Engineering Commons^™

Growth, Characterization And Evaluation Of Cdzntese Single Crystals For Room Temperature Radiation Detectors, Ritwik Nag

Theses and Dissertations

In this research work Cd_0.9Zn_0.1Te_0.03Se_0.97 (CZTS) single crystals were grown using in-house zone refined 7N (99.99999%) purity elements through vertical Bridgman (VBM) method and vertical gradient freeze (VGF) method. The morphological, compositional, and structural characteristics were then performed on the grown CZTS crystals. The x-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis on the grown crystals showed sharp diffraction peaks indicating a highly crystalline nature, with a lattice constant of ~6.45 Å. The elemental and stoichiometric ratio of the grown CZTS crystals were examined by using energy-dispersive x-ray analysis (EDX), which confirmed the formation of the quaternary …

Concurrent Identification, Characterization, And Reconstruction Of Protein Structure And Mixed-Mode Dynamics From Rdc Data Using Redcraft, Hanin Rafiq Omar

Theses and Dissertations

A complete understanding of the structure-function relationship of proteins requires an analysis of their dynamic behaviors and the static structure. However, all current approaches to studying dynamics in proteins have their shortcomings. A conceptually attractive and alternative approach simultaneously characterizes a protein's structure and its intrinsic dynamics⁠. Ideally, such an approach could solely rely on RDC data-carrying both structural and dynamical information. The major bottleneck in utilizing RDC data in recent years has been attributed to a lack of RDC analysis tools capable of extracting the pertinent information embedded within this complex data source.

Here we present a comprehensive strategy …

A Low Jitter And Low Power Electronic Interface For Time-Of-Flight Positron Emission Tomography Silicon Photomultiplier Detectors, Matthew Romer

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

A time-of-flight (TOF) detection system for a silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) is designed for the purpose of improving on existing technology for applications in positron emission tomography, with an emphasis on low power and low timing jitter. A reconstruction algorithm is implemented in Matlab to demonstrate the effect of TOF on the image quality per number of source events, as compared to systems restricted to line-of-response (LOR) data only. A case study is performed on SiPM functionality, behavioral modeling, and contemporary front-end amplification designs for a SiPM detector. A charge sensitive amplifier (CSA) circuit is modified for simultaneous collection of timing …

Learning Domain Invariant Information To Enhance Presentation Attack Detection In Visible Face Recognition Systems, Jennifer Hamblin

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Face signatures, including size, shape, texture, skin tone, eye color, appearance, and scars/marks, are widely used as discriminative, biometric information for access control. Despite recent advancements in facial recognition systems, presentation attacks on facial recognition systems have become increasingly sophisticated. The ability to detect presentation attacks or spoofing attempts is a pressing concern for the integrity, security, and trust of facial recognition systems. Multi-spectral imaging has been previously introduced as a way to improve presentation attack detection by utilizing sensors that are sensitive to different regions of the electromagnetic spectrum (e.g., visible, near infrared, long-wave infrared). Although multi-spectral presentation attack …

The Effect Of Store-To-Store Energy Transfers On The Global Dynamics Of Aircraft, Guilherme Mainieri Eymael, Keegan J. Moore

UNL Student Research Days Posters, Undergraduate

This study analyzes the energy transfer mechanisms when nonlinear devices (stores) are attached to a linear model airplane. For that, a reduced-order model (ROM) was derived to simulate the first two flexible modes of vibration of the primary structure (aircraft) with one store in each wing. Each store can either be locked or unlocked. When locked, it only contributes as mass-effect, and when unlocked, it adds nonlinearity to the system. Simulations were then performed with either both stores locked, one store unlocked, or both stores unlocked. It was found that the attachment of nonlinear stores in the ROM changes the …

A Computer Vision-Based Method For Bolt Loosening Detection, Savannah Burdette

Honors Theses

Routine bolt-loosening inspection plays an essential role in managing and preventing the degradation of our nation’s highway bridges over time. Neglecting to perform these inspections could result in public safety concerns. The study of this thesis develops a cost-effective method of bolt-loosening detection based on computer vision. To this end, two input images of the bolted connections are collected at two different inspection times. The feature points are then identified from the input images, based on which a geometric transformation matrix is applied to correct any perspective differences between the two images. Next, we select the image patches of the …

Design, Development, And Characterization Of Highly Efficient Colored Photovoltaic Module For Sustainable Buildings Applications, Mohammad Khairul Basher, Mohammad Nur-E-Alam, Momtazur Rahman, Steven Hinckley, Kamal Alameh

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

The building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) system is one of the contributors which has enormous potential to reach the goal of net-zero energy buildings (NZEB) that significantly reduce the use of fossil fuels that contribute to global warming. However, the limitations of the visual and aesthetic appearance of current BIPV systems make this aspiration unlikely. This study investigates the limitations of the single-color-based PV modules that are dull in appearance and have low photo-conversion efficiency (PCE). In order to solve this issue, we designed, developed, and characterized micro-patterned-based multicolored photovoltaic (MPCPV) modules which are applicable to net-zero building and development. Our …

Three Approaches, Two Go-Arounds, One Diversion…And All On The Internet, Eric Carter, James Norman

Aviation Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Fast-Pgmed: Fast And Dense Elevation Determination For Earthwork Using Drone And Deep Learning, Sisi Han, Yuhan Jiang, Yong Bai

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

This paper presents a time- and cost-effective elevation determination method for earthwork operations using ready-to-fly imaging drones and deep learning technologies. The proposed method is named the fast pixel grid/group matching and elevation determination (Fast-PGMED) algorithm. The input data are a pair of approximate 2:1-scale top-view images, and the output is the determined elevation map for the scanned station. Feature matching of the two multiscale images is conducted by calculating correlations between target patch predictions (via DeepMatchNet, a fully convolutional network) and potential target patches (via virtual elevation model). The overall processing time is about 21 s …

Baseball Pitching Arm Three-Dimensional Inertial Parameter Calculations From Body Composition Imaging And A Novel Overweight Measure For Youth Pitching Arm Kinetics, Dalton J. Jennings, Scott K. Reaves, Jeffrey Sklar, Colin Brown, John Mcphee, Scott Hazelwood, Stephen M. Klisch

Biomedical Engineering

Many baseball pitching studies have used inverse dynamics to assess throwing arm kinetics as high and repetitive kinetics are thought to be linked to pitching injuries. However, prior studies have not used participant-specific body segment inertial parameters (BSIPs), which are thought to improve analysis of high-acceleration motions and overweight participants. This study's objectives were to (1) calculate participant-specific BSIPs using dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) measures, (2) compare inverse dynamic calculations of kinetics determined by DXA-calculated BSIPs (full DXA-driven inverse dynamics) against kinetics using the standard inverse dynamics approach with scaled BSIPs (scaled inverse dynamics), and (3) examine associations between …

Three-Dimensional Numerical Modeling Of Flow Hydrodynamics And Cohesive Sediment Transport In Enid Lake, Mississippi, Xiaobo Chao, A. K. M. Azad Hossain, Mohammad Z. Al-Hamdan, Yafei Jia, James V. Cizdziel

Faculty and Student Publications

Enid Lake is one of the largest reservoirs located in Yazoo River Basin, the largest basin in the state of Mississippi. The lake was impounded by Enid Dam on the Yocona River in Yalobusha County and covers an area of 30 square kilometers. It provides significant natural and recreational resources. The soils in this region are highly erodible, resulting in a large amount of fine-grained cohesive sediment discharged into the lake. In this study, a 3D numerical model was developed to simulate the free surface hydrodynamics and transportation of cohesive sediment with a median diameter of 0.0025 to 0.003 mm …

Assessing Security Risks With The Internet Of Things, Faith Mosemann

Senior Honors Theses

For my honors thesis I have decided to study the security risks associated with the Internet of Things (IoT) and possible ways to secure them. I will focus on how corporate, and individuals use IoT devices and the security risks that come with their implementation. In my research, I found out that IoT gadgets tend to go unnoticed as a checkpoint for vulnerability. For example, often personal IoT devices tend to have the default username and password issued from the factory that a hacker could easily find through Google. IoT devices need security just as much as computers or servers …

Rapid Removal Of Pfoa And Pfos Via Modified Industrial Solid Waste: Mechanisms And Influences Of Water Matrices, Hongyi Wan, Rollie Mills, Kai Qu, James C. Hower, M. Abdul Mottaleb, Dibakar Bhattacharyya, Zhi Xu

Chemical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications

Emerging perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances contaminate waters at trace concentrations, thus rapid and selective adsorbents are pivotal to mitigate the consequent energy-intensive and time-consuming issues in remediation. In this study, coal combustion residuals-fly ash was modified (FA-SCA) to overcome the universal trade-off between high adsorption capacity and fast kinetics. FA-SCA presented rapid adsorption (teq = 2 min) of PFOX (perfluorooctanoic acid and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid, collectively), where the dynamic adsorption capacity (qdyn = qm/teq) was 2–3 orders of magnitude higher than that of benchmark activated carbons and anion-exchange resins. Investigated by advanced characterization and kinetic models, the fast kinetics and superior …

A Meshless Approach To Computational Pharmacokinetics, Anthony Matthew Khoury

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The meshless method is an incredibly powerful technique for solving a variety of problems with unparalleled accuracy and efficiency. The pharmacokinetic problem of transdermal drug delivery (TDDD) is one such topic and is of significant complexity. The locally collocated meshless method (LCMM) is developed in solution to this topic. First, the meshless method is formulated to model this transport phenomenon and is then validated against an analytical solution of a pharmacokinetic problem set, to demonstrate this accuracy and efficiency. The analytical solution provides a locus by which convergence behavior are evaluated, demonstrating the super convergence of the locally collocated meshless …

Activated Sludge Foaming Descriptors And Correlation To Microbial Community Composition, Grace K. Scarim

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Activated sludge is a conventional treatment process for biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and total suspended solids (TSS) removal at water resource recovery facilities (WRRFs). A common operational issue that arises is activated sludge foaming on top of the aeration basin and secondary clarifier. Foaming events in activated sludge may lead to decreased treatment efficiency, maintenance issues, and potential environmental health risks. Stable foaming events are caused by biological and chemical drivers (i.e., microbes and surfactants) during the aeration process. However, foaming events are difficult to predict and quantify. This research developed an inexpensive and easy-to-use method to quantify foaming potential …

Uv Light Emitting Diodes (Led) For Degradation Of Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria And Genes, Nicole Anne Heyniger

Master's Theses (2009 -)

The presence of antibiotic resistant bacteria (ARB) and antibiotic resistant genes (ARGs) in the environment is a growing issue, which been exacerbated by the overuse and misuse of antibiotics in various healthcare and agricultural systems. One possible means of antibiotic resistance mitigation is through drinking water and wastewater treatment, specifically disinfection processes. Ultraviolet light emitting diodes (UV-LEDs) are an emerging disinfection technology that utilize LEDs that emit at varying peak wavelengths in the UV light spectrum. This study analyzed the effect of UV-LED on ARB and ARGs compared to conventional low-pressure UV (LP-UV) treatment and calculated electrical energy efficiencies for …

Monitoring The Hydrologic And Water Quality Performance Of A Subsurface Gravel Wetland, Catherine Sullivan

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Managing stormwater is a crucial task for many communities that are required to mitigate the harmful effects of pollution from urban runoff. Subsurface gravel wetlands are an emerging type of green infrastructure that can be used to manage stormwater through the capture and slow release of runoff. These wetland systems are unique to other types of green infrastructure in that they have a distinct fully saturated gravel layer below an occasionally saturated soil layer. While there is substantial literature on the performance of different types of green infrastructure, such as bioretention, bioswales, and permeable pavements, there is a lack of …

Wet Detention Pond Phosphorus Cycling Dynamics: Evaluation Of Pond Performance And Application Of The General Lake Model, Caitlin Lulay

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Anthropogenic activities degrade surface water quality by increasing nutrient input to the watershed which is transported via stormwater runoff and accumulated in waterbodies leading to eutrophication. Wet detention ponds are a means of mitigating the impacts of these non-point source pollutants, such as phosphorus (P), through treatment mechanisms such as sediment settling and biological uptake. While these wet detention ponds are designed to serve as P sinks, they have the potential to serve as P sources as well due to release mechanisms such as sediment resuspension and algal decay. Many existing models used in the design and performance evaluation of …

Numerical Studies Of A Superelastic Nickel-Titanium Rhombic Dodecahedron Structure Using The Finite Element Method, Ian Patrick Morrissey

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Energy dissipation is an important material property for materials used inapplications such as armor, airplane wings, and automotive vehicle crumple zones. superelastic Nickel-Titanium (NiTi) and compliant under-dense materials both have excellent energy dissipation properties. Current research suggests that compliant underdense materials made of superelastic NiTi have desirable energy dissipation properties. A rhombic dodecahedron Lattice Structured Material (LSM) is an example of a compliant under-dense Material which has potential to exhibit desirable energy dissipation properties when manufactured from superelastic NiTi. In this work, finite element modeling of a superelastic NiTi rhombic dodecahedron Lattice Structured Material is performed and an optimum for …

Environmental Effects On Self-Luminous Gfrps, Michael Charles Phelan

Master's Theses (2009 -)

By implanting luminous powder into GFRPs, the material’s luminous capabilities coupled with its high strength to weight ratio create a structural component doubling as a sustainable light source. In this research, the luminous and mechanical properties of self-luminous GFRPs subjected to various environmental stimuli are studied to understand how their afterglow and mechanical properties are affected by weather and differing luminous powder concentrations. To simulate the conditions a GFRP will face during its lifetime, the material was studied after exposure to UV radiation, freezing and hot temperatures, and submersion under tap water. This study also analyzes how the luminous and …

Barriers To Utilization Of Fare-Free Transit By Students, Danielle Eden Del Conte

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Marquette University has participated in Milwaukee County Transit System's (MCTS) U-PASS program since 1995. The program provides fare-free access to buses for students via an unlimited pass paid for by a $50 per semester fee. Marquette University pays MCTS a lump sum each year, heavily discounting the cost-per-ride for students if they were to pay out-of-pocket for bus tickets. Unlimited Access (UA) programs on college campuses are a win-win-win situation for students, universities, and transit agencies, decreasing student costs, reducing on-campus parking demand, and increasing transit funding and ridership. Despite the reported benefits, ridership from the U-PASS program has decreased …

Effects Of Carrier, Leveller, And Booster Concentrations On Zinc Plating From Alkaline Zincate Baths, Abdul Jalil Mohammed, Michael S. Moats

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Organic additives are required for alkaline zincate plating baths to obtain an acceptable coating on steel for corrosion protection. The effects and possible interactions of three commercial additives (Eldiem Carrier, Eldiem Booster, and Bright Enhancer 2x on zinc electrodeposition from a high-concentration alkaline zincate bath were investigated. Visually acceptable deposits were produced within the current density range of 130 to 430 A m−2 for most additive conditions examined. Over concentration ranges examined, decreasing the booster concentration led to brighter zinc deposits, and an interaction between the carrier and the booster was detected. The additives fostered the formation of compact and …

Evolution Of High-Frequency Instabilities In The Presence Of Azimuthally Compact Crossflow Vortex Pattern Over A Yawed Cone, Meelan Choudhari, Fei Li, Pedro Paredes, Lian Duan

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Hypersonic boundary-layer flows over a circular cone at a moderate yaw angle can support strong crossflow instability away from the windward and leeward rays on the plane of symmetry. Due to the more efficient excitation of stationary crossflow vortices by surface roughness, a possible path to transition in such flows corresponds to rapid amplification of the high-frequency instabilities sustained in the presence of finite amplitude stationary crossflow vortices. This paper presents a computational analysis of crossflow instability over a 7-degree half-angle, yawed circular cone in a Mach 6 free stream. Specifically, the nonlinear evolution of an azimuthally localized crossflow vortex …

Impacts Of Pandemic-Induced Material Price Escalation On Construction Estimation And Bidding, Chancellor G. Giessinger

Construction Management

The COVID-19 pandemic introduced new severe supply chain bottlenecks in the construction industry. These bottlenecks reduced the availability of a wide variety of critical construction materials, which created a scarcity that has raised material prices at an unprecedented rate and extended lead times for some materials by months. This poses new challenges for contractors with pressure from owners to deliver ongoing contracts with fixed, pre-pandemic contract pricing and for estimators seeking to bid new projects with unforeseeable future material pricing. The objective of this research to focus on contractors operating within the state of California and their primary challenges in …

Local Prediction Of Laser Powder Bed Fusion Porosity By Short-Wave Infrared Imaging Thermal Feature Porosity Probability Maps, Cody S. Lough, Tao Liu, Xin Wang, Ben Brown, Robert G. Landers, Douglas A. Bristow, James A. Drallmeier, Edward C. Kinzel

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Local thermal history can significantly vary in parts during metal Additive Manufacturing (AM), leading to local defects. However, the sequential layer-by-layer nature of AM facilitates in-situ part voxelmetric observations that can be used to detect and correct these defects for part qualification and quality control. The challenge is to relate this local radiometric data with local defect information to estimate process error likelihood in future builds. This paper uses a Short-Wave Infrared (SWIR) camera to record the temperature history for parts manufactured with Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF) processes. The porosity from a cylindrical specimen is measured by ex-situ micro-computed …

The Traveling Salesman Problem: An Analysis And Comparison Of Metaheuristics And Algorithms, Mason Helmick

Senior Honors Theses

One of the most investigated topics in operations research is the Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) and the algorithms that can be used to solve it. Despite its relatively simple formulation, its computational difficulty keeps it and potential solution methods at the forefront of current research. This paper defines and analyzes numerous proposed solutions to the TSP in order to facilitate understanding of the problem. Additionally, the efficiencies of different heuristics are studied and compared to the aforementioned algorithms’ accuracy, as a quick algorithm is often formulated at the expense of an exact solution.

Neurogen: Eeg And Near-Infrared Light Stimulation Control System, Karina Sanchez, Sruthi Sakthivel, Michael Bose, Evan Jennings

Interdisciplinary Design Senior Theses

Neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease are widespread, affecting millions of people worldwide. These diseases occur when neurons in the brain or peripheral nervous system progressively lose function and deteriorate. Current pharmacological treatments manage some of the neurological symptoms, but there is no cure yet. Interventions that mitigate or restore loss of function can fill the void until that goal is met. Light stimulation, or transcranial photobiomodulation (tPBM) therapy, can help treat people with neurodegenerative diseases, as it has been shown to improve sleep, attention, memory, and cognitive function.

The objective of this project is to develop …

Building Services Engineering March/April 2022

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

On Providing Efficient Real-Time Solutions To Motion Planning Problems Of High Complexity, Marios Xanthidis

Theses and Dissertations

The holy grail of robotics is producing robotic systems capable of efficiently executing all the tasks that are hard, or even impossible, for humans. Humans, undoubtedly, from both a hardware and software perspective, are extremely complex systems capable of executing many complicated tasks. Thus, the complexity of many state-of-the-art robotic systems is also expected to progressively increase, with the goal to match or even surpass human abilities. Recent developments have emphasized mostly hardware, providing highly complex robots with exceptional capabilities. On the other hand, they have illustrated that one important bottleneck of realizing such systems as a common reality is …

Highly Active And Stable Low-Pgm And Pgm-Free Catalysts For Anion Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells, Horie Adabi Firouzjaie

Theses and Dissertations

Anion exchange membrane fuel cells (AEMFCs) have recently seen significant growth in interest as their achievable current density, peak power density, and longevity have been dramatically improved. Though these advances in performance have been important for demonstrating the feasibility of the technology, nearly all AEMFCs reported in the literature have required a relatively high loading of platinum group metal (PGM)- based catalysts at both the anode and cathode electrodes. However, to take command of the low-temperature fuel cell market, AEMFCs cannot simply reach the same performance as incumbent proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs), which have had decades of development …