Engineering Commons^™

Characterization Of Variables In Electrical Killing Of Bacteria: Voltage And Current Geometry, Taylor Turner, Dr. William Pitt

Journal of Undergraduate Research

As part of a constant pursuit of better health researchers continuously investigate the role of bacteria in disease and infection. Much research today investigates methods for effectively killing unwanted bacteria in the body. Modern antibiotic medications are the most effective method of accomplishing this, but they have their limits. One particular limit of today’s antibiotics is the ability to eliminate biofilms. Biofilms consist of many layers of bacterial cells growing on top of each other, typically attached to a solid surface. Antibiotics cannot penetrate the layers of biofilms, leaving the lower bacteria untouched after treatment. This problem led us to …

Civil Engineering And Construction News, Georgia Southern University

Civil Engineering & Construction: News & Publications (2011-2022)

• Announcement – CEIT Undergraduate Research awards (CEIT-UR) Program

Research Based Classroom Practices That Improve Student Learning, Suzette R. Burckhard

ASEE Best Practice Series Presentations

No abstract provided.

Swell And Shrinkage Characterizations Of Unsaturated Expansive Clays From Texas, Anand J. Puppala, Thammanoon Manosuthikij, Bhaskar C. S. Chittoori

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Expansive soils have long been recognized as problematic because they cause failure to civil structures constructed above them. The main problem of these soils can be attributed to poor understanding of the volume changes caused by moisture fluctuations. Current swell and shrinkage characterization models are limited by both the lack of standardized tests and tests that employ volume changes in uniaxial direction. In the present research, a comprehensive laboratory investigation was undertaken to study the volume change related swell–shrinkage behaviors of five different types of expansive clayey soils sampled from various regions in Texas, USA. Extensive experimental programs consisting of …

Correlating Skin Vibration With Radiated Sound During Speech, Jason Schulthess, Dr. Scott Thomson

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The intent of this research was to study correlation between the sound that is radiated during human speech and the resulting vibrations that occur in the skin in regions of the head and neck. This report includes results from two parts of this research. First are the measurement results and the comparisons of frequency content obtained from the vibration of the skin at various locations on the head and neck. The second is a presentation of the results examining the frequency content of the measurement device; this study was motivated by preliminary testing results that revealed possible interference due to …

Design And Performance Of A Skid-Mounted Portable Compartment Fire Gas Furnace And Monitoring System, K. Mueller, Y. Kurama, M. Mcginnis, M. Lisk

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

A custom, portable natural gas fire furnace was designed and constructed for use at the University of Notre Dame to experimentally investigate the out-of-plane behavior of full-scale reinforced concrete (RC) bearing walls under fire. The unique aspects of this furnace allowed the application of large mechanical loads and non-contact optical response monitoring to be done while subjecting the wall to elevated temperatures. The performance of the experimental furnace, mechanical loading, and response monitoring system is reported using the results from the first two RC wall test specimens.

Wound Care, Steven B. Jung, D. E. Day

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A method for treating a wound, and a dressing for wound care management comprising a three-dimensional body of glass-based fibers comprising one or more glass-formers selected from the group consisting of P₂O5, SiO₂, and B₂O₃; at least about 25 wt % of the fibers have a diameter between about 200 nm and about 4000 nm, and a length:width aspect ratio of at least about 10. In another form, the glasses are in the form of particles in an ointment or cream applied to a wound. In yet other forms the glasses are …

Design Of Compliant Prosthetic Ankle Joints Using A Kinematic Model, Jason M. Wiersdorf, Robert Robins, Spencer P. Magleby, Larry L. Howell, Robert H. Todd

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The complex system of bones, muscles, ligaments and tendons in the human ankle allow it to withstand high compression impacts, to move in multiple degrees of freedom, and to transfer energy from the leg to the foot while walking or running.

Asset Tracking System, Jacob Roberts, Dr. Joseph Ekstrom

Journal of Undergraduate Research

RFID, Radio Frequency Identification, is a technology that is beginning to attract the attention of large business. These businesses have complicated and expensive supply chains. RFID promises to streamline asset tracking and reduce supply chain costs.

Student Digital Portfolio Analysis And Implementation For Byu Students, Keith Kasperson, Dr. Gordon W. Romney

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The Student Digital Portfolio (StuDigiPort) capstone team shall provide a web application that provides students with a digital or electronic portfolio. A digital portfolio is a collection of student work that is organized similar to a hard copy portfolio. The purpose of the portfolio is to demonstrate the character and abilities of the student. Following are some of the requested features that shall be provided by the Student Digital Portfolio application:

Xmdf To Gis, Eric Jones, Dr. Jim Nelson

Journal of Undergraduate Research

My project is to convert the file system of the program WMS (Watershed Modeling System) from an ASCII text file format to an updated HDF5, or XMDF file format.

Evaluation Of Three Chemical Coatings On Biomaterial Induced Thromboembolism, Joseph Flinders, Dr. Kenneth Solen

Journal of Undergraduate Research

When blood contacts man-made biomaterials such as those used in artificial organs (e.g. hemodialyzers, oxygenators, etc.) a chain of events occurs that can lead to medical complications as serious as a stroke. These events include proteins (particularly fibrinogen) adhering to the biomaterial’s surface, the accumulation of blood platelets on the fibrinogen to form “Thrombi”, and then the dislodging of the thrombi to form particles (microemboli) that can block downstream arteries or capillaries causing a “stroke” or other cardiovascular event.

Antibody-Conjugated Polymeric Micelles That Attach To Specific Cancer Cells, Douglas S. Lewis, Dr. William G. Pitt

Journal of Undergraduate Research

In the past decade, many efforts have been made to improve chemotherapeutic treatments for cancer patients. One of the specific efforts seeks to actively deliver anti-cancer drugs to the target tissue rendering the chemotherapy more efficient and less damaging to nearby uninfected cells.

Using Computer Simulation To Overcome Shortcomings In Laboratory Relative Density Tests For Soils, Amy L. Cook, Dr. Travis Gerber

Journal of Undergraduate Research

An important soil parameter in geotechnical engineering is relative density. Relative density is a measure of the compactness of a cohesionless soil when compared to the loosest and densest state of the soil.

Preliminary Liquefaction Hazard Analysis For Bridge Sites Along The 1-15 Corridor Salt Lake County, Utah, Samuel Gilstrap, Dr. T. Leslie Youd

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The term liquefaction refers to the loss of strength in soils during earthquake shaking. Generally, liquefaction occurs in loose sandy soils which lie beneath the water table. Liquefaction-induced ground failures have been major causes of bridge damage during past earthquakes. My research was to apply state-of-the-art methods for evaluating liquefaction hazard to the bridge sites along the 1-15 corridor in Salt Lake County, Utah. This section of interstate is to be reconstructed over the next 4 years and is one of the largest construction projects ever initiated in Utah. This segment of the highway lies generally parallel to the Salt …

Air/Polymer Diffraction Grating Coupler, Josh Kvavle

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The purpose of my research was to fabricate air/dielectric interface diffraction grating couplers. This report will explain the obstacles that I encountered, and the resulting direction that my research took. In summary, soon after I began my research, a very expensive laser that I depended on for this research was sent away for repairs, so I began doing characterization of a polymer.

Coarsening Algorithm For Tetrahedral Meshes, Eve S. Crow, Dr. Steven Benzley

Journal of Undergraduate Research

In Finite Element Analysis (FEA), there are often times when the mesh on the model needs to be more dense or less dense in a certain region. Refinement and coarsening are the tools used to achieve the desired density of a mesh. The CUBIT toolkit has a coarsening algorithm for triangle surface meshes, but the algorithm for coarsening tetrahedral meshes has not been implemented. I have done some research and have a plan for how it could be implemented.

A Coordinated Sensing Algorithm For An Ad-Hoc Sensing Network, Britton Quist, Dr. Lee Swindlehurst

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Sensor deployment and placement has a myriad of applications. In everything from wildlife monitoring to underwater microphone surveillance to UAV (unmanned air vehicle) battlefield surveillance the placement of sensors is essential for proper coverage. Often these devices (nodes) communicate as an Ad-Hoc network where data sent to a distant sensor or node will be conveyed across the network by the nodes along the way. In this way, if a node is within the communication range of a single node with other connections, it can communicate with an entire network. This approach is an alternative to the network used in applications …

High-Speed Tunable Mems Filter, Seth Lloyd, Dr. Richard Selfridge

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Optical fiber sensors offer a viable alternative to traditional electronic sensors because of their small size and high immunity to environmental phenomena. While many researchers focus on developing and applying new optical sensing technologies, there is also a great need for better fiber sensor interrogators. An interrogator is the system used to collect the data from the sensor, which with optical sensors usually involves the transfer of an optical signal to an electric signal. The current equipment required for interrogating fiber optic sensors tends to be large, bulky and costly, has high power consumption, and usually performs only the most …

Cancer Cell Research, Jacey C. Morine, Dr. Aaron Hawkins

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Cancer cell research is an exciting field of study that has involved a variety of disciplines. In my area of research, I was involved on the electrical engineering side of cancer cell research. We used a small scanning probe that was able to image small objects based on the changes in measured voltage. Eventually, we should be able to image individual cells as we make these tips smaller and smaller.

Fabrication And Characterization Of Electroosmotic Pumps For Protein Separation And Integration Into Arrow Structure, Donald B. Conkey, Dr. Aaron R. Hawkins

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Electroosmotic pumps have been fabricated and tested made with a thin-film deposition process compatible with standard silicon processing. This methodology relies upon chemical vapor deposition and chemical sacrificial etching to form long hollow fluid channels. Fabricating pumps in this way is attractive because they can be made on a variety of substrates with high-scale integration and can conveniently be combined with other planar thin-film components. These pumps have significantly smaller core diameters and separation between micropump channels than pumps made with alternative fabrication techniques. Flow rates were measured on these devices for different applied voltages.

Use Of Signal Processing Methods To Improve Speech Intelligibility In Throat Microphones, Daniel J. Andelin, Dr. Scott Thomson

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Effective communication, vital to successful operations in many sectors, including military, business, and industry, depends largely on the receiver’s ability to accurately interpret the transmitted signal, generally referred to as speech intelligibility (SI). The presence of elevated noise can be seriously detrimental to SI. To reduce ambient noise in communication through audio microphones, it is possible to use a throat microphone (TM), which senses vocal fold vibrations through the skin on the speaker’s neck, as opposed to detecting the airborne sound wave emanating from the speaker’s mouth, as in standard microphones . Unfortunately, the position of the TM on the …

Isolation Of High Quality Graphene From Ru By Solution Phase Intercalation, E. Koren, Eli A. Sutter, S. Bliznakov, F. Ivars-Barcelo, P. Sutter

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

2013 AIP Publishing LLC

Hydroshare: Advancing Collaboration Through Hydrologic Data And Model Sharing, David G. Tarboton

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Which One Is Better? Comparing Options To Describe Frequency Dependent Losses, Eric Bogatin, Don Degroot, Paul G. Huray, Yuriy Shlepnev

Faculty Publications

In any channel operating at 2 Gbps and above, conductor and dielectric losses can dominate channel performance. These effects must be included in any accurate system simulation. The problem isn't that simulators don't do this; there are several choices in interconnect loss mathematical expressions and it's difficult to decide how to transform fab information into simulator input. There are different combinations of parameterized mathematical expressions for dielectric and conductor loss which are in popular use in the industry. Each works to some extent. This paper takes each mathematical expression, explains its origin, evaluates its predicted insertion loss magnitude and phase …

Hypothermia-Induced Platelet Aggregation And Fibrinogen Functionality, Adam Broderick, Dr. Ken Solen

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Hypothermia-Induced Platelet Aggregation (HIPA) may pose a significant risk for patients undergoing some surgical procedures. During heart surgery, a patient’s core temperature is typically lowered to reduce tissue damage. Hall et al. (2002) observed that this caused blood platelet aggregation in ~30% of test subjects1 and increases post-operative neurological impairment after hypothermic coronary bypass surgery, possibly through occlusion of small blood vessels by platelet aggregates.2

Quantifying The Relationship Between Platelet Activity And Blood-Materials Interactions, Kenneth Solen

Journal of Undergraduate Research

In clinical practice, variations among patients in the degree of blood-material interaction are evidenced in the fact that physicians have long sought for ways to provide patient-specific treatment1. No clinical screening yet exists to test the level of interaction expected from a given patient. My research attempted to test the hypothesis that a correlation exists between platelet function and blood-material interaction.

Parametric Investigation Of The Isotruss® Panel, Gregory J. Larson

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The IsoTruss Panel is a three dimensional composite grid structure, evolving from the IsoTruss®. The IsoTruss® implements a revolutionary idea of utilizing the very strong unidirectional characteristics in composite materials in a three dimensional manner. The IsoTruss® is utilized in pole-type applications. The IsoTruss Panel is based on similar principles but is designed for use in plate and wall type structures as well as curved applications.

Synthetic Model Of Vocal Folds, Todd C. Groesbeck, Dr. Scott Thomson

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The influence and treatment of human vocal fold scarring is a topic of great interest to the speech community (clinicians, surgeons, educators, etc). Understanding how voice production occurs “is sought in order to improve predictive, diagnostic, and corrective practices related to vocal fold health” . When a patient undergoes vocal fold surgery, scarring frequently occurs. The same surgery intended to heal the vocal fold thus leaves it damaged; scarring results in impaired vibration and prevents the individual from normal, healthy voice use.

Terrain Following In Unmanned Air Vehicles Using Optic Flow Sensors, Blake Barber, Dr. Tim Mclain

Journal of Undergraduate Research

A key enabling technology that will allow the U.S. Military to maintain information superiority in the 21st century is the development and implementation of Unmanned Air Vehicle (UAV) technology. Especially critical to the support of the small special operations units conducting the asymmetric warfare of the 21st century will be the development of mini and micro UAV technology. Mini and micro UAV technology will enable foot soldiers to hand launch and recover small, robust reconnaissance aircraft capable of providing real-time video surveillance and real-time target acquisition. These capabilities will allow soldiers to have the full situational awareness they need for …