Engineering Commons^™

Investigation On The Rons And Bactericidal Effects Induced By He + O2 Cold Plasma Jets: In Open Air And In An Airtight Chamber, Han Xu, Dingxin Liu, Weitao Wang, Zhijie Liu, Li Guo, Mingzhe Rong, Michael G. Kong

Bioelectrics Publications

He + O₂ plasma jets in open air and in an airtight chamber are comparatively studied, with respect to their production of gaseous/aqueous reactive species and their antibacterial effects. Under the same discharge power, the plasma jet in open air has higher densities of gaseous reactive species and a higher concentration of aqueous H₂O₂ but lower concentrations of aqueous OH and O₂^-. In addition, the increase in the O₂ ratio in He in both plasma jets causes a linear decrease in the population of gaseous reactive species, except for O(3p⁵P) …

Pvt-Tolerant Stochastic Time-To-Digital Converter, Khalil Jacob Gammoh

Theses and Dissertations

Time-to-digital converters (TDC) are widely used in light-detection-and-ranging (LIDAR) systems to measure the time-of-flight. Conventional TDCs are sensitivity to process, voltage, and temperature (PVT) variations. Recent work utilizing the stochastic delay-line TDC architecture has demonstrated excellent robustness against PVT variations. But important issues affecting the linearity of a stochastic delay-line TDC has yet to be recognized and addressed.This thesis rigorously analyzes the problem of linearity of a stochastic delay-line TDC and formulates an intuitive theory to predict the linearity performance. Apolarvisualization of the phase distribution of a delay line is proposed to aid the analysis. Based on the results of …

3d Printing For Microfluidics, Hua Gong

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation focuses on developing 3D printing as a fabrication method for microfluidic devices. Specifically, I concentrate on the 3D printing approach known as Digital Light Processing stereolithography (DLP-SLA) in which serially projected images are used to sequentially photopolymerize layers to build a microfluidic device. The motivation for this work is to explore a much faster alternative to cleanroom-based microfabrication that additionally offers the opportunity to densely integrate microfluidic elements in compact 3D layouts for dramatic device volume reduction. In the course of my research, an optical approach was used to guide custom resin formulation to help create the interconnected …

Correlating Easily And Unobtrusively Queried Computer Characteristics To Number And Severity Of Vulnerabilities, Jonathan M. Mercado

Theses and Dissertations

Cybersecurity has become a top-of-mind concern as the threat landscape expands and organizations continue to undergo digital transformation. As the industry confronts this growth, tools designed to evaluate the security posture of a network must improve to provide better value. Current agent-based and network scanning tools are resource intensive, expensive, and require thorough testing before implementation in order to ensure seamless integration. While surfacing specific vulnerability information is imperative to securing network assets, there are ways to predict the security status of a network without taking exact measurements. These methods may inform security professionals as to where the weakest points …

Modeling Soot Formation Derived From Solid Fuels, Alexander Jon Josephson

Theses and Dissertations

Soot formation from complex solid fuels, such as coal or biomass, is an under-studied and little understood phenomena which has profound physical effects. Any time a solid fuel is combusted, from coal-burning power plants to wildland fires, soot formation within the flame can have a significant influence on combustion characteristics such as temperature, heat flux, and chemical profiles. If emitted from the flame, soot particles have long-last effects on human health and the environment. The work in this dissertation focuses on creating and implementing computational models to be used for predicting soot mechanisms in a combustion environment. Three models are …

Vision-Based Emergency Landing Of Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems, Parker Chase Lusk

Theses and Dissertations

Emergency landing is a critical safety mechanism for aerial vehicles. Commercial aircraft have triply-redundant systems that greatly increase the probability that the pilot will be able to land the aircraft at a designated airfield in the event of an emergency. In general aviation, the chances of always reaching a designated airfield are lower, but the successful pilot might use landmarks and other visual information to safely land in unprepared locations. For small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS), triply- or even doubly-redundant systems are unlikely due to size, weight, and power constraints. Additionally, there is a growing demand for beyond visual line …

Experimental Investigation On Heat Transfer In A Prismatic Modular Reactor Under Cosine Heat Flux, S. M. Alshehri, I. A. Said, Muthanna H. Al-Dahhan, Shoaib Usman

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The current study has investigated natural convection heat during pressurized conduction cooldown (PCC) accident scenario to understand the passive safety features of prismatic modular reactors (PMR) under different intensities of nonuniform center peaking step heat flux distributions (approximating cosine shape) using an advanced fast-response heat transfer technique. A scaled-down PMR module was designed and developed at Missouri S&T by the research team of the Multiphase Reactors Engineering and Applications Laboratory (mReal). The module consists of upper and lower plena connected by heated and cooled channels. Nonuniform heat flux distribution was applied to the heated channel under nonuniform heating center peaking …

Establishment And Application Of Fractal Capillary Tube Bundle Model Of Porous Media, Zhonghua Liu, Jianing Shen, Qianhua Xiao, Zhongpei Ding, Shunpeng Zeng, Baojun Bai

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In view of the problem of statistical regression constant in the model of capillary tube bundles in the porous media, a capillary bundle percolation model with fractal geometry was reconstructed. The function expressions of the fractal coefficient and Kozeny constant were deduced. The relationship between the macroscopic fractal properties of porous media and the fractal dimension and the micro pore parameters were obtained. Results show: Fractal coefficient is a function of fractal dimension, maximum pore radius and minimum pore radius; The macroscopic physical properties of porous media are a function of the fractal dimension and the radius of the capillary …

Multicellular Models Bridging Intracellular Signaling And Gene Transcription To Population Dynamics, Mohammad Aminul Islam, Satyaki Roy, Sajal K. Das, Dipak Barua

Computer Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

Cell signaling and gene transcription occur at faster time scales compared to cellular death, division, and evolution. Bridging these multiscale events in a model is computationally challenging. We introduce a framework for the systematic development of multiscale cell population models. Using message passing interface (MPI) parallelism, the framework creates a population model from a single-cell biochemical network model. It launches parallel simulations on a single-cell model and treats each stand-alone parallel process as a cell object. MPI mediates cell-to-cell and cell-to-environment communications in a server-client fashion. In the framework, model-specific higher level rules link the intracellular molecular events to cellular …

Densenet For Anatomical Brain Segmentation, Ram Deepak Gottapu, Cihan H. Dagli

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Automated segmentation in brain magnetic resonance image (MRI) plays an important role in the analysis of many diseases and conditions. In this paper, we present a new architecture to perform MR image brain segmentation (MRI) into a number of classes based on type of tissue. Recent work has shown that convolutional neural networks (DenseNet) can be substantially more accurate with less number of parameters if each layer in the network is connected with every other layer in a feed forward fashion. We embrace this idea and generate new architecture that can assign each pixel/voxel in an MR image of the …

Early Detection Of Disease Using Electronic Health Records And Fisher's Wishart Discriminant Analysis, Sijia Yang, Jian Bian, Zeyi Sun, Licheng Wang, Haojin Zhu, Haoyi Xiong, Yu Li

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) is a simple and effective technique for pattern classification, while it is also widely-used for early detection of diseases using Electronic Health Records (EHR) data. However, the performance of LDA for EHR data classification is frequently affected by two main factors: ill-posed estimation of LDA parameters (e.g., covariance matrix), and "linear inseparability" of the EHR data for classification. To handle these two issues, in this paper, we propose a novel classifier FWDA -- Fisher's Wishart Discriminant Analysis, which is developed as a faster and robust nonlinear classifier. Specifically, FWDA first surrogates the distribution of "potential" inverse …

System Of Systems Architecting Problems: Definitions, Formulations, And Analysis, Hadi Farhangi, Dincer Konur

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The system of systems architecting has many applications in transportation, healthcare, and defense systems design. This study first presents a short review of system of systems definitions. We then focus on capability-based system of systems architecting. In particular, capability-based system of systems architecting problems with various settings, including system flexibility, fund allocation, operational restrictions, and system structures, are presented as Multi-Objective Nonlinear Integer Programming problems. Relevant solution methods to analyze these problems are also discussed.

Analysis Of Student-Athletes And Summer Internship Experiences Int He Construction Management Department, Amanda R. Sandoval

Construction Management

Summer internships are a valuable way for implementing practical knowledge in the construction industry. Students can apply what they have learned during the school year and visualize the reality of how construction is managed. This project will research what student-athletes typically invest their time in over summer and the construction company’s connection to the student-athlete department. The analysis will identify if there is a need to propose a program that can improve the relationship between the construction management and student-athlete departments. Two surveys were conducted to collect information about student-athletes summer activity history and their perspective of internship experience, as …

Financial Evaluation For A Brazilian Airline To Conduct Aeronautical Components Repair In Brazil, Ana Moreno Sandoval, Enzo Canavesi Luizetto, Joao Paulo Panssiera, Klaus Goulart Brum

Graduate Student Works

The current economic world volatility, as well as the increasing cost of fuel and security procedures established by the worldwide authorities, force the air carriers to search for alternatives to reduce their operational costs. The maintenance costs are a significant subject for the air carriers, therefore, any cost reduction obtained without maintenance service disruption, may provide an opportunity to enhance the airline competitiveness (Fritzsche, 2014).

The purpose of this research is to evaluate and compare the technical and financial aspects of performing aircraft components repair in house for a Brazilian airline versus outsourcing the servicing to a homologated company outside …

Bs News November/December

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

Understanding Electricity Bills: Guidance For Nebraska Businesses And Municipalities, Elizabeth M. Regier, Bruce I. Dvorak

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Faculty Publications

This publication is intended to help business owners and municipal managers understand the different types of charges in their electricity bills. By understanding these charges, they may be able to identify ways to reduce their electricity costs.

Self-Healing Microcapsules As Concrete Aggregates For Corrosion Inhibition In Reinforced Concrete, Homero Castaneda, Marwa Hassan, Miladin Radovic, Jose Milla

Publications

Reinforced Concrete (RC) structures are vital to the US’s civil infrastructure for their strength and versatility. Unfortunately, RC elements deteriorate rapidly when exposed to corrosive environments. One possible solution is to extend the life of RC elements and systems using microencapsulated corrosion inhibitors to reduce the rebar corrosion rate. The capsules house an anodic corrosion inhibitor agent including calcium nitrate (CN) and triethanolamine (TEA). The integration of such microencapsulated materials will enhance the durability and extend the useful life by controlling the corrosion precursors and the corrosion process during damage evolution. Therefore, this work aims to develop and characterize the …

Development, Training, Education, And Implementation Of Low-Cost Sensing Technologies For Bridge Structural Health Monitoring (Shm), Fernando Moreu, Chris Lippitt, Dilendra Maharjan, Marlon Aguero, Roya Nasimi

Publications

Transportation infrastructure needs continuous monitoring. However, traditional inspections cost money and are conducted visually. New technologies for bridge monitoring are expensive and complex. This project involved developing cost-effective sensor technologies that can be applied towards the maintenance of railroad bridges by recording reference-free transverse displacement. More specifically, this project developed new applications of new technologies (Arduino, wireless smart sensors, drones, Hololens) and promoted workforce development with an emphasis on outreach of high-school students. This project was carried out in three main phases: (1) development and validation of technologies, (2) education and outreach to students, and (3) outreach to industry consisting …

Prediction Of Thermal Conductance At Liquid-Gas Interfaces Using Molecular Dynamics Simulations, James Gonzalez, Josue Ortega, Zhi Liang

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Using Molecular Dynamics (MD) Simulations and Theoretical Calculations, We Study Heat Transfer Across Liquid-Gas Interfaces within a Planar Heat Pipe. to Determine the Thermal Conductance (Kapitza Conductance), GK, at the Interface, Two Heat Transfer Mechanisms, Namely, Conduction and Evaporation/condensation Are Considered. in the Case of Interfacial Heat Conduction, Gas Molecules, Particularly Non-Condensable Gas Molecules, Exchange Heat with Liquid Surfaces through Gas-Liquid Collisions, and the Theoretical Expression for GK is Derived from the Kinetic Theory of Gases. for Interfacial Heat Transfer by Evaporation or Condensation, the Theoretical Expression for GK is Derived from the Schrage Relationships. to Assess the Accuracies of …

An Experiment To Study The Gaseous Emissions Of A Gas Turbine Operated With Biodiesel As Fuel, David Lee Rochelle

Theses and Dissertations

A continually growing awareness of the finiteness of fossil fuel availability coupled with an ever better understanding of the negative effects of fossil fuel consumption has motivated a search for fuels that can be used in place of fossil fuels, but which can be derived from sustainable sources such as growable organic matter. While much work has been done to understand these substances and apply them on a larger scale (indeed, biodiesel is commonly included in commercially available diesel fuels at fuel pumps); the unique nature of the operating environment for aviation fuels has complicated the application of these substances …

First-Principles Study Of The Products Of Co2 Dissociation On Nickel-Based Alloys: Trends In Energetics With Alloying Element, Lynza H. Sprowl, Benjamin Adam, Julie D. Tucker, Líney Árnadóttir

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Oxidation and corrosion of nickel and Ni-based alloys are a problem for many industrial applications, such as power plants that use supercritical CO2 as the working fluid. In supercritical CO2 environments, CO2 dissociates on the surface forming adsorbed CO and O, which can oxidize the surface. The adsorbed CO can further breakdown via direct CO dissociation or via the Boudouard reaction to form adsorbed C, which can in turn carburize the surface. Understanding how the adsorbed species interact with different Ni-based alloys can help guide the design of future alloys. The interactions of adsorbed O, C, and CO on the …

Removal Of Antibiotic Resistance Genes In An Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactor Treating Primary Clarifier Effluent At 20 °C, Anthony D. Kappell, Lee K. Kimbell, Matthew Seib, Daniel Elliott Carey, Melinda J. Choi, Tino Kalayil, Masanori Fujimoto, Daniel Zitomer, Patrick J. Mcnamara

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Anaerobic membrane bioreactors (AnMBR) play a key role in future plans for sustainable wastewater treatment and resource recovery because they have no energy-intensive oxygen transfer requirements and can produce biomethane for renewable energy. Recent research results show that they can meet relatively stringent discharge limits with respect to BOD₅ and TSS when treating municipal wastewater primary effluent. Sustainable used water recovery plans should also consider removal of unregulated pollutants. Antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) represent an important emerging contaminant due to public health concerns surrounding the spread of infections resistant to common antibiotics. Conventional activated sludge processes have demonstrated mixed …

Single Cell Analysis Of Fluid Shear Stress Induced Breast Cancer Cell Phenotypic Changes In A Microfluidic Device, Grant Landwehr

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Dynamic Optimization Of High-Altitude Solar Aircraft Trajectories Under Station-Keeping Constraints, Abraham Martin, Nathaniel Gates, Andrew Ning, John Hedengren

Faculty Publications

This paper demonstrates the use of nonlinear dynamic optimization to calculate energy- optimal trajectories for a high-altitude, solar-powered Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). The objective is to maximize the total energy in the system while staying within a 3 km mission radius and meeting other system constraints. Solar energy capture is modeled using the vehicle orientation and solar position, and energy is stored both in batteries and in potential energy through elevation gain. Energy capture is maximized by optimally adjusting the angle of the aircraft surface relative to the sun. The UAV flight and energy system dynamics are optimized over a …

Resource Allocation In The Cognitive Radio Network-Aided Internet Of Things For The Cyber-Physical-Social System: An Efficient Jaya Algorithm, Xiong Luo, Zhijie He, Zhigang Zhao, Long Wang, Weiping Wang, Huansheng Ning, Jenq-Haur Wang, Wenbing Zhao, Jun Zhang

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Currently, there is a growing demand for the use of communication network bandwidth for the Internet of Things (IoT) within the cyber-physical-social system (CPSS), while needing progressively more powerful technologies for using scarce spectrum resources. Then, cognitive radio networks (CRNs) as one of those important solutions mentioned above, are used to achieve IoT effectively. Generally, dynamic resource allocation plays a crucial role in the design of CRN-aided IoT systems. Aiming at this issue, orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) has been identified as one of the successful technologies, which works with a multi-carrier parallel radio transmission strategy. In this article, through …

Short-Term Wind Speed Forecasting Via Stacked Extreme Learning Machine With Generalized Correntropy, Xiong Luo, Jiankun Sun, Long Wang, Weiping Wang, Wenbing Zhao, Jinsong Wu, Jenq-Haur Wang, Zijun Zhang

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Recently, wind speed forecasting as an effective computing technique plays an important role in advancing industry informatics, while dealing with these issues of control and operation for renewable power systems. However, it is facing some increasing difficulties to handle the large-scale dataset generated in these forecasting applications, with the purpose of ensuring stable computing performance. In response to such limitation, this paper proposes a more practical approach through the combination of extreme-learning machine (ELM) method and deep-learning model. ELM is a novel computing paradigm that enables the neural network (NN) based learning to be achieved with fast training speed and …

Active Disturbance Rejection Control Of Lcl-Filtered Grid-Connected Inverter Using Pade Approximation, Abdeldjabar Benrabah, Dianguo Xu, Zhiqiang Gao

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

In this paper, a simplified robust control is proposed to improve the performance of a three-phase current controlled voltage source inverter connected to the grid through an inductive-capacitive-inductive ( LCL) filter. The presence of the LCL-filter resonance complicates the dynamics of the control system and limits its overall performance, particularly when disturbances and parametric uncertainty are considered. To solve this problem, a robust active damping method based on the linear active disturbance rejection control (LADRC) is proposed. The simplification is made possible by order reduction in the plant transfer function using Padé approximation. Simulation results show that the proposed LADRC-based …

Comparing Specific Excess Power Of General Aviation Aircraft, Yohan Forbes Auguste

Theses and Dissertations

The high number of Loss of Control and Controlled Flight into Terrain Accidents in General Aviation (GA) suggests that there is a lack of understanding and recognition of low energy states by pilots of GA aircraft. As a result there is a desire to implement an energy management system in GA aircraft to alert the pilot of low energy conditions and to give the required corrective action to get to a desired energy state. This requires an understanding of the performance capabilities of GA aircraft in terms of their ability to change their energy state. The ability to change the …

Sustainability-Based Long-Term Management Of Bridges Under Multi-Hazard Exposure, Mohamed Soliman

Publications

Bridges are under deterioration due to various mechanical and environmental stressors. Hydraulic-related hazards (e.g., flood and scour), aggressive environmental conditions, and seismic events (e.g., earthquake) are recognized as the most significant threats to the safety of bridges. In traditional risk assessment methods for structures susceptible to damage due to floods and other natural hazards (e.g., corrosion and seismic events), future hazard predictions are conducted using historic return periods and climate records. However, recent increase in flood intensity in central-southern states indicate that future hazard occurrence rate may not necessarily follow past trends. Accordingly, current design, assessment, and management methodologies should …

Design And Implementation Of Wireless Smart Home Energy Management System Using Rule-Based Controller, Eslam Salah Fayez Al-Hassan

Electrical Engineering Theses

Most residential units still rely on conventional energy supplied by utilities despite the continuous growth of renewable energy resources, such as solar and wind energy systems in power distribution networks. Utilities often use time-of-use energy pricing, which increases the interest of energy consumers, such as those in commercial and residential buildings, in reducing their energy usage. Thus, this work demonstrates the design and implementation of a home energy management (HEM) system that can automatically control home appliances to reduce daily energy and electricity bill. The system consists of multiple smart sockets that can read the power consumption of an attached …