Engineering Commons^™

Utah Lawmakers Experience Self-Driving Technology At The Evr Test Track | Utah State University Power Electronics Lab, Usu College Of Engineering

College of Engineering News

Utah lawmakers and transportation officials discussed the future of self driving vehicles and wireless charging technology while visiting the UPEL facility in July.

Splash Lab Develops New Math Equation To Predict Cavitation | College Of Engineering, Usu College Of Engineering

College of Engineering News

A popular backyard science experiment led a team of fluid dynamics experts to a new math formula that more accurately predicts cavitation and its damaging effects.

Suppression Of Magnetism In Ba5Alir2O11: Interplay Of Hund's Coupling, Molecular Orbitals, And Spin-Orbit Interaction, Sergey V. Streltsov, Gang Cao, Daniel I. Khomskii

Center for Advanced Materials Faculty Publications

The electronic and magnetic properties of Ba₅AlIr₂O₁₁ containing Ir-Ir dimers are investigated using the generalized gradient approximation (GGA) and GGA + spin-orbit coupling (SOC) calculations. We found that the strong suppression of the magnetic moment in this compound recently found by Terzic et al. [Phys. Rev. B 91, 235147 (2015)] is not due to charge ordering but is related to the joint effect of the spin-orbit interaction and strong covalency, resulting in the formation of metal-metal bonds. They conspire and act against the intraatomic Hund's rule exchange interaction to reduce total magnetic moment of the …

Rejection Of Low Molecular Weight Neutral Organics By Reverse Osmosis Membranes For Potable Reuse, Lauren N. Breitner

Civil Engineering ETDs

Factors such as increasing population, urbanization, and climate change have made the management of water resources a challenge for many municipalities. Water reuse, especially direct potable reuse (DPR) of treated wastewater, is increasingly seen as a potential source of water for communities facing water shortages. Due to improvements in analytical capabilities as well as concerns regarding toxicology of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs), the need for investigating the removal of CECs has become crucial for further DPR considerations. Reverse osmosis (RO) has been demonstrated to remove many CECs. Many studies, however, have investigated the removal of well-known CECs, often with …

A Numerical Investigation Of The Implications Of Altered Channel-Floodplain Connectivity On Hydrodynamic Flood Wave Processes, Colin F. Byrne

Civil Engineering ETDs

With severely altered rivers throughout the developed world, hydrodynamic processes and floodplain connectivity have changed drastically. The research presented here focuses on quantification of two hydrodynamic processes: flood wave attenuation and channel-floodplain fluxes. Objectives of the three research chapters were to (1) evaluate how the ecosystem service of flood wave attenuation has changed with the implementation of river engineering practices as well as contemporary river restoration efforts, (2) describe the sensitivities of flood wave attenuation to contemporary and altered conditions, and (3) characterize channel-floodplain connectivity through lateral flux metrics. All chapter objectives were met using high-resolution, two-dimensional hydrodynamic modeling techniques …

Robust An-Aided Beamforming Design For Secure Miso Cognitive Radio Based On A Practical Nonlinear Eh Model, Yangchao Huang, Zan Li, Fuhui Zhou, Rui Zhu

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Energy harvesting techniques are promising in next generation wireless communication systems. However, most of the existing works are based on an ideal linear energy harvesting model. In this paper, a multiple-input single-output cognitive radio network is studies under a practical non-linear energy harvesting model. In order to improve the security of both the primary network and the secondary network, a cooperative jamming scheme is proposed. A robust artificial noise aided beamforming design problem is formulated under the bounded channel state information error model. The formulated problem is non-convex and challenging to be solved. Using S-procedure and the semidefinite relaxation method, …

An Evaluation Of The Efficiency Of Compartmented Alginate Fibres Encapsulating Rejuvenator As Asphalt Pavement Healing System, Amir Tabakovic, Luke Schuyffel, Aleksandar Karac, Erik Schlangen

Articles

This paper explores the potential methods for evaluating a healing system for asphalt pavements. The healing system under investigation involves compartmented calcium-alginate fibres encapsulating an asphalt binder healing agent (rejuvenator). This system presents a novel method of incorporating rejuvenators into asphalt pavement mixtures. The compartmented fibres are used to distribute the rejuvenator throughout the pavement mixture, thereby overcoming some of the problems associated with alternate asphalt pavement healing methods, i.e., spherical capsules and hollow fibres. The asphalt healing efficiency methods to be evaluated in this paper include: (i) standard test methods for asphalt pavements, such as the Indirect Tensile Strength …

Socio-Economic Implications Of Large-Scale Electric Vehicle Systems, Florida Solar Energy Center, Omer Tatari

FSEC Energy Research Center®

Transportation is a complex, technology-intensive socio-technical system, which needs to be tackled in an integrated manner. Also, transportation as a sector is a significant component of any national economy, and has far-reaching implications both with regard to socio-economic and environmental well-being of the society and within the context of sustainability science. For this reason, sustainable transportation is not only an important field of research within the academia but also an indispensable constituent of a sustainable economy. Therefore, investigating the path to sustainable transportation requires a holistic approach, encompassing the three dimensions of sustainability, i.e. environment, society, and economy. There are …

Open Source Software For Automatic Detection Of Cone Photoreceptors In Adaptive Optics Ophthalmoscopy Using Convolutional Neural Networks, David Cunefare, Leyuan Fang, Robert F. Cooper, Alfredo Dubra, Joseph Carroll, Sina Farsiu

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Imaging with an adaptive optics scanning light ophthalmoscope (AOSLO) enables direct visualization of the cone photoreceptor mosaic in the living human retina. Quantitative analysis of AOSLO images typically requires manual grading, which is time consuming, and subjective; thus, automated algorithms are highly desirable. Previously developed automated methods are often reliant on ad hoc rules that may not be transferable between different imaging modalities or retinal locations. In this work, we present a convolutional neural network (CNN) based method for cone detection that learns features of interest directly from training data. This cone-identifying algorithm was trained and validated on separate data …

Webinar: Land Use Mix And Pedestrian Travel Behavior: Advancements In Conceptualization And Measurement, Steven R. Gehrke

TREC Webinar Series

Smart growth policies have often emphasized the importance of land use mix as an intervention beholding of lasting urban planning and public health benefits. Past transportation-land use research has identified potential efficiency gains achieved by mixed-use neighborhoods and the subsequent shortening of trip lengths; whereas, public health research has accredited increased land use mixing as an effective policy for facilitating greater physical activity.

However, despite the celebrated transportation, land use, and health benefits of improved land use mixing and the extent of topical attention, no consensus has been reached regarding the conceptualization and measurement of this key smart growth principle …

A Brief Review Of Opt101 Sensor Application In Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Instrumentation For Intensive Care Unit Clinics, Ting Li, Fulin Zhong, Boan Pan, Zebin Li, Chong Huang, Zishan Deng

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Publications

The optoelectronic sensor OPT101 have merits in advanced optoelectronic response characteristics at wavelength range for medical near-infrared spectroscopy and small-size chip design with build-in trans-impedance amplifier. Our lab is devoted to developing a series of portable near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) devices embedded with OPT101 for applications in intensive care unit clinics, based on NIRS principle. Here we review the characteristics and advantages of OPT101 relative to clinical NIRS instrumentation, and the most recent achievements, including early-diagnosis and therapeutic effect evaluation of thrombus, noninvasive monitoring of patients' shock severity, and fatigue evaluation. The future prospect on OPT101 improvements in noninvasive clinical applications …

Real-Time Sensing Of Single-Ligand Delivery With Nanoaperture-Integrated Microfluidic Devices, W. Elliott Martin, Ning Ge, Bernadeta R. Srijanto, Emily Furnish, C. Patrick Collier, Christine A. Trinkle, Christopher I. Richards

Chemistry Faculty Publications

The measurement of biological events on the surface of live cells at the single-molecule level is complicated by several factors including high protein densities that are incompatible with single-molecule imaging, cellular autofluorescence, and protein mobility on the cell surface. Here, we fabricated a device composed of an array of nanoscale apertures coupled with a microfluidic delivery system to quantify single-ligand interactions with proteins on the cell surface. We cultured live cells directly on the device and isolated individual epidermal growth factor receptors (EGFRs) in the apertures while delivering fluorescently labeled epidermal growth factor. We observed single ligands binding to EGFRs, …

Expanding Understanding Of Optical Variability In Lake Superior With A 4-Year Dataset, Colleen B. Mouw, Audrey B. Ciochetto, Brice Grunert, Angela W. Yu

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

Lake Superior is one of the largest freshwater lakes on our planet, but few optical observations have been made to allow for the development and validation of visible spectral satellite remote sensing products. The dataset described here focuses on coincidently observing inherent and apparent optical properties along with biogeochemical parameters. Specifically, we observe remote sensing reflectance, absorption, scattering, backscattering, attenuation, chlorophyll concentration, and suspended particulate matter over the ice-free months of 2013-2016. The dataset substantially increases the optical knowledge of the lake. In addition to visible spectral satellite algorithm development, the dataset is valuable for characterizing the variable light field, …

Application-Aware Cognitive Multi-Hop Wireless Networking Testbed And Experiments, Trenton T. Evans

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

In this thesis, we present a new architecture for application-aware cognitive multihop wireless networks (AC-MWN) with testbed implementations and experiments. Cognitive radio is a technique to adaptively use the spectrum so that the resource can be used more efficiently in a low cost way. Multihop wireless networks can be deployed quickly and flexibly without a fixed infrastructure. In presented new architecture, we study backbone routing schemes with network cognition, routing scheme with network coding and spectrum adaptation. A testbed is implemented to test the schemes for AC-MWN. In addition to basic measurements, we implement a video streaming application based on …

Evaluation And Enhancement Of Clean Energy Systems: Analytical, Computational And Experimental Study Of Solar And Nuclear Cycles, Nima Fathi

Mechanical Engineering ETDs

Clean (and specifically renewable) energy is steadily improving its global share. However, finite availability of fossil fuels and the growing effects of climate change make it an urgent priority to convince the industry and governments to incentivize investment in the renewable energy field and to make it more attractive by decreasing the capital cost. Until recently, uncertainties in funding limited renewable energy development, especially in the US. That limitation has been one of the barriers to progress. Another limitation of many renewable energy systems is the variability in their output, which makes them unsuitable for baseline power production. Therefore, fossil …

Band Offsets At The Interface Between Crystalline And Amorphous Silicon From First Principles, Karol Jarolimek, E. Hazrati, R. A. De Groot, D. A. De Wijs

Center for Applied Energy Research Faculty and Staff Publications

The band offsets between crystalline and hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a−Si∶H) are key parameters governing the charge transport in modern silicon heterojunction solar cells. They are an important input for macroscopic simulators that are used to further optimize the solar cell. Past experimental studies, using x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and capacitance-voltage measurements, have yielded conflicting results on the band offset. Here, we present a computational study on the band offsets. It is based on atomistic models and density-functional theory (DFT). The amorphous part of the interface is obtained by relatively long DFT first-principles molecular-dynamics runs at an elevated temperature …

Ismar / Rmcmr 2017 Abstract Book - Joint Conference Of The International Society Of Magnetic Resonance, The Rocky Mountain Conference On Epr, And The Rocky Mountain Conference On Magnetic Resonance

Rocky Mountain Conference on Magnetic Resonance

Abstracts from the 59th annual meeting of the Rocky Mountain Conference on Magnetic Resonance, hosted jointly with the International Society of Magnetic Resonance and the Rocky Mountain Conference on EPR. Held in Quebec City, Canada, July 23-28, 2017.

Compact Cell Culture Imaging System Using Fourier Ptychographic Microscopy, Daniel Martin, Jinho Kim, Changhuei Yang

Advances in Optics for Biotechnology, Medicine and Surgery XV [2017]

The ability to obtain image data of multiple cell cultures simultaneously over a long-term period can provide researchers with a wealth of information. However, commercial systems rely on conventional microscopes, which are limited by their space-bandwidth product (SBP) [1]. Additionally, existing solutions that address the SBP limitation, are not conducive to well-plate imaging, which are an in-vitro culturing standard [2]. Using the benefits of Fourier ptychographic microscopy (FPM), these physical limitations can be transformed into problems that can be solved in the digital domain [3]. Our lab has demonstrated a compact, six-well plate imaging system, which is small enough to …

Frequency Domain Diffuse Optical Tomography With A Single Source And Detector Via High- Speed Hypocycloid Scanning, Matthew B. Applegate, Darren Roblyer

Advances in Optics for Biotechnology, Medicine and Surgery XV [2017]

Diffuse Optical Imaging (DOI) relies on the fact that near infrared light (600-1000 nm) is strongly scattered in biological tissue, and weakly absorbed by tissue chromophores such as blood, fat, water, and melanin. In frequency domain DOI, intensity modulated light is introduced into the tissue and the observed absorption and phase changes enable absolute concentrations of these chromophores to be calculated. These concentrations provide valuable insight into tissue metabolic activity that have proven useful for a variety of clinical outcomes from exercise physiology to predicting tumor response to treatment.

Diffuse Optical Tomography (DOT) is an extension of DOI that allows …

Tumor Detection And Treatment By Means Of Thermography And Laser Irradiation, Euiheon Chung, Gyungseok Oh, Su Woong Yoo

Advances in Optics for Biotechnology, Medicine and Surgery XV [2017]

While passive thermal imaging of temperature difference between tumor and neighboring tissue provides limited contrast, active thermography with external thermal modulation may provide higher contrast presumably due to the distinct thermal response from the tumor tissue. We have investigated physiologically relevant parameters such as response rate with respect to thermal modulation and relaxation time. This new imaging modality in the infrared regime may prove useful as a label-free and non-invasive screening tool. On the other hand, we propose a novel use of controlled thermal injury from non-ablative fractional laser irradiation for early treatment of tumor growth with a fiber-based thulium …

Conference Program, Peter So, Kate Bechtel, Ivo Vellekoop, Michael Choma

Advances in Optics for Biotechnology, Medicine and Surgery XV [2017]

No abstract provided.

Effects Of Nonlinearity In Primary Systems On Acceleration In Secondary Systems: Piers, Wharves, And Marine Oil Terminals, Rakesh K. Goel

Civil and Environmental Engineering

This investigation examines the effects of nonlinearity in the primary system of the coupled primary-secondary systems on accelerations in the secondary systems during seismic loading. The coupled primary-secondary systems considered in this investigation are those typically found in piers, wharves, and marine oil terminals. This investigation first examines the effects of nonlinearity in the primary system on acceleration at the point of attachment of the secondary system to the primary system and found that:  The acceleration at the point of attachment of the secodnary system to the primary system decreases with increasing level of nonlinearity in the primary system. …

Information Technology News, Georgia Southern University

Information Technology: News & Publications (2012-2023)

• New Master of Science in Information Technology

Chelator-Free Radiolabeling Of Serrs Nanoparticles For Whole-Body Pet And Intraoperative Raman Imaging, Matthew A. Wall, Travis Shaffer, Stefan Harmsen, Darjus-Felix Tschaharganeh, Chun-Hao Huang, Scott W. Lowe, Charles Michael Drain, Moritz F. Kircher

Publications and Research

A single contrast agent that offers whole-body non-invasive imaging along with the superior sensitivity and spatial resolution of surface-enhanced resonance Raman scattering (SERRS) imaging would allow both pre-operative mapping and intraoperative imaging and thus be highly desirable. We hypothesized that labeling our recently reported ultrabright SERRS nanoparticles with a suitable radiotracer would enable pre-operative identification of regions of interest with whole body imaging that can be rapidly corroborated with a Raman imaging device or handheld Raman scanner in order to provide high precision guidance during surgical procedures. Here we present a straightforward new method that produces radiolabeled SERRS nanoparticles for …

Estimating Index Of Refraction For Specular Reflectors Using Passive Polarimetric Hyperspectral Radiance Measurements, Jacob A. Martin, Kevin C. Gross

Faculty Publications

Results of a method of estimating index of refraction from passive, polarimetric hyperspectral imaging radiance measurements are presented. As off-nadir viewing hyperspectral imaging platforms gain prominence, estimating index of refraction, which is invariant to viewing angle, may prove advantageous to estimating the emissivity, which is not. Results show that index of refraction can be retrieved to within 8% rms error for fused silica and sapphire glass targets, while simultaneously estimating object temperature. The accuracy and self-consistency of this technique for estimating index of refraction are shown to compare favorably to the maximum smoothness temperature–emissivity separation algorithm. Additionally, the results show …

Nanoscale Tilt Measurement Using A Cyclic Interferometer With Phase Stepping And Multiple Reflections, Tahereh Naderishahab

Graduate Theses - Physics and Optical Engineering

High accuracy tilt or roll angle measurement is required for a variety of engineering and scientific applications. Optical interferometry is normally used because it is non-contact and can measure tilt with a very high degree of accuracy. In this thesis, a cyclic interferometer has been developed with four mirrors to measure tilt angles as small as a few nanoradians. To measure the phase, a novel and simple method of phase shift by polarization was developed to enhance measurement sensitivity and accuracy. Since the cyclic interferometer is insensitive to external vibrations and turbulences, polarization phase step was accomplished with relative ease. …

Economic Impact Of World Bank Aviation Investment In Pacific Island Countries, Cindy Greenman, Javad Gorjidooz

Publications

The World Bank Group (WBG) has provided grant and credits to support projects related to aviation and air transport including capacity building, policy and regulation, safety and security, infrastructure rehabilitation, and institutional strengthening for over 60 years. Today, the WBG remains actively engaged on aviation related project in every region of the world including the Pacific Island Countries. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the economic impact of WBG investments in aviation infrastructures in Pacific Island Countries. The preliminary results of this study show a serious deficiency in the areas of aviation infrastructure, safety and security, management efficiency, …

Lithography Hotspot Detection, Jea Woo Park

Dissertations and Theses

The lithography process for chip manufacturing has been playing a critical role in keeping Moor's law alive. Even though the wavelength used for the process is bigger than actual device feature size, which makes it difficult to transfer layout patterns from the mask to wafer, lithographers have developed a various technique such as Resolution Enhancement Techniques (RETs), Multi-patterning, and Optical Proximity Correction (OPC) to overcome the sub-wavelength lithography gap.

However, as feature size in chip design scales down further to a point where manufacturing constraints must be applied to early design phase before generating physical design layout. Design for Manufacturing …

Synthesis Of Linear Reversible Circuits And Exor-And-Based Circuits For Incompletely Specified Multi-Output Functions, Ben Schaeffer

Dissertations and Theses

At this time the synthesis of reversible circuits for quantum computing is an active area of research. In the most restrictive quantum computing models there are no ancilla lines and the quantum cost, or latency, of performing a reversible form of the AND gate, or Toffoli gate, increases exponentially with the number of input variables. In contrast, the quantum cost of performing any combination of reversible EXOR gates, or CNOT gates, on n input variables requires at most O(n^₂/log₂n) gates. It was under these conditions that EXOR-AND-EXOR, or EPOE, synthesis was developed.

In this …

Radiation Exposure During Space Travel: Using Radioisotopes For A Comparative Study Of Human Feces And Urine As Integrated Shield Components, Noah L. Falck

Symposium

Earth’s atmosphere and magnetosphere deflect and absorb the majority of harmful radiation traversing Space; however, once outside Low Earth Orbit (LEO), payloads are exposed to Galactic Cosmic Rays (GCR) and Solar Particle Events (SPEs). While humans possess capabilities that hardware does not, we are uniquely vulnerable to radiation. Detrimental effects range from nausea and dizziness brought by intense, short term doses to increased cancer risk and impaired cognitive function associated with chronic exposure. This paper aims to explore the use of human waste (feces and urine) as radiation shields in a comparative study of urine v. water and hydrated v. …