Engineering Commons^™

Testing Resilience Of Microalgae Biofilms When Exposed To Hydrothermal Liquefaction Aqueous Phase, Davis Riley Haag

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

There are a multitude of experimental and processing techniques in the bioenergy field that produce sustainable and carbon negative to carbon neutral methods of converting renewable resources into biologically based hydrocarbons. One example of a process is hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) which specializes in converting wet biomass into biocrude oil. One reason that these processes are not used outside experimental testing is due to the high cost of performing these processes. There is potential to move these processes to larger scale testing and eventually industrial adaptation if breakthroughs are made to offset the process expenses. There is a waste product produced …

A Reinforcement Learning Framework For Powertrain Control Including Shared Learning Among A Fleet Of Vehicles, Lindsey Kerbel

All Dissertations

The transportation sector provides a significant opportunity to reduce global emissions, both through technological advancements and vehicular control strategies. Model-based control systems are popular methods for increasing the operating efficiency of vehicles. However, these systems often rely on models that require costly calibrations that still fail to capture the complexity of modern powertrain systems and the variations found in real-world driving. The recent availability of operational data through connected vehicle technology and/or edge devices has led to the emergence of data-driven control strategies that can learn optimal control policies through the interactions of the vehicle’s control system with the environment. …

An In Vitro Investigation Of Urothelial Cell Function In Response To Hypoxia And Pressure In Relation To Bladder Outlet Obstruction, Britney Hudson

All Dissertations

Bladder outlet obstruction (BOO) is a prevalent urological condition and can be characterized by the presence of lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS), such as hesitancy, weak stream, and nocturia. The main cause of BOO is a partial blockage of the urethra, which results in elevated voiding pressure, high storage pressure, and tissue ischemia, which are thought to be the triggers of bladder inflammation and subsequent fibrosis. Often patients do not seek treatment until the conditions get severe. Thus, it would be ideal to have an early diagnostic tool to detect changes in the bladder due to BOO. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) …

Locally Injectable Peptide Hydrogel For Conversion Of Temozolomide And Codelivery Of Sirna In Glioblastoma Multiforme Treatment, Megan Pitz

All Dissertations

Traditional treatment methods for glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) are largely unsuccessful, with a 5-year survival rate of 5.6%. Temozolomide (TMZ), the only chemotherapy FDA-approved for GBM treatment, is a hydrophobic prodrug that is stable in an acidic pH and begins converting to its active form at a physiological pH of 7.4. However, complete conversion of TMZ is observed only at a higher pH, and only about 30% of administered TMZ reaches the central nervous system. Therefore, there is a need for new treatment methods that maximize TMZ delivery to and efficacy at the tumor site. Self-assembling peptides are a unique class …

Optical Wavelength Measurement Based On Microwave-Photonics And Fiber Dispersion, Yongji Wu

All Dissertations

In modern photonics, combining microwave techniques with optical measurements has introduced a novel research direction. This study introduces a novel Microwave Photonics Wavelength Measurement System (MP-WMS), integrating microwave photonics with fiber chromatic dispersion to achieve direct wavelength measurement. Utilizing cost effective single mode optical fibers as dispersion devices, this system employs chromatic dispersion to convert optical frequency domain measurements into microwave time domain measurements. We established a mathematical model to describe how different wavelengths are detected, enhancing the system's effectiveness. The MP-WMS system offers an affordable solution with high resolution. In the experiment, we used a 35km long SM-28 single-mode …

Reinforcement Learning-Based Energy Management For Electric Vehicle Application, Yiming Ye

All Dissertations

The increasing concerns about transportation pollution and fossil fuel depletion motivate many studies on vehicle electrification and advanced energy-saving propulsion systems. When Comparing with traditional internal combustion engine vehicles, electrified vehicles, such as battery and supercapacitor electric vehicles, are equipped with more than one power source in the hybrid propulsion system, which can save more energy through efficient power combinations. Lithium-ion batteries are the preferred choice for energy storage in electric vehicles due to their superior energy density and cost-effectiveness. Nevertheless, matching the required power input and output leads to in an unwanted growth in the size of the battery, …

Sulfonated Ionomer Composite Membranes For Use In Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries, Xueting Wang

All Dissertations

While vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFBs) have garnered significant attention as a promising scalable energy storage technology, the current membrane material used in this technology, Nafion™, suffers from high cross mixing of vanadium ions in the liquid electrolytes, directly impacting battery performance properties such as the voltage and coulombic efficiencies, as well as resulting in a reduction in the overall battery lifetime. The use of ionomer nancomposites has proven to be one promising route of directly addressing the issue of high ion crossover, though the mechanism by which the nanoparticles act to reduce crossover remains in open question. Herein, the …

Study Of Electrospun Nanocomposite Nanofiber Nonwoven Mats With Precursor Solutions Prepared By Ultrasonic Processing, Stephanie Tussey

All Dissertations

Understanding the complexity of changes in a polymer solution through the addition of nanoparticles and the process used to prepare the solutions is vitally important to obtain desirable characteristics of electrospun nanofibers such as degree of crystallinity, morphological, thermal and mechanical properties. Although there have been significant efforts in this research area, a more in-depth understanding on how nanoparticles can affect the formation of polymeric structures during electrospinning is still needed to ensure overall quality and performance of the nonwoven material. The present study aimed to specifically explore the relationship between solution processing method, nanoparticle volume fraction, and solution properties …

Investigating Bimanual Haptic Exploration With Arm-Support Exoskeletons, Balagopal Raveendranath

All Dissertations

The ability to judge properties like weight and length of hand-held objects is essential in industrial work. Sometimes workers use devices like exoskeletons, which can augment their ability to lift and move heavy objects. Previous studies have investigated the perceptual information available for one-handed weight and length judgments. The current study investigated how blindfolded participants bimanually heft and wield objects to explore haptic information, to perceive object heaviness or length. The study also investigated the effects of using an arm-support exoskeleton (ASE) on the perceived weight of hand-held objects. We empirically tested whether people wield and manipulate objects differently, depending …

Toxicokinetics And Toxicodynamics Of Radium-226 In An Estuarine Sentinel Species Geukensia Demissa, Sarah Donaher

All Dissertations

The historical use of radioluminescent objects, most notably those containing radium-226 (²²⁶Ra)-based paint, has contributed to contemporary environmental contamination of radioactive material, often near naval installations or other military-associated coastal sites. The risk to both human and environmental health from this small-scale, discrete radioactive material is challenging to predict due to large uncertainties in the source terms, bioavailability, and toxicity of these objects. The objective of this study was to provide information on the accumulation and toxicity of acute ²²⁶Ra exposure in a sentinel species to improve risk assessments for small-scale, coastal radiological contamination. The sentinel species …

Additive Manufacturing With Bioresorbable Polymers: Process-Structure-Property Relationships For Biomimetic Tissue Scaffolds, Clayton Joseph Culbreath

All Dissertations

Tissue engineering has a base requirement of scaffold structures to support cell growth, proliferation, and regeneration. However, attempts to use artificial scaffold structures have often fallen short of clinical needs to justify the change away from the established, biologic-based current standard of care. Based on the limited number of successful tissue scaffolds produced by material extrusion modes of additive manufacturing, fused filament 3d printing and electrospinning, critical design specifications for a tissue scaffold are six minimum requirements: 1) biocompatibility, 2) porosity, 3) mechanical properties, 4) bioresorbable medical grade materials, 5) bioactivity, and 6) appropriately scaled production methods compliant with medical …

Machine Learning Assisted Discovery Of High-Performance Perovskites For Hydrogen Production, Ximei Zhai

All Dissertations

Hydrogen has significantly contributed to the global energy transition as a clean energy carrier. However, traditional hydrogen production involves energy-intensive processes with heavy carbon emissions. High-temperature water splitting to generate hydrogen has become a promising route for clean hydrogen production. Directly utilizing concentrated solar heat to perform solar thermochemical hydrogen (STCH) production is considered one of the most eco-friendly hydrogen production options. At the same time, high-temperature electrolysis in protonic ceramic electrolysis cells (PCECs) can efficiently utilize intermittent and cost-effective renewable electricity to produce hydrogen. Perovskite oxides with good redox capability and tolerance for oxygen deficiency are considered the most …

Multi-Scale Modeling Of Selective Laser Sintering: From Manufacturing Process And Microstructure To Mechanical Performance In Semi-Crystalline Thermoplastics, Cameron Zadeh

All Dissertations

Selective laser sintering is an additive manufacturing process that opens many design possibilities but is limited in its reliability and reproducibility. Numerical simulations validated by experimental data yield insights into the process and resulting part properties, allowing users to make more informed decisions. In this dissertation, a model for the process and microstructure is developed and validated, followed by a coupling to mechanical models to predict part performance. Further developments include a new addition of a reaction kinetics model to the process model to describe the interplay between thermal degradation and melt pool properties, and an exploration of the parameter …

Photovoltaics And Battery-Based End-To-End Direct Current Sustainable Power Networks- Concept, Design, And Control, Vishwas Powar

All Dissertations

The consequences of climate change have emphasized the need for a power network that is centered around green, low-cost, and renewable sources of energy. Currently, photovoltaics (PV) and wind turbines are the only two technologies that can convert renewable energy from the sun and wind, respectively, into large-scale power for the electricity network. This dissertation aims to provide a novel solution to implement direct current-based architecture for PV generation coupled with lithium-ion battery storage in an efficient and sustainable manner. Such a power network can enable efficiency, reliability, low cost, and sustainability with minimum impact on the environment. The first …

Design And Application Of Smart Systems To Address Analytical Problems, Lucas B. Ayres

All Dissertations

This dissertation is a multidisciplinary effort that integrates low-cost analytical instrumentation, redox chemistry, and artificial intelligence to overcome existing limitations in the fields of wearable sensing technology, Deep Eutectic Solvents (DES), and antioxidant chemistry. The overall goal behind each implemented strategy is to enhance the accuracy, efficiency, and accessibility of analytical processes and technologies. A general overview of the thesis, along with the research outcomes is included in Chapter One. The theoretical framework of this dissertation is presented in Chapter Two. Chapter Three describes the development of a wearable platform (sensor and instrumentation) to rapidly detect (~20 minutes) S. aureus …

Volatile Crystalline Semiconductor Core Fibers, Thomasina Zaengle

All Dissertations

Optical fibers play critical roles across many facets of everyday life from communications to e-commerce to sensing and security. The ubiquity of optical fibers arises from their intrinsic clarity and, as glasses, their ability to be thermally drawn at high speeds over long distances when suitably heated about their glass transition temperature. Sixteen years ago, the first thermally drawn crystalline core fibers were fabricated using the molten core method, whereby a melt is confined within a glass capillary tube that is then drawn to fiber. This opened the door to crystalline semiconductor core fibers, which are now the backbone of …

Tin-Silver As A Novel Biodegradable Metallic Biomaterial, Charley Goodwin

All Dissertations

The Essure device is a non-hormonal, minimally-invasive, permanent female sterilization implant, removed from the market due to an increase in adverse events, hypothesized to be caused by corrosion of the Sn-Ag component of the implant. The goals of this dissertation were to first develop implant retrieval methods for Essure devices and surrounding tissue, documenting signs of degradation and metallic degradation products, then to characterize the electrochemical behavior of Sn-Ag in biologically representative environments and finally, to assess the biological interaction of Sn-Ag. Retrieval analyses developed successful methods, qualifying the degree of corrosion, primarily of the Sn-Ag component and finding Sn …

Evacuation Of Students With Intellectual Disability In Building Fires: A Three-Part Methodology, Haley Hostetter

All Dissertations

People with disabilities are one of the most vulnerable groups in building fires. Despite this, they have traditionally been overlooked by fire evacuation researchers. This is perhaps the most alarming for the group with Intellectual Disability when given their present statistics for fire involvement, injuries, and death. Annually, people with mental disabilities are involved in 1700 home fires, resulting in 39 fatalities and 122 injuries per 1000 fires. Additionally, 40% of these fires were started intentionally by people with mental disabilities. When combined with their high fire risk, the lack of evacuation research focused on people with Intellectual Disability shows …

Real-Time Degradation Abatement Framework For Energy Storage System In Automotive Application Using Data-Driven Approaches, Laxman Timilsina

All Dissertations

The increasing popularity of electric vehicles (EVs) is driven by their compatibility with sustainable energy goals. However, the decline in the performance of energy storage systems, such as batteries, due to their degradation puts EVs and hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) at a disadvantage compared to traditional internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles. The batteries used in these vehicles have limited life. The degradation of the battery is accelerated by the operating conditions of the vehicle, which further reduces its life and increases the reliability and economic concerns for the vehicle’s operation. The aging mechanism inside a battery cannot be eliminated but …

Remote Controlled Skid-Steer, Levi Schaider, Glory Burgin, Harrison Fentress

Mechatronics Final Projects

Our devices are a bluetooth remote controller and a remote-controlled omnidirectional loader. The vehicle functions are programmed through two PICs on the vehicle and another two PICs inside the controller. It features a double jointed shoveling arm designed to raise and lower to pick up and drop various loads (ex: sand or a flower). It uses “mecanum” wheels to achieve omni-directional driving. These wheels are controlled using a modified skid-steer system that allows for diagonal and left-right movement while the vehicle stays facing in the same direction. The pair of LED headlights can turn on either by a switch on …

Rock-Paper-Scissors Robot, Cora Lewis, Zachary Moyer, Aakriti Acharya, Reece Colson

Mechatronics Final Projects

The design incorporates a sophisticated Rock Paper Scissors (RPS) playing interface, amalgamating robotics, audio control, gesture recognition, and display functionalities. At its core, the system employs a robotic hand mechanism featuring pulleys and fishing wire to simulate finger movements. This mechanism is orchestrated by servo motors through a PIC system, which receives commands from the Arduino. The Arduino serves as the central processor and begins a round when the player hits the reset button. It triggers an audio prompt at the onset of each round using an Icstation Recordable Sound Module, prompting the player to make their move. The Arduino …

Temperature Controlled Box, Dennis Butts, Gabriel Alford, John Hawes, Holden Soderstrom

Mechatronics Final Projects

The temperature-controlled box is a project developed in the Spring of 2024. Its main goal is to maintain a setpoint temperature by switching both a heating element on for heating and a fan on for cooling.

What Is Biological Engineering? – A Magazine, Morgan Christensen

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Biological Engineering is one of the less commonly known fields of engineering and can be challenging to describe to someone outside the discipline. The most common question I've been asked during my undergraduate career is "What is biological engineering?". My answer has changed throughout my time at Utah State University as I've had more experiences within the discipline. This project focuses on answering this question in the format of a magazine to help bridge the gap between those in the discipline and a general audience. By using a magazine as the format, the content must be organized and written in …

Pedestrian Crossing Environmental Impact Statement, Alyssa Gaither

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Logan, Utah is divided by US Highway 89/91, which bisects much of the city. This makes it difficult to pass to the other side without a vehicle. A pedestrian crossing has been proposed to connect the eastern and western sides of Logan without impacting traffic flow. The Environmental Impact Statement aims to look at reasonable alternatives and identify many resources that will be affected by its implementation. Four main alternatives were considered: an underpass, an overpass with an elevator, an overpass with a ramp, and the no-change alternative to be used as a baseline alternative. The underpass is the preferred …

Geomagnetic Substorms Prediction Model Using Combined Physics-Based And Deep Learning Modeling Techniques, Ruthba Yasmin

Graduate Theses and Dissertations (2019 - present)

This thesis aims to develop a hybrid physics-incorporated neural network model (PINN) for classifying geomangnetic substorms in Earth's Magnetosphere. The model is trained using a comprehensive list of substorm onsets, ground magentometer data from a global network, and solar wind parameters from the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) satellite. Two different neural network architectures are used, and the physics model used for training is called WINDMI. The magnetic field components on the ground, which are a function of the ionospheric currents, are captured by the SML index. The methodology involves using 60-minute data segments preceding an event to train the hybrid …

Cloud Computing Integration Into Mixed-Reality: Physical To Abstraction, Yassine Chahid, Patrick Slattery

Publications and Research

This research evaluates the progression of cloud computing and mixed-reality technologies, and to identify how these technologies influence advancements in the latter. Both cloud computing and mixed reality have significantly impacted the IT field and the services available to the public and various institutions. Cloud computing provides a valuable way to process information or allocate computational resources on otherwise limited hardware. Augmented or virtual reality hardware would greatly benefit from this by offloading resource-intensive tasks to other machines. The research methodology involves analyzing essential components of both innovations, divided into multiple categories. These components range from physical, hardware-based elements to …

Trust Model Measurements For The Energy Grid Of Things, N. Sonali Fernando, John M. Acken, Robert Bass

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Information security is essential for the reliable operation of an Energy Grid of Things (EGoT). In addition to basic information security protocols as defined by published standards, there is a need for a monitoring function that measures the trustworthiness of the various actors participating in an EGoT. We describe in this paper the implementation and evaluation of a Distributed Trust Model that was developed specifically for monitoring communication within an EGoT. We then show how the model parameters are set using statistical measures for hypothesis testing.

Synthesis Of Bimetallic Nickel And Cobalt Phosphide Nanostructures For Electrocatalysis, Sarah Meixin York

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Transition metal phosphides have become a new class of materials to be considered as promising catalysts for a number of applications including electrochemical hydrogen evolution (HER). Electrocatalysis in hydrogen evolution is a heavily studied field due to the increasing desire to develop more efficient and more cost-effective catalysts for clean hydrogen production. This project develops a chemical approach to synthesizing bimetallic cobalt-nickel phosphide nanostructures for their use in HER. The synthesis is accomplished by thermal decomposition of the metal precursors in the presence of carbon monoxide (CO) and trioctyl phosphine (TOP). The resulting nanostructures were characterized using transition electron microscopy …

Opening The Black Box: Towards Inherently Interpretable Energy Data Imputation Models Using Building Physics Insight, Antonio Liguori, Matias Quintana, Chun Fu, Clayton Miller, Jérôme Frisch, Christoph Van Treeck

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

Missing data are frequently observed by practitioners and researchers in the building energy modeling community. In this regard, advanced data-driven solutions, such as Deep Learning methods, are typically required to reflect the non-linear behavior of these anomalies. As an ongoing research question related to Deep Learning, a model's applicability to limited data settings can be explored by introducing prior knowledge in the network. This same strategy can also lead to more interpretable predictions, hence facilitating the field application of the approach. For that purpose, the aim of this paper is to propose the use of Physics-informed Denoising Autoencoders (PI-DAE) for …

Modeling Sex-Specific Changes In Myocardial Fibrosis, Grace Martin

Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Heart disease the leading cause of death for both men and women in the United States. Cardiac fibrosis, or accumulation of extracellular matrix proteins in the heart, can occur after a heart attack and increase the risk for further complications. Current treatments for heart disease do not include extracellular matrix regulators, partly due to the complicated signaling network responsible for the production of these proteins. By using a computational model of the signaling network in cardia fibroblasts, the relationship between particular molecules and downstream extracellular matrix production can be examined.

Biological sex is an important factor for cardiac health and …