Engineering Commons^™

Wideband Fluorescence-Based Thermometry By Neural Network Recognition: Photothermal Application With 10 Ns Time Resolution, Liwang Liu, Kuo Zhong, Troy Munro, Salvador Alvarado, Renaud Cote, Sebastiaan Creten, Eduard Fron, Heng Ban, Mark Van Der Auweraer, N. B. Roozen, Osamu Matsuda, Christ Glorieux

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

Neural network recognition of features of the fluorescence spectrum of a thermosensitive probe is exploited in order to achieve fluorescence-based thermometry with an accuracy of 200 mK with 100 MHz bandwidth, and with high robustness against fluctuations of the probe laser intensity used. The concept is implemented on a rhodamine B dyed mixture of copper chloride and glycerol, and the temperature dependent fluorescence is investigated in the temperature range between 234 K and 311 K. The spatial dependence of the calibrated amplitude and phase of photothermally induced temperature oscillations along the axis of the excitation laser are determined at different …

Sub-Orbital Spaceflight – An Addition To Our Multi-Modal Transportation System, Scott Haeffelin

Space Traffic Management Conference

The number of commercial spaceflights will be increasing by orders of magnitude over the next several decades. The current volume of space traffic can be managed on a case-by-case basis and there is little impact to the National Airspace System (NAS). This will change as more spaceports become operational, commercial sub-orbital flight companies begin serving their customers and as the cost of these flights begin to decrease. Current regulatory paths seek to allow the flexibility in the regulations for this industry to flourish while also maintaining a high standard of safety. There are, however, many nearsighted and old fashioned assumptions …

Developing Key Performance Indicators To Measure The Effectiveness Of Early Facilities Management Performance On Bim Governed Public Sector Projects, Barry Mcauley, Alan Hore, Roger West

Conference papers

Governments across the globe are now recognising the need to take steps to better manage their property portfolios due to the escalating costs of operating these buildings over their lifetime. This has seen them turn towards innovative work practices and technologies offered by Building Information Modelling (BIM). It is now becoming increasingly evident that BIM can bring significant added value to the design, construction and most importantly to the operational life of a public sector development project. This experience has resulted in a number of governments moving towards implementing BIM for all public works projects. BIM allows the building to …

The Application Of Industry Standards As An Alternative To In-House Proprietary Standards Within The Aec Iindustry, Robert Moore, Alan Hore, Barry Mcauley

Conference papers

The move from traditional 2D Computer Aided Design (CAD) practices towards Building Information Modelling (BIM) has witnessed some practices trying to adopt and update their own in-house CAD standards. These standards are wholly inadequate for working in a collaborative BIM environment and mean that they repetitively create and recreate local, non-reusable, non-interoperable solutions to the same problems, which leads to the employees potentially having to learn a new collaborative process every time they have to work with a new project team. Collaborative standards help teams produce information through a standardised process, so as to ensure the same form and quality …

Improving The Integration Of Launch And Reentry Operations Into The National Airspace System, Gwendolyn Mazzotta, Daniel P. Murray

Space Traffic Management Conference

With increasing commercial space activities occurring in the National Airspace System, the FAA has identified a need for more efficient management of the NAS with respect to commercial space operations. Current methods for integration of aviation and space activities employ a segregation approach, in which hazard areas are constructed around launch and reentry operations and sections of airspace are closed to other users. Mission objectives and vehicle characteristics dictate the extent of the closure in terms of location, duration, and volume of airspace affected. Launches, reentries, and other operations have an effect on other NAS stakeholders, causing delays, changes to …

Space Data Integrator (Sdi) And Space Program Integrated Data And Estimated Risk (Spider): Proof-Of-Concept Software Solution For Integrating Launch And Reentry Vehicles Into The National Airspace System (Nas), Devin D. Dickens

Space Traffic Management Conference

The Space Data Integrator (SDI) Project is the initial step to satisfy the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) strategic initiative to integrate commercial space launch and reentry vehicles into the National Airspace System. The project addresses the needs for greater situational awareness and monitoring, and increased response capability during non-nominal and catastrophic incidents during space operations.

The initial phase of this project leverages current FAA systems, and provide an initial demonstration of capability that will provide for state data from a commercial reentry vehicle to be ingested into a the FAA Traffic Flow Management System, and displayed on Traffic Situation Displays. …

Safe Operations Above Fl600, Lt. Col. Stephen Hunter

Space Traffic Management Conference

Safe Operations Above FL600

Abstract

With the increase in likelihood of near-term development of revenue-generating point-to-point suborbital flights and the increase in high-altitude-long-endurance commercial operations above FL600, the criticality of addressing operations above class A airspace has never been more pressing. While the Federal Aviation Administration describes the National Airspace System, it doesn’t offer a description that includes a top. Technological, physiological, physical and administrative limitations have relegated most air operations to FL600 and below. As that changes, previous work on Space Traffic Management (STM) concepts begin to take on new life and add to sincere considerations for adaptation or …

Evaluating Launch Vehicle / Reentry Vehicle (Lv/Rv) Separation Concepts, Zheng Tao, Ganghuai Wang, Tudor Masek, Thomas J. St. Clair

Space Traffic Management Conference

Launch Vehicle/Reentry Vehicle (LV/RV) operations are expected to increase across the National Airspace System (NAS) as their reliability and availability improve. LV/RV designs and the industry landscape have vastly changed since the 1960’s, and the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) methods for handling these operations need to evolve to support the expected growth. Currently, large amounts of airspace are segregated for every LV/RV operation. This increases costs for NAS users and may limit LV/RV opportunities. The FAA’s NextGen office recently proposed two more efficient separation concepts for LV/RV operations called Space Transition Corridors, and Four-Dimensional Trajectory Deconfliction. Prior safety research for …

Identification Protocols In Cryptography, Michael O’Donnell

The ITB Journal

In this paper we examine the role of Identification Protocols in the field of Cryptography. Firstly, the rationale behind the need for Identification Protocols is discussed. Secondly, we examine, in detail, challenge-response protocols, based upon zero-knowledge proofs, that form a subset of Identification Protocols in general. Thirdly, the mathematical tools necessary for the understanding of how these protocols work is given. Finally, we discuss four main Identification Protocols: Fiat-Shamir, Feige-Fiat-Shamir, Schnorr and Guillou- Quisquater. This discussion includes the theory, practical examples and the security aspects of each protocol.

Internet Applications Development Issues And Strategic Considerations, Róisín Faherty

The ITB Journal

This paper examines the development issues and strategic considerations involved in Internet Applications Development. The prevalent development environments are discussed highlighting their advantages and disadvantages. Issues regarding the development of Internet applications are viewed under the headings of human resource, organizational, technological, investment and Legal Issues. Lastly the paper gives an overview of the strategic implications for an organization considering the development of Internet Applications. These include security, quality and the look & feel of the application. This paper is not intended as a definitive resource on the area of Internet Applications Development, its aim is to highlight the areas …

Mental Spaces: Processes For Establishing And Linking Spaces, Brian Nolan

The ITB Journal

This paper reviews the theory of mental spaces as expounded by Fauconnier (1994). In this work he posits a theory in which reference has a structural dimension. Within the theory, this structure is represented using spaces, connectors across the spaces and some general principles that are found to apply. The complexity lies in the interaction between the principles and in the contextual structures that feed into the principles for interpretation. Brugman, in her 1996 paper, makes use of insights from mental spaces theory to conduct an analysis of HAVE-constructions. She notes that Fauconnier has “elaborated a theory of partial possible …

A Review Of Parallel Mappings For Feed Forward Neural Networks Using The Backpropagation Learning Algorithm, Stephen Sheridan

The ITB Journal

The Back-Propagation (BP) Neural Network (NN) is probably the most well known of all neural networks. Many mappings of the BP NN have been implemented for both special purpose and general-purpose computers. This mapping process can fall into one of two categories: heuristic mapping and algorithmic mapping. Heuristic mapping concentrates on the architecture and behaviour of the network as it trains whereas algorithmic mapping concentrates on the parallelization of the learning algorithm. Mappings in the heuristic category tend to take a trial and error approach based on the understanding of the network and of the target machine. In comparison mappings …

Augmented Finite Element Method For Virtual Testing Of High Temperature Cmcs, Qingda Yang, Jaedal Jung, Bao-Chan Do

Composites at Lake Louise (CALL 2015)

Ceramic matrix composites (CMCs) have been increasingly used in high heat flux applications due to their ultra-high temperature resisting capabilities. However, CMCs are prone to processing-induced or in-serve cracking due to the large thermal stresses. Thermally-induced cracking are dangerous because they provide pathways for further damaging processes such as oxidation and vapor-assisted corrosion, which may lead to catastrophic failure [1]. High-fidelity thermal-mechanical analyses to CMCs with consideration of arbitrary cracking are very challenging because the heterogeneous nature makes it impossible to know the cracking locations a priori. Yet correct and efficient treatment of crack coalescence and bifurcation is critical …

Lunar Icecube: Nextstep Lunar Cubesat Mission And Instrument Concept, Robert J. Twiggs

Robert "Bob" Twiggs STEM Education Collection

A PowerPoint presentation created by Professor Bob Twiggs associates titled "Lunar IceCube: NEXTSTEP Lunar Cubesat Mission and Instrument Concept" from November 12, 2015.

Estimating Likelihood Of Having A Brca Gene Mutation Based On Family History Of Cancers And Recommending Optimized Cancer Preventive Actions, Mehrnaz Abdollahian

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

BRCA1 and BRCA2 are gene mutations that drastically increase chances of developing breast and ovarian cancers, up to 20-fold, for women. A genetic blood test is used to detect BRCA mutations. Though these mutations occur in one of every 400 in the general population (excluding Ashkenazi Jewish ethnicity), they are present in most cases of hereditary breast and ovarian cancer patients. Hence, it is common practice for the physicians to require genetic testing for those that fit the rules as recommended by the National Cancer Comprehensive Network. However, data from the Myriad Laboratory, the only provider of the test until …

Collaborative Public Works Contracts Using Bim – An Opportunity For The Irish Construction Industry?, Barry Mcauley, Alan Hore, Robert Kane, Simon Fraser

Conference papers

In Ireland, large and progressive contractors are claiming significant benefits in construction management efficiency through the implementation of BIM (Building Information Modelling). While these contractors note that the cost benefits to the project budget alone justify the implementation of BIM in the field, they are acutely aware that in 2011 the UK Government has mandated the construction industry in the UK to use BIM on all public projects by 2016. In the Republic of Ireland however, in 2007, the Government introduced the Public Works Contracts (PWC) suite for the procurement of all public sector works. After 8 years of working …

Ensuring That The Needs Of The End User Are Effectively Communicated Through Bim During The Building Design Stage, Barry Mcauley, Alan Hore, Roger West, Louis Gunnigan

Conference papers

The Grangegorman Development Project is the largest single development of 3rd level education accommodation in the history of the Irish State. Planned for completion in 2023, it will relocate all of Technological University of Dublin’s (DIT) activities from their current 39 locations to a single campus. This is a once-off opportunity for DIT and it is therefore critical that the campus is designed to meet end-users’ needs. As part of the strategy to achieve this, it has been specified that all work packages within the campus must use Building Information Modelling (BIM) in the design, construction and the planning of …

Optical Imaging Of Finger For Blood Pressure Monitoring Of The Driver, Mohammad Motasim Bellah, Mohammad Raziul Hasan, Samir M. Iqbal

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are number one reason for human mortality around the world (Fig. 1) [1]. Pulse pressure (PP) and pulse rate (PR) are considered as the two most vital physiological markers for CVDs like myocardial infarction, cardiac arrhythmia, and heart failure. Currently, long-term PP and PR analysis is not possible due to the lack of systems that can frequently measure the data over a period of time. Motor vehicle drivers with known CVDs are at higher risk due to traffic air pollution.

This paper presents our work on an inexpensive and readily deployable approach that keeps track of PP …

Size-Controlled Large-Diameter And Few-Walled Carbon Nanotube Catalysts For Oxygen Reduction, Xianliang Wang, Qing Li, Hengyu Pan, Ye Lin, Yujie Ke, Haiyang Sheng, Mark T. Swihart, Gang Wu

Faculty Publications

We demonstrate a new strategy for tuning the size of large-diameter and few-walled nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes (N-CNTs) from 50 to 150 nm by varying the transition metal (TM = Fe, Co, Ni or Mn) used to catalyze graphitization of dicyandiamide. Fe yielded the largest tubes, followed by Co and Ni, while Mn produced a clot-like carbon morphology. We show that morphology is correlated with electrocatalytic activity for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). A clear trend of Fe > Co > Ni > Mn for the ORR catalytic activity was observed, in both alkaline media and more demanding acidic media. The Fe-derived N-CNTs exhibited …

The Role Of Cryptography In Security For Electronic Commerce, Ann Murphy, David Murphy

The ITB Journal

Many businesses and consumers are wary of conducting business over the Internet due to a perceived lack of security. Electronic business is subject to a variety of threats such as unauthorised access, misappropriation, alteration and destruction of both data and systems. This paper explores the major security concerns of businesses and users and describes the cryptographic techniques used to reduce such risks.

Novel Anti-Decay Self-Setting Paste Of Hydroxyapatite/Collagen Nanocomposite Utilizing Gptms, Masanori Kikuchi, Taira Sato, Mamoru Aizawa, Yuki Shirosaki

Composites at Lake Louise (CALL 2015)

Bone is a typical inorganic/ortganic nanocomposite mainly composed of hydroxyapatite (HAp) nanocrystals and collagen molecules. The composition and nanostructure is closely related to bone’s biomechanical and biochemical properties. One of the most important things for bone is a bone remodeling process that maintains mechanical strength of bone to allow walking and running as well as homeostasis of calcium in our body. In fact, sintered HAp composed of HAp crystals approximately 1 µm in particle size is considered as non-bioresorbable; however HAp nanocrystals easily resorbed by osteoclasts. A hydroxyapatite/collagen bone-like nanocomposite (HAp/Col) was successfully synthesized by the authors via self-organizing process. …

Physical Aging And Glass Transition Of Single Component Nanocomposites, Hilmar Koerner

Composites at Lake Louise (CALL 2015)

Matrix free assemblies of polymer-grafted, “hairy” nanoparticles (HNP) exhibit novel morphology, dielectric and mechanical properties, as well as providing means to overcome dispersion challenges ubiquitous to conventional polymer-inorganic blended nanocomposites. Physical aging of the amorphous polymer glass between the close-packed nanoparticles (NPs) will dominate long-term stability. However, the energetics of cooperative relaxation of tethered chains confined within the interstitial spaces in single component nanocomposites is unknown. Herein, we compare glass transition temperature (Tg) and physical aging behavior of matrix free assemblies of HNPs (aHNPs) to conventional NP-polymer blends, across different nano-silica loadings (0-50 v/v%) and brush architecture of grafted polystyrene …

Printed And Structurally Integrated Electronics For Air Force Applications, Daniel Berrigan, Benjamin Leever, Michael Durstock

Composites at Lake Louise (CALL 2015)

Both printed and flexible electronic systems promise to integrate functional devices into new form factors (e.g., structures or clothing) and environments. Of particular interest are the mechanically harsh environmental conditions to which military systems are sometimes exposed, which can be quite severe (i.e., upward of 100,000 G peak acceleration within 0.1 ms), and commercial off-the-shelf components are not designed to maintain functionality under such rugged conditions. The overarching aim of this project is to leverage the unique ability of additive manufacturing to digitally control materials properties in three dimensions to create multifunctional systems whose structure is ruggedized for mechanically these …

Ice Formation In Iron Containing Hydrogel Films, Hyun-Joong Chung

Composites at Lake Louise (CALL 2015)

The states of water in polymers, including ice formation, is of increasing interest for a broad range of science and engineering, including the application and the longevity of water-bourne polymeric coatings, cryogenic preservation of cells and organs, ice mediated porous structure formation, freeze-drying process in food preservation, low temperature operation of batteries and supercapacitors, and the tailing pond sedimentation in oil sands production. The freezing point of water is heavily influenced by the polymer-water interaction and the concentration of ionic species in the water and in the polymer backbones. Various species of salt ions are abundant in the operating conditions …

Simultaneously Strong And Tough Continuous Nanofibers For Next Generation Structural Supernanocomposites, Yuris Dzenis

Composites at Lake Louise (CALL 2015)

Modern advanced composites and fibers are strong but brittle. Optimization of damage progression in composites has led only to moderate toughening. The advent of novel nanomaterials such as CNT and graphene has raised hopes for the development of strong and tough structural materials. However, problems with dispersion, alignment, achieving high volume fraction of discontinuous nanoreinforcement, and interfacial stress transfer proved to be more difficult than was initially thought. Recently, a different class of nanomaterials, i.e. continuous nanofibers, has been shown to possess unusual mechanical properties. This presentation will review recent breakthroughs on ultra-high-performance continuous nanofibers and their composites. Controlled nanofiber …

Biopolymer Composites From High-Cellulose Pulps And/Or Nanocellulose, Fabiola Vilaseca

Composites at Lake Louise (CALL 2015)

Increasingly our society seeks an economy based on renewable resources (bio-based economy) with the goal of providing materials of high value and from renewable resources. One popular renewable resource is cellulose, or forest products in general. In this study, cellulose derivatives will be combined together with bio-plastics to produce granules of thermoplastic nano-biocomposites by melt processing. The intention is to get bio-based materials with highly advanced properties that can be shaped into complex geometries using widely used industrial melt-processes such as extrusion or injection molding.

The challenges in this study deal with production technologies for the realization of nanocomposites for …

Chemical Heterogeneity In Electroceramics: The Good, The Bad, And The Difficult To Characterize, Michaela Kuzara, Narit Triamnak, Harlan Brown-Shaklee, David Cann, Geoff Brennecka

Composites at Lake Louise (CALL 2015)

As characterization techniques continue to advance, the materials community is reminded again and again that our samples are not as perfect as we generally describe them to be. This presentation will focus on Bi(Zn_0.5Ti_0.5)O₃–BaTiO₃-based ceramics in which subtle mesoscale cation gradients have been identified as a key factor in the phenomenal temperature- and field-stable permittivity of these unusual dielectrics as well as their remarkably high resistivity values and associated activation energies.[1,2] Earlier work has shown that the single perovskite phase that results after calcination of mixed oxides and carbonates is formed through …

Iron Oxide Thin Film Photoelectrodes For Water Splitting, Avner Rothschild

Composites at Lake Louise (CALL 2015)

Reliable utilization of solar power on a large scale requires affordable energy storage technology, cheaper than batteries, in order to synchronize the variable power production with the changing demand. Likewise, there is a need for renewable fuels to replace fossil fuels. These challenges can be achieved, potentially, by splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen, H₂O à H₂ + ½O₂, using solar power to drive this endergonic reaction uphill. The hydrogen can be stored and converted to electricity and heat on demand. Alternatively, it may serve as feedstock for the production of liquid fuels for transportation …

Nature’S Tough Composites: A Look Into Biological Fibrous Architectures, Christopher Salinas

Composites at Lake Louise (CALL 2015)

Over a period of hundreds of millions of years, numerous examples of biological organisms have evolved light-weight, strong, and tough composite materials in order to adapt to ecological pressures and thrive in their specific niches. These composite structures consist of fiber-reinforced materials with different architectures including lamellar, cellular and helicoidal motifs. This lamellar motif is a common design utilized by a variety of distantly related organisms from mollusks to plants (e.g., queen conch and bamboo). The strength of the structures are dependent on the orientation of the reinforcing fibers. The fiber-matrix interface increases the toughness of the composite through crack …

Increasing Dispersion, Performance, And Pot-Life In Cellulose Nanocrystal/Waterborne Epoxy Composites, Meisha Shofner

Composites at Lake Louise (CALL 2015)

Recent emphasis on the pilot scale production of cellulosic nanomaterials, cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) and cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs), has increased interest in the effective use of these materials as reinforcements for polymer composites. These studies have been motivated in part by the combination of attractive specific mechanical properties of cellulosic nanomaterials as well as their renewable and possibly sustainable manufacturing routes. The objective of this research complements these efforts and is concerned with more fully understanding the materials design space available for CNC reinforced polymer composites, specifically CNC/waterborne epoxy composites. These composites were processed using different protocols and the structure and …