Engineering Commons^™

Reactive Oxygen Species (Ros)-Responsive Size-Reducible Nanoassemblies For Deeper Atherosclerotic Plaque Penetration And Enhanced Macrophage-Targeted Drug Delivery, Jianhua He, Wenli Zhang, Xiaoju Zhou, Fengfei Xu, Jiahui Zou, Qiqi Zhang, Yi Zhao, Hongliang He, Hu Yang, Jianping Liu

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Nanoparticle-based therapeutics represent potential strategies for treating atherosclerosis; however, the complex plaque microenvironment poses a barrier for nanoparticles to target the dysfunctional cells. Here, we report reactive oxygen species (ROS)-responsive and size-reducible nanoassemblies, formed by multivalent host-guest interactions between β-cyclodextrins (β-CD)-anchored discoidal recombinant high-density lipoprotein (NP³_ST) and hyaluronic acid-ferrocene (HA-Fc) conjugates. The HA-Fc/NP³_ST nanoassemblies have extended blood circulation time, specifically accumulate in atherosclerotic plaque mediated by the HA receptors CD44 highly expressed in injured endothelium, rapidly disassemble in response to excess ROS in the intimal and release smaller NP³_ST, allowing for further …

The Good From The Ugly: Fermentation Optimization For Hagfish Protein Production, Simon Hulme, Zach Hyde, Ben Florschutz, Caeman Nicholas

Student Research Symposium

When under attack the noble hagfish produces a protective slime that rapidly expands in water to clog the gills of their attacker. The protein threads that hold the slime together caught the eye of Dr. Jones’ Lab here at USU.These proteins, alpha and gamma, have properties very similar to spider silk making them a material of interest to the US Navy. While the Jones lab has already genetically engineered a strain of E. coli to produce these filament proteins the process has not been optimized. This group plans to increase protein production by 20% (from 8 g/L to 9.6 g/L) …

Implementation Of An Api For And The Folding Of Fpga Routing Resource Graphs In Vtr, Ethan Steiner Rogers

Theses and Dissertations

FPGAs provide parallel computing that is fit for speeding up the computation of a large range of problems. Programming an FPGA involves a complex tool flow for which several CAD tools have been developed. These tools compute solutions to many problems such as packing, placement, and routing, which map a circuit design onto an FPGA. These computations require a great deal of memory, of which the Routing Resource Graph contributes the most of any individual data structure. If the RRGraph could be represented in a more compact manner, performance of the tool flow algorithms may be improved due to an …

Parametric Models Of Maize Stalk Morphology, Michael Alan Ottesen

Theses and Dissertations

As the most produced grain crop world-wide, 5% of corn is lost due to stalk lodging (above-ground structural failure of the stalk near the roots). Current modeling methods lack the ability to manipulate the stalk architecture. In contrast, parameterized models enable advanced analyses such as sensitivity and optimization studies. This thesis advances previous work on a parameterized cross-sectional model of maize stalk morphology and investigates the validity of a parameterized three-dimensional model. The parameterized cross-sectional model is based upon previous work that approximated the cross-section of maize stalks using an ellipse plus principal components. Validation of the cross-sectional model was …

Sub-Grain Characterization Of Slip Activity In Bcc Tantalum, Tristan Kirby Russell

Theses and Dissertations

BCC metals are commonly used throughout the world and understanding their deformation behavior, especially at the sub-grain level, is essential for their continued use in technological advancements. Correctly and confidently characterizing the active slip systems in BCC materials has been a difficult task throughout past research. The research described in this thesis utilizes high resolution digital image correlation (HRDIC) and relative displacement ratio (RDR) analysis to accurately characterize active slip systems in large grained BCC tantalum and provides new insights into dislocation nucleation sites, relative CRSS values for {110} and {112} slip systems, the correlation between GB transmission factors and …

Flexural Strength And Behavior Of Timber-Concrete Composite Floors With Hexagonally Headed Self-Tapping Screw Shear Connectors, Benjamin David Arrington

Theses and Dissertations

Timber-concrete composite (TCC) floor systems consist of a bottom layer of wood that is connected to a top layer of concrete using shear connectors. The shear connectors resist slip between the layers, thus allowing wood and concrete develop composite action when subjected to flexure. The objective of this study is to determine the flexural strength and behavior of TCC floor systems that consist of a cross laminated timber wood layer connected to a concrete top layer using hexagonally headed self-tapping screw shear connectors. To accomplish the objective, coupon specimens and full-scale TCC floor panels were tested, and a finite element …

Plant Identification In A Combined-Imbalanced Leaf Dataset, Viraj K. Gajjar, Anand K. Nambisan, Kurt Louis Kosbar

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Plant identification has applications in ethnopharmacology and agriculture. Since leaves are one of a distinguishable feature of a plant, they are routinely used for identification. Recent developments in deep learning have made it possible to accurately identify the majority of samples in five publicly available leaf datasets. However, each dataset captures the images in a highly controlled environment. This paper evaluates the performance of EfficientNet and several other convolutional neural network (CNN) architectures when applied to a combination of the LeafSnap, Middle European Woody Plants 2014, Flavia, Swedish, and Folio datasets. To normalize the impact of imbalance resulting from combining …

Name-Matching Techniques For Disambiguating Interaction Data, Adam Weaver

Student Research Symposium

Fuzzy name matching methods are helpful because names are often misspelled, sound similar, or reside in similar circumstances. A fuzzy name matching process assigns two names a similarity score between 0 and 1 using name-matching techniques (with 1 meaning identical and 0 meaning entirely unique). Fuzzy name matching is used for optimizing customer databases, creating more accurate medical records, or in Social Network Analysis (SNA). To observe the links between students’ social practices and academic performance, our research group is performing a large-scale (1000+ student) SNA through open-response name-generator surveys. Accordingly, the survey responses contain ambiguous names—many of which are …

Photochemistry Of Wildfire Derived Pyrogenic-Dissolved Organic Matter (Py-Dom) For Photodegradation Of Aquatic Contaminants, Monika Madhiyan

Student Research Symposium

Erosion of wildfire-affected organic matter and/or its physical disintegration in water results in the formation of pyrogenic Dissolved Organic Matter (py-DOM), which can react with ground state oxygen to produce singlet oxygen (1O2) in the presence of light. 1O2 has a high electronegativity and oxidizing potential which influences the photo-transformation and environmental fate of organic contaminants present in the water, hence, it is essential to quantify singlet oxygen quantum yields for wildfire derived py-DOM, which is absent in the past literature. In this study, py-DOM was extracted from wildfire-affected tree portions from Colorado Grizzly Creek Wildfire. Time-resolved 1O2 phosphorescence was …

Mechanical Methods For Bioreactor Foam Breaking, Ceaira Howard, Bodee Hancock, Adam Martin, Laurent Saysanavong

Student Research Symposium

ThermoFisher Scientific, through the lead of Jason Brown, has commissioned a design team at Utah State University (USU) to create a mechanical foam breaker capable of being used in a single use bioreactor setup. The goal of this design team was to find mechanical methods of foam breaking for reactors of 30 L volume and 300 L volume to reduce the need for chemical antifoam agents which, in concentrations higher than 1% total volume, can lead to higher optical densities and lower protein yield (Routledge, 2012). Initial designs include a rotating mechanical cone (derived from ThermoFisher), a wire bristle apparatus, …

Intra-Hour Solar Forecasting Using Cloud Dynamics Features Extracted From Ground-Based Infrared Sky Images, Guillermo Terrén-Serrano

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

Due to the increasing use of photovoltaic systems, power grids are vulnerable to the projection of shadows from moving clouds. An intra-hour solar forecast provides power grids with the capability of automatically controlling the dispatch of energy, reducing the additional cost for a guaranteed, reliable supply of energy (i.e., energy storage). This dissertation introduces a novel sky imager consisting of a long-wave radiometric infrared camera and a visible light camera with a fisheye lens. The imager is mounted on a solar tracker to maintain the Sun in the center of the images throughout the day, reducing the scattering effect produced …

Novel Platforms For Large-Scale Adherent Culture Of Mammalian Cells, Ashkan Yekrangsafakar

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

With recent advances in biotechnology, there is a strong and urgent need for robust platforms to culture mammalian cells on a large scale to produce biopharmaceuticals. To this end, various bioreactors have been developed over the past decades, but their capacity and efficiency are often limited by insufficient mass transfer rate and excessive shear stress. In this work, multiple novel bioreactors for the large-scale adherent culture of anchorage-dependent cells were developed.

Hollow MicroCarriers (HMC) was developed as an alternative solution for the microcarrier-based culture system in a stirred-tank bioreactor. In the conventional microcarrier technique, cells are exposed to the harmful …

Exoskeletons And The Future Of Work: Envisioning Power And Control In A Workforce Without Limits, Gavin L. Kirkwood, J. Nan Wilkenfeld, Norah E. Dunbar

Human-Machine Communication

Exoskeletons are an emerging form of technology that combines the skills of both machines and humans to give wearers the ability to complete physically demanding tasks that would be too strenuous for most humans. Exoskeleton adoption has the potential to both enhance and disrupt many aspects of work, including power dynamics in the workplace and the human-machine interactions that take place. Dyadic Power Theory (DPT) is a useful theory for exploring the impacts of exoskeleton adoption. In this conceptual paper, we extend DPT to relationships between humans and machines in organizations, as well as human-human communication where use of an …

Human-Machine Communication: Complete Volume 4

Human-Machine Communication

This is the complete volume of HMC Volume 4.

Embracing Ai-Based Education: Perceived Social Presence Of Human Teachers And Expectations About Machine Teachers In Online Education, Jihyun Kim, Kelly Merrill Jr., Kun Xu, Deanna D. Sellnow

Human-Machine Communication

Technological advancements in education have turned the idea of machines as teachers into a reality. To better understand this phenomenon, the present study explores how college students develop expectations (or anticipations) about a machine teacher, particularly an AI teaching assistant. Specifically, the study examines whether students’ previous experiences with online courses taught by a human teacher would influence their expectations about AI teaching assistants in future online courses. An online survey was conducted to collect data from college students in the United States. Findings indicate that positively experienced social presence of a human teacher helps develop positive expectations about an …

Sex With Robots And Human-Machine Sexualities: Encounters Between Human-Machine Communication And Sexuality Studies, Marco Dehnert

Human-Machine Communication

Sex robots are a controversial topic. Understood as artificial-intelligence enhanced humanoid robots designed for use in partnered and solo sex, sex robots offer ample opportunities for theorizing from a Human-Machine Communication (HMC) perspective. This comparative literature review conjoins the seemingly disconnected literatures of HMC and sexuality studies (SeS) to explore questions surrounding intimacy, love, desire, sex, and sexuality among humans and machines. In particular, I argue for understanding human-machine sexualities as communicative sexuotechnical-assemblages, extending previous efforts in both HMC and SeS for more-than-human, ecological, and more fluid approaches to humans and machines, as well as to sex and sexuality. This …

I Get By With A Little Help From My Bots: Implications Of Machine Agents In The Context Of Social Support, Austin Beattie, Andrew C. High

Human-Machine Communication

In this manuscript we discuss the increasing use of machine agents as potential sources of support for humans. Continued examination of the use of machine agents, particularly chatbots (or “bots”) for support is crucial as more supportive interactions occur with these technologies. Building off extant research on supportive communication, this manuscript reviews research that has implications for bots as support providers. At the culmination of the literature review, several propositions regarding how factors of technological efficacy, problem severity, perceived stigma, and humanness affect the process of support are proposed. By reviewing relevant studies, we integrate research on human-machine and supportive …

Considering The Context To Build Theory In Hci, Hri, And Hmc: Explicating Differences In Processes Of Communication And Socialization With Social Technologies, Andrew Gambino, Bingjie Liu

Human-Machine Communication

The proliferation and integration of social technologies has occurred quickly, and the specific technologies with which we engage are ever-changing. The dynamic nature of the development and use of social technologies is often acknowledged by researchers as a limitation. In this manuscript, however, we present a discussion on the implications of our modern technological context by focusing on processes of socialization and communication that are fundamentally different from their interpersonal corollary. These are presented and discussed with the goal of providing theoretical building blocks toward a more robust understanding of phenomena of human-computer interaction, human-robot interaction, human-machine communication, and interpersonal …

Fight For Flight: The Narratives Of Human Versus Machine Following Two Aviation Tragedies, Andrew Prahl, Rio Kin Ho Leung, Alicia Ning Shan Chua

Human-Machine Communication

This study provides insight into the relationship between human and machine in the professional aviation community following the 737 MAX accidents. Content analysis was conducted on a discussion forum for professional pilots to identify the major topics emerging in discussion of the accidents. A subsequent narrative analysis reveals dominant arguments of human versus machine as zero-sum, surrender to machines, and an epidemic of mistrust. Results are discussed in the context of current issues in human-machine communication, and we discuss what other quickly automating industries can learn from aviation’s experience.

Human-Machine Communication Scholarship Trends: An Examination Of Research From 2011 To 2021 In Communication Journals, Riley J. Richards, Patric R. Spence, Chad Edwards

Human-Machine Communication

Despite a relatively short history, the modern-day study of communication has grown into multiple subfields. To better understand the relationship between Human-Machine Communication (HMC) research and traditional communication science, this study examines the published scholarship in 28 communication-specific journals from 2011–2021 focused on human-machine communication (HMC). Findings suggest limited prior emphasis of HMC research within the 28 reviewed journals; however, more recent trends show a promising future for HMC scholarship. Additionally, HMC appears to be diverse in the specific context areas of research in the communication context. Finally, we offer future directions of research and suggestions for the development of …

Art To Influence Creativity In Algorithmic Composition, Tyler Braithwaite

Honors Theses

Advances in Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) techniques have caused an explosion of problems posed that revolve around the mass analysis and generation of sequential data, including symbolic music. Building off the work of Nathaniel Patterson’s Musical Autocomplete: An LSTM Approach, we extend this problem of continuing a composition by examining the creative impact that injecting latent-space encoded image data, specifically fine art from the WikiArt Dataset, has on the musical output of RNN architectures designed for autocomplete. For comparison purposes with Patterson, we will also be using a corpus of Erik Satie’s piano music for training, validation, and testing.

A Cascade Framework For Privacy-Preserving Point-Of-Interest Recommender System, Longyin Cui, Xiwei Wang

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Point-of-interest (POI) recommender systems (RSes) have gained significant popularity in recent years due to the prosperity of location-based social networks (LBSN). However, in the interest of personalization services, various sensitive contextual information is collected, causing potential privacy concerns. This paper proposes a cascaded privacy-preserving POI recommendation (CRS) framework that protects contextual information such as user comments and locations. We demonstrate a minimized trade-off between the privacy-preserving feature and prediction accuracy by applying a semi-decentralized model to real-world datasets.

Toward Suicidal Ideation Detection With Lexical Network Features And Machine Learning, Ulya Bayram, William Lee, Daniel Santel, Ali Minai, Peggy Clark, Tracy Glauser, John Pestian

Northeast Journal of Complex Systems (NEJCS)

In this study, we introduce a new network feature for detecting suicidal ideation from clinical texts and conduct various additional experiments to enrich the state of knowledge. We evaluate statistical features with and without stopwords, use lexical networks for feature extraction and classification, and compare the results with standard machine learning methods using a logistic classifier, a neural network, and a deep learning method. We utilize three text collections. The first two contain transcriptions of interviews conducted by experts with suicidal (n=161 patients that experienced severe ideation) and control subjects (n=153). The third collection consists of interviews conducted by experts …

An Analytical Methodology To Security Constraints Management In Power System Operation, Shubo Zhang

ETD Archive

In a deregulated electricity market, Independent System Operators (ISOs) are responsible for dispatching power to the load securely, efficiently, and economically. ISO performs Security Constrained Unit Commitment (SCUC) to guarantee sufficient generation commitment, maximized social welfare and facilitating market-driven economics. A large number of security constraints would render the model impossible to solve under time requirements. Developing a method to identify the minimum set of security constraints without overcommitting is necessary to reduce Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) solution time. To overcome this challenge, we developed a powerful tool called security constraint screening. The proposed approach effectively filters out non-dominating …

Studying Dispersed Phase Holdup In A Pilot Plant Agitated Liquid–Liquid Mixer By Developing Online Expanded Laser Beam Based Technique, Kifah H. Abid, Jihane Mendil, Muthanna H. Al-Dahhan

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Expanded Laser Transmission Technique (E-LTT), where a laser beam is used in conjunction with a beam expander large enough to cover the average drop size up to a few millimeters in the path of the laser in a liquid–liquid dispersion mixture, has been applied for online continuous measurement and investigation in a non-invasive manner of the drop phase volume fraction in an agitated flow mixer of a pilot plant scale. The limitations of beam scattering by the drops through the dispersion path were overcome by having liquids of matching refractive indices enabled by the temperature control system. This study reports …

Fast Forest Fire Smoke Detection Using Mvmnet, Yaowen Hu, Jialei Zhan, Guoxiong Zhou, Aibin Chen, Weiwei Cai, Kun Guo, Yahui Hu, Liujun Li

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Forest Fires Are a Huge Ecological Hazard, and Smoke is an Early Characteristic of Forest Fires. Smoke is Present Only in a Tiny Region in Images that Are Captured in the Early Stages of Smoke Occurrence or When the Smoke is Far from the Camera. Furthermore, Smoke Dispersal is Uneven, and the Background Environment is Complicated and Changing, Thereby Leading to Inconspicuous Pixel-Based Features that Complicate Smoke Detection. in This Paper, We Propose a Detection Method Called Multioriented Detection based on a Value Conversion-Attention Mechanism Module and Mixed-NMS (MVMNet). First, a Multioriented Detection Method is Proposed. in Contrast to Traditional …

Price Controls On The Pharmaceutical Industry, Camden Clark

Student Research Symposium

The rapidly increasing cost of drugs is an ever-growing problem for Americans. As time goes on, fewer and fewer people are able to purchase the medications they are prescribed. This research analyzes the benefits for price controls on the United States pharmaceutical industry and aims to investigate the most practical, efficient methods of implementing price controls. Online research was conducted to find primary and secondary sources detailing the impacts of high drug prices in the United States, comparing the healthcare policies in the United States with policies in other countries, and exploring potential solutions. As a result of this research, …

A New Generation Of Open-Graded Friction Course For Enhanced Durability And Functionality, Hossam Abohamer

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study aims at (1) enhancing Open Graded Friction Course (OGFC) mixes durability using additives and other by-products; (2) investigating the impacts of selected factors on OGFC pavements seepage characteristics; (3) developing a quantitative tool to model the deterioration in OGFC pavements functional performance; and (4) developing new guidelines of Air Void (AV) content for OGFC for optimum functionality and durability. For the durability objective, eight mixes were prepared with a PG 76-22 binder and two sources of aggregate (i.e., # 78 limestone and # 67 sandstone). Three Warm Mix Additives (WMA), one by-product (i.e., crumb rubber [CR]), and two …

On The Development And Use Of A Micro-Surface Probe For Measurement Of Li-Ion Battery Electrical Properties, John Eric Vogel

Theses and Dissertations

Rechargeable lithium-ion batteries are a staple of modern society, providing power to a significant portion of the world's electronics and rapidly replacing older power sources. The advent of widely available electric cars with batteries of up to 200 kWh, with an increasing emphasis on fast charging, has only increased their importance. Lithium-ion battery electronic and ionic properties are largely determined by the microstructure of the battery electrode film and can be heavily influenced by relatively small variations in film makeup, including the formation of voids or distribution of carbon and binder. Prior to this research, electrical properties, which are some …

Fast Forest Fire Smoke Detection Using Mvmnet, Yaowen Hu, Jialei Zhan, Guoxiong Zhou, Aibin Chen, Weiwei Cai, Kun Guo, Yahui Hu, Liujun Li

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Forest fires are a huge ecological hazard, and smoke is an early characteristic of forest fires. Smoke is present only in a tiny region in images that are captured in the early stages of smoke occurrence or when the smoke is far from the camera. Furthermore, smoke dispersal is uneven, and the background environment is complicated and changing, thereby leading to inconspicuous pixel-based features that complicate smoke detection. In this paper, we propose a detection method called multioriented detection based on a value conversion-attention mechanism module and Mixed-NMS (MVMNet). First, a multioriented detection method is proposed. In contrast to traditional …