Engineering Commons^™

Four Decades Of Distance Learning Instruction In An Electrical Engineering Technology Program, Otilia Popescu, Isaac L. Flory Iv, John R. Hackworth, Murat Kuzlu

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

Online instruction is no longer a new or seldom used modality. It has grown over the last few decades, reaching a pinnacle during the recent pandemic. Different institutions and different programs chose different approaches for the online delivery of courses, adopting either synchronous or asynchronous deliveries for online students, and hybrid delivery for mixed groups of campus and online students attending the classes in a live or synchronous manner. This paper’s main goal is to present the history of over 40 years of distance learning in an Electrical Engineering Technology program and how the delivery mode progressed over time. While …

Advancing The Manufacturing Engineering Technology Pathway: Innovating And Developing The Curriculum (Courses And Labs) From Associate To Bachelor's Level, Afi Anuar, Vukica Jovanovic, Nathan Luetke, Hamid Eisazadeh, Isaac Flory Iv, Mileta Tomović, Anthony W. Dean

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

The southeastern region of Virginia, specifically Hampton Roads, has a diverse manufacturing landscape encompassing a range of enterprises, from small businesses to large corporations. This sector includes shipbuilding, construction machinery, aeronautics, and food processing. However, both the region and the broader state of Virginia are struggling with a skilled labor shortage that fails to meet the demands of these manufacturing enterprises. This paper aims to provide insights into the recently established Manufacturing Engineering Technology (MFET) program at Old Dominion University, located in Norfolk, Virginia. The MFET program features a comprehensive curriculum, encompassing the development of new courses and the establishment …

A Project-Based Learning Activity For An Engineering Technology Heat Transfer Course To Design A Shell-And-Tube Heat Exchanger, Nathan Luetke, Orlando Ayala

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

Thermofluids courses demand a strong grasp of mathematics and employ physics extensively to describe physical systems. Heat transfer, in particular, presents challenging topics, which can be even more daunting for engineering technology students. In this paper, we present the implementation of a project-based learning activity in the engineering technology heat transfer course. The students' task involves designing a shell-and-tube heat exchanger to meet specific minimum requirements. The objective is to provide students with a real-world assignment that enhances their heat transfer calculation skills. To accommodate instructors' busy schedules, we have developed an assignment that is user friendly. Detailed instructor guides …

Re-Envisioning Electric Railway Power Systems In Dense Urban Regions, Rohama Ahmad

Dissertations and Theses

Grid decarbonization and modernization are key requisites to combat global warming. Decarbonization entails the deployment of renewable energy sources, improving the energy efficiency of major consumers, and the electrification of the transportation and building sectors. Various US states and cities have pledged to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (e.g., the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) in New York aims to reduce emissions to 40% below 1990 levels by 2030 and then to 85% below 1990 levels by 2050) via a set of targets in terms of renewable energy, energy storage system (ESS) capacity, and the number of electric …

Actuator Optimization And Control Of Pediatric Knee Exoskeleton For Community-Based Mobility Assistance: More Lightweight, More Affordable, And More Stable, Sainan Zhang

Dissertations and Theses

Lightweight and smart exoskeletons offer the potential to improve mobility in children. State-of-the-art pediatric exoskeletons are typically clinic-based since they are either tethered or portable but cumbersome, and their design is often not optimized across a range of environments and users. Child growth progressively alters key exoskeleton design requirements, yet no prior work investigated actuator optimization to accommodate child growth. Moreover, exoskeletons typically use the torque sensor or spring mechanics as exteroceptive feedback, but these torque sensing methods not only lead to extra cost and mass but also cause a small range of stable controller gains.

To facilitate pediatric exoskeleton …

Molecular Origins Of Phase Stability In Phase-Change Nano-Emulsions For Thermal Energy Storage By Nmr Spectroscopy, Jungeun Park

Dissertations and Theses

Phase change materials (PCMs) are latent heat storage materials that can store or release thermal energy during phase transitions. Organic PCM nano-emulsions are formed by emulsifying oil in water in the presence of surfactants, enhancing thermal conductivity and pumpability. However, PCMs nano-emulsions can become unstable due to repeated thermal cycling and shear in heat transfer systems.

To better understand the molecular origins of phase instability in PCMs nano-emulsions, liquid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measurements were applied to a model PCM nano-emulsion. Quantitative ¹H single-pulse NMR measurements established the liquid fraction of oil within nano-emulsions as a function of temperature, …

Mechanisms For Regenerative Intervertebral Disc Healing During Early Growth In Mice, Danielle N. D'Erminio

Dissertations and Theses

Annulus Fibrosus (AF) defects of intervertebral discs (IVDs) cause painful disability, for example when herniated tissue compresses against adjacent nerves. Discectomy, the current standard of treatment to address herniation, does not repair AF defects and can result in re-herniation and recurrent pain. As such there is a need for improved AF repair strategies. It has previously been established that neonatal mice functionally regenerate following severe AF injury providing a model of successful innate AF repair processes that contrasts the poor healing of adult mice. This dissertation focuses on identifying mechanisms of AF regenerative healing in neonatal mice subjected to severe …

Understand The Structure-Water-Responsive Relationship By Engineering Silk Materials, Yeojin Jung

Dissertations and Theses

Water-responsive (WR) materials mechanically swell and shrink in response to changes in relative humidity, and they have demonstrated the capability to exert higher actuation energy than conventional actuators and artificial muscles. As a result, WR materials have recently gained attention as potential high-energy actuating components for engineering applications. Despite the growing interest in this emerging category of WR materials, the fundamental WR mechanism of their significant performance is still not fully understood, limiting the ability to rationally design engineered systems. This dissertation presents three approaches for understanding the water-responsiveness of materials by engineering Bombyx (B.) mori silkworm silk protein. First, …

Mechanism Design For Optimizing On-Chain Sell Order In Market Without Market Maker, Nico Pei

CMC Senior Theses

The absence of market makers alters the microstructure of the market. It’s difficult to get exposed to time-weighted prices in markets without market makers. In this paper, we delve into three mechanism designs – discrete gradual dutch auction, continuous gradual dutch auction, and variable rate gradual dutch auction – to study how to execute time-weighted sell orders on blockchain in a market without market makers. To make it simpler for readers to understand, we imagine an example of helping a close friend of Picasso to sell his 100 Picasso paintings in the next 10 years since 1970, with the private …

Towards Algorithmic Justice: Human Centered Approaches To Artificial Intelligence Design To Support Fairness And Mitigate Bias In The Financial Services Sector, Jihyun Kim

CMC Senior Theses

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has positively transformed the Financial services sector but also introduced AI biases against protected groups, amplifying existing prejudices against marginalized communities. The financial decisions made by biased algorithms could cause life-changing ramifications in applications such as lending and credit scoring. Human Centered AI (HCAI) is an emerging concept where AI systems seek to augment, not replace human abilities while preserving human control to ensure transparency, equity and privacy. The evolving field of HCAI shares a common ground with and can be enhanced by the Human Centered Design principles in that they both put humans, the user, at …

Datum–Wise Learning And Inference For Supervised Classification, Sachini Piyoni Ekanayake Ekanayake Mudiyanselage

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

Traditional supervised classification typically involves assigning a label to a single variable, considering a common subset of features for all the instances, and employing a single classifier. However, in many real–world applications like behavioral analysis or insurance recommendation, a data instance is described by a set of related variables such as physical activity and emotion, or driving quality and accident severity. At the same time, these variables are not directly observable but can be inferred via noisy but costly features. Specifically, access to all features is prohibitive due to cost, invasiveness, or limited resources. Finally, while using a single classifier …

Information Access For Infrastructurally-Challenged Environments And Beyond Through Mutually Aware Spectrum Sharing Technologies, Karyn Doke

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

The Radio Frequency (RF) spectrum is scarce and to make it available for new mobile wireless services, regulators are forced to re-allocate spectrum from existing services or develop mechanisms to share spectrum with new entries. Television White Space (TVWS) and Citizen Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) are two examples of recently commercialized spectrum sharing technologies. TVWS enables sharing among fixed wireless broadband technologies (secondary users) and terrestrial TV broadcast services (primary users). CBRS enables spectrum sharing among 5G/LTE (secondary users) and naval radar (primary users). With both technologies, a central database determines when it is safe for secondary users to operate …

A 3d Co-Culture Model Of Senescent Cell Burden And Salivary Gland Fibrosis, Stephen Rose

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

Patients with head and neck cancer often suffer collateral radiation damage to the salivary glands, leading to fibrosis. Histological examinations indicate that radiation encourages fibrosis by promoting cellular changes leading to both senescent and myofibroblast phenotypes, coupled with a significant loss of regenerative and acinar cells. Chronic hypofunction remains a primary concern, even with modified radiation approaches to sparing salivary glands. Current treatments primarily offer symptomatic relief without rectifying irreversible glandular tissue damage. This limitation arises, in part, from a deficiency in predictive preclinical models to study this multifaceted problem.

We introduce a 3D in vitro microtissue model to address …

Evaluation Of The Physicochemical Properties And Soil Biogeochemistry Of Fire Residues, Lingqun Zeng

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

Wildland fire is a main driving force in the Earth system and affects ecosystem properties and processes across spatio-temporal scales. The burning of biomass and production of solid fire residues (conventionally termed fire ash) that are a mixture of completely and incompletely burned materials (inorganic ash and pyrogenic carbon), represent the direct and prominent changes by fires. Cycling of the fire residues is an integral component of elemental cycles and can mediate other biogeochemical processes.

This dissertation aims to fill important knowledge gaps in understanding the disturbance of wildland fires to biogeochemical processes in soils. First, this work characterized and …

The Effect Of Nanoconfined Liquid Properties On The Water-Responsive Behavior Of Bacterial Cell Walls, Seungri Kim

Dissertations and Theses

Water-responsive (WR) materials have the ability to mechanically swell and shrink in response to changes in relative humidity (RH). These WR materials are used by many biological systems to perform essential tasks; for example, pinecones use WR materials to release their seeds in dry environments, and wheat awns open and close to propel seeds into the soil, driven by daily RH changes. The WR actuation of some biomaterials is extremely powerful, for example Bacillus subtilis cell walls display record-high actuation energy and power densities of 72 MJ m^-3 and 9.1 MW m^-3, surpassing those of all existing …

Understanding The Impacts Of Extreme Weather On The Power Transmission Infrastructure: A Machine Learning Approach To Quantifying Risks And Enhancing Grid Resilience, Juan P. Montoya Rincon

Dissertations and Theses

This doctoral dissertation focuses on the resilience of power transmission infrastructure in tropical coastal environments, particularly in the face of extreme weather events such as hurricanes. The research is anchored on the case of the passage of Hurricane Maria in the Island of Puerto Rico in September of 2017 which caused the largest damage on the power infrastructure in US history. As such, the research investigates the interaction between extreme winds and power transmission infrastructure in complex terrain, aiming to quantify and predict power loss and damage to the infrastructure during such events. The study employs a comprehensive approach combining …

Applications Of Plasmonic Biosensors In Chiral And Achiral Sensing, Aritra Biswas

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

Monitoring biological systems is crucial in healthcare, driving the need for reliable and noninvasive solutions. The proliferation of unverified drugs in the market necessitates reliable methods for their detection and identification, especially amidst advancements in pharmaceuticals. Plasmonic biosensors emerge as a great platform for ultra-sensitive detection, identification, and manipulation of biomolecular systems. This dissertation report addresses the critical need for precise detection and monitoring of biomolecules and drugs, presenting innovative solutions through the design of a plasmonic biosensor to tackle challenges in sensitivity, selectivity, and label-free detection and identification. We introduce a robust and tunable, cavity-integrated plasmonic nanopatterned sensor that …

Feasibility Of Pile Driving Analyzer For Pile On Rock, Tanvir Ahmed

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of the field verification of piles is to check whether piles can withstand design load. Two commonly used methods are high strain dynamic piles and static load testing. Static load testing is very time-consuming, requires heavy deadloads and much space, and doesn’t have stress monitoring advantages in piles. High strain dynamic has been employed as an alternative in this regard. Pile dynamic analyzer (PDA) is a device which is used during dynamic testing to analyze the measurements from the test. PDA calculates the geotechnical or structural resistance by using wave mechanics algorithm installed in it. Total driving resistance …

Experimentatal And Numerical Investigation Of Turbojet Engine Performance, Emissions, And Noise/Vibrations Using Jet-A And F24 Fuel, John W. Mcafee Jr

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Drastic improvement in cost effectiveness of high-power computing resources has generated a great interest numerical simulation to reduce the overhead cost of engine manufacturing, maintenance, and environmental concerns of engine testing. To accomplish this goal, this research presents the differences between military F24 fuel and commercial aviation fuel Jet-A from a thermochemical and engine performance perspective. This experimental data was used to create and validate a numerical model of the engine used in the experiments fueled with both Jet-A and F24 fuels. The experimental data was collected using a research based single stage turbojet engine outfitted with many sensors for …

Numerical Modeling Of Thermal Runaway In Lithium-Ion Batteries Using Decomposition Kinetics And Inter-Cell Contact Resistance, Shehzad Khan

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are central in numerous high-demand applications due to their high energy density and prolonged cycle life. Despite these advantages, their susceptibility to thermal runaway (TR) poses a significant safety risk, with the potential for catastrophic failures. This study focuses on the thermal behavior of prismatic lithium-ion cells, using a finite volume-based partial differential equation (PDE) solver developed in MATLAB and JULIA to model TR behavior. This solver accurately simulates transient behaviors, convection, diffusion, and source terms across various coordinate systems. By engaging in a series of increasing complex case studies, this research aims to identify the critical …

Aeroelastic Phenomena Of Fixed-Wing Aircraft In Transonic And Supersonic Flows Using A Tightly-Coupled Computational Approach, John C. Havenar

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Aeroelastic phenomena encountered during flight have considerable effects on the aerodynamic characteristics of fixed-wing aircraft. Transonic aeroelastic phenomena are often characterized by unique flow features which have complex ramifications for aircraft in transonic flight. Computational study of high-speed aeroelastic phenomena requires a fully-coupled aeroelastic algorithm. A series of wing designs are studied with a computational finite volume method solver accompanied by a finite element method solver for the calculation of structural deformation. The computational model for the flow field is validated with experimental data. Modeled flight conditions include transonic flows with bordering subsonic and supersonic cases included for completeness. The …

Program And Proceedings: Nebraska Academy Of Sciences 1880–2024, 144th Anniversary Year, One Hundred-Thirty-Fourth Annual Meeting

Nebraska Academy of Sciences: Programs and Proceedings

Program

Aeronautics and Space Science

Aeronautics and Space Science Poster Session

Anthropology: Humans Past and Present

Maiben Lecture: "Platte Basin Timelapse: A Watershed in Motion," Grant Reiner

Applied Science and Technology

Biological Sciences

Biomedical Sciences

Chemistry

Earh Sciences

Environmental Sciences

Physics

Science Education

Exploratory Prompting Of Large Language Models To Act As Co-Pilots For Augmenting Business Process Work In Document Classification, Jose Ramon Ilagan, Joseph Benjamin R. Ilagan, Claire Louisse Basallo, Zachary Matthew Alabastro

Quantitative Methods and Information Technology Faculty Publications

Businesses deal with different types of documents containing unstructured documents. The data in these documents must be converted into digital forms other automated systems could only process. One generic use case is document classification, which usually involves manual transformation due to human understanding needed in the process. These documents go beyond those generated through regular business transactions and operations and also include web-based content such as online news, blogs, e-mails, and various digital libraries. Recent developments in robotic process automation (RPA) and artificial intelligence (AI) aim to automate the otherwise expensive, time-consuming, and repetitive manual steps. Through more powerful natural …

Latent Space Dynamics Learning For Stiff Collisional-Radiative Models, Xuping Xie, Qi Tang, Xianzhu Tang

Mathematics & Statistics Faculty Publications

In this work, we propose a data-driven method to discover the latent space and learn the corresponding latent dynamics for a collisional-radiative (CR) model in radiative plasma simulations. The CR model, consisting of high-dimensional stiff ordinary differential equations, must be solved at each grid point in the configuration space, leading to significant computational costs in plasma simulations. Our method employs a physics-assisted autoencoder to extract a low-dimensional latent representation of the original CR system. A flow map neural network is then used to learn the latent dynamics. Once trained, the reduced surrogate model predicts the entire latent dynamics given only …

Compton Scattering Of Mammographic Soft X-Ray Beams By Alkali And Transition Metal Salt Filters Produce X-Ray Interference Zones That May Have Treatment Potential For Localized Cancer Lesions, Subhendra N. Sarkar, Eric Lobel, Sabina Rakhmatova, Derbie Desir, Somdat Kissoon, Daler Djuraev, Katie Tam

Publications and Research

In breast x-ray imaging scattered radiation adds 50% of harmful radiation dose from anisotropic Compton scattering mechanism. We have been working with double layered inorganic salt materials that can induce Compton scattering to the incident mammographic x ray beams (in 20-30 kVp range) with adequate isotropy (angular control). Typically metal nitrates and alkali halide salt layers are shown here to cause low energy radiation interference zones with high and low photon intensities and local flux heterogeneity in terms of flux covariance. Spatial variation of low energy photon flux creates concentrated and sparse radiation zones that may be used to induce …

The Effects Of Bilateral Stimulation On Motor Learning, Shania Rehmudin

Dissertations and Theses

Motor learning is a set of complex processes aimed at learning and refining new skills by practicing them. There are three proposed stages of motor learning: cognitive, associative, and autonomous. While all stages are crucial, research suggests that the cognitive stage holds particular significance, laying the foundational groundwork for effective skill acquisition. Although research has explored many innovative ways to facilitate motor memory, to our knowledge, none has explored the optimization of motor skill learning through manipulating the focus of attention using bilateral stimulation. Therefore, this study explored the effects of bilateral stimulation on squat skill acquisition. Nineteen (19) subjects, …

Hardness Removal By A Continuous Flow Electrochemical Reactor From Different Types Of Water, Shahad Fadhil Alrubaye, Naseer A. Al Haboubi, Hussein A. Al-Amili, Aiman H. Al-Allaq, Dhuha Ahmed Mohammed

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

The present study focuses on the technique of hardness removal by using a novel reactor performing an electrocoagulation (EC) process. The variation of alkalinity is also recorded. Continuous flow experiments were conducted for Total Hardness (TH) removal using a transparent plastic reactor using aluminum plate electrodes that have holes so that the water flows through the plates in a zigzag way. The influence of various operating parameters such as the number of plates (two and four), flow rate (600, 1000 L/h), and water type (Tigris River & rejected water from Reverse Osmosis system RO) was investigated. The results showed that …

The Benefits Of Interdisciplinary Learning Opportunities For Undergraduate Mechanical Engineering Students, Isaac Koduah Kumi, Stacie I. Ringleb, Francisco Cima, Orlando M. Ayala, Krishnanand Kaipa, Jennifer Jill Kidd, Kristie Gutierrez, Pilar Pazos, Danielle Marie Rhemer

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

Two project-based learning approaches were implemented in a 100-level information literacy class in the Mechanical Engineering program at a mid-Atlantic university. One approach, the treatment group, partnered engineering students with education students to develop and deliver engineering lessons to elementary school students. In the second approach, the comparison group, engineering students were partnered with their engineering classmates to work on an engineering problem using the engineering design process. The two projects were designed to have similar durations and course point values. For both projects, teams were formed, and peer evaluations were completed using the Comprehensive Assessment of Team Member Effectiveness …

Deepwhalenet: A Climate Change-Aware Fft-Based Neural Network For Underwater Passive Acoustic Monitoring, Nicholas Ryan Rasmussen

Dissertations and Theses

In the face of escalating climate threats, the conservation of whale species has become increasingly critical. Traditional acoustic monitoring methods, burdened by extensive pre-processing and post-processing, need more adaptability and efficiency for effective marine mammal surveillance. This study introduces DeepWhaleNet, a novel deep-learning framework tailored for Underwater Passive Acoustic Monitoring (UPAM). DeepWhaleNet is designed to streamline whale detection by directly analyzing raw log-power spectrograms, thus extracting essential acoustic features to conserve these endangered species. The framework employs an extensive short-time Fourier transform (STFT) for input processing and a customized ResNet-18 architecture for classification, distinguishing whale vocalizations from ambient noise and …

Mivt: Medical-Informed Vision Transformer For Early Epilepsy Diagnosis, Md Masum Rana

Dissertations and Theses

Epilepsy is a neurological disorder characterized by recurrent, unprovoked seizures, and early diagnosis is crucial for effective management and treatment. However, the diagnosis of epilepsy, particularly in its early stages, remains challenging due to the subtle nature of seizures and the complexity of brain activity patterns. In this research, we introduce the Medical-Informed Vision Transformer (MIVT), a deep learning architecture specifically designed to improve early epilepsy diagnosis from multimodal neuroimaging data. Our model integrates insights from both medical knowledge and state-of-the-art Vision Transformers (ViTs) to enhance the accuracy and interpretability of seizure detection and localization. The MIVT leverages the rich …