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Usu Cee Graduate Wins Award | Civil And Environmental Engineering, Usu College Of Engineering

College of Engineering News

Justin Maughan is a graduate of our department, with BS and MS in 2009. He now works at Nibley City, Utah as Public Works Director. He recently received a reward from Utah Rural Water Association.

Impaired Corpus Cavernosum Relaxation Is Accompanied By Increased Oxidative Stress And Up-Regulation Of The Rho-Kinase Pathway In Diabetic (Db/Db) Mice, Fernanda Bruschi Marinho Priviero, Haroldo A.F. Toque, Kênia Pedrosa Nunes, Denise Gonçalves Priolli, Cleber Evandro Teixeira, Robert Clinton Webb

Biomedical Engineering and Sciences Faculty Publications

Basal release of nitric oxide from endothelial cells modulates contractile activity in the corpus cavernosum via inhibition of the RhoA/Rho-kinase signaling pathway. We aimed to investigate nitric oxide bioavailability, oxidative stress and the Rho-kinase pathway in the relaxation of the corpus cavernosum of an obese and diabetic model of mice (db/db mice). We hypothesized that in db/db mice impaired relaxation induced by Rho-kinase inhibitor is accompanied by diminished NO bioavailability, increased oxidative stress and upregulation of the RhoA/Rho-kinase signalling pathway. Cavernosal strips from male lean and non-diabetic db/+ and db/db mice were mounted in myographs and isometric force in response …

Mechanical Engineering News, Georgia Southern University

Mechanical Engineering: News & Publications (2013-2023)

• Congratulations to our Spring 2016 Graduates!

Event Detection Using Correlation Within Arrays Of Streaming Pmu Data, Jordan Landford

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis provides a synchrophasor data analysis methodology that leverages both statistical correlation techniques and a statistical distribution in order to identify data inconsistencies, as well as power system contingencies. This research utilizes archived Phasor Measurement Unit (PMU) data obtained from the Bonneville Power Administration in order to show that this methodology is not only feasible, but extremely useful for power systems monitoring, decision support, and planning purposes.

By analyzing positive sequence voltage angles between a pair of PMUs at two different substation locations, an historic record of correlation is established. From this record, a Rayleigh distribution of correlation coefficients …

The Effects Of Phosphonic Acids In Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells, Keith Edward James

Dissertations and Theses

Novel methods for the construction of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) were developed. A thin dense underlayer of TiO₂ was applied on fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) glass using as a precursor Tyzor AA-105. Subsequently a mesoporous film of P-25 TiO₂ was applied by spreading a suspension uniformly over the surface of the underlayer and allowing the plate to slowly dry while resting on a level surface. After sintering at 500° C slides were treated with TCPP as a sensitizing dye and assembled into DSSCs. A novel method was used to seal the cells; strips of Parafilm® were used as …

Forensics Analysis Of Privacy Of Portable Web Browsers, Ahmad Ghafarian

Annual ADFSL Conference on Digital Forensics, Security and Law

Web browser vendors offer a portable web browser option which is considered as one of the features that provides user privacy. Portable web browser is a browser that can be launched from a USB flash drive without the need for its installation on the host machine. Most popular web browsers have portable versions of their browsers as well. Portable web browsing poses a great challenge to computer forensic investigators who try to reconstruct the past browsing history, in case of any computer incidence. This research examines various sources in the host machine such as physical memory, temporary, recent, event files, …

Reverse Engineering A Nit That Unmasks Tor Users, Matthew Miller, Joshua Stroschein, Ashley Podhradsky

Annual ADFSL Conference on Digital Forensics, Security and Law

This paper is a case study of a forensic investigation of a Network Investigative Technique (NIT) used by the FBI to deanonymize users of a The Onion Router (Tor) Hidden Service. The forensic investigators were hired by the defense to determine how the NIT worked. The defendant was ac- cused of using a browser to access illegal information. The authors analyzed the source code, binary files and logs that were used by the NIT. The analysis was used to validate that the NIT collected only necessary and legally authorized information. This paper outlines the publicly available case details, how the …

Malware In The Mobile Device Android Environment, Diana Hintea, Robert Bird, Andrew Walker

Annual ADFSL Conference on Digital Forensics, Security and Law

exploit smartphone operating systems has exponentially expanded. Android has become the main target to exploit due to having the largest install base amongst the smartphone operating systems and owing to the open access nature in which application installations are permitted. Many Android users are unaware of the risks associated with a malware infection and to what level current malware scanners protect them. This paper tests how efficient the currently available malware scanners are. To achieve this, ten representative Android security products were selected and tested against a set of 5,560 known and categorized Android malware samples. The tests were carried …

Forensic Analysis Of Smartphone Applications For Privacy Leakage, Diana Hintea, Chrysanthi Taramonli, Robert Bird, Rezhna Yusuf

Annual ADFSL Conference on Digital Forensics, Security and Law

Smartphone and tablets are personal devices that have diffused to near universal ubiquity in recent years. As Smartphone users become more privacy-aware and -conscious, research is needed to understand how “leakage” of private information (personally identifiable information – PII) occurs. This study explores how leakage studies in Droid devices should be adapted to Apple iOS devices. The OWASP Zed Attack Proxy (ZAP) is examined for 50 apps in various categories. This study confirms that: (1) most apps transmit unencrypted sensitive PII, (2) SSL is used by some recipient websites, but without corresponding app compliance with SSL, and (3) most apps …

Inferring Previously Uninstalled Applications From Residual Partial Artifacts, Jim Jones, Tahir Khan, Kathryn Laskey, Alex Nelson, Mary Laamanen, Douglas White

Annual ADFSL Conference on Digital Forensics, Security and Law

In this paper, we present an approach and experimental results to suggest the past presence of an application after the application has been uninstalled and the system has remained in use. Current techniques rely on the recovery of intact artifacts and traces, e.g., whole files, Windows Registry entries, or log file entries, while our approach requires no intact artifact recovery and leverages trace evidence in the form of residual partial files. In the case of recently uninstalled applications or an instrumented infrastructure, artifacts and traces may be intact and complete. In most cases, however, digital artifacts and traces are al- …

One-Time Pad Encryption Steganography System, Michael J. Pelosi, Gary Kessler, Michael Scott S. Brown

Annual ADFSL Conference on Digital Forensics, Security and Law

In this paper we introduce and describe a novel approach to adaptive image steganography which is combined with One-Time Pad encryption, and demonstrate the software which implements this methodology. Testing using the state-of-the-art steganalysis software tool StegExpose concludes the image hiding is reliably secure and undetectable using reasonably-sized message payloads (≤25% message bits per image pixel; bpp). Payload image file format outputs from the software include PNG, BMP, JP2, JXR, J2K, TIFF, and WEBP. A variety of file output formats is empirically important as most steganalysis programs will only accept PNG, BMP, and possibly JPG, as the file inputs.

Keywords: …

Energetic Behavior Of Resistive Random-Access Memory Cells, Christopher M. Bisbee

Macalester Journal of Physics and Astronomy

In order to investigate the switching characteristics of Resistive Random Access Memory cells (ReRAM) in terms of their thermodynamic free energy properties, we need to build a number of models that replicate the system. This report contains the models used to investigate filament growth patterns based on different boundary conditions applied to the electrode-filament system. Using Comsol Multiphysics software, we determined that when a fixed voltage is applied to each electrode in the electrode-filament system, we should expect filament dissolution that resets our cells into the High Resistance State (HRS). If we instead fix a set amount of charge on …

Zno Thin Films Generated By Ex-Situ Thermal Oxidation Of Metallic Zn For Photovoltaic Applications, Kovas Zygas

Macalester Journal of Physics and Astronomy

ZnO thin films that function as either transparent conducting oxides in solid-state photovoltaic cells or as nanocrystalline dye-absorbers in dye-sensitized solar cells have the potential to reduce the cost of producing electricity from solar energy. Although there exist many methods to produce ZnO thin films, the most economical and practical method may be oxidation of metallic Zn thin films. This research examined the utility of ex-situ thermal oxidation of DC magnetron sputtered Zn thin films in generating useful ZnO thin films for these photovoltaic applications. We annealed Zn thin films in air at 570° C in order to produce ZnO …

Clc, A Promising Concept With Challenging Development Issues, Thierry Gauthier, M. Yazdanpanah, A. Forret, B. Amblard, A. Lambert, S. Bertholin

Fluidization XV

Chemical Looping Combustion (CLC) is a promising technique to achieve fuel combustion in a nitrogen free atmosphere, therefore giving the possibility to separate and store or use CO2. Several potential applications are considered in the field of power generation with gas, liquid and solid fuels. In the Carbon Capture, Storage and Utilization (CCSU) context, energy penalty is reduced compared to other routes. In addition, other applications of Chemical Looping are considered in the field of H2 production or gasification for instance.

In the past years, a huge effort has been conducted worldwide to investigate CLC materials and process issues. In …

Modelling Of A Chemical Looping Combustion System Equipped With A Two- Stage Fuel Reactor, Roberto Solimene, Antonio Coppola, Piero Bareschino, Piero Salatino

Fluidization XV

The proper selection of the oxygen carrier and the correct design of the fuel reactor represent the main criticalities for the success of the chemical looping combustion (CLC) process for solid fuels. In a previous work (1) a two-stage fuel reactor (t-FR), consisting of two bubbling beds in series (bottom bed and top bed) (Fig. 1), has been proposed in order to overcome the limitations of a single-stage fuel reactor (poor char conversion, slip of unburnt volatiles, extensive elutriation of char fines). A mathematical model has been developed with the aim of assessing the performances of the two-stage fuel reactor …

Modeling And Process Features Of Plug Flow Reactor With Internal Recirculation For Biomass Pyrolysis, Kamal Adham

Fluidization XV

A new fluidized bed design is applied to the pyrolysis of biomass, in a plug-flow with internal-recirculation (PFIR) arrangement, where the movement of solids from feed zone to product zone and the circulation within a closed loop are achieved, by the use of directional high-speed tuyeres that induce both the suspension and horizontal movement of the charge. Separation between feed and product zones is provided through one or more underflow weirs. Wet and hard-to-fluidize biomass is targeted, where fluidization and pyrolysis of the feed is achieved by the internal hot sand recirculation. Plug flow allows for both stages (pyrolysis and …

Cold Flow Modelling Of Char Concentration In The Recirculated Bed Material Stream Of A Dual Fluidized Bed Steam Gasification System, Stephan Kraft, Friedrich Kirnbauer, Hermann Hofbauer

Fluidization XV

The dual fluidized bed (DFB) steam gasification technology of biomass was developed at Vienna University of Technology and is well-established for transforming biomass into a product gas which can be used for further applications. The DFB steam gasification reactor consists of a gasification chamber (bubbling bed, fluidized with steam) and a combustion chamber (turbulent bed, fluidized with air). Biomass is fed into the gasification chamber and gets in contact with the bed material, typically Olivine, at about 840°C. The released volatiles leave the gasification reactor as product gas. A part of the solid residue, called char, flows with the bed …

Cold Flow Modelling Of Dual Fluidised Bed Pyrolysis, Christoph Pfeifer, Gregor Tondl, Andreas Frohner

Fluidization XV

High temperature pyrolysis at about 600-700°C of carbon containing waste materials (plastic waste, shredded old tires, biogenic residues, etc.) is an attractive technology for substitution of fossil fuels in industrial processes. A dual fluidized bed system is investigated in a scaled cold flow model. This model consists of a riser as combustion section and a bubbling fluidized bed as pyrolysis section. The pyrolysis section is aimed to convert the solid feed material into pyrolysis oil as well as permanent gas components. This gas stream can be directly used e.g. in rotary kilns at temperatures of 400-600°C with high tar content …

Hydrodynamic Study Of A Circulating Fluidized Bed Used For Biomass Gasification Between 20 °C And 900 °C, Sébastien Pecate, Mehrdji Hemati, Mathieu Morin, Yilmaz Kara, Sylvie Valin

Fluidization XV

This work, carried out in the GAYA project frame and subsidized by ADEME, concerns the hydrodynamic study of a 60 kWth circulating fluidized bed pilot plant constructed at the Laboratoire de Génie Chimique in Toulouse for biomass gasification. In that process, biomass gasification and heating of fluidisation material (sand, olivine, catalyst…) which also acts as heat transfer medium, are performed in two separate reactors: a dense fluidized bed and a transported bed. Thermal energy, required in order to heat the fluidisation material, is supplied by the partial combustion of the char produced in the gasification reactor. The hydrodynamic study carried …

High Solar Flux Heating Of Upflow Bubbling Fluidized Bed Circulating In Opaque Vertical Tube - 3d Numerical Simulation, Hadrien Benoit, Gilles Flamant, Daniel Gauthier, Renaud Ansart, Olivier Simonin

Fluidization XV

Current solar Heat Transfer Fluids (HTF) have a limited working temperature (< 600 °C) and present operational risks. We proposed to use air-fluidized Dense Particle Suspensions (DPS), also called Upflow Bubbling Fluidized Bed (UBFB), in tubes as a new HTF and storage medium in the frame of the so-called CSP2 FP7 European project (http://www.csp2-project.eu/). UBFB can operate up to the solid sintering temperature, thus improving the plant efficiency, it has no lower temperature limitation and is riskless. The DPS capacity to extract heat from a tube absorber exposed to concentrated solar radiation was demonstrated on a single-tube experimental receiver that was tested at the focus of the CNRS 1 MW solar furnace in Odeillo. The DPS flowed upward through the absorber tube (i.d. 3.6 cm) that passed through a 50 cm high cavity where it was exposed to concentrated solar flux that heated the DPS. The tube wall-to-DPS Heat Transfer Coefficient (HTC) first values were calculated by Flamant et al. (1). A stable outlet temperature of 750 °C was reached with a metallic tube and a particle reflux in the near tube wall region was evidenced by Benoit et al. (2).

In this paper, the UBFB behavior is studied using the multiphase flow code NEPTUNE_CFD (3). Hydrodynamics of SiC Geldart A-type particles (40 µm Sauter diameter) and heat transfer imposed by a thermal flux at the wall are coupled in 3D numerical simulations. The convective/diffusive heat transfer between the gas and dispersed phase, and the inter-particle radiative transfer (Rosseland approximation) are accounted for. The numerical and experimental results are compared in order to validate the model. The heat exchange between the particles close to the tube wall and those …

Determination Of Solids Circulation Rate Through Magnetic Tracer Tests, Diana Carolina Guío-Pérez, Jorge Nicolay Ferreira Cala, Tobias Pröll, Florian Dietrich

Fluidization XV

The present work proposes the determination of solids circulation rate in a freely circulating fluidized bed cold model by using a method that performs quantitative detection of fluid-dynamically similar ferromagnetic tracer particles (1). The method has already been proven for determination of particles residence time distribution with encouraging results (2). The method is based on inductance changes of a coil by effect of changes in the concentration of ferromagnetic particles in its core (Fig. 1). There is a direct correspondence between measured inductance and proportion of ferromagnetic material in the coil’s core. The tracer particles are fluid-dynamically consistent, the injection …

Cfdem® Modelling Of Particle Coating In A Three-Dimensional Prismatic Spouted Bed, Swantje Pietsch, Stefan Heinrich, Frank Kleine-Jäger, Michael Schönherr, Katja Karpinski

Fluidization XV

Particles which are difficult to handle in fluidized beds, such as big and non-spherical or small and co-/adhesive ones, can be fluidized in spouted beds. Nowadays, spouted bed processes are used for e.g. drying, spray granulation, encapsulation, and coating. Enhanced heat and mass transfer and intensive particle circulation allow a homogeneous distribution of the coating suspension on the particles accompanied by reduced agglomeration tendency. In the considered prismatic spouted bed the fluidization gas enters the bed chamber through two adjustable inlet slots. The coating suspension is sprayed via a two-fluid-nozzle in bottom-spray configuration (figure 1).

The simulation of the spouted …

The Role Of Fuel Mixing On Char Conversion In A Dual Fluidized Bed Gasifier, Louise Lundberg, Antonio Soria-Verdugo, Robert Johansson, David Pallarès

Fluidization XV

Operational conditions, such as the fluidization velocity or the solids cross-flow, have been found to affect both lateral and axial mixing of fuel particles in a fluidized bed (1, 2). The fuel axial mixing has been shown to influence the heat and mass transfer between the bed and the fuel particles, which in turn affect the char conversion rate (3). Furthermore, the fuel lateral mixing affects the residence time of the fuel inside the fluidized bed reactor. The aim of this work is to investigate the effect of the operational conditions on the resulting char conversion in the gasification chamber …

Applying Grounded Theory Methods To Digital Forensics Research, Ahmed Almarzooqi, Andrew Jones, Richard Howley

Annual ADFSL Conference on Digital Forensics, Security and Law

Deciding on a suitable research methodology is challenging for researchers. In this paper, grounded theory is presented as a systematic and comprehensive qualitative methodology in the emergent field of digital forensics research. This paper applies grounded theory in a digital forensics research project undertaken to study how organisations build and manage digital forensics capabilities. This paper gives a step-by-step guideline to explain the procedures and techniques of using grounded theory in digital forensics research. The paper gives a detailed explanation of how the three grounded theory coding methods (open, axial, and selective coding) can be used in digital forensics research. …

Covert6: A Tool To Corroborate The Existence Of Ipv6 Covert Channels, Raymond A. Hansen, Lourdes Gino, Dominic Savio

Annual ADFSL Conference on Digital Forensics, Security and Law

Covert channels are any communication channel that can be exploited to transfer information in a manner that violates the system’s security policy. Research in the field has shown that, like many communication channels, IPv4 and the TCP/IP protocol suite have been susceptible to covert channels, which could be exploited to leak data or be used for anonymous communications. With the introduction of IPv6, researchers are acutely aware that many vulnerabilities of IPv4 have been remediated in IPv6. However, a proof of concept covert channel system was demonstrated in 2006. A decade later, IPv6 and its related protocols have undergone major …

Acceleration Of Statistical Detection Of Zero-Day Malware In The Memory Dump Using Cuda-Enabled Gpu Hardware, Igor Korkin, Iwan Nesterow

Annual ADFSL Conference on Digital Forensics, Security and Law

This paper focuses on the anticipatory enhancement of methods of detecting stealth software. Cyber security detection tools are insufficiently powerful to reveal the most recent cyber-attacks which use malware. In this paper, we will present first an idea of the highest stealth malware, as this is the most complicated scenario for detection because it combines both existing anti-forensic techniques together with their potential improvements. Second, we will present new detection methods which are resilient to this hidden prototype. To help solve this detection challenge, we have analyzed Windows’ memory content using a new method of Shannon Entropy calculation; methods of …

Using Computer Behavior Profiles To Differentiate Between Users In A Digital Investigation, Shruti Gupta, Marcus Rogers

Annual ADFSL Conference on Digital Forensics, Security and Law

Most digital crimes involve finding evidence on the computer and then linking it to a suspect using login information, such as a username and a password. However, login information is often shared or compromised. In such a situation, there needs to be a way to identify the user without relying exclusively on login credentials. This paper introduces the concept that users may show behavioral traits which might provide more information about the user on the computer. This hypothesis was tested by conducting an experiment in which subjects were required to perform common tasks on a computer, over multiple sessions. The …

Enhanced Adhesion Of Superhydrophobic Zno Surface, Liqiu Zheng Dr., Chan Kwaichow B.

Georgia Journal of Science

The superhydrophobicity and the strong solid-liquid adhesion of the dually structured ZnO surface are attributed to the suitable size of microstructure and nanostructure. This phenomenon, so different from the Lotus effect, can be called the Petal effect— the super hydrophobicity and the enhanced solid-liquid adhesion coexist on the same surface. The Cassie impregnating model was proposed to understand the underlying reason.

Current Challenges And Future Research Areas For Digital Forensic Investigation, David Lillis, Brett A. Becker, Tadhg O’Sullivan, Mark Scanlon

Annual ADFSL Conference on Digital Forensics, Security and Law

Given the ever-increasing prevalence of technology in modern life, there is a corresponding increase in the likelihood of digital devices being pertinent to a criminal investigation or civil litigation. As a direct consequence, the number of investigations requiring digital forensic expertise is resulting in huge digital evidence backlogs being encountered by law enforcement agencies throughout the world. It can be anticipated that the number of cases requiring digital forensic analysis will greatly increase in the future. It is also likely that each case will require the analysis of an increasing number of devices including computers, smartphones, tablets, cloud-based services, Internet …

Forensic Analysis Of Ares Galaxy Peer-To-Peer Network, Frank Kolenbrander, Nhien-An Le-Khac, Tahar Kechadi

Annual ADFSL Conference on Digital Forensics, Security and Law

Child Abuse Material (CAM) is widely available on P2P networks. Over the last decade several tools were made for 24/7 monitoring of peer-to-peer (P2P) networks to discover suspects that use these networks for downloading and distribution of CAM. For some countries the amount of cases generated by these tools is so great that Law Enforcement (LE) just cannot handle them all. This is not only leading to backlogs and prioritizing of cases but also leading to discussions about the possibility of disrupting these networks and sending warning messages to potential CAM offenders. Recently, investigators are reporting that they are creating …