Engineering Commons^™

Thiol Reactive Probes And Chemosensors, Robert M. Strongin, Lovemore Hakuna, Hanjing Peng, Weixuan Chen, Yunfeng Cheng, Binghe Wang

Chemistry Faculty Publications and Presentations

Thiols are important molecules in the environment and in biological processes. Cysteine (Cys), homocysteine (Hcy), glutathione (GSH) and hydrogen sulfide (H2S) play critical roles in a variety of physiological and pathological processes. The selective detection of thiols using reaction-based probes and sensors is very important in basic research and in disease diagnosis. This review focuses on the design of fluorescent and colorimetric probes and sensors for thiol detection. Thiol detection methods include probes and labeling agents based on nucleophilic addition and substitution, Michael addition, disulfide bond or Se-N bond cleavage, metal-sulfur interactions and more. Probes for H2S are based on …

Analysis Of Travel Time Reliability For Freight Corridors Connecting The Pacific Northwest, Miguel A. Figliozzi

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

A new methodology and algorithms were developed to combine diverse data sources and to estimate the impacts of recurrent and non-recurrent congestion on freight movements’ reliability and delays, costs, and emissions. The results suggest that traditional traffic sensor data tend to underestimate the impacts of congestion on commercial vehicles travel times and variability. This research also shows that congestion is not only detrimental for carriers and shippers costs but also for the planet due to major increases in GHG emissions and for the local community due to large increases in NOx, PM, and other harmful pollutants.

The methodologies developed throughout …

Implementation Of Novel Group Delay Decomposition Method And Surgical Protocol For Assessing Peripheral Neuropathy, Sammy Paul Nicolas

Master's Theses

This paper outlines a surgical procedure for exposing and stimulating the sciatic nerve of an anesthetized rodent for purposes of obtaining conduction velocity readings. The ability to accurately quantify nerve conduction velocity has potential for use in the field of diagnostic medicine and disease characterization. An accurate reading depends on both the surgical method used to expose the desired nerve without imposing onto it any physical trauma as well as the stimulation protocol used to initiate action potentials. This paper contains the specific steps required to set up the necessary hardware and software for electrical stimulation as well as a …

The Design And Testing Of A Solar Autoclave With Broad Spectrum Sterilization Capabilities, Sarah S. Trabia

Honors College Theses

Energy is difficult to come by in developing countries and this interferes with the ability of doctors to provide good healthcare to their patients. Without decent sterilization, patients can become infected and diseases can spread throughout hospitals. This study involves designing a solar autoclave for developing countries that is as efficient as electrical autoclaves. The design is intended to not require any electrical input and to be affordable to those who cannot afford advanced medical equipment. Once the solar autoclave is designed, it will be tested to determine if it can sterilize equipment against a variety of different bacteria, including …

Consumer Attention To An Over-The-Counter Warning In Four Different Styles Of Design, Abhishek Gawasane, Laura Bix, Javier De La Fuente, Raghav Prashant Sundar, Timothy J. Smith

Industrial Technology and Packaging

The study consisted of three objectives: (a) to test the relative prominence and conspicuousness of a warning required by US law to be conspicuous; (b) to explore whether or not the conspicuousness of the said warning can be enhanced graphically; and (c) to develop preliminary data for power analysis that would guide decisions related to sample size in future studies.

Seventeen subjects viewed four over-the-counter drug packages (each with a different style of warning) along with five other products while wearing an eye tracking device. Four styles of warning were used on the over-the-counter drug packages: no outline and no …

Visualization Of Molecular Dynamics Simulation Data, Suroj Shrestha

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Chemical Vapor-Deposited Carbon Nanofibers On Carbon Fabric For Supercapacitor Electrode Applications, Yang Gao, Gaind P. Pandey, James Turner, Charles R. Westgate, Bahgat Sammakia

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Scholarship

Entangled carbon nanofibers (CNFs) were synthesized on a flexible carbon fabric (CF) via water-assisted chemical vapor deposition at 800A degrees C at atmospheric pressure utilizing iron (Fe) nanoparticles as catalysts, ethylene (C2H4) as the precursor gas, and argon (Ar) and hydrogen (H-2) as the carrier gases. Scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and electron dispersive spectroscopy were employed to characterize the morphology and structure of the CNFs. It has been found that the catalyst (Fe) thickness affected the morphology of the CNFs on the CF, resulting in different capacitive behaviors of the CNF/CF electrodes. Two different Fe thicknesses (5 and …

Predicting Domain Adaptivity: Redo Or Recycle?, Ting Yao, Chong-Wah Ngo, Shiai Zhu

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Over the years, the academic researchers have contributed various visual concept classifiers. Nevertheless, given a new dataset, most researchers still prefer to develop large number of classifiers from scratch despite expensive labeling efforts and limited computing resources. A valid question is why not multimedia community “embrace the green” and recycle off-the-shelf classifiers for new dataset. The difficulty originates from the domain gap that there are many different factors that govern the development of a classifier and eventually drive its performance to emphasize certain aspects of dataset. Reapplying a classifier to an unseen dataset may end up GIGO (garbage in, garbage …

Fashionask: Pushing Community Answers To Your Fingertips, Wei Zhang, Lei Pang, Chong-Wah Ngo

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

We demonstrate a multimedia-based question-answering system, named FashionAsk, by allowing users to ask questions referring to pictures snapped by mobile devices. Specifically, instead of asking verbose questions to depict visual instances, direct pictures are provided as part of questions. To answer these multi-modal questions, FashionAsk performs a large-scale instance search to infer the names of instances, and then matches with similar questions from communitycontributed QA websites as answers. The demonstration is conducted on a million-scale dataset of Web images and QA pairs in the domain of fashion products. Asking a multimedia question through FashionAsk can take as short as five …

Nanobarcoding: Detecting Nanoparticles In Biological Samples Using In Situ Polymerase Chain Reaction, Trisha Eustaquio, James F. Leary

Birck and NCN Publications

Background: Determination of the fate of nanoparticles (NPs) in a biological system, or NP biodistribution, is critical in evaluating an NP formulation for nanomedicine. Current methods to determine NP biodistribution are greatly inadequate, due to their limited detection thresholds. Herein, proof of concept of a novel method for improved NP detection based on in situ polymerase chain reaction (ISPCR), coined "nanobarcoding," is demonstrated. Methods: Nanobarcoded superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (NB-SPIONs) were characterized by dynamic light scattering, zeta potential, and hyperspectral imaging - measurements. Cellular uptake of Cy5-labeled NB-SPIONs (Cy5-NB-SPIONs) was imaged by confocal microscopy. The feasibility of the nanobarcoding method …

Evaluating Dynamic ‘Landing Gear Unsafe’ Auditory Alerts As A Defense Against Habituation, Vincenzo Fasano

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Auditory alerts are widely used in today's daily routine. Unlike their visual counterparts, auditory alerts can be used to capture someone's attention, even though the user is not within visual range. As beneficial as auditory alerts can be, it is possible to become habituated to alerts. Habituation is the elimination of a response as a result of continuous exposure to a stimulus. In this small-scale study, methods to reduce pilot habituation to the 'landing gear unsafe' auditory alert were investigated. Ten subjects executed eight non-precision instrument approaches that exposed the subjects to the 'landing gear unsafe' auditory alert for a …

A Gap Analysis Of Meteorological Requirements For Commercial Space Operators, Nicholas J. Stapleton

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Commercial space companies will soon be the primary method of launching people and supplies into orbit. Among the critical aspects of space launches are the meteorological concerns. Laws and regulations pertaining to meteorological considerations have been created to ensure the safety of the space industry and those living around spaceports; but, are they adequate? Perhaps the commercial space industry can turn to the commercial aviation industry to help answer that question. Throughout its history, the aviation industry has dealt with lessons learned from mishaps due to failures in understanding the significance of weather impacts on operations. Using lessons from the …

Modeling And Simulation Of Pressure Waves Generated By Nano-Thermite Reactions, Karen S. Martirosyan, Maxim Zyskin, Charles M. Jenkins, Yasuyuki Horie

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Publications

This paper reports the modeling of pressure waves from the explosive reaction of nano-thermites consisting of mixtures of nanosized aluminum and oxidizer granules. Such nanostructured thermites have higher energy density (up to 26 kJ/cm3) and can generate a transient pressure pulse four times larger than that from trinitrotoluene (TNT) based on volume equivalence. A plausible explanation for the high pressure generation is that the reaction times are much shorter than the time for a shock wave to propagate away from the reagents region so that all the reaction energy is dumped into the gaseous products almost instantaneously and thereby a …

Fiber-Tip Fabry–Perot Interferometric Sensor Based On A Thin Silver Film, Fawen Guo

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Fiber-optic sensors have many advantages, including small size, light weight, immunity to electromagnetic interference, and the capability of remote sensing. Fiber- tip sensors are fabricated on a fiber tip and are the smallest type of fiber-optic sensor. The fiber-tip sensors have attracted a great deal of attention in past years for pressure, temperature, and acoustic sensing.

In this thesis, a fiber-tip sensor based on an ultra-thin silver film was proposed and demonstrated for highly sensitive and high frequency ultrasonic detection. The film is prepared by the vacuum thermal deposition method and then transferred to the fiber tip. The sensor has …

Cost-Effective Treatment Of Existing Guardrail Systems, Mitchell J. Wiebelhaus

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

A cost-effective means for upgrading existing barrier systems, which have deviations from standard practice (i.e., low-rail heights, antiquated end treatments, and improper installation) does not exist. As a result these systems remain on U.S. highways. Barrier systems with deviations from current practice may not perform as intended, thus resulting in fatalities and serious injuries from impacts with these safety devices. It is not plausible to eliminate fatalities and serious injuries from all guardrail impacts; but these numbers could be significantly reduced with the proper design, testing, installation, and maintenance of guardrail systems.

This report offers recommendations for upgrading W-beam guardrails …

Transport Of Engineered Nanomaterials In Porous Media: Groundwater Remediation Application And Effects Of Particle Shape, Megan Seymour

Department of Environmental Engineering: Theses and Other Student Research

Nanotechnology, referring to any science which utilizes particles at the nanoscale, has substantially grown in recent years for its wide spectrum of potential uses. Many theories and models have been developed around the transport of spherical particles; however nanoparticles can be found in various shapes which could greatly affect the predicted transport and retention in the subsurface.

This research explores the beneficial use of carbon nano-onions (CNOs) for environmental remediation and investigates the transport of CNOs in saturated porous media. Surface oxidized CNOs possessed 10 times higher sorption capacity compared to C₆₀ for heavy metal ions including Pb^{2+ …}

Stress Monitoring Of Post-Processed Mems Silicon Microbridge Structures Using Raman Spectroscopy, Lavern A. Starman, Ronald A. Coutu Jr.

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Inherent residual stresses during material deposition can have profound effects on the functionality and reliability of fabricated Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) devices. Residual stress often causes device failure due to curling, buckling, or fracture. Typically, the material properties of thin films used in surface micromachining are not well controlled during deposition. The residual stress; for example, tends to vary significantly for different deposition methods. Currently, few nondestructive techniques are available to measure residual stress in MEMS devices prior to the final release etch. In this research, micro-Raman spectroscopy is used to measure the residual stresses in polysilicon MEMS microbridge devices. This …

The Characterisation And Numerical Modelling Of Viscoelastic Polyurethane Foams For Use In Custom Wheelchair Seating, Conor Briody

Doctoral

Viscoelastic polyurethane foam is widely used in wheelchair cushions as it offers good pressure relieving capabilities. However, the behaviour of this material is largely un-quantified, by comparison with conventional elastomeric materials.
Consequently, in many cases, inadequate cushioning is provided to wheelchair
users with complex seating requirements. This thesis characterises and
numerically models viscoelastic polyurethane foam.
Temperature-dependent static compression and simple shear test procedures are conducted on a range of viscoelastic polyurethane foams and selected results are utilised to identify Ogden Hyperfoam material model parameters. Time-dependent creep and stress relaxation test procedures are conducted and test results are used in conjunction …

Contextual Influences On Trip Generation, Kelly J. Clifton, Kristina Marie Currans, Christopher D. Muhs

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

There is national interest in building data that expands upon the existing Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) trip generation rates to include sites located in a multi-modal context. Current ITE rates represent travel behavior for development in single lots and uses, primarily measured in low-density suburban areas. Despite evidence that a more compact urban form, access to transit and a greater mix of uses generates fewer and shorter vehicle trips, local governments are often compelled to use current ITE trip generation rates to evaluate transportation impacts and calculate transportation system development charges (TSDCs). This is due to: a) the expense …

Cognitive Architectures And Autonomy: Commentary And Response, Włodzisław Duch, Ah-Hwee Tan, Stan Franklin

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

This paper provides a very useful and promising analysis and comparison of current architectures of autonomous intelligent systems acting in real time and specific contexts, with all their constraints. The chosen issue of Cognitive Architectures and Autonomy is really a challenge for AI current projects and future research. I appreciate and endorse not only that challenge but many specific choices and claims; in particular: (i) that “autonomy” is a key concept for general intelligent systems; (ii) that “a core issue in cognitive architecture is the integration of cognitive processes ....”; (iii) the analysis of features and capabilities missing in current …

Tyrosine Nitration Of Voltage-Dependent Anion Channels In Cardiac Ischemia-Reperfusion: Reduction By Peroxynitrite Scavenging, Meiying Yang, Amadou K.S. Camara, Bassam T. Wakim, Yifan Zhou, Ashish K. Gadicherla, Wai-Meng Kwok, David F. Stowe

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Excess superoxide (O₂⁻) and nitric oxide (NO) forms peroxynitrite (ONOO⁻) during cardiac ischemia reperfusion (IR) injury, which in turn induces protein tyrosine nitration (tyr-N). Mitochondria are both a source of and target for ONOO⁻. Our aim was to identify specific mitochondrial proteins that display enhanced tyr-N after cardiac IR injury, and to explore whether inhibiting O₂⁻/ONOO⁻ during IR decreases mitochondrial protein tyr-N and consequently improves cardiac function. We show here that IR increased tyr-N of 35 and 15 kDa mitochondrial proteins using Western blot analysis with 3-nitrotyrosine antibody. Immunoprecipitation …

Mitigation Of Radiation Induced Pulmonary Vascular Injury By Delayed Treatment With Captopril, Robert C. Molthen, Qingping Wu, Brian L. Fish, John E. Moulder, Elizabeth R. Jacobs, Meetha M. Medhora

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Background and Objective: A single dose of 10 Gy radiation to the thorax of rats results in decreased total lung angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) activity, pulmonary artery distensibility and distal vascular density while increasing pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) at 2 months post-exposure. In this study, we evaluate the potential of a renin-angiotensin system (RAS) modulator, the ACE inhibitor captopril, to mitigate this pulmonary vascular damage.

Methods: Rats exposed to 10 Gy thorax only irradiation and age-matched controls were studied 2 months after exposure, during the development of radiation pneumonitis. Rats were treated, either immediately or 2 weeks after radiation exposure, with …

Reliability Analysis Of Low-Silver Bga Solder Joints Using Four Failure Criteria, Erin A. Kimura

Master's Theses

The appropriate selection of failure criterion for solder joint studies is necessary to correctly estimate reliability life. The objective of this study is to compare the effect of different failure criteria on the reliability life estimation. The four failure criteria in this study are a 20% resistance increase defined in the IPC-9701A standard, a resistance beyond 500 Ω, an infinite resistance (hard open), and a failure criterion based on X-bar and R control charts. Accelerated thermal cycling conditions of a low-silver BGA study included 0°C to 100 °C with ten minute dwell times and -40°C to 125°C with ten minute …

Constant Conduction Angle Biasing For Class C Monolithic Rf Power Amplifiers, Gursewak Singh Rai

Master's Theses

In modern wireless communication systems, a base station typically serves a few hundred users within its cell coverage. To combat the near-far problem – the situation where a nearby user’s strong cellular signal masks the cellular signal of a faraway user – base stations continually enforce power control. That is, nearby users must lower their transmit power. In CDMA technology, power control can be as large as 70-80dB. At low power outputs, this greatly impacts the performance of the RF power amplifier (PA) in the cellular device. For small RF drives, the magnitude of the output RF current approaches the …

Fault Mapping With The Refraction Microtremor And Seismic Refraction Methods Along The Los Osos Fault Zone, Justin Riley Martos

Master's Theses

The presence of active fault traces in proximity to any new infrastructure project is a major concern for the design process. The relative displacements that can be experienced in surface fault rupture during a seismic event must be either entirely avoided or mitigated in some way. Blind faults present a significant challenge to engineers attempting to identify these hazards. Current standards of practice employed to locate these features are time consuming and costly. This work investigates the geophysical methods of refraction microtremor (ReMi) and seismic refraction with regard to their applicability in this task. By imaging a distinct lateral variation …

Mechanical Optimization And Buckling Analysis Of Bio-Composites, Cameron D. Chan

Master's Theses

Today’s environmental concerns have led a renewed search in industry to find new sustainable materials to replace non-renewable resources. President Barack Obama also quoted in the recent 2012 Presidential Debate “that there is a need to build the energy sources of the future and invest in solar, wind, and bio-fuels.” Bio-composites are believed to be the future and the new substitute for non-renewable resources. Bio-composites are similar to composites in that they are made up of two constituent materials; however the main difference is that bio-composites are made from natural fibers and a biopolymer matrix. This research investigates the buckling …

First-Order Design Of A Reflective Viewfinder For Adaptive Optics Ophthalmoscopy, Alfredo Dubra, Yusufu N. Sulai

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Adaptive optics (AO) ophthalmoscopes with small fields of view have limited clinical utility. We propose to address this problem in reflective instruments by incorporating a viewfinder pupil relay designed by considering pupil and image centering and conjugation. Diverting light from an existing pupil optical relay to the viewfinder relay allows switching field of view size. Design methods that meet all four centering and conjugation conditions using either a single concave mirror or with two concave mirrors forming an off-axis afocal telescope are presented. Two different methods for calculating the focal length and orientation of the concave mirrors in the afocal …

The Characterisation And Numerical Modelling Of Viscoelastic Polyurethane Foams For Use In Custom Wheelchair Seating., Conor Briody

Doctoral

Viscoelastic polyurethane foam is widely used in wheelchair cushions as it offers good pressure relieving capabilities. However, the behaviour of this material is largely un-quantified, by comparison with conventional elastomeric materials. Consequently, in many cases, inadequate cushioning is provided to wheelchair users with complex seating requirements. This thesis characterises and numerically models viscoelastic polyurethane foam. Temperature-dependent static compression and simple shear test procedures are conducted on a range of viscoelastic polyurethane foams and selected results are utilised to identify Ogden Hyperfoam material model parameters. Time-dependent creep and stress relaxation test procedures are conducted and test results are used in conjunction …

A Hybrid Li-Air Battery With Buckypaper Air Cathode And Sulfuric Acid Electrolyte, Yunfeng Li, Kan Huang, Yangchuan Xing

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

We demonstrate a type of carbon nanotube based buckypaper cathode in a hybrid electrolyte Li-air battery (HyLAB) that showed outstanding discharging performances. the HyLAB has sulfuric acid as the catholyte and a large active electrode area (10 cm 2). the active cathode layer was made from a buckypaper with 5 wt.% Pt supported on carbon nanotubes (Pt/CNTs) for oxygen reduction and evolution. a similar cathode was constructed with a catalyst of 5 wt.% Pt supported on carbon black (Pt/CB). It is demonstrated that sulfuric acid can achieve high discharging current densities while maintaining relatively high cell potentials. the cell with …

Self-Stratifying Coating, Cynthia G. Templeman, Jamil Baghdachi, Punthip Talapatcharocnkit

Patents

The present invention discloses a reactivity-based self-stratifying coating composition. The coating composition can include a polyol, silsesquioxane, a polyester polyol, and a crosslinker that form a mixture within a solvent. The polyol can be selected from a fluorinated polyether, a fluoroethylene- alkyl vinyl ether and/or a combination thereof. The silsesquioxane can be an epoxy functional silsesquioxane having a formula of (R)₆(C₆H₁₁O₂)₂(SiO₁₅)₈ where R can be selected from hydrogen, methyl, ethyl, propyl, butyl, pentyl, hexyl, cyclopentyl, cyclohexyl, benzyl, phenyl, and isomers thereof. In some instances, the epoxy functional …