Engineering Commons^™

A Machine Learning Approach To Predicting The Onset Of Type Ii Diabetes In A Sample Of Pima Indian Women, Meriem Benarbia

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Type II diabetes is a disease that affects how the body regulates and uses sugar (glucose) as a fuel. This chronic disease results in too much sugar circulating in the bloodstream. High blood sugar levels can lead to circulatory, nervous, and immune systems disorders. Machine learning (ML) techniques have proven their strength in diabetes diagnosis. In this paper, we aimed to contribute to the literature on the use of ML methods by examining the value of a number of supervised machine learning algorithms such as logistic regression, decision tree classifiers, random forest classifiers, and support vector classifiers to identify factors …

How Advances In Low-G Plumbing Enable Space Exploration, Mark M. Weislogel, John Graft, Andrew P. Wollman, Karl Cardin, Logan Torres, J. E. Goodman, J. C. Buchli

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

In many ways, plumbing is essential to life support. In fact, the advance of humankind on Earth is directly linked to the advance of clean, healthy, reliable plumbing solutions. Shouldn’t this also be true for the advancement of humankind in space? Unfortunately, the reliability of even the simplest plumbing element aboard spacecraft is rarely that of its terrestrial counterpart. This state of affairs is due entirely to the near-weightless “low-g” state of orbiting and coast spacecraft. But the combined passive capillary effects of surface tension, wetting, and system geometry in space can be exploited to replace the passive role of …

Wake Bifurcations Behind Two Circular Disks In Tandem Arrangement, Jianzhi Yang, Xiaowei Wu, Minghou Liu, Changjian Wang, Yuxin Wu, Zhihe Shen

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

The wake bifurcations behind two circular disks in tandem arrangement are investigated through numerical simulations. The separation distance between the disks, S/d, is chosen at 1, 2, 4, and 6, and the Reynolds number, Re, lies in the range of 100 Re 500. The wake dynamics are examined in terms of the flow structures as well as drag and lift coefficient characteristics. Seven main wake regimes are observed in the considered (Re, S/d) space: steady state (SS), Zig-zig (Zz) mode, standing wave mode, periodic state with reflectional symmetry breaking (RSB), periodic state with double-helical (DH) structures shedding, periodic state with …

Comparison Of Performance Of Self-Expanding And Balloon-Expandable Transcatheter Aortic Valves, Hoda Hatoum, Milad Samaee, Janarthanan Sathananthan, Stephanie Sellers, Maximilian Kuetting, Scott M. Lilly, Abdul R. Ihdayhid, Philipp Blanke, Jonathon Leipsic, Vinod H. Thourani, Lakshmi Prasad Dasi

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

Objective: To evaluate the flow dynamics of self-expanding and balloon-expandable transcatheter aortic valves pertaining to turbulence and pressure recovery. Transcatheter aortic valves are characterized by different designs that have different valve performance and outcomes. Methods: Assessment of transcatheter aortic valves was performed using self-expanding devices (26-mm Evolut [Medtronic], 23-mm Allegra [New Valve Technologies], and small Acurate neo [Boston Scientific]) and a balloon-expandable device (23-mm Sapien 3 [Edwards Lifesciences]). Particle image velocimetry assessed the flow downstream. A Millar catheter was used for pressure recovery calculation. Velocity, Reynolds shear stresses, viscous shear stress, and pressure gradients were calculated. Results: The maximal velocity …

Grey-Taguchi Approach To Optimize Fused Deposition Modeling Process In Terms Of Mechanical Properties And Dimensional Accuracy, Md Asif Bin Syed, Qausar Rhaman, Hasan Md Shahriar, Mohammad Muhshin Aziz Khan

Graduate Student Scholarship

Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) is a process that allows for the rapid production of functional parts through the deposition of fused material layers in a sequential manner. FDM has flexibility and the potential to create complicated parts. This study aims to optimize the FDM process parameters in terms of tensile strength, flexural strength, and longitudinal shrinkage using the Grey-Taguchi approach. The input parameters chosen to study the effects on dimension and mechanical properties are layer thickness, the raster angle, fill density, the number of contours, printing temperature, and printing speed. The Taguchi L27 orthogonal array is used as the statistical …

Laser-Scribed Conductive, Photoactive Transition Metal Oxide On Soft Elastomers For Janus On-Skin Electronics And Soft Actuators, Ganggang Zhao, Yun Ling, Yajuan Su, Zanyu Chen, Cherian J. Mathai, Ogheneobarome Emeje, Alexander Brown, Dinesh Reddy Alla, Jie Huang, Chansong Kim, Qian Chen, Xiaoqing He, David Stalla, Yadong Xu

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Laser-assisted fabrication of conductive materials on flexible substrates has attracted intense interests because of its simplicity, easy customization, and broad applications. However, it remains challenging to achieve laser scribing of conductive materials on tissue-like soft elastomers, which can serve as the basis to construct bioelectronics and soft actuators. Here, we report laser scribing of metallic conductive, photoactive transition metal oxide (molybdenum dioxide) on soft elastomers, coated with molybdenum chloride precursors, under ambient conditions. Laser-scribed molybdenum dioxide (LSM) exhibits high electrical conductivity, biocompatibility, chemical stability, and compatibility with magnetic resonance imaging. In addition, LSM can be made on various substrates (polyimide, …

Functional Carbon Nitride Materials In Photo-Fenton-Like Catalysis For Environmental Remediation, Jingkai Lin, Wenjie Tian, Zheyu Guan, Huayang Zhang, Xiaoguang Duan, Hao Wang, Hongqi Sun, Yanfen Fang, Yingping Huang, Shaobin Wang

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Among various advanced oxidation processes, coupled photocatalysis and heterogeneous Fenton-like catalysis (known as photo-Fenton-like catalysis) to generate highly reactive species for environmental remediation has attracted wide interests. As an emerging metal-free photocatalyst, graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4, CN) has been recently recognized as a promising candidate to catalyze robustly heterogeneous photo-Fenton-like reactions for wastewater remediation. This review summarizes recent progress in fabricating various types of CN-based catalysts for the photo-Fenton-like reaction process. Innovative engineering strategies on the CN matrix are outlined, ranging from morphology control, defect engineering, nonmetal atom doping, organic molecule doping to modification by metal-containing species. The photo-Fenton-like catalytic …

Extended Weight Systems Pavement Analysis, Gayle Marks, Jon Wilcoxson, Bryan Gibson

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

Kentucky established its Extended Weight Coal or Coal By-products Haul Road System (EWCHRS) in 1986. This road network includes segments of the Coal Haul Highway System on which more than 50,000 tons coal or coal byproducts were transported by motor vehicles during the previous calendar year. In the past few years, the state has introduced extended weight (EW) systems focused on petroleum products and metal commodities. Trucks can operate above posted weight limits on these networks by paying annual fees that range from $160 to $2,000. While EW networks benefit motor carriers by improving efficiency, vehicles that exceed weight limits …

Functional Analysis Of The Cortical Transcriptome And Proteome Reveal Neurogenesis, Inflammation, And Cell Death After Repeated Traumatic Brain Injury In Vivo, Celeste Dunn, Lais A. Ferreira, Sara M. Venier, Syed F. Ali, Jeffery Wolchok, Kartik Balachandran

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

The pathological effects of repeated traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) are largely unknown. To gain a detailed understanding of the cortical tissue acute biological response after one or two TBIs, we utilized RNA-sequencing and protein mass spectrometry techniques. Using our previously validated C57Bl/6 weight-drop model, we administered one or two TBIs of a mild or moderate severity. Double injury conditions were spaced 7 days apart, and cortical tissue was isolated 24 h after final injury. Analysis was carried out through functional gene annotation, utilizing Gene Ontology, for both the proteome and transcriptome. Major themes across the four different conditions include: neurogenesis; …

The Role Of Regional Connections In Planning For Future Power System Operations Under Climate Extremes, Ana Dyreson, N. Devineni, S. W.D. Turner, T. De Silva M, A. Miara, N. Voisin, S. Cohen, J. Macknick

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

Identifying the sensitivity of future power systems to climate extremes must consider the concurrent effects of changing climate and evolving power systems. We investigated the sensitivity of a Western U.S. power system to isolated and combined heat and drought when it has low (5%) and moderate (31%) variable renewable energy shares, representing historic and future systems. We used an electricity operational model combined with a model of historically extreme drought (for hydropower and freshwater-reliant thermoelectric generators) over the Western U.S. and a synthetic, regionally extreme heat event in Southern California (for thermoelectric generators and electricity load). We found that the …

Assessing Public Health Benefits Of Replacing Freight Trucks With Cargo Cycles In Last Leg Delivery Trips In Urban Centers, Jennifer C. Hartle, Ossama (Sam) A. Elrahman, Cara Wang, Daniel A. Rodriguez, Yue Ding, Matt Mcgahan

Mineta Transportation Institute

Increased urbanization, population growth, and demand for time-sensitive deliveries means increased freight movement in cities, which contributes to emissions, noise, and safety concerns. One innovative mode gaining widespread attention for urban deliveries is cargo cycles—bicycles adapted for freight delivery. Despite the recognized potential and possible success of transporting at least 25% of freight via cycle, research remains limited. This research investigates the potential of cargo cycle delivery for last mile freight in Oakland, California, with a focus on the West Oakland neighborhood. The data collection included interviews, focus groups, vehicle field observation and counts, and traffic simulation modeling. The traffic …

Influence Of Level 1 And Level 2 Automated Vehicles On Fatal Crashes And Fatal Crash Occurrence, Hardik Gajera, Srinivas S. Pulugurtha, Sonu Mathew

Mineta Transportation Institute

Connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) are expected to improve safety by gradually reducing human decisions while driving. However, there are still questions on their effectiveness as we transition from almost 0% CAVs to 100% CAVs with different levels of vehicle autonomy. This research focuses on synthesizing literature and identifying risk factors influencing fatal crashes involving level 1 and level 2 CAVs in the United States. Fatal crashes involving level 0 vehicles—ones that are not connected and automated—were compared to minimize unobserved heterogeneity and randomness associated with the influencing risk factors. The research team used the fatal crash data for the …

Aldi++: Automatic And Parameter-Less Discord And Outlier Detection For Building Energy Load Profiles, Matias Quintana, Till Stoeckmann, Young June Park, Marian Turowski, Veit Hagenmeyer, Clayton Miller

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

Data-driven building energy prediction is an integral part of the process for measurement and verification, building benchmarking, and building-to-grid interaction. The ASHRAE Great Energy Predictor III (GEPIII) machine learning competition used an extensive meter data set to crowdsource the most accurate machine learning workflow for whole building energy prediction. A significant component of the winning solutions was the pre-processing phase to remove anomalous training data. Contemporary pre-processing methods focus on filtering statistical threshold values or deep learning methods requiring training data and multiple hyper-parameters. A recent method named ALDI (Automated Load profile Discord Identification) managed to identify these discords using …

Evaluation Of Polymer Binder Technisoil G5® In Concrete Mixture, Shadi Saadeh, Pritam Katawal

Mineta Transportation Institute

Plastic is everywhere, and with its increasing use in so many everyday materials, the production and demand of plastic has skyrocketed. Unfortunately, this has resulted in the accumulation of a mammoth amount of plastic waste and adverse effects on the environment. To optimize the huge amount of materials required by the pavement industry each year and reuse recycled plastics, the use of reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) has been common practice. This research studied the use of a binder completely made from recycled waste plastic named Technisoil G5® and compared it with performance grade PG 70-22 mix containing virgin aggregates and …

Covid-19 Public Transportation Air Circulation And Virus Mitigation Study, Aly Tawfik, Deify Law, Juris Grasis, Joseph Oldham, Moe Salem

Mineta Transportation Institute

COVID-19 may have forever changed our world. Given the limited space and air circulation, potential infections on public transportation could be concerningly high. Accordingly, this study has two objectives: (1) to understand air circulation patterns inside the cabins of buses; and (2) to test the impact of different technologies in mitigating viruses from the air and on surfaces inside bus cabins. For the first objective, different devices, metrics and experiments (including colored smoke; videotaping; anemometers; pressure differentials; particle counts; and 3D numerical simulation models) were utilized and implemented to understand and quantify air circulation inside different buses, with different characteristics, …

Impact Of Dedicated Bus Lanes On Intersection Operations And Travel Time Model Development, Stephen Arhin, Babin Manandhar, Kevin Obike, Melissa Anderson

Mineta Transportation Institute

Over the years, public transit agencies have been trying to improve their operations by continuously evaluating best practices to better serve patrons. Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) oversees the transit bus operations in the Washington Metropolitan Area (District of Columbia, some parts of Maryland and Virginia). One practice attempted by WMATA to improve bus travel time and transit reliability has been the implementation of designated bus lanes (DBLs). The District Department of Transportation (DDOT) implemented a bus priority program on selected corridors in the District of Columbia leading to the installation of red-painted DBLs on corridors of H Street, …

Flowunsteady: An Interactional Aerodynamics Solver For Multirotor Aircraft And Wind Energy, Eduardo Alvarez, Judd Mehr, Andrew Ning

Faculty Publications

The ability to accurately and rapidly assess unsteady interactional aerodynamics is a shortcoming and bottleneck in the design of various next-generation aerospace systems: from electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft to airborne wind energy (AWE) and wind farms. In this study, we present a meshless CFD framework based on the reformulated vortex particle method (rVPM) for the analysis of complex interactional aerodynamics. The rVPM is a large eddy simulation (LES) solving the Navier-Stokes equations in their vorticity form. It uses a meshless Lagrangian scheme, which not only avoids the hurdles of mesh generation, but it also conserves the vortical …

Analysis Of The Cyclic Behavior And Fatigue Damage Of Low Alloy Steels, Zahra Salemi Najafabadi

Dissertations

Fatigue is the most common type of failure in many structures and components subjected to cyclic loading. Surface effects in fatigued materials are of particular importance, since in most cases the surface is the preferred site of fatigue crack initiation. Microcracks originate at the metal surface due to stress concentration introduced by macro notches and micro defects in the surface layers. The microcrack initiation and propagation are controlled by the localized plastic deformation in the surface layers especially in the initial stage of fatigue failure process. Therefore, the knowledge regarding the cyclically induced changes in deformation resistance at the metal …

Channeling Influence On Noise And Aerodynamic Performance Of Naca 0012 Airfoil As A Possible Solution Of Wind Turbines Noise, Hussein Khudhayer Mohammad

Dissertations

This work numerically and experimentally investigates the effect of using channels inside airfoils on the noise level as a possible resolution for aerodynamic noise generated by wind turbines. The work also investigates aerodynamic performance and turbulence around the employed airfoils. The results reveal that some of the samples show some improvement in reducing the aerodynamic noise. The reduction of the aerodynamic noise is explained as the trailing edge blowing injection that reduces the wake momentum deficit of the blade and reduces the pressure fluctuation which is responsible for noise production. Particularly, the angles of channel inclination with respect to the …

Hepatic Artery Flow, Inspired Oxygen, And Hemoglobin Determine Liver Tissue Saturation Measured With Visible Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy (Vis-Drs) In An In Vivo Swine Model, Stylianos Voulgarelis, Faraneh Fathi, Bing Yu, Barbara Palkovic, Nikolaos A. Chatzizacharias, Kenneth P. Allen, Astrid G. Stucke

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Background

Prompt diagnosis of vascular compromise following pediatric liver transplantation and restoration of oxygen delivery to the liver improves organ survival. vis-DRS allows for real-time measurement of liver tissue saturation.

Methods

The current study used vis-DRS to determine changes in liver saturation during clinically relevant conditions of reduced oxygen delivery. In an in vivo swine model (n = 15), we determined liver tissue saturation (S_tO₂) during stepwise reduction in hepatic artery flow, different inspiratory oxygen fraction (FiO₂), and increasing hemodilution. A custom vis-DRS probe was placed directly on the organ.

Results

Liver tissue …

Development Of Flexible Hybrid Electronics For Sterilization And Structural Health Monitoring Applications, Arnesh Kumar Bose

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Model Predictive Controller Design For Internal Combustion Engines Based On The Second Law Of Thermodynamics, Muataz Abotabik

Dissertations

Energy resources depletion and worldwide strict emissions policies pose challenges that automotive manufacturers try to overcome through researching advanced powertrain technologies such as lean-burn gasoline, direct injection, homogeneous charge compression ignition engines, powertrain electrification, etc. Most of these developments have been focused on conventional internal combustion engines (ICE) emissions and performance enhancements. Most ICE control strategies are built based on the First Law of Thermodynamics (FLT) i.e., to deliver a specific load requirement, enhancing thermal efficiency, etc. The FLT doesn’t account for in-cylinder high temperature thermodynamics process irreversibilities that cause losses in the work potential; up to 25% of the …

Staphylococcus Aureus Sortase A Protein Applications And Methods: (1) Drug Discovery In Anti-Infectious Agents; (2) A Biotechnique Analysis For Indication Sortase A Protein Purification Methods; (3) In Vivo Protein Ligation For Discovery Of Novel Protein Engineering Methods:, Melina Huang Xia

Bioengineering Master's Theses

It has been understood that during Gram-positive bacterial infection, the bacterial cells interact with host mammalian cells via the virulence factors whose anchorage onto the bacterial surface are mainly catalysed by Sortase A[2]. Emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains, especially the Gram-positive bacteria, has rendered the rise of many antibiotic resistant bacteria, resulting in rise of infection cases that bypass traditional first-line antibiotics treatments. It is crucial for the public health that scientists and researchers discover an alternative treatment for the bacterial infection that targets the underlying pathogenic mechanism that are responsible for the increased virulence of such bacteria without contributing …

One-Stage Blind Source Separation Via A Sparse Autoencoder Framework, Jason Anthony Dabin

Dissertations

Blind source separation (BSS) is the process of recovering individual source transmissions from a received mixture of co-channel signals without a priori knowledge of the channel mixing matrix or transmitted source signals. The received co-channel composite signal is considered to be captured across an antenna array or sensor network and is assumed to contain sparse transmissions, as users are active and inactive aperiodically over time. An unsupervised machine learning approach using an artificial feedforward neural network sparse autoencoder with one hidden layer is formulated for blindly recovering the channel matrix and source activity of co-channel transmissions. The BSS sparse autoencoder …

Optimizing Speed Profiles For Sustainable Train Operation With Wayside Energy Storage Systems, Leon A. Allen

Dissertations

Large hauling capability and low rolling resistance has put rail transit at the forefront of mass transportation mode sustainability in terms of congestion mitigation and energy conservation. As such, rail vehicles are one of the least energy-intensive modes of transportation and least environmentally polluting. Despite, these positives, improper driving habits and wastage of the braking energy through dissipation in braking resistors result in unnecessary consumption, extra costs to the operator and increased atmospheric greenhouse gas emissions.

This study presents an intelligent method for the optimization of the number and locations of wayside energy storage system (WESS) units that maximize the …

Planning Methodology For Alternative Intersection Design And Selection, Liran Chen

Dissertations

The recent publication of the 6th Edition of the Highway Capacity Manual included a chapter on Ramp Terminals and Alternative Intersections that introduces various alternative intersection designs and assesses the performance of Median U-turn, Restricted crossing U-turn and Displaced left-turn intersections. Missing from the literature is an alternative intersection selection tool for identifying whether an alternative intersection would be successful under local conditions. With limited information of organized alternative intersection research, most planners must rely heavily on their personal judgement while selecting the most suitable intersection designs. As appealing as alternative intersections are, there is no comprehensive methodology for planners …

Nondestructive Evaluation Of 3d Printed, Extruded, And Natural Polymer Structures Using Terahertz Spectroscopy And Imaging, Alexander T. Clark

Dissertations

Terahertz (THz) spectroscopy and imaging are considered for the nondestructive evaluation (NDE) of various three-dimensional (3D) printed, extruded, and natural polymer structures. THz radiation is the prime candidate for many NDE challenges due to the added benefits of safety, increased contrast and depth resolution, and optical characteristic visualization when compared to other techniques. THz imaging, using a wide bandwidth pulse-based system, can evaluate the external and internal structure of most nonconductive and nonpolar materials without any permanent effects. NDE images can be created based on THz pulse attributes or a material’s spectroscopic characteristics such as refractive index, attenuation coefficient, or …

Investigation Of Topological Phonons In Acoustic Metamaterials, Wenting Cheng

Dissertations

Topological acoustics is a recent and intense area of research. It merges the knowledge of mathematical topology, condensed matter physics, and acoustics. At the same time, it has been pointed out that quasiperiodicity can greatly enhance the periodic table of topological systems. Because quasiperiodic patterns have an intrinsic global degree of freedom, which exists in the topological space called the hull of a pattern, where the shape traced in this topological space is called the phason. The hull augments the physical space, which opens a door to the physics of the integer quantum Hall effect (IQHE) in arbitrary dimensions. In …

Improving The Performance And Evaluation Of Computer-Assisted Semen Analysis, Ji-Won Choi

Dissertations

Semen analysis is performed routinely in fertility clinics to analyze the quality of semen and sperm cells of male patients. The analysis is typically performed by trained technicians or by Computer-Assisted Semen Analysis (CASA) systems. Manual semen analysis performed by technicians is subjective, time-consuming, and laborious, and yet most fertility clinics perform semen analysis in this manner. CASA systems, which are designed to perform the same tasks automatically, have a considerable market share, yet many studies still express concerns about their accuracy and consistency. In this dissertation, the focus is on detection, tracking, and classification of sperm cells in semen …

A Self-Learning Intersection Control System For Connected And Automated Vehicles, Ardeshir Mirbakhsh

Dissertations

This study proposes a Decentralized Sparse Coordination Learning System (DSCLS) based on Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) to control intersections under the Connected and Automated Vehicles (CAVs) environment. In this approach, roadway sections are divided into small areas; vehicles try to reserve their desired area ahead of time, based on having a common desired area with other CAVs; the vehicles would be in an independent or coordinated state. Individual CAVs are set accountable for decision-making at each step in both coordinated and independent states. In the training process, CAVs learn to minimize the overall delay at the intersection. Due to the …