Engineering Commons^™

The Effects Of Global Change Upon United States Air Quality, Rodrigo Gonzalez-Abraham, Serena H. Chung, Jeremy C. Avise, Brian Lamb, Eric P. Salathé Jr., Christopher G. Nolte, Dan Loughlin, Alex Guenther, Christine Wiedinmyer, Tiffany Duhl, Yang Zhang, David G. Streets

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

To understand more fully the effects of global changes on ambient concentrations of ozone and particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter smaller than 2.5 μm (PM_2.5) in the United States (US), we conducted a comprehensive modeling effort to evaluate explicitly the effects of changes in climate, biogenic emissions, land use and global/regional anthropogenic emissions on ozone and PM_2.5 concentrations and composition. Results from the ECHAM5 global climate model driven with the A1B emission scenario from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) were downscaled using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model to provide regional meteorological fields. We …

Aqueous Atmospheric Species, A Dual Study: 1. Comparison Of The Effects Of Temperature, Oxygen Level, Ionic Strength, And Ph On The Reaction Of Benzene With Hydroxyl Radicals At The Air-Water Interface To The Bulk Aqueous Phase. 2. Determination Of Carbonyl Compounds In Fog Water Samples Via Online Concentration And Hplc, Aubrey Anne Heath

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The air-water interface is the largest interface in the environment. Atmospheric droplets, such as fog, which can have an exceptionally high surface area-to-volume ratio, also have a large range of physical and chemical properties (e.g. temperature, pH, ionic strength, and chemical composition) based on location, time of day, and emission source. Unlike larger atmospheric droplets, which are predominately characterized by bulk aqueous phase conditions, reactions that take place in fog droplets are determined by both the bulk-aqueous phase and the air-water interface due to a high surface area-to-volume ratio. In order to have a greater understanding of atmospheric processes and …

The Neuromuscular Response To Spinal Manipulation: Quantifying The Effect Of Pain With Electromyography, Stuart James Currie

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Objective

To establish a methodology to quantify the neuromuscular response to spinal manipulation, develop a comprehensive date set including factors that affect the response, and compare the responses in both healthy participants and participants with acute and chronic low back pain.

Methods

Surface and indwelling electromyography at eight muscle locations were recorded during lumbar side-lying manipulations in 20 asymptomatic participants, 20 acute pain participants, and 20 chronic pain participants. Onset delay detection was optimized for signal detection failures and methodological comparisons were performed using a generalized linear model. The number of muscle responses and muscle activity onset delays in relation …

Simulation Of The Swelling Of High-Volatile Bituminous Coal During Pyrolysis. Part 2: Influence Of The Maximum Particle Temperature, He Yang, Thomas H. Fletcher, Ming Dong

Faculty Publications

A model was established previously to predict the swelling ratio of high-volatile bituminous coal during pyrolysis based on the assumption that the structure of bubble distribution in the particle at the beginning of the plastic stage is a central bubble surrounded by many surrounding bubbles. The initial number and size of the bubbles when the particles become plastic are calculated by the pressure in the particle, and the chemical percolation devolatilization (CPD) model is used to describe pyrolysis. In this paper, to obtain accurate results at low pyrolysis temperatures, the previous model is improved and the following parts in the …

Microgravity Testing Of A Phase Change Reference On The International Space Station, T. Shane Topham, Gail E. Bingham, Harri Latvakoski, Igor Podolski, Vladimir S. Sychev, Andre Burdakin

Space Dynamics Laboratory Publications

Orbital sensors to monitor global climate change during the next decade require low drift rates for onboard thermometry, which is currently unattainable without on-orbit recalibration. Phase change materials (PCM), such as those that make up the ITS-90 standard, are seen as the most reliable references on the ground and could be good candidates for orbital recalibration. Space Dynamics Lab (SDL) has been developing miniaturized phase change references capable of deployment on an orbital blackbody for nearly a decade. To determine if and how microgravity will affect the phase transitions, SDL conducted experiments with ITS-90 standard material (gallium, Ga) on the …

Characterizing Noise Trends Of The Cross-Track Infrared Sounder (Cris), Bryce Walker, Mark Esplin, Ben Esplin, Deron Scott

Space Dynamics Laboratory Publications

Outline

• CrIS Summary

• Noise characterization process

• Noise trending results

• Recent Changes

• Conclusions

Dcgs: Image Processing, Screening, & Product Distribution Solution, Space Dynamics Laboratory

Space Dynamics Laboratory Publications

SCALABLE, CROSS-PLATFORM SOLUTION FOR NEAR REAL-TIME IMAGE PROCESSING, SCREENING, & PRODUCT DISTRIBUTION

SDL provides the Distributed Common Ground System (DCGS) community with a powerful image processing, screening, and product distribution solution by combining a ground station with the VANTAGE™ tactical intelligence software suite and the Sky Lynx data link interface hardware. This system's cost-effectiveness is achieved through the use of flexible and robust hardware configurations that enable the customer to scale the system to their DCGS program needs.

Effects Of Forcing Time Scale On The Simulated Turbulent Flows And Turbulent Collision Statistics Of Inertial Particles, B. Rosa, H. Parishani, O. Ayala, L.-P. Wang

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

In this paper, we study systematically the effects of forcing time scale in the large-scale stochastic forcing scheme of Eswaran and Pope ["An examination of forcing in direct numerical simulations of turbulence," Comput. Fluids 16, 257 (1988)] on the simulated flow structures and statistics of forced turbulence. Using direct numerical simulations, we find that the forcing time scale affects the flow dissipation rate and flow Reynolds number. Other flow statistics can be predicted using the altered flow dissipation rate and flow Reynolds number, except when the forcing time scale is made unrealistically large to yield a Taylor microscale flow Reynolds …

Comparatively Mapping Genres In Academic And Workplace Engineering Environments, Vukica M. Jovanovic, Megan Mckittrick, Pilar Pazos, Daniel Richards, Julia Romberger

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

In the Engineering workplace, one must be able to negotiate many genres of writing: he or she must deliver updates, understand technical requirements, weigh project priorities, develop and carry out problem-solving techniques, all while using different forms of technical communication. Engineering work relies on the ability to flexibly transition between a variety of technical writing genres, while also navigating the broad array of technologies required to effectively complete these projects. However, the genres and types of writing present in the workplace do not always reflect the genres and types of writing undergraduate Engineering students complete during coursework. From a Rhetorical …

Integration Of Mechatronics Design Approach Into Teaching Of Modeling Practices, Vukica M. Jovanovic, Tatiana V. Goris, Ana M. Djuric, Petros J. Katsioloudis, Nathan J. Luetke, Moustafa R. Moustafa, Basim Matrood

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

Engineering design has transformed significantly due to advances in embedded system design and computer technologies. Almost every mechanical design today has some electrical and electronic components. Many products manufactured today contain both electrical and mechanical components and systems. Mechatronics is a design process that is multi-disciplinary in nature and integrates principles of many engineering disciplines including, but not limited to, mechanical engineering and mechanical engineering technology, electrical engineering and electrical engineering technology, and controls engineering. Mechatronic systems can be found in many different places today. These range from computer hard drives and robotic assembly systems, to washing machines, coffee makers, …

Mechatronic Education At The Faculty Of Technical Sciences Novi Sad, Gordana Ostojić, Vukica Jovanović, Drazan Kozak, Zeljko Ivandić, Stevan Stankovski

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

The emerging engineering field of mechatronics has caught the attention of many engineering professionals, academics and government officials in recent years, nationally and globally. The main reason for this is that many modern products are no longer purely electrical and electronic or mechanical. Moreover, they are integrated multidisciplinary products which are made from subsystems which require engineering knowledge of different disciplines. Hence, increasing number of universities is offering courses, certificates and programs at undergraduate and graduate levels in the area of mechatronics. This paper presents an educational program in mechatronics at the Faculty of Technical Sciences, University of Novi Sad, …

Effects Of Gravity On The Acceleration And Pair Statistics Of Inertial Particles In Homogeneous Isotropic Turbulence, H. Parishani, O. Ayala, B. Rosa, L.-P. Wang, W. W. Grabowski

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

Within the context of heavy particles suspended in a turbulent airflow, we study the effects of gravity on acceleration statistics and radial relative velocity (RRV) of inertial particles. The turbulent flow is simulated by direct numerical simulation (DNS) on a 256³ grid and the dynamics of O(10⁶) inertial particles by the point-particle approach. For particles/droplets with radius from 10 to 60 µm, we found that the gravity plays an important role in particle acceleration statistics: (a) a peak value of particle acceleration variance appears in both the horizontal and vertical directions at a particle Stokes number …

The Synthesis And Characterization Of Dual-Modified Carboxymethylcellulose For Bioadhesive Applications, Fabrice Bernard

Dissertations and Theses

Reparative medical techniques, in conjunction with existing and emerging tissue adherents and sealants, offer practicing physicians a wide variety of tools to improve the functionality, performance, and safety of surgical interventions. Carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) is a plant-derived polymer that is cytocompatible, biocompatible, biodegradable, and inexpensive. The need for a non-toxic but strongly adherent material motivated the development of an injectable bioadhesive system containing CMC modified with functional methacrylate and aldehyde groups that could potentially be used as an annulus fibrosus sealant or as a supplement to existing wound closure materials. After modification, the polymer was characterized via NMR spectroscopy, Schiff’s base …

Performance Of Self-Excited Energy Harvesters With Tip Bodies Of Non-Circular Cross Section Shapes, Joan Manuel Gomez

Dissertations and Theses

An experimental study on the performance of self-excited energy harvesters with non-circular tip body shapes has been performed. The two tip body shapes analyzed correspond to a half cylinder and a square cross section. Experiments are carried out in the wind tunnel to record the voltage output of the harvesters at different free stream velocities. The presence of the aeroelastic galloping instability was detected by the behavior of the transversal tip displacement of the harvester as well as the coupling of the motion and shedding frequency from the bluff body. The effect of tip mass, free stream turbulence, tip body …

The Proposal For Implementation Of Controlled Power Rectifier (3000/4000kw) In Mta New York City Transit (Mta-Nyct), Md Aminul Islam

Dissertations and Theses

The MTA New York City Transit (MTA-NYCT) will require a robust and reconfigurable power system capable of supplying high power in order to be able to provide services based on for cased future forecast growth of the city population. A critical component in such a system is the Phase Controlled Rectifier. As such, the issues associated with the inclusion of a power electronics rectifier need to be addressed. These issues include input Alternating Current (AC) interface requirements, the output Direct Current (DC) load profile, and overall stability in the output voltage for Train car loads.

Understanding these issues, providing possible …

Calibration And Validation Of An In Vitro Ultrasound Device To Deliver Targeted Thermal Enhancement Of Hmsc Osteogenesis, Dionne Dawkins

Dissertations and Theses

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a disease that affects millions of people annually, often the elderly, and limits their physical abilities. Current methods of treating OA are often very invasive, and expensive, costing the Medicare system billions of dollars annually. A minimally invasive therapy that can be localized to the affected area that provides both relief and a short recovery time is optimal for treating the disease. For targeted therapy and clinical use, therapeutic ultrasound in the 0.7 MHz to 3 MHz frequency range can provide relief and is convenient, portable and localized. Low-intensity pulsed ultrasound (LIPUS) has been proven in clinical …

Exploration Of The Mechanical Properties Of Both Ridged And Inflated Drop Stitch Fabric Material, Roberto Felicissimo

Dissertations and Theses

The mechanical properties of drop stitch fabric materials in tension and shear has been investigated for use in designing structural applications such as ship construction, modular buildings, inflatable structures, aquatic vehicles, sporting goods and temporary field equipment installations. The goal of testing is to improve the understanding of the mechanical properties, which can aid in application development for structural deployments using these unique materials. The benefits of using rigid drop stitch fabric panels in ship and building construction are their light weight and rigidity. The epoxy resin infused fabric is corrosion and degradation resistant while providing a more robust resistance …

Chemotaxis Of Central Nervous System-Derived Tumor Cells Within Controlled Microenvironments, Jennifer Rico Varela

Dissertations and Theses

Medulloblastoma (MB) is a malignant pediatric brain tumor known for its aggressive metastatic potential. Despite the well-documented migration of MB cells to other parts of the brain and spinal column, MB chemotaxis is poorly understood. Herein, we examined the in vitro migratory and cellular responses of MB-derived cells to external signaling of Epidermal Growth Factor (EGF), hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF-BB), and the stromal cell-derived factors 1-alpha (SDF-1). Experiments utilized transwell assays and immunocytochemistry to identify receptor activation in MB migration, and used a microfluidic platform to examine directionality, trajectory, and gradient- dependence of motile cells. Data …

An Experimental Study Of Subcooled Flow Boiling At Elevated Pressure In An Annular Flow Channel, Pervej Rahman

Dissertations and Theses

An experimental setup was developed to study the region of subcooled flow boiling. Multiple studies were carried out to investigate the effects of liquid velocity, pressure, and temperature on the boiling heat transfer of subcooled fluid flowing through a heated annular channel. Water was used as the working fluid and principle of Ohmic heating was used to raise water temperature. The system pressure, heat flux, & mass flux ranged from 101 to 912 kPa, 19 to 155 kW/m2, and 83 to 332 kg/m2-s, respectively. This report contains boiling curves, heat transfer coefficients of various studies and a description of the …

Development Of Super Hydrophobic Surfaces Using Silica Nanoparticles, Muhammad Salman Saleem

Dissertations and Theses

The development of surfaces that have high water contact angles and hysteresis has always been of great importance in industrial applications. Various methods and techniques have been introduced to fabricate surfaces at nano-scale to support super hydrophobicity. Some of these techniques are expensive, some are very complex, most can be used for selective materials and substrate and some form surfaces with very poor wear resistance. This document represents a systematic study on fabrication of super hydrophobic surfaces on glass substrate (SiO2) using the functionalized silica (SiO2) nano particles. SU8, Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and Methyphenyl Resin SR355 polymer are being used as …

Assessment Of Injection Behavior Of Commercially-Available Bone Bsms For Subchondroplasty Procedures, Dinely A. Colon

Dissertations and Theses

Subchondroplasty is a procedure that utilized bone substitutes materials (BSMs) or bone cement to correct bone defects in the subchondral bone. The two main materials used to compose BSMs are poly-methyl-methacrylate (PMMA) and calcium phosphate cement (CaP). Currently, there is no optimal bone material substitute in the market that can provide both the adequate mechanical support and the right viscosity to reach the affected area in the subchondral bone. In addition, there is also no established parameter for their proper use, based on the defect size and location. PMMA possesses comparable mechanical properties to bone (i.e. 96 MPa in compressive …

A Study On The Heavy Crude Oil Viscosity Reduction With The Dissolution Of Nitrogen And Carbon Dioxide, Abdurahman Ajumobi

Dissertations and Theses

World's energy challenges would be greatly improved upon if half of the world's heavy oil and extra heavy oil could be made to ow in pipelines. Viscosity reduction of heavy oils is the key to solving this problem. In this study, aside from injecting pure nitrogen and pure carbon dioxide separately into the oil, two different compositions of the mixture of the two gases were also injected. In the first mixture, varied quantities of the two gases were used; 62:5%, 82:2% and 86:4% of the mixture was nitrogen while 37:5%, 17:8% and 13:6% was carbon dioxide at total test pressures …

One-Bit Compressive Sensing With Partial Support Information, Phillip North

CMC Senior Theses

This work develops novel algorithms for incorporating prior-support information into the field of One-Bit Compressed Sensing. Traditionally, Compressed Sensing is used for acquiring high-dimensional signals from few linear measurements. In applications, it is often the case that we have some knowledge of the structure of our signal(s) beforehand, and thus we would like to leverage it to attain more accurate and efficient recovery. Additionally, the Compressive Sensing framework maintains relevance even when the available measurements are subject to extreme quantization. Indeed, the field of One-Bit Compressive Sensing aims to recover a signal from measurements reduced to only their sign-bit. This …

Nonlinear Analysis And Digital Pre-Distortion Of The Sc-Fdma Signals In Lte Uplink System, Changwen Zhu

Dissertations and Theses

Single-carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) has become a popular alternative to orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDM) in multi-user communication on LTE uplink systems. This is primarily due to the low peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) of SC-FDMA compared to that of OFDM. Long-term evolution (LTE) uses SC-FDMA on the uplink to exploit this PAPR advantage to reduce transmit power amplifier (PA) back-off in mobile user terminals. However, the latest generation of communication systems requires high power efficiency and a large quantity of capacity in transmitting mobile data, bringing out some other critical problems: 1) the nonlinearity of Radio Frequency …

A New Methodology For Evaluating The Effectiveness Of Bus Rapid Transit Strategies, Ahmad Alomari

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Over the last few years, public transportation has become more desirable as capacity of existing roadways failed to keep up with rapidly increasing traffic demand. Buses are one of the most common modes of public transportation with low impact on network capacity, especially in small and congested urban areas. However, the use of regularly scheduled buses as the main public transport mode can become useless with the presence of traffic congestion and dense construction areas. In cases like these, innovative solutions, such as bus rapid transit (BRT), can provide an increased level of service without having to resort to other, …

The Experience Of Physical And Social Presence In A Virtual Learning Environment As Impacted By The Affordance Of Movement Enabled By Motion Tracking, Aleshia Hayes

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research synthesizes existing research findings that social presence (sense of connection with others) and physical presence (sense of being there) increase learning outcomes in Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) with findings that traditional motion tracking of participants wearing head mounted displays in virtual reality increases both physical and social presence. This information suggests that motion tracking in mixed reality VLEs has a positive impact on social presence and on physical presence. For this study, the affordance of free movement among virtual objects is enabled by Microsoft Kinect tracking of the user's position that is translated to movement of the virtual …

Broadband Coherent Perfect Absorption In One-Dimensional Optical Systems, Massimo Maximilian Villinger

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Absorption plays a critical role in a variety of optical applications – sometimes it is desirable to minimize it as in optical fibers and waveguides, or to enhance it as in solar cells and photodetectors. We describe here a new optical scheme that controllably produces high optical absorption over a broad wavelength range (hundreds of nm) in systems that have low intrinsic absorption over the same range. This effect, 'coherent perfect absorption' or CPA, arises from a subtle interplay between interference and absorption of two beams incident on a weakly absorbing medium. In the first part of this study, we …

Assessment Of Electrode Configurations Of Electrical Impedance Myography For The Evaluation Of Neuromuscular Diseases, Khondokar Mohammad Fazle Rabbi

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Electrical impedance myography (EIM) is a painless, noninvasive approach to measure the neuromuscular disease status. EIM parameters- resistance (R), reactance (X) and phase (θ) depend significantly on subcutaneous fat thickness, muscle size and inter electrode distance. The objective of this research is to find an electrode configuration which can minimize the effects on EIM parameters due to subcutaneous fat thickness variation. In this study, a model of human upper arm was developed using finite element method (FEM), which has already been established as an appropriate approach for the analysis of non-symmetrical shape for assessing alternations of muscle in disease-induced changes …

Investigating The Influence Of Professional Development On Teacher Perceptions Of Engineering Self Efficacy, Stephen D. Marquis Phd

All Student Scholarship

This mixed-methods study examines the influence of a professional-development intervention to support educators in the integration of engineering education at the elementary level. Particular consideration focused on the evolution of teachers' perceptions of engineering self-efficacy following engagement in professional development intended to support the introduction of engineering in selected grade-five classrooms.

Planar Laser Induced Fluorescence Experiments And Modeling Study Of Jets In Crossflow At Various Injection Angles, Luke Thompson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Planar Laser Induced Fluorescence (PLIF) with acetone seeding was applied to measure the scalar fields of an axisymmetric freejet and an inclined jet-in-crossflow as applicable to film cooling. From the scalar fields, jet-mixing and trajectory characteristics were obtained. In order to validate the technique, the canonical example of a nonreacting freejet of Reynolds Numbers 900-9000 was investigated. Desired structural characteristics were observed and showed strong agreement with computational modeling. After validating the technique with the axisymmetric jet, the jet-in-crossflow was tested with various velocity ratios and jet injection angles. Results indicated the degree of wall separation for different injection angles …