Engineering Commons^™

Water Exchange Rate Across The Blood-Brain Barrier Is Associated With Csf Amyloid-Β 42 In Healthy Older Adults, Brian T. Gold, Xingfeng Shao, Tiffany L. Sudduth, Gregory A. Jicha, Donna M. Wilcock, Elayna R. Seago, Danny J. J. Wang

Sanders-Brown Center on Aging Faculty Publications

INTRODUCTION: We tested if water exchange across the blood-brain barrier (BBB), estimated with a noninvasive magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique, is associated with cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and neuropsychological function.

METHODS: Forty cognitively normal older adults (67–86 years old) were scanned with diffusion‐prepared, arterial spin labeling (DP‐ASL), which estimates water exchange rate across the BBB (k_w). Participants also underwent CSF draw and neuropsychological testing. Multiple linear regression models were run with kw as a predictor of CSF concentrations and neuropsychological scores.

RESULTS: In multiple brain regions, BBB kw was positively associated with CSF amyloid …

An Investigation Of The Effects Of Variable Magnetic Field Gradients On Soot And Co Emissions From Non-Premixed Hydrocarbon Flames, Edison Ekperechukwu Chukwuemeka

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The interaction of the paramagnetic species in a combustion process with the mag- netic field placed in the vicinity of non-premixed flames affects the characteristics of the non-premixed flames - flame height and flame lift-off height. However, the effect of this magnetic interaction on the pollutants generated by the flame is unknown.

In general, pollutant formation is promoted in most combustion systems due to in- complete combustion of the hydrocarbon due to improper mixing. Since paramagnetic combustion species such as O2, O, OH, etc interacts with magnetic fields and possess a preferential motion direction, imposing magnetic field on non-premixed flames …

Collapsible Prosthetic Shower Leg, Amanuel Matias, Mahsa Ebrahim

Honors Thesis

The purpose of this capstone project is to build a collapsible prosthetic shower leg that can provide a transtibial amputee with reliable support while showering. Phil Tamoush, an 83-year old transtibial amputee, was the inspiration for this work. Phil’s constant travel for his arbitration work leaves him without the option to bring along his usual shower leg due to the additional space it takes up in his travel bag. There are currently no commercially available prosthetic shower legs that can collapse into a condensed unit, so this capstone project explores an unexplored field for which there is a significant need. …

Blockchain-Based Healthcare Portal – A Bibliometric Analysis, Aditi Goyal, Aditya Banerjee, Aniket Mulik, Yashika Chhabaria, Sonali Kothari Tidke Dr, Vijayshri Khedkar

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

User privacy has been a topmost priority and one such domain where this is neglected is the area of healthcare. Our solution focuses on the idea of using blockchain to provide a platform for healthcare experts and patients, giving patients full control over the data that will be shared. This paper focuses on identifying current research that has been conducted in this area in the form of a bibliometric analysis. A bibliometric study on a research area involves a detailed analysis of citations and papers across a domain of study. The purpose of this study is a statistical analysis of …

Understanding Of Aerosol Transmission Of Covid 19 In Indoor Environment - Part 2: Approaches To Mitigation, Adama Barro, Cathal O'Toole, Jacob S. Lopez, Matthew Quinones, Sherene Moore

Publications and Research

The challenge we face in implementing solutions for new HVAC ventilation and filtration design, is to effectively improve air quality for virus mitigation without losing performance efficiency. The purpose of this improvement is to decontaminate the occupied enclosed areas, reducing the transmission of the corona virus aerosol transmission. Our research seeks reliable approaches to mitigate the further spread of aerosol transmission in indoor spaces. The methodology is to examine innovative HVAC engineering solutions that combat epidemiological problems of Covid-19 for the post-pandemic era, by researching scholarly articles and ASHRAE journals. We are achieving the goal of finding highly efficient resolutions …

Paint The City, Juan Estrella

Publications and Research

Paint the City lets you create, share, and discover street art in augmented reality. Imagine having a secret world hidden in your phone where you are free to express yourself and develop a community full of potential friends. CREATE Choose from a variety of colors and brush sizes to create your masterpiece, we give you the tools to be as detailed as possible!

SHARE When you are done you can publish your work which will be shown to people passing by. You can also share it with your friends and create your own private art gallery. All of your work …

The Effects Of At-Home Remote Work Environments On Human Cognitive Performance And Work Task Performance Based On Current Societal Conditions, Angela Arias

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Home-based remote work systems present a unique set of cognitive performance and work task performance challenges to employees without remote work experience. The COVID-19 pandemic forced companies into transforming their work system structures, and their employee roles, without the preparation or education of the dynamics that surround home-based remote work systems. This thesis benefits the Human Factors community by investigating the effects of at-home remote-based work environments on cognitive performance, and work task performance, of employees who currently work remotely from home. A multimethod approach was employed to carry out this research. A survey was administered to home-based remote employees, …

Redai: A Machine Learning Approach To Cyber Threat Intelligence, Luke Noel

Masters Theses, 2020-current

The world is continually demanding more effective and intelligent solutions and strategies to combat adversary groups across the cyber defense landscape. Cyber Threat Intelligence (CTI) is a field within the domain of cyber security that allows for organizations to utilize threat intelligence and serves as a tool for organizations to proactively harden their defense posture. However, there is a large volume of CTI and it is often a daunting task for organizations to effectively consume, utilize, and apply it to their defense strategies. In this thesis we develop a machine learning solution, named RedAI, to investigate whether open-source intelligence (OSINT) …

Autonomous Mortar Remote Control Center, James Tyler Frame

Honors Capstone Projects and Theses

No abstract provided.

Translating Convolutional Neural Networks Approach To The Ventral Pathway, Victoria Zhang

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Do artificial neurons in CNNs learn to represent the same visual information as the biological neurons in primate brains? Previous studies have shown that the visual recognition pathway (ventral stream) in humans and monkeys increasingly represents animate objects [16]. We used a heatmap attribution technique borrowed from convolutional neural networks to generate biological feature maps identifying regions in scenes that elicit responses from neurons along the ventral stream (V1/V2, V4, and IT). Biological feature maps were then compared to activation maps produced by units in convolutional neural networks. We found that image regions containing animals elicited increasingly larger responses along …

Transforming The Chinese Pole Circus Apparatus Into An Interactive Musical Instrument, Fosse Lin-Bianco, Hossein Asghari, Evan Mitchell

Honors Thesis

The objective of this project is to create a modified version of the Chinese pole circus apparatus in order to artistically musicalize and visualize a circus performer’s movement in real time. Wireless, wearable inertial measurement units (IMUs) allow for tracking the position of the performer’s hands and feet. The vertical height of the performer is then used to play a corresponding pitch on a musical scale, while the position with respect to the other two dimensions is used to produce a bird’s-eye-view visualization. Radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags added to the pole improve the accuracy of the IMU position tracking by …

Transforming The Chinese Pole Circus Apparatus Into An Interactive Musical Instrument, Evan Mitchell, Fosse Lin-Bianco

Honors Thesis

The objective of this project is to create a modified version of the Chinese pole circus apparatus in order to artistically musicalize and visualize a circus performer’s movement in real time. Wireless, wearable inertial measurement units (IMUs) allow for tracking the position of the performer’s hands and feet. The vertical height of the performer is then used to play a corresponding pitch on a musical scale, while the position with respect to the other two dimensions is used to produce a bird’s-eye-view visualization. Radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags added to the pole improve the accuracy of the IMU position tracking by …

Simultaneous Thermal Zoning And Demand Control Ventilation, Jose Rodriguez

Mechanical Engineering Theses

Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems include the equipment used to control the conditions and distribution of indoor air in any closed environment that requires certain variables, such as temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide (CO₂) concentration, etc. to be controlled to levels of human comfort and safety, and to levels that keep machines and other devices in special conditions to protect them or guarantee their best performance. In developed countries, HVAC energy consumption is usually between 25% and 42% of the total energy consumption. Thermal zooning and demand control ventilation have shown improvements in comfort and energy consumption savings. The …

Sound Resonance And Damping In Cylindrical Cavities, Rebecca Barry

Engineering & Physics Student Scholarship

Major: Physics
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Erich Gust, Engineering and Physics

We have measured the resonant frequencies and widths of sound resonances in gases in a cylindrical cavity over a wide range of cavity lengths and pressures. The resonance widths, which are related to the decay rate of sound vibrations, show an interesting non-trivial dependence on the frequency of the resonance. The purpose of this project was to quantify these variations in Nitrogen, Argon and Helium gases. This data will serve as a reference for future applications of the apparatus to viscosity measurement and gas identification.

2020-21 Aiche Student Design Competition: Naphtha Processing, Brenna Kathleen Flynn, Hannah Orebaugh, Paul Deaton

Honors Capstone Projects and Theses

No abstract provided.

Cybersecurity Considerations With The Increasing Uses Of Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (Suas) Or Drones, Matthew Kucharek, Stanley Mierzwa

Center for Cybersecurity

The effort to produce this information resource results from a collaborative effort between the Bergen County Technical Schools (high school), through the advisor Andrea Buccino, and a cybersecurity expert mentor. High school senior members of this learning partnership are provided with an interactive learning experience. They gain an increase and knowledge in a particular area of study while under the topical guidance of a mentor. In this example, the high school senior is pursuing coursework in Aerospace Engineering, and this was combined with the focus of cybersecurity to expand the students’ cross-discipline knowledge. This collaborative work was done virtually, given …

Analysis Of Covid-19 Concerns Raised By The Construction Workforce And Development Of Mitigation Practices, Makram Bou Hatoum, Ali Faisal, Hala Nassereddine, Hadi Sarvari

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications

The coronavirus outbreak has created a global health crisis that has disrupted all industries, including the construction industry. Following the onset of the pandemic, construction workers faced and continue to face unprecedented safety and health challenges. Therefore, construction employers established new safety precautions to protect the health and safety of the workforce and minimize the spread of the virus. The new precautions followed the advice and guidelines offered by different health and safety agencies like the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC). With construction projects …

Artificial Intelligence And The Ethics Behind It, Isaac Johnston

Senior Honors Theses

Artificial intelligence (AI) has been a widely used buzzword for the past couple of years. If there is a technology that works without human interaction, it is labeled as AI. But what is AI, and should individuals be concerned? The following research aims to define what artificial intelligence is, specifically machine learning (ML) and neural networks. It is important to understand how AI is used today in cars, image recognition, ad marketing, and other areas. Although AI has many benefits, there are areas of ethical concerns such as autonomous cars, military applications, social media marketing, and others. This paper helps …

Higher-Order Topolectrical Semimetal Realized Via Synthetic Gauge Fields, Xiang Ni, Andrea Alù

Advanced Science Research Center

Classical bosonic systems may be tailored to support topological order and unidirectional edge transport exploiting gauge fields. Here, we theoretically explore how synthetic gauge fields may be used to induce higher-order topological phases and zero-energy boundary states. We demonstrate these principles in two types of three-dimensional topolectrical circuits with synthetic gauge fields threading through their reduced two-dimensional lattices, leading to a half-quantized quadrupole charge within a region of the momentum space. We theoretically show the emergence of nodal line rings and Weyl points in the bulk dispersion, whose projected surfaces and hinges support surface Fermi arcs and flat hinge Fermi …

Rethink Everything 2: Markets, Globalization, Development, Nikhilesh Dholakia, Deniz Atik

Markets, Globalization & Development Review

No abstract provided.

Multi-Scale, Class-Generic, Privacy-Preserving Video, Zhixiang Zhang, Thomas Cilloni, Charles Walter, Charles Fleming

Faculty and Student Publications

In recent years, high-performance video recording devices have become ubiquitous, posing an unprecedented challenge to preserving personal privacy. As a result, privacy-preserving video systems have been receiving increased attention. In this paper, we present a novel privacy-preserving video algorithm that uses semantic segmentation to identify regions of interest, which are then anonymized with an adaptive blurring algorithm. This algorithm addresses two of the most important shortcomings of existing solutions: it is multi-scale, meaning it can identify and uniformly anonymize objects of different scales in the same image, and it is class-generic, so it can be used to anonymize any class …

Survival And Proliferation Under Severely Hypoxic Microenvironments Using Cell-Laden Oxygenating Hydrogels, Shabir Hassan, Berivan Cecen, Ramon Peña-Garcia, Fernanda R. Marciano, Amir K. Miri, Ali Fattahi, Christina Karavasili, Shikha Sebastian, Hamza Zaidi, Anderson O. Lobo

Henry M. Rowan College of Engineering Departmental Research

Different strategies have been employed to provide adequate nutrients for engineered living tissues. These have mainly revolved around providing oxygen to alleviate the effects of chronic hypoxia or anoxia that result in necrosis or weak neovascularization, leading to failure of artificial tissue implants and hence poor clinical outcome. While different biomaterials have been used as oxygen generators for in vitro as well as in vivo applications, certain problems have hampered their wide application. Among these are the generation and the rate at which oxygen is produced together with the production of the reaction intermediates in the form of reactive oxygen …

The Great Equalizer Or A Modern Iteration Of Historical Inequality: Artificial Intelligence In Latin America, Santana Amaker

Honors Theses

In recent years, governments across Latin America have taken steps to foster the development and implementation of artificial intelligence causing an expansion of the use of AI in the region. For instance, countries like Colombia and Argentina are using AI in their judicial systems. Superficially, the allure of AI in the judicial system stems from the thought that AI is an impartial entity that will pass fair and unbiased judgement. However, just like the programmers responsible for creating AI, algorithms used in AI system can be biased. The reason being AI is often trained to make predictions or decisions based …

Supporting Materials From The Program "Development Of A Physically-Based Creep Model Incorporating Eta Phase Evolution For Nickel Base Superalloys", N. R. Mohale, C. L. White, P. G. Sanders, W. W. Milligan, J. P. Shingledecker, P. A. Bridges

Michigan Tech Research Data

This research was funded by the US Department of Energy, Fossil Energy Program, Grant Number DE-FE0027822, with Omer Bakshi as the Program Manager. The grant conditions required that all supporting data and materials would be made publicly-available. This public repository was created on May 13, 2021.

Multi-Scale Computational Modeling Of Metal/Ceramic Interfaces, Abu Shama Mohammad Miraz

Master's Theses

Multi-scale atomistic calculations were carried out to understand the interfacial features that dictate the mechanical integrity of the metal/ceramic nanolaminates. As such, first principles density functional theory (DFT) calculations were performed to understand the electronic and atomistic factors governing adhesion and resistance to shear for simple metal/ceramic interfaces, whereas molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were performed to observe the impact of interfacial structures, such as misfit dislocation network geometries and orientation relationships, on interfacial mechanical properties.

For the DFT investigation, we choose metals with different crystal structures, namely - Cu (fcc), Cr (bcc) and Ti (hcp) along with a variety of …

Valorization Of Secondary Agriculture Residues, Narendra Kumar

Master's Theses

Secondary agriculture residues have the potential to be major contributors as resources for energy and sustainably sourced materials production. Separating secondary agricultural residues, which have already been transported to processing centers, into individual biomass components could convert these wastes into bioproducts. Many types of pretreatments to achieve this separation involve chemicals that are hazardous for the environment. Several deep eutectic solvents (DES) that are biocompatible have been investigated for their ability to deconstruct rice hulls and sugarcane bagasse. Mass yield, enzymatic hydrolysis of the pretreated biomass, fiber analysis, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy have confirmed that the DES formic acid:choline …

Glial Endothelial Brain Cell Co-Cultures For Testing Signaling Response And Delivery Of Novel Materials Across Blood Brain Barrier, Neela Prajapati

Master's Theses

The brain accounts for 20% of overall energy metabolism in the body though it just comprises 2% of the total body mass but has a limited capacity of storing energy unlike other critical organs in the body such as the heart and liver. This energy along with oxygen and nutrients is supplied by cerebral blood flow (CBF), any interruption of which can cease the brain function within seconds with a potential irreversible neuronal injury, within minutes. Vascular cells along with astrocytes and neurons are a part of a recently developed concept known as the Neurovascular Unit responsible for Neurovascular coupling …

Lateral Torsional Buckling Resistance Of Continuous Steel Stringers In Existing Bridges, Dinesha Malky Kuruppuarachchi Kuruppuarachchi Appuhamilage Don

Master's Theses

Some of the Louisiana’s bridges built in the 1950s and 1960s used two-girder or truss systems, in which floorbeams are carried by main members and the continuous (spliced) stringers are supported by the floorbeams. The main members are either two edge (fascia) girders or trusses. When the flexural capacity of continuous stringers is calculated, the moment gradient factor (Cb) is not accurately calculated considering the lateral torsional buckling (LTB) at the negative moment section. In particular, the bracing effect of the non-composite concrete deck is not accounted for, and as a result, the current practice has underestimated the LTB strength …

Epi-Mucosa Fixation And Autologous Platelet-Rich Fibrin Treatment In Medication-Related Osteonecrosis Of The Jaw, Antonio Cortese, Antonio Casarella, Candace M. Howard, Pier Paolo Claudio

Faculty and Student Publications

Medication-related osteonecrosis of the jaw (MRONJ) frequently affects patients after treatments with bisphosphonates or denosumab, especially with high doses in patients with bone osteoporosis, neoplastic metastases, or possibly anti-angiogenic treatment for cancer. The aim of this article was to show a new treatment planning for stage 2 and stage 3 MRONJ using platelet-rich fibrin (PRF) at the surgical field to enhance healing in association with a new epi-mucosal fixation technique to prevent or treat mandibular fracture. Two cases were treated by epi-mucosa fixation and autologous PRF use for prevention of mandibular fracture risks related to necrotic bone resection or a …

Atomic Oxygen Resistant Low Earth Orbit Stable Polymer Matrix Composites Employing Phenylphosphine Oxide Epoxy-Amines, Witold Fuchs

Dissertations

Atomic oxygen (AO) attacks polymer matrix composites (PMC’s) on the surfaces of spacecraft in low earth orbit (LEO) and threatens safe spacecraft operation and service life. Incorporating phenylphosphine oxide (PPO) groups into polymer chains offers a self-regenerating method of protection from AO but remains poorly understood. Herein, epoxies containing PPO groups were synthesized with increasing concentrations of phosphorus [P] from 0 to 8 wt % to investigate their AO resistance. Measurements confirmed the exposure of these materials to AO produces a passivation phosphate (POx) layer on the surface of the sample and the efficacy of the resultant layer was directly …