, normal stress, heat flux, flowfield temperature and accomodation coefficient. The polynomial chaos approach allows us to estimate probability density functions from fewer flowfield samples than the traditional random Monte Carlo sampling. The flowfield solutions are computed by the DSMC code SMILE. The analysis shows that surface fluxes and flowfields in the hypersonic boundary layer are …

Full Dispersion Vs. Debye Model Evaluation Of Lattice Thermal Conductivity With A Landauer Approach, Changwook Jeong, Supriyo Datta, Mark S. Lundstrom

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Using a full dispersion description of phonons, the thermal conductivities of bulk Si and Bi2Te3 are evaluated using a Landauer approach and related to the conventional approach based on the Boltzmann transport equation. A procedure to extract a well-defined average phonon mean-free-path from the measured thermal conductivity and given phonon-dispersion is presented. The extracted mean-free-path has strong physical significance and differs greatly from simple estimates. The use of simplified dispersion models for phonons is discussed, and it is shown that two different Debye temperatures must be used to treat the specific heat and thermal conductivity (analogous to the two different …

The Effect Of Static Pressure On The Inertial Cavitation Threshold And Collapse Strength, Kenneth Bryan Bader

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The amplitude of the acoustic pressure required to nucleate a gas and/or vapor bubble in a fluid, and to have that bubble undergo an inertial collapse, is termed the inertial cavitation threshold. The hydrostatic dependence of the inertial cavitation threshold was measured up to 30 MPa in ultrapure water using a high quality factor spherical resonator. The threshold increased linearly with the hydrostatic pressure and was found to be temperature dependent. The strength of the bubble collapse at the threshold was measured in terms of shock waves and light emissions. The shock amplitudes increased linearly with the hydrostatic pressure, while …

Rate-Dependent Stiffening And Strain Localization In Physically Associating Solutions, Kendra Erk, Kenneth R. Shull

School of Materials Engineering Faculty Publications

Model physically associating solutions of acrylic triblock copolymer molecules in a midblock-selective solvent displayed non-linear strain-stiffening behavior which transitioned to rapid strain softening during shear start-up experiments at reduced rates spanning almost four orders of magnitude. Softening was believed to result from the shear-induced formation of highly localized regions of deformation in the macromolecular network. This behavior was accurately captured by a model that incorporated the strain energy and relaxation behavior of individual network strands in the solution. Flow curves predicted from the model were non-monotonic, consistent with the onset of flow instabilities at high shear rates. The non-linear stress …

Engineering Children's Literature: Development Of An Engineering Storybook For Young Children, Brianna L. Dorie, Monica Cardella

School of Engineering Education Graduate Student Series

While the notions of doctor, teacher and firefighter are ubiquitous in young literature,there is a lack of engagement about engineering (Holbrook et al., 2008). Picture books are a compelling medium for introducing concepts to children at a young age. Story books have the ability to present new information, increase stimulation of the imagination, and deliver messages both moral and social. In a school setting, story books have been shown to impact kindergartener’s mathematical achievement when produced in tandem with a mathematics unit (Keat & Wilburne, 2009). However, there have been little to no studies regarding the impact of engineering literature …

Comparative Analysis Of A Low-Speed Wind Tunnel Designed For Renewable Energy Applications, Craig A. Zehrung

Purdue Polytechnic Masters Theses

This thesis describes the design, testing, and validation of an open-circuit, mid-sized wind tunnel used for the teaching of undergraduate courses and testing of green energy wind turbines. This thesis uses computational fluid dynamics to determine theoretical values for flow of the wind tunnel which were statistically compared to actual values of fluid flow. An overall analysis of efficiency and effectiveness were also performed. However, aerodynamic testing of actual prototype turbines will not be covered in this thesis, as it does not concern the tunnels adherence to theoretical flow values.

Using Smartphones For Indoor Navigation, Benjamin Thomas Loulier

Purdue Polytechnic Masters Theses

This directed projet is about the use of smartphones for indoor navigation.

Nowadays, indoor navigation is a real challenge, we are all familiar with the multiple applications of GPS based navigation but all these applications cannot be transfered in an indoor environment as we cannot receive a GPS signal inside.

The document is composed of three different parts related to indoor navigation using smartphones. The first part presents an inertial positioning system for pedestrians walking in an indoor environment, this system is implemented on an iPhone 4. In the second part we introduce a positioning system using RFID tags scattered …

Electric Field Analysis Of Human Breast Tumors For Treatment By Electroporation, Poornima Agoramurthy

Purdue Polytechnic Masters Theses

Breast cancer is a frequently diagnosed disease in women, second only to cancers of the skin. According to the American Cancer Society there were approximately 210,000 new cases of breast cancer estimated in 2010 in the US, 20 % of which resulted in death. With such a high rate of incidence, there is clearly a need for alternate treatments, especially for in-operable tumors and chemo- and radio-resistive patients. Electrochemotherapy, a method by which high intensity, short duration electrical pulses are used to temporarily open pores of cells to enhance uptake of drugs, is gaining popularity in drug delivery for cancer …

Toward A Zero Energy Home: Applying Swiss Building Practices/Attitudes To U.S. Residential Construction, Daphene C. Koch, William Hutzel, Jason M. Kutch, Eric A. Holt

School of Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

This project evaluated typical U.S. and Swiss homes to identify construction practices that are most energy efficient and have economic payback. A net zero energy home (ZEH) produces as much energy as is consumed in it over time. Students in a College o f Technology in a Midwest Indiana State University and a technical University in Switzerland resulted in developing models of homes that combined U.S. and Swiss standards. The project was completed in two phases: during the first phase o f this project, construction costs, energy use, and economic payback was calculated for six homes that were designed using …

Reliability, Flexibility, And Environmental Impact Of Alternative Arterial Offset Optimization Objective Functions, Christopher M. Day, Thomas M. Brennan Jr, Alexander M. Hainen, Stephen M. Remias, Hiromal Premachandra, James R. Sturdevant, Greg Richards, Jason S. Wasson, Darcy M. Bullock

Lyles School of Civil Engineering Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Sustainable Design Optimization Of Rural Houses In North China, Mingliang Li

Purdue Polytechnic Masters Theses

With the rapid economic development of China, the living standards in rural areas have been experiencing improvement over the past two decades. One important aspect of the improved living standards is housing, which has been transformed from traditional adobe or stone structures into modern brick and concrete ones. In the meantime, active heating and cooling systems are gradually being incorporated and residents are requiring more comfortable indoor air temperatures during cold winters and hot summers. However, most rural houses have no insulation in their exterior walls and roofs. The question is whether or not it is economically viable to build …

Assessing Engineering Students' Information Literacy Skills: An Alpha Version Of A Multiple-Choice Instrument, Ruth Eh Wertz, Meagan Ross, Senay Purzer, Michael Fosmire, Monica Cardella

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Information literacy is crucial component of developing life-long learning skills. However, few standard and easily gradable assessment tools exist to assess the information literacy competencies of learners. In this paper, we discuss the development of a multiple choice instrument designed to measure these competencies in an efficient and expedient manner, and we present results of data collected from 366 first-year engineering students. The instrument requires students to first read a technical memo and, based on the memo‟s arguments, answer eight multiple choice and two open-ended response questions. The mean score on the multiple choice portion was only 3.46 out of …

Do Students Gather Information To Inform Design Decisions? Assessment With An Authentic Design Task In First-Year Engineering, Ruth Eh Wertz, Meagan Ross, Michael Fosmire, Monica Cardella, Senay Purzer

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Information gathering is a very important aspect of the design process, one that is used continuously throughout the project to make informed design decisions. This study reports the development of an authentic instrument used to assess skills related to information gathering in first-year engineering students. Existing assessment tools, such as the scenario-based Self- Knowledge Inventory of Lifelong Learning (SKILLS), developed by Conti & Fellenz, or the Self- Directed Learning Readiness Scale (SDLRS), developed by Guglielmino, were evaluated. While these have the advantage of being very easy to administer and analyze, one significant disadvantage is that they are self-reported and thus …

Lifelong Learning And Information Literacy Skills And The First Year Engineering Undergraduate: Report Of A Self-Assessment, Meagan Ross, Michael Fosmire, Ruth Eh Wertz, Monica Cardella, Senay Purzer

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

ABET accreditation requires engineering students to attain ‘a recognition of the need for and an ability to engage in lifelong learning.” (Outcome 3.i) However, there are few standard tools that attempt to assess the skills and techniques students need in order to achieve those outcomes. Focusing on the problem articulation and information literacy skills embedded in lifelong learning competencies, the authors constructed a standardized assessment to measure student self-perceptions of how often they employ those skills. The criteria for these competencies were based on the Information Search Process of Carol Kuhlthau, engineering design process characteristics, and the authors’ own analysis …

Focused Solar Ablation: A Nanosat-Based Method For Active Removal Of Space Debris, Alina A. Alexeenko, A Venkattraman

School of Aeronautics and Astronautics Faculty Publications

A novel concept for the active removal of space debris using solar power is proposed. Focused solar ablation is an in-space propulsion concept based on using concentrator mirrors on nanosats and using the solar power to evaporate material from the debris to produce deceleration thrust thereby providing the ∆V necessary to deorbit. An energy balance is used along with free-molecular effusion theory to estimate the thrust produced by the concept and the corresponding deorbit times for an aluminum debris masses of 10 kg and 0.27 kg for various concentrator mirror areas and the diameter of the spot on which the …

Simulations Of Vapor/Ice Dynamics In A Freeze-Dryer Condenser, Arnab Ganguly, A Venkattraman, Alina A. Alexeenko

School of Aeronautics and Astronautics Faculty Publications

Freeze-drying is a low-pressure, low-temperature condensation pumping process widely used in the manufacture of pharmaceuticals for removal of solvents by sublimation. Key performance characteristics of a freeze-dryer condenser are largely dependent on the vapor and ice dynamics in the low-pressure environment. The main objective of this work is to develop a modeling and computational framework for analysis of vapor and ice dynamics in such freeze-dryer condensers. The direct Simulation Monte Carlow (DSMC) technique is applied to model the relevant physical processes that accompany the vapor flow in the condenser chamber. Low-temperature water vapor molecular model is applied in the DSMC …

Model Uncertainties In A Sharp Leading-Edge Hypersonic Boundary Layer, Marat Kulakhmetov, Alina A. Alexeenko

School of Aeronautics and Astronautics Faculty Publications

The effects of uncertainties in the gas-surface interaction and intermolecular interaction models on the hypersonic boundary layer development are investigated using the nonintrusive generalized polynomial chaos method. In particular, uncertainties in the surface shear stress, normal stress, heat flux, flowfield temperature and density resulting from uncertain viscosity exponent, surface temperature and accommodation coefficient are considered. The polynomial chaos expansion approach is used to reconstruct the probability density function, calculate mean, standard deviation and skewness of the dependent variables from the DSMC calculations. The uncertainty analysis shows that surface fluxes and flowfields in the hypersonic boundary layer are more sensitive to …

Unsteady 3d Rarefied Flow Solver Based On Boltzmann-Esbgk Model Kinetic Equations, Sruti Chigullapalli, Alina A. Alexeenko

School of Aeronautics and Astronautics Faculty Publications

Formulation and verification of unsteady rarefied flow solver based on BoltzmannESBGK equations in arbitrary three-dimensional geometries is presented. The solver is based on the finite volume method in physical space and the discrete ordinate method in velocity space with an implicit time discretization. Verification is carried out for an unsteady approach to equilibrium, a steady one-dimensional Couette flow and a two-dimensional quasi-steady gas damping problem. Finally, the application of the full 3D parallel solver is considered to simulate unsteady microscale gas damping in a micro-electro-mechanical system switch.

Doctoral Students As Course Instructors: Three Engineering Teaching Assistants' Socialization Experiences, Irene Mena, Heidi Diefes-Dux, Brenda Capobianco

School of Engineering Education Graduate Student Series

The purpose of this study was to explore and understand the types of socialization experiences that result from engineering graduate teaching assistants‟ (TAs) roles as course instructors. Socialization refers to an individual‟s process of becoming a part of a group. In the context of doctoral education, socialization can be a complex area to study, largely because there are many roles and groups for which graduate students can be socialized.

Using situated learning, more specifically the communities of practice literature, as the theoretical framework, this study looked at how three doctoral engineering TAs, with experience as course instructors, become members of …

Exploring The Motivations For Migration Among Engineering Students, Ida Ngambeki, Demetra Evangelou Dr, Matthew Ohland, George Dante Ricco

School of Engineering Education Graduate Student Series

Students often graduate from a major other than that in which they first enrolled. A large proportion of this migration happens within engineering with students moving from one discipline of engineering to another. This movement between disciplines sometimes happens several times. While there has been extensive examination of why students leave engineering,very little research has looked into why students leave one engineering discipline for another.Longitudinal data collected from several engineering colleges has shown that there are definite trends within the movement of engineering students.This study examines the reasons for some of these trends using a unique approach which combines both …

Neurorehabilitation Of The Hand Using The Cybergrasp[Tm] And Mirror Image, Amy Frances Boos

Theses

In recent years, researchers have explored the use of a mirror image as a means of rehabilitation for individuals suffering from hemiparesis. Through neuroimaging and functional testing, neurological improvement has been demonstrated in those that engage in mirror therapy. Bilateral training, or simultaneous movement of both sides of the body, has also been studied as a treatment method to improve function after cerebral vascular accident. The development of robotic systems to assist movement of the human body has played a major role in the fabrication of bilateral training devices.

In this experiment, the CyberGrasp™ robotic exoskeleton was used to assist …

Reconstruction Resolution Of Coherent Point Sources With Helmholtz Equation Least Squares, Richard Edward Dziklinski

Wayne State University Dissertations

The dissertation investigates the reconstruction of coherent point sources using Helmholtz Equation Least Squares (HELS) method based on measurements in violation of Nearfield Acoustical Holography (NAH) resolution guidelines. In HELS, the Helmholtz equation is solved by matching a series of localized spherical expansion functions to the measured pressures in the field. Expansion coefficients are solved for by least squares and used to reconstruct pressures at the source surface. By approximating the pressure radiation with expansion functions, field and surface pressures can be synthesized, resulting in the possibility of higher spatial resolution than previous generation NAH methods such as Fourier Acoustics …

Optimal Port Placement And Automated Robotic Positioning For Instrumented Laparoscopic Biosensors, Brady King

Wayne State University Dissertations

OPTIMAL SURGICAL PORT PLACEMENT AND AUTOMATED ROBOTIC POSITIONING FOR RAMAN AND OTHER BIOSENSORS

by

BRADY KING

January 2011

Advisors: Dr. Abhilash Pandya, Dr. Darin Ellis, Dr. Le Yi Wang, and Dr. Greg Auner

Major: Computer Engineering

Degree: Doctor of Philosophy

Medical biosensors can provide new information during minimally invasive and robotic surgical procedures. However, these biosensors have significant physical limitations that make it difficult to find optimal port locations and place them in vivo. This dissertation explores the application of robotics and virtual/augmented reality to biosensors to enable their optimal use in vivo.

In the first study, human …

Longissimus Muscle Fatigue And Injury Response Due To Electrical Stimulation With Varied Work/Rest Ratios, Peter Wawrow

Wayne State University Dissertations

LONGISSIMUS MUSCLE FATIGUE AND INJURY RESPONSE DUE TO ELECTRICAL STIMULATION WITH VARIED WORK/REST RATIOS

BY

PETER WAWROW

May 2011

Advisor: John Cavanaugh, MD

Major: Biomedical Engineering

Degree: Doctor of Philosophy

The estimated yearly cost of lost-time work injuries and illnesses is $140 billion. The average cost of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) exceeds all other claims. These injuries persist in spite of ergonomic interventions addressing known risk factors. Work/rest ratios have not received a significant amount of attention, particularly in low back disorders, and it is hypothesized that the lack of adequate rest within a work cycle may contribute to muscle fatigue …

Ionization In Diesel Combustion: Mechanism, New Instrumentation And Engine Applications, Fadi Estefanous

Wayne State University Dissertations

Diesel engines are known for their superior fuel economy and high power density. However they emit undesirable high levels of nitrogen oxide (NOx) and black particulate smoke (Soot). To reduce these emissions, close loop engine control strategies are required. Therefore, there is a need for an in-cylinder combustion sensor. The ion current sensor has been used for combustion sensing in gasoline engines for which ionization mechanisms have been developed. This is not the case in diesel engines.

In this dissertation, a new mechanism for ionization in diesel engines has been developed and experimentally validated. Moreover, a three dimensional model has …

Monitoring, Diagnosis, And Control For Advanced Anesthesia Management, Zhibin Tan

Wayne State University Dissertations

Modern anesthesia management is a comprehensive and the most critical issue in medical care. During the past dacades, a large amount of research works have been focused on the problems of monitoring anesthesia depth, modeling the dynamics of anesthesia patient for the purpose of control, prediction, and diagnosis.

Monitoring the anesthesia depth is not only for keeping the patient in adquate anesthesia level but also for preventing the patient from overdosing. Several EEG based indexes have been developed such as the BIS, and Entropy etc. for measuring depth. However, reports mentioned that those indexes in some cases fail in detecting …