Engineering Commons^™

Nonlinear Dynamics, Bifurcation Maps, Signal Encryption And Decryption Using Acousto-Optic Chaos Under A Variable Aperture Illumination, Monish Ranjan Chatterjee, Suman Chaparala

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Bragg cell nonlinear dynamics and bifurcation properties under first-order feedback with variable aperture are examined. Chaotic encryption and recovery of low-bandwidth signals, and optimal performance are evaluated for fixed and variable apertures.

An Exploration Of Mobile Device Security Artifacts At Institutions Of Higher Education, Amita Goyal Chin, Diania Mcrae, Beth H. Jones, Mark A. Harris

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

The explosive growth and rapid proliferation of smartphones and other mobile

devices that access data over communication networks has necessitated advocating

and implementing security constraints for the purpose of abetting safe computing.

Remote data access using mobile devices is particularly popular among students at

institutions of higher education. To ensure safe harbor for constituents, it is

imperative for colleges and universities to establish, disseminate, and enforce

mobile device security artifacts, where artifacts is defined as policies, procedures,

guidelines or other documented or undocumented protocols. The purpose of this

study is to explore the existence of, specific content of, and the …

Motivations For Social Network Site (Sns) Gaming: A Uses And Gratification & Flow Perspective, Brinda Sampat, Bala Krishnamoorthy

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

The penetration of the internet, smart-phones and tablets has witnessed tremendous increase in the number of people playing online games in the past few years. Social networking site (SNS) games are a subset of digital games. They are platform based, multiplayer and reveal the real identity of the player. These games are hosted on social networks such as Facebook, where in people play with many other players online. The risks associated with social network gaming are addiction, theft, fraud, loneliness, anxiety, aggression, poor academic performance, cognition distortion etc. This study aims to understand the user motivations to continue to play …

The Impact Of Analytics Utilization On Team Performance: Comparisons Within And Across The U.S. Professional Sports Leagues, Lee A. Freeman

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

Business analytics, defined as the use of data to make better, more relevant, evidence-based business decisions, has received a great deal of attention in practitioner circles. Organizations have adopted business analytics in an effort to improve revenue, product placement, and customer satisfaction. Professional sports teams are no different. While analytics has been used for over 30 years, the use of analytics by professional sports teams is a relatively new concept. However, it is unclear whether the teams that have adopted analytics are seeing any results. If not, then perhaps analytics is not the right solution. Analyses across the four, major …

Thermo-Mechanical System Identification Of A Shape Memory Alloy Actuated Mechanism, Cody Alexander Wright

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Shape memory alloy (SMA) actuators paired in an antagonistic arrangement can be used to produce mechanisms that replicate human biomechanics. To investigate this proposal, the biomechanical articulation of the elbow by means of the biceps brachii muscle is compared with that of a SMA actuated arm. This is accomplished by parametric analysis of a crank-slider kinematic mechanism actuated, first, with an experimentally characterized SMA wire and then an idealized musculotendon actuator based on actuation properties of muscles published in the literature. Next, equations of motion for the system dynamics of the SMA actuated mechanism are derived and phase portrait analysis …

Development Of A Dsm-Based Model For Managing The Design Of Complex Systems Considering The Impact Of Technological Obsolescence, Gershom Kwaku Obeng

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Obsolescence has been a constant issue for process planners and designers and if not properly accounted for, obsolescence can become an expensive issue. As systems become more complex, interconnected, and nonhomogeneous, separate studies of single groups of equipment are no longer sufficient in modeling the obsolescence of the systems that they make up. The purpose of this dissertation is to model the likelihood of a process's design becoming obsolescent given the obsolescent behavior of the equipment used to complete the process. The methodology discussed in this work is based on a combination of using a systems engineering tool called the …

Parallel Reference Speaker Weighting For Kinematic-Independent Acoustic-To-Articulatory Inversion, An Ji, Michael T. Johnson, Jeffrey J. Berry

Speech Pathology and Audiology Faculty Research and Publications

Acoustic-to-articulatory inversion, the estimation of articulatory kinematics from an acoustic waveform, is a challenging but important problem. Accurate estimation of articulatory movements has the potential for significant impact on our understanding of speech production, on our capacity to assess and treat pathologies in a clinical setting, and on speech technologies such as computer aided pronunciation assessment and audio-video synthesis. However, because of the complex and speaker-specific relationship between articulation and acoustics, existing approaches for inversion do not generalize well across speakers. As acquiring speaker-specific kinematic data for training is not feasible in many practical applications, this remains an important and …

Measurements By Controlled Meteorological Balloons In Coastal Areas Of Antarctica, Lars R. Hole, Alexis Pérez Bello, Tjarda J. Roberts, Paul B. Voss, Timo Vihma

Engineering: Faculty Publications

An experiment applying controlled meteorological (CMET) balloons near the coast of Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica, in January 2013 is described. Two balloons were airborne for 60 and 106 hours with trajectory lengths of 885.8 km and 2367.4 km, respectively. The balloons carried out multiple controlled soundings on the atmospheric pressure, temperature and humidity up to 3.3 km. Wind speed and direction were derived from the balloon drift. Observations were compared with radiosonde sounding profiles from the Halley Research Station, and applied in evaluating simulations carried out with the weather research and forecasting (WRF) mesoscale atmospheric model. The most interesting feature …

Modelling Of Coal-Biomass Blends Gasification And Power Plant Revamp Alternatives In Egypt’S Natural Gas Sector, Dalia A. Ali Eng, Mamdouh A. Gadalla Prof., Omar Y. Abdelaziz, Fatma H. Ashour Prof.

Chemical Engineering

Recently, there has been a growing research interest in the co-gasification of biomass with coal to produce syngas and electricity in a sustainable manner. Co-gasification technology do not only decrease potentially the exploitation of a significant amount of conventional coal resources, and thus lower greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions, but also boost the overall gasification process efficiency. In the present work, a rigorous simulation model of an entrained flow gasifier is developed using the Aspen Plus® software environment. The proposed simulation model is tested for an American coal and the model validation is performed in good agreement with practical data. The …

Evaluation Of Slope Stability Quantifying The Effect Of Vegetation, Roberto José Marín, Juan Pablo Osorio

Conference papers

The present study evaluates the shallow landslides susceptibility triggered by rainfall by means of multiple numerical simulations. The simulations integrate a transient rainfall infiltration model with an infinite slope stability model, both of them developed for unsaturated soils in a basin scale. TRIGRS’ infiltration model is used to calculate pore water pressure. The geotechnical model includes the evaluation of two parameters related to vegetation: root reinforcement and tree surcharge due to the weight of the vegetation. These simulations were carried out using multiple values of these parameters so that their behavior is analyzed for the topographic conditions of the watershed …

Fluid Dynamic Factors As A Cause And Effect Of Biofilm Formation Of Staphylococcus Aureus Biofilms, Erica Sherman

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Staphylococcus aureus bacteria are able to form biofilms and distinctive tower structures that facilitate their ability to tolerate treatment and to spread within the human body. The formation of towers, which break off, get carried downstream and serve to initiate biofilms in other parts of the body are of particular interest here. It is known that flow conditions play a role in the development, dispersion and propagation of biofilms. The influence of flow on tower formation and what factors lead to tower formation is not at all understood The hypothesis being examined is that tower structures form within a specific …

Characterization Of The Interfacial Behavior Of Hybrid Fiber-Steel Lap Connections Fastened By Steel On Frp Anchors, Omnia Ragab Abou El-Hamd

Civil and Environmental Theses

Fiber reinforced polymers (FRP) are extensively used in several engineering fields due to their superior properties. In structural engineering applications, fiber polymers have been recently used for retrofitting and strengthening of existing structures. A common technique for strengthening steel structures involves bonding FRP composites to targeted steel elements. However, bonding practices and researches revealed undesirable brittle failure of the adhesive at the FRP-steel interface. A recent research program conducted at UAE University validated the effectiveness of using mechanically fastened hybrid FRP (HFRP) laminates in strengthening steel beams. Outcomes of the research program revealed that the fastening technique could provide a …

Sanitation System For Underdeveloped Countries, Anish Agrawal, Mutian Tang, Dylan Lesher, Reid Schur

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

Currently, there are over 2.5 billion people living in the world without having access to proper sanitation. This is primarily because of lack of access to water and/or their financial situation to afford a sanitation system. Therefore, there is a need for a sanitation system which can flush in less water and is inexpensive. This project involves the creation of a sanitation system for use in impoverished areas with little access to water or electricity.

Maneuverable Backpack Scooter Attachment, Andrew Goldfield, Alex Roesch, Cosmo Centanni, Nina Nepa

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

A mechanical device that will aid in the collaboration between a scooter and a backpack. Due to the weight of typical backpack, our device will aid the consumer to carry less weight on their backs, and create a device to fold into the scooter so that it nicely fits in a classroom setting. This device will be detachable so that the scooter can be operated without the attachment.

Automatic Onion Peeler, William R. Luer, Matthew O. Clohisy, Craig A. Claire, Dylan L. Newcomb

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

Our senior design report encompasses the design selection, process, and fabrication of an automatic onion peeler. Our design is intended for the peeling of medium yellow onions in restaurant-scale applications. Our machine is easily cleaned and can be safely operated by one person.

Universal Pitter, Angelica Price, Rachel Venn

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

Fruits with pits in them have been cumbersome to eat due to the delicate quality of the fruit and the rigid structure of the pits that must be removed. Many types of pitters already exist, but any are for small pits such as cherries and olives or involve to much manual action. This pitter will remove the pit out of multiple types of fruit while holding the fruit in a manner that does not damage the fruit. This projected was initiated by Rachel Venn, an engineering student at Washington University in St. Louis, who took a pole amongst family and …

Asme Student Design Challenge, James Mitchell, Ean Murnan, Alex Wirtz

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

The Olympic Summer Games test the abilities of people throughout the world in a wide variety of athletic challenges. The athlete that wins the Olympic decathlon or heptathlon is referred to as the world’s greatest male or female athlete. The 2017 Student Design Competition challenges your technical design skills to create a robot that is fast, strong, and agile. Your team must build a remotely controlled device to compete against others in five different events – a robot pentathlon. Scores from each of the events will be combined to determine the overall champion. Our team will attempt to design a …

Mems 411 Design Report Group O: Naked Mole Rat Trap, Drew Pikey, Adam Glassl, Sam Nadell

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

Naked mole-rats are mouse size rodents that live in underground colonies in East Africa. They are best known for having a queen and workers like bees. Prof Stan Braude has been studying them in Kenya and Ethiopia for over 25 years and has trapped over 10,000 of these animals, marked and released them. He is the world’s expert at trapping naked mole-rats and yet, he still needs a better trap. Prof. Stan Braude is looking forward to working with a team of real engineers and designers who can help him complete this project.

Autonomous Shopping Cart, John Gutsch, Steven Taschner, Asim Zaidi

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

In shopping centers across the United States, customers must return shopping carts after they used them by themselves. For a variety of reasons, a significant number of shopping carts are left in parking lots after being used. This results in expenses to the store in the form of damaged carts, man hours required to return each one, and law suits from customers whose cars are damaged by free carts. This project is an add-on mechanism by which allows shopping carts to return to the shopping center autonomously. The cart should be able to locate a preset track that is set …

Group H: Expandable Brush, Aaron Hall, Michael Roznik

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

This is an overview of our project to design an expandable brush. This brush is designed to be versatile and able to clean a variety of vessels with narrow necks, wide bases, and complex geometries. Our prototype consisted of two parts: an outer sleeve with a deflector and a handle with a head piece to hold our bristle filaments. This design allows the user to insert the brush into a vessel and then control how far outward the bristles expand for easy cleaning.

Reinventing The Dishwasher, Caryn Devaney, Carter Fraser, Aaron Walters

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

Most people aren’t excited to do the dishes. Still, washing cookware like pots and pans is an unavoidable task - and even those who own dishwashers typically choose to handwash them after use. After conducting a wide-ranging market survey, we designed a standalone device which can fill the existing gap between handwashing and dishwashing. We successfully built a single pan dishwasher which simulates hand washing to clean nonstick frying pans.

Building A Better Naked-Mole Rat Trap Mems 411- Senior Design Course, Alex Flammond, Lance Middleton, Andrew Chang

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

In this paper, we design, analyze, test, and construct an improved naked mole rat trap for Prof. Stan Braude of Washington University in St. Louis.

Telescoping Cup Holder, Richard Kristian O. Pajarillo, Eric Nehrbas, Charlie Morrow

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

Cup holders are a beloved feature of the modern automobile because they keep your drink stable and close, ensuring that minimal work is needed to grab it. Our mission is to provide a cup holder for everyday use outside of vehicles. Our device will hold drinks of most sizes, and will keep them cool. Motion activation will raise the drink to a convenient height using a telescoping motion, and then lower to a sturdy position that is out of the way. The finished product will minimize the amount of work required to retrieve the drink, and grab some attention as …

An Improve Naked Mole Rat Trap, Group Iii, Spencer Egly, Ted Daley, Andrew Thompson

Mechanical Engineering Design Project Class

This project attempts to improve on Dr. Stan Braude’s current Naked Mole Rat trap design. Dr. Braude currently uses his trap to catch and tag naked mole rats for his research. While Dr. Braude is happy with his current trap, he designed them himself over twenty years ago, and believes that they can be improved and modernized for increased ease and convenience. The key project goal is to deliver an improved trap to Dr. Braude that will meet his needs. The modifications that this project will attempt to deliver are a repeatable, solar powered trap that is compatible with his …

Modeling Pyrolysis Of Large Coal Particles With Many Species, Jianqing Li

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Coal currently supplies 40% of the world’s electricity needs, and is one of the most important energy sources. As the initial stage of coal combustion, pyrolysis is a thermal decomposition process which converts coal into light gases and tars, which are subsequently consumed in combustion reactions, as well as solid char. Recently there has been interest in using slow pyrolysis as a stand-alone process for the production of chemicals and fuels from large (mm-scale) coal particles. Simulations can be used to efficiently study the impact of pyrolysis conditions on gas, tar and char yields, as well as gas and tar …

Human-Like Rewards To Train A Reinforcement Learning Controller For Planar Arm Movement, Kathleen M. Jagodnik, Philip S. Thomas, Antonie J. Van Den Bogert, Michael S. Branicky, Robert F. Kirsch

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

High-level spinal cord injury (SCI) in humans causes paralysis below the neck. Functional electrical stimulation (FES) technology applies electrical current to nerves and muscles to restore movement, and controllers for upper extremity FES neuroprostheses calculate stimulation patterns to produce desired arm movement. However, currently available FES controllers have yet to restore natural movements. Reinforcement learning (RL) is a reward-driven control technique; it can employ user-generated rewards, and human preferences can be used in training. To test this concept with FES, we conducted simulation experiments using computer-generated ``pseudohuman{''} rewards. Rewards with varying properties were used with an actor-critic RL controller for …

Research: South Dakota State University, Fall 2016, Christine Delfanian, Emily Webber

State of Discovery South Dakota State University's Research Magazine

CONTENTS:

Cattle primary host for new influenza virus [page] 1
Statisticians evaluate probability models for crime scene evidence [page] 2
Beef reproduction research to increase sperm, embryo survival [page] 4
Chemicals in ice core reveal climate-changing events [page] 6
New pediatric drug delivery method uses corn, milk proteins [page] 8
Strategic application key to biochar application [page] 8
Outstanding Scholars:
Collaborative projects brings pioneer women to life [page] 9
Nurses to learn substance abuse intervention technique [page] 9
Dietitian targets weight management, goal-setting to improve health [page] 10
Photovoltaic group helps Pakistani scientists harness sun's energy [page] 10
New capabilities …

Fabrication And Characterization Of Conductive Melt Electrospun Fibers, Brandon Ross

Graduate Theses & Non-Theses

Conductive polymer nanocomposites are a type of particle reinforced plastic composite where the doping material is electrically conductive. The diverse properties of an engineered composite material allow for the material properties to be fine-tuned for the specific application. This research focuses on using carbon allotropes, such as two-dimensional graphene and one-dimensional carbon nanotubes, to achieve direct current electrical conductivity through a polymer fiber. Melt electrospinning is the process used for creating the micrometer scale fibers by melting thermoplastic materials. High electrostatic fields apply a force to the polymer melt and a single fiber is drawn out. The resistivity of the …

Heat Transfer Analysis Of An Oblique Jet Impingement Cooling On Cmc Rough Surface, Karthik Krishna

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

A Ceramic Matrix Composite is high strength and high temperature capability composite, utilized in components like heat shield of space vehicles, flame holders and disc brakes. To be used in both static and dynamic components of a future gas turbine engine and even with high temperature capabilities of these CMC components, convection cooling will still likely be required. The surface of the CMC varies significantly from traditional super-alloy used in a modern engine, with large level of roughness and significant three-dimensional waviness. These complex features will impact the behavior of the near wall flows, and affect the heat transfer rates …

Dynamics And Control Of Three-Dimensional Perching Maneuver Under Dynamic Stall Influence, Mir Alikhan Bin Mohammad Feroskhan

Theses and Dissertations

Perching is a type of aggressive maneuver performed by the class ‘Aves’ species to attain precision point landing with a generally short landing distance. Perching capability is desirable on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) due to its efficient deceleration process that potentially expands the functionality and flight envelope of the aircraft. This dissertation extends the previous works on perching, which is mostly limited to two-dimensional (2D) cases, to its state-of-the-art three-dimensional (3D) variety. This dissertation presents the aerodynamic modeling and optimization framework adopted to generate unprecedented variants of the 3D perching maneuver that include the sideslip perching trajectory, which ameliorates the …