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2019

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Articles 4891 - 4920 of 10504

Full-Text Articles in Engineering

Understanding The Effect Of Crystalline Structure And Atomic Arrangement In Metal Oxide Electrodes For Sodium Ion Batteries, Changjian Deng May 2019

Understanding The Effect Of Crystalline Structure And Atomic Arrangement In Metal Oxide Electrodes For Sodium Ion Batteries, Changjian Deng

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation investigates the fundamental understanding in the influences of order-disorder and atomic arrangement on electrochemical properties of electrode materials for sodium ion batteries (SIBs). In specific, TiO2 anode and NaNixFeyMnxO2 cathode materials are studied. Due to their low cost and relatively high abundance of raw materials SIBs are attractive for large-scale energy storage systems for high round trip efficiency and long cycle life. Recent studies suggest that various polymorphs of TiO2 are suitable as anode material. However, the impact of crystallinity on the electrochemical properties of the material has not …


Parametric Amplification Study And Applications In Millimeter-Wave Transmitters, Sherry Huang May 2019

Parametric Amplification Study And Applications In Millimeter-Wave Transmitters, Sherry Huang

Electrical Engineering Theses and Dissertations

In wireless communication systems, the millimeter-wave frequency band has been gaining more interests recently, mainly due to its wide bandwidth and ability to support high data-rate. However, challenges come with the advantages. To transmit and receive complexed data, the quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) scheme paired with orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) is used most commonly. In transmitter designs of such modulation schemes and frequency access schemes, two important requirements are high linearity and high efficiency. The building blocks of transmitters include power amplifiers (PA) and mixers. Nevertheless, traditional design techniques exhibit trade-offs between linearity and efficiency for PAs, and between conversion …


Autonomous Vehicles Operating Collaboratively To Avoid Debris And Obstructions, Toan T. Le, Cole W. Oppenheim, James H. Gildart, Kyle M. Bybee May 2019

Autonomous Vehicles Operating Collaboratively To Avoid Debris And Obstructions, Toan T. Le, Cole W. Oppenheim, James H. Gildart, Kyle M. Bybee

Mechanical Engineering

The purpose of this project is to demonstrate the safety and increased fuel efficiency of an automated collision avoidance system in collaborative vehicle platooning. This project was cosponsored by Daimler Trucks North America headquartered in Portland, Oregon, as well as Dr. Birdsong, and Dr. DeBruhl of Cal Poly. The mechanical engineering team consists of Cole Oppenheim, James Gildart, Toan Le, and Kyle Bybee who worked in coordination with a team of computer engineers. Vehicle platooning is a driving technique to increase the fuel efficiency of a group of vehicles by following a lead vehicle closely to reduce the drag experienced …


Adjustable Seating Systems, Grace Timken, Zachary Dworaczyk, Jasper Lewin, Eric Voss May 2019

Adjustable Seating Systems, Grace Timken, Zachary Dworaczyk, Jasper Lewin, Eric Voss

Mechanical Engineering

The Adjustable Seating Systems team designed and prototyped a collapsible and nestable seat for use in transit vehicles to create more free space for more passengers and cargo. Our team is the second senior project group to have worked at solving this problem. The previous team established a unique seat folding method that is currently pending patent approval. Our team’s responsibility was to improve the ease of use and overall hardware design of the entire seating system. This document captures the efforts that our team has performed to organize an approach to completing a full design and working prototype this …


Danny’S Recumbent Bike Accessibility Device Final Design Report, Joseph J. Lee, Huy Nguyen, Jack Mcatee, John Kulick May 2019

Danny’S Recumbent Bike Accessibility Device Final Design Report, Joseph J. Lee, Huy Nguyen, Jack Mcatee, John Kulick

Mechanical Engineering

The purpose of this document is to fully define our design solution and explain our manufacturing and testing results. Our project’s goal is to find a way to allow Danny Knutson, a retired Navy pilot and incomplete quadriplegic with limited use of his arms and an impaired sense of balance, to enter and exit his recumbent tricycle without any discomfort for him or his aide. We completed multiple interviews with Danny, patent research, existing product research, and other technical literature research in order to fully understand the problem. We synthesized this information to create a concrete list of customer wants …


High Strollers, Braeden Hammond, Morley Perrin, Reid Bartels, Juan Rodriguez May 2019

High Strollers, Braeden Hammond, Morley Perrin, Reid Bartels, Juan Rodriguez

Mechanical Engineering

This report documents the final product of Jonathon’s new lightweight stroller. The Mechanical Engineering team from Cal Poly, High Strollers, began the project to create a lightweight stroller for the project sponsor, Nina Aguayo, and her son, Jonathon Aguayo, in Fall of 2018. Jonathon is diagnosed with Delayed Brain Development and Hypotonia with some characteristics of Cerebral Palsy. He has a 50lb high intensity stroller to go to and from school. Mrs. Aguayo needed a stroller that is easier to transport while still meeting all of Jonathon’s needs. The re-designed stroller will make leisurely outings for Mrs. Aguayo and Jonathon …


Go With The Flow, Scott Weinhardt, Priscilla Ng, Ben Rydberg, Ritika Makhijani May 2019

Go With The Flow, Scott Weinhardt, Priscilla Ng, Ben Rydberg, Ritika Makhijani

Mechanical Engineering

This Final Design Review (FDR) report outlines the Fuel System Flow Analysis senior project completed by the presenters listed. Included is research about Solar Turbines’ needs, and objectives for our project, our design decision process and final design, manufacturing, design verification report, final results, and suggestions moving forward with this experiment. The goal of the project is to identify stable pressure fields throughout the Solar Turbines fuel delivery system. Specifically, the optimal placement for taking measurements downstream of the main and pilot fuel control valves. The data is used to validate the accuracy of computational fluid dynamic (CFD) models that …


Sustainable Ground Improvement Method Using Recycled Plastic Pins, Md Nur Basit Zaman May 2019

Sustainable Ground Improvement Method Using Recycled Plastic Pins, Md Nur Basit Zaman

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Failure of civil engineering infrastructures due to insufficient bearing and shearing capacity of the unsuitable foundation soil is a common problem in the area of North Texas which results in significant maintenance issues for the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). The major concerns regarding construction over such foundation soil includes excessive total and differential settlement of footing resulting in bearing capacity failure and sliding failure of the Mechanically Stabilized Earth (MSE) retaining structure due to inadequate shear resistance. The most common technique followed by TxDOT to counter such problem is to remove and replace the existing soil with appropriate fill …


Modeling Of Electrochemical Processes At The Magnesium Anode During Struvite Formation, Tobias Dwyer May 2019

Modeling Of Electrochemical Processes At The Magnesium Anode During Struvite Formation, Tobias Dwyer

Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

This study analyzes the current transients observed during the electrochemical formation of struvite from a solution of ammonium phosphate using a pure magnesium and magnesium alloy electrode. Through converting the chronoamperometric data to chronocoulometric data and fitting the data to various models, the driving mechanisms for struvite nucleation were elucidated. While the pure magnesium anode is controlled by only instantaneous nucleation at the electrode, the AZ31 alloy is nucleation controlled at short times and Cottrell diffusion controlled at long times.


Assessing Commonly Used Methods In Measuring Yield Of Cellulose Nanocrystals, Marilyn Pharr May 2019

Assessing Commonly Used Methods In Measuring Yield Of Cellulose Nanocrystals, Marilyn Pharr

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Cellulose is a ubiquitous, renewable biopolymer found in plants that can be broken down to isolate cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs). CNCs have been utilized in various applications that include biomedical technology, structural composites, and barrier films because of their unique mechanical, optical, and physicochemical properties. CNCs can be produced by a variety of approaches from cellulosic materials; however, strong acid hydrolysis is the most common and effective technique as it results in stable colloidal suspensions. Existing literature reveals a wide range of CNC yields, depending on the production process, raw material used, and the method of yield estimation. The yields of …


Rating Curve Development For The Upper James Fork, Lower James Fork And Hinkle Jones Creek In The Upper Poteau River Watershed In Arkansas, Meagan O'Hare May 2019

Rating Curve Development For The Upper James Fork, Lower James Fork And Hinkle Jones Creek In The Upper Poteau River Watershed In Arkansas, Meagan O'Hare

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Stream discharge is necessary to estimate loads and calibrate and validate watershed models. Access to long-term water quality data and discharge measurements allows for modeling of water quality changes across a watershed over time. However, discharge monitoring stations are often expensive to install and maintain, particularly in small rivers. A more cost-effective method for monitoring streamflow has been implemented in the Upper Poteau River Watershed (UPRW) in Arkansas. This method consists of an SonTek acoustic doppler instrument for measuring storm stream flow, with is combined with manual baseflow discharge measurements. The combined stormflow and baseflow measurements are combined with a …


Bgaas Alloy Semiconductors For Lasers On Silicon, Joshua Mcarthur May 2019

Bgaas Alloy Semiconductors For Lasers On Silicon, Joshua Mcarthur

Mechanical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

In the world of semiconductors today, there is a large dissonance between optical devices and electrical application. Due to the limitations of electron transport, photonic integrated circuits are soon-to-be vital in fields like telecommunications and sensing. Right now, these PIC’s are mostly made from indium phosphide. Due to its ubiquitous nature, however, there is a huge push to integrate efficient optics with silicon. It’s cheap, abundant, dope-able, and our electronic infrastructure is based on it. The reason why silicon photonics aren’t already commercialized is because of silicon’s indirect bandgap—it is inefficient with optical applications. The problem with combining direct gap …


Rapidscat Backscatter Measurements Calibration, Ruaa Alsabah May 2019

Rapidscat Backscatter Measurements Calibration, Ruaa Alsabah

Theses and Dissertations

Scatterometers are microwave radars deployed to estimate global wind speeds and directions over sea surface by measuring Normalized Radar Cross Section (σᵒ) of the sea. Measured is determined by the sea surface roughness that is modulated mostly by wind, thus establishing a relationship between and wind conditions. Wind vectors are retrieved by inverting an empirical Geophysical Model Function that relates measured to a wind vector (speed and direction) and radar measurement configuration (polarization, incidence, and azimuth angle). Careful scatterometer calibration is required for accurate wind retrieval. RapidScat is a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Ku-Band scatterometer that was operated …


A Data-Driven Approach For Detecting Stress In Plants Using Hyperspectral Imagery, Suraj Gampa May 2019

A Data-Driven Approach For Detecting Stress In Plants Using Hyperspectral Imagery, Suraj Gampa

School of Computing: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

A phenotype is an observable characteristic of an individual and is a function of its genotype and its growth environment. Individuals with different genotypes are impacted differently by exposure to the same environment. Therefore, phenotypes are often used to understand morphological and physiological changes in plants as a function of genotype and biotic and abiotic stress conditions. Phenotypes that measure the level of stress can help mitigate the adverse impacts on the growth cycle of the plant. Image-based plant phenotyping has the potential for early stress detection by means of computing responsive phenotypes in a non-intrusive manner. A large number …


Incentivizing Cyber Security Investment In The Power Sector Using An Extended Cyber Insurance Framework, Jack P. Rosson, Mason J. Rice, Juan Lopez Jr., R. David Fass May 2019

Incentivizing Cyber Security Investment In The Power Sector Using An Extended Cyber Insurance Framework, Jack P. Rosson, Mason J. Rice, Juan Lopez Jr., R. David Fass

Faculty Publications

Collaboration between the DHS Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and public-sector partners has revealed that a dearth of cyber-incident data combined with the unpredictability of cyber attacks have contributed to a shortfall in first-party cyber insurance protection in the critical infrastructure community. This research explores the foundations of insurance theory and adopts behavioral manipulation methods to incentivize cyber-security investment. We validate the model by applying power industry performance data from 2013-2015 to assess risk facing the industry. Results show that the model can successfully discriminate between individual power companies as well as geographic regions on the basis of risk …


The Changing Face Of Airmanship And Safety Culture Operating Unmanned Aircraft Systems, Tracy Lamb May 2019

The Changing Face Of Airmanship And Safety Culture Operating Unmanned Aircraft Systems, Tracy Lamb

Student Works

The notion of using drones for commercial purposes has evolved in the past 5 years from the initial “boom” of excitement around this, somewhat of a novelty and curiosity, to more calculated and sophisticated use of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), or drones. In the hands of true professionals, drones can offer highly efficient and profitable solutions for industrial, and commercial inspections and other data capturing tasks. The appetite for safe and efficient collection of data is a changing face of safety cultures and how teams and individuals apply airmanship principles, and how inspection crew and UAS crew interact. UAS are …


Molecular Investigation Of The Intestinal Barrier In Health And Disease, Santita Ebangwese May 2019

Molecular Investigation Of The Intestinal Barrier In Health And Disease, Santita Ebangwese

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

The intestinal epithelial barrier contributes to the absorption of nutrients and in maintaining homeostasis. Several intestinal disorders such as Crohn’s disease and Ulcerative Colitis show common pathological features corresponding to a decreased intestinal epithelial barrier function, which makes it imperative to investigate the functional units of the intestinal barriers formed by complex protein interfaces called the tight junctions. Among the diverse set of transmembrane proteins involved in the formation of tight junctions, the mal-distribution of claudin family of proteins show direct correlation to compromised barrier functioning. Interestingly, claudin-3 expression reduces drastically in compromised barriers, while an increased expression of claudin-23 …


The Analysis Of Erlanger Hospital’S Suture Inventory Management Operations, Amanda George May 2019

The Analysis Of Erlanger Hospital’S Suture Inventory Management Operations, Amanda George

Honors Theses

This paper evaluates the impact of using mechanical engineering and operations management principles to an inventory management system in Erlanger Hospital. Erlanger Hospital is a local, nonprofit hospital system in Chattanooga. Erlanger serves as a tertiary referral hospital and a Level I Trauma Center in the region. Therefore, they are heavily depended on during times of crisis or emergency [2]. This study focuses specifically on reducing the loss and ultimate waste of sutures across Erlanger’s surgery wing. A criteria for the appraisal of using mechanical and manufacturing engineering to improve the current system is established based on existing data regarding …


Computational Simulation Of The Paw-04 Nozzle Configuration, Juan Hernandez May 2019

Computational Simulation Of The Paw-04 Nozzle Configuration, Juan Hernandez

Honors Theses

The research was based on the 4th Propulsion Aerodynamics Workshop which was organized by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Air Breathing Propulsion System Integration Technical Committee and its objective was to assess the accuracy and numerical prediction capabilities of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). It focused on the work of Behrouzi and McGuirk where they tested two different nozzle configurations under set boundary conditions. The nozzle configurations included a high aspect ratio rectangular nozzle with a clean exit and the same nozzle with an aft-deck attached to the exit. Three different unstructured grids were generated for the clean …


The Effect Of Soil Saturation On The Heat Transfer Rate In A Controlled Environment For Application To Ground Source Heat Pumps, William Barnard May 2019

The Effect Of Soil Saturation On The Heat Transfer Rate In A Controlled Environment For Application To Ground Source Heat Pumps, William Barnard

Honors Theses

With the worldwide push for environmentally friendly technology, the topic of geothermal systems has only become more important. Ground Source Heat Pumps (GSHPs) are heat pumps that take advantage of the natural temperature difference between the soil and the air to decrease the amount of power necessary to heat an area. A GSHP has been shown to be capable of increasing efficiency by 3 or 4 times the amount of a conventional heating and cooling system [4]. To take advantage of the full capabilities of a GSHP, one needs to understand what factors can increase or decrease efficiency. While research …


Universal Bike Suspension Design, Ernesto Huerta, Gregory Ryan Ritter, Chris Michael Fedor, Michael Wu May 2019

Universal Bike Suspension Design, Ernesto Huerta, Gregory Ryan Ritter, Chris Michael Fedor, Michael Wu

Mechanical Engineering

Cal Poly Bike Builders (CPBB) is a student club at Cal Poly helping students design and fabricate their own bicycles. Currently, club members build rigid frames and mountain bikes with only front-suspension–commonly referred to as a “hardtail”. As more students join the club, interest grows in building full-suspension mountain bikes (FSMTB). Designing and manufacturing a mountain bike rear-suspension system requires a diverse skillset and a substantial time commitment. As a result, individual efforts building FSMTB have proven unsuccessful. The scope of this project is to develop a defined method and necessary tools such that all CPBB members can efficiently build …


Classification Of The 4 Stages Of Diabetic Retinopathy Using A Low Complexity Convolutional Neural Network., Zeliha Ogur May 2019

Classification Of The 4 Stages Of Diabetic Retinopathy Using A Low Complexity Convolutional Neural Network., Zeliha Ogur

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Diabetic Retinopathy is an eye disease that affects the blood vessels of the retina tissue found in the back of the eye. The blood vessels in the retina discharge fluid or cause hemorrhage when affected by diabetic retinopathy. It leads to loss of eye vision with people with diabetics and also among working adults. The disease may advance in four stages which include Mild nonproliferative, moderate nonproliferative, severe nonproliferative and proliferative diabetic retinopathy. In the mild stage also known as background retinopathy, lumps occur in the blood vessel and distort a little amount of blood. At this stage, you are …


Maximizing Space Utilization In Unit-Load Warehouses., Luis Felipe Cardona Olarte May 2019

Maximizing Space Utilization In Unit-Load Warehouses., Luis Felipe Cardona Olarte

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In a unit-load warehouse, products are stored and retrieved in pallet quantities. Examples include retail distribution centers (DC), third-party DCs, and transshipment hubs in freight transportation. Expenses related to space are a significant component of the operational cost of unit-load warehouses; therefore, maximizing space utilization is important. Moreover, the continuing revolution of retail e-commerce is changing the role and design of modern distribution centers (Boysen et al., 2018). An important trend with serious implications for design is the desire of many distributors to locate DCs in or near metropolitan areas in order to support same-day service or better (Thuermer, 2018). …


Modeling And Counteracting Exposure Bias In Recommender Systems., Sami Khenissi May 2019

Modeling And Counteracting Exposure Bias In Recommender Systems., Sami Khenissi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Recommender systems are becoming widely used in everyday life. They use machine learning algorithms which learn to predict our preferences and thus influence our choices among a staggering array of options online, such as movies, books, products, and even news articles. Thus what we discover and see online, and consequently our opinions and decisions, are becoming increasingly affected by automated predictions made by learning machines. Similarly, the predictive accuracy of these learning machines heavily depends on the feedback data, such as ratings and clicks, that we provide them. This mutual influence can lead to closed-loop interactions that may cause unknown …


A Study On Ultrasonic Energy Assisted Metal Processing : Its Correeltion With Microstructure And Properties, And Its Application To Additive Manufacturing., Anagh Deshpande May 2019

A Study On Ultrasonic Energy Assisted Metal Processing : Its Correeltion With Microstructure And Properties, And Its Application To Additive Manufacturing., Anagh Deshpande

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Additive manufacturing or 3d printing is the process of constructing a 3-dimensional object layer-by-layer. This additive approach to manufacturing has enabled fabrication of complex components directly from a computer model (or a CAD model). The process has now matured from its earlier version of being a rapid prototyping tool to a technology that can fabricate service-ready components. Development of low-cost polymer additive manufacturing printers enabled by open source Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) printers and printers of other technologies like SLA and binder jetting has made polymer additive manufacturing accessible and affordable. But the metal additive manufacturing technologies are still expensive …


A Two-Stage Approach To Ridesharing Assignment And Auction In A Crowdsourcing Collaborative Transportation Platform., Peiyu Luo May 2019

A Two-Stage Approach To Ridesharing Assignment And Auction In A Crowdsourcing Collaborative Transportation Platform., Peiyu Luo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Collaborative transportation platforms have emerged as an innovative way for firms and individuals to meet their transportation needs through using services from external profit-seeking drivers. A number of collaborative transportation platforms (such as Uber, Lyft, and MyDHL) arise to facilitate such delivery requests in recent years. A particular collaborative transportation platform usually provides a two sided marketplace with one set of members (service seekers or passengers) posting tasks, and the another set of members (service providers or drivers) accepting on these tasks and providing services. As the collaborative transportation platform attracts more service seekers and providers, the number of open …


Secondary Resonances Of Electrostatically Actuated Mems Cantilevers, Christopher I. Reyes May 2019

Secondary Resonances Of Electrostatically Actuated Mems Cantilevers, Christopher I. Reyes

Theses and Dissertations

In this work the behavior of micro-electromechanical (MEMS) cantilever resonators is investigated. The cantilever resonators are electrostatically actuated with hard AC voltage resulting in nine distinct resonances cases including super and subharmonic resonances. The amplitude frequency and amplitude voltage bifurcation diagrams are obtained for each of the nine resonance cases. Reduced order models (ROMs) are developed to include one and two modes of vibration. Three different methods are used to solve the ROMs namely 1) the method of multiple scales (MMS), which is a perturbation method used for one mode of vibration, 2) the homotopy analysis method (HAM), which is …


A Microfluidic Platform For The Simultaneous Quantification Of Methanogen Populations In Anaerobic Digestion Processes, Prince Peter Mathai, Hannah M. Dunn, Kaushik Venkiteshwaran, Daniel Zitomer, James Maki, Satoshi Ishii, Michael J. Sadowsky May 2019

A Microfluidic Platform For The Simultaneous Quantification Of Methanogen Populations In Anaerobic Digestion Processes, Prince Peter Mathai, Hannah M. Dunn, Kaushik Venkiteshwaran, Daniel Zitomer, James Maki, Satoshi Ishii, Michael J. Sadowsky

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Methanogens are a diverse group of archaea that play a critical role in the global carbon cycle. The lack of appropriate molecular tools to simultaneously quantify numerous methanogenic taxa, however, has largely limited our ability to study these communities in a wide variety of habitats, such as anaerobic digesters (ADs). In this study, 34 probe-based quantitative PCR (qPCR) assays were designed to target all known methanogenic genera within the archaeal phylum Euryarchaeota. These qPCR assays were adapted to a high-throughput microfluidic platform, which allowed for the simultaneous detection and absolute quantification of numerous taxa in a single run. The …


Methods Utilizing The Phenomena Of Light Scattering To Measure Microscopic Aluminum Oxide Particle Size In Both Solution And Turbulent Air Flow, Lawrence Edward Deese May 2019

Methods Utilizing The Phenomena Of Light Scattering To Measure Microscopic Aluminum Oxide Particle Size In Both Solution And Turbulent Air Flow, Lawrence Edward Deese

Honors Theses

Lawrence Deese: Methods Utilizing the Phenomena of Light Scattering to Measure Microscopic Aluminum Oxide Particle Size in Both Solution and Turbulent Air Flow The purpose of this research project was to measure microscopic aluminum oxide (alumina) particle size both in solution and in air flow. Experimentally, the process of sizing microscopic particles is technically challenging. Two methods were used for measuring the sizes of 4 different manufacturer labeled aluminum oxide particles sizes. The first method was using Dynamic Light Scattering analyzed by a LS Spectrometer to measure the alumina particle size while suspended in solution. The second method was using …


The Chevron Bunionectomy For Moderate To Severe Deformity: Effects Of Varying Procedural Factors In Hallux Valgus Correction, Hunter Reed Harrison May 2019

The Chevron Bunionectomy For Moderate To Severe Deformity: Effects Of Varying Procedural Factors In Hallux Valgus Correction, Hunter Reed Harrison

Honors Theses

With growing popularity of minimally invasive surgery, the Chevron bunionectomy has been investigated for use in moderate to severe hallux valgus. This study investigates procedural components of lateral release, fixation, and 2nd digit procedures to evaluate effects on outcome. 109 out of 325 patients of a distal Chevron osteotomy with a minimum preoperative IMA of 15° completed the phone survey rating satisfaction and pain levels. Patients were contacted an average of 5.2 years postoperatively. 83% of patients reported being extremely to very satisfied with their outcome. Only 9 patients complained of current foot pain greater than or equal to 5 …