Engineering Commons^™

Identifying Micro-Level Determinants That Influence The Transportation Network Companies (Tncs) Growth Through Analysis Of Transportation Users’ Preferences And Attitudes, Sahila Sarjana

All ETDs from UAB

In the recent years, the use of Transportation Network Companies (TNCs) such as Uber/Lyft as a mode of travel has been growing at a significant pace. Despite the rapid growth of several TNC markets, analyses of potential and actual impacts of TNCs presence on preferences and travel patterns of TNC-aware users are still very limited. Such analyses require detailed trip data which are not easily available due to privacy concerns, as well as technical and financial feasibility issues. To address some of these issues, the objective of this study was to document the factors that influence transportation users in the …

Influence Of Droplet Velocity, Spacing, And Inter-Arrival Time On Line Formation And Saturation In Binder Jet Additive Manufacturing, Trenton Colton, Nathan B. Crane

Faculty Publications

Binder Jetting (BJ) is a low-cost Additive Manufacturing (AM) process that uses inkjet technology to selectively bind particles in a powder bed. BJ relies on the ability to control, not only the placement of binder on the surface but also its imbibition into the powder bed. This is a complex process in which picoliter-sized droplets impact powder beds at velocities of 1-10 m/s. However, the effects of printing parameters such as droplet velocity, size, spacing, and inter-arrival time on saturation level (fraction of pore space filled with binder) and line formation (merging of droplets to form a line) are unknown. …

Synthesis Of Lamno3 & Ceo2-Mnox Nanocrystals For Selective Catalytic Reduction, Joseph Lane

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Reinventing High School: Understanding The Challenges And Successes Of Transforming Education To Meet Student, Society, And Industry Needs, Scott R. Bartholomew, Greg J. Strimel, Anne M. Lucietto, Mesut Akdere

Faculty Publications

Efforts to revamp existing educational systems and approaches result in various new models in STEM education. Accordingly, a new urban public charter school, located in a Midwest state in the United States, was established in partnership with the state’s land-grant university to create a transformed integrated STEM educational environment characterized by industry-focused and design-based learning to help prepare students for the future of work and learning. This article presents findings from an exploratory study that examined the experiences of teachers and administrative staff of this innovative high school (IHS) during the first year of school operation. A purposive sample of …

A Virtual Electric Driveline Concept And Control Design To Advance Maneuvering Of A Small Unmanned Ground Vehicle, Siyuan Zhang

All ETDs from UAB

The conventional turning principle of wheeled skid-steered vehicles provides different velocities to the wheels of the left and right sides, yet the two wheels at each side have the same angular velocity. As the analysis shows, this principle is not sufficient for improving vehicle maneuverability in severe terrain conditions. Because the resistance to motion and the tire-terrain grip can randomly and drastically vary in the tire contact patches of all wheels, it makes solely relying on this principle inadequate.In this PhD study, a virtual driveline concept is presented to formulate and study a new turning concept for a small wheeled …

Oxidation Of Nickel And Nickel-Phosphorous Coated Aisi 430 Alloy: Effects Of Pre-Oxidation And Pre-Reduction, Mark Kevin King

All ETDs from UAB

The solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) electrochemically converts chemical energy into electrical energy. Interconnects are used to provide electrical connection to various individual cells in a stack for drawing useful electrical energy in the kW-MW range. By lowering the operation temperature to 800oC, the chromia-forming ferritic alloy interconnects become applicable. Their corrosion resistant chromia layer at the surface can form gaseous chromium oxides that lower the SOFC output by the cathode poisoning phenomena. Application of protective coatings can mitigate oxidation and form a resistant layer over the chromia. In this study, the electroless and electrolytic deposition methods were used to …

An Examination Of Welding Inputs And Outputs For The High Frequency Welding Of Steel Pipe, Lindsey Mccall

All ETDs from UAB

Oil and natural gas touch the lives of most people around the world each day in one way or another. As the demand for these products has risen, so has the need for more pipelines. The pipelines that transport oil and natural gas must meet a strict set of criteria to ensure safety. These criteria include mechanical properties and nondestructive testing requirements. The purpose of this study was to determine how to correlate welding inputs and outputs to weld quality, specifically the occurrence of welding discontinuities that are detrimental to the pipe and mechanical properties. The three conclusions of this …

Computational Modeling Of Agile Tire Slippage, Chantel Jordi

All ETDs from UAB

ABSTRACT Tire slippage dynamics is based on steady state analysis. This poses limits on advances in traction control systems and other vehicle control systems that can improve the safety of a vehicle. Agile tire slippage dynamics is a newer method that uses a smaller time step and time frame. It is typically applied to analyze the transient mode of a tire, which occurs within the first few milliseconds of a torque being applied to a wheel. During this time, the tire is not yet rotating, which can be a potential cause for safety hazards. Using agile tire slippage dynamics to …

Epitranscriptomic Regulation Of Fibroblast Activation In Diseased Heart, Zainab Gbongbo Suleiman

All ETDs from UAB

Background: Transforming growth factor β (TGFβ) is a chemokine released during cardiac hypertrophy and remodeling. Evidence has shown that it plays a significant role in fibroblast differentiation/activation to myofibroblasts , which ultimately leads to adverse cardiac remodeling. It is previously suggested that m6A methylation plays important role in cardiac pathology in both ischemic and hypertrophic heart failure [1, 2], however, its role in fibroblast activation/differentiation is largely unknown. Therefore, in this study we investigated the relationship between m6A methylation and fibroblast activation using proinflammatory/profibrotic factor, TGFβ. Methods: Fibroblasts were isolated from neonatal rat heart and activated with TGFβ for 48 …

Facial Recognition With Image Signaling: Efficacy Of Two Factor Authentication Utilizing A Single Image Input Mechanism On A Smartphone, Jaret Langston

All ETDs from UAB

Society generates 2.8 quintillion bytes of new data every day. Much of this data is sensitive information that should be protected from unauthorized access. Sensitive information is defined as information that, if compromised or misused, could adversely affect the privacy of the individual or organization. There are many types of information that fit this definition and places it is found, but for this discussion we will focus on: • Personally Identifiable Information (PII) (e.g., birth date, social security number, driver’s license number, passport number). • Medical information (e.g., insurance policy numbers, prescriptions, history). • Consumer information (e.g., credit card, banking, …

Performance Of Activated Filter Media® (Afm) In Drinking Water Treatment Systems, Jaquice Hughes

All ETDs from UAB

ABSTRACT This dissertation evaluated the performance of activated filter media (AFM), recycled glass media used as a substitute for conventional sand filtration systems. Activated filter media is a direct replacement for sand filter media typically used during the dual media filtration methods employing sand and anthracite. One grade size of activated filter media was used: grade 1 (0.4 – 1.0 mm) to study its performance as a filtration media. This research was conducted at The Birmingham Water Works Board Experimental Pilot Treatment Facility, located at the Shades Mountain Filter Plant (SMFP). The pilot plant includes two independent treatment trains capable …

When It Breaks Us, Tabitha Palmer

All ETDs from UAB

Twins, Evie and Mel, lost their mother before their senior year of high school. The girls’ father deploys overseas to escape his grief, leaving them with an aunt they barely know to go through this painful grieving process alone in a new town. They are in constant conflict with each other due to how they cope with this unexpected upturn of their lives. Evie choses to remain optimistic, believing she will get through this and things will turn out for the better. While Mel choses to close herself off from her family, turning instead to a pen pal to maintain …

A Mesoscale-Based Computational Mechanics Framework For Constitutive Characterization And Homogenization Of Particulate Media, Gerald Pekmezi

All ETDs from UAB

A complete meso-to-macro computational homogenization approach for particu-late materials has been devised and implemented in this study. Starting with experimental distributions of the micromechanical characteristics of constitutive grains, this framework uses computational modeling of mesoscale statistical ensembles to characterize effective mechanical behavior at incrementally larger mesoscopic scales. This approach is found to be useful in several ways: 1) the effective Representative Volume Element (RVE) size of particulate media can be identified using the most rigorous homogenization criterion, the Hill-Mandel macrohomogeneity condition, 2) a statistical description is possible of the effective mechanical properties of particulate media at scales below the RVE, …

Evaluation Of Nox‑Reduction Measures For Iron-Ore Rotary Kilns, Rikard Ekland, Thomas Allguren, Christian Fredriksson, Denver Haycock, Colson Johnson, Jacob Fransen, Thomas H. Fletcher, Klas Andersson

Faculty Publications

The grate-kiln process is employed for sintering and oxidation of iron-ore pellets. In this process, a fuel (typically coal) is combusted with a large amount of excess air in a rotary kiln, and the high air-to-fuel ratio leads to significant NOx formation. The current Article is an assessment of NOx reduction measures that have been tested in pilot-scale and in full-scale by the Swedish iron-ore company Luossavaara-Kiirunavaara Aktiebolag (LKAB). The results show that the scaling between the full-scale kiln and the pilot-scale kiln is crucial, and several primary measures that reduce NOx significantly in pilot-scale achieve negligible reduction in full-scale. …

Suborbital Payload Testing Aboard Level 3 Rocket Research Platform, Pedro Llanos, Sathya Gangadharan, Nikita Amberkar, Isachi Halphen, Melisa Mastroliberti, Michelle Munasinghe

Publications

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) has launched several suborbital scientific payloads aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard in 2017 and 2019. Students continue gaining hands-on experience in rocket design and construction, and payload integration and testing of future and more mature payloads to be launched into space. A Level 3 Rocket is being designed and developed at ERAU to serve as a scaled-down model research platform for launching and testing of payloads that will be later flown in commercial suborbital platforms such as Blue Origin’s New Shepard and PLD space Miura 1 rockets. Computer simulations were conducted to calculate the key parameters …

Deep Uv Fluorescence Scanning Microscopy For Breast Tumor Margin Detection, Tongtong Lu, Julie M. Jorns, Mollie Patton, Renee Fisher, Amanda Emmrich, Todd Doehring, Taly Gilat-Schmidt, Dong Hye Ye, Tina Yen, Bing Yu

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among women. Positive margin status after breast-conserving surgery (BCS) is a predictor of higher rates of local recurrence. Intraoperative margin detection helps to complete tumor excision at the first operation. A margin tool that is capable of imaging all six margins of large lumpectomy specimens with both high resolution and fast speed (within 20 min) is yet to be developed. Deep UV light allows simultaneous excitation of multiple fluorophores and generating surface fluorescence images. We have developed a deep UV fluorescence scanning microscope (DUV-FSM) for slide-free, high-resolution and rapid examination of tumor …

Oxygen Transport Kinetics Of Surface Modified Mixed Conductor (La0.60sr0.40)0.95co0.20fe0.80o3-X As Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Cathode, Manuel Serrano Laguna

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The oxygen transport kinetics of the electrodes of Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFC) are critical properties to achieve higher efficiencies in the cell. (La0.60Sr0.40)0.95Co0.20Fe0.80O3-x (LSCF) is a mixed ion-electron conductor material that is expected to be optimized and utilized as the cathode of the SOFC’s. The reason for LSCF to be considered as the next cathode material for SOFC is due to its high ionic and electronic conductivities, and high oxygen transport kinetics. Additionally, to the excellent properties that this material offers, it has been seen that the kinetic properties of the material can be further optimized by adding a …

Top-Down Model Development Using Data Generated From A Complex Numerical Reservoir Simulation With Water Injection, Yvon Andrea Martinez

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Numerical simulation and data-driven modeling are two current approaches in engineering reservoir modeling. Numerical reservoir simulation attempts to match past production history by modifying reservoir properties of the model. After multiple computationally intensive trial and error efforts, accurate history matches are identified. These history matches are used by project management for production forecasting purposes. Data-driven reservoir modeling utilizes measured data and is, therefore, free of assumptions that are often included in numerical reservoir simulations. Artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms are technologies implemented in the development of a data-driven reservoir model with efforts to learn fluid flow through porous media …

Development Of An Activity-Based Windowing Approach To Evaluate Real-World Nox Emissions From Modern Medium And Heavy-Duty Diesel Trucks, Rasik Pondicherry

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The introduction of in-use emissions regulations by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S.EPA) requires medium-duty (MD) and heavy-duty (HD) engine manufacturers to demonstrate emissions compliance during in-fleet operation. In the United States (U.S.), the Not-to-Exceed (NTE) method is used to evaluate real-world emissions compliance from on-highway MD and HD trucks. Regulatory agencies, engine manufacturers and research entities have identified that the NTE method incorporates numerous exclusions and evaluates emissions compliance only under selective operating conditions that are favorable for the selective catalytic reduction (SCR) system to reduce oxides of nitrogen (NOx) emissions efficiently. Such operation is typically encountered only …

Comprehensively Improved Electrochemical Performance Of Lithium-Sulfur Batteries By “Chemical Anchors” And Lithium Anode Modification, Zhipeng Zeng

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Lithium-sulfur battery is considered to be one of the most promising contenders for the next generation high-energy storages due to their high theoretical energy density (~2600 W h kg^-1). However, a series of issues, especially for the dissolution of lithium polysulfides (LiPSs) with their “shuttle effect” and dendrite formation on the lithium anode, greatly limit their widely commercial applications. Starting from a brief overview of conventional methods to solve these problems, the achievements spotlighted in this research work mainly focus on the structure design of cathode materials by employing “chemical anchors” to effectively suppress the diffusion of LiPSs, …

Large-Scale Modeling And Assessments Of Climate, Land Cover, And Sea Level Change Impacts On Stormwater Runoff In Coastal Urban-Natural Environments, Erfanul Huq

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This dissertation investigated the potential impacts of changing climate, land cover, and sea level on the future stormwater budget and extreme runoff in coastal urban-natural environments. Two large-scale basins, namely Florida Southeast Coasts Basin (7117 km2) and Saint Johns River Basin (24928 km2), were selected for this study. The basins represented gradients in climate, land cover, and hydrology across the Atlantic coasts of Florida and the southeast U.S. Two mechanistic hydrologic models were developed for the basins using U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA)’s Storm Water Management Model (SWMM) 5.1. The models were calibrated and validated with observed historical streamflow …

Development Of Software-Only Simulation Test Beds (Sost) For Spacecraft And Smallsats, Scott Alan Zemerick

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Software-only-Simulation Test Beds (SoST) are beginning to become more popular among aircraft, spacecraft, and smallsat embedded system developers due to the high cost of duplicating hardware test beds.

SoSTs provide a software-only, or virtual test bed, that creates a “digital twin” that contains software models of the ETUs and often includes modeled components such as flight computers, busses (e.g., MIL-STD-1553, SPI, I2C), compact PCI (cPCI) backplane cards, sensors, and actuators. The ultimate goal of a SoST is for it to run the native system software compiled-binary on its native CPU architecture (e.g., PowerPC, LEON3/4, ARM) on a standard X86 personal …

Modeling And Characterization Of A Pull-In Free Mems Microphone, Mehmet Ozdogan, Shahrzad Towfighian, Ronald Miles

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Scholarship

In this study, we examine the feasibility of designing a MEMS microphone employing a levitation based electrode configuration. This electrode scheme enables capacitive MEMS sensors that could work for large bias voltages without pullin failure. Our experiments and simulations indicate that it is possible to create robust sensors properly working at high DC voltages, which is not feasible for most of the conventional parallel plate electrode-based micro-scale devices. In addition, the use of larger bias voltages will improve signal-to-noise ratios in MEMS sensors because it increases the signal relative to the noise in read-out circuits. This study presents the design, …

Lateral Pull-In Instability Of Electrostatic Mems Transducers Employing Repulsive Force, Meysam Daeichin, Ronald Miles, Shahrzad Towfighian

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Scholarship

We report on the lateral pull-in in capacitive MEMS transducers that employ a repulsive electrostatic force. The moving element in this system undergoes motion in two dimensions. A two degree-offreedom mathematical model is developed to investigate the pull-in quantitatively. The nonlinear electrostatic force, which is a vector function of two spatial coordinates, is determined by calculating the potential energy of the system using a boundary element approach. The equilibrium points are found by numerically solving the nonlinear coupled static equations. A stability analysis reveals that depending on the values of the lateral and transverse stiness, the system undergoes dierent bifurcations …

An Extensive Set Of Kinematic And Kinetic Data For Individuals With Intact Limbs And Transfemoral Prosthesis Users, Seyed Abolfazl Fakoorian, Arash Roshanineshat, Poya Khalaf, Vahid Azimi, Daniel J. Simon, Elizabeth Hardin

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

This paper introduces an extensive human motion data set for typical activities of daily living. These data are crucial for the design and control of prosthetic devices for transfemoral prosthesis users. This data set was collected from seven individuals, including five individuals with intact limbs and two transfemoral prosthesis users. These data include the following types of movements: (1) walking at three different speeds; (2) walking up and down a 5-degree ramp; (3) stepping up and down; (4) sitting down and standing up. We provide full-body marker trajectories and ground reaction forces (GRFs) as well as joint angles, joint velocities, …

Would You Rather Teleport Or Spend Some Time Commuting? Investigating Individuals’ Teleportation Preferences, Prasanna Humagain, Patrick A. Singleton

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

• Teleportation test, a survey instrument developed to measure Positive Utility of travel (PUT)

"If you could snap your fingers or blink your eyes and instantaneously teleport yourself to the desired destination, would you do so"

• "Yes"- Regarding travel as disutility i.e. means to reach destination
• "No"- Find benefits during travel or traveling itself

Mo6s8-Based Single-Metal-Atom Catalysts For Methanol Synthesis From Steam Reforming Of Methane, H. T. Zhang Zhang

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The surge of methane as the major component of natural gas and a dominant greenhouse gas calls for the development of efficient strategy to convert it into valuable liquid chemicals such as methanol. However, the current industrial method for methanol synthesis, which consists of the stream reforming of methane (SRM) to syngas and the followed reaction of syngas to methanol, is rather energy-intensive. Direct conversion of methane into methanol (DMTM) is highly desirable in terms of energy efficiency and economy. DMTM with water as oxidant, i.e. SRM to methanol, is a promising solution but the development highly efficient and selective …

Comparative Evaluation Of Carbon Reinforced Polyetherketone Acetabular Cup Using Finite Element Analysis, A. Abdal, Rafiqul Noorani, G. Cha

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Works

Background: Patients suffering from osteoarthritis undergo surgery to replace hip joints with hip prosthesis implants. Today most acetabular cups of hip prostheses are made of Ultra-High-Molecular-Weight-Polyethylene. However, these materials acting as acetabular cups of the implant have been recalled since patients have been feeling uncomfortable and abstained from physical activities. A newly introduced material, 30% Carbon Reinforced Polyetherketone, possess better isotropic mechanical properties and lower wear rates.

Objective: The research aims to compare the von-Mises stresses and deformation in static and dynamic loading of Ultra-High Molecular-Weight-Polyethylene to 30% Reinforced Carbon Fiber Polyetherketone using Finite Element Analysis.

Material and Methods: An …

A Progressive Output Strategy For Real-Time Feedback Control Systems, Qiming Zou, Ling Wang, Jie Liu, Yingtao Jiang

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Research

The real-time requirements imposed on a feedback control system are often hard to be met, as the controller spends a disproportionately large amount of time waiting for a control cycle to reach its final state. When such a final state is established, multiple tasks have to be prioritized and launched altogether simultaneously, and the system is given an extremely short time window to generate its output. This huge gap between the wait and action times, perceived as a load unbalancing problem, hinders a control decision to be made in real time. To address this challenging problem, in this paper, we …

Dynamic Allocation/Reallocation Of Dark Cores In Many-Core Systems For Improved System Performance, Xingxing Huang, Xiaohang Wang, Yingtao Jiang, Amit Kumar Singh, Mei Yang

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Research

A significant number of processing cores in any many-core systems nowadays and likely in the future have to be switched off or forced to be idle to become dark cores, in light of ever increasing power density and chip temperature. Although these dark cores cannot make direct contributions to the chip's throughput, they can still be allocated to applications currently running in the system for the sole purpose of heat dissipation enabled by the temperature gradient between the active and dark cores. However, allocating dark cores to applications tends to add extra waiting time to applications yet to be launched, …