Engineering Commons^™

Logging And Analysis Of Internet Of Things (Iot) Device Network Traffic And Power Consumption, Ryan Joseph Frawley

Master's Theses

An increasing number of devices, from coffee makers to electric kettles, are becoming connected to the Internet. These are all a part of the Internet of Things, or IoT. Each device generates unique network traffic and power consumption patterns. Until now, there has not been a comprehensive set of data that captures these traffic and power patterns. This thesis documents how we collected 10 to 15 weeks of network traffic and power consumption data from 15 different IoT devices and provides an analysis of a subset of 6 devices. Devices including an Amazon Echo Dot, Google Home Mini, and Google …

Solar Electric Immersion Heating Element Fabrication, Logan V. Kregness

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Believing that cooking with flame is cheaper and more efficient than cooking with electricity, Ugandan citizens have exposed themselves to several health and safety risks, including major respiratory issues through harmful emissions, pollution, and the burning down of many homes. Even though solar electric cooking is cheaper and healthier than cooking with flames in the long run, many Ugandans lack the resources to invest in cooking with electricity.

The Solar Stove student research team, led by Dr. Pete Schwartz, partnered with Aid Africa to bring solar panels and prototype solar electric cooking units to villages in Uganda. Observing how their …

Increased Energy Yield Through Fast Pyrolysis: Empowering Malawian Villages, Diehl Mutamba

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Biomass contributes to several renewable energy technologies. This project will explore the use of fast pyrolysis to produce fuels by designing an apparatus for fast pyrolysis. Malawian people harvest firewood from the forests, which is a major contributor to deforestation. Furthermore, they convert some of it to charcoal with about 10-15% efficiency to sell to city dwellers. The project will enable herbaceous fuels to replace wood, increase charcoal yields and create new products. Firewood and charcoal produce smoke and carbon monoxide (CO) that compromises the villagers’ health.

This project will address deforestation problems, improve sustainability, decrease health hazards and improve …

Adjustment Of Rapidscat Backscatter Measurements For Improved Radar Images, Garrett Scott Mcdonald

Theses and Dissertations

RapidScat is a spaceborne wind scatterometer mounted on the International Space Station (ISS). The RapidScat mission lasted from September 2014 to November 2016. RapidScat enables the measurement of diurnal patterns of sigma-0 measurements. This capability is possible because of the non-sun-synchronous orbit of the ISS, in which the local time of day (LTOD) of sigma-0 measurements gradually shifts over time in any given location. The ISS platform is a relatively unstable platform for wind scatterometers. Because of the varying attitude of the ISS, RapidScat experiences a constant variation of its pointing vector. Variations of the pointing vector cause variations in …

Mechanical Team Final Design Report: Same Polytechnic College, Meghan L. Smith, Katie D. Nute, Long T. Hoang

Mechanical Engineering

The purpose of this document is to communicate the research, findings, and recommendations of the mechanical engineering team regarding the Same Polytechnic College project. This report includes a discussion of the design process utilized by the interdisciplinary team to construct preliminary building designs for both classroom and dormitory building modules. The mechanical team conducted testing using the wind tunnel to verify major building envelope design decisions. The following report also includes an explanation of the thermal testing that the team conducted to measure the thermal conductivity, diffusivity, and specific heat of bricks made to mimic those made locally in Same, …

A Review Of In-Situ And Remote Sensing Technologies To Monitor Water And Sanitation Interventions, Luis Andres, Kwasi Boateng, Christian Borja-Vega, Evan Thomas

Engineering and Technology Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), announced in September 2015, present a vision of achieving a higher level of human health and well-being worldwide by the year 2030. The SDG targets specific to water and sanitation call for more detailed monitoring and response to understand the coverage and quality of safely managed sources. It is hoped that improved monitoring of water and sanitation interventions will reveal more cost-effective and efficient ways of meeting the SDGs. In this paper, we review the landscape of approaches that can be used to support and improve on the water and sanitation targets SDG …

Cervis: Cervical Cancer Early Response Visual Identification System, Evangelia Bouzos, Ivy Fernandes, Marina Predovic

Bioengineering Senior Theses

Our goal is to make a positive impact in the cervical cancer diagnostic space through the development of an accurate, cost effective solution that enables women in low resource settings to test for cervical cancer on a frugal and effective platform. In developed countries, we rely on regular preventive care, such as pap smears, to identify any cellular abnormalities that may indicate the disease state. However, due to the high cost and laboratory requirements of this procedure, women in low resource settings typically do not have access to this procedure. Since they are not regularly screened and often have little …

Meshr: A Modular, Economical Skin Graft Hand Roller, Maggie Alt, Josée Fournier, Madeline Krenek, Will Paton

Bioengineering Senior Theses

In South Africa and around the world, the rates of severe burns are a significant health issue. Skin grafts are used to improve the function and appearance of the burned area and reduce the amount of time a patient is in the hospital. To minimize the amount of skin needed and maximize the coverage of the graft, the harvested sample is meshed in a lattice pattern so it can expand and graft a much larger surface area. Unfortunately, the current methods and devices used in both high and low-income countries have been optimized for hospitals with larger budgets and more …

Differential Power Analysis In-Practice For Hardware Implementations Of The Keccak Sponge Function, Nathaniel Graff

Master's Theses

The Keccak Sponge Function is the winner of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) competition to develop the Secure Hash Algorithm-3 Standard (SHA-3). Prior work has developed reference implementations of the algorithm and described the structures necessary to harden the algorithm against power analysis attacks which can weaken the cryptographic properties of the hash algorithm. This work demonstrates the architectural changes to the reference implementation necessary to achieve the theoretical side channel-resistant structures, compare their efficiency and performance characteristics after synthesis and place-and-route when implementing them on Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), publish the resulting implementations under the …

The Analysis And Study Of Power System Designs For Same Polytechnic College In Tanzania, Kevin Lum Hua

Master's Theses

The Mbesese Initiative for Sustainable Development (MISD) is a group aiming to help eliminate extreme poverty in Africa by creating educational opportunity. One project that the group is currently doing is to build Same Polytechnic College (SPC) in Tanzania. As part of the project, this thesis aims to study and analyze the electrical power system and distribution for the college. Based on the projected load profile of the college and high potential for solar generation in Tanzania, several different power systems utilizing local utility AC electricity and/or photovoltaic (PV) DC electricity are explored and simulated for their feasibility and performance. …

A National Pragmatic Safety Limit For Nuclear Weapon Quantities, Joshua M. Pearce, David C. Denkenberger

Department of Materials Science and Engineering Publications

This study determines the nuclear pragmatic limit where the direct physical negative consequences of nuclear weapons use are counter to national interests, by assuming all unknowns are conservatively optimistic. The only effect considered is nuclear winter (“nuclear autumn” in the low weapons limits) and the resultant effects on the aggressor nation. First, the ability of low nuclear weapon limits is probed for maintaining deterrence in the worst-case scenario of attacking the most-populous nation. Second, the ability of aggressor nations to feed themselves is assessed without trade and industry resultant from a nuclear attack causing “nuclear autumn” (10% global agricultural shortfall). …

A Protocol-Based Blended Model For Fluid Mechanics Instruction, John Solomon, Eric Hamilton, Vimal Viswanathan, Chitra Nayak, Firas Akasheh

Faculty Publications, Mechanical Engineering

A personalized and media-rich learning framework called “Knowledge and Curriculum Integration Ecosystem” (KACIE) has been developed and implemented in a junior level fluid mechanics course in Fall 2016 and Spring 2017. This model shares characteristics of blended instruction as well as a flipped classroom, with an overall structure that includes the application of established principles emerging from the learning sciences and from cognitive neuroscience. These principles have taken form in the KACIE model as classroom protocols or written instructions to scaffold and guide teaching and learning by faculty and students respectively. In KACIE, the course has been presented as a …

Milkguard: Low-Cost, Polymer-Based Sensor For The Detection Of Escherichia Coli In Donated Human Breast Milk, Maggie May, Nicholas Kikuchi, Matthew Zweber

Bioengineering Senior Theses

Breast milk, the gold standard for infant nutrition, could prevent up to 13% of child deaths worldwide. However, many mothers are unable to breastfeed due to health conditions and other factors. Because of this, a network of more than 500+ human milk banks, which collect and distribute donated breast milk to infants, have emerged worldwide. However, operational costs to ensure the safety of this milk remain time-intensive and costly.

There are no existing diagnostics for rapid and on-site detection of bacterial contaminants in donated milk. Currently, many milk banks send samples to outside laboratories for bacterial culturing tests, which take …

Carbon Sequestering Bio Concrete As A Solution To Growing Atmospheric Concentrations Of Co2, Connor Cech, Jackson Walker

Construction Management

High levels of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions into the atmosphere are propelling climate change, which has been proven to be highly detrimental to the planet. Cement production for the construction industry is a leading cause of these harmful carbon emissions. This project introduces a potential solution to this issue in the form of a new biological concrete that is treated with carbon sequestering bacteria of the Bacillus family to remove CO₂ from the atmosphere. The consolidated research presented in this project will explain the biology behind this process, and how it can be implemented in construction …

Modelling Of Oxygen Diffusion In Cork, Swapnil Shivputra Rane

Theses

The primary objective of this project is to better understand gas diffusion through natural cork structures by comparing simulations of gas diffusion through natural cork to experimental measurements of oxygen gas diffusion through the same structure. The cork's internal structure is measured using x-ray computed tomography (CT). From the measured internal structure, a simple mapping is assumed converting the measured x-ray computed tomography images into a 3D map of local diffusion coefficient. Specifically, it is assured that the x-ray CT pixel value is inversely proportional to the diffusion coefficient of oxygen through the cork. A diffusion model for the cork …

Development Of Digital Diary For Enhanced Parental School Involvement In Tanzania, Sekione R. Jeremiah, Joel S. Mtebe Phd

The African Journal of Information Systems

The study examined the use of digital diary as a tool for enhancing parental school involvement in Tanzania. The development of the digital diary followed eXtreme Programming agile method where 87 parents and 6 teachers from St. Florence school were involved. Parents and teachers were given six months to use the tool before testing for its effectiveness using data from 7 teachers and 156 parents through semi-structured interviews and questionnaires respectively. The study found that the majority of respondents (84.4% of parents and 96.7% of teachers) indicated that the digital diary was useful tool as enabled them to track children’s …

Conference Program, John L. Provis, Waltraud M. Kriven, Cristina Leonelli, Aldo Boccaccini, Arie Van Riessen

Alkali Activated Materials and Geopolymers: Versatile Materials Offering High Performance and Low Emissions

No abstract provided.

Discovering The Needs Of People At The 10/40 Window With Data Science, Germán H. Alférez, Ceila M. González

Adventist Human-Subject Researchers Association

Abstract: We propose an approach to discover the needs of people in particular areas of Iraq, a country located at the 10/40 Window, by means of Data Science applied to Open Big Data. The resulting model predicts refugee crises and artillery attacks with high accuracy even in areas with scarce data.

Precognition: Automated Digital Forensic Readiness System For Mobile Computing Devices In Enterprises, Jayaprakash Govindaraj, Robin Verma, Gaurav Gupta

Annual ADFSL Conference on Digital Forensics, Security and Law

Enterprises are facing an unprecedented risk of security incidents due to the influx of emerging technologies, like smartphones and wearables. Most of the current Mobile security systems are not maturing in pace with technological advances. They lack the ability to learn and adapt from the past knowledge base. In the case of a security incident, enterprises find themselves underprepared for the lack of evidence and data. The systems are not designed to be forensic ready. There is a need for automated security analysis and forensically ready solution, which can learn and continuously adapt to new challenges, improve efficiency and productivity …

Fundamental Studies Of Solid-Fuel Combustion Using A Two-Stage Flat-Flame Burner, Adewale Ayodeji Adeosun

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Innovative coal technologies are essential for addressing concerns about air pollution and global climate change. A key pathway to advancing these technologies is through developing a thorough understanding of the fundamental physical and chemical processes that occur during coal combustion. Ignition influences many aspects of coal combustion, including flame stability, submicron aerosol evolution, and char burnout. As important as ignition and these associated processes are, they are challenging to study because they depend on many factors, such as the combustion environment, particle size, and particle-particle interactions.

While there have been many studies of coal ignition, none have studied the process …

Water-Energy Nexus Approaches For Solar Development And Water Treatment In The Southwestern United States, Syeda Saria Bukhary

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Water is crucial for energy production and conversion, and energy is crucial for various water related processes including water conveyance, treatment and distribution. Sustainability of water and energy are inextricably linked with each other. Over-utilization/ degradation of these resources may occur due to limited availability of water under the changing climate scenario, growing population, and increasing pollution due to the burning of fossil fuels. The goal of the current research was to study the water-energy nexus of the Southwestern U.S. and develop approaches for solar development and treatment of drinking water. To achieve the overall objective, the work was divided …

A Numerical Model Of An Axial Wind Turbine, Andrew Liam Poland

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Since the beginning of the industrial revolution, there has never been more of a constant in the world than that of the demand for energy. For years a stable source has been fossil fuels, but with the growing impacts of global warming, it is important to look for renewable sources. Wind energy’s use has become more and more prevalent throughout the world.

This preliminary work runs through the creation of a three-dimensional numerical model of a conventional wind turbine that was created using ANSYS-Fluent© commercial software. This work provides the base wind turbine and a blade element and momentum theory …

A Novel Approach To Analyzing Strain Heterogeneity In Polycrystalline Quartz Specimens Deformed At High Pressure And Temperature, Nolan Ambrose Regis

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Rheological studies of rocks and minerals allow researchers to study the grain-scale deformation mechanisms that govern large-scale geologic processes from mountain building to mantle mixing. Deforming rock samples with high pressure and temperature apparatuses similar to the Griggs piston cylinder apparatus allows us to simulate deformation at depth. However, many apparatuses are limited to “cook-and-look” analysis and require modeling techniques to determine the evolution of deformation patterns found in experimental samples. A previous study used two-dimensional finite element models to analyze the development of stress and strain patterns in polycrystalline rocks. The study suggested rhythmic patterns in deformed rocks develop …

Cell Culture Bioprocess Learnings: Past Successes And Future Challenges, Günter Jagschies

Cell Culture Engineering XVI

Therapeutic proteins, vaccines and – further away – cell and gene therapies are considered essential to find efficacious interventions and preventive measures to a rather long list of prioritized needs in healthcare. The challenge is developing into a ‘tsunami’ of sorts as the global demographic transition causes populations to age, dramatically accelerating the growth of non-communicable disease (NCD) in all parts of the world. India and China are the markets with the largest patient population for almost any NCD, or they are going to be in that position soon. Competition in this field is ramping up with an intensity that …

Sustainable Agriculture: Integration Of Aquaponics At Punta Leona Hotel And Club In Costa Rica, Cailin Sierra Dyer, Paris Riley Smith

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Sustainable agriculture is becoming an increasingly important method of food production. As human populations continue to grow, attendant food demand has been increasingly met via agribusiness, including monoculture crop production and factory farming. As is well documented, the rise of agribusiness has led to resource degradation and declining stocks on which “sustainable agriculture” relies. This paper describes a local attempt to re-establish “sustainable agriculture” through the development of an aquaculture system that mimics a naturally occurring cycle that integrates fish and plants. The system was constructed over a three-week period in Punta Leona, Costa Rica. First, the ground was cleared …

The Power Of Coefficients And Methods Of Coding In Delimiting Species Using Phenetic Approach: The Case Of African Solanum Section Solanum Sensu Edmonds, Mkabwa Lk Manoko

Tanzania Journal of Science

Phenetics is one of approaches used to delimit species in plant classification. Conclusion in phenetics is based on overall similarity often of morphological data. The approach uses coded data that are analyzed using coefficients to create similarity matrices that are analyzed using clustering analysis to create the classification. Exists different similarity coefficients and coding methods though in practice are used intuitively sometimes giving results that have been challenged. Though similarity coefficients and coding methods have some times been blamed, studies to analyze their influences are limited. The trend however is to avoid morphological data in favor of DNA markers. The …

Total Electron Content Derived From Global Positioning System During Solar Maximum Of 2012-2013 Over The Eastern Part Of The African Sector, Emmanuel D Sulungu, Christian Bs Uiso, Patrick Sibanda

Tanzania Journal of Science

This work presents results of diurnal, seasonal and latitudinal variations of vertical Total Electron Content (TECv) derived from GPS receivers at four locations, [Dodoma (6.19oS, 35.75oE), Mzuzu (11.43oS, 34.01oE), Zomba (15.38oS, 35.33oE) and Tete (16.15oS, 33.58oE)] during the solar maximum period of 2012 – 2013. The receivers are located directly below the EIA and at approximately the same longitude, ~ (33 – 3 oE) within the eastern part of the African sector. Diurnal and latitudinal variations of TECv are presented for an average of the five (5) quietest days of each of the four seasons: March equinox, June solstice, September …

Geoscan-M Use At Ma’Aden Phosphate Al Jalamid Mine, Saudi Arabia, Luke Balzan, Zoran Bauk, Andrew Harris

Beneficiation of Phosphates VIII

Access to real-time data is critical for process control. Scantech’s GEOSCAN-M elemental analyser has been utilized in the minerals industry for the past two decades in a range of different commodities. Already established for use in the coal and cement industries, commodities such as iron ore, copper, lead zinc, manganese, bauxite and lithium have benefited from the real-time access to elemental composition data on conveyed flows provided by the GEOSCAN. The phosphate industry has also recognized the benefits of the equipment and a number of operators and companies have installed GEOSCANs to provide real-time analysis back to the plant.

A …

Can Your P2o5 Be Commercially Exploited?, Ewan Wingate, Michael E. Kelahan, M. Robert Kelahan

Beneficiation of Phosphates VIII

World reserves of high-grade, high-quality phosphate rock are steadily decreasing. As a result, lower quality rock is being increasingly evaluated to determine its potential for commercial exploitation. It is well known that the chemical and mineralogical composition of phosphate rock varies widely from deposit to deposit, and therefore, the conditions for processing different phosphate rock types also varies.

Unfortunately, most early stage phosphate feasibility studies tend to focus on the P₂O₅ content and neglect the other chemical constituents or impurities in the rock. It is the remainder of the chemical constituents that often define the quality of …

Milling Of The Phosphate Rock Flotation Circuit Circulating Load Aiming Production Increase And Iron Content Reduction In The Final Concentrate, André Carlos Silva, Michelle Fernanda De Lira Teixeira, Anastácio Honório De Melo Filho, Thiago Drumond De Alvarez De Araújo, Maurício José De Oliveira Júnior, Wanderson Ferreira Borges Júnior, Bruno Palhares Milanezi, Jailson Pinto Cardoso

Beneficiation of Phosphates VIII

Phosphorus has its main application in the production of phosphoric acid, being the apatite series its main ore. The Brazilian main phosphorus reserves are igneous, as is the case of Catalão alkaline dome, were Copebras/CMOC International has operations. The content of P₂O₅ in the ROM has been reduced over the years and, as a consequence, the content of the contaminants in the concentrate, produced by flotation, which enhances the difficulty in the phosphoric acid production. Only traces of arsenic, iron, and heavy metals can be present in high-purity phosphoric acid. The circulating load of the Copebras’ phosphate …