Engineering Commons^™

Plant Protein-Based Nanocomposite Films: A Review On The Used Nanomaterials, Characteristics, And Food Packaging Applications, Shima Jafarzadeh, Mehrdad Forough, Sajed Amjadi, Vahid J. Javan Kouzegaran, Hadi Almasi, Farhad Garavand, Masoumeh Zargar

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Consumer demands to utilize environmentally friendly packaging have led researchers to develop packaging materials from naturally derived resources. In recent years, plant protein-based films as a replacement for synthetic plastics have attracted the attention of the global food packaging industry due to their biodegradability and unique properties. Biopolymer-based films need a filler to show improved packaging properties. One of the latest strategies introduced to food packaging technology is the production of nanocomposite films which are multiphase materials containing a filler with at least one dimension less than 100 nm. This review provides the recent findings on plant-based protein films as …

Atomically Dispersed Janus Nickel Sites On Red Phosphorus For Photocatalytic Overall Water Splitting, Shuai Xu, Clemens Burda

Faculty Scholarship

Single-atom nickel catalysts hold great promise for photocatalytic water splitting due to their plentiful active sites and cost-effectiveness. Herein, we adopt a reactive-group guided strategy to prepare atomically dispersed nickel catalysts on red phosphorus. The hydrothermal treatment of red phosphorus leads to the formation of P−H and P−OH groups, which behave as the reactive functionalities to generate the dual structure of single-atom P−Ni and P−O−Ni catalytic sites. The produced single-atom sites provide two different functions: P−Ni for water reduction and P−O−Ni for water oxidation. Benefitting from this specific Janus structure, Ni-red phosphorus shows an elevated hydrogen evolution rate compared to …

Worksheet 01 - Monopole, Ashanthi Maxworth Phd

Antenna Design With HFSS

This worksheet guides users on modeling a quarter-wavelength monopole antenna on an infinite ground plane and observing its characteristics. The worksheet starts with parameter settings and continues on to antenna design, boundary setting, radiation setting, and then to simulation and viewing the results.

Worksheet 04 - Dipole, Ashanthi Maxworth Phd

Antenna Design With HFSS

This worksheet shows how to create a half-wavelength dipole, set the feeder through a port, observe directivity, half-power beamwidth, etc.

Worksheet 05 - Loop, Ashanthi Maxworth Phd

Antenna Design With HFSS

In this worksheet, the users can design a small loop. The small loop shows low directivity, hence at the end of the worksheet, the users can chanage the design parameters and increase the directivity.

Worksheet 07 - Bicone, Ashanthi Maxworth Phd

Antenna Design With HFSS

In this worksheet, setps are given to design a full-wavelength biconical antenna. This is a broadband antenna. The worksheet also shows how to observe surface currents.

Worksheet 06 - Arrays, Ashanthi Maxworth Phd

Antenna Design With HFSS

This worksheet designs an antenna array with three identical dipole elemetns. The antenna is operating as a broadside array. By changing the parameters the users can view the grating lobes in addition to the main lobe.

Worksheet 09 Horn, Ashanthi Maxworth Phd

Antenna Design With HFSS

This worksheet designs a pyramidal horn antenna fed by a waveport.

Worksheet 03 - Near Field, Ashanthi Maxworth Phd

Antenna Design With HFSS

This worksheet guides students to change the observational region between, reactive near field, radiating near field, and far-field.

Worksheet 08 - Helix, Ashanthi Maxworth Phd

Antenna Design With HFSS

This worksheet creates a helical antenna operating in the axial mode. The antenna is mounted on a ground plane. The users can change the circumference of the helix and change the operating mode to broadside or conical if they wish.

Worksheet 10 - Patch, Ashanthi Maxworth Phd

Antenna Design With HFSS

In this worksheet, steps are given to create a slotted rectangular microstrip patch antenna with an inset feed using a stripline. The patch antenna is operating in the TM10 mode.

The Energy Challenge: Moving From Fossil Fuels To Biofuels, Hydrogen, And Green Energy Sources, Aneeza Hussain, Afrina S. Nishat

Publications and Research

The aim of this literature research is to evaluate and identify alternative sources of energy instead of fossil fuels. Fossil fuels like natural gas, oil, and coal are known as nonrenewable resources because they are finite resources that cannot be readily replenished at the same pace as their consumption. The alternatives that will be searched for in this literature review are specifically, biofuels, hydrogen, and green energy sources which are all known as renewable. The review will then focus on hydrogen as true potential replacement of fossil fuels. In some countries, alternative renewable sources include geothermal energy, nuclear energy, solar …

Exploring Solidworks Simulation And Structural Analysis Tools To Predict Real-World Physical Behaviors, Itay Rubin

Publications and Research

Computer Aided Design (CAD) Software can optimize the product design process prior to manufacturing. This project examines engineering solutions using CAD software called SolidWorks. It simulates how the product will behave under a variety of engineering constraints. These simulations allow designers to optimize performance, cost, and speed efficiencies. The project uses simulations and finite element analysis to replicate real world behavior. It presents high-level capabilities in the design process, exposing new engineers to simulation tools that are available and relevant in mechanical engineering design. This project required independent research to obtain an advanced understanding of the software interface and capabilities.

The Living Breakwaters Pdr Efforts: Conceptual Scheduling, Calvin O. Walters Jr.

Publications and Research

On October 29, 2012, Superstorm Sandy caused nearly $19 billion in damages in New York City including 69,000 residential units across the five boroughs. This disaster precipitated a post-disaster-rebuilding (PDR) project including roughly $4.2 billion in a Community Development Block Grant allocated towards PDR projects. A portion of the grant was used to construct a living breakwater in Tottenville, Staten Island, consisting of a resiliency approach to risk reduction through erosion prevention, wave energy attenuation, and enhancement of ecosystems and social resiliency to improve resistance to storms for the community of Tottenville. The ridges of each breakwater are designed with …

Worksheet 02 - Meshing, Ashanthi Maxworth Phd

Antenna Design With HFSS

This worksheet is designed to oberserve the variations in results when the mesh is varied from coarse to fine, hence how to find the optimum mesh size such that we can get accurate results while not compromising computational power.

Defensive Industrial Policy: Cybersecurity Interventions To Reduce Intellectual Property Theft, Dr. Chad Dacus, Dr. Carl (Cj) Horn

Military Cyber Affairs

Through cyber-enabled industrial espionage, China has appropriated what Keith Alexander, the former Director of the National Security Agency, dubbed “the largest transfer of wealth in history.” Although China disavows intellectual property (IP) theft by its citizens and has set self-sustained research and development as an important goal, it is unrealistic to believe IP theft will slow down meaningfully without changing China’s decision calculus. China and the United States have twice agreed, in principle, to respect one another’s IP rights. However, these agreements have lacked any real enforcement mechanism, so the United States must do more to ensure its IP is …

The Applications Of The Internet Of Things In The Medical Field, Cody Repass

Theses and Dissertations

The Internet of Things (IoT) paradigm promises to make “things” include a more generic set of entities such as smart devices, sensors, human beings, and any other IoT objects to be accessible at anytime and anywhere. IoT varies widely in its applications, and one of its most beneficial uses is in the medical field. However, the large attack surface and vulnerabilities of IoT systems needs to be secured and protected. Security is a requirement for IoT systems in the medical field where the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) applies.

This work investigates various applications of IoT in healthcare …

Designing & Building A Microwave Plasma Reactor For Graphene Synthesis, Aviv Zohman, Jerry Larue

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Graphene’s remarkable electrical, optical, and chemical properties make it a promising successor to indium tin oxide for applications in flexible, transparent electronics. However, efforts to manufacture graphene have been hindered by inefficient synthesis and transfer methods. Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is commonly used to produce graphene. CVD starts with a blank surface onto which a chemical vapor is deposited to create a single graphene layer. CVD requires extreme temperatures, so only substrates with high melting points are applicable, like metals. This excludes insulative substrates such as polymers which are essential to transparent and flexible devices. Therefore, a subsequent process transfers …

Electromechanical Fatigue Properties Of Dielectric Elastomer Stretch Sensors Under Orthopaedic Loading Conditions, Andrea Karen Persons

Theses and Dissertations

Fatigue testing of stretch sensors often focuses on high amplitude, low-cycle fatigue (LCF) behavior; however, when used for orthopaedic, athletic, or ergonomic assessments, stretch sensors are subjected to low amplitude, high-cycle fatigue (HCF) conditions. As an added layer of complexity, the fatigue testing of stretch sensors is not only focused on the life of the material comprising the sensor, but also on the reliability of the signal produced during the extension and relaxation of the sensor. Research into the development of a smart sock that can be used to measure the range of motion (ROM) of the ankle joint during …

Automated Robotic Light Bulb Testing Platform, Agha I. Akram, Muhammad Ali Ummy

Publications and Research

The main purpose of this project is to create a functional prototype of a multilayered system that incorporates aspects of electrical, mechanical, and computer engineering technology. The main objective of the system is to be able to determine whether a light bulb is working or not. The building blocks of this system are a robotic arm that is able to slide along a rail (for added mobility), a conveyor belt, and an electromechanical device that holds and tests light bulbs. Initially, the robot arm picks up a light bulb and places it into the holder which then tests it. A …

Support New Business To Solve Old Problems With Kentucky’S Keystone Waste From Bourbon & Brewing, Samuel C. Kessler

Commonwealth Policy Papers

Provided here is a policy solution from the backside of Kentucky bourbon and brewing to upcycle Kentucky’s “keystone” wastes and grow businesses in the process. Potential effects range from removing the bottleneck on bourbon production and producing GHG-friendly biogas to lowering the price of milk.This full whitepaper brief provides an incentive model for keystone wastes which have a provider and a use. It is equally applicable for policymakers or advocates wishing to place a policy incentive behind waste-to-product upcycling, businesses involved with methane sequestration & renewable biogas energy, and shifting regulatory and penalizing models of pollution into incentive model for …

Memristors, Memcapacitors And Their Application In Neuromorphic Computing, Nithyakalyani Sampath

Student Research Symposium

Data-intensive computing operations, such as training neural networks, are essential but energy-intensive. Memcapacitance and memristance,which can be described as capacitance and resistance, with “memory”, are properties of semiconductor devices that are observed on the nano-scale. These properties allow for data storage without a constant source of power, leading to hardware which is more energy efficient.

We intend to demonstrate that we can build specialized hardware onto which a neural network can be directly mapped using memristors and memcapacitors, improving the energy efficiency of the network. We will use Simulation Program with Integrated Circuit Emphasis (SPICE) to model our memcapacitor and …

Growing Reservoir Networks Using The Genetic Algorithm Deep Hyperneat, Nancy L. Mackenzie

Student Research Symposium

Typical Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) have static architectures. The number of nodes and their organization must be chosen and tuned for each task. Choosing these values, or hyperparameters, is a bit of a guessing game, and optimizing must be repeated for each task. If the model is larger than necessary, this leads to more training time and computational cost. The goal of this project is to evolve networks that grow according to the task at hand. By gradually increasing the size and complexity of the network to the extent that the task requires, we will build networks that are more …

A Review Of Ductless Mini Split Hvac System, Manoj Bhandari, Nelson Fumo

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Although a conventional ducted system is the HVAC system used by most of the household in the United States, the ductless mini split system is gaining popularity in the market. The ductless mini split heat pump system consists of an outdoor unit that provides hot or cold refrigerant into a house to one or more wall- or ceiling-mounted indoor fan units. Ductless mini splits can have several advantages over conventional systems including improved thermal comfort, performance, and energy saving. There have been several studies and research in the field of ductless mini splits to learn about the advantages and disadvantages …

Probing Myosin Ensemble Mechanics In Actin Filament Bundles Using Optical Tweezers, Omayma Al Azzam, Janie C. Watts, Justin E. Reynolds, Juliana E. Davis, Dana N. Reinemann

Faculty and Student Publications

Myosins are motor proteins that hydrolyze ATP to step along actin filament (AF) tracks and are essential in cellular processes such as motility and muscle contraction. To understand their force-generating mechanisms, myosin II has been investigated both at the single-molecule (SM) level and as teams of motors in vitro using biophysical methods such as optical trapping. These studies showed that myosin force-generating behavior can differ greatly when moving from the single-molecule level in a three-bead arrangement to groups of motors working together on a rigid bead or coverslip surface in a gliding arrangement. However, these assay constructions do not permit …

Analysis Of Rule-Based And Shallow Statistical Models For Covid-19 Cough Detection For A Preliminary Diagnosis, Arshia Arif, Eisa Alanazi, Ayesha Zeb, Waqar Shahid Qureshi

Conference papers

Coronavirus pandemic that has spread all over the world, is one of its kind in the recent past, that has mobilized researchers in areas such as (not limited to) pre-screening solutions, contact tracing, vaccine developments, and crowd estimation. Pre-screening using symptoms identification, cough classification, and contact tracing mobile applications gained significant popularity during the initial outbreak of the pandemic. Audio recordings of coughing individuals are one of the sources that can help in the pre-screening of COVID-19 patients. This research focuses on quantitative analysis of covid cough classification using audio recordings of coughing individuals. For analysis, we used three different …

Designing A Self-Regulating And Portable Heating Device For A Microfluidic Based Biosensor, Riya Mahajan

Discovery Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Research Internship

Paper-based biosensors are powerful microfluidic analytical devices that are potentially useful for a wide range of applications, ranging from medical diagnostics to agricultural and environmental monitoring. Molecular diagnostics have limitations because they need to send samples back to a centralized laboratory, which increases the cost and turnaround time of the test. This project aims to create a simple-to-use, low-cost, and portable heating system that would facilitate the creation of a field-deployable paper-based analytical device that can incubate the sample at elevated temperatures for conducting isothermal molecular assays. Our design aims to miniaturize a commercial water bath and will be fabricated …

Privacy Assessment Breakthrough: A Design Science Approach To Creating A Unified Methodology, Lisa Mckee

Masters Theses & Doctoral Dissertations

Recent changes have increased the need for and awareness of privacy assessments. Organizations focus primarily on Privacy Impact Assessments (PIA) and Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIA) but rarely take a comprehensive approach to assessments or integrate the results into a privacy risk program. There are numerous industry standards and regulations for privacy assessments, but the industry lacks a simple unified methodology with steps to perform privacy assessments. The objectives of this research project are to create a new privacy assessment methodology model using the design science methodology, update industry standards and present training for conducting privacy assessments that can be …

Mechanical Properties Of Nanoparticles In The Drug Delivery Kinetics, Kaivon Assani, Amy Neidhard-Doll, Tarun Goswami

Biomedical, Industrial & Human Factors Engineering Faculty Publications

Nanoparticle formulation is a recently developed drug delivery technology with enhanced targeting potential. Nanoparticles encapsulate the drug of choice and delivers it to the target via a targeting molecules (ex. antigen) located on the nanoparticle surface. Nanoparticles can even be targeted to deeply penetrating tissue and can be modeled to deliver drugs through the blood brain barrier. These advancements are providing better disease targeting such as to cancer and Alzheimer’s. Various polymers can be manufactured into nanoparticles. The polymers examined in this paper are polycaprolactone (PCL), poly(lactic acid) (PLA), poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA), and poly(glycolic acid) (PGA). The purpose of this …

Probing Myosin Ensemble Mechanics In Actin Filament Bundles Using Optical Tweezers, Omayma Alazzam, Janie Watts, Dana N. Reinemann

Faculty and Student Publications

Myosins are motor proteins that hydrolyze ATP to step along actin filament (AF) tracks and are essential in cellular processes such as motility and muscle contraction. To understand their force-generating mechanisms, myosin II has been investigated both at the single-molecule (SM) level and as teams of motors in vitro using biophysical methods such as optical trapping. These studies showed that myosin force-generating behavior can differ greatly when moving from the single-molecule level in a three-bead arrangement to groups of motors working together on a rigid bead or coverslip surface in a gliding arrangement. However, these assay constructions do not permit …