Engineering Commons^™

Water Soluble Polymer Solar Cells From Electrospray Deposition, Marshall Sweet

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation reports the fabrication and characterization of thin films from the water soluble polymer sodium poly[2-(3-thienyl)-ethyloxy-4-butylsulfonate] (PTEBS) by electrospray deposition (ESD). Contiguous thin films were created by adjusting the parameters of the electrospray apparatus and solution properties to maintain a steady Taylor cone for uniform nanoparticle aerosolization and controlling the particle water content to enable coalescence with previously deposited particles. The majority of deposited particles had diameters less than 52 nm. A thin film of 64.7 nm with a root mean square surface roughness of 20.2 nm was achieved after 40 minutes of ESD. Hybrid Solar Cells (HSCs) with …

The Impact Of Social Capital On Innovation Intermediaries, Songphon Munkongsujarit

Dissertations and Theses

In today's open business environments, innovation happens in globally dispersed organizations that exchange technological knowledge across increasingly permeable boundaries. Innovation intermediaries play an important role in these technology transfer processes. They operate as middle-men between solution seekers (companies seeking technological knowledge for solving their problems) and problem solvers (experts with specialized knowledge and solutions) and thus help to connect suppliers and customers of technological knowledge. Currently, clients that select an intermediary organization and managers of intermediary organizations that assign agents to a project have very little guidance as to what type of an intermediary they should select to guarantee that …

Extension Of Dna In A Nanochannel As A Rod-To-Coil Transition, Douglas R. Tree, Yanwei Wang, Kevin D. Dorfman

Faculty Publications

DNA confinement in nanochannels is emerging as an important tool for genomics and an excellent platform for testing the theories of confined wormlike polymers. Using cutting-edge, large scale Monte Carlo simulations of asymptotically long wormlike chains, we show that, in analogy to the rod-to-coil transition for free wormlike polymers, there exists a universal, Gauss–de Gennes regime that connects the classic Odijk and de Gennes regimes of channel-confined chains. For DNA in a nanochannel, this Gauss–de Gennes regime spans practically the entire experimentally relevant range of channel sizes, including the nanochannels used in an incipient genome mapping technology.

Floating Electrode Electrowetting On Hydrophobic Dielectric With An Sio2 Layer, Mehdi Khodayari, Benjamin Hahne, Nathan B. Crane, Alex A. Volinsky

Faculty Publications

Floating electrode electrowetting is caused by dc voltage applied to a liquid droplet on the Cytop surface, without electrical connection to the substrate. The effect is caused by the charge separation in the floating electrode. A highly-resistive thermally-grown SiO2 layer underneath the Cytop enables the droplet to hold charges without leakage, which is the key contribution. Electrowetting with an SiO2 layer shows a memory effect, where the wetting angle stays the same after the auxiliary electrode is removed from the droplet in both conventional and floating electrode electrowetting. Floating electrode electrowetting provides an alternative configuration for developing advanced electrowetting-based devices.

An Investigation Of The Impact Of Requirements Engineering Skills On Project Success, Cynthia Atkins

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A survey of project managers and requirements engineers was conducted to determine what skills, qualifications, and experiences were associated with project success. Survey results indicated that projects using Joint Application Development (JAD) sessions, use cases, and prototypes to engineer requirements were most successful. Other indicators of project success, according to participants, included an adequate allotment of time for requirements engineering—at least 15% of a project's time—and the use of project managers and requirements engineers with professional work experience. In particular, data indicated that Project Managers with at least five years of experience in Information Technology resulted in more successful projects.

Urban Parking Economics And Land Consumption: A Case Study Of New Haven, Connecticut And Cambridge, Massachusetts, Bryan P. Blanc

Honors Scholar Theses

It has become increasingly apparent that providing copious off-street parking has deleterious effects on urban form and function. This study compares parking policy in New Haven, Connecticut and Cambridge, Massachusetts that have pursued very different types of parking policies that have resulted in different outcomes in terms of land use. Since 1951, off-street parking provision has increased by nearly 400% in New Haven, meanwhile both employment and residential population have declined in the city. In contrast, off-street parking provision in Cambridge has risen around 140% since 1952, while employment and residential populations in the city have increased by 50% and …

Hollow Fiber Module For Continuous Ethanol Fermentation, Leia M. Dwyer

Honors Scholar Theses

Continuous processes have several advantages over their batch counterparts and are prevalent across the chemical engineering industry today. The process of brewing beer, however, remains a batch process. Transforming the brewing process into a continuous process could have many advantages including lowered process down-time, increased profits, and higher product homogeneity. This project looked into several aspects of the brewing process to gain insight into the potential for continuous ethanol fermentation. First, a kinetic model was developed for the enzymatic breakdown of starch to simple sugars in the production of wort from malted barley. Next, the growth kinetics of brewer’s yeast, …

Techniques For Li-Bdn Synthesis For Hybrid Microarchitectural Simulation, Tyler S. Harris

Theses and Dissertations

Computer designers rely upon near-cycle-accurate microarchitectural simulation to explore the design space of new systems. Unfortunately, such simulators are becoming increasingly slow as systems become more complex. Hybrid simulators which offload some of the simulation work onto FPGAs can increase the speed; however, such simulators must be automatically synthesized or the time to design them becomes prohibitive. Furthermore, FPGA implementations of simulators may require multiple FPGA clock cycles to implement behavior that takes place within one simulated clock cycle, making correct arbitrary composition of simulator components impossible and limiting the amount of hardware concurrency which can be achieved. Latency-Insensitive Bounded …

Senior Design Report: Workstation For Paige Librandi, Ana C. Groff

Honors Scholar Theses

The workstation senior design project is a wheelchair accessible, left-side desk. It is for the client, Paige Librandi, who has cerebral palsy and is left-hand dominant. The purpose of the desk is to provide multitasking features to create an efficient work space for Paige to work on. It aims to also increase her independence by incorporating tools that prevent items from falling off the floor where she can't retrieve them.

The workstation design has several features, including a rotating surface, sliding bookcase, and gliding platform. These tools provide simultaneous work spaces and storage in a small amount of space to …

Ceas E-News 05.10.2013, College Of Engineering And Applied Sciences

College of Engineering and Applied Sciences News

Senior Engineering Design Confernce, WMU Grad Honored, Workshop

A Discussion Of Structural Analysis Techniques For Western Kentucky University's Concrete Canoe, "Courageous", Aaron J. Daley

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

One of the most famous aspects of the WKU Civil Engineering department is the annual student participation in the Concrete Canoe Competition. This year-long project requires seniors to design, manage construction for, and compete with a twenty-foot long boat made out of concrete and reinforcement. It is important to know the loads that the canoe will experience during its use in paddling races. The process for determining these internal forces is called structural analysis. For my project I will be discussing the analysis process employed for the 2013 concrete canoe, exploring accuracy, technical knowledge required, and the practical application of …

Analysis And Interpretation Of The 2013 Wku Steel Bridge Competition, Dylan H. Ward

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

This research centers on building a working steel bridge that can hold over 2500 pounds, while deflecting no more than 1.5 inches. Weighing less than 150 pounds, the bridge was designed by inputting models into programs such as SAP and Visual Analysis, and adding the required load effects. Creating such a bridge involves various disciplines such as fabrication, communication, engineering, computer science, and economics. This presentation will address the design procedure, the building process, and the challenges faced by the team. This experience has allowed the bridge team to see what it takes to finish a project from start to …

A Civil Engineering Student's Crash Course In Concrete Canoe Hull Design, Emily G. Mesker

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Every year, seniors in the WKU civil engineering department form a team and design, build, and compete with a concrete canoe. For the first time in several years, the 2013 seniors have used our own design for the canoe hull shape. I will be discussing our canoe design process: why we wanted a new shape for our hull, how we made design decisions and the actual design and analysis process, in hopes of leaving a “how to” guide for future seniors. Along with the designing process will be a discussion of the success of our final product and what we …

An Exploration Of Carbon-Filled Carbon Nanotubes As A Potential Material In Coronary Stents, Kristopher Neil Jones

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research is to explore the potential of using carbon-infiltrated carbon nanotubes (CI-CNT) as a material for coronary artery stents. Stents are commonly fabricated from metal, which may not perform as well as many polymers and ceramics in biomedical applications. Pyrolytic carbon, a ceramic, is currently used in medical implant devices due to its preferrable biocompatibility properties. Micro-patterned pyrolytic carbon devices can be created by growing carbon nanotubes, and then filling the space between with amorphous carbon via chemical vapor deposition. We prepared multiple samples of two different planar stent-like flexible geometries and smaller cubic structures out …

Comfort And Compatibility Of Silicone Hydrogel Contact Lenses, Ngai Keung Tam

Theses and Dissertations

Silicone Hydrogel (SiHy) contact lenses are highly successful compared to previous soft lenses; they were developed to provide superior oxygen permeability. However, the hydrophobic natures of the silicone segments enhance lipid sorption which may diminish the lens surface wettability, clarity and comfort. While lens and lens care product are designed to remove lipid deposition, there is lack of experimental evidence to evaluate the actual performances with respect to lipid removal. An in vitro model using an artificial tear fluid containing radiolabeled lipids was employed in this thesis research to evaluate the efficacy of different multi-purpose lens care solutions in removing …

The Santa Clara, 2013-05-09, Santa Clara University

The Santa Clara

No abstract provided.

Biomedical Photoacoustic Imaging Using Gas-Coupled Laser Acoustic Detection, Jami Johnson

Student Research Initiative

Several detection methods have been explored for photoacoustic and ultrasound imaging of biological tissues. Piezoelectric transducers are commonly used, which require contact with the sample to be imaged and have limiting bandwidth characteristics. Interferometry detection exhibits improved bandwidth characteristics and resolution, yet generally require complicated optics and the incorporation of a contacting reflective medium. In this paper, we report the use of a noncontact photoacoustic imaging system that does not require the use of a reflective layer. A simple, robust technique known as gas-coupled laser acoustic detection is used, which has previously been applied to evaluation of composite materials. This …

Studies Of Performance And Predictability Of Cache-Locking, Matt Loach

Theses and Dissertations

Today’s real-time systems need to be faster and more powerful than ever before. Caches are an architectural feature that helps solve this problem. Caches however are unpredictable and do not improve the worst case execution time. This work studies the effects of cache-locking on performance and time predictability. Two locking methods were evaluated: a dynamic locking method and a static locking method. The performance of single and multi-core processors and multiple levels of caches were studied. The time predictability of the single core system was studied and the cost of the time predictability was determined for each locking method. Cache-locking …

Heterogeneous Relaxation Dynamics In Amorphous Materials Under Cyclic Loading, Nikolai V. Priezjev

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications

Molecular dynamics simulations are performed to investigate heterogeneous dynamics in amorphous glassy materials under oscillatory shear strain. We consider three-dimensional binary Lennard-Jones mixture well below the glass transition temperature. The structural relaxation and dynamical heterogeneity are quantified by means of the self-overlap order parameter and the dynamic susceptibility. We found that at sufficiently small strain amplitudes, the mean square displacement exhibits a broad subdiffusive plateau and the system undergoes nearly reversible deformation over about 104 cycles. Upon increasing strain amplitude, the transition to the diffusive regime occurs at shorter time intervals and the relaxation process involves intermittent bursts of large …

Extending Technology Roadmap Through Fuzzy Cognitive Map-Based Scenarios: The Case Of The Wind Energy Sector Of Pakistan, Muhammad Amer

Dissertations and Theses

In this modern era, energy is a key element required for sustainable development and prosperity of a society. Pakistan is an energy deficient country facing problems due to the shortage of over 4000 MW of electricity. The national energy sector is heavily dependent on imported fossil-fuel resources. The energy crisis is negatively affecting all economic and business activities, and it is widely recognized as a severe obstacle to growth and poverty reduction in the country. Establishment of wind farms can help to overcome the energy crisis.

In this research, a national level wind energy roadmap is developed through scenario planning. …

Automatic Segmentation Of Pressure Images Acquired In A Clinical Setting, Anathea Pepperl

Theses and Dissertations

One of the major obstacles to pressure ulcer research is the difficulty in accurately measuring mechanical loading of specific anatomical sites. A human motion analysis system capable of automatically segmenting a patient's body into high-risk areas can greatly improve the ability of researchers and clinicians to understand how pressure ulcers develop in a hospital environment. This project has developed automated computational methods and algorithms to analyze pressure images acquired in a hospital setting. The algorithm achieved 99% overall accuracy for the classification of pressure images into three pose classes (left lateral, supine, and right lateral). An applied kinematic model estimated …

College Of Engineering Senior Design Competition Spring 2013, University Of Nevada, Las Vegas

Fred and Harriet Cox Senior Design Competition Projects

Senior Design Experience

Part of every UNLV engineering student's academic experience, the Senior Design project stimulates engineering innovation and entrepreneurship. Each student in their senior year chooses, plans, designs and prototypes a product in this required element of the curriculum. Working in teams, the senior design project encourages students to use everything learned in the engineering and computer design programs to create a practical, real world solution to an engineering challenge.

Beyond the classroom ...

Because of the requirement to work in teams, students also build good communication skills, presentation skills and even business writing skills. They also have to …

Modernization Of The Mock Circulatory Loop: Advanced Physical Modeling, High Performance Hardware, And Incorporation Of Anatomical Models, Charles Taylor

Theses and Dissertations

A systemic mock circulatory loop plays a pivotal role as the in vitro assessment tool for left heart medical devices. The standard design employed by many research groups dates to the early 1970's, and lacks the acuity needed for the advanced device designs currently being explored. The necessity to update the architecture of this in vitro tool has become apparent as the historical design fails to deliver the performance needed to simulate conditions and events that have been clinically identified as challenges for future device designs. In order to appropriately deliver the testing solution needed, a comprehensive evaluation of the …

Computational Capabilities Of Leaky Integrate-And-Fire Neural Networks For Liquid State Machines, Amin Almassian, Christof Teuscher

Student Research Symposium

We analyze the computational capability of Leaky Integrate-and-Fire (LIF) Neural Networks used as a reservoir (liquid) in the framework of Liquid State Machines (LSM). Maass et. al. investigated LIF neurons in LSM and their results showed that they are capable of noise-robust, parallel, and real-time computation. However, it still remains an open question how the network topology affects the computational capability of a reservoir. To address that question, we investigate the performance of the reservoir as a function of the average reservoir connectivity. We also show that the dynamics of the LIF reservoir is sensitive to changes in the average …

Designing A Low Cost Prosthetic Arm Device, Samira Rezaei, Frank Fields, Tamara J. Depue

Student Research Symposium

The goal of the project is to build a functional low-cost prosthetic arm that is easily maintained. The focus is on prostheses that attach to the forearm. This design must perform daily life tasks such as picking up, holding and carrying objects while playing and working. To begin the design, a mechanical finger was built with wooden tongue depressors as bone material; rubber bands, string, and drinking straws as muscle material; and masking tape as ligament and tendon material. The length of each joint was set to the golden ratio. Using this method, a basic "hand" was created that could …

A Decision Tree Model To Estimate The Value Of Information Provided By A Groundwater Quality Monitoring Network, Abdelhaleem I. Khader, David E. Rosenberg, Mac Mckee

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Groundwater contaminated with nitrate poses a serious health risk to infants when this contaminated water is used for culinary purposes. To avoid this health risk, people need to know whether their culinary water is contaminated or not. Therefore, there is a need to design an effective groundwater monitoring network, acquire information on groundwater conditions, and use acquired information to inform management options. These actions require time, money, and effort. This paper presents a method to estimate the value of information (VOI) provided by a groundwater quality monitoring network located in an aquifer whose water poses a spatially heterogeneous and uncertain …

The Design And Validation Of A Computational Model Of The Human Wrist Joint, Afsarul Mir

Theses and Dissertations

Advancements in computational capabilities have allowed researchers to turn towards modeling as an efficient tool to replicate and predict outcomes of complex systems. Computational models of the musculoskeletal system have gone through various iterations with early versions employing dramatic simplifications. In this work, a three-dimensional computational model of the wrist joint was developed. It accurately recreated the skeletal structures of the hand and wrist and represented the constraints imposed by soft tissue structures like ligaments, tendons, and other surrounding tissues. It was developed to function as a tool to investigate the biomechanical contributions of structures and the kinematic response of …

Localization Of Rfid Tags Using Stochastic Tunneling, M. R. Basheer, S. Jagannathan

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This paper presents a novel localization scheme in the 3D wireless domain that employs cross correlation in backscattered signal power from a cluster of radio frequency identification (RFID) tags to estimate their location. Spatially co-located RFID tags, energized by a common tag reader, exhibit correlation in their received signal strength indicator (RSSI) values. Hence, for a cluster of RFID tags, the posterior distribution of their unknown radial separation is derived as a function of the measured RSSI correlations between them. The global maxima of this posterior distribution represent the actual radial separation between the RFID tags. The radial separations are …

College Of Engineering News, Georgia Southern University

College of Engineering & Computing: News & Publications (2010-2023)

• GSU Engineering Students Win EPA National Competition

Energy And Climate Interactions In The Urban Environment, David J. Sailor

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

This presentation focuses on sustainable design choices and characteristics