Engineering Commons^™

Montana Tech's Underground Mine Education Center, Scott Rosenthal, Pete Knudsen

Mining Engineering

SME Annual Meeting, Feb. 24-27, 2018, Denver, CO. Preprint 19-057.

Discusses development and use of the Montana Tech Underground Mine Education Center (UMEC).

The Santa Clara, 2018-02-01, Santa Clara University

The Santa Clara

No abstract provided.

Illuminator, Volume 1, Issue 5, Batten College Of Engineering & Technology, Old Dominion University

College of Engineering & Technology Newsletter

February 2018 issue of Illuminator, a monthly publication of ODU's Batten College of Engineering and Technology.

An Uncertainty-Aware Workflow For Keyhole Surgery Planning Using Hierarchical Image Semantics, Christina Gillmann, Robin G.C. Maack, Tobias Post, Thomas Wischgoll, Hans Hagen

Computer Science and Engineering Faculty Publications

Keyhole surgeries become increasingly important in clinical daily routine as they help minimizing the damage of a patient's healthy tissue. The planning of keyhole surgeries is based on medical imaging and an important factor that influences the surgeries' success. Due to the image reconstruction process, medical image data contains uncertainty that exacerbates the planning of a keyhole surgery. In this paper we present a visual workfiow that helps clinicians to examine and compare different surgery paths as well as visualizing the patients' affected tissue. The analysis is based on the concept of hierarchical image semantics, that segment the underlying image …

The Development Of A Learning Dashboard For Lecturers: A Case Study On A Student-Centered E-Learning Environment, Harry B. Santoso, Alivia Khaira Batuparan, R. Yugo K. Isal, Wade H. Goodridge

Engineering Education Faculty Publications

Student Centered e-Learning Environment (SCELE) is a Moodle-based learning management system (LMS) that has been modified to enhance learning within a computer science department curriculum offered by the Faculty of Computer Science of large public university in Indonesia. This Moodle provided a mechanism to record students’ activities when engaged in learning with e-Learning software. However, while the software captured the data and presented it adequately, there is room for enhancement and further refinement. The purpose of this research is to investigate and understand lecturer needs as they monitor student activities in SCELE and then develop a learning monitoring tool capable …

Electro-Kinetic Remediation Processes -- A Brief Overview And Selected Applications, Chandra Mouli Tummala, Sanjay Tewari

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this growing world the need for in-situ remediation has grown importance for various reasons. In-situ remediation is the application of remediation in the subsurface – as compared to ex-situ remediation, which applies to media readily accessible above ground and many times involves excavation and disruption of the soil. In-situ remediation may be applied in the unsaturated/vadoze zone or in saturated soils and groundwater. Anthropogenic activities (municipal and industrial) have resulted in contamination in subsurface soil/water environment. There are several in-situ remediation methods for example bio-remediation, thermal desorption, soil vapor extraction, and soil flushing just to name a few.

The …

Students' And Instructor's Perspective On The Use Of Blackboard Platform For Delivering An Engineering Course, Jacek Uziak, M. Tunde Oladiran, Edmund Lorencowicz, Kurt Becker

Engineering Education Faculty Publications

The use of Information Technology (IT) has been growing over the years in various human endeavours. It has also been adopted in education sector for teaching and learning. Various studies have been conducted to assess the effectiveness and acceptance of e-learning strategy by students. In particular, the current research is an attempt to obtain students’ and instructor’s perspective on the use of Blackboard software. The technology is a course management system used in a blended learning mode to deliver a third year mechanical engineering course at the University of Botswana (UB). In terms of students’ views, the study covered a …

Accelerating The Implementation Of Secondary Water Metering In Utah, Western Resource Advocates

All In-stream Flows Material

Utah is one of the fastest-growing states in the US, ⁱ and among the most arid. Water conservation has been identified by the state and many local communities as a key strategy for managing water supplies under these conditions. ⁱⁱ

Inspire E-News 02 2018, College Of Engineering And Applied Sciences

College of Engineering and Applied Sciences News

• WMU's College of Engineering and Applied Sciences is celebrating Pi Day 2018
• WMU researcher finds a way to repair heart defects using 3D printing
• The Funny Side of Engineering
• College will celebrate National Engineers Week 2018
• State of the college presented at February meeting
• Golden Opportunity - Tonya Noble returns to college to speak at event
• The Next Generation of Paper Makers

Condensation And Subsequent Freezing Delays As A Result Of Using Femtosecond Laser Functionalized Surfaces, Chongji Huang, Ryan Bell, Alfred Tsubaki, Craig Zuhlke, Dennis Alexander

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

In this paper, the authors report on the use of femtosecond laser surface processing (FLSP) to enhance the anti-icing properties of a commonly used aircraft alloy, Al 7075-O Clad. By changing the surface morphology through FLSP and the surface chemistry through siloxane vapor deposition, the wettability of Al 7075-O Clad was altered. Tall mound and short mound FLSP functionalized surfaces were created through two sets of laser parameters. Condensation and the subsequent freezing of condensates on FLSP Al 7075-O Clad was studied. Both structure height and surface wettability were shown to play a role in the delay of freezing. Freezing …

Future Hydrological Alterations In The Mekong Delta Under The Impact Of Water Resources Development, Land Subsidence And Sea Level Rise, Thanh Duc Dang, Thomas A. Cochrane, Mauricio E. Arias, Van Pham Dang Tri

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Study Region: The Mekong floodplains and delta are among the most agriculturally productive and biologically diverse waterscapes of the world, but sea level rise, land subsidence, and the proposed upstream development of over 126 hydropower dams and extensive delta-based water infrastructure have raised concern due to potential impacts on the hydrology of the region.

Study Focus: This study aims to quantify the effects of water infrastructure development, land subsidence and sea level rise on hydrological regimes of the Mekong floodplains and delta through the development and application of a hydrodynamic model.

New Hydrological Insights for the Region: Depending on hydrological …

An Airplane-Helicopter Hybrid Called Racer Is A New Convertiplane Design From Airbus, Nihad E. Daidzic

Aviation Department Publications

Airbus recently unveiled an airplane-hybrid design named Rapid and Cost Efficient Rotorcraft (RACER)...I'll explore the aerodynamics that make such a design possible.

Overseas Chinese Environmental Engineers And Scientists Association (Oceesa) Report, Special Issue, February 2018, Jim Ho, Jacqueline Huang, Jolynn Huang, Yung-Tse Hung, Nancy Riley, Alina Waring

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

This Overseas Chinese Environmental Engineers and Scientists Association (OCEESA) report is Overseas Chinese Environmental Engineers and Scientists Association (OCEESA) Journal, Volume 35, Number S1, February 2018. This special issue of OCEESA Journal (Overseas Chinese Environmental Engineers and Scientists Association Journal) is dedicated to the memory of Professor Ju-Chang Howard Huang 黄汝常教授. This issue includes OCEESA Profile, 2018 OCEESA Officers and Board of Directors. This issue also includes: (1) Forewords of Special Issue, Dedicated to Memory of Prof. Ju-Chang Howard Huang, by Yung-Tse Hung; (2) Obituary of Professor Ju-Chang Howard Huang; (3) Biography of Professor Ju-Chang …

Secrecy And Randomness: Encoding Cloud Data Locally Using A One-Time Pad, Paul Tobin, Lee Edward Tobin, Mick Mckeever, Jonathan Blackledge

Articles

There is no secrecy without randomness, and we address poor cloud security using an analogue chaotic onetime pad encryption system to achieve perfect secrecy. Local encoding returns control to the client and makes stored cloud data unreadable to an adversary. Most cloud service providers encode client data using public encryption algorithms, but ultimately businesses and organisations are responsible for encoding data locally before uploading to the Cloud. As recommended by the Cloud Security Alliance, companies employing authentication and local encryption will reduce or eliminate, EU fines for late data breach discoveries when the EU implements the new general data protection …

Propeller Design Requirements For Quadcopters Utilizing Variable Pitch Propellers, Ian R. Mcandrew, Elena Navarro, Ken Witcher

Publications

Unmanned aerial vehicles, UAV, has increases in the drastically in these past several years since their costs reduced. This research is based and built upon previous research presented in a conference. With the advent of commercial Quadcopters, four propeller systems, are used, being designed and used to operate the advantages of both flight and hovering. The basic design of their propeller blades has not evolved from the early days of manned flight when wooden fixed blades were used. In this paper that expands upon previous findings and discussions it explores the historical developments. Furthermore, how the expansion and reduction in …

Climate-Driven Crop Yield And Yield Variability And Climate Change Impacts On The U.S. Great Plains Agricultural Production, Meetpal Singh Kukal, Suat Irmak

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Climate variability and trends affect global crop yields and are characterized as highly dependent on location, crop type, and irrigation. U.S. Great Plains, due to its significance in national food production, evident climate variability, and extensive irrigation is an ideal region of investigation for climate impacts on food production. This paper evaluates climate impacts on maize, sorghum, and soybean yields and effect of irrigation for individual counties in this region by employing extensive crop yield and climate datasets from 1968–2013. Variability in crop yields was a quarter of the regional average yields, with a quarter of this variability explained by …

On The Soil Water Characteristic Curves Of Poorly Graded Granular Materials In Aqueous Polymer Solutions, Junnan Cao, Jongwon Jung, Xiaoyu Song, Bate Bate

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Tempe cell with a self-developed horizontal hanging column attachment was used to measure the soil water characteristic curves (SWCCs) of granular materials initially saturated with either water or polymer solutions. For SWCCs of six poorly graded granular materials with d50 ranging from 0.04 to 0.7 mm in water, it was found that (1) as grain size decreases, air entry value increases, and matric suction (ψ) for the funicular and pendular regimes increases and that (2) steep desaturation curves over narrow ψ range in the funicular regime were observed. Air entry values obtained from the fitting parameter 1/α in van Genuchten …

Camks Support Development Of Acute Myeloid Leukemia, Xunlei Kang, Jie Huang

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Background: We recently identified the human leukocyte immunoglobulin-like receptor B2 (LILRB2) and its mouse ortholog-paired Ig-like receptor (PirB) as receptors for several angiopoietin-like proteins (Angptls). We also demonstrated that PirB is important for the development of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), but exactly how an inhibitory receptor such as PirB can support cancer development is intriguing. Results: Here, we showed that the activation of Ca (2+)/calmodulin-dependent protein kinases (CAMKs) is coupled with PirB signaling in AML cells. High expression of CAMKs is associated with a poor overall survival probability in patients with AML. Knockdown of CAMKI or CAMKIV decreased human acute …

Phytoforensics: Trees As Bioindicators Of Potential Indoor Exposure Via Vapor Intrusion, Jordan L. Wilson, V. A. Samaranayake, Matt A. Limmer, Joel Gerard Burken

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Research & Creative Works

Human exposure to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) via vapor intrusion (VI) is an emerging public health concern with notable detrimental impacts on public health. Phytoforensics, plant sampling to semi-quantitatively delineate subsurface contamination, provides a potential non-invasive screening approach to detect VI potential, and plant sampling is effective and also time- and cost-efficient. Existing VI assessment methods are time- and resource-intensive, invasive, and require access into residential and commercial buildings to drill holes through basement slabs to install sampling ports or require substantial equipment to install groundwater or soil vapor sampling outside the home. Tree-core samples collected in 2 days at …

Raman Spectroscopy Predicts The Link Between Claw Keratin And Bone Collagen Structure In A Rodent Model Of Oestrogen Deficiency, M. Clare Caraher, Antonia Sophocleous, J. Renwick Beattie, Olive O'Driscoll, Niamh M. Cummins, Orlaith Brennan, Fergal J. O'Brien, Stuart H. Ralston, Steven E.J. Bell, Mark R. Towler, Aymen I. Idris

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Osteoporosis is a common disease characterized by reduced bone mass and an increased risk of fragility fractures. Low bone mineral density is known to significantly increase the risk of osteoporotic fractures; however, the majority of non-traumatic fractures occur in individuals with a bone mineral density too high to be classified as osteoporotic. Therefore, there is an urgent need to investigate aspects of bone health, other than bone mass, that can predict the risk of fracture. Here, we successfully predicted association between bone collagen and nail keratin in relation to bone loss due to oestrogen deficiency using Raman spectroscopy. Raman signal …

Unified Framework For Spam Detection And Risk Assessment In Short Message Communication Media, Sakariyah Adewole Kayode

Student Works (2010-2019)

Short message communication media (SMCM), such as mobile and microblogging social networks, have become essential part of many people daily routine. Despite the benefits offered by these communication media, they have become the popular platforms for distributing spam contents. Research in spam message and spam account detection in SMCM has received growing interests in the recent years, mainly focusing on introducing separate frameworks that can identify spam message or spam account. There are hundreds of published works related to spam message and spam account detection that aim to identify effective detection methods. While spam message and spam account studies have …

Utilization Of Light Detection And Ranging For Quality Control And Quality Assurance Of Pavement Grades, Brad W. Rister, Levi Mcintosh, Gabriel B. Dadi, Ruigang Yang, Eileen Grady

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

Light Detection and Ranging (Lidar) technology is a useful tool that can assist transportation agencies during the design, construction, and maintenance phases of transportation projects. To demonstrate the utility of Lidar, this report discusses how Lidar data can be used while performing quality control and quality assurance (QC/QA) of pavement grades along road segments where safety concerns have been identified (e.g., increased crash rates due to water ponding on the roadway). Researchers modeled surface runoff using Lidar data for several roadways that had experienced significant crash increases during wet-weather events. Based on this modeling, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) undertook …

Focus Energy Determination Of Mining Microseisms Using Residual Seismic Wave Attenuation In Deep Coal Mining, Mingwei Zhang, Shengdong Liu, Shuzhao Chen, Yanlong Chen, Guang Xu, Deyu Qian

Mining Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Based on the energy attenuation characteristics of residual wave in deep rock, a method was developed to determine the microseismic focus energy. Differential energy loss in infinitesimal spreading distance is logically deduced, upon which energy attenuation equation was established. With a logarithmic transformation, a linear relation of the residual seismic energy with distance is formulated. Its intercept was used to determine the microseismic focus energy. The result is compared with that determined by the energy density method. The reliability of the determined focus energy and the impact of the built-in velocity threshold on the residual wave energy computation are discussed. …

Subjectivity In Failure Mode Effects Analysis (Fmea) Severity Classification Within A Reliability Centered Maintenance (Rcm) Context, Marc Banghart, Kari Babski-Reeves, Linkan Bian, Lesley Strawderman

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

This research paper investigated subjectivity in the severity rating of failure modes within a risk analysis process. Although several risk analysis processes can be utilized, the study considered the application of Failure Modes Effects Analysis (FMEA) or Failure Modes Effects and Criticality Analysis (FMECA) due to its common use within the Aerospace Industry. The study investigated both differences in severity selection given varying amounts of experience as well as any association between severity selection and the provided input information. The main goal of the research was to investigate the impact of data quality on severity selection and to identify factors …

Research Design - Phenomenography, Una Beagon, Brian Bowe

Other resources

This presentation proposes the ontological and epistemological assumptions for research design of a phenomenographical study.

Ureteral Tunnel Length Versus Ureteral Orifice Configuration In The Determination Of Ureterovesical Junction Competence: A Computer Simulation Model, Carlos A. Villanueva, J. Tong, Carl A. Nelson, Linxia Gu

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Introduction The long-held belief that a ureteral re-implant tunnel should be five times the diameter of the ureter, as proposed by Paquin in 1959, ignores the effect of the orifice on the occurrence of reflux. In 1969, Lyon proposed that the shape of the ureteral orifice (UO) is more important than the intravesical tunnel. However, both theories missed quantitative evidence from principles of physics. The goal of the current study was to test Lyon’s theory through numerical models (i.e. to quantify the sensitivity of ureterovesical junction (UVJ) competence to intravesical tunnel length and to the UO).

Materials and methods The …

Collaborative Appearance-Based Place Recognition And Improving Place Recognition Using Detection Of Dynamic Objects, Juan Pablo Munoz

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation makes contributions to the problem of Long-Term Appearance-Based Place Recognition. We present a framework for place recognition in a collaborative scheme and a method to reduce the impact of dynamic objects on place representations. We demonstrate our findings using a state-of-the-art place recognition approach.

We begin in Part I by describing the general problem of place recognition and its importance in applications where accurate localization is crucial. We discuss feature detection and description and also explain the functioning of several place recognition frameworks.

In Part II, we present a novel framework for collaboration between agents from a pure …

Probing Changes In Tilt Angle With 20 Nanoradian Resolution Using An Extrinsic Fabry-Perot Interferometer-Based Optical Fiber Inclinometer, Yiyang Zhuang, Yizheng Chen, Chen Zhu, Rex E. Gerald Ii, Jie Huang

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this paper, we introduce and demonstrate a novel optical fiber extrinsic Fabry-Perot interferometer (EFPI) for tilt measurements with 20 nrad resolution. Compared with inline optical fiber inclinometers, an extrinsic sensing structure is used in the inclinometer reported herein. Our design greatly improves on the tilt angle resolution, the temperature stability, and the mechanical robustness of inclinometers with advanced designs. An EFPI cavity, which is formed between endfaces of a suspended rectangular mass block and a fixed optical fiber, is packaged inside a rectangular container box with an oscillation dampening mechanism. Importantly, the two reflectors of the EFPI sensor remain …

Internet Of Underground Things: Sensing And Communications On The Field For Precision Agriculture, Mehmet C. Vuran, Abdul Salam, Rigoberto Wong, Suat Irmak

School of Computing: Conference and Workshop Papers

The projected increases in World population and need for food have recently motivated adoption of information technology solutions in crop fields within precision agriculture approaches. Internet of underground things (IOUT), which consists of sensors and communication devices, partly or completely buried underground for real-time soil sensing and monitoring, emerge from this need. This new paradigm facilitates seamless integration of underground sensors, machinery, and irrigation systems with the complex social network of growers, agronomists, crop consultants, and advisors. In this paper, state-of-the-art communication architectures are reviewed, and underlying sensing technology and communication mechanisms for IOUT are presented. Recent advances in the …

Hyperoxia Causes Mitochondrial Fragmentation In Pulmonary Endothelial Cells By Increasing Expression Of Pro-Fission Proteins, Cui Ma, Andreas M. Beyer, Matthew J. Durand, Anne V. Clough, Daling Zhu, Laura Norwood Toro, Maia Terashvili, Johnathan D. Ebben, R. Blake Hill, Said H. Audi, Meetha Medhora, Elizabeth R. Jacobs

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Objective—We explored mechanisms that alter mitochondrial structure and function in pulmonary endothelial cells (PEC) function after hyperoxia.

Approach and Results—Mitochondrial structures of PECs exposed to hyperoxia or normoxia were visualized and mitochondrial fragmentation quantified. Expression of pro-fission or fusion proteins or autophagy-related proteins were assessed by Western blot. Mitochondrial oxidative state was determined using mito-roGFP. Tetramethylrhodamine methyl ester estimated mitochondrial polarization in treatment groups. The role of mitochondrially derived reactive oxygen species in mt-fragmentation was investigated with mito-TEMPOL and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) damage studied by using ENDO III (mt-tat-endonuclease III), a protein that repairs mDNA damage. Drp-1 (dynamin-related …