Engineering Commons^™

Properties Of Cassava Starch Based Bioplastic Reinforced By Nanoclay, Nanang Eko Wahyuningtiyas, Heru Suryanto

Journal of Mechanical Engineering Science and Technology (JMEST)

Synthetic Synthetic plastic is chemical materials which cause severe environmental problems. Incinerating plastic waste leads to release of hazardous gases, which is not good for humans. Bioplastic can help reduce the dependence on fossil fuels and petroleum, that bioplastic can solve the problem of synthetic plastic use. This research aims to define the properties of the cassava starch-based bioplastic reinforced by nanoclay. Methods were experimental with bioplastic component of cassava starch, glycerol as plasticizer and nanoclay as reinforcement. The bioplastic was analyzed using XRD, tensile test, moisture absorption, biodegradability, and compared with another bioplastic. The results show that the addition …

Full Field Computing For Elastic Pulse Dispersion In Inhomogeneous Bars, A. Berezovski, R. Kolman, M. Berezovski, D. Gabriel, V. Adamek

Publications

In the paper, the finite element method and the finite volume method are used in parallel for the simulation of a pulse propagation in periodically layered composites beyond the validity of homogenization methods. The direct numerical integration of a pulse propagation demonstrates dispersion effects and dynamic stress redistribution in physical space on example of a one-dimensional layered bar. Results of numerical simulations are compared with analytical solution constructed specifically for the considered problem. Analytical solution as well as numerical computations show the strong influence of the composition of constituents on the dispersion of a pulse in a heterogeneous bar and …

Understanding Asphalt Concrete Aging Using Nanoindentation, Hasan M. Faisal

Civil Engineering ETDs

Asphalt concrete (AC) is created by mixing liquid asphalt binder with solid aggregates. When asphalt binder is mixed with aggregates, it creates a thin film (about 7-16 microns thick) around the aggregate surface. Fine aggregate (smaller than 0.075 mm size) get entrapped within the binder film or mixed with the binder, and create a phase called mastic. Both asphalt film and mastic play significant roles in aging of asphalt pavement. To this day, tests were performed mainly on the bulk liquid asphalt, but not on the film or mastic. In this study, for the first time, nanoindentation tests were done …

Hand Movement Detection In Collaborative Learning Environment Videos, Callie J. Darsey

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

Human activity detection in digital videos is currently attracting significant research interest. This problem is especially challenging for video datasets that have a lot of human activity, illumination noise, and structural noise. The video dataset associated with the Advancing Out of School Learning in Mathematics and Engineering (AOLME) project has these challenges. ALOME videos have been used in the study of human activities “in the wild”.

This thesis explores detection of hand movement using color and optical flow. Exploratory analysis considered the problem component wise on components created from thresholds applied to motion and color. The proposed approach uses patch …

Decision-Making Framework For The Selection Of Sustainable Alternatives For Energy-Retrofits, Amirhosein Jafari

Civil Engineering ETDs

Buildings are major consumers of energy worldwide. On the other hand, over 60% of the US housing inventory is over 30 years old and a large number of these homes are energy inefficient. Therefore, it is essential to target the existing building stock for energy efficient interventions as a key to substantially reduce the adverse impacts of buildings on the environment and economy.

Building energy retrofitting has emerged as a primary strategy for reducing energy use and carbon emissions in existing buildings. An energy retrofit can be defined as a physical or operational change in a building, its energy-consuming equipment, …

Tunneling In Si Mos Nanostructures, Amir Shirkhorshidian

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

In this dissertation, split-gate tunnel barriers in enhancement-mode silicon metal- oxide-semiconductor (MOS) device structures are characterized electrically at liquid helium temperatures (T = 4.2 K) using transport spectroscopy. Tunnel barriers with different gate geometries and barriers implanted with a small number of antimony donor atoms are characterized. Low disorder MOS tunnel barriers are demonstrated and compared to the implanted cases. The ”clean” MOS tunnel barriers are an important proof of principle that disorder free tunnel barriers can be achieved in MOS. The implanted cases provide an important reference for the effects of donors and shallow traps on a MOS tunnel …

College Of Engineering Welcomes New Engineering Technician, Usu College Of Engineering

College of Engineering News

USU’s College of Engineering welcomes Hal Chugg as the new professional engineering technician.

Unpacking Shame As Experienced By Three White Male Engineering Students, Kanembe Shanachilubwa

McNair Scholars Research

The following is a cross-sectional examination of an ongoing investigation of shame in the context of engineering education. White male junior level engineering students were recruited to participate in individual interviews centered around their experiences and expectations as undergraduates. The study sought to investigate how these students experienced shame within the context of engineering education using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) as the research method. As the current results and finding only represent three fully analyzed cases out of five total, broad and definitive conclusions about the study group will be withheld. Instead, I will give each of the three represented …

Automated Merging Control Algorithm: A Cooperative Approach For Connected Automated Vehicles In Platoons, Sogand Karbalaieali

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Transportation systems are being transformed by advanced vehicular connectivity and automation. Human-driven vehicles are being replaced by Connected Automated Vehicles (CAV). The US Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Intelligent Transportation System Joint Program Office (ITS JPO) promotes automated vehicle research which encourages the development and deployment of automated vehicles by infrastructure-based solutions. Advancements in traffic design and operation can offer solutions to the challenges that CAVs face. An example of these challenges is merging on highways where traffic operation could be enhanced by the use of Vehicle to Infrastructure (V2I) communication between the onramp and the mainline vehicles and roadside units …

Preface, Shahram Latifi

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Research

No abstract provided.

The Singularity May Be Near, Roman V. Yampolskiy

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Toby Walsh in "The Singularity May Never Be Near" gives six arguments to support his point of view that technological singularity may happen, but that it is unlikely. In this paper, we provide analysis of each one of his arguments and arrive at similar conclusions, but with more weight given to the "likely to happen" prediction.

Digital Design Of Intralogistics Systems: Flexible And Agile Solutions To Short-Cyclic Fluctuations, Christoph Pott, Anike Murrenhoff, Moritz Wernecke, Philipp-Akira Burger

International Material Handling Research Colloquium

Poster 20

Urban Parcel Logistics Hub And Network Design: The Impact Of Modularity And Hyperconnectivity, Benoit Montreuil, Shannon Buckley, Louis Faugere, Reem Khir, Shahab Derhami

International Material Handling Research Colloquium

Poster 27

Integrated Intermodal Network Design With Nonlinear Inter-Hub Movement Costs, Mohammad Ghane-Ezabadi, Hector A. Vergara

International Material Handling Research Colloquium

Poster 11

On The Unique Features And Benefits Of On-Demand Distribution Models, Jennifer Pazour, Kaan Unnu

International Material Handling Research Colloquium

Poster 6

Minimizing The Variance Of Fulfillment Cycle Time In A Central Fill Pharmacy: Why And How, Mohamed El Tonbari, Leon Mcginnis

International Material Handling Research Colloquium

Poster 31

Dynamic Batching For Order Picking In Warehouses, Jelmer Pier Van Der Gaast, Bolor Jargalsaikhan, Kees Jan Roodbergen

International Material Handling Research Colloquium

Poster 26

Shuttle-Based Storage And Retrieval Systems With Robotic Order-Picking Shuttle Carrier, Tone Lerher

International Material Handling Research Colloquium

Poster 12

Transportation Service Provider Collaboration: Benefits And Insights, Steven Roesch, Kimberly Ellis

International Material Handling Research Colloquium

Poster 30

My Catalyst, Gabrielle Gambino Lyon

Celebration of Learning

Over the course of my internship and shadow program with Pepper Lawson Construction and Ziegler Cooper Architects, I was able to explore the various career paths involved in the design, construction, and civil engineering fields. My work on the construction site of a high-rise apartment building located in the heart of Houston, TX allowed me first-hand experience working and learning alongside project engineers, contractors, building developers, and the construction team.

This project was the perfect confluence of my main areas of interest: structural, mechanical, civil, and environmental engineering, as well as architecture. My daily work consisted of on-site walk throughs, …

Data-Based Nonlinear Model Identification In Economic Model Predictive Control, Laura Giuliani, Helen Durand

Chemical Engineering and Materials Science Faculty Research Publications

Many chemical/petrochemical processes in industry are not completely modeled from a first-principles perspective because of the complexity of the underlying physico-chemical phenomena and the cost of obtaining more accurate, physically relevant models. System identification methods have been utilized successfully for developing empirical, though not necessarily physical, models for advanced model-based control designs such as model predictive control (MPC) for decades. However, a fairly recent development in MPC is economic model predictive control (EMPC), which is an MPC formulated with an economics-based objective function that may operate a process in a dynamic (i.e., off steady-state) fashion, in which case the details …

Reliability Of Solder Joints In Embedded Packages Using Finite Element Methods, Valeri Aisha Yunusa

Dissertations and Theses

Solder joints serve as both mechanical and electrical connections between elements in a package. They are subjected to shear strains generated as a result of the different behaviors of the elements in the package (tension and compression) due to the differences in coefficients of thermal expansion during service conditions.

Some of the causes of solder joint failures are due to the following:

Vibration: small rapid displacements of parts of the assembly. This is not necessarily an issue with electronic components but larger parts like automobiles.

Humidity: the package being exposed to water or ionic species can undergo corrosion if an …

Cmos Radioactive Isotope Identification With Multichannel Analyzer And Embedded Neural Network, Samuel Murray

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

A radiation detection and identification system is designed and implemented to perform gamma ray spectroscopy on radioactive sources and identify which isotopes are present in the sources. A multichannel analyzer is implemented on an ASIC to process the signal produced from gamma rays detected by a scintillator and photomultiplier tube and to quantize the gamma ray energies to build a histogram. A fast, low memory embedded neural network is implemented on a microcontroller ASIC to identify the isotopes present in the gamma ray histogram produced by the multichannel analyzer in real time.

Advisors: Sina Balkir and Michael W. Hoffman

Plant Community Composition, Floristic Quality, And Establishment Of Roadside Revegetation In Nebraska, Usa, Jonathan M. Soper

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Roadside revegetation poses a challenge and opportunity for biodiversity conservation, as the land area occupied by roadsides is not expected to decline in the future. In the context of roadside revegetation activities in rural regions dominated by agricultural land uses, revegetation efforts can establish plant communities that offer unique species that would otherwise be absent on the landscape. To determine the efficacy of roadside revegetation efforts in 1) providing plant communities of high biodiversity value and 2) meeting the expectations of roadside revegetation managers for establishment, we quantified botanical composition, floristic quality, and success in seeding efforts to meet manager …

Neuroimaging Biomarkers Of Mtor Inhibition On Vascular And Metabolic Functions In Aging Brain And Alzheimer’S Disease, Jennifer Lee, Lucille M. Yanckello, David Ma, Jared D. Hoffman, Ishita Parikh, Scott Thalman, Bjoern Bauer, Anika M. S. Hartz, Fahmeed Hyder, Ai-Ling Lin

Pharmacology and Nutritional Sciences Faculty Publications

The mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) is a nutrient sensor of eukaryotic cells. Inhibition of mechanistic mTOR signaling can increase life and health span in various species via interventions that include rapamycin and caloric restriction (CR). In the central nervous system, mTOR inhibition demonstrates neuroprotective patterns in aging and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) by preserving mitochondrial function and reducing amyloid beta retention. However, the effects of mTOR inhibition for in vivo brain physiology remain largely unknown. Here, we review recent findings of in vivo metabolic and vascular measures using non-invasive, multimodal neuroimaging methods in rodent models for brain aging and AD. …

Irrigation Management, Environment, And Profits: Who Wins?, Emily O'Donnell

Department of Agricultural Economics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The impact of irrigation technology on farmers’ management strategies and resulting environmental benefits depends upon agronomic properties and market forces. We evaluate the role of deficit irrigation using soil moisture probe technology on corn yield and evapotranspiration, which is a measure of water use efficiency. Evapotranspiration represents the water that transits through the plant during planting to harvest (transpiration) and the evaporation from the soil into the environment, or the displaced water in the production process. We develop yield and evapotranspiration response functions to inform a constrained profit maximization model used to identify the optimal irrigation level across a variety …

Reverse Flotation Separation Of Fluorite From Calcite: A Novel Reagent Scheme, Jianjun Wang, Zihan Zhou, Yuesheng Gao, Wei Sun, Yuehua Hu, Zhiyong Gao

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

Fluorite (CaF₂), as an important strategic mineral source, is usually separated from calcite by the common froth flotation method, but this separation is still not selective enough. The development of a selective collector and/or depressant is the key to achieving high selective separation. 1-Hydroxyethylidene-1,1-diphosphonic acid (HEDP or H₄L) is widely used as an environmentally friendly water treatment reagent due to its low cost and excellent anti-scaling performance in an aqueous solution. In this study, a novel reagent scheme was developed using HEDP as a fluorite depressant and sodium oleate (NaOL) as a calcite collector for the …

A Performance Calculator For Shuttle-Based Storage And Retrieval System Design, Banu Yetkin Ekren, Anil Akpumar, Tone Lerher

International Material Handling Research Colloquium

Poster 28

A Framework For Modeling Material Handling With Decentralized Control, Kevin Gue, Kai Furmans

International Material Handling Research Colloquium

Poster 23

An Integrated Network Modeling Framework For Analysis Of Multi-Line Order Pick Systems, Debjit Roy, Vishal Bansal

International Material Handling Research Colloquium

Poster 16