Engineering Commons^™

Examining Natural Selection By Sketching And Making Models Of The Finches Of The Galapagos Islands, Phoebe J. Z. Pittman, Jolene K. Teske

Journal of STEM Arts, Crafts, and Constructions

This practical lesson describes how students in six eighth grade science classes participated in a lesson combining the National Core Arts Standards with the Next Generation Science Standards. The goal of the lesson was to provide visual representations of finch beak form and function so students could better understand genetic variation and how environmental pressures influence natural selection. Students sketched a finch with a large, medium, or small beak, corresponding to an experiment they had conducted with picking up different sizes of seeds with different sizes of binder clips. Using modeling with a variety of media, students created bird beaks …

Cinematherapy In Gifted Education Identity Development: Integrating The Arts Through Stem-Themed Movies, Timothy C. Kangas, Michelle Cook, Audrey C. Rule

Journal of STEM Arts, Crafts, and Constructions

Gifted students, because of their advanced development compared to peers, have emotional needs that require differentiated education programs. Asynchronous social and emotional development of gifted students often leads to identity issues. Cinematherapy can be used to help gifted students explore their identities through analysis of the actions of gifted characters in films. This practical article suggests STEM-themed movies with characters facing challenges useful for gifted student identity development. The Autonomous Learners Model is used to classify gifted learners in the movies to assist teachers in matching movies to the needs of gifted learners. Tables of STEM-themed movies with gifted characters …

How The Arts Standards Support Stem Concepts: A Journey From Stem To Steam, Ksenia S. Zhbanova

Journal of STEM Arts, Crafts, and Constructions

This issue of the Journal of STEM Arts, Crafts, and Constructions is focused on the effects of integrating arts with STEM areas, an important and widely-considered topic in education today. This editorial provides an overview of the current state of the arts and STEM areas integration paradigm, an analysis of the benefits of the arts integration with the STEM subjects, and an overview of the history of the arts anchor standards. Comparison and connections between the National Arts Core anchor arts standards, the scientific method, engineering design process, and the 5E learning cycle are also illuminated. Summaries of the practical …

16-08 Does Location Matter? Performance Analysis Of The Affordable Housing Programs In Dallas-Fort Worth, Shima Hamidi, Somayeh Moazzeni, Jinat Jahan, Reza Sardari, David Weinreich

Transportation Research Center Reports

On June 2015, the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs lost a case in the U.S. Supreme Court due to their failure to provide equitable affordable housing under the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program. The U.S. Supreme Court decision has shaken the affordable housing definition by highlighting the importance of location in housing affordability. To best assist low-income families, what should ‘high-opportunity areas’ concretely provide? First and foremost is transportation affordability.

Transportation is more than a sheer convenience for Americans. Looking solely at housing costs is a misleading measure of affordability and a disservice to low-income families. …

A High Accuracy Microwave Radiometric Thermometer To Measure Internal Body Temperature, Michael D. Grady

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released heat illness data which highlighted that ~29 heat stress hospitalizations and ~3 heat-related deaths occurred every day during the summer months within the US from years 2000 to 2014. Heatstroke- the most severe form of heat illness which oftentimes lead to death- has been cited to be entirely preventable if a timely intervention is introduced. This dissertation uses microwave radiometric thermometry to perform wireless non-invasive internal body temperature monitoring which can enable intervention methods that help to prevent deaths associated with heat-illness.

Overall, this dissertation develops a comprehensive closed-form analytical radiometric …

Graph-Based Latent Embedding, Annotation And Representation Learning In Neural Networks For Semi-Supervised And Unsupervised Settings, Ismail Ozsel Kilinc

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Machine learning has been immensely successful in supervised learning with outstanding examples in major industrial applications such as voice and image recognition. Following these developments, the most recent research has now begun to focus primarily on algorithms which can exploit very large sets of unlabeled examples to reduce the amount of manually labeled data required for existing models to perform well. In this dissertation, we propose graph-based latent embedding/annotation/representation learning techniques in neural networks tailored for semi-supervised and unsupervised learning problems. Specifically, we propose a novel regularization technique called Graph-based Activity Regularization (GAR) and a novel output layer modification called …

Multi-Target Extension For Beacon Foraging Methods, Christopher Sanford, Ziong Jiao, Jae Oh

Electrical Engineering and Computer Science - All Scholarship

Robotic foraging is a complex problem that encompasses both the problem of exploring an area and retrieval of targets. To solve this, biologically inspired algorithms have been proposed that handle the scenario when only one target exists, but requires extension to multiple targets. In both scenarios there exists problems of robot allocation and congestion, and we analyze ways of optimizing both allocation and minimizing congestion for our algorithms. We demonstrate the results through parameterized metrics and compare the improvements in each scenario.

This is a technical report on artificial intelligence, 2017, written by Sanford, Jiao, and Oh.

Extending Motion Detection To Track Stopped Objects In Visual Multi-Target Tracking, Jacob H. White, Karl T. Salva, Randal W. Beard

Student Works

Various solutions to visual multi-target tracking have been proposed, but many of them are not capable of running in real time from a moving camera on an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). We present a tracker that runs in real time and tracks multiple objects while accounting for camera motion on a UAV. Our algorithm is capable of processing over 10 frames per second on a 1280x720 video sequence.

We utilize Recursive-RANSAC, an efficient algorithm for tracking multiple objects in clutter. Our work combines motion detection with optical flow and feature matching to allow stationary objects to be tracked. We use …

High Consequence Scenarios For North Korean Atmospheric Nuclear Tests With Policy Recommendations For The U.S. Government, Thomas S. Popik, Jordan T. Kearns, George H. Baker Iii, Henry F. Cooper, William R. Harris

School of Integrated Sciences - Faculty Scholarship

The government of North Korea has declared high-altitude EMP-capability to be a “strategic goal” and has also threatened an atmospheric test of a hydrogen bomb. Atmospheric nuclear tests have the potential to cripple satellites and the undersea cable networks critical to communication, and navigation necessary for trans-Pacific trade among the U.S., China, and other nations. When a nuclear warhead is detonated at high altitude, a series of electromagnetic pulses radiate downward within the line of sight of the blast. These pulses can disable equipment with miniature electronics and long conductors. Electric grid controls and transmission systems are especially vulnerable. Intense …

Multi-Dimensional Drought Risk Assessment Based On Socio-Economic Vulnerabilities And Hydro-Climatological Factors, Ali Ahmadalipour

Dissertations and Theses

Drought is among the costliest natural hazards developing slowly and affecting large areas, which imposes severe consequences on society and economy. Anthropogenic climate change is expected to exacerbate drought in various regions of the globe, making its associated socioeconomic impacts more severe. Such impacts are of higher concern in Africa, which is mainly characterized by arid climate and lacking infrastructure as well as social development. Furthermore, the continent is expected to experience vast population growth, which will make it more vulnerable to the adverse effects of drought. This study provides the first comprehensive multi-dimensional assessment of drought risk across the …

Blanking Clearance And Punch Velocity Effects On The Sheared Edge Characteristic In Micro-Blanking Of Commercially Pure Copper Sheet, Didin Zakariya Lubis, Ichsan Ristiawan

Journal of Mechanical Engineering Science and Technology (JMEST)

This study aims to identify the influences between clearance and punch velocity on the part edge quality of blanked parts. Experiments have been conducted using material copper, punch-die clearance and punch velocity variations. In order to determine the reachable punch-die clearance and punch velocity required for blanking. The quality of the part-edge characteristics shows that higher punch velocity and decreases clearance value can improve the part-edge quality, resulting in smaller burr height and rollover, and a larger shear zone. Furthermore, it could be observed that the part-edge quality improvement when blanking with high punch velocity is much more distinct for …

Formula Of Moulding Sand, Bentonite And Portland Cement To Improve The Quality Of Al-Si Cast Alloy, Andoko Andoko, Poppy Puspitasari, Avita Ayu Permanasari, Didin Zakaria Lubis

Journal of Mechanical Engineering Science and Technology (JMEST)

A binder is any material used to strengthen the bonding of moulding sand grains. The primary function of the binder is to hold the moulding sand and other materialstogether to produce high-quality casts. In this study, there were four binder compositions being tested, i.e. 5% bentonite + 5% Portland cement, 4% bentonite + 6% Portland cement, 6% bentonite + 4% Portland cement, and 7% bentonite + 3% Portland cement. Each specimen was measured for its compressive strength, shear strength, tensile strength and permeability. The highest compressive strength was obtained fromthe specimen composed of 6% bentonite+ 4% Portland cement. The highest …

Modeling Of Antenna For Deep Target Hydrocarbon Exploration, Nadeem Nasir, Noorhana Yahya, Hasnah Mohd Zaid, Afza Shafie, Norhisham Hamid

Journal of Mechanical Engineering Science and Technology (JMEST)

Nowadays control source electromagnetic method is used for offshore hydrocarbon exploration. Hydrocarbon detection in sea bed logging (SBL) is a very challenging task for deep target hydrocarbon reservoir. Response of electromagnetic (EM) field from marine environment is very low and it is very difficult to predict deep target reservoir below 2km from the sea floor. This work premise deals with modeling of new antenna for deep water deep target hydrocarbon exploration. Conventional and new EM antennas at 0.125Hz frequency are used in modeling for the detection of deep target hydrocarbon reservoir. The proposed area of the seabed model (40km ´ …

Properties Of Brass Under Different Pouring Temperatures In Sand Casting Process, Poppy Puspitasari, Avita Ayu Permanasari, Andoko Andoko, Bayu Angga Pratama

Journal of Mechanical Engineering Science and Technology (JMEST)

This study aimed to determine the toughness of casts produced by the sand casting process at various temperatures against brass, and to investigate the structure contained in the cast madeusing abrass metal mould. This study was experimental research that observed the results of a treatment applied to a specimen group. This pre-experimental study usedthe one-shot case study model in which a group of samples was given treatment. The results showed that the specimen poured at 900°C exhibiteda microstructure consisting ofgood Cu-Zn content, while that at 700°Chad the least Cu content. It indicates that the higher the temperature used for metal …

Development Of A Ferrite-Based Electromagnetic Wave Detector, Muhammad Hanis Bin Zakariah, Poppy Puspitasari, Nur Azliza Ahmad

Journal of Mechanical Engineering Science and Technology (JMEST)

Direct detection of hydrocarbon by an active source using electromagnetic (EM) wave termed Sea Bed Logging (SBL) has shown very promising results. However, currently available electromagnetic wave technology has a number of challenges including sensitivity and lapsed time. Our initial response to this issue is to develop a ferrite-based EM wave detector for Sea Bed Logging (SBL). Ferrite bar and copper rings in various diameters were used as detector 1 (D1). For Detector 2 (D2), toroid added with copper wires in different lengths at the centre of it were used. The first experiment is to determine the inductance and resistance …

Thermogravimetric And Kinetic Analysis Of Cassava Starch Based Bioplastic, Nanang Eko Wahyuningtiyas, Heru Suryanto, Eddy Rudiyanto, Sukarni Sukarni, Poppy Puspitasari

Journal of Mechanical Engineering Science and Technology (JMEST)

Cassava starch based bioplasticfor packaging application has great potency because of the various starchproducing plants in Indonesia.Bioplasticcan contribute to reduce the dependence on fossil fuels andpetroleumthat can solve the environmentalproblem.Thepurpose of this research is to find out the thermal decomposition and the activation energy of cassava starch based bioplastic. The methods weresynthesis bioplastic with cassava starch as main component and glycerol as plasticizer. The thermogravimetry analysis was conducted to obtain the decomposition process mechanism of bioplastic and the heating valueof bioplasticwas measured using theadiabatic bomb calorimetric. Data analysis was conducted using a fitting model approach with an acikalin method to …

Compositional And Structural Evolution During Ball Milling Of Ti-Based Metallic Glass Powder, Yanuar Rohmat Aji Pradana

Journal of Mechanical Engineering Science and Technology (JMEST)

Ti42Zr40Ta3Si7.5Sn7.5metallic glass powder prepared for subsequent consolidation by hot pressing were produced by high energy ball milling from amorphous ribbon and both of the compositional and structural evolution on milled powders were studied using XRD and DSC analyses. By using WC vial and balls, the abrasion of milling media occurred causing WC contamination on < 105 µm milled powder after 2 cycles of milling. Based on DSC analysis, the contamination clearly reduced theΔTxof the alloy up to 48%. On the other hand, the contamination were overcome after milling using SS vial and balls, proved by no crystal peak observed on XRD pattern of all milling cycle levels. However, the thermal stability was noticed to be decreased implying the presence of nanocrystals on the amorphous powder after ball milling and the nanocrystal amount tend to be higher when more milling cycles were applied.

Construction Effects On The Side Shear Of Drilled Shafts, Lucas Caliari De Lima

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Design methods for side shear of drilled shafts, including the resistance factors that should be applied, do not account for any specific construction procedure. Instead, design often relies on analysis of case studies which include all construction methods used in each geomaterial type (e.g. clays, sands and rocks), or on parametric analysis. Nonetheless, literature suggests that different construction procedures result in varying side shear.

This research investigated 2 types of construction: (1) slurry stabilization in sandy soils using bentonite and polymer products that are commonly used on the field, with exposure times from near 0h to 96h, and (2) temporary …

Bridge Build, Andrew Little

Student Scholarship

Bridge build design that includes not only a building process, but a research paper to make the best build possible as well.

Quantifying Effectiveness Of Streambank Stabilization Practices On Cedar River, Nebraska, Naisargi Dave, Aaron R. Mittelstet

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Excessive sediment is a major pollutant to surface waters worldwide. In some watersheds, streambanks are a significant source of this sediment, leading to the expenditure of billions of dollars in stabilization projects. Although costly streambank stabilization projects have been implemented worldwide, long-term monitoring to quantify their success is lacking. There is a critical need to document the long-term success of streambank restoration projects. The objectives of this research were to (1) quantify streambank retreat before and after the stabilization of 18 streambanks on the Cedar River in North Central Nebraska, USA; (2) assess the impact of a large flood event; …

Bond Of Steel Reinforcement With Microwave Cured Concrete Repair Mortars, P. S. Mangat, Shahriar Abubakri, Konstantinos Grigoriadis

Henry M. Rowan College of Engineering Departmental Research

This paper investigates the effect of microwave curing on the bond strength of steel reinforcement in concrete repair. Pull-out tests on plain mild steel reinforcement bars embedded in four repair materials in 100 mm cube specimens were performed to determine the interfacial bond strength. The porosity and pore structure of the matrix at the steel interface, which influence the bond strength, were also determined. Test results show that microwave curing significantly reduces the bond strength of plain steel reinforcement. The reduction relative to normally cured (20 °C, 60% RH) specimens is between 21 and 40% with low density repair materials …

Ensemble Machine Learning And Forecasting Can Achieve 99% Uptime For Rural Handpumps, Daniel L. Wilson, Jeremy R. Coyle, Evan A. Thomas

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Broken water pumps continue to impede efforts to deliver clean and economically-viable water to the global poor. The literature has demonstrated that customers’ health benefits and willingness to pay for clean water are best realized when clean water infrastructure performs extremely well (>99% uptime). In this paper, we used sensor data from 42 Afridev-brand handpumps observed for 14 months in western Kenya to demonstrate how sensors and supervised ensemble machine learning could be used to increase total fleet uptime from a best-practices baseline of about 70% to >99%. We accomplish this increase in uptime by forecasting pump failures and …

Ptfe-Based Microreactor System For The Continuous Synthesis Of Full-Visible-Spectrum Emitting Cesium Lead Halide Perovskite Nanocrystals, Chengxi Zhang, Weiling Luan, Yuhang Yin, Fuqian Yang

Chemical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications

Colloidal perovskite nanocrystals comprised of all inorganic cesium lead halide (CsPbX₃, X = Cl, Br, I or a mixture thereof) have potential as optical gain materials due to their high luminescence efficiency. In this work, cesium lead halide nanocrystals are continuously synthesized via a microreactor system consisting of poly(tetrafluoroethylene) (PTFE) capillaries. The synthesized nanocrystals possess excellent optical properties, including a full width at half maximum of 19–35 nm, high fluorescence quantum yield of 47.8–90.55%, and photoluminescence emission in the range of 450–700 nm. For the same precursor concentrations, the photoluminescence emission peak generally increases with increasing reaction temperature, …

Design And Simulation Of An 8-Bit Successive Approximation Register Charge-Redistribution Analog-To-Digital Converter, Sumit K. Verma

Electrical Engineering Theses

The thesis initially investigates the history of the monolithic ADCs. The next chapter explores the different types of ADCs available in the market today. Next, the operation of a 4-bit SAR ADC has been studied. Based on this analysis, an 8-bit charge-redistribution SAR ADC has been designed and simulated with Multisim (National Instruments, Austin, TX). The design is divided into different blocks which are individually implemented and tested. Level-1 SPICE MOSFET models representative of 5μm devices were used wherever individual MOSFETs were used in the design. Finally, the power dissipation during the conversion period was also estimated. The supply voltage …

Classification Of Daily Activities For The Elderly Using Wearable Sensors, Jian Liu, Jeehoon Sohn, Sukwon Kim

Computer Sciences and Electrical Engineering Faculty Research

Monitoring of activities of daily living (ADL) using wearable sensors can provide an objective indication of the activity levels or restrictions experienced by patients or elderly. The current study presented a two-sensor ADL classification method designed and tested specifically with elderly subjects. Ten healthy elderly were involved in a laboratory testing with 6 types of daily activities. Two inertial measurement units were attached to the thigh and the trunk of each subject. The results indicated an overall rate of misdetection being 2.8%. The findings of the current study can be used as the first step towards a more comprehensive activity …

How We Compute N Matters To Estimates Of Mixing In Stratified Flows, Robert S. Arthur, Subhas K. Venayagamoorthy, Jeffrey R. Koseff, Oliver B. Fringer

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Most commonly used models for turbulent mixing in the ocean rely on a background stratification against which turbulence must work to stir the fluid. While this background stratification is typically well defined in idealized numerical models, it is more difficult to capture in observations. Here, a potential discrepancy in ocean mixing estimates due to the chosen calculation of the background stratification is explored using direct numerical simulation data of breaking internal waves on slopes. Two different methods for computing the buoyancy frequency, one based on a three-dimensionally sorted density field (often used in numerical models) and the other based on …

On The Propagation Of Gravity Currents Over And Through A Submerged Array Of Circular Cylinders, Jian Zhou, Claudia Cenedese, Tim Williams, Megan Ball, Subhas K. Venayagamoorthy, Roger I. Nokes

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The propagation of full-depth lock-exchange bottom gravity currents past a submerged array of circular cylinders is investigated using laboratory experiments and large eddy simulations. Firstly, to investigate the front velocity of gravity currents across the whole range of array density (i.e. the volume fraction of solids), the array is densified from a flatbed towards a solid slab under a particular submergence ratio, where is the flow depth and is the array height. The time-averaged front velocity in the slumping phase of the gravity current is found to first decrease and then increase with increasing. Next, a new geometrical framework consisting …

Silica Formation With Nanofiber Morphology Via Helical Display Of The Silaffin R5 Peptide On A Filamentous Bacteriophage, In-Wong Song, Hyojung Park, Jung Han Park, Hyunook Kim, Seong Hun Kim, Justyn Jaworski, Byoung-In Sang, Sung Yi

Bioengineering Faculty Publications - Archive

Biological systems often generate unique and useful structures, which can have industrial relevance either as direct components or as an inspiration for biomimetic materials. For fabrication of nanoscale silica structures, we explored the use of the silaffin R5 peptide from Cylindrotheca fusiformis expressed on the surface of the fd bacteriophage. By utilizing the biomineralizing peptide component displayed on the bacteriophage surface, we found that low concentrations (0.09 mg/mL of the R5 bacteriophage, below the concentration range used in other studies) could be used to create silica nanofibers. An additional benefit of this approach is the ability of our R5-displaying phage …

Suspension-Driven Gravity Surges On Horizontal Surfaces: Effect Of The Initial Shape, ‪Nadim Zgheib, T. Bonometti, S. Balachandar

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

We present results from highly resolved direct numerical simulations of canonical (axisymmetric and planar) and non-canonical (rectangular) configurations of horizontal suspension-driven gravity surges. We show that the dynamics along the initial minor and major axis of a rectangular release are roughly similar to that of a planar and axisymmetric current, respectively. However, contrary to expectation, we observe under certain conditions the final extent of the deposit from finite releases to surpass that from an equivalent planar current. This is attributed to a converging flow of the particle-laden mixture toward the initial minor axis, a behaviour that was previously reported for …

Non-Additive Impacts Of Covalent Cross-Linking On The Viscoelastic Nanomechanics Of Ionic Polyelectrolyte Complexes, B. Han, T. Ma, J. H. Vergara, Giuseppe R. Palmese, J. Yin, D. Le

Henry M. Rowan College of Engineering Departmental Research

This study elucidates the influences of adding covalent cross-linking on the nanomechanical viscoelasticity of ionically cross-linked polyelectrolyte networks. Using layer-by-layer (LbL) assembled PAH/PAA networks, we report how adding covalent amide cross-links changes the degree of swelling, indentation modulus, and force relaxation behaviors with varying solution conditions such as pH and ionic strength, which modulate the ionic cross-link density and fixed charge density. The addition of covalent cross-linking increases both the modulus and degree of elasticity through providing permanent anchorage to the ionically linked networks. Such addition also strongly increases the relaxation times at net neutral, less swollen states. These results …