Engineering Commons^™

Anharmonic Phonon Coupling In Single-Crystal Semiconducting And Metal-Like Van Der Waals In2se3, John Igo, Shengwen Zhou, Zhi Gang Yu, Oliver Peter Amnuayphol, Feng Zhao, Yi Gu

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

We study the anharmonic phonon interactions in the single-crystal semiconducting (α) and metal-like (β) van der Waals In2Se3 layers, through the determination and analysis of temperature-dependent Raman spectra and thermal conductivities, supported by first-principles calculations of phonon band structures. Our results indicate strong lattice anharmonicity in β-In2Se3 giving rise to significant phonon peak broadening and a suppressed lattice thermal conductivity and reveal that the anharmonic phonon interactions are the main thermal transport-limiting mechanism in both phases. The low thermal conductivity combined with a large electrical conductivity makes the metal-like β-In2Se3 a potential efficient thermoelectric material.

Application Of Machine Learning To Biometric Systems- A Survey, Lina Chate, Shahram Latifi

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Research

A summary of existing work on the use of machine learning and deep learning methods in biometrics is presented here. Biometrics traits covered include physiological (image, voice) as well as behavioral (gait, signature) features. This study shows that machine learning has a high potential to improve the performance of biometrics systems due to ML's ability to mine, search and analyze big sets of data, performing matching tasks more quickly and reliably than the conventional methods. At the end some key challenges in use of adopting ML in biometrics systems are pointed out.

Techniques To Stimulate And Interrogate Cell–Cell Adhesion Mechanics, Ruiguo Yang, Joshua A. Broussard, Kathleen J. Green, Horacio D. Espinosa

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Cell–cell adhesions maintain the mechanical integrity of multicellular tissues and have recently been found to act as mechanotransducers, translating mechanical cues into biochemical signals. Mechanotransduction studies have primarily focused on focal adhesions, sites of cell-substrate attachment. These studies leverage technical advances in devices and systems interfacing with living cells through cell–extracellular matrix adhesions. As reports of aberrant signal transduction originating from mutations in cell–cell adhesion molecules are being increasingly associated with disease states, growing attention is being paid to this intercellular signaling hub. Along with this renewed focus, new requirements arise for the interrogation and stimulation of cell–cell adhesive junctions. …

Urban Agriculture And Small Farm Water Use: Case Studies And Trends From Cache Valley, Utah, Tyler Pratt, L. Niel Allen, David E. Rosenberg, Andrew A. Keller, Kelly Kopp

Publications

The landscape of water in Utah is changing due to population growth, conversion of agricultural land to urban development, and increasing awareness of water scarcity. At the same time, Utah is experiencing a growing number of urban and small farms, but knowledge of water use in this sector is limited. Better understanding of what occurs at the field level on urban and small farms can aid state water use estimates and conservation efforts, and assist farmers in moving towards wiser water management. For the 2015 growing season, we performed irrigation evaluations for 24 urban and small farms in Cache Valley, …

Embedding Sustainability In Lean Six Sigma Efforts, Nadiye O. Erdil, Can B. Aktas, Omid M. Arani

Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Faculty Publications

The emphasis on the concept of sustainability in businesses and operations is growing either due to increasing public interest, regulatory pressures, or corporate social responsibility. However, where and how to integrate sustainability needs further development for broadening its applications. Using Lean and Six Sigma (LSS) principles in sustainability studies is becoming popular in research and practice. The common approach in these studies is to identify a sustainability project followed by current state sustainability performance assessment, and then work towards improving sustainability performance using LSS tools. The goal of this study was to develop a model framework to fully embed sustainability …

Usu Researchers Evaluate Drones For Bridge Inspections | College Of Engineering, Usu College Of Engineering

College of Engineering News

Researchers at Utah State University are evaluating the effectiveness of using drones to inspect cracks of concern underneath bridges.

Meta-Learning Related Tasks With Recurrent Networks: Optimization And Generalization, Thy Nguyen, A. Steven Younger, Emmett Redd, Tayo Obafemi-Ajayi

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

There have been recent interest in meta-learning systems: I.e., networks that are trained to learn across multiple tasks. This paper focuses on optimization and generalization of a meta-learning system based on recurrent networks. The optimization investigates the influence of diverse structures and parameters on its performance. We demonstrate the generalization (robustness) of our meta-learning system to learn across multiple tasks including tasks unseen during the meta training phase. We introduce a meta-cost function (Mean Squared Fair Error) that enhances the performance of the system by not penalizing it during transitions to learning a new task. Evaluation results are presented for …

Elm-Som: A Continuous Self-Organizing Map For Visualization, Renjie Hu, Venous Roshdibenam, Hans J. Johnson, Emil Eirola, Anton Akusok, Yoan Miche, Kaj Mikael Björk, Amaury Lendasse

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This Paper Presents a Novel Dimensionality Reduction Technique: Elm-Som. This Technique Preserves the Intrinsic Quality of Self-Organizing Maps (Som): It is Nonlinear and Suitable for Big Data. It Also Brings Continuity to the Projection using Two Extreme Learning Machine (Elm) Models, the First One to Perform the Dimensionality Reduction and the Second One to Perform the Reconstruction. Elm-Som is Tested Successfully on Six Diverse Datasets. Regarding Reconstruction Error, Elm-Som is Comparable to Som While Bringing Continuity.

Off-Policy Integral Reinforcement Learning For Semi-Global Constrained Output Regulation Of Continuous-Time Linear Systems, Yongliang Yang, Xianzhong Chen, Yixin Yin, Donald C. Wunsch

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This paper presents a data-driven method based on off-policy integral reinforcement learning to solve the semi-global output regulation of continuous-time linear systems with input saturation. A family of state feedback laws for the input constrained output regulation problem is designed based on solving an algebraic Riccati equation. In contrast to the existing methods, complete knowledge of the system dynamics is no longer required in this paper. Instead, the data collected from online implementation is efficiently utilized to design the controller. Therefore, the controller design in this paper is data driven. It is shown that the presented method can find feedback …

Civil Engineering And Construction News, Georgia Southern University

Civil Engineering & Construction: News & Publications (2011-2022)

• Professor and Chair – Search # 67642

Identifying Key Factors Associated With High Risk Asthma Patients To Reduce The Cost Of Health Resources Utilization, Amani Ahmad

LSU Master's Theses

Asthma is associated with frequent use of primary health services and places a burden on the United States economy. Identifying key factors associated with increased cost of asthma is an essential step to improve practices of asthma management.

The aim of this study was to identify factors associated with over utilization of primary health services and increased cost via claims data and to explore the effectiveness of case management program in reducing overall asthma related cost.

Claims data analysis for Medicaid insured asthma patients in Louisiana was conducted. Asthma patients were identified using their ICD-9 and ICD-10 codes, forward variable …

Thin-Film Block Copolymers (Bcps) Self-Assembly As Versatile Patterning Scheme For Functional Nanomaterials, Le Zhang

LSU Master's Theses

Nanopattern generation is required for building various structural entities in every production process that involves nanostructures. Advancing nanopatterning technologies play an important role in developing and broadening the current nanopatterning technologies to meet up with the ever-demanding requirements in the realm of smaller feature sizes, smoother line-edge roughness (LER) and facile pattern transfer in pursuit of faster computer processors, better electrocatalysts and more compact and intelligent sensors, etc. Conventionally, patterning needs are heavily relied on photolithography, a technique that dominate chip-making industry for more than 50 years. However conventional photolithography is bounded by inherent resolution limits and difficult to be …

Climbing The Crustal Ladder: Magma Storage-Depth Evolution During A Volcanic Flare-Up, Guilherme A. R. Gualda, Darren M. Gravley, Michelle Connor, Brooke Hollmann, Ayla S. Pamukcu, Florence Begue, Mark S. Ghiorso, Chad Deering

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

Very large eruptions (>50 km³) and supereruptions (>450 km³) reveal Earth’s capacity to produce and store enormous quantities (>1000 km³) of crystal-poor, eruptible magma in the shallow crust. We explore the interplay between crustal evolution and volcanism during a volcanic flare-up in the Taupo Volcanic Zone (TVZ, New Zealand) using a combination of quartz-feldspar-melt equilibration pressures and time scales of quartz crystallization. Over the course of the flare-up, crystallization depths became progressively shallower, showing the gradual conditioning of the crust. Yet, quartz crystallization times were invariably very short (<100 years), demonstrating that very large reservoirs of eruptible magma were transient crustal features. We conclude that the dynamic nature of the TVZ crust favored magma eruption over storage. Episodic tapping of eruptible magmas likely prevented a supereruption. Instead, multiple very large bodies of eruptible magma were assembled and erupted in decadal time scales.

Using Augmented Reality To Enhance Learning Experiences About Electrical Circuits, Juan Estrella

Publications and Research

The term Augmented Reality (AR) refers to the technologies that superimpose digital content generated by computers over the user’s view of the real world. AR technologies enhance the version of the physical environment with computer-generated sensory input such as sound, video, or graphics overlaid on top of the real-world view. In recent years, AR has moved beyond expensive military applications and has now entered a wide variety of domains. In engineering education, AR technologies can serve as a learning aid as well as a basis for innovation. The technology provides 3-D visualizations that allow to: (i) observe flaws in designs …

Evaluating The Effect Of Shear Stress On Graft-To Zwitterionic Polycarboxybetaine Coating Stability Using A Flow Cell, Andrew Belanger, Andre Decarmine, Shaoyi Jiang, Keith Cook, Kagya Amoako

Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Faculty Publications

The effect of surface coatings on the performance of antifouling activity under flow can be influenced by the flow/coating interactions. This study evaluates the effect of surface coatings on antifouling activity under different flows for the analyses of coating stability. This was done by exposing DOPA-PCB-300/dopamine coated polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) to physiological shear stresses using a recirculation system which consisted of dual chamber acrylic flow cells, tygon tubing, flow probe and meter, and perfusion pumps. The effect of shear stress induced by phosphate buffered saline flow on coating stability was characterized with differences in fibrinogen adsorption between control (coated PDMS not …

A Study Of Pipe Co-Flow Into A Channel, Charles Yalung, Moses Karakouzian

AANAPISI Poster Presentations

This poster was presented in the Fall of 2018. It highlighted an ongoing research project into the effects of co-flow from a pipe feeding into an open flow channel. It used both experimental procedures and simulations, but only the experimental procedures were addressed in this poster.

Infrared Thermography For Weld Inspection: Feasibility And Application, Sattar Dorafshan, Marc Maguire, William Collins

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications

Traditional ultrasonic testing (UT) techniques have been widely used to detect surface and sub-surface defects of welds. UT inspection is a contact method which burdens the manufacturer by storing hot specimens for inspection when the material is cool. Additionally, UT is only valid for 5 mm specimens or thicker and requires a highly skilled operator to perform the inspections and interpret the signals. Infrared thermography (IRT) has the potential to be implemented for weld inspections due to its non-contact nature. In this study, the feasibility of using IRT to overcome the limitations of UT inspection is investigated to detect inclusion, …

Evolution From Cooling Modeling To Cooling Engineering Of The Steel Quenching Process: A Technology Overview, Xinmin Luo, George Totten

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

The type of heat treatment process used is mainly determined by its cooling mode. Hardening is a metal heat treatment during which the most critical operation is cooling. Most quenchants used for steel hardening are vaporizable liquids, such as water, petroleum oils, emulsions, aqueous polymer solutions, or brines. Testing methodologies that include ISO 9950, Industrial Quenching Oils-determination of Cooling Characteristics-Nickel-alloy Probe Test Method, and ASTM Standards: D6200, Standard Test Method for Determination of Cooling Characteristics of Quench Oils by Cooling Curve Analysis, D6482, Standard Test Method for Determination of Cooling Characteristics of Aqueous Polymer Quenchants by Cooling Curve Analysis with …

College Of Engineering News, Georgia Southern University

College of Engineering & Computing: News & Publications (2010-2023)

• Three Georgia Southern students win Georgia Utility Contractors scholarships

The Grape Remote Sensing Atmospheric Profile And Evapotranspiration Experiment, William P. Kustas, Martha C. Anderson, Joseph G. Alfieri, Kyle Knipper, Alfonso F. Torres-Rua, Christopher K. Parry, Hector Nieto, Nurit Agam, William A. White, Feng Gao, Lynn Mckee, John H. Prueger, Lawrence E. Hipps, Sebastian A. Los, Maria Mar Alsina, Luis Sanchez, Brent Sams, Nick Dokoozlian, Mac Mckee, Scott B. Jones, Yun Yang, Tiffany G. Wilson, Fangni Lei, Andrew Mcelrone, Josh L. Heitman, Adam M. Howard, Kirk Post, Forrest Melton, Christopher Hain

AggieAir Publications

Particularly in light of California’s recent multiyear drought, there is a critical need for accurate and timely evapotranspiration (ET) and crop stress information to ensure long-term sustainability of high-value crops. Providing this information requires the development of tools applicable across the continuum from subfield scales to improve water management within individual fields up to watershed and regional scales to assess water resources at county and state levels. High-value perennial crops (vineyards and orchards) are major water users, and growers will need better tools to improve water-use efficiency to remain economically viable and sustainable during periods of prolonged drought. To develop …

A New Framework For Securing, Extracting And Analyzing Big Forensic Data, Hitesh Sachdev, Hayden Wimmer, Lei Chen, Carl Rebman

Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law

Finding new methods to investigate criminal activities, behaviors, and responsibilities has always been a challenge for forensic research. Advances in big data, technology, and increased capabilities of smartphones has contributed to the demand for modern techniques of examination. Smartphones are ubiquitous, transformative, and have become a goldmine for forensics research. Given the right tools and research methods investigating agencies can help crack almost any illegal activity using smartphones. This paper focuses on conducting forensic analysis in exposing a terrorist or criminal network and introduces a new Big Forensic Data Framework model where different technologies of Hadoop and EnCase software are …

Unified Business Intelligence Ecosystem: A Project Management Approach To Address Business Intelligence Challenges, Bhavana Ramesh, Akash Ramakrishna

Engineering and Technology Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

The purpose of this paper is to explore a concept that improves the success rate of Business Intelligence projects by looking at it as an ecosystem rather than standalone project. This paper discusses the importance on Business Intelligence (BI) initiatives and today's challenges in implementing them. The concentration is on using proven practices of project management to reduce the failure rates of the Business Intelligence projects by evaluating currently existing Information Technology (IT) project process, Business Intelligence frameworks and a Project Vulnerability process in order to adopt some of the best project management practices that works for Business Intelligence projects. …

Service Innovation In The Cloud: Implications For Strategy Development, Robert R. Harmon, Enrique G. Castro-Leon

Engineering and Technology Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Cloud enterprises have shifted from linear to networked business models through a value transformation process centered on the development of multisided service platforms. These platforms facilitate service exchange and value cocreation by enabling three essential transitions: 1. from control to orchestration of enterprise resources, 2. from internal optimization to external interactions, and 3. from customer value to ecosystem value. Innovative service transformation is most in evidence with enterprises that are native cloud companies or companies that have more rapidly and effectively adopted ecosystem-based service platforms such as Netflix, Google, Facebook, Uber and Airbnb. Service ecosystems enable the critical processes for …

Genomics, Rare Diseases, And Disruptive Innovation In The Biopharmaceutical Industry, Mark J. Ahn, Amir Shaygan, Charles Weber

Engineering and Technology Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

The multinational biopharmaceutical industry has to deal with significant financial pressures due to being a very cost-constrained and highly regulated industry. To add to that, finite patent expirations on financially successful drugs, vying nature of the biotech industry due to new innovations. There has been an increase of smaller markets due to the proliferation of molecular segmentation patient populations in fields such as personalized medicine. Particularly, due to the significant cost reducing impacts of the development of "next-generation" sequence platforms on DNA sequencing in the last decade, molecular diagnostics are being considered as cost effective candidates to be used as …

Technology Planning For Aligning Emerging Business Models And Regulatory Structures - The Case Of Electric Vehicle Charging And The Smart Grid, Kelly Cowan, Tugrul Daim

Engineering and Technology Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Smart Grid has the potential to produce over $2 trillion of benefits in the US utility sector over the next 20 years, according to a study by the Electric Power Research Institute. However, the study also projects significant costs of up to $476 billion to achieve these returns. Therefore, while smart grid represents an enormous opportunity, with a benefit-to-cost ratio of nearly 6 to 1, given the enormous financial sums at stake, it is crucial that the planning process for smart grid be done with extreme care. Planning the deployment of smart grid technology in the electric utility sector can …

Organizational Project Management (Opm): Exploring Its Need In Organizations, Yaser Alnasri, Jeffrey S. Busch

Engineering and Technology Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Organizational Project Management (OPM) is not a "thing" or a "procedure" rather, it can almost be described as a "state of being" or "harmony" in the alignment of what an organization does and how it gets there. OPM has the responsibility to enhance and improve how an organization achieves its strategic goals. It provides organizations with an intelligent approach to deal effectively with the various projects and programs required by the market, its organizational stakeholders, and regulatory agencies, all within the organization's limited resources. OPM has the responsibility to support the alignment between the organization's business strategy and its projects …

Novel Approach To Managing Technological Entrepreneurship Using A Model-Based Systems Approach To Develop Low Cost Earth Orbiting Satellites, Gary Langford, Jeffery Carpenter, Ian Watkins, Brock Marsh, Lucas Beaulieu

Engineering and Technology Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

The ability to send low cost satellites into space has changed the satellite industry and vastly opened up the use of satellites to transform data into information for individuals, organizations, commercial companies, and governments. This information can be corroborated with other sources of data to evaluate the availability of precious resources, e.g., potable water, agriculture; to forecast upcoming famines or diseases; and to perform mapping, communications, and competitive analyses. The cost of owning a satellite is less than 100,000(usingcommercialparts)to1,000 (built by school kids). Launch costs are tens of thousands of dollars, which can be eliminated through subsidies. Compare these costs …

Nokia Phones: From A Total Success To A Total Fiasco, Ahmed Alibage, Charles Weber

Engineering and Technology Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

This research intensively reviews and analyzes the strategic management of technology at Nokia Corporation. Using traditional narrative literature review and secondary sources, we reviewed and analyzed the historical transformation of Nokia's core business, leadership strategies, business architecture, R&D policy, innovation strategy, product lunch, and smartphones recognition and demonstration. We identified various strategic gaps that the previous analytical studies seemingly have missed to identify and generalize. Therefore, we add to the literature a bundle of the lessons learned that chronologically explain how Nokia failed to create and sustain competitive advantages, particularly in the smartphone market. We concluded that the problem at …

Exploratory Strategic Roadmapping Framework For Big Data Privacy Issues, Maoloud Dabab, Rebecca Craven, Husam Barham, Elizabeth Gibson

Engineering and Technology Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

The applications of Big Data continue to expand, due to the many possibilities and unprecedented insights it offers to people, organizations, and communities. However, Big Data poses serious challenges as well, including challenges to the privacy and security of individuals and their data. This paper considers how to best address one concern related to Big Data: the social problems that the pervasiveness of data collection, analysis, and storage create with regard to individuals' ability to control their own data. The paper uses Quality Function Deployment (QFD) and Technology Roadmapping analysis methods to assess the social problems, technologies, resources, and industries …

Dynamics Of Competition And Strategy: A Literature Review Of Strategic Management Models And Frameworks, Mohammadsaleh Saadatmand, Maoloud Dabab, Charles Weber

Engineering and Technology Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

This research reviews a comprehensive and somehow chronological literature in the models and frameworks of competition and strategy. Strategic management research is shaped around a core question that why some firms outperform others; several significant lines of work have emerged in the strategic management field since its infancy. These include industrial organization, the resource-based view and dynamic capabilities. Also, Competition essentially has been the focal point of scholars with diverse perspectives such as industrial economics and structural analysis, strategic groups, game theory, and competitive dynamics. In this research, we represent and summarize different perspectives of scholars in framing competition and …