Engineering Commons^™

About Time: Visualizing Time At Burning Man, Gordon D. Hoople, Austin Choi-Fitzpatrick, Nathaniel Parde, Diane Hoffoss, Max Mellette, Rachel Nishimura, Virginia Gutman

The STEAM Journal

About Time was a 30 foot long, 3000 pound wooden sundial that went up in flames at Burning Man 2019. The piece reflected on the role time plays in our lives. We organize our lives around time—are enslaved to time—and yet we know so little about it. Physicists and philosophers continue to grapple with deep puzzles of time—Is time a fundamental quantity, independent of human actions or observations or is it an emergent property of our perception? This installation projected time using two sundials: a horizontal dial which swept time out across the desert floor and an …

Third Voices Conference On Teaching Stem With Music, September 22-23, 2019, Lawrence M. Lesser

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

The third annual VOICES (Virtual Ongoing Interdisciplinary Collaborations on Educating with Song; https://www.causeweb.org/voices/) conference will be held online September 22-23, 2019. Chaired by Tiffany Getty, this conference will explore the use of song to teach STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) at the postsecondary (or secondary) level.

Special Functions, Bruce F. Mcguffin

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

A consideration of special functions on esthetic and utilitarian grounds.

Novel Low Shear 3d Bioreactor For The Scaled Production Of High Purity Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells, Andrew Burns

KGI Theses and Dissertations

Human mesenchymal stem cells are an ideal candidate for stem cell therapies. They have been researched since the 1960’s and can differentiate into many desired functional cell types without undergoing teratogenesis. However, higher yields are needed for a marketable, successful stem cell therapy. To accomplish this, cells will have to be cultured to expand them to therapeutically relevant dosages for multiple patients. Bioreactor production is an ideal method to solve this problem.

The aim of this thesis is to test and validate a novel bioreactor for the cultivation of human mesenchymal stem cells. In this work, we investigate a novel …

Unfolding Humanity: Cross-Disciplinary Sculpture Design, Gordon D. Hoople, Nate Parde, Quinn Pratt, Sydney Platt, Michael Sween, Ava Bellizzi, Viktoriya Alekseyeva, Alex Splide, Nicholas Cardoza, Christiana Salvosa, Eduardo Ortega, Elizabeth Sampson

The STEAM Journal

Unfolding Humanity is a 12 foot tall, 30 foot wide, 2 ton interactive metal sculpture that calls attention to the tension between technology and humanity. This sculpture was conceived, designed, and built by a large group (80+) of faculty, students, and community volunteers at the University of San Diego (USD). The piece is a dodecahedron whose pentagonal walls unfold under human power, an engineered design that alludes to Albrecht Dürer's 500-year-old unsolved math problem on unfolding polyhedra. When closed, the mirrored interior of the sculpture makes visitors feel as though they are at the center of the universe. The idea …

Analysis And Optimization Of Chassis Movements In Transportation Networks With Centralized Chassis Processing Facilities, Timothy Martin Vanderbeek

CGU Theses & Dissertations

This work studies the concept of “Centralized Processing of Chassis,” and its potential impact on port drayage efficiency. The concept revolves around an off-dock terminal (or several off-dock terminals), referred to as Chassis Processing Facilities (CPFs). A CPF is located close to the port, where trucks will go to exchange chassis, thereby reducing traffic at the marine terminals and resulting in reduced travel times and reduced congestion. This work is divided into two major studies: one at the strategic planning level, and one at the operational level for individual trucking companies.

In the first study, an analytical framework for modeling …

Prediction Of The Outcome In Cardiac Arrest Patients Undergoing Hypothermia Using Eeg Wavelet Entropy, Hana Moshirvaziri

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Cardiac arrest (CA) is the leading cause of death in the United States. Induction of hypothermia has been found to improve the functional recovery of CA patients after resuscitation. However, there is no clear guideline for the clinicians yet to determine the prognosis of the CA when patients are treated with hypothermia. The present work aimed at the development of a prognostic marker for the CA patients undergoing hypothermia. A quantitative measure of the complexity of Electroencephalogram (EEG) signals, called wavelet sub-band entropy, was employed to predict the patients’ outcomes. We hypothesized that the EEG signals of the patients who …

Risk Assessment For Marine Construction Projects, Abdulrahman Mohammed Alansari

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Marine-construction projects are becoming increasingly important for the development of the maritime industry. However, such increases are hampered by various risks that can significantly impact growth. Natural forces, political events, administrative and operational mistakes, equipment failures, external attacks such as arson, and economic events are some of the major risks faced by firms in this industry. Researchers have paid little attention on marine- construction risk assessment, despite the importance of such research.

This study sought to develop a generic risk-levels predictor framework, using the integrated definition function model (IDEF0) and the case-based reasoning approach (CBR), to predict levels of risk …

Gait And Postural Analysis In Healthy Young Adults And People With Parkinson's Disease, Aisha Joy Chen

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Postural analysis is the study of how the position of the body in any mode interacts with internal and external forces. This type of analysis is typically used to assess potential abnormalities in the balance control system and to understand how the balance control system changes with time. However, compared to other medical fields of study, postural analysis is relatively new [1]. In fact, although widely used in clinical and research studies, postural assessment methods are scientifically inaccurate, and some data collection methods are relatively expensive. A better understanding of the human balance control system could lead to more accurate …

Model Predictive Energy Management For Building Microgrids With Iot-Based Controllable Loads, Duc Hoai Tran

CGU Theses & Dissertations

This thesis develops an economic scheduling framework for a building microgrid with internet of things (IoT) based flexible loads to synchronize the buildings’ controllable components, with occupant behavior and environmental conditions. We employ model predictive control (MPC) methods to minimize building operating costs, while maximizing the utilization of the on-site resources. The main research thrusts are: 1) Developing the building microgrid model; 2) Defining different building operation strategies; 3) Minimizing the building’s daily operating costs. Simulation results show that the proposed approach provides superior energy cost savings and peak load reduction in comparison with other operation controls, such as All …

Oscillatory Flow Driven By Cavity, Jeremy Ralph Bonifacio

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Flows past a cavity are known to exhibit an oscillatory behavior with an amplitude and frequency dependent on the incoming flow properties and the geometry of the cavity. Experiments and numerical analyses have been performed to determine the effects of a flow passing through an axisymmetric cavity and discharging into a transverse freestream. The study focuses on the mechanisms involved in the generation of pulsatile flow and its influences on a jet in crossflow. Flow characteristics through the cavity and the jet in crossflow interaction were analyzed using the computational fluid dynamics software Siemens Star-CCM+. The experimental analysis utilized a …