Engineering Commons^™

Isolation Enhancement For Mimo Patch Antennas Sharing A Common Thick Substrate: Using A Dielectric Block To Control Space-Wave Coupling To Cancel Surface-Wave Coupling, Min Li, Muhammad Yasir Jamal, Lijun Jiang, Kwan Lawrence Yeung

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This article presents a novel and simple decoupling method to increase the isolation between two closely spaced patch antennas sharing a common thick substrate. The decoupling can be simply realized by adding a pure dielectric block (DB) above the coupled array. By means of DB to modify the space permittivity (propagation constant), the space-wave coupling can be controlled to cancel surface-wave coupling for isolation enhancement. Five benchmarks of combinations of two patch antennas with different positions or orientations are investigated to validate the decoupling concept and elaborate on the design procedure. The results show that the proposed method could provide …

Adsorption And Surface Diffusion Of Metals On Α-Al2O3 For Advanced Manufacturing Applications, Austin Biaggne, Gregory Noble, Lan Li

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

The adsorption and diffusion of Mo and Nb adatoms on the α-Al₂O₃ (0001) surface were explored using density functional theory-based methods. Adsorption energies of Mo and Nb adatoms at minima sites on the surface were determined. Mo and Nb adatoms prefer to adsorb to the same locations on the surface, and larger adsorption energies calculated for Nb compared to Mo indicate that Nb adatom-surface interactions are stronger than Mo. Using minima adsorption sites as initial and final locations for surface diffusion, energy barriers for diffusion were calculated using the nudged elastic band method. Overall, Mo and …

Biopolymerized Slope/Subgrade Stabilization And Advanced Field Monitoring, Chung R. Song, Layla Bitar, Richard L. Wood, Yong-Rak Kim, Jongwan Eun, Binyam M. Bekele, Basil Abualshar

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

The slightly overconsolidated glacial tills and weathered shales in Midwestern states of the USA often show substantial strength degradation after construction. This strength reduction often causes time dependent slope failures along the roadside. This study investigated the possibility of applying biopolymer based soil modification techniques to mitigate the strength reduction phenomenon of these soils. For this research, several different biopolymers were evaluated through laboratory tests, two biopolymers were selected for extensive weathering tests, then a higher-performing biopolymer, Xanthan, was applied to a test slope in Verdigre, Nebraska with heavy instrumentation. The followings are the summary of the results.

The unweathered …

Piezo-Tribo Dual Effect Hybrid Nanogenerators For Health Monitoring, Sk Md Ali Zaker Shawon, Andrew Xu Sun, Valeria Suarez Vega, Brishty Deb Chowdhury, Phong Tran, Zaida D. Carballo, Jim Aica Tolentino, Jianzhi Li, Muhammad Sufian Rafaqut, Mohammed Jasim Uddin

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Over the years, nanogenerators for health monitoring have become more and more attractive as they provide a cost-effective and continuous way to successfully measure vital signs, physiological status, and environmental changes in/around a person. Using such sensors can positively affect the way healthcare workers diagnose and prevent life-threatening conditions. Recently, the dual piezo-tribological effect of hybrid nanogenerators (HBNGs) have become a subject of investigation, as they can provide a substantial amount of data, which is significant for healthcare. However, real-life exploitation of these HBNGs in health monitoring is still marginal. This review covers piezo-tribo dual-effect HBNGs that are used as …

An Automated Framework For Connected Speech Evaluation Of Neurodegenerative Disease: A Case Study In Parkinson's Disease, Sai Bharadwaj Appakaya

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Neurodegenerative diseases affect millions of people around the world. The progressive degeneration worsens the symptoms, heavily impacting the quality of life of the patients as well as the caregivers. Speech production is one of the physiological processes affected by neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and Parkinson’s disease (PD). Speech is the most basic form of communication, and the effect of neurodegeneration degrades speech production, thereby reducing social interaction and mental well-being. PD is the second most common neurodegenerative disease affecting speech production in 90% of the diagnosed individuals. Speech analysis methods for PD in clinical methods …

Preventing Needle Stick Injuries: A Quality Improvement Project, Adrianna Kerns, Emilea Pitts, Grace Richman, Katie Rawlings, Megan Riley, Mary Suzanne White

2021 Celebration of Student Scholarship - Poster Presentations

"Needlestick injuries (NSI) affect approximately 1,000 people per day across U.S. hospitals. Needlestick injuries cost an estimated $3,042 per victim annually, according to the report. The costs go toward laboratory fees for testing exposed employees, associated labor and counseling and post-exposure follow-ups." (Beckner's Clinical Leadership & Infection Control, 2020). It was noted at an urban teaching hospital that needlestick injuries are an issue. Researchers believe this number is an underestimate of the actual amount of needle stick injuries. The purpose is to increase the education of staff nurses on the topic of needle stick injuries. We thoroughly reviewed 56 studies …

Cultivating Gratitude And Learning: Virtual Agriculture Education For Elementary School Students, Heather Smith, Joy Gritton

2021 Celebration of Student Scholarship - Oral Presentations

In a time when the majority of young children know more about a computer than agriculture, this project brings agriculture to them in a unique way. This presentation introduces a program that aims to connect elementary students with the vast agriculture industry in the digital age using appropriate technology. The project consists of teaching children in Eastern Kentucky and beyond about agriculture and land use through the virtual dissemination of relevant stories, facts, and activities. In this way children can learn how agriculture is vital to their everyday life. Featured topics include horticulture crops, agronomic crops, livestock, and the history …

Effectiveness Of Noise Suppressing Sheet Material For Mitigation Of Automotive Radiated Emissions, Patrick Deroy, Marina Y. Koledintseva, Cyrous F. Rostamzadeh, Micajah Worden, Tamara Monti, Waldemar Schulz, Abhishek Ramanujan

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Integrated circuit (IC) and printed circuit board (PCB) electromagnetic (EM) modeling methods are becoming essential during the development of automotive electronic control units. Academic and industrial efforts focus on radiated and conducted emissions caused by flaws in PCB design from EM compatibility (EMC)/electrostatic discharge (ESD) point of view, including improper placement, grounding, and shielding of ICs. In this article, the effectiveness of noise suppressing sheet material for the mitigation of radiated emission at global positioning system (GPS) and Global'naya Navigatsionnaya Sputnikovaya Sistema (GLONASS) bands according to U.S. automotive original equipment manufacturer (OEM) requirements is investigated. A few test scenarios that …

Oxidation Polymerization Additive Manufacturing, Jonghyun Park, Tazdik Patwary Plateau, Hiep Pham

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Various processes for producing three dimensional electrically conductive polymer structures, such as three dimensional structures of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene), are described as well as materials produced by these processes.

Recovery Effects On The Performance Of Athletic Shoes, Erich B. Hagen

Masters Theses

The materials used in running shoe midsoles are viscoelastic. Following a training session, a period of rest is required for the midsoles to undergo shape recovery and regain their energy absorption capability. It is common to think that a shoe will need two days of rest following a run to be adequately recovered in order to minimize the risk of running related injury and to maximize shoe performance while also maximizing the useful life of the shoe. Mechanical aging studies were done to investigate the effects of intermittent recovery periods on performance of an athletic shoe, the Nike Pegasus Turbo …

Modeling Of A Patient Positioning System For Use In Mri Machines, Daniel Garcia

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Since its commercial introduction in the early 1980s, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) has become an important medical diagnostic tool for radiologists. Researchers and manufacturers have refined the imaging hardware and expanded the intended uses for MRI devices over time. However, MRI manufacturers have not improved the design of the mechanisms and control schemes used to move the patient.Patient positioning systems are required to handle unknown weights up to 225 kilograms, accommodate friction disturbances, move long distances at high speed, move small distances in less than 1 second, and attain sub millimeter bidirectional precision. Little research is available on model …

A Behavioral Model For Simultaneous Event Execution In Sequential Discrete Event System Simulations, Brian David S. Dilinila

Computational Modeling & Simulation Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The sequential execution of simultaneous events in a discrete event system simulation can cause unexpected behavior in a system. Current studies have provided approaches such as applying a priority order for simultaneous events. However, this is still a problem because executing simultaneous events in sequential order can still lead to two issues of simultaneous event conflicts: the case where simultaneous events cause changes to state variables required by other simultaneous events and the case where two or more simultaneous events cause changes to the same state variables. The objective of this thesis is to develop a behavioral model as a …

Gagrank: Software For Glycosaminoglycan Sequence Ranking Using A Bipartite Graph Model, John D. Hogan, Jiandong Wu, Joshua A. Klein, Cheng Lin, Luis Carvalho, Joseph Zaia

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The Sulfated Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) Are Long, Linear Polysaccharide Chains that Are Typically Found as the Glycan Portion of Proteoglycans. These GAGs Are Characterized by Repeating Disaccharide Units with Variable Sulfation and Acetylation Patterns Along the Chain. GAG Length and Modification Patterns Have Profound Impacts on Growth Factor Signaling Mechanisms Central to Numerous Physiological Processes. Electron Activated Dissociation Tandem Mass Spectrometry is a Very Effective Technique for Assigning the Structures of GAG Saccharides; However, Manual Interpretation of the Resulting Complex Tandem Mass Spectra is a Difficult and Time-Consuming Process that Drives the Development of Computational Methods for Accurate and Efficient Sequencing. …

Attacking Logic Locked Circuits Using Reinforcement Learning, Allen Shelton, Jake Mellor

Electrical and Computer Engineering Senior Theses

Logic Locking is an emerging form of hardware obfuscation that is intended to be a solution to many of the trust issues associated with the modern globalized IC supply chain. By inserting extra key-gates into a circuit, the functionality of the circuit can be locked until the correct order of bits or “key” is applied to the key gates. To assess the strength of new logic locking techniques, we propose a new attack that uses deep reinforcement learning. This attack aims to test logic locking as well as evaluate reinforcement learning as a possible attack against logic locking. By using …

Powering Iot Sensors With Rf Energy Harvesting, Austin Rothschild, Kristi Nguyen

Electrical and Computer Engineering Senior Theses

There is a need to power Internet of Things (IoT) applications that require frequent, expensive, and/or dangerous battery replacements. Radio-frequency energy harvesting (RFEH) is a possible alternative source of power for select IoT sensor applications. In comparison to other methods of energy harvesting, RFEH has the smallest incident power densities and therefore comes with many design challenges.

In this project we implement a novel RFEH system powered via a dedicated transmitter. A planar inverted-F antenna (PIFA) and voltage doubler circuit form the designed rectenna (rectifier + antenna) and the system is implemented on a custom PCB to carry out RF-to-DC …

Ultra-High Performance Concrete (Uhpc) Deck-To-Girder Connection For Accelerated Bridge Construction, Mostafa Abo El-Khier

Department of Construction Engineering and Management: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Precast concrete deck systems have been successfully used for Accelerated Bridge Construction. In most systems, special deck-to-girder connections are designed to achieve structurally composite sections. These connections require tight production/erection tolerances that complicate deck and girder fabrication and compromise the economics of these systems. This study presents a new precast concrete deck-to-girder connection that takes advantage of the excellent mechanical, workability, and durability properties of ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) to simplify precast concrete deck and girder fabrication and erection. Typical girder shear reinforcement is terminated below the soffit of deck panels to eliminate any conflicts with deck reinforcement and relax …

Maximum Coverage Facility Location Drone Routing Problem With Multiple Trip Stops, Marie Roza

Civil and Environmental Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Integer linear optimization can be used to formulate routing problems as models to find optimal solutions given a set of inputs and constraints. In this research, Chauhan et al.'s publication, "Maximum coverage capacitated facility location problem with range constrained drones," is expanded upon by modeling a facility location problem with two-to-one drone deliveries. The model analyzes a set of potential facilities that are available to meet the demands of a set of demand points. The drone delivery routes are modeled with the assumption that each opened facility is assigned one drone that can fulfill up to two demand points’ demands …

Professional Certification Exam: An Alternative Method For A Remote Additive Manufacturing Lab, Rustin Webster

School of Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

A free professional certification exam was adopted in an introductory course on the study of polymers and composites after the course was transitioned to remote education due to the COVID-19 virus pandemic. The Certified SOLIDWORKS Associates – Additive Manufacturing (CSWA-AM) exam and the prerequisite 10-part online video learning path replaced traditional hands-on laboratory activities. Twenty-five engineering technology (ET) students attempted the exam and passed at a rate of 76% (n = 19). The perceived positive student acceptance to and the effectiveness of the remote lab activities to meet learning outcomes is encouraging the instructor to not only continue using the …

Probabilistic Prediction Model For Rc Bond Failure Mode, Ahmad Soraghi, Qindan Huang

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Adequate rebar-concrete bonding is crucial to ensure the reliable performance of reinforced concrete (RC) structures. Many factors such as the concrete properties, concrete cover depth, transverse reinforcement, and the presence of corrosion will affect the bond behavior, and consequently, the structural performance. While many prior studies have focused on the influence of the aforementioned factors on the bond strength, the impact of these factors on the bond failure mode has not been thoroughly investigated. A probabilistic bond failure mode prediction model that considers various influencing factors including loading type and corrosion is developed in this study. This study uses the …

Dbl: Efficient Reachability Queries On Dynamic Graphs, Qiuyi Lyu, Yuchen Li, Bingsheng He, Bin Gong

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Reachability query is a fundamental problem on graphs, which has been extensively studied in academia and industry. Since graphs are subject to frequent updates in many applications, it is essential to support efficient graph updates while offering good performance in reachability queries. Existing solutions compress the original graph with the Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) and propose efficient query processing and index update techniques. However, they focus on optimizing the scenarios where the Strong Connected Components (SCCs) remain unchanged and have overlooked the prohibitively high cost of the DAG maintenance when SCCs are updated. In this paper, we propose DBL, an …

Impact Of Covid-19 On Airline Industry And Strategic Plan For Its Recovery With Special Reference To Data Analytics Technology, Rajee Olaganathan

Publications

This paper discusses the status quo of the airline industry around the world facing the COVID-19 pandemic situation. The purpose of the first part of this study was to assess the impact of COVID-19 on global air traffic, airline revenues by region of operation, number of international passengers by region, and the number of domestic passenger traffic by route group. The data for this study was collected from January 2019 to December 2020 from the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) database. The research strategy of the second part of this study is based on PEST analysis which is applied to …

Developing A Predictive Model Of Depression And Suicidal Tendencies In Pilots, Tanya Kim Bulleigh

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The mental health of commercial airline pilots is as important as their physical health because of their immense responsibility for the safety of their passengers and crews. Pilot suicides that end in fatal aircraft crashes result in many injuries and deaths. Although depression and suicidal tendencies are common across all genders, ages, ethnicities, and backgrounds, the mental health of aviation pilots has been challenging to evaluate and quantify through routine flight medical exams.

The purpose of this study was to determine predictive factors of depression and suicidal tendencies among commercial airline pilots. Previous research has determined predictive factors of depression …

The Effects Of Carry-On Baggage On Aircraft Evacuation Efficiency, Sang-A Lee

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The most frequent obstacle of an aircraft evacuation is the passengers carrying baggage while evacuating. Passengers who insist on taking their carry-on baggage during an emergency evacuation not only slow down the evacuation process but also act as a significant risk to the safety of other passengers. This study investigated the factors that affect passengers’ behavioral intention to evacuate with carry-on baggage and the effects of evacuating with carry-on baggage on the total evacuation time. Overall, two studies were conducted to provide an outline of the factors that affect and affected by carry-on baggage.

Study 1 used an agent-based model, …

Data-Efficient Machine Learning With Focus On Transfer Learning, Shuteng Niu

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Machine learning (ML) has attracted a significant amount of attention from the artificial intelligence community. ML has shown state-of-art performance in various fields, such as signal processing, healthcare system, and natural language processing (NLP). However, most conventional ML algorithms suffer from three significant difficulties: 1) insufficient high-quality training data, 2) costly training process, and 3) domain discrepancy. Therefore, it is important to develop solutions for these problems, so the future of ML will be more sustainable. Recently, a new concept, data-efficient ma- chine learning (DEML), has been proposed to deal with the current bottlenecks of ML. Moreover, transfer learning (TL) …

A Comparison Of Safety Management Systems Training Methods At A Collegiate Flight-Training Institution, Mackenzie Tyler Dickson

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The purpose of this thesis was to compare how two different types of Safety Management Systems (SMS) training affect SMS knowledge in instructors and students in a university flight program. Additionally, the research sought to determine whether a correlation exists between safety knowledge and safety culture perception. An experimental research design was used to study two independent variables, training method and person type, and their effect of SMS knowledge. A non-experimental design was used to study the correlation between safety knowledge and safety culture perception. Research has shown that a safety-training program’s engagement level has an effect on the safety …

A Comprehensive Mapping And Real-World Evaluation Of Multi-Object Tracking On Automated Vehicles, Alexander Bassett

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Multi-Object Tracking (MOT) is a field critical to Automated Vehicle (AV) perception systems. However, it is large, complex, spans research fields, and lacks resources for integration with real sensors and implementation on AVs. Factors such those make it difficult for new researchers and practitioners to enter the field.

This thesis presents two main contributions: 1) a comprehensive mapping for the field of Multi-Object Trackers (MOTs) with a specific focus towards Automated Vehicles (AVs) and 2) a real-world evaluation of an MOT developed and tuned using COTS (Commercial Off-The-Shelf) software toolsets. The first contribution aims to give a comprehensive overview of …

Assessment Of Evacuation Network Performance Under Different Evacuation Scenarios: The Florida Keys, Erika Shellenberger

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The goal of this research is to better understand the evacuation of a coastal community, the Florida Keys. This will aid in the planning, mitigation, response, and recovery of this community when a hurricane threatens to destroy their homes. To achieve this, a model of the Florida Keys was built in VISSIM, a microscopic traffic flow simulation software, to experiment with different improvement strategies. This process included collecting data about the Florida Keys, building the roadway network of the Florida Keys, calibrating and validating the model, modeling recommendations, and analyzing the outputs when imploring the different improvement strategies. In addition …

Artificial Intelligence Driven Infrastructure Management And Maintenance Plan, Julian Jesso

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Rapid development in trucking technology and increasing demands in freight transportation has led to longer and heavier vehicles traveling on Florida’s highway system. Vehicles with gross vehicle weight (GVW) over 80,000 pounds, or permit vehicles, have significant effects on infrastructure, thus requiring an approved permit prior to departure. The combination of these increasing loads and harsh environmental conditions that Florida is subject to requires an enhanced infrastructure management program. Additionally, there is a need to eliminate inconsistencies in permit applications and derive a uniform maintenance practice for Florida’s infrastructure. In this research, the focus was to develop an analytical procedure …

Towards A Federated Identity And Access Management Across Universities, Jameel Alsulami

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Many research projects are too complex to yield the efforts of a single investigator and require a coordinated effort from interdisciplinary research teams across universities and industries. The research data, documents, experimental testbeds, high-end computing equipment, etc. is a critical component of any large-scale project and hence the cooperation and resource sharing across universities become very important for timely and budget-friendly execution of these projects. However, it is extremely challenging to frequently and effectively access data and other resources across universities without creating new identities for the users. In this thesis, we propose Federated Identity Management (FIM) approach for facilitating …

Indirect Model Reference Adaptive Control With Online Parameter Estimation, Jovan Bruce

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Over the years, parameter estimation has focused on approaches in both the time and frequency domains. The parameter estimation process is particularly important for aerospace vehicles that have considerable uncertainty in the model parameters, as might be the case with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). This thesis investigates the use of an Indirect Model Reference Adaptive Controller (MRAC) to provide online, adaptive estimates of uncertain aerodynamic coefficients, which are in turn used in the MRAC to enable an aircraft to track reference trajectories. The performance of the adaptive parameter estimator is compared to that of the Extended Kalman Filter (EKF), a …