Engineering Commons^™

Transforming Construction? Evaluation Of The State Of Structural 3d Concrete Printing In Research And Practice, Alireza Hasani, Sattar Dorafshan

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications

Additive manufacturing in construction has witnessed exponential growth over the recent years. In this paper, advancements in 3D Concrete Printing (3DCP) in additive construction are explored. The authors synthesize the states of research and practice of 3DCP technology for construction through an extensive examination of 137 projects and various publications. Insights are provided into the key factors influencing 3DCP structural performance. The technology is shown to be advantageous, although with varying benefits observed in different cases, including but not limited to reduced cost, labor requirements, material, and construction time. Nevertheless, challenges, such as limited control over the quality, unexplored long-term …

Synthesis Of Nanoparticles And Their Applications In Power Module Packaging And Organic Electronics, Xinsong Zhang

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Nanoparticles can greatly change the properties of regular materials due to their special structures. In this research nanoparticles, such as silver nanowires, silver nanospheres and expanded graphite, are used in interconnection materials for power module packaging, and in conductive films for organic electronics. Silver nanowires synthesized by polyol synthesis, are used as fillers in micron silver paste. The electrical and mechanical properties of the sintered hybrid silver paste are investigated and compared with those of micron silver paste. The composites of silver nanospheres and expanded graphite are mixed with PEDOT:PSS solutions in 5 different weight ratio. The electrical and optical …

Assessing Even Flat-Fan Nozzles For Spot Spray Herbicide Applications, Thiago H. Vitti

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Herbicide efficiency in row-crop agriculture can be improved using precision technologies for controlling weeds and minimize agronomic, economic, and environmental impacts. Site-specific weed management technologies, such as spot-sprayers, allow herbicides to be sprayed only where weeds are present in the field. Understanding application parameters and their influence on weed control for site-specific spot-spray applications is essential. This research involved laboratory and greenhouse studies to investigate the coverage and coefficient of variation (CV) of even flat-fan spray nozzles under different spot-spray application scenarios, as well as the effect of weed size and application method on the control of various weed species …

Experimental And Computational Investigation Of Green Laser Propagation Through Turbulent Medium In A Water Tank, Richard Owusu Adansi

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Turbulence medium poses significant challenges to the propagation of laser beams, impacting applications such as free-space optical communication, remote sensing, and laser weapons systems. Therefore, comprehending and mitigating turbulence effects are vital for enhancing the performance of these systems. Analysis of a strong turbulence impact on electromagnetic wave propagation requires extensive knowledge of the Earth's atmospheric and Oceanic phenomena and Maxwell's electromagnetic theory of light as a propagating wave of electric and magnetic fields. Optical systems' propagation often encounters Strong Turbulence, causing interference and diffraction. Nonetheless, light propagation through randomly fluctuating media has been an exciting and active area of …

Reactive Processing Of Hf-Nb-Ti-Ta Melts Into A B4c/C Packed Bed, Laura Leticia Sandoval

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The reactivity of liquid Hf-Nb-Ti-Ta alloy in B4C/C packed bed to form boride-carbide precipitates for ultra-high temperature ceramics was investigated at 2800 K. The objectives were to predict the thermodynamic phases formed and verify them with microstructural characterization. A pseudo-isopiestic technique was used to significantly lower the oxygen potential as the liquid Hf alloy infused and reacted into a B4C packed bed within a graphite enclosure. The technique had a low temperature region (at 1300 K) to control the oxygen potential with a Y-Al/Y2O3-Al2O3/carbide mixture as a liquid Hf alloy at 2800 K and reacted with B4C/C. In addition, any …

Home Care Work Of Caregivers For Mexican American Adults With Dementia: A Culturally Informed Model Integrating Work System Analyses And Health Disparities Research Framework, Laura Cristina Tovar Felix

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Dementia is an umbrella term for different diseases such as Alzheimer's, vascular dementia, Lewy body, frontotemporal, and mixed dementias. Dementia is caused by a variety of diseases that cause damage to brain cells interfering with the ability of brain cells to communicate between each other. Dementia is associated with different types of brain cell damage in a specific region of the brain (What Is Dementia?, 2024).Dementia affects 55 million people worldwide, where the most affected population is the low-income and the middle-income countries. (Greenblat, 2023). Every 20 years the number almost double, and by 2039 is estimated to reach 78 …

Development Of Electric Vehicle Charging Station Microgrid With Simulation Modelling, Tenzin Lhaden

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The rapid adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) necessitates innovative solutions to overcome challenges in energy management, sustainability, and grid reliance. This research develops a hybrid simulation model for EV charging stations, integrating renewable energy sources, such as solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, with energy storage systems (ESS). Leveraging discrete-event simulation (DES) and agent-based modeling (ABM) in AnyLogic, the model offers a comprehensive analysis of charging station operations, incorporating stochastic EV arrivals, dynamic energy allocation, and user-defined customization.Key contributions include the development of hybrid simulation model integrating solar PV, energy storage, and energy management systems (EMS) that dynamically optimizes energy distribution from …

Alabama Women Part 1 (Before 1900), Ashley S. Mcguire

Patent Coloring Books

Patent coloring book

Power Controller For Insulated Solar Electric Cooker, Ryan Koshy, Justin Tae-Hoon Kim

Electrical Engineering

Insulated Solar Electric Cookers, or ISECookers, are devices created to aid those in impoverished regions improve safety, sustainability, and quality of life regarding their cooking practices. ISECookers present an alternative to traditional biofuel/biomass energy sources and provide a closed-loop, self-sustaining system that can be used in a variety of environments. These devices present solutions to widespread issues such as pollution, deforestation, and hazardous emissions as a result of traditional cooking in developing regions around the world. A notable obstacle of these devices is power delivery. Given the varying conditions experienced by a solar panel (inclement weather, irradiance irregularities, etc.), it …

Moving Towards The Electrification Of Medium- And Heavy-Duty Vehicles In The Inland Empire, Kimberly Collins, Raffi Der Wartanian, Francisca Beer, Yunfei Hou

Mineta Transportation Institute

This report investigates the transition to zero-emission medium- and heavy-duty vehicles (MDHD) within California’s Inland Empire (IE), emphasizing the significance of electric vehicle charging infrastructure and opportunity charging strategies in facilitating sustainable transportation. Utilizing a mixed-methods approach that combines a systematic literature review, geospatial and big data analytics, and thematic analysis of expert interviews, the study explores the multifaceted challenges and opportunities of electrification. The literature review assesses policies at various governance levels, while geospatial analysis identifies regional traffic patterns and infrastructure needs. Big data analytics examine vehicle movements, complemented by insights from interviews with 16 regional experts, offering a …

Organizational Reliability And Resilience As A Dynamic System: Knowledge Modeling With Fuzzy Cognitive Maps, Antonie J. Jetter, Ahmed A. Alibage, Nan Peter Liang

Engineering and Technology Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Safety research in complex environments recommends that high-hazard industries improve reliability and increase their capacity for resilience by enacting principles for high-reliability organizing (HRO). This view has been highly influential in many industries, ranging from aviation to hospitals, and is at the core of many safety culture programs. However, even though HRO principles originated in business practice and were observed in diverse organizations, practitioners frequently struggle to enact them in the contexts of their work. This is likely caused by two limitations of current research: principles are insufficiently specified and the interdependencies between them, such as mutually reinforcing vs. tradeoff …

Power Resilience Planning Under The Threat Of Artificial Intelligence, Chip Corbett, Cuong Nguyen, Dahm M. Hongchai, Prajakta Thorat, Pavithra Prasad, Sarah Von Schimmelmann, Charles M. Weber, Timothy R. Anderson

Engineering and Technology Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

The earth is an unstable planet. Change is constant and frequently chaotic. It is very important to plan carefully to manage changes that can be anticipated now, and to cover potential issues that might not yet have been discovered. The dawn of artificial intelligence (AI) presents a host of new concerns and opportunities. The criteria for evaluation are diverse and complex. Cybersecurity is absolutely essential, yet advances in technology have created an internet of things (IoT) where threat vectors might gain access to critical command and control elements through trillions of connected IoT devices. Whereas elegant zero trust cybersecurity models …

Quantifying Relationships In Fuzzy Cognitive Maps Based On Content Analysis Of Unstructured Research Texts, Ahmed Alibage, Antonie J. Jetter, Elpiniki Papageorgiou

Engineering and Technology Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

FCM projects often rely on knowledge-based approaches, such as expert interviews, which can be challenging to conduct because they require extensive expert participation. We propose a novel alternative to create FCM models based on expert knowledge that is already codified in research texts and other publications. In this approach, thematic network analysis identifies FCM concepts and signed causal connections, while computation of t-coefficient is used to determine the weights of the identified edges. We introduce and evaluate the approach in the context of a real-world system modeling project that is based on 47 carefully selected, peer reviewed research publications on …

Improving Attendance To Achieve Organizational Goals: A Case Study Of Human-Centered Design In A Small Us Plant-Based Food Manufacturer, Angel Contreras-Cruz, Eduardo Ahumada-Tello

Engineering and Technology Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Plant-based food manufacturing companies face high staff turnover rates and attendance problems. It is challenging for those companies to maintain an acceptance level of employee retention and attendance to achieve their objectives. Companies rely on front-line employees to meet production plans, but employees who do not show up at work jeopardize companies' operations. Additional challenges, such as retaining and attracting talent after the COVID-19 pandemic, are present daily for several U.S. organizations. This study analyzes attendance data from the case study company to design an attendance policy. Attendance data suggested that nearly 60 percent of the operational workforce had attendance …

Mental Models Of Translational Scientists, Rasnia Tabpla, Antonie J. Jetter

Engineering and Technology Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Translational science aims to bridge the gap between scientific discoveries and practical application yet faces challenges in achieving high success rates. This study examines the effective engagement of translational scientists, who play a key role in the translation process. It uses Fuzzy Cognitive Maps (FCMs) to analyze the scientists' mental models and identify common concepts related to success factors, such as ability, resources, opportunity, and entrepreneurial competencies. It then compares the mental models of the scientists and finds that mental models exhibit similarities, yet variations exist such as density and connectedness. Scenario analysis with FCM is then used to identify …

Technology Convergence And Its Influence On Innovation Networks: An Assessment Of Emerging Trends, Shuying Li, Wudan Ma, Xiaoyu Wang, Xian Zhang, Haiyun Xu, Edwin Garces, Tugrul U. Daim

Engineering and Technology Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

AI-age technologies will evolve at an accelerated pace, driven by long-term mutually beneficial symbiosis. Technology convergence will disrupt existing industrial technology fields in general. Assessing and predicting technology convergence will become an important technology management issue in the AI era, providing new clues for distinguishing key technologies in innovation. Existing analytical models prefer to detect retrospective convergence. The role of emerging converging technologies in developing new technologies, generating new applications, and facilitating collaboration and commercialization across different phases is not well understood. In this paper, we build a technology co-occurrence network from the perspective of technology evolution and community detection, …

Iot Technologies To Enable Location Based Services (Lbs) For Smart Tourism, Dharmik Chhatbar

University Honors Program Senior Projects

Location-based Services (LBS) are special types of services that are triggered to deliver certain content (e.g., text, image, video) to users with respect to the users’ exact or approximate location or proximity to certain points of interest. LBS can address the field of smart museums with a goal of enhancing the museum experience for visitors with dynamic and personalized content. In this UHP thesis, we explore a set of Internet of Things (IoT) technologies that can enable the work of LBS in the field of smart museums. The project envisions an immersive museum journey where visitors can seamlessly access interactive …

Bi-Modal Excitation Of A Supersonic Rectangular Jet, Benjamin Malczewski

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

This work addresses the issue of supersonic rectangular jet noise via bi-modal excitation. A Mach 1.5 heated rectangular jet with a 2:1 aspect ratio is considered. Theoretical work is presented in which a Reduced-Order Model (ROM) is used in conjunction with the Linearized Euler Equations to predict the nonlinear growth and decay of various frequencies due to the interaction between harmonically related modes and the mean flow. Scope is limited to a symmetric disturbance. The case of no interaction is used to help identify a dominant coherent structure, referred to as “f”. For the symmetric disturbance, a Strouhal number of …

Technology Acceptance Of Virtual Reality For Aircraft Maintenance Training, Lusine Carlsson

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

A study was conducted to investigate Virtual Reality (VR) technology acceptance for aircraft maintenance training by student mechanics. The study employed a survey methodology using the extended Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) as the theoretical framework. Participants were student mechanics from Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approved aircraft maintenance schools within the United States. The study attempted to address how the variables of perceived usefulness (PU) and perceived ease of use (PEU) influence the students' behavioral intention (BI) to use VR technology for aircraft maintenance training, and how external variables of self-efficacy (SE), perceived enjoyment (PE), perceived health risk (PHR), performance expectancy …

Sustainable Waste-To-Bioproducts Engineering Center Laboratory Safety Project, Claudine Mock

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

Laboratory accidents are common in teaching and research labs; these accidents can be injurious or even fatal. The consequences of each type of laboratory accident are different based on the activities performed and the hazardous materials used in each facility. However, the most common issue related to laboratory accidents is the lack of proper safety measures (e.g., poor handling of hazardous materials, not reporting incidents immediately, etc.). This project aimed to establish and strengthen best practices and procedures to ensure laboratory safety at the Utah State University Sustainable Waste-to-Bioproducts Engineering Center. To achieve this goal, different practices and measures were …

Development Of A High-Throughput Screening Platform To Profile Gene Delivery And Transcriptional Control In Macrophages, Alexis Ivy

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Macrophages are an important cell type in the body responsible for orchestrating the inflammatory response and return to homeostasis. Macrophages are often implicated in a multitude of disease pathologies including delayed wound healing, excessive fibrosis, autoimmune disease, and immunosuppression within the tumor microenvironment. Although macrophages have been targeted for therapeutic applications, success in utilizing them has remained elusive due to their relative ease of phenotype switching between inflammatory and anti-inflammatory. The challenge that remains is developing clinically relevant delivery vehicles that can target macrophages without causing a phenotypic switch counter-productive to the desired response. This is especially important when targeting …

Investigating The Detection And Transport Of Low Molecular Weight Species To Better Understand Their Impact On Disease Pathology And Treatment, Haley Michelle Duncan

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Due to the drastic differences in the projects involved, this dissertation will be split into two sections: Alzheimer’s disease and chronic kidney disease. Each chapter will contain an introduction, materials and methods section, results and discussion, conclusions, and works cited section. The Alzheimer’s disease chapter will also have a supplemental figures section containing the polyacrylamide gels that were silver stained and quantified via ImageJ. The presence of elevated levels of amyloid beta oligomeric species in the brain has been related to the pathology of Alzheimer’s disease. As these oligomeric species are transient in nature, their kinetics pose a challenge to …

Esd-Robust 4h-Sic Low-Voltage Cmos Technology Development For High Temperature, Hui Wang

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores the development and optimization of electrostatic discharge (ESD)-robust, low-voltage CMOS technology using 4H-silicon carbide (SiC) tailored for high-temperature applications, addressing the critical need for reliable semiconductor devices in harsh environmental conditions. The advent of SiC as a semiconductor material offers significant advantages over traditional silicon (Si) in harsh environments, including higher thermal conductivity, greater electron mobility, and improved electrical characteristics at elevated temperatures. This research explores the integration of 4H-SiC into CMOS technology to enhance device reliability and performance in extreme conditions such as those found in aerospace, automotive, and energy sectors. The study begins with a …

Computational Alchemy: Pioneering Spintronic, Thermoelectric, And Optoelectronic Materials Design Through First-Principles Calculations And Machine Learning, Eesha Sanjay Andharia

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Intelligent materials discovery and design plays a pivotal role in advancement of spintronics, optoelectronics and thermoelectric devices and technology. In this study, we investigate three types of materials using first principles calculations. First, the structural, electronic, and magnetic properties of CrTiCoZ (Z = Al, Si) equiatomic quaternary Heusler alloys were investigated. CrTiCoAl compound was found to exhibit a half metallic ferromagnetic structure and Curie temperature above room temperature, which makes it an ideal candidate for magnetic tunnel junction, the basic building block of Spintronic devices. Second, we use Green’s function to obtain the finite temperature phonons by including quartic anharmonicity …

Multimodal Boiling Dataset With Synchronized Acoustic, Optical, And Thermal Measurements Under Steady-State And Transient Heat Loads, Hari Pandey, Changgen Li, Han Hu

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Boiling is a high-performance heat dissipation process that is central to electronics cooling and power generation. However, there exists a practical limit of boiling heat transfer known as the critical heat flux (CHF), beyond which significant performance degradation is observed. Understanding the physical mechanism that triggers CHF is essential to meet the increasing cooling demands driven by power densification and device miniaturization. However, the high dimensionality, stochasticity, and dynamicity of the boiling process have led to strong challenges in the experimental characterization and modeling of boiling CHF. As such, high-frame rate, high-resolution, multi-physics boiling datasets are critical to advancing the …

Synthesis Of Silica-Encapsulated Myristic Acid Phase-Change-Assisted Nanocapsules For Thermal Management Applications, Muhammad Ghufran, David Huitink

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Myristic acid-based silica (MA/SiO₂) nano-encapsulated phase change materials (NePCMs) were synthesized by the sol–gel process. Five different samples of the MA/SiO₂ nanocapsules were prepared by varying the mass of the myristic acid. The nanocapsules were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectrophotometer (FTIR), X-Ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), and dynamic light scattering (DLS). These characterization techniques confirmed the successful encapsulation of the myristic acid inside the silica shell. The maximum latent heat was found to be 114.46 J/g for the sample which was prepared with 25 g myristic …

Modeling, Simulation, And Experimental Testing Of A Single-Legged Hopper, John Anthony Bennett

Master's Theses

Legged robots are well-suited for navigating unstructured terrain due to their ability to perform agile dynamic motions. Building on the efforts of Cal Poly's Legged Robotics Group, this project focuses on achieving stable forward hopping with a single legged robot.

A comprehensive model of leg hopping is formulated, with leg dynamics during flight and stance phases derived using Euler-Lagrange equations. During the stance phase, a spring-mass system models the leg-ground interaction. The touchdown and lift-off conditions are formulated mathematically, and state mappings between phases are determined via momentum conservation. A two-phase hybrid controller is designed, incorporating trajectory planning during flight …

Hierarchy Of Exchange-Correlation Functionals In Computing Lattice Thermal Conductivities Of Rocksalt And Zinc-Blende Semiconductors, Jiacheng Wei, Zhonghao Xia, Yi Xia, Jiangang He

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Lattice thermal conductivity (𝜅L) is a crucial characteristic of crystalline solids with significant implications for thermal management, energy conversion, and thermal barrier coating. The advancement of computational tools based on density functional theory (DFT) has enabled the effective utilization of phonon quasiparticle-based approaches to unravel the underlying physics of various crystalline systems. While the higher order of anharmonicity is commonly used for explaining extraordinary heat transfer behaviors in crystals, the impact of exchange-correlation (XC) functionals in DFT on describing anharmonicity has been largely overlooked. The XC functional is essential for determining the accuracy of DFT in describing interactions among electrons/ions …

Effortless Mindfulness Toolkit: Easy Meditation Scripts To Begin Each Class., Brett Whysel

Open Educational Resources

The Effortless Mindfulness in the Classroom Toolkit is an open educational resource designed to create happier classrooms, boost student engagement, and foster a sense of community through brief, effective mindfulness exercises. This comprehensive toolkit provides educators with everything they need to seamlessly integrate mindfulness practices into their teaching routines, regardless of prior experience. The toolkit includes introductory slides, 15 ready-to-use meditation scripts, and accompanying audio recordings, covering a variety of mindfulness techniques such as focused breathing, body scans, and loving-kindness meditations. Each meditation is paired with a reflective prompt to deepen student engagement and reinforce the benefits of mindfulness. Additionally, …

On The Right Track? Energy Use, Carbon Emissions, And Intensities Of World Rail Transportation, 1840–2020, Bernardo Tostes, Sofia T. Henriques, Paul E. Brockway, Matthew Kuperus Heun, Tiago Domingos, Tânia Sousa

University Faculty Publications and Creative Works

The history of rail transport can offer valuable insights for future energy transitions due to its importance in promoting clean mobility. There is a complex interplay between the evolution of the railway network, fuel consumption, efficiency, energy service, and CO2 emissions that requires further exploration. We developed a dataset that covers energy use in all stages of rail transportation, as well as the length of track, energy service, and CO2 emissions at the world scale. To deal with missing data we utilized machine learning techniques for the first time in a historical energy reconstruction study. Our analysis reveals that …