Engineering Commons^™

A Solder-Defined Computer Architecture For Backdoor And Malware Resistance, Marc W. Abel

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This research is about securing control of those devices we most depend on for integrity and confidentiality. An emerging concern is that complex integrated circuits may be subject to exploitable defects or backdoors, and measures for inspection and audit of these chips are neither supported nor scalable. One approach for providing a “supply chain firewall” may be to forgo such components, and instead to build central processing units (CPUs) and other complex logic from simple, generic parts. This work investigates the capability and speed ceiling when open-source hardware methodologies are fused with maker-scale assembly tools and visible-scale final inspection.

The …

Vehicle Maintenance Tracking Program, Jared Tomlinson

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

In order to help consumers and businesses keep track of vehicle maintenance, I will create a program paired with a database that can track vehicle maintenance needs and when they should be performed. The program will be capable of tracking entire fleets of vehicles and based on the vehicle’s mileage, will notify users of what maintenance should be performed. Users will be able to add, remove, and edit vehicles in the system as needed and each vehicle will be paired with a maintenance schedule based on its needs. As maintenance is performed, it can be tracked on the schedule, which …

Few-Shot Malware Detection Using A Novel Adversarial Reprogramming Model, Ekula Praveen Kumar

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The increasing sophistication of malware has made detecting and defending against new strains a major challenge for cybersecurity. One promising approach to this problem is using machine learning techniques that extract representative features and train classification models to detect malware in an early stage. However, training such machine learning-based malware detection models represents a significant challenge that requires a large number of high-quality labeled data samples while it is very costly to obtain them in real-world scenarios. In other words, training machine learning models for malware detection requires the capability to learn from only a few labeled examples. To address …

Ballistic Impact Mitigation Pad, Adam Pianalto, Nathan Mayer, Wyatt Smith, Nick Green, Douglas Wild

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

In our senior design project we have decided to work under Dr. Jon Gerhardt on creating a gel pad to mitigate blunt force behind bulletproof vests. Extensive research on injury, materials, manufacturing methods, and NIJ standards was completed during this project. Through the use of advanced modeling software and additive manufacturing, we prototyped a functioning pad to test and compare to a pad that is currently available in today's market. The results proved to be very successful, but there are many areas to improve upon down the road.

Comparing Galvanic Corrosion Rates Predicted From Polarization Curves With Empirical Data From A Carbon Steel And Monel Couple For A Various Geometries, Michael Hinnebusch

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The objective of this investigation was to compare the galvanic corrosion rate of carbon steel C1018 and Monel K-500 alloy in a bolt and plate geometry to that derived using Tafel plots. This was achieved using carbon steels sheets of steel with a pair of with varying the number of Monel bolts and varying spacing. It was found that the carbon steel plates do not corrode uniformly. This can create issues when using Polarization curves to assume galvanic corrosion rate of a carbon steel and Monel system. The geometry of the bolts can further affect this corrosion rate and make …

Dupont Seal Mold Assembly Machine, Brett Biederman, Craig Hanchett, Matthew Chilton

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The Seal Assembly Machine is a custom-built device that is designed to seat a thin polymer part between two mating pieces of metal tooling. To meet the specifications of the sponsor, the Seal Assembly machine must perform its function more quickly and accurately than manual labor at the same task. At the time of compiling this report, the machine is not yet functional due to time constraints.

Amino-Polymer For Co2 Capture By Vacuum Swing Adsorption, Sean Billy

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The applications of sorbent compounds in conjunction with amines and other additives is an innovative method at combating CO2 pollution. An ideal solution would use an amine sorbent to trap the high levels of absorbed CO2 with a low binding energy (less than 45 kJ/mol) and subsequently release them into a stored vessel at ambient temperature with a vacuum swing adsorption system. Attempts at finding a best mixture will be conducted through the usage of a vacuum swing system, utilizing a bed syringe containing the sorbent mix and a vacuum syringe to pull on and subsequently release the CO2 into …

Cathodic Protection, Michaela Schaber

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This Honors Research Project explores cathodic protection of reinforcing steel in concrete. It uses NACE SP0408-201 Cathodic Protection of Reinforcing Steel in Buried or Submerged Concrete Structures as the guidelines for experiments and supporting literature. An economic analysis will be included to fulfill Design requirements. Different voltage and other applications will be explored to determine the lowest obtainable cost-efficient corrosion rate. The method of cathodic protection focused on for this project is impressed current cathodic protection.

Investigation Of Casting Methods Of Photoelastic Particles To Study The Geomechanics Of Granular Media, Daniel Schullek

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The research being conducted within this project is to observe force chains in different samples of soil media with varying shapes. The method for observing the force chains is a process called photoelasticity. Photoelasticity uses two polarizing sheets, with the clear media being tested placed between, and light is directed through the sheets to observe how the light is refracted as force is applied to the tested media. Through our research, we are coming up with a method of casting soil particles through the utilization of resin, silicone, and 3D printing. Once the clear particles have been cast, we will …

Improving Traffic Efficiency At Tallmadge Circle Considering Autonomous Vehicles, Benjamin Mallinak

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

In a set of behavioral recommendations outlined by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), navigating a roundabout is listed as one of twenty-eight regularly required abilities that a highly automated vehicle must be able to complete. As autonomous vehicle technology is developed, refined, and proven to meet these ability expectations, roundabouts and traffic circles that experience high volumes of traffic are anticipated to benefit from an improved efficiency of traffic flow. For Tallmadge Circle and other similar traffic control configurations, the degree of improvement will be dependent on the steps taken to utilize the capabilities of the autonomous vehicles …

Pet Food Protector, Braeden Balch, Trey Dillan, Brandon George, David Owens

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

food consumption while keeping each pet separate from the others. The device will detect a certain pet, using a transmitter and receiver that would be on the collar of the pet and in the device itself, and enable them to access their specific food by way of an opening and closing lid. If the pet leaves the area, the food is no longer accessible. The device will also track the amount of food consumed and regulate how much food should be consumed in a given amount of time. This will allow owners to feed their pets without worrying about overeating …

Scale-Up Of Flow-Electrode Capacitive Deionization Method For Hard Water Softening, Noah Henry

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This study’s purpose is to further document a capacitive deionization design that could be capable of purifying H₂O at a household scale where clean water is otherwise unobtainable in applicable regions of the world. The hypothesis behind this study was continuously larger scaled electrochemical cell-units would increase their water softening capabilities in sustainable fashion. The trend at which performance will scale is currently unknown. The units studied were constructed using graphite plates, anion exchange membranes, cation exchange membranes, and Teflon channels. Three streams, two being CaCl₂ solutions in DI H₂O (one being concentrated with CaCl …

Wetting Transition On 3d-Printed Surfaces, Isabelle Moryan

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Taking the previous research conducted, this project aims to further the study and research of the wettability of surfaces. Surface features and types are important factors to their wettability. The geometric properties of a surface can make it more hydrophobic and hydrophilic. Extreme cases of hydrophobic and hydrophilic surfaces lead to water repulsion or water absorption, even under extreme conditions. The goal of this project is to gain further insight on how fabricated 3D-printed featured surfaces and examine the wetting transition on these surfaces. In particular, cylindrical pillars will be studied with varied pillar spacing, height and diameter. In addition, …

Application Of Sla 3d Printing For Polymers, Taylor Wilson

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Stereolithography is a type of 3D printing that allows liquid photopolymer resin to be cured into layers that make up a 3D object. Creation of such resins for these purposes can require a significant amount of time to test and develop, and commercial resins also require some amount of testing for printer settings before use. This paper reviews how stereolithography works, the materials used, and experimentation done to compare the resin properties to the determined curing times. Using several commercially available resins, varying base exposure and layer exposure times were used to determine the lowest possible curing time that gave …

Energy Analysis Of Heating, Ventilation, And Air Conditioning Systems, Erica Ferguson

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This project studied Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems for commercial buildings. I completed an energy model Raleigh County Sheriff’s Department in West Virginia. This building’s HVAC has been completed by the consulting engineering firm: Scheeser Buckley Mayfield. I intern at this company, so they allowed me to use their original design as a basis for comparison. Load calculations, utility costs, energy consumption, and carbon footprint were derived from this energy analysis. The energy model compared three systems: variable air volume (VAV) with electric reheat, variable air volume with hydronic reheat, and variable refrigerant volume (VRV). Based on the …

Analysis And Comparison Of Nir Pigments For "Cool" Coating Applications, Karey Steinmetz

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The goal of this research is to compare our own formulation of near infrared radiation (NIR) pigment coating to commercialized ones. These near infrared coatings are designed to be used on roofs of buildings to keep the buildings from absorbing the heat from the sun’s radiation. This would keep the building cooler and use less energy and money to cool the building. In this study, Styrofoam was used to build a lab-scale house and were put under heat lamps that mimicked the sun. Temperatures were taken at three different locations to determine the effectiveness of the pigmented coatings. Color and …

Barriers To Technology Adoption In The Water Treatment Industry, Ian Adams

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This honors project focuses on barriers to technology adoption in the drinking water treatment industry. The scope of this project considers these barriers as they relate to general technology and with a specific focus on artificial intelligence (AI) and digital twins. To better understand these barriers, prior research and case studies are analyzed. The case studies include reports provided by Fontus Blue, a water treatment software provider based in Akron, Ohio. The case studies exhibit the benefits and challenges of integrating new technology, including AI systems. With the context of these case studies in mind, a survey was distributed to …

Sintering Of 3-D Printed Metals, Adam Shuppe, John Griffiths

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

There is a 3-D printer which prints metals such as 17-4 PH. In this project, we will learn how to use the machine to print samples, create a sintering graph for the material, and compare the properties with materials sintered using the machine. We will try to get as close as possible to the properties of the samples sintered using the machine. There will be a lot of samples made and tested, and we will learn how to use a testing machine and all other testing equipment in the department.

Photogrammetry Booth, Chidubem Igweagu

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This is a research type project that involves design, build and simulation sponsored by a faculty member in the Mechanical Engineering department. The title of the proposed project is Photogrammetry_Booth. A photo booth to have pets immobilized by taking an attention needs to be designed and manufactured. 4-6 cameras need to be installed to take photos simultaneously to represent the front, sides, back and arbitrary sides of a pet. An Arduino board and tablet will be installed to control cameras and user interface. The booth is mainly built by T-slotted frames and many functional and decorative parts will be precisely …

Affordable And Sustainable Housing, Brandon Gibson

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Due to the current state of the world, families around the world have started to invest in their homes. This change in lifestyle has caused the average cost to build a new home to increase to nearly $300,000, with an additional $35,872 due to the pandemic-related uptick in material costs. Custom homes take an ample amount of planning, construction time, along with excessive amounts of materials. I am looking to put my spin on a recent trend that allows an efficient construction timeline, along with the reduction of materials and waste.

Shipping Containers. Though their history of utilization has solely …

Fuel System To Envelope Interface, James Campbell

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

*NOTE THIS PROJECT IS CONFIDENTIAL*

In this project, I will investigate solutions to interfacing a fuel system with a fabric skin section

Evaluating Similarity Of Cross-Architecture Basic Blocks, Elijah L. Meyer

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Vulnerabilities in source code can be compiled for multiple processor architectures and make their way into several different devices. Security researchers frequently have no way to obtain this source code to analyze for vulnerabilities. Therefore, the ability to effectively analyze binary code is essential. Similarity detection is one facet of binary code analysis. Because source code can be compiled for different architectures, the need can arise for detecting code similarity across architectures. This need is especially apparent when analyzing firmware from embedded computing environments such as Internet of Things devices, where the processor architecture is dependent on the product and …

Locality Analysis Of Patched Php Vulnerabilities, Luke N. Holt

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The size and complexity of modern software programs is constantly growing making it increasingly difficult to diligently find and diagnose security exploits. The ability to quickly and effectively release patches to prevent existing vulnerabilities significantly limits the exploitation of users and/or the company itself. Due to this it has become crucial to provide the capability of not only releasing a patched version, but also to do so quickly to mitigate the potential damage. In this thesis, we propose metrics for evaluating the locality between exploitable code and its corresponding sanitation API such that we can statistically determine the proximity of …

Emergency Water Treatment Methods Through The Adaptation Of Natural Disaster Building Debris, Benjamin Colston

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The primary objective of this research was to determine whether concrete slag acquired from building debris in a disaster can be utilized to remove pathogens biochemically through changes in pH or physically through filtration. Direct Plate Enumeration testing was completed for different water samples to compare the general activity of bacterial growth as an indication of pathogenic potential. Throughout each experiment, the pH of different water samples was monitored and consistently indicated that water samples in contact with concrete pieces (concrete water samples) would exhibit a higher pH than samples with no exposure to concrete (control water samples). Compared to …

Unit Circle Roots Based Sensor Array Signal Processing, Jared P. Smith

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As technology continues to rapidly evolve, the presence of sensor arrays and the algorithms processing the data they generate take an ever-increasing role in modern human life. From remote sensing to wireless communications, the importance of sensor signal processing cannot be understated. Capon's pioneering work on minimum variance distortionless response (MVDR) beamforming forms the basis of many modern sensor array signal processing (SASP) algorithms. In 2004, Steinhardt and Guerci proved that the roots of the polynomial corresponding to the optimal MVDR beamformer must lie on the unit circle, but this result was limited to only the MVDR. This dissertation contains …

Enzymatic Treatment, Gluten Reduction, And Production Of Celiac Safe Gluten Removed Beer, Alyssa Baumann, Calvin Baumann, Noah Alfman

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Celiac Disease affects many people across the world with the only solution being a life-long abstinence from gluten intake. Although beers may be considered “gluten-free”, some still contain remains of gluten which can be harmful to those with Celiac Disease. There exists a large market for high-quality, celiac-safe beer. The primary approach for producing gluten-free beer is enzymatic treatment. The first objective of the project is to measure the natural gluten reduction in the beer brewing process versus the gluten reduction within enzymatic treated beer. The second objective of the project is to create celiac-safe beer through experimentation of the …

Adjust-A-Ramp, Taylor Sharrits, Courtney Banks, Emily Beck, Jazmin Buenrostro

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Adjust-A-Ramp is a portable ramp designed to ensure the safety of consumers and prevention of damage to cars, specifically towards low profile cars. A low-profile vehicle includes any vehicle that has a clearance off the ground of 6.5 inches or less. Advantages of low-profile vehicles include improved handling, better braking, increased fuel efficiency, increased stability, and an overall luxury aesthetic. The reduced tire size increases grip on smooth surfaces with better wheel response, creating a fast, more efficient ride. The simple tire tread patterns and the stiff sidewalls allow for lower rolling resistance which increases fuel economy. The Adjust-A-Ramp can …

Hands Free Fitted Shoe, Maddison Schutt, Nicole Rizkala, Elizabeth Scheatzle, Alexander Hershey, Austin Fowkes

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The ability to don and doff fitted shoes can be a challenge for many people including those diagnosed with diabetes, obesity, limb loss, pregnancy, Parkinson’s disease, arthritis, surgical complications, and aging. Though these actions may seem trivial, the ability to independently put on shoes is necessary because it can significantly impact one’s capacity to complete everyday tasks, hold relationships, and maintain mental health. Current competitors in the market are excessively expensive, not completely hands-free, or not fully enclosed shoes, so a new design for an accessible and affordable hands-free fitted shoe could be of great benefit to the general population. …

Amygdala Modeling With Context And Motivation Using Spiking Neural Networks For Robotics Applications, Matthew Aaron Zeglen

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Cognitive capabilities for robotic applications are furthered by developing an artificial amygdala that mimics biology. The amygdala portion of the brain is commonly understood to control mood and behavior based upon sensory inputs, motivation, and context. This research builds upon prior work in creating artificial intelligence for robotics which focused on mood-generated actions. However, recent amygdala research suggests a void in greater functionality. This work developed a computational model of an amygdala, integrated this model into a robot model, and developed a comprehensive integration of the robot for simulation, and live embodiment. The developed amygdala, instantiated in the Nengo Brain …

Amine-Functionalized Interpenetrating Polymer Networks For Co2 Capture, James Wills

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The research performed looked to advance the studies of vacuum swing absorption of Carbon Dioxide to help combat global climate change issues. The focus of the project was to create an anime-polymer sorbent that will weakly absorb and desorb CO2. The sorbent must be durable and be able to withstand multiple uses. The creation of a porous polymer matrix aided in the amines' ability to absorb CO2. Created samples underwent several qualitative and quantitative tests to determine their usefulness as an industrial sorbent. Infrared spectroscopy was used to study the effectiveness of the amine sorbents. Studying the changes in the …