Engineering Commons^™

Increase In Ethanol Yield Via Elimination Of Lactate Production In An Ethanol-Tolerant Mutant Of Clostridium Thermocellum, Ranjita Biswas, Sandeep Prabhu, Lee R. Lynd, Adam M. Guss

Dartmouth Scholarship

Large-scale production of lignocellulosic biofuel is a potential solution to sustainably meet global energy needs. One-step consolidated bioprocessing (CBP) is a potentially advantageous approach for the production of biofuels, but requires an organism capable of hydrolyzing biomass to sugars and fermenting the sugars to ethanol at commercially viable titers and yields. Clostridium thermocellum, a thermophilic anaerobe, can ferment cellulosic biomass to ethanol and organic acids, but low yield, low titer, and ethanol sensitivity remain barriers to industrial production. Here, we deleted the hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltransferase gene in ethanol tolerant strain of C. thermocellum adhE*(EA) in order to allow use …

Liquid Slosh Analysis Using Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics, Kristopher S. Field

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The purpose of the research described here is to study the implementation of Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) algorithms as an adequate means for propellant slosh simulations in 1g and 0g environments. The dualSPHysics solver has been adapted for propellant slosh simulations. Simulated sloshing liquid frequency and damping ratio data for 1g cases has been compared to existing experiments for both spherical and prismatic container geometries. The 0g case has been studied to determine what further modifications would be required to obtain realistic simulations results. The findings in this research will be used to create a sloshing simulation to determine torques …

The Santa Clara, 2014-02-06, Santa Clara University

The Santa Clara

No abstract provided.

We Need A Coherent Policy To Guide Housing In Ireland, Lorcan Sirr

Media

No abstract provided.

Identification Of Wheat Varieties With A Parallel-Plate Capacitance Sensor Using Fisher’S Linear Discriminant Analysis, C. V. K. Kandala, George Meyer, N. Puppala, V. Settaluri, R. S. Reddy

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Fisher’s linear discriminant (FLD) models for wheat variety classification were developed and validated. The inputs to the FLD models were the capacitance (𝐶), impedance (𝑍), and phase angle (𝜃), measured at two frequencies. Classification of wheat varieties was obtained as output of the FLDmodels.𝑍and 𝜃of a parallel-plate capacitance system,holding thewheat samples, weremeasured using an impedance meter, and the 𝐶 value was computed.The best model developed classified the wheat varieties, with accuracy of 95.4%, over the six wheat varieties tested.This method is simple, rapid, and nondestructive and would be useful for the breeders and the peanut industry.

Randomized And Efficient Authentication In Mobile Environments, Wei Jiang, Dan Lin, Feng Li, Elisa Bertino

Cyber Center Publications

In a mobile environment, a number of users act as a network nodes and communicate with one another to acquire location based information and services. This emerging paradigm has opened up new business opportunities and enables numerous applications such as road safety enhancement, service recommendations and mobile entertainment. A fundamental issue that impacts the success of these applications is the security and privacy concerns raised regarding the mobile users. In that, a malicious user or service provider can track the locations of a user traveled so that other malicious act can be carried out more effectively against the user. Therefore, …

Communicating In A Socially-Aware Network: Impact Of Relationship Types, Basak Guler, Burak Varan, Kaya Tutuncuoglu, Mohamed Nafea, Ahmed A. Zewail, Aylin Yener, Damien Octeau

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Communication networks are linked to and influenced by human interactions. Socially aware systems should integrate these complex relationship patterns in the network design. This paper studies the impact of friendship and antagonistic relationships between individuals on optimal network propagation policies. We develop a network propagation model for signed networks and determine the optimal policies to influence a target node with an opinion while minimizing the total number of persons against it. We also provide extensions to this problem to elaborate on the impact of network parameters, such as minimum-delay propagation, while limiting the number of persons influenced against the idea …

Contrast Enhancement Using Silica Microspheres In Coherent Anti-Stokes Raman Spectroscopic Imaging, X. Huang, X. N. He, W. Xiong, Y. Gao, L. J. Jiang, Li Liu, Y. S. Zhou, L. Jiang, J. F. Silvain, Yongfeng Lu

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

Coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) microscopy is a powerful imaging technique that can provide chemical information of organic and nonorganic materials through vibrational spectroscopy. However, its contrast is not sufficient for monitoring thin film materials. In this study, silica microspheres were employed for enhancing the signal contrast in CARS imaging. One layer of optically transparent silica microspheres was self-assembled onto polymer grating samples to enhance the CARS signals. The highest contrast enhancement factor of 12.5 was achieved using 6.1-μm-diameter microspheres. Finite-difference timedomain method (FDTD) simulation was conducted to simulate the contrast enhancement with silica microspheres of different diameters.

Experimental And Numerical Investigation Of The Behavior Of Screen Grid Icf Walls, Yosra Hesham El Maghraby

Theses and Dissertations

The current research addresses Screen Grid ICF walls, an innovative system that combines structural strength and sustainability. The system however is still in its infancy with relatively few researches and yet not acknowledged by several design codes. The aim of this work is to further gain knowledge in the structural behavior of SGICF walls that will lead to introducing design guidelines. To accomplish this, a test program was prepared and performed. Nonetheless, the experimental program did not entirely address every aspect required to deeply understand the structural behavior of the new system. Finite Element Modeling was performed in order to …

Compounds And Methods For Reducing Oxidative Stress, Thomas Dziubla, J. Zach Hilt, Dipti Biswal, David B. Cochran, Paritosh Wattamwar

Chemical and Materials Engineering Faculty Patents

Antioxidant polymeric compounds are provided that comprise a plurality of monomeric portions, where each monomeric portion includes an antioxidant molecule interposed between at least two acrylate molecules, and where at least one acrylate molecule of each monomeric portion is linked by a diamine molecule to an acrylate molecule of an adjacent monomeric portion to thereby form the polymer. Methods of synthesizing polymeric compounds and methods of using the antioxidant polymeric compounds to reduce oxidative stress are also provided.

Bias Correction Can Modify Climate Model Simulated Precipitation Changes Without Adverse Effect On The Ensemble Mean, Edwin P. Maurer, David W. Pierce

Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering

When applied to remove climate model biases in precipitation, quantile mapping can in some settings modify the simulated difference in mean precipitation between two eras. This has important implications when the precipitation is used to drive an impacts model that is sensitive to changes in precipitation. The tendency of quantile mapping to alter model-predicted changes is demonstrated using synthetic precipitation distributions and elucidated with a simple theoretical analysis, which shows that the alteration of model-predicted changes can be controlled by the ratio of model to observed variance. To further evaluate the effects of quantile mapping in a more realistic setting, …

The General Public’S Weather Information-Seeking And Decision-Making Behavior During Tornado Outbreaks In The Oklahoma City Metroplex In May 2013, Chen Ling, Michelle Madison, Jessica Adams, Kevin Warren, Michael Mudd, Kim Graves Wolfinbarger, Lans Rothfusz

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Research

Severe weather impacts the lives of many people. Today's technology allows weather information to be distributed to the general public in many ways. However, it is not clear how people obtain information regarding severe weather, and how they make decisions based on the information. This study surveyed people in the Oklahoma City metroplex about their weather information–seeking and decision-making behaviors during the May 2013 tornado outbreaks. The preliminary results based on 124 survey responses show that people used and trusted television news most to obtain the severe weather information, followed by siren, weather radio, radio, looking at the sky, and …

Nanostructured Dielectric Materials For High Energy Density Multilayer Ceramic Capacitors, Fatih Dogan, Alan Devoe, Ian Burn

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A multilayer ceramic capacitor, having a plurality of electrode layers and a plurality of substantially titanium dioxide dielectric layers, wherein each respective titanium dioxide dielectric layer is substantially free of porosity, wherein each respective substantially titanium dioxide dielectric layer is positioned between two respective electrode layers, wherein each respective substantially titanium dioxide dielectric layer has an average grain size of between about 200 and about 400 nanometers, wherein each respective substantially titanium dioxide dielectric layer has maximum particle size of less than about 500 nanometers. Typically, each respective substantially titanium dioxide dielectric layer further includes at least one dopant selected …

Power Storage & Control: Review With Questions, Robert J. Twiggs

Robert "Bob" Twiggs STEM Education Collection

A PowerPoint Presentation created by Professor Bob Twiggs on "Power Storage & Control: Review with Questions" from February 4, 2015.

Nanostructured Dielectric Materials For High Energy Density Multilayer Ceramic Capacitors, Fatih Dogan, Alan Devoe, Ian Burns

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A multilayer ceramic capacitor, having a plurality of electrode layers and a plurality of substantially titanium dioxide dielectric layers, wherein each respective titanium dioxide dielectric layer is substantially free of porosity, wherein each respective substantially titanium dioxide dielectric layer is positioned between two respective electrode layers, wherein each respective substantially titanium dioxide dielectric layer has an average grain size of between about 200 and about 400 nanometers, wherein each respective substantially titanium dioxide dielectric layer has maximum particle size of less than about 500 nanometers. Typically, each respective substantially titanium dioxide dielectric layer further includes at least one dopant selected …

Electronic Structure Characterization Of Hybrid Materials, Zhi Li

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, the studies aim to characterize the electronic structure at the internal interface of hybrid materials. The characterization challenge is originating from the spectral superposition of hybrid constituents. A characterization protocol based on photoemission spectroscopy (PES) was developed and applied to investigate the orbital alignment at the internal interface of the oligothiophene-TiO2 and ArS-CdSe hybrid materials by characterizing the individual constituents and the assembly hybrids respectively. Electrospray deposition technique was used to deposit targeting materials which enabled preparation of thin films in vacuum minimizing ambient contaminations while transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was used to investigate the morphology and …

Acuta Enews February 2014 Vol. 43, No. 2

ACUTA Newsletters

In this Issue.,.

1 Benefitting from ACUTA

2 Thanks to Fall Seminar Exhibitors dt Sponsors

3 Collaboration Is Not Automatic

4 Webinar: IAM

5 Board Report

5 Discounted Dallas Mavericks Tickets

6 Two Top Legislatiott Issues Facing Higher Ed

7 lnfo Links

8 Welcome New Members

8 Check It Out

Nanoscale Growth Of Cds And Pbs Semiconductor Within Calix[4]Arene Langmuir-Blodgett Lb Film For Ion Sensing Application, Faridah Lisa Supian, Tim H. Richardson, Alexei V. Nabok, Mary Deasy, M. Syahriman M. Azmi

Articles

The characteristics of cadmium sulphide (CdS) and lead sulphide (PbS) nanoparticles, grown inside Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) multilayer films of 5,11,17,23-tetra-tert-butyl-25,27-dicarboxymethoxy-26,28-dihydroxycalix [arene (I), have been studied using ellipsometry, UV-visible spectroscopy, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Multilayer films were formed by transferring a floating Langmuir monolayer of I onto substrates using LB deposition and water subphase containing Pb2+ or Cd2+ ions. The nanoparticles were fabricated by exposing cadmium-or lead-containing multilayer films of I (20-80 monolayers thick) to hydrogen sulphide (H2S) gas for 12 hours. By Gaussian fitting of the absorbance - energy spectra, the size of the clusters and their dispersion were found …

The Dark Side Of Leadership: Dealing With A Narcissistic Boss, Thomas W. Camm

Mining Engineering

Some of the defining characteristics of narcissists include a grandiose sense of self-importance, preoccupation with success and power, a sense of infallibility, and a supreme confidence in their ability and intelligence. Ironically, many of these characteristics are rewarded in business organizations, which may explain why there seems to be so many narcissists in management positions. Assuming we will be dealing with narcissists throughout our career, it makes sense for us to understand what makes them tick, and more importantly what we can do to work with them in a constructive manner.

Investigation Of Profiled Beam Propagation Through A Turbulent Layer And Temporal Statistics Of Diffracted Output For A Modified Von Karman Phase Screen, Monish Ranjan Chatterjee, Fathi H.A. Mohamed

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Gaussian beam propagation through a turbulent layer has been studied using a split-step methodology. A modified von Karman spectrum (MVKS) model is used to describe the random behavior of the turbulent media. Accordingly, the beam is alternately propagated (i) through a thin Fresnel layer, and hence subjected to diffraction; and (ii) across a thin modified von Karman phase screen which is generated using the power spectral density (PSD) of the random phase obtained via the corresponding PSD of the medium refractive index for MVKS turbulence.

The random phase screen in the transverse plane is generated from the phase PSD by …

Numerical Inversion And Assessment Of 2d Laplace Transforms Using The Brancik Algorithm And Its Use In 3d Holography, Monish Ranjan Chatterjee, Le Feng

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

An analytic examination of 3D holography under a 90° recording geometry was carried out earlier in which 2D spatial Laplace transforms were introduced in order to develop transfer functions for the scattered outputs under readout [1,2].

Thereby, the resulting reconstructed output was obtained in the 2D Laplace domain whence the spatial information would be found only by performing a 2D Laplace inversion. Laplace inversion in 2D was attempted by testing a prototype function for which the analytic result was known using two known inversion algorithms, viz., the Brancik and the Abate [2]. The results indicated notable differences in the 3D …

Second-Harmonic Double-Resonance Cones In Dispersive Hyperbolic Metamaterials, Domenico De Ceglia, Maria Antonietta Vincenti, Salvatore Campione, Filippo Capolino, Joseph W. Haus, Michael Scalora

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

We study the formation of second-harmonic double-resonance cones in hyperbolic metamaterials. An electric dipole on the surface of the structure induces second-harmonic light to propagate into two distinct volume plasmon-polariton channels: a signal that propagates within its own peculiar resonance cone and a phase-locked signal that is trapped under the pump's resonance cone. Metamaterial dispersion and birefringence induce a large angular divergence between the two volume plasmon polaritons, making these structures suitable for subwavelength second- and higher-harmonic imaging microscopy.

On Optimal Media/Video Distribution In Closed P2p-Based Iptv Networks, Hao Cui, Xiao Su, Weijia Shang

Faculty Publications

Video distribution over the Internet has become a popular service because of technological advances in internet (e.g., higher network bandwidth) and video coding (e.g., H.264/SVC). In this and other similar media distribution applications, a server or distribution center sends a media/video to a group peers with different bandwidth resources and display capacities. In one of the approaches, the peer-to-peer approach, the server sends only one copy of the media over Internet, and each peer receives one segment of the media and exchanges his/her segment with other peers to receive the complete media. A key design issue in this approach is …

Statistics Based Modeling Of Wind Speed And Wind Direction In Real Time Optimal Guidance Strategies Via Ornstein-Uhlenbeck Stochastic Processes, Kamran Turkoglu

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

More Urban Form, Fewer Auto Trips, Kelly J. Clifton

TREC Project Briefs

Trip generation refers to the number of vehicle trips that are predicted to originate in a given zone. The Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) publishes standard trip generation rates for various land use types, but these rates are primarily measured in low-density suburban areas. There is national interest in building data that expands upon the existing ITE trip generation rates to include sites located in a multi-modal context.

In areas that have a more compact urban form, better access to transit and a greater mix of land uses, fewer vehicle trips may be generated there than ITE rates indicate. However, …

Comparison Of Graph Generation Methods For Structural Complexity Based Assembly Time Estimation, Essam Z. Namouz, Joshua D. Summers

All CEDAR Publications

This paper compares two different methods of graph generation for input into the complexity connectivity method to estimate the assembly time of a product. The complexity connectivity method builds predictive models for assembly time based on 29 complexity metrics applied to the product graphs. Previously, the part connection graph was manually created, but recently the assembly mate method and the interference detection method have introduced new automated tools for creating the part connectivity graphs. These graph generation methods are compared on their ability to predict the assembly time of multiple products. For this research, eleven consumers products are used to …

Improving The Hydraulics Of Drinking Water Contact Tanks Using Random Packing Material, Taylor C. Barnett, Justin J. Kattnig, Subhas K. Venayagamoorthy, Gordon Whittaker

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This study investigated the use of industrial packing material for increasing the hydraulic efficiency of small-scale, chlorine contact tanks used in drinking water treatment. The packing material used in the study was spherical, with porosities between 0.9 and 0.95 and a density less than that of water. A total of 67 tracer studies, conducted on laboratory-scale chlorine contact tank systems, investigated three sizes of packing material, two tank sizes, and two flow rates. Sodium chloride solution was injected as a continuous tracer and was monitored in the tank outflow through electrical conductivity. Several studies were validated with the use and …

A 1 Gs/S, 31 Mhz Bw, 76.3 Db Dynamic Range, 34 Mw Ct-Δς Adc With 1.5 Cycle Quantizer Delay And Improved Stf, Sakkarapani Balagopal, Kehan Zhu, Vishal Saxena

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

A 1 GS/s continuous-time delta-sigma modulator (CT- ΔΣM) with 31 MHz bandwidth, 76.3 dB dynamic range and 72.5 dB peak-SNDR is reported in a 0.13 μm CMOS technology. The design employs an excess loop delay (ELD) of more than one clock cycle for achieving higher sampling rate. The ELD is compensated using a fast-loop formed around the last integrator by using a sample-and-hold. Further, the effect of this ELD compensation scheme on the signal transfer function (STF) of a feedforward CT- ΔΣ architecture has been analyzed and reported. In this work, an improved STF is achieved by using a combination …

An Event-Based Simulation Framework To Examine The Response Of Power Grid To The Charging Demand Of Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles, Zahra Darabi, Mehdi Ferdowsi

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This paper describes the development of a discrete-event simulation framework that emulates the interactions between the power grid and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) and examines whether the capacity of the existing power system can meet the PHEV load demand. The probability distribution functions for the arrival time and energy demand of each vehicle are extracted from real-world statistical transportation data. The power grid's limited generation and transmission capacities are considered to be the major constraints. Therefore, vehicles may have to wait to receive any charge. The proposed simulation framework is justified and described in some detail in applying it …

Test Case Series 3, Tom Van Eekelen, Alexandre Martin, Jean Lachaud, Daniele Bianchi

Ablation Workshop: Code Comparison

Numerical simulation of ablative-material response: code and model comparisons