Engineering Commons^™

Circular Economy Strategies For Reducing Embodied Carbon In Us Commercial Building Stocks: A System Dynamics Modeling Approach, Radwa Eissa, Islam H. El-Adaway

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Environmental concerns over embodied carbon - which is generated during the extraction, transportation, manufacturing, construction, and disposal of building materials - have been increasing as the industry shifts to renewable energy and grid decarbonization efforts prevail. Commercial buildings, a rapidly growing sector and a major source of embodied carbon, can contribute immensely to the national climate goals by transitioning into a circular economy (CE). Nevertheless, embodied carbon research is rather dispersed, with sparse data on the actual impact of different CE strategies and how they scale on nationwide commercial building stocks. To address this research need, the goal of this …

Ai And Workforce Development: A Comparative Analysis Of Skill Gaps And Training Needs In Emerging Economies, Gursahildeep Singh Sidhu, Md Abu Sayem, Nazifa Taslima, Ahmed Selim Anwar, Fariba Chowdhury, Manataka Rowshon

Finance, Economics, and Data Analytics

AI is developing quickly and offers considerable prospects for economic development; nevertheless, it presents crucial challenges for instance, skills development and its effect on employee's jobs in developing economies. This research will seek to establish the current state of AI related skills deficits and training in these economies to establish how governments and organizations can close the gaps by preparing the workforce for the future AI revolution. In line with the research questions, the following emerges as the research problem: To what extent have emerging market companies embraced AI? What key skills are scarce both in the internal and external …

Dung Dkar Cloak: Exploring Soft Interfaces For Sonic Interactions, Judit Eszter Kárpáti, Esteban De La Torre

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

The importance of crossmodal interaction within the contemporary cultural, technological and scientific panorama has evidently gained significant attention due to its remarkable advantages in creating a meaningful, interwoven, and integrated experience. The use and recontextualization of textiles in such exploratory quest into the human senses has proven to be critical. Computational science, algorithmic logic and digital devices have always been rooted and closely interwoven with textile crafts and practices. Recent technological advancements have further combined technology and textile, generating interactive textile surfaces, constructing endless possibilities for multisensorial experiences. In this presentation we will examine how we can weave a sensitive …

Weaving Transformations: Integrating The Tc2 Loom In Higher Education Textile Programs, Anna Stuffelbeam, Kate Nartker, Janie Woodbridge

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

The Thread Controller 2 (TC2) loom is a novel technology that has reshaped how artists and designers explore the technical intricacies in jacquard weaving and harness textiles for creative expression. In this presentation, we discuss the integration of the TC2 within higher education art and design programs across the United States. Our research aims to explore the complexities and opportunities presented by the TC2 loom from both educator and student perspectives. The integration of this unique technology emphasizes the need for adaptation and innovation in pedagogical approaches.

In this two-part presentation, we first discuss the results of a qualitative study …

Environmental Metrics In Action: Exploring U.S. Superfund Sites Affiliated With The Fashion Industry, Nidia K. Trejo

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Little is known of Superfund sites, long-term clean up sites, affiliated with the apparel and footwear supply chain in the United States. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) manages the clean up of contaminated sites that pose a significant risk to human health and the environment under the Superfund program. A site can become contaminated if hazardous waste from industrial operations are mismanaged or dumped into the environment, in an uncontrolled manner. In this study, a proposed Superfund site (Mohawk Tannery in Nashua, New Hampshire), an active Superfund site (Ciba-Geigy Corp. in Toms River, New Jersery), and a …

Experimentation On Manual Paper Making Using Mango Seed Fibers, Mercy Wanduara

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

This paper seeks to explore the use of Kenyan mango fiber as a core ingredient in papermaking. Mango is a tropical fruit grown in many countries around the world, including Kenya. The fruit tree grows naturally and has a maturity period of approximately three years. When this juicy fruit is ready for harvesting most of the fruits are harvested for consumption but plenty of them find their way into compost because of overproduction and lack of market. Moreover, the fruits are either consumed whole or juiced. The core of the fruit is a hairy seed which has little value to …

A Smart Energy-Efficient Hybrid Gait Monitoring System, Elsa Joy Harris

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Triboelectric nanogenerators are devices that harvest mechanical energy from the environment and turn it into electricity. By coupling the effect of contact electrification and electrostatic induction between two materials that come into contact and then separate they can convert the irregular, low frequency, waste biomechanical energy of human motion into useful electrical energy to run small body-worn electronics. This has shown promising results in multiple applications such as self-powered motion and haptic sensing, self-charging micro-storage devices, neuromorphic computing, and designing batteryless circuits to power small wearables. This work will investigate a smart energy-efficient hybrid gait monitoring system that is powered …

The Impact Of Journalistic Cultures On Social Media Discourse: Us Primary Debates In Cross-Lingual Online Spaces, Lea Hellmueller, Lindita Camaj, Sebastián Vallejo Vera, Peggy Lindner

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This cross-lingual project examines how social media posts of Spanish- and English-language media impact incivility in user comments during the 2020 primary political debates in the United States. We analyzed Facebook posts of news organizations that hosted the debates and used a state-of-the-art machine-learning model to analyze the corresponding comments. Our findings reveal distinct journalistic cultures on the post-level: English-language media are significantly more likely to use interpretation while Spanish-language media employ more audience-engagement and factual reporting strategies. We argue that in order to understand incivility in social media discourse during political debates, we need to consider journalistic cultures: While …

Constructing An Interpretable Deep Learning Framework Utilizing Variational Autoencoder Latent Space For Part-Prototype Learning, Shiska Raut

Computer Science and Engineering Theses - Archive

What visual attributes do cats have in common, and what features set them apart from dogs? How are we able to tell the difference between the two? While we do not fully understand the mechanism humans use for object detection, one popular theory suggests that it boils down to identifying distinct visual features specific to each object. For example, all cats have vertical slit-shaped pupils when their eyes are constricted, which is something we do not see in dogs. These slit-shaped pupils are a feature ‘prototypical’ to cats. Object classification is a computer vision task that involves identifying and categorizing …

Amplification-Free Rapid Detection Of Specific Oligonucleotides Through Formation Of Core-Satellite Nanostructures On Solid Substrates, Vineet Kumar Jayakrishnan

Material Science and Engineering Theses - Archive

A rapid, portable, and highly sensitive method for detecting specific pathogens like Covid-19 would be invaluable for public health and emergency responses. The current standards like PCR and RT-PCR, are incredibly sensitive but also time-consuming, require skilled personnel, and demand substantial lab space. Here, we propose an alternative method capable of detecting specific oligonucleotide sequences within just 3 minutes, using a portable silicon or glass substrate (6 mm x 9 mm). We demonstrated this using 67-mer oligonucleotides with a Covid-19 sequence as a model system, achieving a detection sensitivity down to 1 nM. Our approach involves sandwiching target COVID-19 oligonucleotides …

Development Of Advanced Instrumentation For High-Enthalpy Flow Characterization For The Onr-Uta Arc-Jet ”Leste” Facility, Ian Raybon

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Sustained hypersonic flight is an exceedingly challenging task comprised of a myriad of complex physical processes. At hypersonic speeds, which is defined by the presence of unique phenomena like high-temperature nonequilibrium flow, viscous and vorticity interactions, and thin shock layers, which are not seen in supersonic, transonic, or subsonic vehicles, the vehicle design is principally driven by the high levels of aerodynamic heating caused by the conversion of kinetic energy to internal energy. Gaining an understanding of how these physical processes interact with each other is required to develop a design methodology for this class of vehicles. Arc-jet wind tunnels …

Long-Term Simulation Of Stem Cell Mechanobiology, Manoochehr Rabiei

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Dissertations - Archive

An accurate representation of cellular mechanobiology necessitates the inclusion of subcellular elements characterized by minute masses and dimensions. These minute objects yield multiscale dynamic models with disproportionate terms, which require inordinate amounts of computational time to simulate. The computational requirements limit the time span of the simulation to time histories shorter than one second, even when employing supercomputers. This work presents a high-speed approach to simulating the mechanobiology of stem cells. The proposed approach separates the computational time from the size, and distribution, of masses of the subcellular elements, enabling the simulation of weeks-long cellular processes within hours on a …

Experimental Study Of Flow Analysis In Single Phase Immersion Cooling Using Tomographic Piv, Vijaya Rama Raju Goriparthi

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses - Archive

As data centers evolve to support increasing server densities, the inadequacies of traditional air cooling in managing thermal loads have become evident. This is primarily due to an increased demand for powerful CPU and GPU-based platforms that can run Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) workloads amongst others. Consequently, single-phase immersion cooling has gained prominence as an efficient, sustainable alternative, significantly reducing operational costs and energy consumption. This method has shown a remarkable ability to cut cooling energy by up to 90% and overall data center energy use by 50%. The current investigation uses Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) to …

Investigation Of Bone Structure And Composition Differences In Osteofibrous Dysplasia And Neurofibromatosis Type 1, Farzaneh Fereidouni

Material Science and Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Abstract

Investigation of Bone Structure and Composition Differences in Osteofibrous Dysplasia and Neurofibromatosis Type 1

Farzaneh Fereidouni, Ph.D.

The University of Texas at Arlington, 2024

Supervising Professor: Harry F. Tibbals

Bone genetic diseases such as Osteofibrous Dysplasia (OFD) and Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) present significant challenges, particularly in children, due to their effects on skeletal homeostasis. This study aims to apply advanced material analysis to elucidate the biological disparities associated with OFD and NF1 bone dysplasia and contribute to developing diagnostic protocols and remediation approaches for these and similar bone disorders.

By employing various analytical methods, including analysis of mineral-to-matrix …

Sub-1k Cold Electron Transport At Room Temperature, Anthony Martinez

Material Science and Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Thermally excited electrons at the high-energy tail of the Fermi-Dirac distribution impose fundamental limitations on the performance of solid-state electronic and spintronic devices. For example, the thermally excited electrons obscure the Coulomb blockade essential for single-electron transport. The hot electrons can also overcome the energy barrier of Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field-Effect transistors (MOSFETs), causing unwanted leakage currents that lead to excessive power consumption in the integrated circuits. This study investigates an approach in which quantum states are used to manipulate electron tunneling, blocking the transport of thermally excited hot electrons, thereby enabling cold-electron transport at room temperature. Here two heterogeneous quantum wells …

Resilience In The Wake Of Storms: Unveiling Spatiotemporal Mobility Dynamics Of Gulf Coast Communities Through Crowd-Sourced Data, Joswin Valerian Concessao

Computer Science and Engineering Theses - Archive

Flood events present substantial challenges for coastal communities, severely impacting public safety, transportation infrastructure, and overall livability. Tropical storms, hurricanes, and sea level rise can cause extensive damage to homes and critical systems, requiring costly and prolonged recovery efforts. Coastal transportation networks are particularly vulnerable to flooding, leading to road closures, increased congestion, restricted access to essential services, and long-term economic disruptions. Understanding the effects of flood events on mobility patterns is crucial for urban planning and effective disaster management.

This thesis utilizes motif analysis to examine transportation network disruptions and access patterns in Harrison County, Mississippi, during Hurricane Ida …

A Low-Noise, Low-Power Cmos Readout Ic For Amperometric Electrochemical Sensing System, Manu Chilukuri

Electrical Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Electrochemical sensing systems have become essential tools in numerous fields due to their exceptional sensitivity, selectivity, and versatility. They play a critical role in modern research, industry, environmental monitoring, and healthcare applications. In environmental monitoring, these systems are utilized to detect pollutants, heavy metals, and toxic gases, enabling real-time monitoring and ensuring environmental protection. In the biomedical sector, electrochemical sensing systems are vital for diagnosing diseases, monitoring biomarkers, and transforming healthcare practices.

Affordable wearable electrochemical sensing devices are crucial for making healthcare more accessible and improving public health outcomes. These devices allow for continuous monitoring of physiological parameters, supporting early …

Unsupervised Machine Learning In Wireless Sensor Measurements And Hyperspectral Imaging, Abrar U. Alam

Electrical Engineering Dissertations - Archive

The increasing demand for real-time analysis of sensor data in dynamic environments necessitates innovative approaches to data clustering. This work introduces a novel Online Kernel Clustering (OKC) framework that efficiently determines time-varying clustering configurations without requiring training data. The proposed method employs sparse kernel factorization, guided by a time-dependent metric to quantify the closeness of kernel similarity matrices to a block diagonal structure. By processing data sequentially, the OKC framework is tailored for non-stationary settings. The optimization process integrates block coordinate descent, difference-of-convex functions minimization, and projected sub-gradient descent to iteratively update kernel covariance matrices and cluster memberships online. Numerical …

A Path To Commissioning Of Direct-To-Chip Liquid Cooling For Hyperscale Data Centers Using Experimental And Cfd Techniques, Himanshu Girishchandra Modi

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Dissertations - Archive

The escalating demand for computing power in hyperscale data centers necessitates innovative cooling solutions to enhance energy efficiency and ensure sustainable operations. Direct-to-chip liquid cooling has emerged as a promising alternative to traditional air-cooling methods, offering improved thermal management and reduced energy consumption. This dissertation explores a comprehensive approach to commissioning direct-to-chip liquid cooling systems in hyperscale data centers by integrating experimental analyses and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) techniques. The study begins by examining design modifications for air-cooled servers and later analyzes the impact of different parameters for a hybrid-cooled server. It explores the fundamental principles of direct-to-chip liquid cooling …

Kissing Bond Assessment In Adhesive Bonded Carbon Fiber Reinforced Composites Using Dielectric Spectroscopy, Minhazur Rahman

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Dissertations - Archive

The widespread use of fiber-reinforced composites in industries such as space, aviation, automobiles, and construction necessitates the formation of robust composite joints between critical structural components. Although adhesive-bonded joints are superior with improved load distribution and reduced weight, they are often overlooked in favor of bolted joints and mechanical fasteners due to the lack of reliable Non-Destructive Evaluation (NDE) techniques for adhesive-bonded composites. The anisotropic nature of the substrate and the intricate interfacial interactions between the adherend and adhesive material present significant challenges for conventional NDE methods. Moreover, weak adhesive bonds can result from uncontrolled manufacturing parameters, such as accidental …

Two-Phase Flow Simulations With Plic-Vof Method And Dynamic Mesh Refinement, Vimalan Adaikalanathan

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Two-phase flows are critical in a variety of engineering applications that span multiple length scales. These applications encompass macroscopic phenomena, such as dam breakage and wave-structure interactions, as well as microscopic events, including droplet impacts and boiling, and mixed-scale issues like spray dynamics. Accurate representation of evolving interfaces is essential for numerical simulations of these problems, and the Volume of Fluid (VOF) method combined with the Piecewise Linear Interface Calculation (PLIC) approach is employed to fulfill this requirement. To tackle the computational challenges associated with high-resolution meshes in deforming two-phase flows, Adaptive Mesh Refinement (AMR) is utilized to enhance mesh …

Design And Experimentation Of Novel Human Head Surrogate Models For Sensing Traumatic Brain Injury, Arthur T. Koster

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Brain injury is a significant source of mortality in the US and has been an important area of research over the past century. The need to understand injury thresholds and pathology coupled with the difficulty of measuring relevant injury mechanisms in a living subject logically gives rise to the idea that researchers need to create head models for use in simulation and experimentation. This study focuses on understanding the effects of material properties, size, and shape on the dynamic response of a head model so that head models used in simulations and experiments can more accurately represent the real human …

Experimental Investigations And Optimization Of 3d Printed Cellular Structures For Protection Against Traumatic Brain Injury, Aaron R. Jackson

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) disrupts brain function due to head impacts, blast exposures, and ballistic penetrations. It is a significant cause of mental health issues and disability, particularly among military personnel. Historically, combat helmets were designed primarily to protect against fragments. However, recent data highlights the need for helmets that also protect against blast and blunt impacts. Effective TBI prevention requires helmets that address various energy threats while remaining lightweight. A critical metric in this effort is head acceleration, which is closely linked to injury across different scales of brain damage.

Four lattice structures were 3D printed using Digital ABS …

Synthesis Of Ni-Based Intermetallics By Electrolytic Plasma Processing Of Ti And Ti-Based Alloys, Chuzhong Zhang

Material Science and Engineering Dissertations - Archive

EPP is an innovative surface modification technique that enables the deposition of metal ions from the electrolyte and their integration with substrate atoms to form intermetallic compound surface layers. EPP offers advantages such as high deposition rates, environmental cleanliness, and operational simplicity. In this study, Ni-Ti intermetallic layers were successfully synthesized on a Ti-6Al-4V substrate using EPP. The properties of the resulting Ni-Ti intermetallic layers were characterized using SEM, EDS, XRD, TEM, nanoindentation, and tribology tests.

This work aims to understand the fabrication mechanism and investigate the effects of various processing parameters on the EPP process. Key factors such as …

Introduce Ultrasound Fabry-Pérot Resonator For Attenuation Characterization And Sensitization Detection Of Aluminum-Magnesium Alloys, Songwei Wang

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Dissertations - Archive

The Ultrasound Fabry-Pérot Resonator (UFPR) is introduced as a novel technique for non-destructive evaluation and material characterization. By adapting optical Fabry-Pérot Resonator principles to ultrasonic systems, UFPR inherits advantages such as enhanced sensitivity, reduced uncertainty, and the capabilities of frequency-dependent analysis and fringe spectral analysis. This study focuses on UFPR’s application to ultrasonic attenuation characterization and sensitization detection in aluminum-magnesium alloys, which are critical for understanding microstructural changes and improving material performance.

The research was conducted in three systematic steps. First, time-frequency analysis was utilized to examine frequency-dependent attenuation behavior, establishing a foundation for ultrasonic attenuation characterization. Second, longitudinal UFPR …

Mathematical Modeling Of Heat And Mass Transfer In Multilayer Systems, Girish Krishnan

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Multilayer systems are commonly found in a number of engineering devices like Li-ion cells and vertically integrated semiconductor devices. Li-ion cells are widely used for various engineering applications, but they come with a drawback in the form of thermal runaway, and thermal abuse is one of the scenarios that leads to thermal runaway. On the other hand, heterogenous integration in chip and package level architectures is being implemented to keep up with Moore’s law. Modeling of heat and mass transfer in these systems is a topic of interest to improve performance and reliability.

The first segment of this dissertation will …

Development Of A 3d Printed Optimization-Driven Aeroelastically Scaled Wind Tunnel Model For High Aspect Ratio Flying Wings, Mikaela K. Leevy

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses - Archive

Design optimization coupled with 3D printing and parametric CAD offers a unique approach to investigating flutter phenomena by creating low-cost iterative aeroelastic wind tunnel models. Recently, there is an interest in studying flutter phenomena at low air speeds in flying wing configurations. The X-56 experimental flying wing was designed to investigate flutter phenomena and flutter suppression, which makes the X-56 a logical choice for the full-scale model. The goal of this work is to optimize, physically print, and geometrically characterize a scaled aeroelastic wind tunnel model. The 18% reduced scale X-56 model was optimized by matching the mode shapes to …

Optimizing Multi-Agent Network For Target Localization Through Mutual Information Maximization, Bibek Adhikari

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses - Archive

A multi-agent network is a system comprising multiple interacting agents that coexist collaboratively within a networked, autonomous environment. The thesis addresses the target localization problem using a multi-rover network, described as autonomous agents, using an information-theoretic distributed control framework. The objective of the mission, through the integration of the particle filter representation of the posterior probability distribution of the target state and the observable, is to compute control input to arrange agents’ locations, maximizing the mutual information between the target’s position and sensor measurements. Consequently, the method leads to future observation which minimizes the future uncertainty of the target state. …

Parametric Analysis Of A Dynamic And Static Model For Low Velocity Impact Of Specially Orthotropic Laminates, Juan Daniel Ruiz

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses - Archive

The high specific strength and specific stiffness of composite materials makes them highly desirable for structural applications, but their laminated nature makes them susceptible to impact damage. Even low velocity impacts (LVI), generally, result in barely visible impact damage (BVID) and delamination, which can go unnoticed and grow during service, eventually leading to catastrophic failure. Due to this, the study of impact resistance and damage tolerance is typically studied through LVI followed by compression after impact (CAI) experiments. However, conducting LVI experiments are time consuming and expensive, as they require specialized equipment and extensive pre-test preparations.

In this study, the …

Cooperative Navigation In Gps-Denied Environments Using Visual Simultaneous Localization And Mapping (Slam), Rakesh Yadav

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses - Archive

In this thesis, an application of RTAB-Map’s visual SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) is used to explore autonomous cooperative navigation in GPS-denied environment using a rover and a quadrotor. The primary objective is to enhance cooperative navigation by allowing the rover and the drone to guide each other using the maps constructed or generated by them. The map is generated using the RTAB-Map SLAM technique using stereo camera only. The thesis addresses three major issues: quality of map created by UAV and UGV, the visual odometry drift, and the robustness of the cooperative framework in the static and dynamic environment. …