Engineering Commons^™

Dehumidification Performance Of A Variable Speed Heat Pump And A Single Speed Heat Pump With And Without Dehumidification Capabilities In A Warm And Humid Climate, Koukouni P. Kone, Nelson Fumo

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Conventional air conditioning systems in houses respond to thermal loads by means of controlling dry-bulb temperature through the thermostat. As part of the process to control temperature, dehumidification is also provided. However, as houses are becoming more efficient, supplemental dehumidification is often necessary for homes located in hot and humid climates to control relative humidity intentionally. This study compared the dehumidification performance of a residential air conditioning system working in three operations modes to emulate three different systems: a system with a variable speed mode, a single-speed system with an enhanced dehumidification mode, and a single-speed system operating in a …

Optimization Of Mixture Parameter For Physical And Mechanical Properties Of Reactive Powder Concrete Under External Sulfate Attack Using Taguchi Method, Umut Bakhbergen, Chang Seon Shon, Dichuan Zhang, Jong Ryeol Kim, Jenny Liu

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Reactive powder concrete (RPC) is defined as a cementitious composite material with an optimized size of granular constituents, very low water-to-binder ratio (w/b), pozzolanic materials like silica fume (SF), and discontinuous fiber reinforcement. RPC applications include bridge decks and girders, seismic columns, wind turbine towers, and pile foundations. Especially, a durable and robust RPC pile foundation with long service life is essential in building construction because continuous maintenance is impossible. Moreover, natural in-situ conditions such as water table, temperature, and sulfate concentration in soil to which the pile foundation is exposed are critical and related to deteriorating the pile foundation. …

Randomly Generating The 3d Mesostructure Of Soil Rock Mixtures Based On The Full In Situ Digital Image Processed Information, Zhengsheng Li, Haiyang Yi, Cheng Zhu, Zhuang Zhuo, Guoshuan Liu

Henry M. Rowan College of Engineering Departmental Research

Understanding the occurrence and evolution of geological disasters, such as landslides and debris flows, is facilitated by research on the performance of soil rock mixes (SRM). Recently, more and more researchers have been interested in studying the mesostructure reconstruction process of SRM. The present mesostructure generation approaches, however, have several weaknesses. One of the weaknesses is that they do not consider the impact of particle shape and therefore cannot ensure similarity to the in situ SRMs. In this study, a new mesostructure generation method that randomly generates SRMs based on the full in situ digital image processing (DIP) information is …

Agglomerative Hierarchical Clustering With Dynamic Time Warping For Household Load Curve Clustering, Fadi Almahamid, Katarina Grolinger

Electrical and Computer Engineering Publications

Energy companies often implement various demand response (DR) programs to better match electricity demand and supply by offering the consumers incentives to reduce their demand during critical periods. Classifying clients according to their consumption patterns enables targeting specific groups of consumers for DR. Traditional clustering algorithms use standard distance measurement to find the distance between two points. The results produced by clustering algorithms such as K-means, K-medoids, and Gaussian Mixture Models depend on the clustering parameters or initial clusters. In contrast, our methodology uses a shape-based approach that combines Agglomerative Hierarchical Clustering (AHC) with Dynamic Time Warping (DTW) to classify …

Virtual Sensor Middleware: Managing Iot Data For The Fog-Cloud Platform, Fadi Almahamid, Hanan Lutfiyya, Katarina Grolinger

Electrical and Computer Engineering Publications

This paper introduces the Virtual Sensor Middleware (VSM), which facilitates distributed sensor data processing on multiple fog nodes. VSM uses a Virtual Sensor as the core component of the middleware. The virtual sensor concept is redesigned to support functionality beyond sensor/device virtualization, such as deploying a set of virtual sensors to represent an IoT application and distributed sensor data processing across multiple fog nodes. Furthermore, the virtual sensor deals with the heterogeneous nature of IoT devices and the various communication protocols using different adapters to communicate with the IoT devices and the underlying protocol. VSM uses the publish-subscribe design pattern …

Updated Perspectives On The Role Of Biomechanics In Copd: Considerations For The Clinician, Jennifer M. Yentes, Wai-Yan Liu, Kuan Zhang, Eric J. Markvicka, Stephen I. Rennard

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) demonstrate extra-pulmonary functional decline such as an increased prevalence of falls. Biomechanics offers insight into functional decline by examining mechanics of abnormal movement patterns. This review discusses biomechanics of functional outcomes, muscle mechanics, and breathing mechanics in patients with COPD as well as future directions and clinical perspectives. Patients with COPD demonstrate changes in their postural sway during quiet standing compared to controls, and these deficits are exacerbated when sensory information (eg, eyes closed) is manipulated. If standing balance is disrupted with a perturbation, patients with COPD are slower to return to baseline …

Therapeutic Efficacies Of Nano Carriers In Delivering Drugs, Bailey Krueger, Taylor Frazier, Sheila Galbreath, Tarun Goswami

Biomedical, Industrial & Human Factors Engineering Faculty Publications

The drug release rates of poorly soluble medications such as doxorubicin has been investigated in this paper. Since the drug was fixed, different carriers used to deliver it and their release rates compiled from literature were evaluated in this paper. Even though targeting of drugs is very important in drug delivery, it is not within the scope of this paper. However, functionalization of the carrier may provide this benefit, those constructs are included for comparison in terms of hybrid constructs. Dendrimer, micelles and hybrid constructs used in the delivery of doxorubicin compared in this paper with respect to carrier size …

Therapeutic Efficacies Of Nano Carriers In Delivering Drugs, Bailey Krueger, Taylor Frazier, Sheila Galbreath, Tarun Goswami

Biomedical, Industrial & Human Factors Engineering Faculty Publications

The drug release rates of poorly soluble medications such as doxorubicin has been investigated in this paper. Since the drug was fixed, different carriers used to deliver it and their release rates compiled from literature were evaluated in this paper. Even though targeting of drugs is very important in drug delivery, it is not within the scope of this paper. However, functionalization of the carrier may provide this benefit, those constructs are included for comparison in terms of hybrid constructs. Dendrimer, micelles and hybrid constructs used in the delivery of doxorubicin compared in this paper with respect to carrier size …

Analysis And Residual Behavior Of Encased Pultruded Gfrp I-Beam Under Fire Loading, Enas M. Mahmood, Abbas A. Allawi, Ayman El-Zohairy

Faculty Publications

In this paper, fire resistance and residual capacity tests were carried out on encased pultruded glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) I-beams with high-strength concrete beams. The specimens were loaded concurrently under 25% of the ultimate load and fire exposure (an increase in temperature of 700 C) for 70 min. Subsequently, the fire-damaged specimens were allowed to cool and then were loaded statically until failure to explore the residual behaviors. The effects of using shear connectors and web stiffeners on the residual behavior were investigated. Finite Element (FE) analysis was developed to simulate the encased pultruded GFRP I-beams under the effect of …

Population Health Metrics During The Early Stages Of The Covid-19 Pandemic: Correlative Pilot Study, Marie A. Severson, David A. Cassada, Victor C. Huber, Daniel D. Snow, Lisa M. Mcfadden

Nebraska Water Center: Faculty Publications

Background: COVID-19 has caused nearly 1 million deaths in the United States, not to mention job losses, business and school closures, stay-at-home orders, and mask mandates. Many people have suffered increased anxiety and depression since the pandemic began. Not only have mental health symptoms become more prevalent, but alcohol consumption has also increased during this time. Helplines offer important insight into both physical and mental wellness of a population by offering immediate, anonymous, cheap, and accessible resources for health and substance use disorders (SUD) that was unobstructed by many of the mandates of the pandemic. Further, the pandemic also …

Multiple Discharges Before Leader Inception In Long Air Gaps Under Positive Switching Impulses, Xiangen Zhao, Juhyeong Lee, Gang Liu, Lei Jia, Yang Liu, Junjia He, Yaping Du

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

There are multiple corona bursts before leader inception when the rising rate of the applied voltage or electric field is not sufficiently high enough in long positive sparks. In existing studies, no attention has been paid to whether these corona bursts occur in the same location, and they are mostly considered directly as belonging to the same discharge. However, this paper presents that in a typical rod-plate long air gap, the multiple corona bursts before leader inception are distributed in at least two different locations, and the highest probability of three discharges occurs. Also, the discharge occurs with the highest …

Detection Of Data Over Wireless Mobile Channels Based On Maximum Likelihood Technique, Mohd Israil

Al-Bahir

Next generation wireless systems are characterized by very high transmission bit rates which gives rise to severe Intersymbol interference (ISI) and this makes the detection process very challenging. Hence, assessment of performance of near-optimal detectors like Near Maximum Likelihood Detectors (NMLD) over such channels assumes great importance. This paper deals with the detection of data in the presence of Noise and ISI with NMLD. Performance improvement of NMLD, as compared to nonlinear equalization, has been assessed in terms of BER versus SNR curves obtained through computer simulation. A number of different cases of mobile radio channels have been simulated in …

Electrochemical Behaviour And Direct Cell Viability Analysis Of Hybrid Implants Made Of Ti-6al-4v Lattices Infiltrated With A Bioabsorbable Zn-Based Alloy, Noa Gabay Bass, Galit Katarivas Levy, Tomer Ron, Razi Vago, Jeremy Goldman, Amnon Shirizly, Eli Aghion

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

Biodegradable metals are being developed for biomedical implants or components of implants. Biodegradable zinc-based materials, in particular, have been shown to promote bone regeneration in orthopaedic applications. Here, we investigated the potential of a hybrid Ti-Zn system, comprising a Ti-6Al-4V biostable lattice produced by additive manufacturing (AM) infiltrated by a bioabsorbable Zn-2%Fe alloy, to serve as an osseointegrated implant for dental and orthopaedic applications. The osseointegration of implants can be enhanced by a porous implant structure that facilitates bone ingrowth to achieve superior bonding between the bone tissue and the implant. The hybrid material was evaluated in terms of microstructure …

Skilled Labor Challenges And Automation In The Construction Industry, Olugbenro Ogunrinde, Rapheal Ojelabi, Opeyemi Oyeyipo

Mountain Plains Business Conference

The construction industry remains one of the most labor-intensive industries worldwide, creating an average gross domestic product (GDP) of 8% for the global economy and helping reduce unemployment. However, the last few years have brought a plague of skilled labor shortage and retirement, the most recent pandemic also playing a part in hastening retirement due to the present age cohort (baby boomers). Therefore, the need to begin to source viable alternatives to mitigate these issues that could be catastrophic is critical. One possible option is automation, but the industry remains lethargic toward innovation adoption and its use. Past and present …

Experimental Investigation Of Low Velocity And High Temperature Solid Particle Impact Erosion Wear, Evan Gietzen, Soroor Karimi, Nipun Goel, Siamack A. Shirazi, Michael Keller, Todd Otanicar

Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Next generation Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) plants utilizing solid particles as the heat transfer medium (HTM) are expected to achieve greater operational efficiencies. However, the erosion from the solid particles can cause significant damage to component materials. Low particle speeds (1–2 m/s) are proposed as a means of preventing excessive damage to containment materials. Within the current investigation, solid particle erosion of three potential containment materials, stainless-steel grade 316L, a nickel alloy (Inconel 740H), and a refractory material (Tufcrete 60 M), are examined at a particle impact speed of 1.6 m/s. CarboBead-HSP 40/70 particles, a candidate HTM for CSP systems, …

Upcycling Steel Slag In Producing Eco-Efficient Iron–Calcium Phosphate Cement, Yue Ma, Yunlong Luo, Hongyan Ma, Xintao Zhou, Zhongqiu Luo

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In the present study, steel slag powder (SSP) was utilized as the raw material to prepare iron-calcium phosphate cement (ICPC) by reacting with ammonium dihydrogen phosphate (ADP). The influences of the raw materials (SSP/ADP) mass ratios ranging from 2.0 to 7.0 on the properties and microstructures of ICPC pastes were investigated. The compressive strengths of ICPC pastes at all ages firstly increased and then decreased with the increase of SSP/ADP, and the SSP/ADP of 6.0 gave the highest strength. Crystalline mundrabillaite and amorphous phases [i.e. Fe(OH)₃, Al(OH)₃ and H₄SiO₄] were formed as the …

Local Structure In High-Entropy Transition Metal Diborides, Mattia Gaboardi, Frederic Monteverde, Federico Saraga, Giuliana Aquilanti, Lun Feng, William Fahrenholtz, Gregory Hilmas

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Studies on high-entropy materials often speculate about the effects of lattice distortion and disorder on characteristics such as hardness, thermal expansion, and electronic properties. Notwithstanding the ongoing race to discover new compositions, investigations of the local structure at the atomic level remain sparse at best. Additionally, assessments of the homogeneity of the distribution of metals within the lattice sites are often restricted to techniques such as energy dispersive spectroscopy which might lead to an inaccurate picture of the bulk material. Herein, we report an extensive and systematic study of a class of emerging high-entropy ceramics that uses a combination of …

Tutorial: Neuro-Symbolic Ai For Mental Healthcare, Kaushik Roy, Usha Lokala, Manas Gaur, Amit Sheth

Publications

Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems for mental healthcare (MHCare) have been ever-growing after realizing the importance of early interventions for patients with chronic mental health (MH) conditions. Social media (SocMedia) emerged as the go-to platform for supporting patients seeking MHCare. The creation of peer-support groups without social stigma has resulted in patients transitioning from clinical settings to SocMedia supported interactions for quick help. Researchers started exploring SocMedia content in search of cues that showcase correlation or causation between different MH conditions to design better interventional strategies. User-level Classification-based AI systems were designed to leverage diverse SocMedia data from various MH conditions, …

Rural Broadband Usage: Analyzing Satisfaction And Internet Speed Within The Rural Digital Divide, Angela Hollman, Tim Obermier, Jesse Andrews

Mountain Plains Business Conference

No abstract provided.

A Nanofiber-Embedded Microfluidic Platform For Studying Neurobiology, Donghee Lee, Navatha Shree Sharma, S. M. Shatil Shahriar, Kai Yang, Zheng Yan, Jingwei Xie

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Due to their biomimetic properties, electrospun nanofibers have been widely used in neurobiology studies. However, mechanistic understanding of cell-nanofiber interactions is challenging based on the current in vitro culture systems due to the lack of control of spatiotemporal patterning of cells and difficulty in monitoring single cell behavior. To overcome these issues, we apply microfluidic technology in combination with electrospun nanofibers for in vitro studies of interactions between neurons and nanofiber materials. We demonstrate a unique nanofiber embedded microfluidic device which contains patterned aligned or random electrospun nanofibers as a new culture system. With this device, we test how different …

Strategic Planning For Exchanging Treated Urban Wastewater For Agricultural Water With The Approach Of Supplying Sustainable Urban Water: A Case Study Of Mashhad, Iran, Sasan Esfandiari, Arash Dourandish, Ali Firoozzare, Saleh Taghvaeian

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Considering the increasing demand for urban water and the low water-use efficiency in the agricultural sector, an exchange of treated urban wastewater for agricultural water could be a fundamental solution for administering sustainable management of water resources. However, implementing the intersectoral water exchange project is influenced by the economic, social, and environmental conditions of each region, especially in developing countries. Therefore, this study sought to identify the best possible strategies for exchanging treated urban wastewater for agricultural water in Mashhad city, located in Iran, a country that suffers from decreased urban water resources. Based on the interviews conducted with the …

Hybrid Timber Concrete Composite Slab For Analysis Of Lag Screw Embedment Connections, Jawad Al Lawati, Ece Erdogmus, Dennis Young, Husam Al Dughaishi, Moad Alosta, Zainab Al-Khafaji, Zaher Mundher Yaseen, Abdalrhman Milad

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Faculty Publications

Push-out-shear tests were used in this study to analyze lag screw connections in timber-concrete composite (TCC) slabs based on the embedment depth. The goal of this research is to look into the relationship between shear capacity and embedment depth in TCC, as well as to investigate the embedment strength of the wood. Experiments were carried out at different embedment depths (5.08 cm, 7.0 cm, and 8.9 cm). The prepared samples were examined in order to determine the failure modes and provide an accurate assessment of the influence of embedment depth on TCC slabs. The investigation on the embedment strength of …

Sustaining Water Conservation: A Synthesis Of Research On Motivators, Message Construction, And Tactics, Mahmudur R. Aveek, David E. Rosenberg

Civil and Environmental Engineering Student Research

Urban water managers face the challenge of sustaining conservation behavior. A review of 77 papers across water, energy, and environmental conservation was conducted to understand how programs encourage reduced water use. Motivators were external or internal. Theories of behavior change targeted different social-psychological factors. No single model addressed all aspects. Different message contents (water use, self-comparison, social comparison, leak information) and tactics (communication medium, frequency, program duration) reduced use by 0.5% to 25%. Reductions typically lasted less than a year. Quantifying the effects of specific motivators, message contents, and tactics was difficult due to varied contexts. Effective conservation messages included …

A Survey Of Smart Manufacturing For High-Mix Low-Volume Production In Defense And Aerospace Industries, Tanjida Tahmina, Mauro Garcia, Zhaohui Geng, Bopaya Bidanda

Manufacturing & Industrial Engineering Faculty Publications

Defense and aerospace industries usually possess unique high-mix low-volume production characteristics. This uniqueness generally calls for prohibitive production costs and long production lead-time. One of the major trends in advanced, smart manufacturing is to be more responsive and better readiness while ensuring the same or higher production quality and lower cost. This study reviews the state-of-the-art manufacturing technologies to solve these issues and previews two levels of flexibility, i.e., system and process, that could potentially reduce the costs while increasing the production volume in such a scenario. The main contribution of the work includes an assessment of the current solutions …

Tunable Electronic Structure Via Dna-Templated Heteroaggregates Of Two Distinct Cyanine Dyes, Jonathan S. Huff, Matthew S. Barclay, Azhad U. Chowdhury, Lance K. Patten, Simon K. Roy, Aaron Sup, Austin Biaggne, Lan Li, Jeunghoon Lee, Paul H. Davis, Bernard Yurke, William B. Knowlton, Daniel B. Turner, Ryan D. Pensack

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Molecular excitons are useful for applications in light harvesting, organic optoelectronics, and nanoscale computing. Electronic energy transfer (EET) is a process central to the function of devices based on molecular excitons. Achieving EET with a high quantum efficiency is a common obstacle to excitonic devices, often owing to the lack of donor and acceptor molecules that exhibit favorable spectral overlap. EET quantum efficiencies may be substantially improved through the use of heteroaggregates─aggregates of chemically distinct dyes─rather than individual dyes as energy relay units. However, controlling the assembly of heteroaggregates remains a significant challenge. Here, we use DNA Holliday junctions to …

Detectability Of Wormholes Through Various Methods, Jonathan W. Keathley

PANDION: The Osprey Journal of Research and Ideas

There are three methods that can possibly detect wormholes: Negative Temperature, Hawking/ Phantom Radiation, and Kα iron emission lines. This paper discusses whether or not any of these three methods are useful ways to detect wormholes with today’s technology and if so, which one is the best and which is the worst. As it turns out, all of these methods have their flaws and impracticalities. After looking through all the evidence and comparing it to what capabilities we have currently, there is clearly a best and worst method. The best method to detect possible wormhole candidates is through the detection …

Safe Zones In Hip-Implant Designs To Resist Dislocation, Himanshu Bhatt, Tarun Goswami

Biomedical, Industrial & Human Factors Engineering Faculty Publications

Major contributing parameters to hip implant dislocation include preoperative, intra-operative and post-operative factors. Implant geometry are design as well as non-design related. Femoral and acetabular component design features causing dislocation and/or resisting it are elucidated. Twelve implants were designed during this investigation were analyzed for dislocation resistance. A safe zone, establishes combinations of implant dimensions, was analyzed for all the 12 implants where implants were dislocation resistant. Head diameters between 26 mm to 32 mm, neck diameters closer to 14 mm, and neck angle between 25 to 35º were examined to be the safest ranges for hip implant designs.

Improving Wireless Networking From The Learning And Security Perspectives, Zhe Qu

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Due to the high development of wireless networking and artificial intelligence, most of the data are generated from mobile devices, which distribute in different environments. As such, how to improve the performance of machine learning-based networking and its security should be carefully considered. To reduce the communication burden and protect private information from users, Federated Learning (FL) is a possible solution for learning-based wireless networking. Although FL achieves much success until now, it also remains some specific issues to be solved. In this dissertation, we propose two FL wireless networking frameworks and discuss two potential security issues.

In the FL …

Connecting Phenotype To Genotype: Phewas-Inspired Analysis Of Autism Spectrum Disorder, John Matta, Daniel Dobrino, Dacosta Yeboah, Swade Howard, Yasser El-Manzalawy, Tayo Obafemi-Ajayi

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is extremely heterogeneous clinically and genetically. There is a pressing need for a better understanding of the heterogeneity of ASD based on scientifically rigorous approaches centered on systematic evaluation of the clinical and research utility of both phenotype and genotype markers. This paper presents a holistic PheWAS-inspired method to identify meaningful associations between ASD phenotypes and genotypes. We generate two types of phenotype-phenotype (p-p) graphs: a direct graph that utilizes only phenotype data, and an indirect graph that incorporates genotype as well as phenotype data. We introduce a novel methodology for fusing the direct and indirect …

Transient Nonlinear Vibration Characterization Of Building Materials In Sequential Impact Scale Experiments, James Bittner, John S. Popovics

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

Characterizing standard building materials such as concrete is challenging primarily because of the broad range of constituent component sizes within the material itself. Concrete, the most ubiquitous building material, contains critical components that span at least three orders of magnitude of physical size. This work introduces a nondestructive sequential impact test to extract transient nonlinear vibration behaviors that provide statistically significant holistic characterization of a heterogeneous building material, neat cement paste, on a centimeter scale sample. The sensitivity of the single impact vibration combined with the repeatability of the new sequential apparatus enables the extraction of statistically distinct transient nonlinear …