Engineering Commons^™

Prediction Of Temperature Difference Across Thermoacoustic Stack Through Artificial Neural Network Technique, Anas A. Rahman, Xiaoqing Zhang

Future Engineering Journal

This study involved the application of artificial neural network (ANN) as a new approach for thermoacoustic refrigerators to predict the temperature difference across the stack under some operating conditions. One ANN model for a standing wave thermoacoustic refrigerator, had been developed based on the experimental data from other literature. Temperature difference across the stack was chosen as a response to the input parameters, mean pressure and frequency in the proposed ANN model. A multi-layer feed-forward neural network with a back propagation algorithm had been proposed for predicting the temperature difference across the stack of the thermoacoustic refrigerator. This proposed ANN …

A Narrative Investigation Of Black Familial Capital That Supports Engineering Engagement Of Middle-School-Aged Youth, Delean Tolbert Smith, Tamecia Jones, Monica E. Cardella

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

A major concern in engineering education involves ensuring that youth belonging to minoritized groups have equitable access to engineering career pathways. Related research often highlights the effect of student and school characteristics on engineering success but few studies have investigated the engineering-related assets that Black families provide. This work aims to provide counterstories that highlight the presence of Black families along the pre-college engineering pathways of three Black youth from the Midwest region of the United States. The application of a counternarrative approach centers the familial capital of Black families and serves as the analytical frame for this work. The …

"But I'M Not An Engineer"...Collaboration Between A Librarian And An Upper Division Project-Based Engineering Program, Heidi J. Southworth, Rebecca Bates, Robert Sleezer

Library Services Publications

Since 2013, a librarian at Minnesota State University, Mankato has collaborated with faculty and students in an upper division project-based engineering program. While having several years of experience in university libraries plus advanced degrees in history, the librarian had a limited background in science, engineering, and technology, and lacked a formal engineering degree. At first glance, this match may appear to be a recipe for failure. Indeed, in those first few years, the librarian’s angst about the missing engineering degree caused many sleepless nights of worry and concern. However, there came a time when the words “but I am not …

"But I'M Not An Engineer"...Collaboration Between A Librarian And An Upper Division Project-Based Engineering Program, Heidi J. Southworth, Rebecca Bates, Robert Sleezer

Library Services Publications

Since 2013, a librarian at Minnesota State University, Mankato has collaborated with faculty and students in an upper division project-based engineering program. While having several years of experience in university libraries plus advanced degrees in history, the librarian had a limited background in science, engineering, and technology, and lacked a formal engineering degree. At first glance, this match may appear to be a recipe for failure. Indeed, in those first few years, the librarian’s angst about the missing engineering degree caused many sleepless nights of worry and concern. However, there came a time when the words “but I am not …

Finite-Difference Analysis Of Stresses Of A Non-Uniform Functionally Graded Material Circular Disk Rotating In The Magneto-Thermal Environment: An Equal Mass Study, Pranta Rahman Sarkar, Akm S. Rahman

Publications and Research

The stress field of a functionally graded material rotating disk is studied for different cases of non-uniform thickness variation in the magneto-thermal environment. Three different cases of thickness variation are considered by assuming the variation of non-uniform thickness profiles to be linear, rational, and exponential functions of radius. The mass of the functionally graded material disk is considered equal in all cases of uniform/non-uniform thickness variation. The finite-difference method is used to obtain the numerical results for an Al/Al₂O₃ functionally graded material disk of fixed-free boundary conditions. The resultant thermo-elastic analysis has shown that the decrease in …

Automated Pre-Play Analysis Of American Football Formations Using Deep Learning, Jacob Deloy Newman

Theses and Dissertations

Annotation and analysis of sports videos is a time consuming task that, once automated, will provide benefits to coaches, players, and spectators. American football, as the most watched sport in the United States, could especially benefit from this automation. Manual annotation and analysis of recorded video of American football games is an inefficient and tedious process. Currently, most college football programs focus on annotating offensive formation. As a first step to further research for this unique application, we use computer vision and deep learning to analyze an overhead image of a football play immediately before the play begins. This analysis …

Passive Radiative Cooling By Spectrally Selective Nanoparticles In Thick Film Nanocomposites, David Allen Young

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Passive cooling of buildings is a benefit to society since no energy input is required for space cooling which reduces electricity consumption, fossil fuel burning, and greenhouse gas emissions. When a passive cooling technology radiates heat from the earth through the atmospheric windows to space higher levels of cooling power are possible -- this phenomenon is classified as passive “radiative” cooling. Spectrally selective surface coatings provide radiative cooling to lower surface temperatures by reflecting most solar radiation, while emitting infrared radiation at wavelengths between 8-13 μm through the primary atmospheric window to the cold of space. Multiple applications of radiative …

An Integrated Approach For Dynamic Process Modeling And Optimization Of Wastewater Treatment Facilities, Komal Rathore

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The subareas of process systems engineering including process modeling, simulation, and optimization are becoming progressively substantial for understanding processes, making decisions, improving efficiency, and complying with stricter environmental and safety legislation. Additionally, the availability of user-friendly flowsheet simulators and computational resources with the current trend of data collection and analysis has allowed for a more accurate representation of complex processes such as wastewater treatment systems. Despite all the progress in the areas of process modeling and simulation, the first-principle mechanistic models for wastewater treatment processes are at best employed during the design stage, and therefore, not used optimally for day-to-day …

Study On The Effect Of Additives In The Electrodeposition Of Sn-Ag-Cu Ternary Alloy Solder, Hua Miao, Ming-Rui Li, Wen-Zhong Zou, Guo-Yun Zhou, Shou-Xu Wang, Xiao-Jing Ye, Kai Zhu

Journal of Electrochemistry

Sn-Ag-Cu ternary alloy is the most ideal substitute for Sn-Pb alloy at present, and can be prepared by electrodeposition with high production efficiency, simple equipment, easy maintenance and excellent coating performance. The coordination system of the electroplating solution was investigated through the Hull cell experiment. The type of brighteners used in the plating solution and the ratio of the two brighteners were determined through the microscopic morphologic characterization, electrochemical corrosion test and cathodic polarization curve test. In addition, the dispersant and stabilizer were studied by observing the microscopic morphology and measuring the concentration change of Sn²⁺ ions in the …

Optimization Of Pulse Plating Additives And Plating Parameters For High Aspect Ratio Through Holes, Kai Yang, Ji-Da Chen, Shi-Jin Chen, Wei-Lian Xu, Mao-Gui Guo, Jin-Chao Liao, Zeng-Kun Wu

Journal of Electrochemistry

As an important component in electronic products, printed circuit board (PCB) plays a supporting and interconnecting role for the electronic components in it. With the development of communication technology, electronic products are developing in the direction of “thin, light and small”, and high density interconnection (HDI) comes into being. Due to the high-density interconnection characteristics of HDI boards, the thickness of the board is increasing. At the same time, in order to reserve space for the laying of fine lines on the subsequent board surface, the diameter of the through holes on the board is also decreasing, so the depth-diameter …

An Investigation On The Interface Corrosion Behaviors Of Cobalt Interconnects In Chemical Mechanical Polishing Slurry, Kai-Xuan Qin, Peng-Fei Chang, Yu-Lin Huang, Ming Li, Tao Hang

Journal of Electrochemistry

Cobalt is widely regarded as the most promising interconnect material for 10 nm node and beyond. The development of a chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) slurry suitable for cobalt interconnect is a critical component for the application of cobalt interconnect. During CMP process of the interconnect layer, the achievement of high-quality surface after planarization is greatly challenged by the metal corrosion in CMP slurry. In this contribution, the corrosion behavior of cobalt in a slurry with potassium persulfate (KPS) as an oxidizer, glycine as a complexing agent, and benzotriazole (BTA) as an inhibitor was investigated. Static erosion rates (SER) of cobalt …

Research Progresses Of Cobalt Interconnect And Superfilling By Electroplating In Chips, Li-Jun Wei, Zi-Han Zhou, Yun-Wen Wu, Ming Li, Su Wang

Journal of Electrochemistry

Copper interconnect using dual damascene technology has always been the main means for metallization in the back end of line process. However, with the size effect becoming more and more obvious due to feature size reduction, copper interconnect can no longer meet the demand for high circuit speed in Post-Moore era. Following copper interconnection, cobalt interconnection in chips attracts much attention as an interconnect technology by the next generation, which has been introduced in 7 nm node of integrated circuit manufacturing and below. The electron mean free path of cobalt (~10 nm) is much shorter than copper’s (39 nm), thus …

Electrochemical Sers Study Of Benzotriazole And 3-Mercapto-1-Propanesulfonate In Acidic Solution On Copper Electrode, Yin-Fei Shen, Yan-Li Chen, Sheng-Xu Wang, Ye Zhu, Wen-Chang Wang, Min-Xian Wu, Zhi-Dong Chen

Journal of Electrochemistry

Since the development of acid copper plating technology, the role of additives is indispensable. In addition to the main salt copper sulfate and supporting electrolyte sulfuric acid, suppressors, accelerators, levelers and chlorine ions (Cl^-) are also required to be added into the plating solution. Appropriate additive system can have a significant impact on the coating or the plating solution, which can help improve the quality of the coating and increase the brightness of the coating. Through electrochemical measurement, vibrational spectroscopy, scanning probe microscopy, molecular dynamics simulation and other methods, researches have a deeper understanding in the adsorption configuration …

Development Status Of Copper Electroplating Filling Technology In Through Glass Via For 3d Interconnections, Zhi-Jing Ji, Hui-Qin Ling, Pei-Lin Wu, Rui-Yi Yu, Da-Quan Yu, Ming Li

Journal of Electrochemistry

With the slow development of Moore's Law, the high density and miniaturization of microelectronic devices put forward higher requirements for advanced packaging technology. As a key technology in 2.5D/3D packaging, interposer technology has been extensively studied. According to different interposer materials, it is mainly divided into organic interposer, silicon interposer and glass interposer. Compared with the through silicon via (TSV) interconnection, the through glass via (TGV) interposer has received extensive attention in the 2.5D/3D advanced packaging field for its advantages of excellent high-frequency electrical characteristics, simple process, low cost, and adjustable coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE). However, the thermal conductivity …

Study On Low Voltage Electrodeposition Of Diamond-Like Carbon Film, Li Wang, Min-Xian Wu, Jun Li, Yan-Li Chen, Wen-Chang Wang, Zhi-Dong Chen

Journal of Electrochemistry

Diamond-like carbon (DLC) films are receiving a lot of attention from the scientific community, thanks to the promise of DLC films for applications in microelectronics and optoelectronics. Usually, electrodeposition is the preferred common technique because of low cost, large deposition area and simplicity of the setup. However, when carbon films are electrodeposited on a stainless steel, high cell voltages (≥1000 V) are required owing to the low electric conductivity of the organic solvents. This work has developed a new electrolyte system that could achieve carbon deposition on a stainless steel under a low applied cell voltage. The DLC films were …

The Dark Annulus Of A Drop In A Hele-Shaw Cell Is Caused By The Refraction Of Light Through Its Meniscus, Sangjin Ryu, Haipeng Zhang, Carson Emeigh

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Knowing the meniscus shape of confined drops is important for understanding how they make first contact and then coalesce. When imaged from the top view by brightfield microscopy, a liquid drop (e.g., corn syrup) confined in a Hele-Shaw cell, surrounded by immiscible liquid (e.g., mineral oil), had a dark annulus, and the width of the annulus decreased with increasing concentration of corn syrup. Since the difference in the annulus width was presumed to be related to the meniscus shape of the drops, three-dimensional images of the drops with different concentrations were obtained using confocal fluorescence microscopy, and their cross-sectional meniscus …

Robust Explainability: A Tutorial On Gradient-Based Attribution Methods For Deep Neural Networks, Ian E. Nielsen, Dimah Dera, Ghulam Rasool, Nidhal Bouaynaya, Ravi P. Ramachandran

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

With the rise of deep neural networks, the challenge of explaining the predictions of these networks has become increasingly recognized. While many methods for explaining the decisions of deep neural networks exist, there is currently no consensus on how to evaluate them. On the other hand, robustness is a popular topic for deep learning research; however, it is hardly talked about in explainability until very recently. In this tutorial paper, we start by presenting gradient-based interpretability methods. These techniques use gradient signals to assign the burden of the decision on the input features. Later, we discuss how gradient-based methods can …

Microstructure Of Electrodeposited Copper Foil: Discussion On The Mechanism Model Of Three-Dimensional Electrocrystallization, Ren-Zhi Liu, Ping-Ling Xie, Chong Wang

Journal of Electrochemistry

The manufacturing of electrolytic copper foil has attracted more and more attention with the extensive applications of printed circuit board and lithium battery. The industrial scale is still extending. Compared with the developments of electroplating equipment and electroplating process, there is limited research on the mechanism of electrodeposition. This paper summarizes the manufacturing process of electrodeposited copper foil and analyzes the differences of various electroplating parameters in different electrodeposited copper technologies, and points out the important role of electrodeposition current density in the formation of copper foil. By showing and comparing the microstructures of different electrodeposited copper foils, the influences …

Allure: A Multi-Modal Guided Environment For Helping Children Learn To Solve A Rubik's Cube With Automatic Solving And Interactive Explanations, Kausik Lakkaraju, Thahimum Hassan, Vedant Khandelwal, Prathamjeet Singh, Cassidy Bradley, Ronak Shah, Forest Agostinelli, Biplav Srivastava, Dezhi Wu

Faculty Publications

Modern artificial intelligence (AI) methods have been used to solve problems that many humans struggle to solve. This opens up new opportunities for knowledge discovery and education. We demonstrate ALLURE, a collaborative educational AI system for learning to solve the Rubik's cube that is designed to help students improve their problem solving skills. ALLURE can both find its own strategies for solving the Rubik's cube and explain those strategies to humans. In the future, ALLURE will also be able to collaborate with humans by building on user-provided strategies for solving the Rubik's cube and as well as generalize to other …

Explainable And Cooperative Autonomy Across Networks Of Distributed Systems, Peter Joseph Jorgensen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Large networks of complex systems-of-systems are commonplace and evermore present in both mundane and extraordinary facets of human existence. From the exponential growth of connectivity via the internet and other information networks, to the miniaturization of computers and sensors, to cross-domain sensor and communication networks, these networks of distributed systems-of-systems (NDSS) present incredible benefits and challenges. Autonomy is perhaps the most important and most difficult to achieve enabling technology for efficient performance of the NDSS. Giving each individual agent in a network the ability to manage its internal state in dynamic operating environments and in pursuit of multiple complex and …

Classification Of Teleseismic Shear Wave Splitting Measurements: A Convolutional Neural Network Approach, Yanwei Zhang, Stephen S. Gao

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Shear wave splitting (SWS) analysis is widely used to provide critical constraints on crustal and mantle structure and dynamic models. In order to obtain reliable splitting measurements, an essential step is to visually verify all the measurements to reject problematic measurements, a task that is increasingly time consuming due to the exponential increase in the amount of data. In this study, we utilized a convolutional neural network (CNN) based method to automatically select reliable SWS measurements. The CNN was trained by human-verified teleseismic SWS measurements and tested using synthetic SWS measurements. Application of the trained CNN to broadband seismic data …

Modular Cable - Driven Surgical Robots, Carl A. Nelson, Nicholas Nelson

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

A surgical robot can be configured for minimally invasive surgery ( MIS ) and other types of surgery with modular link geometry and disposable components. In some examples, the surgical robot includes a cable driver comprising at least one drive motor configured for tensioning a cable. The surgical robot includes an articulated surgical tool coupled to the drive motor by the cable. The articulated surgical tool comprises at least first and second articulated links and a joint coupling the first and second articulated links. The cable passes through the joint, and the joint comprises an elastic antagonist biased in opposition …

Introduction Of Development And Application Technology Of Organic Additives For Acid Copper Electroplating, Hao-Bin Zou, Chao-Li Tan, Wei Xiong, Dao-Lin Xi, Bin-Yun Liu

Journal of Electrochemistry

Acid copper electroplating is one of the key technologies in buildup multilayer PCB (BUM-PCB) manufacture process and the most important technique to achieve electrical interconnection between any layer and high-density interconnection in a substrate. This article introduces the research focus of organic additives used in acid copper electroplating, and developing different kinds of micro-via filling copper electroplating technique applied in various scenarios, and some other technical problems from applications. First of all, according to the chronopotentiometric (CP) experiment results, the levelers with different polymeric molecular structures exhibited various responses of cupric deposition potential along with their increased concentrations, which is …

Effect Of Sodium Alcohol Thiyl Propane Sulfonate On Electrolysis Of High Performance Copper Foil For Lithium Ion Batteries, Sen Yang, Wen-Chang Wang, Ran Zhang, Shui-Ping Qin, Min-Xian Wu, Naotoshi Mitsuzaki, Zhi-Dong Chen

Journal of Electrochemistry

Electrolytic copper foils have been widely used in printed circuit boards and lithium-ion batteries due to their simple production process and high economic value. In the process of electrolysis foil making, additives can greatly improve the performance of electrolytic copper foils. In this work, the copper foils were prepared in a self-designed plate electrodeposition device of which the operating principles were in accordance with those of actual industrial production. A series of the Virgin Make-up Solution (VMS: 312.5 g·L^-1 CuSO₄·5H₂O, 100 g·L^-1 H₂SO₄, 50 mg·L^-1 Cl^-) containing …

Predicting Joint Mechanics Using Semg And Deep Neural Networks, Heath James Staley Boyea

Graduate Theses - Mechanical Engineering

According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), 1 in 7 American adults are affected by disabilities that affect mobility [1]. Assistive devices, such as exoskeletons, may be able to assist affected individuals. Though these devices may be helpful, constant assistance can create dependence on the device. We hypothesize that an assist-as-needed control system can be developed to aid the wearer only when necessary. To develop an assist-as-needed control system, it needs to be determined when assistance is needed and the magnitude of this assistance. We hypothesize that an artificial neural network (ANN) can predict future normal torque outputs of …

Polymers And Composite Materials, Joshua P. Steimel

Pacific Open Texts

This text serves to cover in more detail polymer physics concepts and specifically how polymers respond from the atomistic to meter length scale. This text spans topics from polymerization chemistry, chain models, Flory-Huggins theory, viscosity, characterization techniques, self assembly, polymer dynamics, viscoelasticity, and mechanics of polymer and composite materials.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommerical-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

Biomimetic Strategies To Control Therapeutic Release From Novel Dna Nanoparticles, Robert J. Mosley

Theses and Dissertations

The inherent chemical, mechanical, and structural properties of nucleic acids make them ideal candidates for the formulation of tunable, personalized drug nanocarriers. However, none so far have exploited these properties for the controlled release of therapeutic drugs. In this dissertation, a biomimetic approach to controlling drug release is exhibited by specifically manipulating the architecture of novel, DNA nanoparticles to take advantage of drug binding mechanisms of action. Rationally designed DNA strands were immobilized on gold surfaces via a terminal thiol modification. Immobilized monomers can be manipulated to form distinct monolayer architectures including flat, folded, coiled, or stretched structures. Increasing the …

Development Of A Covid-19 Vulnerability Index (Cvi) For The Counties And Residents Of New Jersey, Remo Victor Disalvatore

Theses and Dissertations

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted countless aspects of everyday life since it was declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization in March of 2020. From societal to economic impacts, COVID-19 and its variants will leave a lasting impact on our society and the world. Approximately $9 trillion has been spent on fighting the pandemic around the world. During the pandemic, it became increasingly evident that indices, such as the Center for Disease Control (CDC) Social Vulnerability Index (SVI), were extremely important for predicting vulnerabilities in a community. The CDC's SVI provides important estimates on which communities will be …

Effectiveness Of Mesoporous Bioglass In Drug Delivery, Sheila Galbreath, Bailey Krueger, Taylor Frazier, Tarun Goswami

Biomedical, Industrial & Human Factors Engineering Faculty Publications

Since the invention of bioactive glass 50 years ago, it has become a versatile material used in healthcare in a variety of applications and compositions. Bioactive glass has shown superior capabilities of drug delivery compared to traditional carriers. For example, time-released medications are less likely to reach toxic levels, while delivering a specific, therapeutic dose to a localized area. The objective of this paper is to investigate the properties and effectiveness of mesoporous bioglass (MBG) as a drug delivery carrier. A literature review of various polymer coated 45S5 Bioglass^® loaded with vancomycin was analyzed to determine their drug release …

Flexural Performance Of Encased Pultruded Gfrp I-Beam With High Strength Concrete Under Static Loading, Enas M. Mahmood, Abbas A. Allawi, Ayman El-Zohairy

Faculty Publications

There is an interesting potential for the use of GFRP-pultruded profiles in hybrid GFRP concrete structural elements, either for new constructions or for the rehabilitation of existing structures. This paper provides experimental and numerical investigations on the flexural performance of reinforced concrete (RC) specimens composite with encased pultruded GFRP I-sections. Five simply supported composite beams were tested in this experimental program to investigate the static flexural behavior of encased GFRP beams with high-strength concrete. Besides, the effect of using shear studs to improve the composite interaction between the GFRP beam and concrete as well as the effect of web stiffeners …