Engineering Commons^™

Evaluation Of Point Of Use Drinking Water Treatment Systems For Colonias In The Southwest United States, Isaac Campos Flores

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Clean drinking water is often taken for granted in first world countries, such as the United States. However, thousands of colonias residents (settlements in the Southwest US that lack access to basic infrastructure) still lack access to clean drinking water. Such is the case in the Paso Del Norte Region. In Doña Ana County, NM, and El Paso County, TX, colonia residents typically rely on shallow domestic wells and hauled water, respectively. However, both water sources can pose health concerns from elevated total dissolved solids and microbiological contamination. With connection to centralized water treatment and distribution still years away, colonias …

Effect Of Impact Damage On Compression-Compression Fatigue Behavior Of Sandwich Composites, Ali M. Al-Sharif

Wayne State University Dissertations

The aim of this research work was to investigate the effect of impact damage on in-plane buckling and compression-compression fatigue behavior for a new sandwich structure made from E-glass/epoxy face sheets over end-grain balsa wood core. Low velocity impact tests were carried out using a drop-weight impact tower by impacting the sandwich beam at the center with energy level slightly higher than threshold energy level of 8.8 J. Edge-wise compression static tests were conducted for impacted and non-impacted samples to address energy absorption characteristics of these composites. Analytical and experimental investigations were carried out to measure critical buckling loads and …

Marbles: The Application Of Input-Output Concepts To Safety Management Systems, Tim Brady, A. Stolzer, Anthony Brickhouse, Antonio Cortes, Dan Mccune, Jayathi Raghavan, David Freiwald

Publications

The goal of this research was to apply the economic concept titled Input-Output Analysis to an aviation safety concept titled Safety Management Systems (SMS). Input-Output (IO) is based upon the interrelationships of various components of an economic system and what happens to the system when one or more of those components changes. Since SMS is, by definition, a system with definable components, the research sought to determine if the interrelationships between those components could be determined and quantified. The term ‘‘marbles’’ was used to describe the activities that led to the IO-SMS matrix. Marbles was used as a metaphor for …

Relationship Between Product Quality And Customer Satisfaction, Albert Vitales Cruz

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The National Safety Council (NSC) estimated that over 35,000 people died in U.S. traffic accidents. About 3.8 million traffic crash injuries requiring medical attention occurred in 2013, and the number of deaths was about the same over the last 5 years. The NSC found that product recalls, car repairs, injuries, and deaths were due to unsafe product designs or inferior product quality. These statistics underscore the challenge of producing quality vehicles while satisfying customers. The purpose of this nonexperimental study was to examine relationships among product (vehicle) quality, product cost, product safety, and consumer satisfaction. The hypotheses inquired the extent …

Killing Adherent And Nonadherent Cancer Cells With The Plasma Pencil, Mounir Laroussi, Soheila Mohades, Nazir Barekzi

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

The application of low temperature plasmas in biology and medicine may lead to a paradigm shift in the way various diseases can be treated without serious side effects. Low temperature plasmas generated in gas mixtures that contain oxygen or air produce several chemically reactive species that have important biological implications when they interact with eukaryotic or prokaryotic cells. Here, a review of the effects of low temperature plasma generated by the plasma pencil on different cancerous cells is presented. Results indicate that plasma consistently shows a delayed killing effect that is dose dependent. In addition, there is some evidence that …

Addressing New Skills Needed For The Automotive Industry Through A Motorsports Educational Pathway, Vukica M. Jovanovic, Mileta M. Tomovic, Alok K. Verma, Nathan Luetke, Steve Branch

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

The automotive industry has higher-skilled positions available that need engineers and engineering technologists qualified and capable to work in a high-paced, advanced manufacturing sector. Various educational programs across the country offer programs related to the motorsports area at the Associate of Science level. There are also various articu-lation agreements that enable students to continue their education to the baccalaureate level. These programs try to fill in the gap related to the skills shortage in systems and new design methods and processes. The main strength of such educational pathways is that students, who are trained to work as technicians with an …

Preparing Students For The Advanced Manufacturing Environment Through Robotics, Mechatronics, And Automation Training, Ana M. Djuric, Vukica Jovanovic, Tatiana V. Goris

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

Automation is one of the key areas for modern manufacturing systems. It requires coordination of different machines to support manufacturing operations in a company. Recent studies show that there is a gap in the STEM workforce preparation in regards to highly automated production environments. Industrial robots have become an essential part of these semi-automated and automated manufacturing systems. Their control and programming requires adequate education and training in robotics theory and applications. Various engineering technology departments offer different courses related to the application of robotics. These courses are a great way to inspire students to learn about science, math, engineering, …

Development Of A Thickness Accommodation Technique For Origami-Inspired Design, Bryce Edmondson

Theses and Dissertations

Designers are constantly searching for new sourcing of inspiration for innovative design. Recently, origami has gained interest as one of these potential sources. Origami literally translated from Japanese means “paper folding” where “oru” means “to fold” and “kami” means “paper”. Since paper is insufficient to solve many engineering design problems, designers must turn to other materials. These materials will inevitably be thicker than paper and will often require different folding techniques and considerations. This thesis provides background information describing previous methods to accommodate thickness in origami-inspired design, presents a newly developed technique to address limitations of other methods, and explores …

Engineering Faculty Perspectives On The Nature Of Quality Teaching, Jacqueline C. Mcneil, Matthew W. Ohland

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

There is wide agreement that teaching quality matters in higher education, but faculty have varied ideas about the definition of quality. Faculty definitions of quality teaching were coded using an existing framework. The most common definition of teaching quality (held by 49% of participants) is associated with elitism and restricted access—the best way to improve education is to admit better students. These faculty focus on education as “knowledge transfer” and “learning content.” Another 38% of faculty had a transformational perspective, more focused on process than content, valuing “empowering students,” “developing students,” and “creating an environment for learning.” These faculty refer …

Teaching Engineering Ethics, Steve Eugene Watkins

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Instruction in engineering ethics is an important aspect of professional development. For universities, it is an element of program assessment and is considered for accreditation. For engineering students, it addresses relationships in professional life and is a topic for professional licensure. A common instructional objective is for students to have an ability to continue developing their ethical knowledge and judgment. Topical content typically includes an introduction to principles of applied ethics with supporting examples of related engineering situations. This paper discusses the organization of the ethics component in a senior seminar course. Key topics are ethics principles in the context …

Maximum Screening Fields Of Superconducting Multilayer Structures, Alex Gurevich

Physics Faculty Publications

It is shown that a multilayer comprised of alternating thin superconducting and insulating layers on a thick substrate can fully screen the applied magnetic field exceeding the superheating fields H_sof both the superconducting layers and the substrate, the maximum Meissner field is achieved at an optimum multilayer thickness. For instance, a dirty layer of thickness ~0.1μm at the Nb surface could increase H_s similar or equal to 240 mT of a clean Nb up to H_s similar or equal to 290 mT. Optimized multilayers of Nb₃Sn, NbN, some of the iron pnictides, or alloyed …

Measurements Of Rf Properties Of Thin Film Nb3Sn Superconducting Multilayers Using A Calorimetric Technique, S. Sosa-Guitron, A. Gurevich, J. Delayen, E. Chang Beom, C. Sundahl, G. V. Eremeev

Physics Faculty Publications

Results of RF tests of NB₃SN thin film samples related to the superconducting multilayer coating development are presented. We have investigated thin film samples of Nb₃Sn/Al₂O₃/Nb with Nb₃Sn layer thicknesses of 50 nm and 100 nm using a Surface Impedance Characterization system. These samples were measured in the temperature range 4 K-19 K, where significant screening by Nb₃Sn layers was observed below 16-17 K, consistent with the bulk critical temperature of Nb₃Sn.

Effects Of Plasma Processing On Secondary Electron Yield Of Niobium Samples, M. Basovic, S. Popovic, M. Tomovic, L. Vuskovic, A. Samolov, F. Cuckov

Physics Faculty Publications

Impurities deposited on the surface of Nb during both the forming and welding of accelerator cavities add to the imperfections of the sheet metal, which then affects the overall performance of the cavities. This leads to a drop in the Q factor and limits the maximum acceleration gradient achievable per unit length of the cavities. The performance can be improved either by adjusting the fabrication and preparation parameters, or by mitigating the effects of fabrication and preparation techniques used. We have developed the experimental setup to determine Secondary Electron Yield (SEY) from the surface of Nb samples. Our aim is …

Modeling Crabbing Dynamics In An Electron-Ion Collider, A. Castilla, V. S. Morozov, T. Satogata, J. R. Delayen

Physics Faculty Publications

A local crabbing scheme requires π/2 (mod π) horizontal betatron phase advances from an interaction point (IP) to the crab cavities on each side of it. However, realistic phase advances generated by sets of quadrupoles, or Final Focusing Blocks (FFB), between the crab cavities located in the expanded beam regions and the IP differ slightly from π/2. To understand the effect of crabbing on the beam dynamics in this case, a simple model of the optics of the Medium Energy Electron-Ion Collider (MEIC) including local crabbing was developed using linear matrices and then studied numerically over multiple turns (1000 passes) …

Question 1: "Up" — A Fermi Question About Buoyancy; Question 2: Traffic Jams, Larry Weinstein

Physics Faculty Publications

Is it possible for a house to fly by the uplift of balloons, like in the movie "Up"? (written by R. Allart, A. Cazenave, and A. Müller, University of Geneva)

How much total time do Americans spend waiting in traffic each year? What is the total cost of this time?

Composition- And Pressure-Induced Ferroelectric To Antiferroelectric Phase Transitions In Sm-Doped Bifeo₃ System, Fei Xue, Linyun Liang, Yijia Gu, Ichiro Takeuchi, Sergei V. Kalinin, Long-Qing Chen

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A three-dimensional phenomenological model is proposed to describe both ferroelectricity and antiferroelectricity based on the Ginzburg-Landau-Devonshire theory. Its application to the multiferroic Sm-doped BiFeO₃ system describes the temperature-, pressure-, and composition-induced ferroelectric to antiferroelectric phase transitions. The constructed temperature-composition and temperature-pressure phase diagrams show that compressive hydrostatic pressure and Sm doping have similar effects on the ferroelectric and antiferroelectric phase transitions. It is also indicated from the temperature-pressure phase diagram that the experimentally observed phase of BiFeO₃ under the hydrostatic pressure from 3 GPa to 10 GPa is a PbZrO₃-like antiferroelectric phase.

Efficient Skin Segmentation Via Neural Networks: Hp-Elm And Bd-Som, C. Swaney, A. Akusok, K. M. Björk, Y. Miche, Amaury Lendasse

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This Paper Presents Two Novel Methods for Skin Detection: Hp-Elm and Bd-Som. Both Som and Elm Are Fast for Large Data Sets, But Not Yet Suitable for Big Data. We Show How They Can Be Improved in Order to Fulfill the Strict Requirements for Big Data. Both New Methods Are Described and their Implementations Are Explained. a Comparison on a Large Example is Presented in the Experiment Section. We Find that Bd-Som is More Accurate but Not as Computationally Efficient as Hp-Elm. as a Result, We Show that Both Methods Work Well on a Big Data Task. the Given Task …

Extreme Learning Machine On High Dimensional And Large Data Applications, Zhiping Lin, Jiuwen Cao, Tao Chen, Yi Jin, Zhan Li Sun, Amaury Lendasse

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

No abstract provided.

Defensive Routines In Engineering Managers And Non-Engineering Managers -- A Case Analysis, Tyria Riley, Elizabeth A. Cudney

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

There is a perception that engineers experience challenges in areas such as communication, conflict resolution, and leadership. Defensive routines are actions implemented as a result of being in an embarrassing or threatening situation. This research uses a case study approach to measure whether defensive routines are more common in engineering managers or non-engineering managers. Twenty-seven managers created case studies based on their unique experiences as managers. These case studies were scored, and the results of this research indicate that engineering managers employ defensive routines more commonly than non-engineering managers.

The Effects Of Extending The Spectral Information Acquired By A Photon-Counting Detector For Spectral Ct, Taly Gilat Schmidt, Kevin C. Zimmerman, Emil Y. Sidky

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Photon-counting x-ray detectors with pulse-height analysis provide spectral information that may improve material decomposition and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) in CT images. The number of energy measurements that can be acquired simultaneously on a detector pixel is equal to the number of comparator channels. Some spectral CT designs have a limited number of comparator channels, due to the complexity of readout electronics. The spectral information could be extended by changing the comparator threshold levels over time, sub pixels, or view angle. However, acquiring more energy measurements than comparator channels increases the noise and/or dose, due to differences in noise correlations across …

Quantitative Modeling Of The Equilibration Of Two-Phase Solid-Liquid Fe By Atomistic Simulations On Diffusive Time Scales, Ebrahim Asadi, Mohsen Asle Zaeem, Sasan Nouranian, Michael I. Baskes

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this paper, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations based on the modified-embedded atom method (MEAM) and a phase-field crystal (PFC) model are utilized to quantitatively investigate the solid-liquid properties of Fe. A set of second nearest-neighbor MEAM parameters for higherature applications are developed for Fe, and the solid-liquid coexisting approach is utilized in MD simulations to accurately calculate the melting point, expansion in melting, latent heat, and solid-liquid interface free energy, and surface anisotropy. The required input properties to determine the PFC model parameters, such as liquid structure factor and fluctuations of atoms in the solid, are also calculated from MD …

Uncertainty Estimates And Prediction Interval Development For Internal Strain Gage Balance Calibration Systems, Kenneth G. Toro

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Currently, there is a lack of the use of mathematically rigorous methods to evaluate the performance of multivariate force measurement systems. The specific problem addressed in the research stems from the practical issues faced by test engineers when wind tunnel models with internal strain gage balances are readied for test. Check loads are applied and the question that needs to be answered is whether or not the balance is reading within acceptable limits. These systems tend to be difficult to characterize uncertainty, primarily due to their multivariate nature, but also due to the desire for an estimate on the explanatory …

Nanoscale Mechanical Switching Of Ferroelectric Polarization Via Flexoelectricity, Yijia Gu, Zijian Hong, Jason Britson, Long-Qing Chen

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Flexoelectric coefficient is a fourth-rank tensor arising from the coupling between strain gradient and electric polarization and thus exists in all crystals. It is generally ignored for macroscopic crystals due to its small magnitude. However, at the nanoscale, flexoelectric contributions may become significant and can potentially be utilized for device applications. Using the phase-field method, we study the mechanical switching of electric polarization in ferroelectric thin films by a strain gradient created via an atomic force microscope tip. Our simulation results show good agreement with existing experimental observations. We examine the competition between the piezoelectric and flexoelectric effects and provide …

Wireless Networking For Vehicle To Infrastructure Communication And Automatic Incident Detection, Sarwar Aziz Sha-Mohammad

Computer Science Theses & Dissertations

Vehicular wireless communication has recently generated wide interest in the area of wireless network research. Automatic Incident Detection (AID), which is the recent focus of research direction in Intelligent Transportation System (ITS), aims to increase road safety. These advances in technology enable traffic systems to use data collected from vehicles on the road to detect incidents. We develop an automatic incident detection method that has a significant active road safety application for alerting drivers about incidents and congestion. Our method for detecting traffic incidents in a highway scenario is based on the use of distance and time for changing lanes …

Investigation Of Thermoelectric Properties Of P-Type Gan Thin Films, Bahadir Kucukgok, Babar Hussain, Chuanle Zhou, Ian T. Ferguson, Na Lu

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

GaN and its alloys are promising candidates for high temperature thermoelectric (TE) materials due to their high Seebeck coefficient and high thermal and mechanical stability. Moreover, these materials can overcome the toxicity concern of current Te-based TE materials, such as BI₂Te₃ and PbTe. These materials have recently shown a higher Seebeck coefficient than that of SiGe in high temperature region because their large bandgap characteristic eliminates the bipolar conduction. In this study, we report the room temperature thermoelectric properties of p-type Mg doped GaN, grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) on sapphire substrate with various carrier …

Investigating The Engineering, Scientific, And Medical Basis For Ventilation In Health Care Facilities: Preliminary Literature Review And Special Attention To One Prototypical Application, Lu Shen, Sheldon M. Jeter

Early Career Technical Journal (ECTJ)

Section 1: Bio-Medical/Bioengineering; pp. 28-36

A Beginner’S Guide To Controller Area Network Bus Access In Modern Vehicles, Timothy D. Fisher, Kevin Mcfall

Early Career Technical Journal (ECTJ)

Section 3: Dynamic Systems & Control; pp. 72-75

Kinematic Analysis And Simulation Of Theo Jansen Mechanism, Mehrdad Mohsenizadeh, Jenny Zhou

Early Career Technical Journal (ECTJ)

Section 3: Dynamic Systems & Control; pp. 98-106

Mode-Multiplexed Transmission Over Conventional Graded-Index Multimode Fibers, Roland Ryf, Nicolas K. Fontaine, H. Chen, B. Guan, B. Huang, Mina Esmaeelpour

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

We present experimental results for combined mode-multiplexed and wavelength multiplexed transmission over conventional graded-index multimode fibers. We use mode-selective photonic lanterns as mode couplers to precisely excite a subset of the modes of the multimode fiber and additionally to compensate for the differential group delay between the excited modes. Spatial mode filters are added to suppress undesired higher order modes. We transmit 30-Gbaud QPSK signals over 60 WDM channels, 3 spatial modes, and 2 polarizations, reaching a distance of 310 km based on a 44.3 km long span. We also report about transmission experiments over 6 spatial modes for a …

Synthesis, Characterization And Anti-Proliferative Activity Of An Imidazolium Salt And Its Silver Carbene Complex: Utilization Of Picolyl And Quinolylmethyl Substituents, Cari E. Molnar

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The imidazolium salt (IS) and silver carbene complex (SCC) studied in this report are 3-(pyridin-2-ylmethyl)-1-(quinolin-2-ylmethyl)imidazolium chloride (1) and 3-(pyridin-2-ylmethyl)-1-(quinolin-2-ylmethyl)imidazole – silver acetate complex (2). It was anticipated that the anti-proliferative activity of 1 and 2 would be similar to other characterized ISs while having increased solubility. The SCC (2) was synthesized in order to simulate the ligand-metal coordination similar to that of cisplatin.

The success of the synthetic processes of 1 and 2 were determined by ¹H NMR (300 MHz) spectroscopy. In addition, 1 was also characterized by ¹H NMR (500 MHz) …