Engineering Commons^™

Life Cycle Based Sustainability Assessment And Decision Making For Industrial Systems, Hao Song

Wayne State University Dissertations

Increasing concern with the environmental impact resulted from human activities has led to a rising interest in sustainable development that will not only meet the needs of current development but also protect the natural environment without compromising the needs of future generations. This leads to the necessity of a systems approach to decision-making in which economic, environmental and social factors are integrated together to ensure the triple bottom lines of sustainability. Although current studies provide a variety of different methodologies to address sustainability assessment and decision-making, the increasing size and complexity of industrial systems results in the necessity to develop …

Force Field Development With Gomc A Fast New Monte Carlo Molecular Simulation Code, Jason Richard Mick

Wayne State University Dissertations

In this work GOMC (GPU Optimized Monte Carlo) a new fast, flexible, and free molecular Monte Carlo code for the simulation atomistic chemical systems is presented. The results of a large Lennard-Jonesium simulation in the Gibbs ensemble is presented. Force fields developed using the code are also presented. To fit the models a quantitative fitting process is outlined using a scoring function and heat maps. The presented n-6 force fields include force fields for noble gases and branched alkanes. These force fields are shown to be the most accurate LJ or n-6 force fields to date for these compounds, capable …

Designing Genes That Encode Proteins For Biomedical Applications, Isaiah Traben

Undergraduate Research Posters 2016

DNA is a crucial component of all known life. It encodes in genes the structure of the proteins necessary to perform many of the functions in a cell. Proteins are biological polymers consisting of a chain of amino acids. The specific sequence of the amino acids determines the structure and therefore function of the protein. The sequence of the amino acids of a protein is coded in DNA via triplets of the nucleotide bases known as codons, which each can represent only one amino acid. However, an amino acid can be represented by more than one codon, so there are …

Design And Development Of A Microfluidic Platform To Induce Mechanical Stimuli On Growing Axons, Edward Jira, Erin Tesny

Undergraduate Research Posters 2016

In cases of injury and degenerative diseases, stresses can be placed on individual nerve cells in the human body that greatly, and often permanently, impact the function of the human nervous system. In order to treat these it is imperative to better understand the effects these stresses can have on the development and function of individual neurons. Because of the logistical difficulties of studying cells in-vitro, it has become increasingly popular to study neuronal cells in vivo using microfluidic devices. Current studies focus mainly on the impact of chemical signals on neurons. The focus of this study however, is to …

Design And Characterization Of Protein-Based Bioink, Ryan Martin, James Deyling

Undergraduate Research Posters 2016

Elastin-like polypeptide (ELP) based, temperature responsive triblocks are an attractive alternative to current cell encapsulation hydrogels (bioinks) used in bioprinting, due to their natural physiological properties and their potential for higher cell viability. Many cell encapsulating hydrogels in current use, require UV light to initiate crosslinking which can be damaging to the encapsulated cells. Other materials irreversibly gel with a change in temperature potentially clogging the bioprinting instruments. ELP based hydrogels utilize temperature dependent gelation, but gel reversibly. Elastin is a natural material in human tissue which many protein scaffolds are made of. We are studying an ELP triblock consisting …

Glycerolipid Analysis Of Adaptation To Saline Changes In The Culture Conditions Of Algae, Scenedesmus Dimorphus, By Gc-Ms, Tyler Fitzgerald, Satya Girish Chandra Avula, Chandana Mannem

Undergraduate Research Posters 2016

Since fossil fuels are decreasing over time an alternative energy source will be soon required. The algae, Scenedesmus dimorphus, grows in freshwater and is known for its fast growth of glycerolipid content which is used for biodiesel production. After the algae is grown in optimal conditions, the released fatty acids and glycerolipids are transformed into fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) which are used as biodiesel. The FAMEs were quantitatively determined by gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) to determine the total glycerolipid content in the different algae samples. The samples that were analyzed include freshwater controls and saline adapted samples. Analysis …

Nebraska Water Center Annual Report 2016, Nebraska Water Center

Nebraska Water Center: Administrative Materials

Contents

Foreword

Director’s Letter

Since 1964: The Nebraska Water Center

Building the future

Nebraska’s Top 10 water challenges

Nebraska Water Center advisory board

Water Resources Advisory Panel: A key to success

Nebraska Water Sciences Laboratory

USGS 104b projects for 2016

Ogallala Aquifer focus of USDA research grant

Graduate research on amphetamines draws attention

NIC hosts water symposium and law conference

Water seminar lectures key on “Water and health”

Four picked for IRES program in Czech Republic

WARI program begins

2016 tour to Colorado’s South Platte basin

45th annual tour visits Platte River basin in Colorado

McCornick new Water for Food …

Nebraska Water Center (Brochure ), Nebraska Water Center

Nebraska Water Center: Administrative Materials

The Nebraska Water Center was established in 1964 as one of 54 Water Resources Research Institutes nationwide with passage of the first Clean Water Act. It facilitates the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s land grant missions in research, extension and teaching in water science, law and policy to address water quantity and quality issues of priority to Nebraska. NWC helps water researchers by awarding small grants, conducting water-related education and outreach activities for stakeholders, and disseminating research results through media, colloquia, conferences, lectures, and tours. NWC provides state-of-the-art analytical technology to conduct water research and education to scientists and engineers, helping them …

Nebraska Summary: S1062 Massey Ferguson 7716, Nebraska Tractor Test Lab

Nebraska Tractor Tests

ABOUT THE TEST REPORT AND USE OF THE DATA The test data contained in this report are a tabulation of the results of a series of tests. Due to the restricted format of these pages, only a limited amount of data and not all of the tractor specifications are included. The full OECD report contains usually about 30 pages of data and specifications. The test data were obtained for each tractor under similar conditions and therefore, provide a means of comparison of performance based on a limited set of reported data. EXPLANATION OF THE TEST PROCEDURES Purpose The purpose of …

The Development Of A Human Operator Informatic Model (Hoim) Incorporating The Effects Of Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation On Information Processing While Performing Multi-Attribute Task Battery (Matb), Justin Nelson

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Multitasking has become an integral attribute associated with military operations in tasks such as cyber defense operators, remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) operators and air traffic controllers. These tasks are monotonous and repetitive in nature requiring the human operator to interpret and process information that may exceed their mental capability. When the human operator can no longer effectively process and respond to the critical incoming information, an asymptotic limit known as the multitasking throughput capacity (MTC) will be present. At this point, critical target detection and reaction times may degrade resulting in a decrement in performance. The objective of this research …

An Approach To Implement Kahn's Technique With Dynamic Power Supply, Sowjanya Kommu

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Radio-frequency power amplifiers are an integral part of today's communication systems. Primary importance is given to improve its efficiency and linearity, which are required for the effective signal transmission. Three main architectures on which, the efficiency of communication systems are based on are: (a) Kahn's technique, (b) Doherty's power amplifiers, and (c) Cheireix out-phasing modulation. Several schemes to implement these techniques exist in literature and their study is very diverse. In this thesis, a detailed literature survey on these techniques is presented, which includes their operation, properties, advantages, disadvantages, and areas of potential applications. This main objective of this thesis …

Vocational Education And Training (Vet) Of Quantity Surveying In Hong Kong, Ken Hui

Staff Publications

Vocational education and training (VET) in Hong Kong has long been regarded as non-mainstream and second-tier education for students who failed in academic education (Lim, 2008, 2010). The government of HKSAR and some non-government organizations are offering education programmes for these students in concerning with social injustice. In Hong Kong, VET has acquired a stigma and is automatically seen as second-class education. (Lim, 2008). This assertion is tested on quantity surveying education in this study. Quantity surveying education originated as part time day-release programmes which allowed students to receive academic and practical training at the same time. It was then …

Use Of A Small Unmanned Aerial System For The Sr-530 Mudslide Incident Near Oso, Washington, Robin Murphy, Brittany Duncan, Tyler Collins, Justin Kendrick, Patrick Lohman, Tamara Palmer, Frank Sanborn

School of Computing: Faculty Publications

The Center for Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue deployed three commercially available small unmanned aerial systems (SUASs)—an AirRobot AR100B quadrotor, an Insitu Scan Eagle, and a PrecisionHawk Lancaster—to the 2014 SR-530 Washington State mudslides. The purpose of the flights was to allow geologists and hydrologists to assess the eminent risk of loss of life to responders from further slides and flooding, as well as to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the event. The AirRobot AR100B in conjunction with PrecisionHawk postprocessing software created two-dimensional (2D) and 3D reconstructions of the inaccessible “moonscape” region of the slide and provided engineers with a …

Development Of A Compact Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Laser End-Pumped Actively Q-Switched Laser For Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy, Shuo Li, L. Liu, Rongzhang Chen, Bryan Nelsen, Xi Huang, Yongfeng Lu, Kevin Chen

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

This paper reports the development of a compact and portable actively Q-switched Nd:YAG laser and its applications in laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS). The laser was end-pumped by a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL). The cavity lases at a wavelength of 1064 nm and produced pulses of 16 ns with a maximum pulse energy of 12.9 mJ. The laser exhibits a reliable performance in terms of pulse-to-pulse stability and timing jitter. The LIBS experiments were carried out using this laser on NIST standard alloy samples. Shot-to-shot LIBS signal stability, crater profile, time evolution of emission spectra, plasma electron density and temperature, and …

Alloy Oxidation As A Route To Chemically Active Nanocomposites Of Gold Atoms In A Reducible Oxide Matrix, Peter Sutter, S. A. Tenney, F. Ivars- Barcelo, L. Wu, Y. Zhu, Eli Sutter

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

While nanoparticles are being pursued actively for a number of applications, dispersed atomic species have been explored far less in functional materials architectures, primarily because composites comprising dispersed atoms are challenging to synthesize and difficult to stabilize against sintering or coarsening. Here we show that room temperature oxidation of Au–Sn alloys produces nanostructures whose surface is terminated by a reducible amorphous oxide that contains atomically dispersed Au. Analysis of the oxidation process shows that the dispersal of Au in the oxide can be explained by predominant oxygen anion diffusion and kinetically limitedmetalmass transport, which restrict phase separation due to a …

Enhanced Four-Wave Mixing With Nonlinear Plasmonic Metasurfaces, Boyuan Jin, Christos Argyropoulos

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

Plasmonic metasurfaces provide an effective way to increase the efficiency of several nonlinear processes while maintaining nanoscale dimensions. In this work, nonlinear metasurfaces based on film-coupled silver nanostripes loaded with Kerr nonlinear material are proposed to achieve efficient four-wave mixing (FWM). Highly localized plasmon resonances are formed in the nanogap between the metallic film and nanostripes. The local electric field is dramatically enhanced in this subwavelength nanoregion. These properties combined with the relaxed phase matching condition due to the ultrathin area lead to a giant FWM efficiency, which is enhanced by nineteen orders of magnitude compared to a bare silver …

Floating-Gate Transistor Photodetector With Light Absorbing Layer, Jinsong Huang, Yongbo Yuan

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

A field effect transistor photodetector that can operate in room temperature includes a source electrode, a drain electrode, a channel to allow an electric current to flow between the drain and source electrodes, and a gate electrode to receive a bias voltage for controlling the current in the channel. The photodetector includes a light-absorbing material that absorbs light and traps electric charges. The light-absorbing material is configured to generate one or more charges upon absorbing light having a wavelength within a specified range and to hold the one or more charges. The one or more charges held in the light-absorbing …

Anisotropy, Band-To-Band Transitions, Phonon Modes, And Oxidation Properties Of Cobalt-Oxide Core-Shell Slanted Columnar Thin Films, Alyssa Mock, Rafał Korlacki, Chad Briley, Derek Sekora, Tino Hofmann, Peter M. Wilson, Alexander Sinitskii, Eva Schubert, Mathias Schubert

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

Highly ordered and spatially coherent cobalt slanted columnar thin films (SCTFs) were deposited by glancing angle deposition onto silicon substrates, and subsequently oxidized by annealing at 475°C. Scanning electron microscopy, Raman scattering, generalized ellipsometry, and density functional theory investigations reveal shape-invariant transformation of the slanted nanocolumns from metallic to transparent metal-oxide core-shell structures with properties characteristic of spinel cobalt oxide. We find passivation of Co-SCTFs yielding Co-Al₂O₃core-shell structures produced by conformal deposition of a few nanometers of alumina using atomic layer deposition fully prevents cobalt oxidation in ambient and from annealing up to 475°C.

Anisotropy, Phonon Modes, And Free Charge Carrier Parameters In Monoclinic Β-Gallium Oxide Single Crystals, Mathias Schubert

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

We derive a dielectric function tensor model approach to render the optical response of monoclinic and triclinic symmetrymaterials with multiple uncoupled infrared and far-infrared active modes.We apply our model approach to monoclinic β-Ga₂O₃ single-crystal samples. Surfaces cut under different angles from a bulk crystal, (010) and (201), are investigated by generalized spectroscopic ellipsometry within infrared and far-infrared spectral regions. We determine the frequency dependence of 4 independent β-Ga₂O₃ Cartesian dielectric function tensor elements by matching large sets of experimental data using a point-by-point data inversion approach. From matching our monoclinic model to …

Biogas From Cattle Slaughterhouse Waste: Energy Recovery Towards An Energy Self-Sufficient Industry In Ireland, Niamh Power, Aidan Ware

Publications

This study was carried out to assess the energy recovery potential from organic industrial by-products of a cattle slaughtering facility. There are several processes to convert organic material to energy; the technology of interest in this study was anaerobic digestion, the biological conversion of degradable organic material into methane. The scenario was initially confined to a full scale cattle slaughtering facility processing 3.28% of heads slaughtered in Ireland. The methane potential of dissolved air flotation sludge, paunch, soft offal as well as a mixed waste stream (combination of individual waste streams) was determined through a series of biochemical methane …

Providing Support For An Interdisciplinary Research Group With A Multidisciplinary Informationist Team: Is It Effective?, Margaret Henderson, Karen Gau, Julie A. Arendt, Martha Roseberry, John Cyrus

VCU Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

Background

Three subject librarians and a data librarian, representing three departments and two libraries at a university, were awarded an NLM Informationist Supplement to support an interdisciplinary Research Group with an NIH grant. The Informationist Team developed a model to utilize the skills of multiple librarians to support the increasing number of interdisciplinary and interprofessional research groups at the university. Librarians routinely attended lab meetings and shared notes with each other to monitor researcher needs.

Methods

The Informationist Team regularly provided support for literature searches, creating search alerts, bibliographic citation management and sharing, and data management to an interdisciplinary Research …

Do We Have Compatible Concepts Of Epistemic Uncertainty?, Michael Beer, Scott Ferson, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

Epistemic uncertainties appear widely in civil engineering practice. There is a clear consensus that these epistemic uncertainties need to be taken into account for a realistic assessment of the performance and reliability of our structures and systems. However, there is no clearly defined procedure to meet this challenge. In this paper we discuss the phenomena that involve epistemic uncertainties in relation to modeling options. Particular attention is paid to set-theoretical approaches and imprecise probabilities. The respective concepts are categorized, and relationships are highlighted.

Active Stiffening Of F-Actin Network Dominated By Structural Transition Of Actin Filaments Into Bundles, Shengmao Lin, Xinwei Han, Gary C.P. Tsui, David Hui, Linxia Gu

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Molecular motor regulated active contractile force is key for cells sensing and responding to their mechanical environment, which leads to characteristic structures and functions of cells. The F-actin network demonstrates a two-order of magnitude increase in its modulus due to contractility; however, the mechanism for this active stiffening remains unclear. Two widely acknowledged hypotheses are that active stiffening of F-actin network is caused by (1) the nonlinear force-extension behavior of cross-linkers, and (2) the loading mode being switched from bending to stretching dominated regime. Direct evidence supporting either theory is lacking. Here we examined these hypotheses and showed that a …

Integration Of Flow Studies For Robust Selection Of Mechanoresponsive Genes, Nataly Maimari, Ryan M. Pedrigi, Alessandra Russo, Krysia Broda, Rob Krams

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Blood flow is an essential contributor to plaque growth, composition and initiation. It is sensed by endothelial cells, which react to blood flow by expressing >1000 genes. The sheer number of genes implies that one needs genomic techniques to unravel their response in disease. Individual genomic studies have been performed but lack sufficient power to identify subtle changes in gene expression. In this study, we investigated whether a systematic meta-analysis of available microarray studies can improve their consistency.

We identified 17 studies using microarrays, of which 6 were performed in vivo and 11 in vitro. The in vivo studies were …

2016 Acuta/Acuho-1 State Of Resnet Report

ACUTA: Other Publications

In This Issue

Introduction

Methodology

Executive Summary

Findings

Bandwidth Management

Wireless Coverage and Capacity

ResNet Service and Support

Planning and Measurement

Funding and Technology Costs

Outsourcing

Simple Landscape Irrigation Demand Estimation: Slide Rules, Roger Kjelgren

Plants, Soils, and Climate Faculty Publications

Irrigated urban landscapes must increasingly maintain economic and ecosystem value with less water in response to drought amplified and shifted by climate change. Efficient landscape water management requires estimating water amount demanded by plants that can be replaced by irrigation to meet minimum performance expectations. The extant approach to estimating landscape water demand is conceptually muddled and often regionally inappropriate. Simplified Landscape Irrigation Demand Estimation (SLIDE) Rules distills scientifically credible assumptions about urban landscape biological and physical complexity into guidelines for estimating water demand that are conceptually accessible and operationally useful. SLIDE Rules are: 1) oasis urban reference evapotranspiration (ETo) …

Kinetic Energy Harvesting Mechanism For Vortex Drop Structures, Mungtra Chusilp

Doctoral Dissertations

Energy recovery from wastewater is gaining significance as utilities work toward achieving energy neutrality and sustainability in their wastewater collection and treatment systems. In this dissertation, kinetic energy harvesting mechanism for vortex drop structures found within the municipal waste and storm water conveyance systems is presented. There are thousands of sewer drop structures installed across the U.S. carrying billions of gallons of sewage each year. A custom micro water turbine is developed in this research which could be retrofitted within the existing drop shafts to harvest the excessive kinetic energy available. This dissertation presents the conceptual design and analysis of …

Project Risk Propagation Modeling Of Engineering, Procurement And Construction, Alireza Atin

Wayne State University Dissertations

The construction industry is complicated since it involves a variety of stakeholders, challenging environmental issues, huge investments, complex economic and political factors, and other features which may cause an uncertain and unpredictable environment for construction projects. Impacts of risk events can transfer from one phase (source) of a construction project to another phase (target) very quickly and can cause more damage in other phases. Thus, two surveys were conducted to understand the risk propagation phenomena among the engineering, procurement, and construction phases. We conducted two surveys and analyzed data acquired by using sensitive analysis and binary logistic regression modeling. Risk …

Flight-Test Evaluation Of Kinematic Precise Point Positioning Of Small Uavs, Jason Gross, Ryan M. Watson, Stephane D'Urso, Yu Gu

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

An experimental analysis of Global Positioning System (GPS) flight data collected onboard a Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (SUAV) is conducted in order to demonstrate that postprocessed kinematic Precise Point Positioning (PPP) solutions with precisions approximately 6 cm 3D Residual Sum of Squares (RSOS) can be obtained on SUAVs that have short duration flights with limited observational periods (i.e., only ∼≤5 minutes of data). This is a significant result for the UAV flight testing community because an important and relevant benefit of the PPP technique over traditional Differential GPS (DGPS) techniques, such as Real-Time Kinematic (RTK), is that there is no …

Fixed-Wing Uav Attitude Estimation Using Single Antenna Gps Signal Strength Measurements, Jason Gross, Yu Gu, Matthew Rhudy

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

This article considers a novel approach to using global positioning system (GPS) signal strength readings and estimated velocity vector for estimating the attitude of a small fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). This approach has the benefit being able to estimate full position, velocity and attitude states of a UAV using only the data from a single GPS receiver and antenna. Two different approaches for utilizing GPS signal strength within measurement updates for UAV attitude in a nonlinear Kalman filter are discussed and assessed using recorded UAV flight data. Comparisons of UAV pitch and roll estimates against measurements from a high-grade …