Engineering Commons^™

Modelling And Characterization Of Magnetic Microfibers, Harshwardhan Karve

All Theses

Polymer fibers of varying microfluidic properties can be fabricated in a lab setting. Fibers coated with paramagnetic particles act like slender paramagnetic beams. These fiber moves in a magnetic field. Thus polymer fibers coated with paramagnetic particles can be used as actuators in various microfluidic applications, such as DNA separation, droplet manipulation and liquid transport. In order to use the fibers as actuators, it is necessary to model the fiber and develop control strategies.
A static model of the paramagnetic fiber based on energy methods is presented in [1]. The model relies on a demagnetizing factors approximation to determine the …

Low Carbon Materials Management: A Case Study For The Clemson University Net Zero Energy House Project, Kelly Kruzner

All Theses

Materials management in the construction process is a method of controlling resources for a project. This includes the materials selection process, purchasing process, delivery process, and waste management process, which all constitute the materials management plan for the project. While many research projects suggest efforts to reduce overall project cost by managing materials more efficiently, few focus on materials management from a sustainability perspective. In 2009, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency published a report on Sustainable Materials Management: The Road Ahead, which details the importance of sustainable materials management practices. This project directly addresses a need defined in the EPA’s …

Pozzolanic Properties Of Biomass Fly Ash, Robert Lowe

All Theses

As biomass power production becomes more main stream, problems with waste disposal arise. Coal fly ash, a by-product of coal power production, has beneficial strength and durability properties when used as a cement replacement material. This study examined strength and durability characteristics of mortar and concrete samples containing biomass fly ash obtained from Craven County Wood Energy in North Carolina and examined methods of processing the material to enhance its pozzolanic characteristics.
The chemical and mineralogical compositions of the ash were determined using X-ray fluorescence (XRF), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). The compositions met the requirements …

The Effects Of Coated Gold Nanorods On Porcine Atrioventricular Valve Tissues Using Atomic Force Microscopy, Heather L'Ecuyer

All Theses

In this Master's thesis we examine the effect of surface modified gold nanorods (AuNRs) coated with polyelectrolyte multilayers (PEMs) on the mechanical properties of porcine mitral valve tissue ex vivo. The presence of healthy mitral valve tissue in the body is important to ensuring unidirectional flow of blood through the systemic circuit. Unfortunately, due to its anatomic complexity and unique mechanical behavior, pathological mitral valve tissue remains difficult to treat with conventional methods. We hope that the knowledge gleaned from these studies could be useful for developing new and novel treatments treating pathological mitral valve mechanical properties.
Specifically, we examine …

Using Geographic Information Systems To Analyze Accessibility In The West Bank, Jacob Elliott

All Theses

With the recent failure of another highly publicized peace talks, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict remains a polarizing and contentious geopolitical crisis. Following the Israeli victory in the Six Day War of 1967, the West Bank and its substantial Palestinian population have lived under Israeli occupation. In response to the First Palestinian Intifada (uprising), lasting from1987 to 1993, the Israeli military imposed varying degrees of regulations to limit Palestinian mobility within the West Bank. The mobility constraints, most notably in the form of checkpoints, roadblocks, and physical obstructions, dramatically increased in volume and scale during the Second Intifada from 2000 to 2005. …

Material Flow And Microstructural Evolution During Friction Stir Spot Welding Of Az31 Magnesium Alloy, W. Yuan, Rajiv S. Mishra, B. Carlson, R. Verma, R. K. Mishra

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Material flow and local texture evolution during friction stir spot welding (FSSW) of AZ31 magnesium alloy was characterized by varying tool rotation rates. Texture at various locations of the welded region was measured using electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD). Material flow is significantly influenced by tool rotation rate with a conical step spiral pin tool, and FSSW introduces a unique basal fiber texture in the welded region. Results indicate that local texture evolution is dominated by shear deformation through material flow. the tool shoulder applies both shear and compressive deformation to the upper region material; however, the rotating pin introduces only …

Phase Resolved Near-Field Mode Imaging For The Design Of Frequency-Selective Surfaces, Edward C. Kinzel, J. C. Ginn, R. L. Olmon, D. J. Shelton, B. A. Lail, I. Brenner, M. B. Sinclair, M. B. Raschke, G. D. Boreman

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

No abstract provided.

Silver Coated Bioactive Glass Particles For Wound Healing Applications, A. W. Wren, A. Coughlan, P. Hassanzadeh, Mark R. Towler

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Bioactive glass particles (0.42SiO₂-0.15CaO-0.23Na ₂O-0.20ZnO) of varying size (<90 >μm and 425-850 μm) were synthesized and coated with silver (Ag) to produce Ag coated particles (PAg). These were compared against the uncoated analogous particles (Pcon.). Surface area analysis determined that Ag coating of the glass particles resulted in increased the surface area from 2.90 to 9.12 m²/g (90 μm) and 1.09-7.71 m²/g (425-850 μm). Scanning electron microscopy determined that the Ag coating remained at the surface and there was little diffusion through the bulk. Antibacterial (Escherichia coli - 13 mm and Staphylococcus epidermidis …

Reduction Of Solid-Solid Thermal Boundary Resistance By Inserting An Interlayer, Zhi Liang, Hai-Lung Tsai

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

An Effective Method is Proposed to Greatly Improve the Thermal Transport Across the Interface between Two Solids with Dissimilar Phonon Spectra. If the Two Solids Have Similar Crystal Structure and Lattice Constant, It is Predicted from the Molecular Dynamics Modeling that an over 50% Reduction of the Thermal Boundary Resistance Can Be Achieved by Inserting a 3-Unit-Cell-Thick Interlayer Whose Debye Temperature is Approximately the Square Root of the Product of the Debye Temperatures of the Two Solids. on the Other Hand, If the Two Solids Have a Large Difference in Lattice Constant, It is Found the Interfacial Atomic Restructuring Plays …

Dynamical Model Of Harmonic Generation In Centrosymmetric Semiconductors At Visible And Uv Wavelengths, Michael Scalora, Maria Antonietta Vincenti, Domenico De Ceglia, N. Akozbek, Vito Roppo, M. J. Bloemer, Joseph W. Haus

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

We study second and third harmonic generation in centrosymmetric semiconductors at visible and UV wavelengths in bulk and cavity environments. Second harmonic generation is due to a combination of spatial symmetry breaking, the magnetic portion of the Lorentz force, and quadrupolar contributions from inner core electrons. The material is assumed to have a nonzero, third-order nonlinearity that gives rise to most of the third harmonic signal. Using the parameters of bulk silicon we predict that cavity environments modify the dependence of second harmonic generation on incident angle, while improving third harmonic conversion efficiency by several orders of magnitude relative to …

Research And Development Effort In Developing The Optimal Formulations For New Tablet Drugs, Zhe Li

All Dissertations

Seeking the optimal pharmaceutical formulation is considered one of the most critical research components during the drug development stage. It is also an R&D effort incorporating design of experiments and optimization techniques, prior to scaling up a manufacturing process, to determine the optimal settings of ingredients so that the desirable performance of related pharmaceutical quality characteristics (QCs) specified by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) can be achieved. It is widely believed that process scale-up potentially results in changes in ingredients and other pharmaceutical manufacturing aspects, including site, equipment, batch size and process, with the purpose of satisfying the clinical …

Modeling One- And Two-Dimensional Shallow Water Flows With Discontinuous Galerkin Method, Wencong Lai

All Dissertations

Numerical models for one- and two-dimensional shallow water flows are developed using discontinuous Galerkin method. Formulation and characteristics of shallow water equations are discussed. The well-balanced property and wetting/drying treatment are provided in the numerical models. The shock-capturing property is achieved by the approximate Riemann solvers in the schemes. Effects of different approximate Riemann solvers are also investigated. The Total Variation Diminishing property is achieved by adoption of slope limiters. Different slope limiters and their effects are compared through numerical tests. Numerical tests are performed to validate the models. These tests include dam-break flows, hydraulic jump and shocks in channels, …

Microhydroelectric Power Generation, Aaron Hughes

Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

A major industrial water user in New Mexico discharges approximately 3.8 million gal of wastewater per day. The topology of the site provides an elevation difference of about 150 ft between the plant site and the entrance to the municipal sewage line; this flow and elevation difference is sufficient to produce about 40 kW of electrical power using a water turbine/electrical generator set to extract power from the flowing stream. This report includes designs and economic analyses for two distinct cases. One case is based on the written premises of the task; whereas, a second case is based on a …

Using Gas Chromatography To Investigate The Cause Of Malodors In Molded Polymers: A Case Study, Evelyn Lofquist

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Malodors are commonly detected in molded polymers used for general purposes such as household items, domestic appliances, plastic furniture, wheel and bumper covers in the automotive industry, and laboratory equipment. Research indicates that such strong odors are associated with the emission of harmful substances and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Above a certain level of tolerance these volatile compounds have long-term effects detrimental to health after frequent exposure. This thesis seeks to investigate some of the compounds present in a molded polymer used by Company C in their finished product using gas chromatography and suggest ways to minimize or eliminate the …

Transformer Load Tap Changer Control Using Iec 61850 Goose Messaging, Nelli Sichwart

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The research of this thesis implements Load Tap Changer (LTC) control using the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) 61850 standard in a laboratory environment. In particular, Generic Object Oriented Substation Event (GOOSE) messages are used to facilitate all required communication. A set of two Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Inc. (SEL) devices is used for the demonstration. IEC 61850 has many benefits including great flexibility and improved interoperability and promises to be more widely implemented in the United States with time as is already the case in many other parts of the world. This research shows that LTC operation using IEC 61850 is …

An Environmental Consequence For Dublin Bay Of A Shift From Hydro-Carbon To Other Energy Production Methods, Zeinab Bedri, John O'Sullivan, Michael Bruen

Conference papers

The Liffey Estuary and Dublin Bay, Ireland are of a great recreational and conservational value. Until recently, the Electricity Supply Board (ESB) plant at Poolbeg, Dublin, abstracted dilution water from the estuary for cooling purposes and subsequently discharged this water back to the estuary at temperatures that were sometimes 7-9oC above ambient values. Prior to its discharge to the estuary, the ESB cooling water was mixed with the sewage effluent from Ringsend Treatment Works, creating a warmer and less-saline pollutant plume that remained buoyant on the water surface, adversely effecting water quality. The ESB plant has since closed as part …

Wim Data Collection And Analysis, Jerry G. Pigman, Clark Graves, David Q. Hunsucker, David Cain

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

The objectives of this study were to review and analyze current procedures in order to implement a process for collecting and analyzing weigh-in-motion (WIM) data to insure an adequate and accurate representation of weights of vehicles using Kentucky’s roadways. A literature review of WIM data collection equipment, practices and procedures indicated that a range of options are available and used by other agencies. Piezoelectric cable detection systems were most frequently used and provided adequate accuracy, if attention is given to monitoring and calibration.

An overall assessment of Kentucky’s WIM data collection program resulted in recommendations for: 1) increased use of …

Improving Health Care Quality And Safety: The Development And Assessment Of Laparoscopic Surgery Instrumentation, Practices And Procedures, Bernadette Mccrory

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Adverse events due to medical errors are a leading cause of death in the United States exceeding the mortality rates of motor vehicle accidents, breast cancer and AIDS. Improvements can and should be made to reduce the rates of preventable surgical errors since they account for nearly half of all adverse events within hospitals. Although minimally invasive surgery has proven patient benefits such as reduced postoperative pain and hospital stay, its operative environment imposes substantial physical and cognitive strain on the surgeon increasing the risk of error. In order to mitigate errors and protect patients, a multidisciplinary approach was taken …

Probabilistic Qos Analysis In Wireless Sensor Networks, Yunbo Wang

School of Computing: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Emerging applications of wireless sensor networks (WSNs) require real-time quality of service (QoS) guarantees to be provided by the network. Traditional analysis work only focuses on the first-order statistics, such as the mean and the variance of the QoS performance. However, due to unique characteristics of WSNs, a cross-layer probabilistic analysis of QoS performance is essential. In this dissertation, a comprehensive cross-layer probabilistic analysis framework is developed to investigate the probabilistic evaluation and optimization of QoS performance provided by WSNs. In this framework, the distributions of QoS performance metrics are derived, which are natural tools to discover the probabilities to …

Material Handling System For Robotic Natural Orifice Surgery, Jeff Midday

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Natural Orifice Translumenal Endoscopic Surgery (NOTES) is a relatively new surgical approach which uses no external incisions, thereby improving cosmetic outcomes, decreasing overall recovery time and reducing the risk of external infection. In standard NOTES, flexible endoscopic tools have been used to carry out a variety of surgical procedures in the abdomen. As an alternative, miniature in vivo robots can be fully inserted into the peritoneal cavity and utilized to perform various surgical procedures. These in vivo robots eliminate tool triangulation issues, improve multi-tasking capabilities and greatly increase freedom and dexterity when compared to standard endoscopic and laparoscopic tools. One …

The Integration Of Propane Flaming And Mechanical Cultivation For Effective Weed Control In Agriculture, Brian D. Neilson

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Flaming is a thermal weed control method that can kill weeds within or between crop rows using heat. Mechanical cultivation is another weed control method which undercuts weeds between crop rows to kill them. A combination flamer/cultivator implement was designed to take advantage of the good qualities of both flaming and cultivation to provide excellent organic weed control.

Flaming hoods were designed in the spring of 2010 and retrofitted on an existing row crop cultivator. The hoods were tested in corn and soybean field studies in the summer of 2010. Of the seven treatments tested, a treatment of flaming combined …

An End To End-To-End? A Review Essay Of Barbara Van Schewick’S Internet Architecture And Innovation, Adam Candeub

Federal Communications Law Journal

Amidst much controversy, the FCC released its landmark "network neutrality" order in December 2010. This regulation prohibits Internet service providers, such as Verizon or Comcast, from discriminating in favor of traffic or content that they own or with which they are affiliated. Professor Barbara van Schewick's recently published book, Internet Architecture and Innovation, could not be timelier. Employing a variety of economic and technical arguments, van Schewick defends the type of regulation the FCC passed as necessary to preserve the Internet's potential for innovation. My central critique of Internet Architecture is its deployment of economic theories on one side of …

Micro Hydro-Electric Power Generation, Travis Rose

Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

A major industrial water user in New Mexico discharges approximately 3.8 million gal of wastewater per day. The topology of the site provides an elevation difference of about 150 ft between the plant site and the entrance to the municipal sewage line; this flow and elevation difference is sufficient to produce about 40 kW of electrical power using a water turbine/electrical generator set to extract power from the flowing stream. This report includes designs and economic analyses for two distinct cases. One case is based on the written premises of the task; whereas, a second case is based on a …

Streambed Thermal Property Instrument (Spi), James Alwel Dayie

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

The purpose of this research, the Streambed thermal Property Instrument (SPI) is to determine the applicability of this instrument for in situ thermal (conductivity and diffusivity) and porous flow (magnitude and direction) measurements. Currently, no such thermal instrument exists for such in situ measurements and the reason for developing this unique instrument, the SPI to fill the technology gap in sediment thermal property measurement devices. Prior to testing the instrument under controlled laboratory conditions to determine its functionality through a series of static and flow tests, the instrument was designed and built. A lab-sized version of an actual river called …

Multi-National River Basin Cooperation And Management Case Study: Senegal River Basin, Patricia Ayaa

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

With increasing populations, urbanization and thus increasing demand for water, conflict on International River basins has been increasing over the years which has necessitated formation of International River frameworks to devise means of cooperation among the countries sharing the river basins. The main modes of cooperation in international river basins include allocating the waters of the river to the sharing countries such that each country manages its own water resources, or treating the river basin as one system and jointly managing and sharing the costs and benefits from the various services or use-sectors of the river.

This research was aimed …

Procedures For Correcting Digital Camera Imagery Acquired By The Aggieair Remote Sensing Platform, Shannon R. Clemens

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Developments in sensor technologies have made consumer-grade digital cameras one of the more recent tools in remote sensing applications. Consumer-grade digital cameras have been the imaging sensor of choice by researchers due to their small size, light weight, limited power requirements, and their potential to store hundreds of images (Hardin 2011). Several studies have focused on the use of digital cameras and their efficacy in remote sensing applications. For satellite and airborne multispectral imaging systems, there is a well established radiometric processing approach. However, radiometric processing lines for digital cameras are currently being researched.

The goal of this report is …

Character-Based Automated Human Perception Quality Assessment In Document Images, Tayo Obafemi-Ajayi, Gady Agam

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Large degradations in document images impede their readability and deteriorate the performance of automated document processing systems. Document image quality (IQ) metrics have been defined through optical character recognition (OCR) accuracy. Such metrics, however, do not always correlate with human perception of IQ. When enhancing document images with the goal of improving readability, e.g., in historical documents where OCR performance is low and/or where it is necessary to preserve the original context, it is important to understand human perception of quality. The goal of this paper is to design a system that enables the learning and estimation of human perception …

Scaling Relations And The Role Of Bond-Charge To The Electron Transmission Through Two Coupled Aharonov-Bohm Rings, Cheng-Hsiao Wu, Lam C. Tran, C. A. Cain

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Electron transport and the exact scaling relations for two irreducibly coupled Aharonov-Bohm (AB) rings with two external terminals attached are investigated. In coupled AB rings, a center common path exists where the phase of the electron wave function can be modulated by two applied fluxes simultaneously. The two coupled rings can be considered as two coupled atoms where Fermi level crossings exist not only between bonding states but also between bonding and anti-bonding states when the applied flux is varied in one of the two cases studied. We show that when the smallest atomic-sized coupled rings are scaled up any …

Repeatability Of In Vivo Parafoveal Cone Density And Spacing Measurements, Robert Garrioch, Christopher S. Langlo, Adam M. Dubis, Robert F. Cooper, Alfredo Dubra, Joseph Carroll

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Purpose. To assess the repeatability and measurement error associated with cone density and nearest neighbor distance (NND) estimates in images of the parafoveal cone mosaic obtained with an adaptive optics scanning light ophthalmoscope (AOSLO).

Methods. Twenty-one participants with no known ocular pathology were recruited. Four retinal locations, approximately 0.65[degrees] eccentricity from the center of fixation, were imaged 10 times in randomized order with an AOSLO. Cone coordinates in each image were identified using an automated algorithm (with or without manual correction) from which cone density and NND were calculated. Owing to naturally occurring fixational instability, the 10 images recorded from …

Mechatronic System Design - A Hydraulic-Based Engine Cooling System Design And Refinement Of A Technical Elective Mechatronics Course, Rajwardhan Patil

All Theses

The improvement of consumer products and industrial processes, in terms of functionality and reliability, has recently focused on the integration of sensors and real time controllers with attached actuators into the given physical system. The likelihood of long-term market penetration of smart devices has placed an emphasis on preparing engineering graduates for technology leadership roles in the workforce. This thesis examines mechatronic systems in two manners. First, an intelligent automotive internal combustion engine cooling system is studied for ground vehicles using hydraulic actuators which offer the opportunity for greater versatility and performance. Second, improvements to a technical elective mechatronics course …