Engineering Commons^™

Active Control Of Equilibrium, Near-Equilibrium, And Far-From-Equilibrium Colloidal Systems, Mark N. Mcdonald, Qinyu Zhu, Walter F. Paxton, Cameron K. Peterson, Douglas R. Tree

Faculty Publications

The development of top-down active control over bottom-up colloidal assembly processes has the potential to produce materials, surfaces, and objects with applications in a wide range of fields spanning from computing to materials science to biomedical engineering. In this review, we summarize recent progress in the field using a taxonomy based on how active control is used to guide assembly. We find there are three distinct scenarios: (1) navigating kinetic pathways to reach a desirable equilibrium state, (2) the creation of a desirable metastable, kinetically trapped, or kinetically arrested state, and (3) the creation of a desirable far-from-equilibrium state through …

Hangprinter For Large Scale Additive Manufacturing Using Fused Particle Fabrication With Recycled Plastic And Continuous Feeding, Ravneet S. Rattan, Nathan Nauta, Alessia Romani, Joshua Pearce

Electrical and Computer Engineering Publications

The life cycle of plastic is a key source of carbon emissions. Yet, global plastics production has quadrupled in 40 years and only 9 % has been recycled. If these trends continue, carbon emissions from plastic wastes would reach 15 % of global carbon budgets by 2050. An approach to reducing plastic waste is to use distributed recycling for additive manufacturing (DRAM) where virgin plastic products are replaced by locally manufactured recycled plastic products that have no transportation-related carbon emissions. Unfortunately, the design of most 3-D printers forces an increase in the machine cost to expand for recycling plastic at …

Overcoming Uncertainties In Molecular Visualization, Thomas Wischgoll

Computer Science and Engineering Faculty Publications

Uncertainties are difficult if not impossible to avoid. Capturing data from the analog world almost always results in some form of uncertainty. The amount of uncertainty depends on the method of measurement and its accuracy. When visualizing data that has some associated uncertainty, it is essential to properly process and convey such uncertainty and especially the amount of uncertainty keeping in mind that additional processing steps can amplify the uncertainty. There are various sources of uncertainty, such as numerical limitations or limitations of the capture device. However, there are other sources of uncertainty. Some of these uncertainties stem from model …

Fair4pghd: A Framework For Fair Implementation Over Pghd, Abdullahi Abubakar Kawu, Dympna O'Sullivan, Lucy Hederman, Mirjam Van Reisen

Articles

Patient Generated Health Data (PGHD) are being considered for integration with health facilities, however little is known about how such data can be made machine-actionable in a way that meets FAIR guidelines. This article proposes a 5-stage framework that can be used to achieve this.

A Review Of 3d Polymeric Scaffolds For Bone Tissue Engineering: Principles, Fabrication Techniques, Immunomodulatory Roles, And Challenges, Hassan Nageh, Ahmed G. Abdelaziz, Sara M. Abdo, Mohga S. Abdalla, Asmaa A. Amer, Abdalla Abdal-Hay, Ahmed Barhoum

Nanotechnology Research Centre

Over the last few years, biopolymers have attracted great interest in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine due to the great diversity of their chemical, mechanical, and physical properties for the fabrication of 3D scaffolds. This review is devoted to recent advances in synthetic and natural polymeric 3D scaffolds for bone tissue engineering (BTE) and regenerative therapies. The review comprehensively discusses the implications of biological macromolecules, structure, and composition of polymeric scaffolds used in BTE. Various approaches to fabricating 3D BTE scaffolds are discussed, including solvent casting and particle leaching, freeze-drying, thermally induced phase separation, gas foaming, electrospinning, and sol–gel techniques. …

Nanoclays‑Containing Bio‑Based Packaging Materials: Properties, Applications, Safety, And Regulatory Issues, Kalpani Y. Perera, Maille Hopkins, Amit K. Jaiswal Dr, Swarna Jaiswal

Articles

Food packaging is an important concept for consumer satisfaction and the increased shelf life of food products. The introduction of novel food packaging materials has become an emerging trend in recent years, which could be mainly due to environmental pollution caused by plastic packaging and to reduce food waste. Recently, numerous studies have been carried out on nanoclays or nanolayered silicate to be used in packaging material development as reinforcing filler composites. Different types of nanoclays have been used as food packaging materials, while montmorillonite (MMT), halloysite, bentonite (BT), Cloisite, and organically modified nanoclays have become of great interest. The …

Virtual Screening On Indonesian Herbal Compounds As Sars-Cov-2 Spike (S2) Glycoprotein Inhibitors: Pharmacophore Modelling & Molecular Docking Approaches, Syailendra Karuna Sugito, Artha Uli Cristina, Putri Saskia Harimurti, Gabriella Regita Cendani, Fauzi Azhar Insani, Linda Erlina, Rafika Indah Paramita, Fadilah Fadilah

Indonesian Journal of Medical Chemistry and Bioinformatics

Background: There are still no specific treatments for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) until present days. Several studies have been conducted to determine whether herbal medicine can be an option to be used as a definitive medicine for COVID-19. S2 subunit of spike protein which is responsible for SARS-CoV-2 entry to the host cell, is a potential drug target to inhibit the viral infection. In this study, we aimed to find some compounds from the HerbalDB database that have potential as SARS-CoV-2 spike (S2) glycoprotein inhibitor.

Methods: The 6LXT protein was used as the target protein. The procedure in this study consisted …

Current Scenario Of Solar Energy Applications In Bangladesh: Techno-Economic Perspective, Policy Implementation, And Possibility Of The Integration Of Artificial Intelligence, Monirul Islam Miskat, Protap Sarker, Hemal Chowdhury, Tamal Chowdhury, Md Salman Rahman, Nazia Hossain, Piyal Chowdhury, Sadiq M. Sait

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

Bangladesh is blessed with abundant solar resources. Solar power is considered the most desirable energy source to mitigate the high energy demand of this densely populated country. Although various articles deal with solar energy applications in Bangladesh, no detailed review can be found in the literature. Therefore, in this study, we report on the current scenario of renewable energy in Bangladesh and the most significant potential of solar energy’s contribution among multiple renewable energy resources in mitigating energy demand. One main objective of this analysis was to outline the overall view of solar energy applications in Bangladesh to date, as …

Systems Thinking Activities Used In K-12 For Up To Two Decades, Diana Fisher, Systems Thinking Association

Complex Systems Faculty Publications and Presentations

Infusing systems thinking activities in pre-college education (grades K-12) means updating precollege education so it includes a study of many systemic behavior patterns that are ubiquitous in the real world. Systems thinking tools include those using both paper and pencil and the computer and enhance learning in the classroom making it more student-centered, more active, and allowing students to analyze problems that have been heretofore beyond the scope of K-12 classrooms. Students in primary school have used behavior over time graphs to demonstrate dynamics described in story books, like the Lorax, and created stock-flow diagrams to describe what was needed …

Supporting Compliance Of Occupational Safety And Health Requirements - European Labour Inspection Systems Of Sanctions And Standardised Measures, Victor Hrymak

Articles

European legislation for occupational safety and health (OSH) is based on the prevention of accidents and ill health. Apart from European directives, all Member States have national laws and strategies and expect enterprises to implement this preventative ethos, and thereby ensure adequate performance in OSH. Labour Inspectorates monitor and if necessary enforce these laws by deploying individual Labour Inspectors to chosen enterprises. If workplace safety and health conditions are found to be substandard, Labour Inspectors are expected to improve the situation using persuasion and, if necessary, their authority to compel enterprises through specific sanction powers. Bruhn (2009) describes this interaction …

Model-Based Evaluation Of Energy Systems For Multirotor Uav Based On Batteries And Fuel Cells, Mika Suwe, Martje Eigenseer, Claudia Werner

Journal of Aviation Technology and Engineering

In this study, two multirotor unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) energy systems are comparatively evaluated via a modelling process, namely a battery electric system and a hybrid fuel cell and battery system. Technical, economic, and ecological evaluation parameters are considered. The evaluation is performed on three different mission types: a 10 km delivery mission, a 3000 m2 facade inspection, and a nine-minute drone show, to represent the transport, monitoring, and event sectors. Results are calculated via a modelling process first simulating the required power profiles for each mission and then simulating both energy systems’ operational behavior during each mission. The resulting …

Bioaugmentation With Tetrasphaera To Improve Biological Phosphorus Removal From Anaerobic Digestate Of Swine Wastewater, Jiaxin Wang, Chiqian Zhang, Ping Li, Hui Xu, Weiqu Wang, Weizhao Yin, Jinhua Wu, Zhiqiang Hu

Faculty Publications

Tetrasphaera-enhanced biological phosphorus removal (T-EBPR) was developed by augmenting conventional EBPR (C-EBPR) with Tetrasphaera to improve phosphorus removal from anaerobic digestate of swine wastewater. At influent total phosphorus (TP) concentrations of 45 to 55 mg/L, T-EBPR achieved effluent TP concentration of 4.17 ± 1.02 mg/L, 54% lower than that in C-EBPR (8.98 ± 0.76 mg/L). The enhanced phosphorous removal was presumably due to the synergistic effect of Candidatus Accumulibacter and Tetrasphaera occupying different ecological niches. Bioaugmentation with Tetrasphaera promoted the polyphosphate accumulation metabolism depending more on the glycolysis pathway, as evidenced by an increase in intracellular storage compounds of glycogen …

Rheological Characterization Of Ultra-High Performance Concrete For 3d Printing, Arun R. Arunothayan, Behzad Nematollahi, Kamal Khayat, Akilesh Ramesh, Jay G. Sanjayan

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The authors recently developed a 3D-printable ultra-high performance fiber-reinforced concrete (3DP-UHPFRC) for additive construction of structural members with significantly reduced reliance on steel bars. This study investigates the rheological behavior of the developed 3DP-UHPFRC. The effects of two major factors affecting the performance of 3DP-UHPFRC, namely steel fiber volume (0, 1%, and 2%) and nano-clay (NC) content (0, 0.1%, and 0.2% by binder mass) on workability, static yield stress, dynamic yield stress, and apparent viscosity were determined. Test results showed that the inclusion of steel fibers and NC reduced the workability and led to a significant increase in the static …

Riverine Commons And Institute Framework Plan, Community Design Center

Community Design Center Project Reports

The nonprofit Watershed Conservation Resource Center is restoring a 98-acre riparian wetland landscape near downtown Fayetteville as a River Commons and Institute. The Framework Plan combines watershed restoration with architecture and urban design to house a river education center, a visitor interpretive center, walking trails, passive recreation facilities including bird watching and canoeing, and outdoor heritage exhibitions. The Plan operates at the intersection of anthropology, ecology, and design in developing a lasting and robust riverine knowledge fund across space and time.

Effect Of Additional Water Or Superplasticizer On Key Characteristics Of Cement Paste Made With Superabsorbent Polymer And Other Shrinkage Mitigating Materials, Kamran Aghaee, Ricarda Sposito, Karl Christian Thienel, Kamal Khayat

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The use of superabsorbent polymer (SAP) coupled with expansive agent (EA) or shrinkage-reducing admixture (SRA) can effectively reduce shrinkage of cement-based materials. However, SAP particles at high contents can adversely affect rheological and mechanical properties. Securing proper workability can be accomplished by additional water or adjusting the superplasticizer (SP) demand. There is an uncertainty about the efficiency of these approaches to workability compensation. This study evaluates the effect of additional water or SP on key properties of cement paste made with SAP and relatively high content of EA or SRA. Macro and micro mechanisms underlying the effect of combined shrinkage …

Machine Learning Applications In Malware Classification: A Metaanalysis Literature Review, Tjada Nelson, Austin O'Brien, Cherie Noteboom

Research & Publications

With a text mining and bibliometrics approach, this study reviews the literature on the evolution of malware classification using machine learning. This work takes literature from 2008 to 2022 on the subject of using machine learning for malware classification to understand the impact of this technology on malware classification. Throughout this study, we seek to answer three main research questions: RQ1: Is the application of machine learning for malware classification growing? RQ2: What is the most common machine-learning application for malware classification? RQ3: What are the outcomes of the most common machine learning applications? The analysis of 2186 articles resulting …

Experimental And Computational Analysis Of Broadband Thz Photoconductive Antennas, Zachary Uttley, Jose Santos Batista, Bilal Pirzada, Magda El-Shenawee

Electrical Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

The work presents the fabrication and measurements of four LT-GaAs photoconductive terahertz (THz) antennas with different geometries of metallic electrodes. The goal is to analyze the overall bandwidth of the antennas through a comparison between the spectra of the generated photocurrent in the antenna gap, the radiated electric field THz pulse, and the S₁₁ parameter of the metallic electrodes. The photocurrent density and the S₁₁ parameters are computed using COMSOL multiphysics, while the generated THz pulse was experimentally measured using a time-domain spectroscopy system. The polarizations of the photoconductive antennas are experimentally measured, using x-cut quartz crystal halfwave …

Effect Of Stress Interaction On Multi-Stress Accelerated Life Test Plan: Assessment Based On Particle Swarm Optimization, Ekene Gabriel Okafor, David Ryan Huitink

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Sustainability of products that seek to maintain ecosystem balance, such as electric vehicles or solar system inverters, often require extensive testing during their developmental stages in a manner that minimizes wastage and drives creativity. Multi-stress accelerated test planning is often used for these products, their subsystems and components if their in-service failures are driven by multiple stress factors. Multi-stress accelerated life testing (ALT) often expedites time to failure for highly reliable products. Many studies assume model parameters that may not be appropriate for the considered stress factors. Most importantly, the effect stress interaction has on the ALT plan is often …

Homogeneous Flow Performance Of Steel-Fiber Reinforced Self-Consolidating Concrete For Repair Application: A Biphasic Approach, Naimeh Nouri, Masoud Hosseinpoor, Ammar Yahia, Kamal Khayat

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this study, fiber-reinforced self-consolidating concrete (FR-SCC) was considered as a diphasic suspension of fiber and coarse aggregate (F-A ≥ 5 mm) skeleton in mortar suspension with solid particles finer than 5 mm. The coupled effect of the volumetric content of fibers, coarse aggregate particle-size distribution, and rheological properties of the mortar on the passing ability and dynamic stability of various FR-SCC mixtures was investigated. Nine high-strength and 10 conventional-strength FR-SCC mixtures for repair application were proportioned with water-to-binder ratios (W/B) of 0.35 and 0.42, respectively, and macro steel fibers of 0.1%–0.5% volumetric contents. The dosages of high-range water-reducer (HRWR) …

Impacts Of Current Limiting On The Transient Stability Of The Virtual Synchronous Generator, Kourosh Gharouni Saffar, Sina Driss, Firouz Badrkhani Ajaei

Electrical and Computer Engineering Publications

This article investigates the impacts of different current limiting strategies on the transient stability of the virtual synchronous generator (VSG). The power–angle curve of the VSG under different operating conditions is theoretically characterized in detail and experimentally verified through tests conducted on hardware-implemented lab-scale VSGs. It is shown that the reference current saturation approaches prioritizing the current vector angle, the d -axis current, and the q -axis current reshape the VSG power–angle curve in different ways. The resulting impacts on the VSG transient stability are comprehensively investigated through time-domain simulation of a battery energy storage system that is operated as …

Guest Editorial: Transition Towards Deep Decarbonisation Of Modern Energy Systems, Yujian Ye, Can Wan, Chenghong Gu, Dan Wu, Goran Strbac, Hongjian Sun, Peng Zhang, Rui Bo, Yi Tang, Zhongbei Tian

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

No abstract provided.

An Attention Residual U-Net With Differential Preprocessing And Geometric Postprocessing: Learning How To Segment Vasculature Including Intracranial Aneurysms, Nan Mu, Zonghan Lyu, Mostafa Rezaeitaleshmahalleh, Jinshan Tang, Jingfeng Jiang

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

Objective

Intracranial aneurysms (IA) are lethal, with high morbidity and mortality rates. Reliable, rapid, and accurate segmentation of IAs and their adjacent vasculature from medical imaging data is important to improve the clinical management of patients with IAs. However, due to the blurred boundaries and complex structure of IAs and overlapping with brain tissue or other cerebral arteries, image segmentation of IAs remains challenging. This study aimed to develop an attention residual U-Net (ARU-Net) architecture with differential preprocessing and geometric postprocessing for automatic segmentation of IAs and their adjacent arteries in conjunction with 3D rotational angiography (3DRA) images.

Methods

The …

Process Intensification Strategies For Green Solvent Mediated Biomass Pretreatment, Ahamed Ullah, Yuxuan Zhang, Can Liu, Qi Qiao, Qing Shao, Jian Shi

Markey Cancer Center Faculty Publications

Demonstrated to be highly effective for lignocellulosic biomass pretreatment, deep eutectic solvent (DES) has attracted increasing attention owing to its advantages of simple synthesis, relatively low chemical cost, and better biocompatibility as compared to certain ionic liquids. Here we provide a critical review of the status of the design/selection of DES for the pretreatment of biomass feedstocks with an emphasis on the process intensification strategies: 1) integration of microwave, ultrasound, and high solid extrusion for pretreating biomass, 2) one-pot DES pretreatment, enzymatic hydrolysis, and fermentation, 3) strategies for DES recycling and product recovery; and 4) recent progress on molecular simulations …

Dlr Covid-19 Mobility Review (Phase 2a): Report On Cmr Economic Development & Business Community Feedback, Sarah Rock Dr., Robert Bradshaw Dr., David O'Connor, Odran Reid

Reports

This research reports on the findings from an area focused economic development and business community focused study of the Costal Mobility Route (CMR), which is intended to complement and extend research previously conducted in Phase 1 of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council’s (DLR’s) ‘Covid-19 Mobility & Public Realm Works’ project. This study is based on participant interviews, and is limited to businesses located directly along the CMR, as well as a number of business groups representing a wider area and a Local Enterprise Office.

While one company reported a significant decline in revenue that they attribute to the CMR, the remainder …

Numerical Modeling Of A Pile-Supported Wharf Subjected To Liquefaction-Induced Lateral Ground Deformations, Milad Souri, Arash Khosravifar, Stephen Dickenson, Nason Mccullough, Scott Schlechter

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Fully-coupled nonlinear dynamic analysis is increasingly used for assessing the seismic performance of pile-supported wharf structures subjected to liquefaction-induced lateral ground deformations. Several numerical challenges exist for analysis of this highly nonlinear soil-structure interaction, which require robust, yet practical, solutions that are validated with experimental data. This study presents a numerical model of a pile-supported wharf and evaluates the applicability of a soil constitutive model, and modeling assumptions and methods by using recorded data from a well-instrumented, large-scale centrifuge test. The objectives of this study include: (a) evaluating the performance of a recently developed pressure-dependent multi-yield surface constitutive soil model …

A Novel Data-Driven Method For Two-Dimensional Angles Finding Via Uniform Rectangular Array With Automatic Pairing, Yanming Zhang, Lijun Jiang

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A new hybrid dynamic mode decomposition (HDMD) algorithm is proposed to estimate the azimuth and elevation angles of multiple independent sources for two-dimensional (2D) massive MIMO systems with the uniform rectangular array (URA). To this end, the proposed hybrid scheme integrates the modified DMD with the augmented DMD. By treating the received data as spatial-spatial correlated signals, the modified DMD is first used to decompose these signals into spatial DMD spectrum and corresponding spatial dynamic modes. The obtained spatial DMD spectrum directly yields the electrical angle in the y-direction. Then, the corresponding electrical angle in the x-direction is computed using …

Enhanced Two-Step Deep-Learning Approach For Electromagnetic-Inverse-Scattering Problems: Frequency Extrapolation And Scatterer Reconstruction, Huan Huan Zhang, He Ming Yao, Lijun Jiang, Michael Ng

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The electromagnetic-inverse-scattering (EMIS) problem is solved by a novel two-step deep-learning (DL) approach in this article. The newly proposed two-step DL approach not only predicts the multifrequency EM scattered field, but also overcomes the limitation of the conventional methods for solving EMIS problems, such as expensive computational cost, strong ill-conditions, and invalidity on high contrast. In the first step, the complex-valued deep residual convolutional neural network (DRCNN) is utilized to predict multifrequency EM scattered fields only using single-frequency EM scattered field information. Based on a new complex-valued deep convolutional encoder-decoder (DCED) structure, the second step utilizes the obtained multifrequency EM …

Laboratory-Scale Investigation On Shear Behavior Of Non-Persistent Joints And Joint Infill Using Lattice-Spring-Based Synthetic Rock Mass Model, Mariam Al-E'Bayat, Taghi Sherizadeh, Dogukan Guner

Mining Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Discontinuities Mainly Control the Mechanical Behavior of Rock Mass and Cause a Significant Reduction in the Rock Mass Strength. Joint Persistency and Joint Infill Conditions Are Considered the Most Significant Joint Parameters that Control the Mechanical Response of Rock Mass. in This Study, Numerical and Statistical Analyses Were Performed on Pre-Cracked Specimens with Two Flaws to Investigate the Effect of Joint Persistence Parameters on Shear Strength. in Addition, an Extensive Study Was Conducted to Explore the Effect of Infilled Mineral Strength, Infill Thickness, and Infill Wall Roughness on Shear Strength. the Lattice-Spring-Based Synthetic Rock Mass (LS-SRM) Approach Was Utilized to …

Water-Cased Kicker Charges For Use In Explosive Demolition, Rachel L. Bauer, Paul Pitzel, Emily M. Johnson, Catherine E. Johnson

Mining Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Demolition Projects Involving Explosives Often Incorporate Cutting Charges to Sever Columns in Conjunction with Kicker Charges that "Move" the Columns Out of Alignment. Traditional Kicker Charges Use Dynamite Secured to the Column above a Linear-Shaped Cutting Charge. This Study Investigates the Use of Water-Cased Kicker Charges for Use in Explosive Demolition. the Goal is to Reduce the Fragmentation of Steel Members and the Quantity of Explosive Needed Due to the Increased Density, Incompressibility, and Impedance Mismatch Water Provides. Simulations and Experimental Tests Were Utilized to Determine What Type of Charges Provide the Optimal Column Movement and Water Placement. Water Charges …

Customised Multi-Energy Pricing: Model And Solutions, Qiuyi Hong, Fanlin Meng, Jian Liu

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

With the increasing interdependence among energies (e.g., electricity, natural gas and heat) and the development of a decentralized energy system, a novel retail pricing scheme in the multi-energy market is demanded. Therefore, the problem of designing a customized multi-energy pricing scheme for energy retailers is investigated in this paper. In particular, the proposed pricing scheme is formulated as a bilevel optimization problem. At the upper level, the energy retailer (leader) aims to maximize its profit. Microgrids (followers) equipped with energy converters, storage, renewable energy sources (RES) and demand response (DR) programs are located at the lower level and minimize their …