Engineering Commons^™

Engineering Neurotoxin-Functionalized Exosomes For Targeted Delivery To The Peripheral Nervous System, Mena Asha Krishnan, Olawale A. Alimi, Tianshu Pan, Mitchell Kuss, Zeljka Korade, Guoku Hu, Bo Liu, Bin Duan

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

The administration of therapeutics to peripheral nerve tissue is challenging due to the complexities of peripheral neuroanatomy and the limitations imposed by the blood–nerve barrier (BNB). Therefore, there is a pressing need to enhance delivery effectiveness and implement targeted delivery methods. Recently, erythrocyte-derived exosomes (Exos) have gained widespread attention as biocompatible vehicles for therapeutics in clinical applications. However, engineering targeted Exos for the peripheral nervous system (PNS) is still challenging. This study aims to develop a targeted Exo delivery system specifically designed for presynaptic terminals of peripheral nerve tissue. The clostridium neurotoxin, tetanus toxin-C fragment (TTC), was tethered to the …

Extended Event Calculus Using Neutrosophic Logic: Method, Implementation, Analysis, Recent Progress And Future Directions, Antonios Paraskevas

Neutrosophic Systems with Applications

Brains do not reason as digital computers do. Computers reason in clear steps with statements that are either true or false, while humans reason with vague terms of common sense. Neutrosophy is a new branch of philosophy and machine intelligence that deals with neutralities, specifically the idea of indeterminacy that is evident and experienced in our everyday lives. Indeterminacy is interpreted as everything that falls between a concept, idea, statement, declaration, etc. and its opposite. The fundamental thesis of neutrosophy is to employ neutrosophic logic, an extension of fuzzy logic, to incorporate fuzzy truth into complex schemes of formal reasoning. …

Detection And Classification Of Sporadic E Using Convolutional Neural Networks, J. A. Ellis, Daniel J. Emmons, M. B. Cohen

Faculty Publications

In this work, convolutional neural networks (CNN) are developed to detect and characterize sporadic E (E_s), demonstrating an improvement over current methods. This includes a binary classification model to determine if Es is present, followed by a regression model to estimate the Es ordinary mode critical frequency (foEs), a proxy for the intensity, along with the height at which the Es layer occurs (hEs). Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and excess phase profiles from six Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) radio occultation (RO) missions during the years 2008–2022 are used as the inputs of the model. Intensity (foEs) and the …

Diagnosis Of Disease Affecting Gait With A Body Acceleration‑Based Model Using Reflected Marker Data For Training And A Wearable Accelerometer For Implementation, Mohammad Ali Takallou, Farahnaz Fallahtafti, Mahdi Hassan, Ali Al‑Ramini, Basheer Qolomany, Iraklis I. Pipinos, Sara A. Myers, F. M. Alsaleem

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

This paper demonstrates the value of a framework for processing data on body acceleration as a uniquely valuable tool for diagnosing diseases that affect gait early. As a case study, we used this model to identify individuals with peripheral artery disease (PAD) and distinguish them from those without PAD. The framework uses acceleration data extracted from anatomical reflective markers placed in different body locations to train the diagnostic models and a wearable accelerometer carried at the waist for validation. Reflective marker data have been used for decades in studies evaluating and monitoring human gait. They are widely available for many …

Grand Challenges In Membrane Transport, Modeling And Simulation, Jacob Monroe, Chidambaram Thamariselvan, Ranil Wickramasinghe

Chemical Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Today, membranes play an increasing role in separation processes across a wide range of industries, including water treatment, biomedical applications, bioseparations, and gas separations (Yeom et al., 2022). Numerous different membrane types exist, which can be broadly categorized as either porous or non-porous, where pores may be or may not be filled with a separate phase from the bulk solvent and membrane phases. In addition, various driving forces exist - pressure, concentration, electric field, etc.—that lead to transport across the membrane. For a porous membrane, solute transport is usually governed by convective flow through the pores. Micron-sized pores are used …

Pcl And Dmso2 Composites As Biomaterials For Additive Manufacturing, Jae-Won Jang

Dissertations and Theses

Tissue engineering provides a viable solution to address the shortage of organ donors for allograft transplants. Its primary objective is the replacement or regeneration of damaged tissues which is developed by combining living cells, a scaffold, and a bioreactor. Among these components, the scaffold serves as an artificial extracellular matrix (ECM), which plays a pivotal role in supporting cell adhesion, proliferation, differentiation, and overall tissue development. Additive manufacturing (AM), commonly referred to as three-dimensional (3D) printing, emerges as a promising method for scaffold fabrication due to its capability to create complex and repeatable geometries.

Polycaprolactone (PCL) has been one of …

Yap Mechanotransduction Under Cyclic Mechanical Stretch Loading For Mesenchymal Stem Cell Osteogenesis Is Regulated By Rock, Eunju Kim, Brandon D. Riehl, Tasneem Bouzid, Ruiguo Yang, Bin Duan, Henry J. Donahue, Jung Yul Lim

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

While yes-associated protein (YAP) is now recognized as a potent mechanosensitive transcriptional regulator to affect cell growth and differentiation including the osteogenic transcription of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), most studies have reported the YAP mechanosensing of static mechanophysical cues such as substrate stiffness. We tested MSC response to dynamic loading, i.e., cyclic mechanical stretching, and assessed YAP mechanosensing and resultant MSC osteogenesis. We showed that cyclic stretching at 10% strain and 1 Hz frequency triggered YAP nuclear import in MSCs. YAP phosphorylation at S127 and S397, which is required for YAP cytoplasmic retention, was suppressed by cyclic stretch. We also …

Soil Improvement Using Fungal Mycelium Of Trichoderma Virens And Construction Techniques Of Mud Dauber, Park Joon Soo

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Traditional ground improvement techniques involve high energy consumption and expensive and invasive earthworks. To develop sustainable ground improvement techniques, extensive research has explored biological processes and strategies. This dissertation identifies two organisms, fungal mycelium and mud dauber wasp, as sources of utilization and inspiration for the development of sustainable soil improvement techniques.

Filamentous fungi can form a root-like interconnected complex network known as fungal mycelium. Fungal mycelium can extend through soil pores and secrete hydrophobic compounds, binding soil particles and increasing soil water repellency. This dissertation conducted experimental studies to investigate the effects of fungal mycelium on hydraulic and mechanical …

Side Lobe Level Reduction And Array Thinning Of Concentric Circular Antenna Arrays, Alzahraa H. Nosier, Ahmed M. Elkhawaga, Mohamed E. Nasr, Nessim M. Mahmoud, Amr H. Hussein

Mansoura Engineering Journal

This paper presents a new beamforming technique based on the hybrid combination of the convolution algorithm (CA) and the genetic algorithm (GA) for reducing side lobe level (SLL) and array thinning of concentric circular antenna arrays (CCAA), which is denoted as C/GA technique. The CA determines the excitations of the elements, while the GA optimizes the radii of the circular arrays to adjust the half-power beamwidth (HPBW). For CCAA consisting of uniform feeding circular arrays, we assume that there are excitation coefficients that are distributed symmetrically around the array center and arranged in a vector. The excitation vector is convolved …

Zinc And Bismuth Additives' Impacts On The Physical Properties Of Lead-Free Alloys Used In Electronic Appliances, Hesham Elzanaty, Rizk Mostafa Shalaby

Mansoura Engineering Journal

The goal of the current analysis was to analytically inspect how the addition of zinc and bismuth would alter the binary structure of the lead-free solder Sn-5Sb. Binary arrangement results have been stretched to the ternary arrangements Sn–5Sb–XBi or XZn (0 ≤ X ≤ 4wt.%) solder that were composed through rapid solidification processing (RSP) using the melt–spun method. The created phases were revealed through metallographic study of the formed alloys using XRD. High elastic modulus E = 32.5 GPa and good electrical resistivity = 26x10-8 .m are two characteristics of binary Sn-Sb doped with Bi. The alloy Sn–5Sb–4Zn owns the …

Improvement Of Convective Drying Equipment, A Ponasenko, Jasur Safarov, Shaxnoza Sultanova

Technical science and innovation

Drying of agricultural raw materials is an energy-consuming but integral process. Therefore, increasing the efficiency of drying and improving the quality indicators of dried material at minimum material and energy costs is relevant for producers of agricultural products. By present time numerous researches on improvement of constructions and processes of work of dryers providing satisfactory parameters of energy saving have been carried out. In some scientific materials it is shown that the use of generative gas and straw as fuel allows to reduce energy costs for the drying process in the fluidised bed dryer by 10-30%, the quality of seeds …

Existing Methods For Monitoring Power Autotransformers, Nurali Berdiyorovich Pyrmatov, Dilafruz Rustamjon Qizi Abdullabekova

Technical science and innovation

autotransformers, methods, diagnostics, efficiency, monitoring.Particular attention is given to analyzing the gas composition of transformer oil, which is a sensitive indicator of various defects such as thermal breakdown and heating. In addition, methods based on the measurement of external magnetic field strength are discussed. This technique provides a unique opportunity to detect magnetic anomalies associated with possible defects in the structural components of the transformer. The article emphasizes that successful monitoring requires an integrated approach, combining different techniques. The authors analyze the advantages and limitations of each method and offer practical recommendations for integrating these methods into maintenance systems. In …

Mathematical Modeling Of Fruit Drying And System Analysis Of The Process (On The Example Of Persimmon), Gani Dadayev, Jasur Safarov, Shakhnoza Sultanova, Qobiljon Muxiddinov

Technical science and innovation

Vegetable raw materials, as an object of drying, are characterized by a large amount of water and a low content of dry substances. Vegetable raw materials have a capillary-porous structure. Food products contain both bound and free moisture at the same time. The removal of moisture from the material during drying depends on the total moisture content and the form of connection of moisture with the material. Adsorption and osmotic - bound moisture is retained at the interface of colloidal particles with the environment. Food products contain both bound and free moisture at the same time. The quantitative ratio between …

Capacitive Electrode Based Moisture Measurement Converter Errors And How To Eliminate Them, Hamdam Jabborov, Temurbek Rashidov

Technical science and innovation

The article discusses the errors associated with the moisture measuring transducer that is based on the cylindrical electrode, along with their sources and calculation formulas for error elimination. The initial capacitance of the capacitive electrode humidity converter is dependent on its geometric parameters, such as the radii of the electrodes and their length. Accurate calculation of these geometric parameters enables the reduction of regular measurement errors in the input and switching circuit of the moisture converter to a minimum value, resulting in a significant increase in the informativeness and accuracy of the output signal. Consequently, some sources of measurement errors …

Influence Of Foil Stamping Parameters On Image Quality, Khalima Abishevna Babakhanova, Mukhlisa Ergashevna Khasanova, Aziz Azimjonovich Soadatov, Nigora Junaydullaevna Sadriddinova

Technical science and innovation

The paper evaluates the influence of technological process parameters, namely die temperature and pressure force, on the quality of foil stamping, which is one of the types of finishing having a wide range of applications due to giving unique decorative and protective elements to printed products. When evaluating the influence of process parameters on the linearity and coverability of the image, it was found that the pressure force has less influence on the result than the temperature. According to the data of the study, it can be concluded that the maximum percentage of completeness of covering is achieved at a …

Cancer Treatment By Targeting Hdac4 Translocation Induced By Microsecond Pulsed Electric Field Exposure: Mechanistic Insights Through Kinases And Phosphatases, Zahra Safaei

Theses and Dissertations

Epigenetic modifications, arising from sub-cellular shifts in histone deacetylase (HDAC) activity and localization, present promising strategies for diverse cancer treatments. HDACs, enzymes responsible for post-translational histone modifications, induce these epigenetic changes by removing acetyl groups from ε-N-acetyl-lysine residues on histones, thereby suppressing gene transcription. Within the HDAC group, class IIa HDACs are notable for their responsiveness to extracellular signals, bridging the gap between external stimuli, plasma membrane, and genome through nuclear-cytoplasmic translocation. This localization offers two significant mechanisms for cancer treatment: nuclear accumulation of HDACs represses oncogenic transcription factors, such as myocyte-specific enhancer factor 2C (MEF2C), triggering various cell death …

Enhancing Bridge Resilience And Overheight Vehicle Mitigation Through Innovative Sacrificial Cushion Systems, Aly Mousaad Aly, Marc Hoffmann

Faculty Publications

Transportation departments have made significant strides in addressing the challenges posed by the increasing weights of trucks on bridges. While there is a growing awareness of overheight vehicle collisions with bridges, implementing effective countermeasures remains limited. The susceptibility of bridges to damage from such collisions is on the rise, further exacerbated by unpredictable lateral impact forces. This study employs nonlinear impact analysis to assess the response of an unprotected vehicle-girder model, yielding realistic deformation outcomes comparable to observed impacts on the US-61 bridge. Predictions for a truck traveling at 112.65 km/h indicate deformations of 0.229 m, 0.161 m, and 0.271 …

Development Of A Xenograft For Annular Repair Using Pulsed Electric Field Exposures For Enhanced Decellularization, Prince Mensah Kwaku Atsu

Theses and Dissertations

Severe back injuries and chronic pain necessitate surgical replacement of damaged intervertebral disc (IVD) cartilage in advanced disease stages. Bovine IVD tissue has been exposed to an upper threshold pulsed electric field (PEF) dose, causing cell death without thermal damage to the tissue. Subsequent PEF exposures at lower magnitudes have accelerated the removal of immunogenic biomolecules though electrokinetic extraction using optimized aqueous solutions. This approach yields a natural scaffold, ready for biocompatibility and mechanical strength assessment. The effects of microsecond pulsed electric fields (µsPEF) on primary bovine AF fibroblast-like cells have been characterized in vitro. PEFs of 10 and 100 …

Integrated Computer-Aided Design, Experimentation, And Optimization Approach For Perovskites And Petroleum Packaging Processes, Swapana Subbarao Jerpoth

Theses and Dissertations

According to the World Economic Forum report, the U.S. currently has an energy efficiency of just 30%, thus illustrating the potential scope and need for efficiency enhancement and waste minimization. In the U.S. energy sector, petroleum and solar energy are the two key pillars that have the potential to create research opportunities for transition to a cleaner, greener, and sustainable future. In this research endeavor, the focus is on two pivotal areas: (i) Computer-aided perovskite solar cell synthesis; and (ii) Optimization of flow processes through multiproduct petroleum pipelines. In the area of perovskite synthesis, the emphasis is on the enhancement …

Unrealvision: A Synthetic Dataset Generator For Human-Pose Estimation And Behavior Analysis, Thinh Lu

Master's Theses

For over a decade, computer vision (CV) has become an indispensable component of numerous camera surveillance applications as well as intelligent autonomous systems. Thanks to new advances in AI, Edge Computing, and IoT technologies, there is now a rapidly growing number of smart camera devices, industrial and consumer robots that are using computer vision for various applications - from human tracking and analysis, object classification, to visual inspection and anomaly detection. For most common use cases, building vision-based applications can be a straightforward and affordable task thanks to the increasing number of publicly accessible datasets and research publications. However, it …

Statistical Analysis For Water Quality Data Using Anova (Case Study – Lake Burullus Influent Drains), Dr.Aya Hassan

Civil Engineering

Lake Burullus is considered one of the most valuable northern lakes in Egypt due to its unique ecological system and special location. Over the past four decades, the lake has suffered from high contamination levels due to expansion in fish farming and increasing of agricultural drainage water entering the southern side of the lake through eight influent drains. This research aims to assess the current situation of the lake’s influent drains. For this purpose, two types of statistical analysis, Mean average method, and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) were used. The water quality conditions for six major drains (Therah (Tira), Nashart, …

On Quantifying Global Carbon Emission From Oil Contaminated Lands Over Centuries, Kaveh Sookhak Lari, Greg B. Davis, Trevor Bastow, John L. Rayner

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Petroleum releases into the subsurface contribute to global soil carbon emissions. Quantifying releases and changes in releases of carbon from soils over the lifetime of a spill is complex. Natural source zone depletion (NSZD) of light non-aqueous phase liquids (LNAPLs) embodies all key mechanisms for transformation to carbon gases and their release from soils including partitioning, transport and degradation of petroleum components. Quantification of the interconnected behaviours of the soil microbiome, fluid flow, multi-component transport, partitioning, and biodegradation is crucial for understanding NSZD. Volatilization from LNAPL, aerobic biodegradation, methanogenesis, and heat production all lead to release of greenhouse gases to …

Understanding Timing Error Characteristics From Overclocked Systolic Multiply–Accumulate Arrays In Fpgas, Andrew Chamberlin, Andrew Gerber, Mason Palmer, Tim Goodale, Noel Daniel Gundi, Koushik Chakraborty, Sanghamitra Roy

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Artificial Intelligence (AI) hardware accelerators have seen tremendous developments in recent years due to the rapid growth of AI in multiple fields. Many such accelerators comprise a Systolic Multiply–Accumulate Array (SMA) as its computational brain. In this paper, we investigate the faulty output characterization of an SMA in a real silicon FPGA board. Experiments were run on a single Zybo Z7-20 board to control for process variation at nominal voltage and in small batches to control for temperature. The FPGA is rated up to 800 MHz in the data sheet due to the max frequency of the PLL, but the …

Clpfudatabase: A Suite Of R Packages For Energy Conversion Chain Analysis, Matthew Kuperus Heun, Zeke Marshall, Emmanuel Aramendia

University Faculty Publications and Creative Works

Energy flowing through societal energy conversion chains (ECCs) enables economic activity and facilitates human flourishing. To understand economic growth and human well-being, the field of societal energy analysis (Common, 1976) evaluates ECCs from the primary stage (resources extracted from the environment, such as coal, oil, natural gas, wind, and solar), to the final stage (energy purchased by consumers, such as refined petroleum and electricity), to the useful stage (energy desired by the end user, such as heat, motion, and light), and sometimes to energy services (such as thermal comfort, transport, and illumination). Societal exergy analysis (SEA) (Ertesvåg, 2001), an extension …

Flexural Behavior Of Pultruded Gfrp–Concrete Composite Beams Strengthened With Gfrp Stiffeners, Muataz I. Ali, Abbas A. Allawi, Ayman El-Zohairy

Faculty Publications

The utilization and incorporation of glass fiber-reinforced plastics (GFRP) in structural applications and architectural constructions are progressively gaining prominence. Therefore, this paper experimentally and numerically investigates the use of GFRP I-beams in conjunction with concrete slabs to form composite beams. The experimental design incorporated 2600 mm long GFRP I-beams which were connected compositely to concrete slabs with a 500 mm width and 80 mm thickness. The concrete slabs are categorized into two groups: concrete slabs cast using normal strength concrete (NSC), and concrete slabs prepared using high-strength concrete (HSC). Various parameters like the type of concrete (normal and high-strength concrete), …

Comparison Of Empirical And Analytical Eigenfunctions As Bases For Reduced Order Methods In Heat Transfer, Jakob G. Bates, Matthew R. Jones, Christopher R. Dillon, John Tencer

Student Works

Reduced order methods using spectral representations show promise in facilitating and accelerating heat transfer analyses. This paper proposes a taxonomy for reduced order methods, classifying a method as reduced order compression, modelling, or analysis. The performance of bases formed with analytical and empirical eigenfunctions are compared for representative reduced order tasks. The Akaike Information Criterion is applied in a novel way to compare the performance of these bases. The present study finds that both bases are parsimonious for reduced order compression tasks. Empirical eigenfunctions are more robust to for reduced order modelling with variations in modelling parameters such as thermal …

Commentary: A Patient-Specific Lower Extremity Biomechanical Analysis Of A Knee Orthotic During A Deep Squat Movement, Christine Dailey Walck

Publications

The recent study by Walck et al., titled “A Patient-Specific Lower Extremity Biomechanical Analysis of a Knee Orthotic during a Deep Squat Movement,” provides a novel insight into the biomechanical impacts of knee orthotics, particularly the non-linear spring-loaded (NLSL) knee joint orthosis (KJO)1 . This commentary aims to delve into the implications, interpretations, and evaluations of the findings, contextualizing them within the broader discourse on knee orthotics.

Development Of A Suspended Aerobic Membrane Bioreactor (Sambr) For Sustainable Wastewater Treatment On Early Planetary Bases, Talon James Bullard

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Environmental Control and Life Support Systems (ECLSS) ideally should treat all “waste” streams for recovery in a sustainable and near closed-loop manner. This will be critical for Partial Gravity Habitats (PGH) and Early Planetary Bases (EPB) that will be established on the Moon and Mars due to the lack of readily available resources. Currently, the Water Recovery System (WRS), onboard the International Space Station (ISS), recovers and purifies water from urine and graywater. While efficient, this system is not optimized for future missions and utilizes physical-chemical technologies that operate with single-use and hazardous consumables. In response to the lack of …

Impact Of Weather Factors On Airport Arrival Rates: Application Of Machine Learning In Air Transportation, Robert W. Maxson, Dothang Truong, Woojin Choi

Journal of Aviation Technology and Engineering

Weather is responsible for approximately 70% of air transportation delays in the National Airspace System, and delays resulting from convective weather alone cost airlines and passengers millions of dollars each year due to delays that could be avoided. This research sought to establish relationships between environmental variables and airport efficiency estimates by data mining archived weather and airport performance data at ten geographically and climatologically different airports. Several meaningful relationships were discovered from six out of ten airports using various machine learning methods within an overarching data mining protocol, and the developed models were tested using historical data.

Enhancing Estimation Of Cover Crop Biomass Using Field-Based High-Throughput Phenotyping And Machine Learning Models, Geng Bai, Katja Koehler-Cole, David Scoby, Vesh R. Thapa, Andrea D. Basche, Yufeng Ge

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Incorporating cover crops into cropping systems offers numerous potential benefits, including the reduction of soil erosion, suppression of weeds, decreased nitrogen requirements for subsequent crops, and increased carbon sequestration. The aboveground biomass (AGB) of cover crops strongly influences their performance in delivering these benefits. Despite the significance of AGB, a comprehensive field-based high-throughput phenotyping study to quantify AGB of multiple cover crops in the U.S. Midwest has not been found. This study presents a two-year field experiment carried out in Eastern Nebraska, USA, to estimate AGB of five different cover crop species [canola (Brassica napus L.), rye (Secale …